Back home

We are now back home after a week and a half up north. The weather hasn't been quite as nice as I had hoped but we have still had a great time. Elias loved playing in the HEAPS of snow. I haven't seen this much snow since the winter 1988!


I haven't been taking that many photos I'm afraid, I relied on dad doing that for me ;-)

This I managed to catch on "film" though:

The future's so bright...

... I've got to wear shades!


Elias is ready for sunny spring-winter up north!!

Excercise

At least one of the girls in this family works out a bit... She's getting strong!

Smile - almost

It is very easy normally to get a smile out of Alice, but when my face is hidden behind the camera she isn't so keen. This is the closest I've gotten to capturing it so far...

Screaming and singing

First of all; sorry for the long time since the last entry. Time sure flies nowadays!

Alice and I visited my sister a few weekends ago and it was so nice to see them. We had a great time but of course it all ended way too soon. Luckily we're seeing them again at Easter. In the new photo album March & April 2010 you can see pictures.

Alice has unfortunately developed quite a bad evening temper and quite many evenings we've had to carry her around for a few hours while she's screams pretty much the whole time. Not fun I can tell you. This is also one of the reasons why the blog has suffered a bit. When she finally goes to sleep we usually need to hit the hay too!

Elias is doing well and keeps making us proud. The other day when I picked him up from nursery one of his teachers said she thought he is very well behaved at lunch time and always says please and thank you. And another day they said he had sung very enthusiastically at the morning assembly. He even got applauses. ;-)

Smile - NOT

Alice smiles and laughes quite a lot nowadays and I am doing my best to capture it on "film". The other day she was sitting in Daves lap and smiling loads, but when I got the camera out, this is what she did. The little rascal.

Goodbye snow

A few days ago we had amazing weather. Sunny and crisp but a bit too cold for me to take Alice out so I had to admire the beauty from inside. This is the best picture I managed to take to capture it.

Now it has gotten warmer though and all the snow is melting away. The streets are slippery, the snow is dirty and I just find it all a bit depressing. All the snow on our roof has started to slip off as well and this is what I found when going out to get the paper this morning.

Yippiee! Our own little skiing slope.

Various

Brotherly love.
The other day, Alice was sleeping on the sofa. This is how she looked when I had put her down

And this is what it looked like after Elias had given her his love


Snow
As you may know we have a lot of snow. I've tried to capture it but I don't think the pictures can quite show the reality.

But if you ask Elias though he can tell you exactly how much snow it is. "So much snow. Twentyfive!" So now you know...

Doctor, doctor

It's been a bit crazy here lately so here is a short recap.

Friday 12/2 - David took Elias to the ER because he coughed so much
Wednesday 17/2 - Alice started to have a bit of a chesty cough so I booked an appointment with a doctor
Thursday 18/2 - Took Alice to the doctor who thought she needed treatment. Alice inhaled two separate medicines but the doctor still wasn't quite happy with the sound of her lungs and told us to take her to the ER if htings didn't improve in the coming hours. It didn't so I took her in the evening where she inhaled medicine yet again.
Friday 19/2 - went back to the doctor again and she thought it sounded better but still Alice needed to inhale.
Monday 22/2 - Elias had an appointment with his doctor to oversee his medication and Alice came along as well. The doctor thought Elias sounded very good now and thought Alice was a lot better. She still had quite a bit of phlegm so she wanted to treat her one last time. We weighed both kids as well and it turned out Alice had lost 35 grams since Thursday night so the doctor wanted us to weigh her again at the end of this week just to make sure she doesn't loose more. So now we have an appointment with the clinic on Thursday to check her weight.

It's been quite a week! I guess it sounds pretty scary but I must admit I haven't been too worried, mainly because we have been seeing doctors quite often and they haven't been that worried even though they definitely thought she needed treatment. She has probably cought the RS virus and that is why she has had problems with phlegm and coughing. It usually also takes longer than a normal cold to recover from.

Cough x 2

Last week Elias started coughing a bit and on Friday we decided to keep him home from nursery since he was coughing so much. After a while he was coughing pretty much non stop and I really mean non stop. I called the clinic and since they were fully booked that day she recommended we should take him to the ER so he could get some help. I called David and he came and took Elias to the hospital (I didn't really want to take Alice along and expose her to all the germs in the ER).

It went well in the hospital apart from when Elias was having a bit of bread and choked on it. Typical. When they came back it didn't seem like the treatment had helped at all because he still coughed a lot. On Saturday it was pretty much gone though. On Monday we are taking him to the doctor to discuss how we should treat him for the asthma in the future.

And now Alice has gotten a bit of a chesty cough too so tomorrow I'm taking her to the doctor. I think it is probably just a cold but I want it checked since she is so little.

New weight

Today Alice has been for a checkup at the clinic and she now weighs 4520 grams.


Spagetti bolognese was on the menu tonight. Someone thought it was a lot of fun eating...

Smile

On Friday we started to notice that Alice was starting to smile. It is so cute! She quite often smiles when she is on the nursing table looking at a mobile with little fish. I haven't been able to capture her smile on camera yet but I will keep trying.

Until then you can look at the pictures in the jan&feb album.

Grandma visit

On Saturday evening Dave drove Joyce to the airport as it was time for her to go home again after (what we think) 5 great days. We really enjoyed having an extra pair of hands to help us entertain Elias, cuddle Alice and shovel snow.

While she was here we did a bit of shopping, went tobogganing, shovelled snow and even had cake at the neighbours. On Friday Joyce and David took Elias to Junibacken. I was a teeny bit jelous because I've been wanting to go for quite some while now. Unfortunately they don't allow prams in there so it didn't feel like a good idea for me and Alice to come along.

4 weeks

Yesterday we went for a checkup at the clinic. Alice now weighs 3980 grams and is 56 cm long. The midwife also checked that she can follow an object with her eyes and she passed the test!

I had a look in Elias' papers and at the same age he was 55 cm long and weighed 4850 grams. So he was quite a lot chubbier by then. No wonder that I was so hungry all the time and ate so much when I breastfed him but still lost so much weight!

Visit report

On Wednesday eventing Anki and F arrived and it was so nice to finally see them again. We've had a few busy and fun days together and now they have left us again :-(

On Thursday we went to see my cousin Therese where our aunt was visiting too (good timing!). It was so much fun and as a bonus our aunt had cooked Palt so me Anki and I were extra happy!

On Friday we went to see Anki's friend Hanna and her 3 children. It was fun and quite intense with all the children and I think F was in a bit of chock. Alice slept most of the time. I guess she is fairly used to chaos since she has a big brother, plus the fact she is very young still and most kids tend to sleep a lot then...

Yesterday we had some relatives visiting and we showed off our little gems.

Tomorrow I'm taking Alice for a checkup and I also need to prepare the house for the arrival of Grandma Joyce. We can't wait to see her!

Auntie Anki and Alice



Cute cousins!

Two peas in a pod

Can you tell who's who??

Cutie!

Poor big brother

On Wednesday night Elias coughed a lot and in the morning he was really snotty so we decided to keep him home from nursery on Thursday and it definitely turned out to be the right decision. He has gotten worse since then and this afternoon he even got a bit of a temperature. He is in pretty good spirit though. Unfortunately he wants to watch tv most of the time so it is a bit of a challenge to keep him occupied and happy.


I guess it is just a matter of time before Alice gets ill too since it is pretty hard to keep Elias off her. He just loves to hold her and cuddle her and I really don't want to tell him he can't.

Checkup

Today I took Alice for a checkup. I was a little bit nervous as they say babies should reach their birth weight again within 10-14 days. Not that I know what happens if you "fail"...

It turns out she now weighs 3450 grams and she is 52,7 cm long (3360 grams at birth and 50 cm long). Hooray, she passed!!!

This week has been my first on my own and so far it has gone pretty well. On Monday it went really bad picking Elias up from nursery, he had an awful tantrum, but the other days have been pretty good. Dropping him off has actually been easier than ever so far. Wonder why?

It is quite obvious that it will be very different to be on maternity leave this time. Last time around Elias and I could do pretty much what we wanted to do whenever we wanted to do it. Now we have a pretty strict schedule to stick to with the dropping off and picking up from nursery. Plus the fact that dinner has to be on the table every evening. When Elias was little we could eat whatever after he was in bed but now we have to feed him of course. Oh well, hopefully in a few weeks we will have found a routine that works...

12 days of Alice

Today Alice is 12 days old and it already seems like she's been with us forever (sort of anyway). We took her out in the pram for the first time today for a short walk. It has been so cold here most of the time since she arrived so we haven't really wanted to expose her too much to the outside.

Things are going well on the whole. On Tuesday the midwife was here and Alice had gained some weight which felt good. Next checkup is on Wednesday and by then she should have reached her birth weight (at least). They say that babies have 10-14 days to reach their birth weight again. I am very curious as to see what she weighs and how tall she has grown. It definitely feels like she has grown from how the clothes fit her.



Elias is still very sweet to Alice but usually calls her "the baby" or "little sister" and still calls her a him ;-)
When I feed her he quite often comes up to me and say he wants to hold her and he has a few times. It looks so sweet! He can sometimes get a bit jealous when I feed her and say "my mummy" but I think that is just normal and expected. As long as he stays sweet to her and takes out his frustration on us it is fine.



We are definitely experienceing the "terrible twos" at the moment and have one or more tantrums a day but it feels manageable. It is frustrating and annoying but in the end I usually just feel sorry for Elias having all these emotions and not knowing how to handle them. To be honest I do feel quite nervous about the coming week when I will be alone and need to get him to come to nursery in time and also to come home with me in the afternoon. That will probably be quite a challenge...

Name

Webber productions proudly presents:

Alice Elsa Maria Webber

Lightning Birth

Vickan woke me at 6.30. "David!!" she said, and rushed out of the bedroom. At first I thought that I must have been snoring and she was annoyed, but then she came back and told me that her waters had broken.

I got myself ready pretty quickly, in a bit of a panic, but not as much of a panic as last time. I thought we would have at least 2 hours before the actual birth so I had a shower and made myself some rice krispies. I then went out to brush the snow off the car while they got nice and soggy, but a couple of minutes later vickan came out with a piece of unbuttered toast for me and said it was time to go.

I managed to stay cool at the wheel on the way to Södertälje, although we had never driven this route before. I had a nervous moment near the end of the journey when the signs for the hospital just stopped but luckily we got there without a hitch. Vickan got taken up to the maternity unit and I went to park the car, paying for parking until 11.30 the next day.

When I found Vickan again in the maternity unit I realised that things had got worse for her really quickly and she was in serious pain. She had to be wheeled to the birthing room and I followed on behind.

I hardly had time to think before it was all happening. It was just like last time, but as though the film had been sped up. I felt a bit guilty because I couldn't help feeling relieved that it would all be over quickly.

Just 20 minutes after paying for the parking at a machine outside, our baby was born. It was at least 2 minutes before the midwife decided to pick the baby up from Vickan's tummy to see what kind it was. For some reason I was not surprised at all to see she was a girl. I was glad because I'd got it into my head that it might be easier for Elias to have a baby sister than a baby brother. But as it turns out, he doesn't seem to understand the difference - he always refers to the baby as "he".

The birth

As you all know by now we've had a little baby girl and I thought I should share with you how it all happened. It is quite fascinating how similar it all was to Elias' birth, only a lot faster.

On Monday morning I woke up at 6.30 because my waters broke. It seemed to be more water this time than last. Immediately I woke David up and he called the hospital while I had a quick shower. Unfortunately the line to the hospital was engaged so it took maybe 10 minutes before we could get through. Once we did she told me that they were full and she would find out where we could go instead and call me back. At about 6.50 she called me back and told me we should go to Södertälje hospital. By now I had had 2 contractions but they weren't very bad. At 7 o'clock we were in the car and started driving. Now the contractions started to come quite often but they weren't too painful. By the time we got closer to the hospital it was starting to be quite hard work though and I had to focus on "breathing through" the contractions. We got there at 7.25 and David went in to ask where we should go while I was trying to get out of the car. A nurse showed me the way while Dave parked the car. Now it was really starting to be quite intense.

I went up in the lift to the maternity ward where a nurse received me and showed me to an examination room. I was starting to feel quite overwhelmed by now by how intense the contractions where and sort of lost my ability to communicate very well. After a little while the midwife came in and asked me a few questions but I think she could tell by my actions and the way I looked that it was the real thing and she decided it was time to go in to the delivery room. They had to wheel me on the bed there because by now it was impossible to stand up and walk. In the delivery room she wanted to examine me to see how far the labour had gone but soon realised that I was ready to push. I did sort of realise that my self too, but just couldn't believe it and therefore didn't say anything. I was pretty shocked at the speed of the development and before I knew it I was lying there pushing the baby out. At 7.46 she came out, only 20 minutes after arriving to the hospital.

After it was all done I was in a state of happiness mixed with shock. I couldn't help but think what a close call it had been. We really couldn't have been any earlier at the hospital and if there had been any traffic problems on the way we wouldn't have made it. Had we been 5 minutes later I don't know if I could have made it in without help... Oh well, no use in thinking about all the things that could have gone wrong when it all went well.

One thing is for sure though, there won't be a number 3. The first delivery took us 3.5 hrs and this one 1 hr 15 mins, so next time I guess the baby would come out when the waters break!

Pictures

Will do a proper blog entry very soon, I promise, but for now you'll have to do with a few pictures in the new album January & February 2010

She's Here!

6.30 water broke
7.00 left for hospital
7.25 arrived, contractions severe
7.46 baby girl born

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!