Never drive in Karlstad without a tour guide.

This is Mr. Kitties doing the movements to "The Wheels on the Bus." :) Leia and I were bored in the car while waiting for Pappa to turn in his expensive measuring instrument, so we sang plenty of songs.

The drive to Karlstad was uneventful, but then Fredrik and I got us lost. It is a very confusing town to drive in! We found the industrial area that we needed to be in, but we were still in the very wrong area. We found the bridge we needed, but it was being rebuilt.. *sigh* so we wasted LOTS of time trying to find the right place to be! :)) But we finally got to the right place!

Then we tried to find our way BACK into the city center, and that was another headache. We were going to look at a few shops to look at baby clothes (for fun - not because we really needed to buy anything). But the driving is just ridiculous (and the traffic) - and Leia fell asleep, so we decided to go to a toy store instead. I went in and did some shopping, picking up a few things we were interested in and Fredrik waited in the car with Leia.

Then we decided to try to let her sleep a little more, so we stopped at a little mall, and I went tight-hunting for Leia at H&M, Lindex and Kapp-Ahl. (Or however it is spelled.) Fredrik again stayed in the car with Leia. :) I didn't find any tights, only leg-warmers.. *sigh* leg-warmers for 2 year old ?!?! Anywho.. But I did get her some pants. Four pairs of thick winter pants. Great for the upcoming (soon coming) Fall weather. :) I got them pretty large, so hopefully they will fit her through the entire Winter/Spring season.

Then Leia was awake and we made our way (finally) to IKEA! :)



Leia in IKEA.

After I took Leia's pictures, she said "Kaaaatt!!!" and held up Mr. Kitties to the camera. He needed his picture taken too. :))


We had a nice walk through IKEA and a nice, yummy (and cheap) lunch/dinner in their store restaurant. Leia behaved very well the entire time and we bought her some nice things! We found a bed for her. Not one of the adjustable beds like we wanted, but an inbetween sized bed. It is a good size, she'll be able to use it for a long time, and it is cheap (700 sek / 100$). And it is cute (which is most important, right??) We were going to get it, but the boxes wouldn't fit in the car. (Well it would if we took the carseat out and laid the seats down in the back....) :)) So we'll have to have that delivered some time in the near future!

After we got home yesterday, we started putting together Leia's new items. :))

Leia loves her new table and chairs!

But I think she likes rearranging furniture even more!


A new storage container for her toys, etc.. This and the table will eventually go up in her bedroom. When we clean out more of the "baby" furniture and stuff when she gets a bit older, and when she is more able to spend more time upstairs = when she can go up and down the stairs better by herself.









We had a very nice day together. :)

Today we had dinner in Säffle and we would have done a little looking in some stores, but everything closes so early on Saturdays in Sweden.. *sigh* So we ate and then went to a slightly larger than average grocery store and just looked around a little. :)

No specific plans for tomorrow, probably some cleaning and tidying around the house. And collecting plums from our plum trees!

Poltergeists??

No.. just Leia..






Don't you just love her new table and chairs that we got today?? :)

Shopping day.

Today we are going to Karlstad!

Fredrik needs to turn in his measuring instrument for a regular service, which is in Karlstad. So we are driving it there instead of him mailing it and then we get to go shopping too! So we are looking forward to that. :) Going to IKEA and probably getting Leia some early birthday presents. (A table and possibly a new bed.) Maybe some baby/toy stores to look around which is always fun. (Which I think is more for Fredrik to look at all the LEGO collections.) :))

So wish us safe driving and hopefully I'll have pictures when we come home! :)

Waiting...

After we come downstairs in the mornings, Leia takes her kitty/kitties and sets them down next to her pacifier. They sit there and patiently wait for her while she eats breakfast. She is so precise and pays great attention to make sure they are sitting the exact way she wants them. If this stool isn't there, then she sets them up on the kitchen countertop. :)

Things are going okay I suppose. Fredrik has decided to take this Friday off from work, since work is going veeeerrry slow right now. He would rather give any work to the new guy and take the time off himself. :) And then he will have vacation next week.

The guy(s) fixing the fireplace will be showing up on Monday to come and start taking it down and look at it. They will check out what they need to do and then what they will need to bring back with them to start working on it. Hopefully it won't take too long then before they can start working on it. With any luck, we hope to be able to start using it by the beginning of December. Which means that we need to start hauling firewood here from the summer house!

