Sankta Lucia.

Sankta Lucia = Saint Lucia.

Here is the picture of the children's Christmas tree at the daycare. :) We've decided that we have to go ahead and purchase a new camera. As you'll see the pictures look awful. If we don't replace it then we won't have any good pictures for Christmas. We're certain the camera will be ½ price after Christmas.. but not much we can do about it.


The children were adorable. :) They sang a few songs, including Itsy Bitsy Spider (Which is Leia's favorite). :)) Plus the regular Lucia songs. It was only the 2 teachers that sang. :)) A few of the children danced and one did lots of hand motions. :) Leia sat on Anna-Karin's lap the whole time. :)) We were just glad she didn't scream. :))


Afterwards we had a "fika." We had juice, tea, coffee, and then the children had made gingerbread cookies and Lussekatt. The Lussekatt were in very odd shapes and sizes.. :)) But they were yummy! They are the FIRST Lussekatt that I've eaten!! Not in 10 years have I ever eaten a Lussekatt. Which is because of my husband.. he won't eat them, because of the two raisins...... Then we realized that the Lussekatt had NO saffron... they weren't yellow at all and the taste wasn't there. So, in all actuality, I STILL haven't eaten my first Lussekatt..... I told Fredrik that I should bake some, and he said, "No." Because he won't eat any of them..... Doesn't mean I can't freeze them.

Leia ran around and played with the other children. She demanded everyone's attention... She is a charmer, that is for sure. She would prance around and walk up to people and pretend to be shy and then smile... :) Even the 10 year old boys that were there with their siblings were giving her tons of attention.

Sleeping in.

We had to wake Leia up this morning, at 8. :/ :D
She might have been just laying in bed, but she was definitely enjoying herself enough to not ask to be gotten. :)

Fredrik ended up getting home before 22.30 last night! The dinner didn't take as long as planned, and one of the Patriks drove him to the bus station in Trollhättan, or someone drove him to the station in Trollhättan and he was able to catch an earlier bus. Then he stayed home very late this morning, so that he could see Leia, since he didn't get to see her yesterday.

So we had a rush this morning to get everyone showered and fed and then get to daycare.

Yeah.. so we haven't seen the sun in.. a looong time now.. :/ It might be awhile before we see it again, too. While the day is mostly dark, the hours of "light" are just bright clouds in the sky. Some days the clouds are brighter, most days they are darker. We can go weeks without seeing the sun. Even when the sky is clear, and you can see blue.. there is still the stong chance of not seeing the sun over the tree tops.

The electricity went off today, but only for a few minutes. It is a scary thought, especially since the fireplace doesn't work. If the electricity goes, then we have no warm water and no heat. Since the pellet burner (that warms water for the house and for the radiators) runs on electricity.

We haven't heard anything from the fireplace-people. Need to get Fredrik to push them more, call every day and bother them until someone promises us a date for something. Even just to come to the house to look at the fireplace would be a start.

We haven't put up the Christmas tree yet. :/ Really need to do that. Definitely by this weekend!

Okay.. I should do more school work and get ready to get Leia from daycare.

Christmas get-togethers, part 2.

Fredrik has his Julbord today, his work Christmas dinner. It was in Gothenburg from 5-7 PM. But he couldn't get a train until 8, and that went to Trollhättan. From there he will have to take a bus, and he won't get home until 11. So it was just Leia and I this afternoon and evening. Leia didn't get to see her Pappa at all today, and she won't see him probably until tomorrow evening.

And I'm still jealous that even Leia has a Christmas get-together and I don't.. :T

I really hate the separation in Sweden of work and family. It really bothers me. In the US, you take your family along for work parties and gatherings and all that. In Sweden it isn't even a possibility. They want their workers to be VERY close and friends and all that. Personally I think the best way for that is to have your family with you, so that everyone can get to know each other. But obviously Swedes think it is a better idea to put their workmates together, with a bunch of booze and away from their families.

Yeah.. I'm bitter.
I think it's really stupid.

There's no place like home.

No matter where you go on vacation or how long you are there, isn't it always the best to come home? Don't get me wrong, we had a great long weekend with Leia's Farmor + Farfar! But it is always so nice to return home.

