Today is W day...wedding. R´s brother is getting married and it will be a busy day. Hairdresser is coming over at 10, both me and J needs a haircut and some styling. Rest after lunch and then it starts. Photosession at mother in laws house, A and me off to the brides parents home for another session (he needs to be there since he is pageboy and ring bearer. Then off to church where I meet up with R and J while A stays with the wedding party to be the first one to walk into church and last off to the venue. I hope the kids can rest well enough so they can stay up a bit extra.

Today is als o D day....divorce. Malta is holding a referendum on whether to allow divorce. Unfortunately I dont think it will pass since the church has been pushing very hard over easter when ppl that dont normally atten mass have been there. I got a ridiculous email from R´s father, basically it said that if you vote yes for divorce, this will not happen again and then there was this sweet story about an old man being in a rush to go see his wife. When asked why he said he had to go have breakfast with her, she has alzeimers and doesnt remember him. When asked why he goes every day if she doesnt remember him he said, cause I remember her. What the hell? As if you have to get divorced just cause you CAN? Come on! Now let´s see how intelligent the maltese ppl really are!

Have stared to think about what to get for J for her birthday. She will be turning 3 in July and we dont want to give her something big (sizewise) since we will need to pack it up just a few days later but on the other hand she is at that age where they really love birthdays and want as many presents as possible. When asked what she wants for her birthday she says "princess". My mum got her a Rapunzel dress (from the move Tangled) and I want to stay on the princess theme however I dont want to buy yet another costume so after lots of thinking and googling I came to a decision. I will make her a deocrating cushin (for her bed in Dubai) in the shape of a princess crown and get her a few books about princesses, some in swedish and some in english. Apart from that I got her a princess crown from ebay to match with the Rapunzel outfit.

Its been a while since last time again, with vistiors and a move what feels around the corner, blogging is not on the top of the priority list. Here are some pictures from the outing I went for with A.

Last sunday our next visitors came, my dad, his sister and their mum. We picked them up at the airport and headed up to the parents in law´s flat where the guest are going to be staying for a week. Since it was mother´s day we didnt even try to get a table in a restaurant but had some Doner Kebab from a place around the corner. Then we went to Mdina for "Medieval Mdina". Lots of people but a nice initiative.

Last Saturday the kids attended the first party that they were both invited to. The playarea at the airport had been rented and the kids had a blast in the end. We just about made with all the traffic there was, I dont know what everyone was doing out on a sat at around noon :O There has been lots of birthday talk since we have quite a few coming up in may (half my family has their birthdays in may) and the fact that my mum is going to be here when J turns 3 has made A VERY concerned about the fact that he is going to have his birthday in Dubai cause WHO is going to be there for HIS birthday? The mother of the birthdaychild below has said that they want to come when there is Dubai Airshow (which is going to take place just a couple of days after his birthday) so I really hope they will come. Check out the cake (below) she made and guess who I will ask to do the cake? :D

We did a try at making a swedish easter lunch since thanks to Candynavia we found some typical swedish easter things.

Yesterday my mum went back home after her 10 day visit. We have had a great time even though Malta didnt really treat us to the bes weather. I actually think they had more sun i Sweden. When we waved her off at the airport the kids cried lots, its always sad to see. My granny always lived far away and I know exactly how they feel cause I can remember how it felt when she left or we left from them.

I dont understand some people. Just "talked" to a collegue of R on MSN, I know her pretty well since they studied together in Spain. She told me that they are going to school for Open day since they are thinking of sending their son there. It hits me that its rather brave, or stupid (?) considering their jobsituation. I dont think we would have chosen private school if live was looking as unstable as it is right now. Of course we are not going to get out of it before we know what will happen but to make an active choice right now? :O

J slept in the pushchair last night and I thought I would get at least a couple of hours sleep in bed before she woke up but no, just as the evenng before I had time to read for 15 minutes and at 21 she woke up. Nothing to do but to get back to the sofa :(

...and that means we have to miss out on open day at school. Feeling really bad about it since A was looking forward to showing off his work :( Have to look at them when dropping him off or picking him up another day I guess but since J is not well I dont think its right to go. I reason it out like I normally do, put myself in another parents position, would I appreciate it if another parent brought a kid that was feeling like J to school or a function or whatever when my kids were well? If the answer is no I stay home. Dont know what we are going to do though but a bath is planned (the solar heater will come too close to boiling point and auto release water if we dont use some) and probably play some games. Between 13.30 and 14.30 our time R has to be in his hotelroom to wait for a phonecall to see if he passes to the last part of the selection process so I will be hanging around the computer with him then.

J is still not well, when I went to bed last night I heard her cough and that she was about to vomit again and I didnt want to risk it so we "slept" on the sofa. Our sofa is brilliant for sleeping on so that was not the problem but J kept twisting and turning, coughing and wanting water (at one point also food!), it was either too hot or too cold so I didnt slep lots. At one point I also went down to the garage to find her a pushchair so she could sleep more upright. It was not possible to have her on her own on the sofa, as soon as I let her go she went flat on her back and started couging that second. By morning she didnt have any fever though it came back after lunch but I hope it has turned and at least slowly getting better. How do single parents do it really? Im exhausted and the house looks like a warzone!

