Boy in a Bath

Daft as a brush!

eddie izzard

At hovet, not quite alone, waiting for eddie.

New phone

Testing to blog from my new phone

Lucia

Yesterday was the big Lucia day which is celebrated a lot in Sweden. At nursery they aranged the celebration on Friday and it was all so sweet. We dropped him off at 7.45 and then waited in the playground. At 8.00 the procession with all the children came and then they sang loads of songs. Elias sang the loudest at some points ;-)
Afterwards we had gingerbread cookies they baked the day before and glögg. I had the day off and had planned to take Elias home with me, but my backpain is so bad now that I decided to let him stay at nursery while I went home for some rest. I picked him up early though to go to my cousin to celebrate little L's first birthday.

Getting ready to go.


A lot of little santas, lucias and gingerbread men. Elias next to one of his teachers

Helping L open his present

"Showing" L how to play with the new toy

Imagine

One big change we have noticed lately in Elias is that his imagination is starting to show when he is playing. It is so sweet! On Sunday morning we were all downstairs and he kept going to get food for me and David. He was very careful when carrying the "food" back to the bed and very specific with what was being served. Sometimes it was soup, sometimes a pear.

Tonight I have the night off and it will be so nice. Me and Anna are using the short "window" we have at the moment when both of us can get out of the house at night. Rebecka isn't breastfeeding any more and I'm not stuck to our no 2 yet. Better make the most of it!! We're going to a Japanese noodle restaurant and I'm so looking forward to it! (Just a bit of a shame that I have stuffed myself with the "consultant chocolate" that was delivered today. Mind you, we probably won't eat for another 2 hrs so it shouldn't be a problem... )

Friday fun

Star Wars: Uncut Trailer from Casey Pugh on Vimeo.

For all loyal Star Wars fans out there ;-)

New games

I definitely think that seeing Anki and the baby has triggered a lot of thoughts and feelings in Elias. Last night he all of a sudden started to handle his bunny in a similar way to how we handled the baby. He wrapped Bunny up in a blanket, sang to it and carried it around very gently. He even brought Bunny into his own bed still wrapped up in the blanket.

This morning he continued and told me we had to be quiet because Bunny was sleeping, and he kept wrapping and re-wrapping Bunny in the blanket and moving him around. It is all very sweet!

Niece news

On Friday morning we started the drive down to Skåne. Elias was really good in the car even though it took 7 hours. It was a long drive but definitely worth it. Just look at her! The cutest little girl in the world!



With "Patty the puppy" (she was finished in the car....)


Connecting with Bacon


All of us had a great time. Elias loved seeing his aunt again and he was very good with the baby. Sometimes when she was asleep in the bedroom he would all of a sudden say "but, where is the baby??" and then go and rock the cradle and gently stroke her. So sweet! He didn't mind me holding her at all either. It feels like a good sign even though it will of course be a completely different thing when our baby arrives. At Anki's there was loads of fun distractions (dogs, Anki, new environment etc).

Baking

Another busy weekend is coming to an end. Yesterday we went to IKEA (yet again). Unfortunately some of the stuff we wanted to get was out of stock but we still managed to spend a fair bit of money of course. Elias really appreciated a lamp we got for his room. Today David changed the tyres on the car while me and Elias made a trip to the park. Afterwards we raked the last (yeah right!) leaves in the garden. Elias really enjoys helping and especially when he has his own tools...


In the afternoon we went to see Anna and Patrik so that Anna and I could do our traditional christmas baking. The small boys "helped" a bit... The bigger ones, not so much ;-)

Finally!

I'm an auntie!! I'm an auntie!! I'm an auntie!! I'm an auntie!! I'm an auntie!!

Just got the text. Angelika and P-A had a little baby girl!!!

I'm so happy and can't wait to find out more... Hopefully this means we will pack up the car and visit them Friday a week from now.

I'm an auntie!! I'm an auntie!! I'm an auntie!! I'm an auntie!! I'm an auntie!!

Sleepless in Stockholm

After months of beautiful sleep where we have questioned why oh why we decided it was time to bring in a new baby that will without a doubt keep us up in the night Elias has decided to put up a fight.

Putting him to bed is usually no problem at all, but lately he has started to wake up around 4 am. He is really awake and has no intention of going back to sleep. It usually takes about 1 hr of him lying in our bed fidgeting, singing, laughing, talking before he finally gives up. Yesterday he didn't have a mid-day sleep so we felt pretty confident we would get our beauty sleep. Oh, how wrong we were!

At 11 pm he woke up and by 01.30 he was STILL awake. I was starting to feel pretty desperate to say the least. He was obviously tired but just couldn't settle down. Finally David took the fight and managed to sing him to sleep.