Leia had a great day today. :) She wasn't too happy when we were packing up the car, but she fell asleep almost right away, and then she slept the whole way to Fredrik's Farmor + Farfar's apartment in Örebro. So Leia got to visit with her Great-grandparents today. :)








Since Leia got in a good nap in the car, she was in a GREAT mood to be social. :) She even played peek-a-boo with her great-grandma. :)

After our visit, we went to IKEA and bought.. probably too much stuff. :) They had 100 tea lights for 14sek (2$)!! :/ :) So I bought 5 packs.. or 500 candles.. :D Fredrik told me that they have to last to Christmas. :)) We also bought lights for our night stands. Only Fredrik has one right now, and it isn't the most attractive. We bought a few other things here and there.. other candles mostly. We also had lunch/dinner there.

Leia then slept almost the rest of the trip home. So she probably slept 4 of the 5 hours in the car.. :/ :) Which was really nice. She didn't sleep so well last night. :/ She woke up screaming around 03.00, and we put her in bed with me, and Fredrik slept on the couch. She has 2 teeth coming in right now. On her right, bottom side, she has a tooth visible next to her front tooth. And then one of her back teeth on the right side is coming in. That is the one causing her pain. It is very, very swollen, and it bled a little today. So we hope that it will soon come through. These last 2 teeth have been the easiest for her, so we hope the next ones won't be so bad either.

As you can see from the pictures, the camera is acting funny. The videos are discolored, and there are lines in the pictures. We might could fix it by resetting the camera, but it is about 2-3 years old. So we are thinking about getting a new one after Christmas.

On Sunday Fredrik's Great-Aunt Gittan came to visit with us:






Gittan's son, Uffe, came to pick her up from the house, and got to spend a little time with Leia:






So we had a nice trip to Stockholm. We got to visit with friends and family, we spent too much money shopping, and Fredrik and I got to spend some quality time together.. alone. :) A big thanks to Farmor and Farfar for babysitting Leia and for letting us take-over there home for 4 days. :))

Stockholm.

Yesterday we went into Stockholm and went to Gamla Stan (Old Town), and looked around in the tourist-shops. Then we went to the Christmas market, which had nothing special and was very, very crowded.

I found a bag that I liked, and the price was pretty good, but I didn't buy it because I didn't wanna have to carry anything around with us for the rest of our day.... Of course now I wish I bought it (of course). But I still know I would have been annoyed carrying it around, or would have ended up leaving it somewhere.

We went to a hockey game and then had dinner at Friday's. Delicious, like always. Then we met up with one of Fredrik's computer-nerd friends that he hadn't seen in many years. :)


Here are some pictures from yesterday!
(We really need to get a new digital camera. An after-Christmas buy, with hopefully a good sale.)

Gullig Sebastian.

Swedish entry word
gullig [²g'ul:ig] gulligt gulliga adj.
rar, söt

English translation
sweet, cute


Yesterday, our family friend Ewa came to the house, and she brought her youngest with her, Sebastian, 6 months old. And what a cutie he is !! :)

Breakfast with Farfar.

V-tuna.

We arrived in Vallentuna about 15.00 yesterday. We made the trip in 5 hours, including a 30 minute lunch stop! Probably the fastest we have ever made the trip!

Leia slept about 1½ hour of the trip so that was nice. She wasn't too unhappy about being in the car so much. :)

Today we got ready and went to a shopping center and had lunch at Pizza Hut! :) Leia had her first American pizza. :)) She had the crust. :) Then we went to a mall that neither Fredrik or I have been to before. Leia was.. unhappy most of the time. :/ She was tired and wouldn't even think about closing her eyes. So that wasn't too much fun. She screamed a lot. In the beginning, I think she would have fallen asleep, but we went in a baby store, and there was another child screaming in its stroller, and that started Leia to screaming.. :/ So we went in and out of stores quickly, because it isn't fun with a screaming child. Even worse I think because she was just unhappy because she was tired, and she wouldn't relax enough to fall asleep.

