This week topic on Illustration Friday is RED  Here is my contribution on the topic 

During the past year we ( a great gang of mothers with funky little kids) have been taking turns hosting lunch/playdates on regular basis. We have been asked what we do on these playdates and got suggested that we meet and just simply have endless coffees. The reality is maybe not endless coffees. But we are having a very good time.

In my sketch book you can find these little animal friends. It is a lot of animal noises in Team Nikolovski household. Mila is mainly barking like a dog and mjauwing like a cat, but also a lot of other animals is her repertoire such as elephant, monkey, pigeon, frog, small birds, mice, pig, cow, horse and many more. It is not always easy to make the correct sounds when she points and wants to learn new once or just checking my knowledge, for example she has a book about a reindeer... What does the reindeer sound like??? Apart from all the animals sounds her cutest word is by far NALLE ( teddy-bear ) and she is using it frequently. The other day she finally got a big nalle which she is carrying around although it is nearly bigger then herself. Another nalle has to take a bath with her every night, I said no in the beginning as in our boring grown-up world nalle should not have baths on regular basis, but why not?

I have bought a lot of new cute fabrics lately. I will take a picture and show my nice new pile and color explosion as soon as I get a chance. For now let me introduce this nice Lillestoff ecological jersey fabric "Retroflower" which I made a little tunic of for Mila. The design of the tunic is simple and my own design with inspiration from Ottobre magazine. Useful for playing as it is not to long and also not too long sleeves. The shorter tunic with the circus theme is also new but the fabric I bought last year and arms made of pappa Loren's old T-shirts.

I found this in my sketchbook, illustrations of Mila when she started to take her first shaky promenades. It is not that long ago but it feels like she has always been walking. Funny how quickly you forget the different development steps, good job that I have at least one million photos of all the stages.

I have managed my first year in the parenthood jungle full of do's and dont's, hard times as well as fun and happy times. All in a great big confusing mix. From one day to another ( kind of besides 9 months of growing bump and hemorrhoids) I got a new title and function in life – Mamma. The most important and best title I could ever ask for. But also a lot to learn and to Google. All the googling and discussions in parenthood forums and blogs have been great help but also a giggle and great inspiration to fun illustrations.  Here is some of my collection of Hot Topics from the parenthood jungle ( and more to come) enjoy my top five list below. 1.Bottle v/s Breast Sensitive topic indeed not to mention how sensitive nipples become after experiencing a small baby's powerful suction in combination of their lack of technique. Endless questions, discussions and research what to do and what not to do and what really makes your baby the most clever ? ...

I love these traditional Swedish buns (Semlor) filled with marzipan and cream. They are part of surviving the dark, cold and rather boring winter month of February. They even have a special day in Sweden (and Finland not sure about the other Scandinavian countries) this day was last week but as I missed it I decided to make them one last Tuesday before finishing the season. Thank you for this year and see you next year! (Milica I will write the recipe in Swedish for me to remember a good recipe for next seaon and not for you to Google translate and make them off season ;) 1/2 paket jäst (à 50 g) ...

Last weekend , me and my little globetrotter headed out on adventures to Skåne ( southern part of Sweden) Pappa Loren was suppose to be on business in Mongolia but that trip was postponed and so he went on other adventures, a road-trip to Berlin. Me and Mila has flown quit a lot ( she will soon have a frequent traveler card) and she likes to the airport environment and airplane with all the people and things going on. New for this time was the walking-by-myself-thing. Warm, flushed and super sweaty after a long cue through security I realized how easy it was to travel with company that fits in a Babybjörn...Stroller, heavy bag, backpack, big sized handbag, passports, boarding cards and a one year old running around is rather challenging. But also amazing to see this happy girl running around in the airport waving to people, understanding what is going on, experiencing the belts that moves you without having to walk and flirting with the passengers in the row behind. We flow to Copenhag...