I start school on Monday, I still need to order my books.. blah.. gonna cost lots of money.. :/ :)) I hate buying school books. Not nearly as bad as buying university text books in the US, but still.. you never know how useful the book is going to be or how much you are going to use it and it feels like a waste of money because you'll probably never open it again after the few months that you have class.

Leia was able to play with Nils for a couple of days and his parents came to pick him up yesterday and Leia was able to play with Alice a little yesterday too..

Leia saying goodbye.


Then Leia made her way down the street to another house and she jumped in their trampoline:



She screamed quite a lot when we made her get out.. :/ :))

Hmm... and when was it.. maybe Monday I think.. They neighbor's daughter beside us, Emma, came and played with Leia and Nils. Leia was a little left out because Emma is 5 and Nils is 4, so she really couldn't do that much with them.. but she ran around with them anyways. :) Nils played mostly with Emma, but every so often he would go to Leia and give her a hug and a kiss. :))) Emma was really good with Leia too, she went home to get a sweater and brought back one of her favorite stuffed animals for Leia to play with. :)) How sweet!

Fredrik talked with his boss though, and obviously the amount of work to do is going to be getting less and less as the year comes to an end. Fredrik might also have to go up to Norrland to work up there, which isn't the end of the World. Better that he do something to earn his salary I suppose.. :P :) I think it would be fun for him though!

Rainy day inside.

Saturday we made another trip to the summer house, so Leia could spend some time with her Farmor and Farfar. It rained pretty bad all day, so we were forced to stay inside. We had a great time anyway and Leia spent the day eating, coloring, and doing puzzles!

Mommy & Leia.

Never too early..

..to start caring about the environment!





You can also see her scratched upper lip. She had a nasty fall in the road yesterday.. she was running too fast and tripped and hit her mouth on the cement. :(









Yes, I know she is dressed for October weather, but that is what we have here now! It is cold and rainy and a bit nasty outside.. :/

6 years.

A cute picture of Leia in her trendy little outfit. :P All is well here I suppose. :P I know it has been awhile. Sometimes there just isn't time and other times it is actually nice to get a little break. :)


On Saturday, we drove to the summer house and spent the day there. We had the pleasure of meeting a family friend and it was lots of fun chatting with her through the day! :)







We had a bit of a scare while we were there, to say the least!
She decided to go down the porch steps, which are very steep, by herself while I was getting her shoes. She didn't fair too well and she fell off the porch pretty violently and wedged herself in between an enormous flower pot and the porch and hit the stones in the ground pretty hard. She screamed and screamed and I managed to get her out. She was very angry. :/ :) Not hurt, maybe sore, but more just scared I think about the horrible fall. Afterwards she mumbled things to the effect of "dumma blomma" (stupid flower). :D

She sat in my lap, but that didn't make her feel better and with all the screaming Fredrik had started walking up to the house. She jumped out of my lap as soon as Fredrik reached the front of the house. She started running as soon as she got down and managed to wedge herself through the small space between the fence and the hedge. The same second as she passed through the gate, we heard a car coming. Cars speed up and down this road soooo fast. She took a few steps into the road and stood there and Fredrik was already on his way to get her. I froze, as well as Farmor and our guest. Fredrik grabbed her at the same moment the car swerved.

I was still shaking an hour after the incident.

Her little life literally passed before my eyes.
Probably scared the poopies out of the driver of the car too. If anything hopefully it will make someone drive a little slower on that road from now on (but I doubt it).


Here are some pictures from our day there!












Then on Sunday, Fredrik and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary! :) It honestly feels like it should be longer than that, but I think that is just because we have been together for so long. We didn't do anything to celebrate, but we did watch a movie that Mormor and Morfar sent for us after Leia went to bed. :) They have promised to babysit Leia so that we can go out and have a belated anniversary dinner. :)

Otherwise things are going well. Leia is enjoying daycare and Fredrik has very little to do at work. Which also means he has very little to give the new guy to work with. I told Fredrik he can start sending him out on our shopping errands. :D

The weather has been decent. Very hot for a couple of days and then it has cooled down a lot, a little more like Fall on some days. We get a little rain still most every day.

I'll try to make it not so long before the next post!

I love my baby girl.

Sometimes words just aren't enough.