I thought he would be a wreck this morning but when he woke up about 7.30 he was in a pretty good mood actually. I will be pretty surprised if it turns out he didn't
sleep at nursery today!

Today we're getting a mattress down from the attic so we can sleep next to him on the floor if/when he wakes up tonight. Hopefully he won't be up for hours tonight!

Learn Swedish

Forest group

Yesterday we had the last forest group get together of the season. We were quite lucky with the weather, no rain for once! Elias really enjoys the forest group and I'm so glad we found it and was able to join it before it got full (they have had to say no to people wanting to join this season)

A few picuters from Sunday. Some taken with my mobile and some with the leader's nice camera...



On Sunday we, among other things, dug down a stick with a few different things stuck on it. A piece of plastic, a leaf, a bit of bread, a bit of string. In the spring we will dig it up again and see what have happened to the stuff. Exciting!

Since it was the last session Mats (the leader) had two helpers with him and they cooked an apple cake. Guess which child was most keen to have more and more of it...

Singing

At nursery they have learnt to sing the Pippi Longstocking song (in Swedish) and it is a favourite at the moment.
(Sorry for showing it the wrong way around. I'm sure it can be turned somehow, but I don't know how to do it...)

Pumpkin work

1. Before 2. Work in progress


The result!

self publicist

Hi, I have started a new blog to help promote my upcoming book Oom! Here is the link:
DJWebber's blog

I feel self conscious typing this but... Tweet Me!

Good byes

Yesterday I dropped Elias off at nursery. He usually gets a bit upset when I leave and it always breaks my heart. It looked as though things were going the normal way yesterday. He hugged my legs and the bottom lip started to curl up. But then, when I reached the gate and hugged him he just said bye bye, waved and walked off.

Today when I was about to leave for work and he was waiting for his breakfast I went up to him and gave him a kiss and hug and said good bye. Then all of a sudden he kissed my bump. Guess if my heart melted!!

Carved my/our first ever Halloween pumpkin yesterday and it looks really good! Will post a picture soon...

Hair and bump

Went to Uppsala on the weekend and Finally got a haircut. Here is the result:


Yesterday Anki stopped by. She's due in 3 weeks..

Week gone

It's been a while, sorry about that! Last weekend my cousin babysat (Thank you!!!) on Saturday and David and I went into town. First we saw an exhibition by our friend Helena at 125 kvadrat. After that we mooched around for a bit and then went to a superb restaurant: Smak. The concept is small dishes and you buy any combination of 3, 5 or 7 dishes. We got 5 each and it was soooo yummy!

On Tuesday they had a "autumn party" at the nursery and all the kids was supposed to wear autumn crowns. David made Elias' crown on Sunday and we thought it looked really nice. The boy didn't seem to appreciate it quite as much though..

On Tuesday night Elias got ill so he's been at home on Wednesday and Thursday but today he could go back to nursery again.

The coming weekend we're pretty busy. Tomorrow morning I'm going to Uppsala for a haircut (crazy, I know!), and then in the afternoon we're going to Jacob's 3rd birthday party. On Sunday we're going to see our friends Kajsa & Matthias + kids in Uppsala. The car will clock a fair bit of mileage this weekend to say the least...

Back home

After a few great days in England we are back in reality now. Here is a few pictures as a recap. More pictures can be seen in the September&October photo album
Relaxing in Auntie Juliet's garden
Cousins having a snack together

We saw a calf being born.
Cousins having dinner together

First snow

This morning when I dropped Elias off at nursery it started to snow! Guess if the kids were excited! The snow didn't settle of course but it was still nice. Elias kept shouting "snövar, det snövar" (roughly: snowning, it's snowning). Very cute!

There seems to be a tradition here in the south that when it snows the first time you are allowed to have glögg. I haven't really heard about that before but it sure would be nice. A shame though that I can only have the non-alcoholic kind - that is pretty yucky... Maybe if Dave wants some I can have a sniff anyway; "skaru lukta på glöggen? " (classic quote from classic film shown at Christmas)

Hmm, getting all Christmassy now all of a sudden...

A big night ahead

Tonight we are finally making the Move from the cot to the "big boy bed".


I think a lot of our friends have done it sooner but we haven't really wanted to "rock the boat" since his sleep has worked really well lately, plus that in the summer we knew he would be sleeping in a cot in most places we visited. But now it is time! The bed is starting to look rather small and I personally is finding it pretty hard to lift him in and out of bed. And with my "condition" it ain't exactly going to get any easier.

So, please keep your fingers crossed for us tonight.

Sisters with bumps

We're 7 weeks apart. Does it show?

Pictures

I've added some pictures in a new album: September & October

Also, we're down to "just" double digits until the due date! Time sure flies!! Keep meaning to take some bump pictures but keep forgetting.

Tomorrow Anki will swing by, will be fun to compare our bumps!

Autumn is definitely here now. Even had to scrape the windscreen on the car this morning...

Circus

A few weeks ago Bwin arranged a family day at the Circus. It was great fun. I was a bit worried that Elias would get scared but he did very well. The arrangement was great, free food, free popcorn and candy floss. Elias was quite fascinated with the acts, especially the ones that involved animals... I must say that I wasn't very impressed but I guess the kids were amused anyway.


1. Father and son sharing popcorn and drink. 2. The catlady..

1. Mesmerized boys. 2. Horses with feathers


Elias didn't quite last the whole circus. It was right when he normally sleeps and halfway through the second half (when the clowns came out) he had had enough and we went for a walk. It didn't take that long until he was sound asleep..

Checkup

On Wednesday we went to the clinic for a "bump checkup". Everything looked fine. My blood sugar levels were good, my iron levels were even higher than last time (apparently very unusual but good) and the size of the bump is spot on average.

We got a lot of information about the swine flu and the vaccine they will start giving out in October. Pregnant women are a "high risk group" so they will start with us. So now we have to read up and make a decision. Normally I wouldn't have taken the vaccine but I guess it's not just me to think about this time...

We also got a list of the hospitals in Stockholm and their "visiting hours". That is when we could go and have a look at the delivery ward and decide which hospital is our first choice. There is mainly two to choose from for us. One is closer but if it is during the daytime traffic might be a problem. Golly gosh (Elias favourite word at the moment), it makes me nervous to think that it might be even quicker than last time...

Have a nice day

I was getting ready for work this morning and Elias was sitting at the breakfast table waiting for servant daddy to give him his "puffar" (a kind of cereal). I had said my goodbyes and was on my way when I could see he was thinking really hard and tried to say something. Finally a really sweet "have a nice day" came out (in Swedish). Guess if my heart melted...

Friday!

(mysa = get cozy)

There is a day when you can exhale
Finally you go home and get away from the nagging boss
Since I moved here all I do is "mys" and "mys"
YES WE DO
It's time for Friday-mys, even if it's the last thing I do
Soon it's Friday-mys
I hope the parents stay away
The week is over
It is time for Friday MYYYYS

Recognize the velour suit dad?? ;-)

I just love this commercial, it sort of embed so much of what's typical Swedish and my childhood. When I was little we certainly did the Friday mys. Dad made a fire in the fireplace, we had toast and prawns (dad pre-peeled loads in advance), mum and dad had wine and we were allowed soft drinks and crisps (dill and chives flavoured, always dill and chives) and we watched Dallas or some other "great" tv-program. Nostalgia...

Italy (part 1)

On August 17 we arrived at Treviso airport in Italy. We had decided to go by public transport to the campsite, a decision that seemed good before we got there but that turned out to be a small nightmare. First we had to wait for quite some time at the airport for bus no 1. Then we had to change at a train station and it was super hot and no information. Finally the bus came though and funnily enough the Hills and Joyce got on the same bus at Marco Polo airport. Then we had to change yet again and finally walk for what felt like ages with all our stuff in the scorching heat. But we made it!

Tired and hot mother with sleeping child on one of the numerous buses we travelled on that day

At first we didn't have the tents next to each other but after a few days we could change tent and move next to the Hills. The campsite was quite crowded but I thought it was pretty ok still. There was 2 pool areas, a good playground, a few restaurants and a shop that was really well stocked. They had amazing nectarines and I don't think I have ever had that many nectarines in such a short time before. Elias loved them too!
The first few days it was extremely hot and we all sweated loads. Elias slept in just his nappy and usually we put him to bed a bit later than normal because it was too hot earlier in the night. It looked quite nice when he was having his evening drink outside in one of the sun beds looking at the sky (airplanes)

Relaxed plane spotter

On Friday we went to Venice for the day. As usual I hadn't really read up on the place we visited but it was still really nice. We had nice coffee, took a gondola ride (David and Elias stayed on shore) and crossed many a bridges (not that easy with a pushchair I can tell you). I am really glad to have seen Venice even though I don't really know what I have seen. It is quite surreal with all the water going right up to the front door of the houses. Elias really liked all the pigeons on Piazza San Marco and loved chasing them around. I just felt sick by how many they were.

Elias surrounded by the rats of the sky

Gondola jam

To be continued...