When the temperatures in the capital dropped to zero and the fog became a morning routine Darko and I unanimously decided that we need to chase the winter away with a vacation. The plan was to spend our winter vacation somewhere warm. We looked at some very different destinations, such as Thailand, Philippines, Dubai, Egypt, the Canary Islands, Cape Verde, Florida, etc. 
But my first condition was that we and the baby stay somewhere in Europe. Not that I would want to complicate things but I had second thoughts regarding the hygiene and health issues, or the potential complications related to it. So we were left with the Canaries … We went to one of the islands, Fuerteventura, last year (in the first half of April) for our ‘Babymoon’ and it was very windy back then. And because I wanted to avoid any potential inconvenience with the wind we finally decided for Gran Canaria, Meloneras – a little town on the south side of the island.
Great! Just like a child who counts his sleeps until Christmas we impatiently counted down the days until our vacation. However, despite all the excitement and joy, I had two theories about our first vacation together running through my mind:
- Either we’re not going anywhere else until her 5th birthday or until she’s old and rational enough, as this will be such a nightmare, a true hell;
- Or we’ll have the best time ever.
Finally the day/night of departure arrived. Our flight for the Canaries departed from Vienna, so we still had about a four-hour drive from Ljubljana to the airport ahead of us. The journey was quite tiring, especially for Darko, as it was snowing heavily all the way and the highway was completely white.
»This time, it’s for real« was echoing through my mind when the sliding door at the entrance to the airport opened in front of me. And I almost fell face-down as I tripped over the threshold. Good thing I was pushing a pram in front of me where Brina slept quietly as it was 5 in the morning. Darko was dragging the suitcases and commented wittily: “You’re my klutz!” I ADMIT, I was worried. Flying with a baby can be a very stressful situation, especially for new parents. I had a bunch of dilemmas …
– Luggage:
A couple of days before the departure I wrote a list of things to pack (for me and for Brina). Then I added or removed some stuff so the list was as rational as possible when I was packing the day before the vacation. Basically, the list was not that different from this one – Traveling Care-Free with a Baby, I just added the Freds Swim Academy swimtrainer (I’ll write more about it next time). I decided that in case we need some extra stuff, we’ll just buy it there (we already planned on buying the swimsuit, hat and swim nappies there) or if necessary I’ll wash it by hand.
Altogether, we packed 2 large suitcases (where we also folded the BabyBjörn bouncer), Brina’s nursery bag, a backpack where we put our ID documents, computer etc., and the pram.
According to the standard procedure we checked in our luggage (both suitcases). An employee of the airline we were flying with put the ‘luggage’ label on the pram but we were allowed to check it in just before boarding the plane.
As it turned out flying with a baby is awesome, just fantastic, I recommend it. As a parent with a small child you’re entitled to all sorts of privileges. At the check-in we asked for better seats and not just that, they also gave us an additional seat so Brina could play or rest when the seat belt sign was off. Also, you can use (at least in Vienna) a special X-ray checkup lane (reserved for prams and wheelchairs) so you don’t need to queue and stand in an extremely long line which seems never-ending. We could easily carry on liquids (beverages), which you usually have to throw away at the X-ray, since we stated that it was for the baby. We were also able to board the plane as priority passengers and again avoided waiting in line.
– Plane:
As I mentioned before we pushed Brina in the pram straight to the entrance of the plane where we gave it to the staff. After finding our seats a kind flight attendant brought me a pillow for Brina, pap and a special seat belt designed for children. Until two years of age the child has to sit in his parent’s lap (policy of the majority of airlines) and is fastened with an additional seat belt for children, which is fastened onto the parent’s seat belt.
When Darko and I planned the airplane vacation, I read quite some articles and forums about it on the internet. Among other things I also found out that it’s good to breastfeed the baby, especially during take-off and landing, or give him the bottle or the dummy, as this helps to even out the change in air pressure in the baby’s ears (they can’t do it themselves yet). That’s why babies usually cry in planes. I started breastfeeding Brina, but she fell asleep before we even took off. Luckily we did not have to experience the trouble.
