Tuesday, March 31, 2009

60

Happy 60th Birthday,
Mormor!! :))

First dentist appointment.

Well, it wasn't really any kind of check-up, but she did get to meet her dentist. :)

Fredrik had Friday off and Monday, so we had a nice 4 day weekend with Pappa. :) And then since Leia had her appointment this morning, he stayed home and went into work late this morning.

Since we had time this morning, we went and renewed Fredrik's passport (at the police station)!
Leia sitting in the waiting room, munching on some Cheerios:




It didn't take very long at the police station. They have a machine that takes the picture and everything is done digitally. So it took a few minutes to put in his information and take the picture. Then he'll get it in the mail sometime soon.








The dentist just talked to us about things to do and not do. About when we should make sure she stops with her pacifier and all that. (Which we are not looking forward to.) :/ :))

Leia cried a little when the dentist stuck her finger in her mouth and felt her teeth. But she calmed down very quickily afterwards and she did very well! Much better than we thought she would do.



















If I gather right, it seems like the dentist thinks we are doing okay by her teeth. :) With how we feed her and what we feed her. She'll have her first real dentist appointment around 3 years of age.

Monday, March 30, 2009

Her very own couch.

Today we decided to go to a cheap home store (Jysk) to buy a shade for Leia's room. Sicne the time change, it is now lighter later in the day, and.. in Sweden.. that daylight just lasts longer and longer during the summer. Since she joined us, we have been trying so hard to keep her room dark(er).

I had bought some black material to use in the downstairs bathroom. But I ended up using it to cover her window and the balcony door window. But it wasn't exactly enough matrial to cover the balcony door - so it still let in some light. So we bought a shade and we fixed that today. And I don't know if it is any better, but at least it is now easier to maneuver. So that we can easily raise the shade and let in some light during the day. (The window has the black cloth taped entirely around it - to not let in ANY light.)

Blah blah blah... :)



But we did buy Leia something today. :)











She LOVES it! :)
Behind her pacifier (in the first picture) she is smiling plenty. :))

She likes to sit in it and watch the Teletubbies and read her books. :) We thought it was a good investment. :)


And someone switched babies on us during the night. Leia was a perfect angel today. She was patient and played with her toys and held her temper. So it was nice having Leia back to normal (even if for a day). :) We'll see what tomorrow will bring. :/ :))

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Time change.

So we finally had our time change last night. So we are back to normal, and 6 hours ahead of my parents. It gets very confusing when it isn't the normal 6 hours and it is either 5 or 7 hours.

Leia slept today at least - which is a good thing. :) It was weird that she didn't sleep yesterday, but we are glad she is napping - it should make her happier. We've decided to feed her every hour. We did that this morning, and it kept her pretty happy. It is almost impossible to make her go every 2 hours when she is behaving normally. So we decided that maybe having her eat something more often, even just a piece of fruit will keep her happier. We have to try every option, right?

At the grocery store on Friday, we did find a couple of Teletubbie DVDs, which was awesome. We have one in English and then another in Swedish/Danish/Finnish. But they are the SAME DVD.. :/ So it was nice to find some different shows, as Fredrik and I are really, really tired of them. Leia likes them and they are educational - so we are trying to not feel too guilty about putting on the TV when she starts getting aggressive or angry. She will usually watch it for awhile, and then start to play with her blocks - or she even turns off the TV and takes the DVD out of the player....


Some pictures from today:





She loves doing her wooden puzzle.


**More pieces under the couch????**


**There's LOTS of stuff under the couch !!!**



I got my driving books on Thursday!
We got a learning set in Swedish. With several books. And then we also got a book in English. I want to be able to learn it in both languages. I will be able to take the test in English if I want. But everyone says to make sure that you can switch between the English and Swedish during the test (written test - on a computer). Sometimes the Swedish is impossible to understand, and the English is in British English - and we all know they have weird words for stuff, so it will be good to be able to switch back and forth between the languages. So I will study, study, study for that. And try to get it overwith as soon as possible.