Its a really good thing that R was home on friday night. J woke up crying and he thought she was going to vomit so i went after them into the bathroom. That´s when I realise that what is happening is that she cant breathe :O Gaaahhhh. Managed to calm her down a bit but I told R that if there is a time to go to a doctor its when they cant breathe and while R got dressed to take her she fell asleep in my arms. Strange sounds where coming from her throat and I had a feeling it would be croup. None of the kids have had it though so I couldnt be sure and we agreed it was better to have her diagnosed so R took her to hospital. I was really tired and fell asleep but it turned out I was right, croup. She got to breathe in a mask (R doesnt know what she was breathing, if it was just oxygen or something else)  and also a steroid suppository and she slept all night when they came home. The doctor said to give her steroids for another 2 night but I could give up to 5 nights in a row if needed. Last night was ok, I heard her cough that bad croup cough a couple of times but only one cough at a time so I let her be, I knew she would wake me up if she got worse. She also has fever now that didnt want to remain down only on paracetamol so Im not alternating Calpol with Neurofen. She came up for no 2 after I put them to bed and I saw some of the suppository came out but I hope she will sleep well anyway. No school tomorrow though....

A still has fever. He stayed in yesterday and will do so today too. Fever is staying over 40 degress and paracetamol doesnt appear to make any difference. Tried giving him a suppository so see if it had better effect than Calpol but no. The mother in law things we should take him to the polyclinic to see a doctor and I dont think there is a need, I know they will tell us its in his throat and probably suggest antibiotics. Looked around a bit on the net and it seems that in Sweden they suggest to see a doctor if the fever stays for 3 (some places even say 4-5) days but it also said to see a doctor if fever is above 40.5 and he had 40.6 this morning so Im not 100% sure what to do. He is not really affected, drinks well and ate a whole bun this morning so I think we will wait one more day and see how he wakes up tomorrow.

Yesterday was a public holiday that started at the playgound, then we bbqed on the roof with all that comes with it (jumping on the trampoline and scootering) before R took the kids to his parents while I did some exercise on the crosstrainer. Lovely day!

My poor little boy...Last night A woke up with a fever of 39.8 degrees and it was 40.1 this morning. He doesnt appear to be ill other than that though, no runny nose, cough or pains. Paracetamol didnt help so by lunch we gave him Voltaren. During the afternoon he felt a bit better  but when it was dinner time he was shivering and feeling cold and was so tired he wanted to sleep on the spot in the sofa. Gave him another voltaren and quickly to bed and he slept straight away. Hear him cough throughout the evening and a couple of minutes ago he woke up crying so now he is sleeping near me on the sofa. My little sweetie <3 I hope he feels better tomorrow.

Tried to order the sandals from Timberland I had picked to replace the all time fav from Kavat that is not being produced this season and it wont allow me since I dont have a UK registered credit card :(

Dont remember if I mentioned it but a month ago I applied for a job. We didnt know what was going to happen with anything and R found a notice in the newspaper for a job for swedish speaking customer support. I applied and today I got an email from them that they want me to come for an interview :O What do I do now? On the one hand we think that we will be leaving from here but on the other hand we dont know if R will get a job and if not  it would be good if I had a job. What a mess it has turned into. I cant go for the interview and pretend like everything is normal cause Im not even ready to start working yet. J only goes to school 3 days a week and how would we make it work? I really need to think this one through....

Last night  I had a discussion with a collegue and "friend" of R (its a guy he studied with to become a pilot, no one really close but we have spent a fair share of time together) about the maltese school system. He says Malta is the best and I said I dont agree. He doesnt want to listen and I say that its better if we "agree to disagree". He keeps stuffing his ideas down my throat and I keep telling him that he is not going to change my mind and tell him to stop his ranting. Then he takes it one step further by saying that since i havent been through the whole system (ie I dont have a university degree) I shouldnt discuss such things. He talks down to me as if i was a child.

but you cant pose an argument when you have zero experience about it
[21/03/2011 22:03:46] :D
[21/03/2011 22:03:48] understand?
[21/03/2011 22:03:59] so try not to discuss something you dont know about
[21/03/2011 22:04:14] the system in malta works - and  very well
[21/03/2011 22:04:17] the standard is high

So Im less qualified just cause I dont have a degree? As opposed to him at least I have seen two different school systems. I happen to think that I have a much better base where I have not been forced to study and where I learnt things that you can not learn by heart from a book. As R says, "common sense is not so common in Malta". I cant agree with 5 year olds having 10 homeworks per week and 15 year olds having to quit sports cause they have too much with school. I didnt even bring this up into the discussion since I realized he wouldnt be able to listen, instead I tried over and over to explain that nothing he would say would change my mind. He kept arguing and in the end I had to switch off the IM to stop it.

At least now I know where we stand and I will never look at him the same way, obviously he thinks im worth less since I dont have a degree!