Off again

Tomorrow we head off for vacation no 2. This time we're going to Skåne with friends, more specifically to Haväng. Really looking forward to getting there but not really to the drive there. 7 hrs at least..

Photos

of our trip to England can now be found here

Almost over

Since last time we have been taking it a bit easier but still managed to do a few things.

We've celebrated Juliet and Oliver's 15th anniversary.

We had a lovely day at the beach one day. Elias loved playing with the stones and running around in the water. David and I actually did have a little swim as well!

We've also been back to see grandad John one more time and we went to the miniature railway in Eastbourne with Juliet and Finley. On the weekend David and I went to a Sikh wedding and left the children with Auntie Juliet and Grandma. The wedding was spectacular and we really enjoyed our first night off together since the arrival of Elias.

We've borrowed a "bouncer" which Alice really likes a lot.

Yesterday we went to the Seven Sister's country park. David lived in the park for 7 years when he was a little boy.

First we had a picnick in the Friston forest...

... and then we walked down to the beach. Elias did really well and almost walked the whole way there (on the way back he got to sit in the pram)

And now we need to start packing because tomorrow evening we're flying back. Sad but true...

And what about the kids?

Alice has been very easy and sunny while we've been here and a few people have said they will take her with them if they get the chance ;-) She is very strong on her front and this week she has started to try to get up on her hands and knees. It is amazing to watch her try. She is so focused and can do it for quite a while before she gets annoyed.

In center Parks she really enjoyed swimming in the pools. I did a few "baby swimming" exercises that we learned with Elias and she loved it (he hated it at the same age). I felt a bit guilty when I realized how much she loved swimming because I didn't really know. I guess it is a "second baby thing"; not quite taking the time to find out all these things. Oh well, at least we know now!

On Tuesday Alice got a bit snotty and yesterday she had a pretty bad evening. Hopefully it was because of the slight cold she has or else her sunny phase has come to an end and "storm clouds are gathering"... (David thinks she has entered the stage of relationships)

Elias has started to speak more and more English this week and I just feel proud and amazed at what he can do. He is really trying hard, bless him. He has seemed very tired in the evenings and maybe that has to do with the language (I remember being exhausted in the evenings when I was in Germany). I think he has enjoyed most of the trip so far but he does talk about the "pink house" now and again so maybe he is a bit homesick sometimes. Both here at grandma Joyce and in Center Parks he has fallen out of bed a few times but without waking up. That's one good thing about carpets I guess; it softens the fall a little bit...

In Center Parks Elias loved the swimming pools and especially going down one of the slides. I think both Dave and I were a bit surprised that he did it. It took him a while to build up the courage but once he did it we could hardly drag him away from it.

Half time

We can't believe we've already been here for 2 weeks. Only 2 weeks left! Up until now we have been pretty busy though so no wonder time has flown.

We arrived pretty late Wednesday night after a pretty ok flight. Alice was a bit upset for a while but there were plenty of other kids screaming more ;-)

On Thursday we went round to Auntie Juliet's for lunch.
On Friday we went down to the beach (unfortunatelly we didn't take any pics)On Saturday we drove to Cardiff and went to a Christening on Sunday. Don't we all look nice!
Monday was spent driving back from Cardiff and in the evening I was allowed to go to a Pilates class with Joyce.
We saw grandad John, Jennie, Jo, Lizzie and Owen on Tuesday. Elias did a grand job watering their flowers!
On Wednesday we went to Drusillas Zoo. It was really good! Elias especially liked to go on a ride with Thomas the tank engine...
Elias has enjoyed breakfast in the garden.

Friday-Monday we spent in Center Parks with 3 other families. It was great fun. Elias went to a soccer school class which he thought was ok. He was probably a bit on the young side especially since his English isn't really as good as his Swedish yet. But we had fun watching them all. Quite a few drama queens in the making! Elias (and Alice) loved the pools and loved going down the slide.
Tuesday we went to Middle Farm which Elias loved!

Busy busy

It feels like it's been a wee bit crazy lately. But it is probably just me getting stressed for no reason as usual. Anyway. Since last we've celebrated Midsummer with my cousin and her family. For once the weather was pretty good and we had a great day with them. Elias especially enjoyed telling Leonard off for various things. He is such a little police at the moment. "No Leonard, don't throw sand outside the sandbox. Now I will get angry!"

On Sunday we made a trip to the beach. It was beautiful and I think Elias really enjoyed it. Yesterday I had another appointment with the chiropractor and tomorrow morning Alice is having her ears checked up. Somehow we (I) have also managed to do loads of washing and hopefully we will manage to pack everything tomorrow. I think there might be one or two shops where we're going and I might just have to make a visit there. Not that I want to, oh no, but if we have forgotten something I just might have to go. Poor me. And who knows, maybe some jeans will find me in the process too...

Alice is sitting fairly well at the moment but not well enough to be left on her own.

More pictures are in the May&June album.

Eating

It's not always that easy to feed Alice...

Often she just wants to practise flying instead,

toys taste better than food,

and it's difficult to find the mouth

Lucky grandma Inger was here to get the job done properly!

(At the moment she usually eats a bit of solid food for lunch. It's quite funny to watch her reaction to the first spoonful, she usually look very disgusted. In the evening she has a portion of porridge as well, which, apart from fruit, is her favourite.)

Roll over

On Tuesday Alice turned over from back to front twice and since then she has mastered this new skill completely. When we put her down on her back it usually only takes a few seconds and then she has turned over to her front. She has rolled from front to back once but I think that was more of an accident because she was on a slope...

Sideways

Today Alice turned over to her side for the first time...

Party report

On Saturday we held the party for Elias. In all 5 of his friends were invited and that was more than enough ;-)

These two girls are in the same group as Elias at nursery. The girl in red is Elias "best friend" at the moment. Every day when I pick him up they play together. It is very sweet.


Fishing for party bags was popular...



The party lasted two hours and Elias was pretty exhausted at the end. I guess it didn't really help that he woke up at 3.30 am in the morning. He had a 2 hour sleep mid day but still...

5 months

I can't believe how fast time is going. Elias is 3 years old and Alice 5 months already. It looks like she is getting close to turning over from back to front and she likes to sit up (supported). We started giving her a bit of solid food and it went pretty well, but after she started taking the antibiotics her stomach has bin a bit upset and she doesn't want anything but her milk.

3 years

On Friday morning we waited for Elias to finish singing and then we went in singing Happy Birthday. He wasn't quite as thrilled as I had hoped... After getting a muffin he cheered up though..


After breakfast he got some presents which he of course liked. While he was at nursery David (off sick form work) started building the car park we got for Elias.



I was a bit worried for a while but we actually managed to get it together. And he seems to love it!

I'm gonna do bad bad things to you

(see here if you don't get it!)

Exhausted

Alice has had a bit of a cold lately but nothing too bad. She has had a bit of a chesty cough but that is sort of normal for her now so I haven't been too worried. Last night she was very tired in the evening and slept quite bad in the night. We checked her temperature in the night and it was 38.4 so no wonder she was a bit restless.

This morning she was very grumpy and it was a bit tricky to keep her happy and also tend to Elias getting ready for nursery (in the end he had an accident, totally my fault of course because I was so focused on Alice).

As the day progressed she seemed worse and worse. Didn't really want to eat much, didn't want to play and was mainly tired and grumpy. In the end we decided I should take her to the hospital and David pick up Elias (the nursery kindly let us pick him up later than normal).

The ER was very busy of course and it took 4.5 hrs before we were done. Luckily she was very easy going the whole time. Probably because she was quite off colour... They gave her paracetamol when we got in to take down her temperature (it was now 38.7) and later the doctor examined her and saw that she has an ear infection. She also got to inhale medicine twice to address the chesty cough.

Now we need to give her antibiotics for 10 days along with some medicines for her rattly chest. It's not so much fun being Alice at the moment...

Better late than never

I've finally uploaded pictures from Easter to the March&April album.

I have also created a new one; May&June.

Enjoy!

Long weekend

We've had a nice 4-day weekend together thanks to a bank holiday on Thursday.


Little Alice is growing up. Now she can sit up with support...

New data and flavours

On Wednesday we went for Alice's 4-month check up. She now weighs 6920 grams and is 63,5 cm tall.

Today she had a "taster" for the first time. Potato. Some went in at least...

4 months

0 & 1 months old

2 & 3 months old

(will make sure to upload a 4-months picture as well!)