After the written test, you have to do a slippery course. To practice stopping the car on "ice." And then the normal driving test. But I think they have added an extra course into the whole thing - in order to make extra money. The affects of narcotics/alcohol while driving. Or something like that. It is just a way to make people pay more money. And I am allowed to have Fredrik with me during the slippery "test" and during my driving test. In case I need a translator. It will probably make me feel more at east to have him in the car anyway.

Blah blah blah... on to more cleaning. :P

Saturday, March 28, 2009

A short walk.

We went out to play in the snow today. It snowed more last night, and just a little today. But it stayed a few degrees above freezing, so the snow has melted away just a little. Next week is supposed to be warmer - so we are hoping that the snow will finally melt away for good.





There aren't very many pictures of Leia and I together. (My husband isn't the best at taking pictures of us together and at Leia's age now - it has become more difficult for me to take the pictures myself - she wiggles too much.) But here is what I have:










We decided to take a short walk to the little grocery store near the house. Leia got to walk about ½ way until we made it to a bigger street and then Pappa had to carry her. She enjoyed her walk, even though it took us awhile because everyone we passed got a "Hi!" ... :) And she stopped to look at everything, even though she's seen it sooo many times already. :)) She definitely enjoyed her stroll and it made her very, very tired.. (even though she didn't nap at all afterwards.....)







We're still fighting with her to eat. :/
Today I got her to eat a ½ piece of bread with peanut butter on it. And then for dinner, we tried some jar food, and she actually ate some of that. She used to not eat jar food at all - but we are just pleased when she will eat anything. She and I had oatmeal for breakfast (one of her favorites).

We are SO excited for our trip to the US. :)) Fredrik and I are thinking about all the things we want to do. :) Pretty sad that we have to go all the way to the US to be able to go to the movies or get a nice dinner or a trip to the store by ourselves.

We are trying to figure out all those things, like how many suitcases to take. All of our other trips have been Dec-Jan.. but this time we won't have to take Winter clothes! So we are hoping to take as little with us a possible, and then buy whatever we need while we are there. :))) Especially clothes for Leia.

We're planning a 2-3 day trip to Niagra Falls. (Leia will be staying with Mormor + Morfar.) I want to make sure Fredrik sees the Falls from the US and then from the Canadian side as well. Then we are planning a 2 day trip to PA to the Hershey Park, to meet up with my sister, her boyfriend, and her 3 children. (I haven't seen my sister in 5 years!) Then we'll also take a 3-4 day trip to KY to let Fredrik see where my parents grew up and visit with lots of friends and family. :)

We're so very excited. :) I think it makes us happy that we get to visit with people that understand us and accept us how we are. People that think we are fun and entertaining. We don't get that a lot in Sweden ... you know.. since we don't drink coffee and all that. Oooh.. and also a trip to Cedar Point. Not sure I'm going to be interested in any of the roller coasters. But good food and fun souvenirs are what I am interested in! And they have tons of things for babies and children - so that should be a fun day! :)

Okay - now it is definitely sleep time!
Last night I fell asleep on the couch at 21.00..... But tonight I managed to stay up - even though I almost fell asleep at 20.30.. :P

Friday, March 27, 2009

Snow........









And a bathing Leia...

Thursday, March 26, 2009

First lollipop.

Pictures from Saturday:
















Pictures from Sunday:












Pictures from yesterday (Wednesday):










Blogging.

It would probably help with my blogging if I didn't fall asleep on the couch every evening. :P I am just so tired that I just fall asleep soon after I sit down. And I usually write in the evenings, so when Fredrik wakes me up to go to bed, I of course don't even think about blogging.

And Leia hasn't been so much fun lately.
If you ask her for a hug, she'll hit you - which is what she's always done though.

And she refuses to eat lunch and dinner (for the last few weeks), and for the last 2 days she won't eat breakfast either. Not sure what is going on with her. She's extremely cranky, whiny, and screamy. Yesterday afternoon she was much, much better, so I thought things were on the upward turn, but she's not been very personable this morning......

So whatever is going on with her - we hope it soon passes. She isn't very pleasant to be around. We mostly try to let her do her own thing and try to stay out of her way.