She finally did relax, not too long before we were going to leave to go home..... But we did go into the enormous grocery store, and they had some American products that we can't buy anywhere near us: Mountain Dew, Vanilla Coke, Pop tarts(!!!), Hershey's syrup, and a few other items. :) (We bought the things that I listed.) :) Mmm.. :) Pop tarts. :) They also had Mac + cheese, salad dressing, some soups, jello boxes, cookie/cake mixes, root beer, Cherry Coke, Cherry Mountain Dew, Cream Soda. It was.. heaven.. :D Everything was expensive, with import taxes and all that, but it is fun to have a few things from home. :) (Besides the things Mormor + Morfar send us.) :)

When we got in the car, Leia passed out.. :D She snored even. Then we went to another shopping area quickly. Fredrik ran in one store and got something. Then we went to a baby store, and I ran in and got some things: more of Leia's favorite pacifiers, diaper-pail refills, etc.. etc..

But we did manage to buy some things we wanted to get. A few baby things I really wanted to send Carie. Some thick socks for Leia. A Christmas present for Leia. Some candles, rechargeable battery-pack, etc..

Tomorrow, Fredrik and I will have our hockey game! And after that we will go to dinner at Friday's. After that we *might* meet up with one of Fredrik's old computer-nerd friends. :) Just depends on time and all that. On Sunday, Fredrik's great-aunt Gittan is going to come visit us. And maybe her son, Uffe, will come along, too!

So I'll try to post more pictures as the days go on! :)

Snow.

I know, I know..

..I haven't written in awhile and I need to write a little something.. :P

We picked Leia up a little early from daycare today so we could take her to our appointment with the pediatrician (barnläkare). We talked about her constipation and her pooping habits. (What fun!) And we are going to cut down on her amount of milk, and give her lots of.. concentrated fruktose (more than what we are already giving her). And if that doesn't make a difference in a couple of weeks, then we will go back and they will give her a medicine. They don't want to have to give her the medicine because they aren't very fond of it, so we'll see how everything goes!

Told Leia's BVC nurse about the job, and she was super-happy for me. :) Everyone that knows us in town (mostly people associated with Leia somehow) know how much I want a little job so that I can meet people and all that. So she was very happy for me. :)

Then we went to the photographer and looked at pictures of our little Leia from Saturday. Then we went to a lawyer that can do the notorization of the translation for my driver's license. But we couldn't find his room in the building, so we went home, found his number, and called.. and he wasn't even in his office, he was busy. So we'll find a time to take it for him to stamp it and sign it.

Then we went to Säffle and had dinner, and we went looking in a few of the stores there. We bought Leia some much needed, new PJs:




And for Leia's Lucia fika, she needs to dress up as one of the.. ehh.. :/ either as a santa, or Lucia, or a star-person.. or something. But I wanted her to be a gingerbread (wo)man..! :) So we bought her a gingerbread outfit. With some knee-high socks and a cloth to go over her head:



I doubt she will stand with the other children and "sing." She will want Pappa to hold her the entire time, but I think it is going to be lots of fun!! :)

Fredrik's boss was at their office today in Bengtsfors. They had about 15 people apply for the job! But some of those were.. you know.. people that just like maps.. :/ :) There were 6-7 that were possibilities, and they are going to call 3 people in for an interview! So that is good news. It is a good chance they will hire one of them, and then the work will be divided and Fredrik won't be.. you know.. going crazy from overload.. :/ :)

He got his raise! He received 600 sek (100$) a month raise. Not too shabby!

Hmm..
Daycare is going very well for Leia. :) She was crying when we picked her up today, but that was because one of the teachers told her she wasn't allowed to eat sand. :D I think she had a mouthful when we got there. :))

She has been eating so much better, and we think it is because of the switch to lactose-free milk.

I met with my teacher last week, did I mention that before?? :/ I was confused about.. payments through the SPCS program. The educational-learning CD that I had for the class wasn't up to date with the program that I am using for the class. So my program was completely different with payment (bills and all that). So I was there for 15-20 minutes and we went through it and he showed me what to do with my program. And he gave me some good tips for future use. Right now I am going through inventory and how to.. add inventory to the books. Which is a little complicated, but I think I am understanding everything okay.

I really like working with numbers, so I think it is fun.

HHmmmm...
Leia has another tooth coming in!
On the bottom, same as the other back tooth but on her right side. She isn't nearly as cranky as she has been with her other teeth, so that makes us all happy.

She fell asleep on the way to Säffle. :) With the help of Metallica of course. So we are hoping she won't be too annoyed to be in the car so much this weekend.

Okay.. that is enough for tonight.. :P
I need to do a little more school work while trying to stay warm. It is snowing now. And then it is bedtime.