Here are some of my suggestions which may come in handy. They definitely made my (our) flight to the Canaries easier:
- If you’re flying with a partner, take turns in occupying yourself with the baby and let the other one rest.
- Carry a nursing bag with you where you can keep ‘back-up’ clothes, nappies, etc. for the baby. You can also change the baby on the plane (in most planes) in a space reserved for that purpose.
- Carry toys with you. Probably the largest problem in flying with a baby of six months is what to do on the plane or in a seat for 5 hours or whatever the duration of your flight. I suggest you take a new toy with you which the child does not know yet and will therefore find it more interesting.
- One more thing that I found very important was sticking to Brina’s routine even on the plane. A 6-month old baby most probably already has a sleeping or a morning and afternoon resting routine. If Brina is too exhausted and tired, she will have trouble falling asleep. And before that she becomes very grumpy. So I decided to stick to her sleeping rhythm and did not wake her up unnecessarily. At most, I tried to lull her to sleep – after the X-ray and also on the plane.
- Carry a blanket or a towel on board so you can spread it out on the floor or on the seat where your child can rest or play.
The flight was over quickly and most of all peacefully. At the Las Palmas airport, we were greeted by sun, the rent-a-car was already waiting for us with a child seat already installed as we requested. So we drove off ready for new adventures. It all went oh-so-smoothly we thought. But the vacation did not end without complications.
You can read more about it next week …
Čeprav (zaenkrat) blogam samo ob ponedeljkih, sem se tokrat odločila, da tako pomemben dan, kot je materinski – obeleži z blogom, zato ga objavljam prej. Torej, točno na materinski dan, ker je moj PRVI! Ne bom filozofirala in odkrivala tople vode, kako čudovito je biti mama in kako je to najlepša, a hkrati najbolj težka služba na svetu, ki traja 24 ur na dan, 7 dni v tednu, 365 dni v letu.
⁂ To izgleda nekako takole… Z avtom se pripeljem na željeno lokacijo. Problem številka ena. Parkirišče oziroma parkirno mesto, ki je tako ozko, da se komaj ‘štlačim’ ven. Jaz že, kako pa naj spravim ven Brino? Ozka parkirna mesta so prava nočna mora za mamico, ki mora iz lupinice ali pa skupaj z njo – iz avtomobila spraviti otroka. No, če že najdem dovolj široko parkirno mesto, se mi je že ničkolikokrat zgodilo, da ko sem se vrnila nazaj k avtu, sem ugotovila, da je avto poleg mojega parkiran tako na tik, da sem morala najprej ven zapeljati avto, da sem lahko vanj dala Brino.
Najbrž se mnogi ne boste strinjali ali pa me boste morda celo linčali, vendar je moje mnenje, da bi morale imeti mamice/očki z dojenčki (avtomobili) takšen status kot invalidi, ki imajo svoja parkirna mesta. Res je, da imajo na primer v Ljubljani, v garažni hiši pod Kongresnim trgom za nas ‘vozičkarje’ takšna, prav posebna parkirna mesta, ki so tudi označena, da so rezervirana za ‘nas’, za kar županu oziroma tistem, ki ima za-to zasluge – vse pohvale in čestitke. 
Ampak, jah, to sem že zapisala, da je pri meni vedno še en ‘ampak’… Kar nekajkrat se mi je namreč že zgodilo, da so bila ta parkirna mesta zaparkirana z avtomobili, ki so že na daleč kričali, da jih ne vozijo mamice oziroma očki z dojenčki.
⁂ Ok, predstavljajte si, da sem uspešno parkirala in grem z vozičkom naokoli. Ampak se mi kar stemni pred očmi, ko me začne tiščati na wc. Kam naj grem z vozičkom na stranišče? Kaj a naj grem kar v prvi lokal in rečem, če mi popazijo otroka, da grem lahko lulat?
Poleti oziroma ko je (bilo) toplo zunaj – sem Brino previjala tudi kar v vozičku ali pa v avtomobilu – na prednjih ali zadnjih sedežih, pa tudi v prtljažniku.
A kmalu je sledil nov zaplet. Bila je zelo mirna in otožna, zato sem ji pomerila temperaturo – 38,3. Preostanek dne je preležala v postelji z obkladkom na čelu. Zvečer, ko ji je temperatura padla, je bila zopet ‘stara’ Brina, zvedava in živahna.
Dobila je svoj prvi zobek in sledilo je olajšanje. V razponu nekaj dni pa mu je sledil še drugi. A to še ni bilo konec tegob. Po drugem zobku je ves teden driskala, tudi po šestkrat na dan. 
Kakšen dan je bilo morda za odtenek bolje, potem pa sem plenice znova menjala kot po tekočem traku. In ne samo to, ritko je imela zelo rdečo, kar žarela je. Ker sem bila po dobrem tednu že malo obupana, sem poklicala pediatrinjo in ji razložila situacijo. Brina je bila sicer (spet) dobrovoljka, zelo rada in veliko je jedla, pa tudi izredno sem pazila, da je pila dovolj tekočine, da ne bi dehidrirala. Pediatrinja me je pomirila, da je to po vsej verjetnosti reakcija zaradi zobkov. 
Po desetih dneh, ko je imela še vedno drisko, pa je meni le ‘kliknilo’ – drisko ima zato, ker jaz pijem ingverjev čaj! In kot pravi Darko: ‘spet sem imela prav’. Še vedno jo namreč dojim, kljub temu, da jé gosto hrano petkrat na dan. V tem obdobju sem si kuhala/pila ingverjev čaj, ker so bili vsi okoli naju nahodni in sem se želela izogniti prehladu. Prenehala sem s pitjem tega čaja, mala pa je nehala driskati. Aleluja!
Naj povem, da sem ji ves ta čas ritko mazala tudi s ‘Praško pasto’, ki sem jo kupila v lekarni. Sedaj smo morali premagati še ‘smrkelj’. 
Nos sem ji večkrat na dan spirala s pršilom (Tonimer Hypertonic Baby). Najbolj je bila boga ponoči, saj je zaradi zamašenega noska težko dihala in posledično glasno smrčala, mah kaj smrčala – na trenutke prav žagala. Sicer pa je rabila kar nekaj časa, da se je navadila, da ji pršilnik porinem v nos. Nekaj dni se je upirala, kričala in se z vsemi štirimi trudila pobegniti oziroma se izviti iz mojega primeža. Njej ni uspelo, meni je! [smeh]
No, it was not Brina who suffered from temperature shock, it was me, I was the ‘(wo)man down’. When we came to the hotel and the travel jitters were gone, I was trembling with fever. My amateur self-diagnosis was pretty accurate … As Darko and I had a restless night behind us and I didn’t get more than a half-hour sleep on the plane, I was exhausted. Also, I didn’t drink enough so I was also dehydrated.
Breakfast: Two Baby cookies which I soaked with some boiling water and mixed with yoghurt or cottage cheese;
At home I was also worried Brina would not be able to sleep in a cot that’s not hers. 
As I mentioned before the hotel staff provided a cot immediately when they saw we arrived with a baby. 
Brina did not have any trouble adjusting to the new environment and she slept peacefully just like at home. Well, every now and then she did wake up, gave a little moan, but I placed the dummy back into her month and voila, she was back to sleep. During the day we put the cot out on the terrace where Brina could play without a care in the world while we could do other things – I, for one, was lying comfortably in a deckchair, writing this blog. [laughter]
We also enjoyed the hotel pool. Although Brina already had experience with a pool, as we went swimming when she was 4 months old, we now put her in water with a Freds Swim Academy swimtrainer for the first time, which a friend of mine recommended. 
This is a special swim (inflatable) ring for children of three months to three years. The swimtrainer is red, but you can also get it in orange or yellow (for older children). The child is fastened to the swimtrainer with a safety belt so he is in the right position for swimming. 
I bought the Freds swimtrainer a couple of days before our vacation in one of the baby stores in Ljubljana. Brina did not paddle around on her own yet, but she enjoyed lying in the swimtrainer and catching her ducky. However, we had quite some problems shopping for a new swimsuit and a hat for Brina, as the shops (mostly) still offered winter collections so we had to look in quite a few shopping centres until we finally managed to find a swimsuit for a 
We spent a lot of time strolling along the sea with a pram.
The paths were nice and suitable for walking with a pram. We almost didn’t even need the car, even though we rented it for the entire vacation. You can rent a car for around 15-20 € per day and it’s definitely the best choice for exploring the island. We only took a couple of short trips to Mogan, Playa del Ingles and the Meloneras surroundings.
Our first vacation together was unforgettable (luckily I took photos all the time so everything is well documented). But it all ended too soon. And no, we did not need another vacation after our vacation to get some rest! [laughter] 
But we still made one wrong decision … one week was definitely not enough. Next time we’re leaving for a longer period.
Noge si izmenično brijem in depiliram že od najstniških let. Brijem se predvsem pozimi, poleti, da imam dlje časa mir, pa stisnem zobe in jih podepiliram z ‘mučilno napravo’, ki izpuli vsako dlako posebej. Pod pazduho in bikini predel pa si od nekdaj samo brijem z britvico. Po vseh teh letih je poleti to potrebno početi vsak dan. Je tudi vam to poznano?!
Odločila sem se, da kupim ‘laser’ za odstranjevanje dlačic za domačo uporabo – Philips Lumea IPL in ga stestiram.
O tem, da je pust eden od mojih ljubših praznikov, sem že zapisala na blogu. A če sem se pretekla leta kot pustna šema zabavala s prijatelji ali pa ga preživela delovno z mikrofonom v roki, je zdaj pri Jurgličih dobil novo razsežnost. V maškare z dojenčico Brino.
Kostum zase bi brez problema lahko kupila za nekje 20, 30 evrov, a ga nisem. Raje sem pobrskala po omari – kaj primernega imam od prejšnjih let in sem se ‘za silo’ našemila v čebelico.
Na koncu sem po dveh dneh iskanja – obupala. Vendar sem se hitro domislila, kako bom rešila problem. Kupila sem malo večji (večjo konfekcijsko številko) bodi in žabice v beli barvi ter rumeno barvo za barvanje perila. Slednjo sem za nekaj evrov kupila v Müllerju, vem pa, da barve za oblačila prodajajo tudi v DM-mu, pa najbrž še kje. Bodi in žabice sem skupaj z rumeno barvo dala v pralni stroj in oprala. Rumena barva je zelo dobro prijela, saj so bile žabice in bodi v snežni beli barvi.
Brino sem tako obleka v njena (topla) oblačila, čez njih pa oblekla pobarvano rumen bodi in žabice. ‘Čebelje’ obročke sem naredila iz črne elastike, ki sem jo preprosto narezala na trakove ter jih zašila v obročke. Popravila sem tudi kapico, saj je bila Brini prevelika. Po spodnjem robu sem naredila v tkanino majhne luknjice in vanje napeljala črno vrvico in tako zožila kapico.
Pust pa seveda ne more miniti brez – tipične sladice – krofov. Jem jih zgolj in le za pusta, vendar jih ne naredim sama, pač pa nas je z njimi tudi letos pocrkljala Darkova mamica. Naredi res fantastične.
Tokrat sem se odločila, da samo za vas odprem svojo torbico oziroma bolje rečeno torbo, previjalno torbo. Ne da obožujem velike torbe, odkar imam Brino, jih tudi nujno potrebujem. Predvsem pa ker smo veliko na poti, imam zdaj v njej vseskozi stvari, ki jih mamica z dojenčkom nujno potrebuje.
Že pred časom me je s svojimi unikatnimi nahrbtniki in torbicami ‘kupila’ slovenska modna oblikovalka Teja Jeglič in zato je bila najbrž logična odločitev, da sem si prvo ‘custom made’ previjalno torbo naročila prav pri njej. A ker Brina raste in z njo tudi njene ‘potrebe’, sem morala tisto torbo v črno-rdeči kombinaciji zamenjati. 
Tudi ta, nova in precej večja torba je nastala izpod rok Teje, a zdaj sem se odločila za enobarvno, črno. Kdor me pozna, ve, da obožujem črno barvo. Pred časom sem slišala ‘shopping rule’, ki mi je bil tako simpatičen, da sem ga kar posvojila, glasi se pa takole: »If it’s not black, put it back!«
Zaželela sem si torbo, ki ima dva prekata in na vsaki strani še tri manjše predale, kjer imam na eni strani Brinine plenice, na drugi pa svoje osebne stvari, kot so telefon, denarnica, lip glosi, krema za roke, ključi,…
manjši toaletni torbici, ki je v enaki črni niansi kot torba, pa imam spravljene Brinine kremice, ampule s fiziološko raztopino in še kaj bi se našlo.
‘Stajlingu’ tokrat nisva namenjala posebne pozornosti. V kino rada hodiva udobno oblečena. Obožujem kavbojke, zato sploh ni bilo dvoma, da bi oblekla kaj drugega, sem jih pa po dolgem času (od 
Darko pa je na moje godrnjanje le pripomnil, češ bi pa obula kaj bolj udobnega in bi lahko hitreje hodila. »Halo, nisi tega rekel,« sem nergala. Ampak moj dragi ne bi bil moj dragi, če ne bi bil hladen kot špricer in se mi le ljubeznivo smejal. Na koncu nama je uspelo priti, čeprav zadnjo minuto.
Do zdaj, ko pišem ta blog, sem prebrala kar nekaj kritik/recenzij drugega dela ljubezenske zgodbe med zdaj že nekdanjo študentko Anastasio Steele in multimilijarderskim mogotcem Christianom Greyjem. Moje mnenje je, da je film ustvarjen predvsem za žensko občinstvo. Preteklo je sicer že nekaj let, odkar sem prebrala knjižno uspešnico, tako da je prebrana vsebina že precej zbledela, a nadaljevanje svetovne uspešnice mi je bil bistveno bolj všeč kot prvi del. Čeprav mi ni bil noben presežek, je moja splošna ocena: »luškan film«.
Preostanek večera sva preživela v najini najljubši restavraciji in prijetno kremljala. Za piko na i pa večer zaključila še v slaščičarni in se pregrešila še vsak s svojim koščkom slastne torte. Ko sva prišla domov, je Brina že sladko spala pri babici v naročju. Midva pa sva po dolgem času preživela čudovit (valentinov) večer v dvoje.
Valentinovega pravzaprav nikoli nisem zares praznovala oziroma mu nisem dajala pretiranega poudarka, kot primerljivo ‘amerikaniziranemu’ prazniku – Halloween-u, saj nisem ravno romantična duša. Vsi ti srčki, vsepovsod ‘ljubezen’ in rdeča barva pa so za moj okus čisto preveč pocukrana kombinacija. Dan zaljubljenih je zame zgolj še en uvožen praznik, praznik trgovcev. No, tako se vseskozi prepričujem, a očitno mu, kot boste videli/prebrali, kljub vsemu namenim nekaj pozornosti… Čisto indiferentna kot kaže le nisem, le priznam si ne. [smeh]
Od kar imava Brino, torej že sedem mesecev, so le redki trenutki, ko si z Darkom lahko vzameva čas samo za naju. In tu se verjetno najdete mnogi starši. Tudi zvečer, ko jo dava spat (v svojo sobo), nikoli čisto ne odklopiva, z enim ušesom vendarle prisluškujeva, če se bo morda zbudila…
Po mojem mnenju si moramo na vsake toliko partnerji vzeti tudi čas samo zase. Jaz temu rečem – čas za dva. V dandanašnjem tempu življenja, ko hote ali nehote vso pozornost posvečamo našim otrokom, se vse prevečkrat zgodi, da enostavno pozabimo na svoje boljše polovice in živimo eden mimo drugega. In da se nam ne zgodi, da pademo v dnevno rutino, potrebujemo nekaj romantike. Zato mislim, da je potrebno kdaj tudi ‘kak tak’ praznik kot je valentinovo izkoristiti in ga uporabiti za priročen izgovor, da se posvetimo tudi samo njim.
Vstopnici za kino sem kupila! A ne za kateri koli film. Gledat greva nadaljevanje enega bolj razvpitih filmov v zadnjih letih, posnetega po knjižni trilogiji pisateljice E. L. James, ki je podirala vse rekorde. Če se ne motim, sem pred časom zasledila podatek, da so jo prodali v več kot 100 milijonih izvodov; literarni fenomen, ni kaj. Knjižno uspešnico sem prebrala tudi sama, prav tako sem si ogledala film Petdeset odtenkov sive, oziroma v izvirniku Fifty Shades of Grey. In tudi ta je podiral rekorde… Po svetu je zaslužil 560 milijonov dolarjev, v Sloveniji pa si ga je ogledalo več kot 136 tisoč gledalcev.
A moje mnenje do sedaj je, da film (posnet po knjigi) nikoli ne bo boljši od knjige, pa naj si bo to Petdeset odtenkov sive, Angeli in demoni, Da Vincijeva šifra ali pa Čefurji raus. A kljub vsemu je najbrž logično, da si bova ogledala tudi drugi del.
S sadjem. Ja in jasno sem s tem sprožila val ogorčenja pri številnih ‘pametnjakovičih’, ki so mi znali povedati, kako se otroka začne navajati najprej na zelenjavo, ker če ga navadiš najprej na sadje, potem ne bo jedel zelenjave. ‘Wrong!’ Naša Brina je dokaz, da temu ni tako. Najprej je začela z jabolki, hruškami, avokadom in bananami, saj sva z Darkom želela, da hranjenje spozna kot pozitivno izkušnjo in da bo rada ter z veseljem jedla pa tudi, da se bo najedla oziroma ne bo lačna. In imela sva prav, Brine nikoli ni bilo treba siliti s hrano. Po približno 14 dneh sva sadne obroke zamenjala z zelenjavnimi, katere ima celo raje kot sadne. Je vso zelenjavo – brokoli, bučke, blitvo, cvetačo, krompir, 
Nato sem jo začela hraniti še z jogurtom, skuto, zelenjavi dodajati kislo smetano in maslo…Ja, nekateri boste zdaj skočili v ‘luft’ – češ, mlečnih izdelkov se ne daje do devetega meseca starosti. 
A Brina jih naravnost obožuje, povrhu vsega pa jih je požegnala tudi pediatrinja, potem ko sva ji pojasnila, da ni bilo nikakršnih zapletov. Postopoma sem dodajala še belo ribo, rumenjak, kruh, riž, piškote, žitne kosmiče, gres, telečje meso pa še kaj sem verjetno pozabila. Izogibam se sladkorju in soli ter živilom, ki so na seznamu, ki bi lahko povzročala alergije oziroma druge reakcije. To pa so jajčni beljak, oreščki, med, agrumi ter kravje mleko.
Korak dalje pri prehranjevanju smo naredili na 
Pri hranjenju večinoma uporabljam ‘plastificiran slinček’, ki izgleda kot nekakšna pelerina. Brino tako kar oblečem vanj in ne rabim posebej paziti, če gre kaj mimo, prav tako je priročen kadar že sama je žemljico ali piškot. Po hranjenju slinček snamem in ga samo sperem pod tekočo vodo. Sem pa enega sušila na razbeljenem radiatorju in se je stopil – tako da ‘don’t do that’. [smeh] Ko smo ravno pri slinčkih… meni so najljubši, predvsem pa najbolj praktični slinčki na ježke. 
Tisti, ki jih je potrebno zavezati, so nepriročni za tako žive otroke kot je Brina. Eno obdobje, ko se je Brina precej slinila, da sem ji zamenjala par slinčkov na dan, sem skoraj prej obupala, predno sem ji ga uspela zavezati. No, ali pa sem jo morala presneto dobro animirati, da se ni obračala kot kakšna vrtavka in si ga je po možnosti snela, še predno mi je uspelo narediti mašno. Slinčki na ježke so tako na mojem ‘must have’ seznamu.
In kdaj vem, da se je Brina najedla in je sita?
Pa še to. Če se Brina zvečer dobro naje, brez zbujanja in pritoževanja –