Now I have to dress the little monster in her snowsuit, seeing as it is staying below freezing all the time now, and get her to daycare.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Useless information..

Through life you always learn little tidbits of useless information.

What I've recently learned:

Teletubbies in English say = uh-oh
Teletubbies in Swedish say = oj
Teletubbies in Danish say = oh nej

Monday, March 23, 2009

Happiness !!

Guess what ?!?! :D

We are going to the US in June! :)
I am SO excited!

I got a tip about decent airline prices and we decided to change our summer plans and go to the US for 3 weeks in June. :) Mormor and Morfar are so excited that they are giving us a little money to help pay for the tickets so it isn't so economically damaging for us.. :D

It would have been really, really cheap, but we decided we needed to get Leia a seat for herself. We *could* have her on our laps for the trip (seeing as we'll make the entire trip while she is still under 2 years old), but we decided that for our sanity we needed to get her her own seat, and the extra room will be nice!

We will get to go to some zoos (djurpark) in Cleveland and even make a trip to Cedar Point. The weather will be nice and hot, but not August-hot. :))

I'm so excited to go home and see my parents! They will get to spend some time with Leia, and Fredrik and I can get a break. :) He and I are hoping to take a 3 day trip to Canada and see Niagra Falls - he's never been. :)

YAY! :)

Now we just need to renew Fredrik and I's passports, as they both are expiring soon.

Apology.

Ugh.. I am sorry that I haven't been so good at updating lately. :P I used to put something on every day and now I am lagging behind! Not sure why, really. :/ I think when I have less to do that I -- feel like I don't have much to talk about. :P With the same things happening day after day - I guess I don't think it is too exciting. :P

Fredrik had fixed his papers for parent-leave time, and his boss was supposed to drive up today to sign the papers, to make it official. But she called him this morning and said she wouldn't be making it (a little annoying). But he'll mail them to her and she'll get everything fixed.

Today he's coming home early, so that I can make my every-other month visit to the unemployment office that I have to make so that they keep me on their unemployed list. Annoying to have to do - but nothing can be done about it.

He'll start his papppa-leave on this Friday. :) So he'll have a 4 day weekend this week! :) (Since he'll have Monday off for pappa-time too.) And then he'll have Mondays off up until his vacation.

We're still figuring out his vacation time. :/ I think he is going to take a few weeks in June and then a couple of weeks in August.

The new guy isn't starting until June!! So Fredrik is still alone until then. :/ And when he starts in June, he is going to be sent to Falkenberg, where they have a bigger office, to give the guy more training. He is still new to the work, so they want to give him more specifics about working with Metria. Fredrik did his internship with Metria's mother company (Lantmäteriet), so Fredrik had a good head-start when he started working.

Hmmm.. *think*

The fireplace should still be getting fixed in April -- we are hoping! Haven't heard from them yet.... They said they would call a week or two before they show up. I just hope they give us plenty of time to move furniture out of the living room and dining room without too much stress with time. Because it is gonna make a lot of dust.. :/

Leia has put together her first phrase! :)
She has been saying: Min nana. :D A mix of Swedish and English. :) A bit appropriate if I do say so myself. :) (My banana.) :) That is what she says when she wants a banana. :)

I'll add some pictures later - I really need to get some lunch!

Friday, March 20, 2009

Catching up with pictures.

Leia LOVES the Teletubbies. I mean - she could sit and watch it ALL day and not move. So we let her watch a little every day and that is all she watches. She isn't interested in anything else on the TV. A colorful commercial here and there might catch her attention when Fredrik and I might be looking at something, but otherwise, she could care less about the TV. Which is a good thing! Teletubbies might not be exactly educational, but we don't think that it could possibly harm her. :) Although Fredrik thinks that when I let her watch it in Danish and Finnish - that it is going to make her develop mental problems... :D








This morning Leia and I went on a walk into the middle of town, so that she could swing in the baby swing:





And then a stop by the stream to have a "mellanmål" (snack - "middle meal"):





On the way home, Leia was pretty tuckered out! So she ended up falling asleep: