A new baby!

A BIG congratulations to Ewa and her family! They have a new, little baby boy.

He was about a week late, so I can imagine they were very anxious for him to arrive. :)

Midsommar.

Leia during Midsummer:


Not the prettiest flower.. head.. thingie.. But we had a horrible time finding flowers that we could use. :/ And by the time we took this picture, she had thrown it around so much that it was falling apart.

It rained almost all weekend. We only got to fish once. :(
But we had fun anyways. :)
Leia fought with sleeping, but she has 2 teeth now. :)

Hej då!

We're off..! :) A lot earlier than planned, so that is good. It is raining.. :/ And we aren't looking forward to traffic, but hopefully it won't be too bad. :)

Clothes.

We are all having a nice time. :) Here is Mormor and Morfar letting Leia get to know them. :) She took up with them very easily, so that is very nice. :) It is great to be able to leave a room and not have Leia scream after me since she is with someone else.

Yesterday we went shopping a little. It is raining today. :/ But maybe we can go for a walk anyway. Tomorrow morning we'll be leaving. We're anxious to find out how it goes in the car with all of us. :/ :) We tried yesterday and it wasn't too bad with being cramped, but that was for a short amount of time in the car. We got the new car seat in just fine, wasn't as difficult as we were expecting. We managed to get it in the center in the back, which is where we wanted it.

Some pictures:




I had ordered some clothes in the US, and Mormor and Morfar brought them.
An appropriate little onesie for Leia:



This one was ½ for Leia and ½ for Fredrik: :)



Fredrik has a workmate that is his age, and his girlfriend is soon having a baby. The guy is completely obsessed with the US and visits there all the time. So I got these as a present for the baby when it shows up:



This is one of the shirts that I got for Fredrik:

Eat. Sleep. Survey. *hehe* :) Like the road signs....


The visit with the doctor went well.
Well, Leia had issues, but she has been lately when visiting the BVC. :/ She screams and screams and cries. :/ Not sure if it is a stranger thing. :/ But she behaves very poorly.
But besides that the visit went well. He listened to her and felt of her tummy and examined her.. all those things that doctors do.
He said that since she has been growing very, very well, there is obviously no medical problem why she isn't pooping. He just thinks that she is going to have a problem for awhile, but should grow out of it.
Which is what we figured, but being her parents we have to make sure there is nothing wrong by making sure she sees a doctor.

They weighed her, though.
Last Tuesday we weighed her (WITH her diaper on), and she weighed 9 525 grams.. They weighed her yesterday, a week later, and she weighed 9 700 grams (without her diaper). So, she easily gained almost 200 grams (½ pound in a week). :/ :) She hasn't grown like that since she was a few months old.

Both bottom teeth are poking through her gums. :)

Finally! :)

They are finally here. :) Have been here for almost 2 hours now. :) And we've received all of our gifts and lots of clothes for Leia to wear through the Fall. :) We've showed them around the house, except upstairs of course.. :)) The stairs make too much noise and we don't want to take the chance to wake up Leia. :)

They are in awe of how bright it is outside. :)) And surprised at how cold it was, until I reminded them how late at night it is. :)))

Okay, that is enough for tonight. :)

Soon!

Fredrik just left to go to Trollhättan to drop off the car seat. If they don't accept it this time, he is just got to set it on the floor and leave. :/ :)

Then he is off to Gothenburg's airport to pick up our guests. :)

Mormor + Morfar should now be arriving in Copenhagen. After a couple hours of layover, they will have their very short flight to Gothenburg. :)

Leia has been a bit grumpy today. :/
She only slept 2 hours this morning, and she's been sleeping 3-4 hours during the morning (after sleeping all night straight), and then an hour or so in the afternoon. So only two hours this morning just wasn't enough. So I hope she'll go to bed soon and sleep awhile.

She bumped her head pretty bad today. :/ It looks awful. :(
She was standing at the dining table, with her arms reached up over her head, holding onto the top of the table, and she fell of course, and hit her head terrible hard on the sharp edge of a chair leg.
Her head is very blue. :( I'm sure the doctor will complain tomorrow at the appointment.. :/ :) (If he shows up.......)

Leia this morning before her head bump.

Leia walked along the coffee table yesterday. :)) She started at one end and held on while walking to the other end. :) I don't think she realized what she was doing. :)

Take-off.

Mormor + Morfar will soon be leaving Cleveland airport for a short trip to Chicago. Then they are flying to Copenhagen, Denmark and then another short flight to Gothenburg.

We are wishing them a safe journey! :)

Godparents.

We didn't choose any Godparents when we had Leia's Christening.

We have absolutely NO idea who to choose to take care of Leia if something happens to Fredrik and I. :/ Our situation of being from two different places makes things more complicated. :/

So that makes it more difficult because it gives us more requirements for the future Godparents. :/

Right now our requirements include:

1. Our age or younger.
2. Lives in Sweden.
3. Has visited the US frequently during their life. (By frequently we mean: every few years and to many different States.)
4. Or someone that is from the US or has lived there for a time.
5. Will continue to visit the US frequently through Leia's life.
6. Will make it easy for Mormor + Morfar to visit Leia in Sweden, and will make sure Leia visits them in the US.

There are also a few little other things.

Not a very... easy person to find.. :D Especially by the people that we know.

I have someone in mind, but we don't really know him (them) very well. :/ But hopefully that might change in the near future. (Can hope!)

We want someone in Sweden because it will be easier for someone in Sweden to give Leia her American heritage, rather than someone in the US to show her about Swedish heritage.

I doubt we will ever decide who fits the criteria. :)))
Most of all we have to choose someone that we know will love her and take care of her.

Maybe we should put an ad in with AMS. :D
(The unemployment office.) :))

2 more days!

2 more days until Mormor and Morfar arrive. :)

Today is Father's Day in the US. :)

Fredrik is working tomorrow. :(
:))

He decided to work tomorrow, since he took Tuesday off.
This is how his week looks:

Monday: work
Tuesday: off
Wednesday: home early for Leia's appointment
Thursday: probably a ½ day
Friday: holiday

So.. yeah.. :P :))

I keep thinking of things for Mormor and Morfar to bring with them from the US. (Although I don't think it would be so popular to bring Hot Dog Heaven or Dunkin Donuts on the airplane.) :/ :))
But I remembered an awesome movie place near where they live, and asked them to go scavaging for movies before they leave. :))
They have a stop in Copenhagen, and then they will fly into Gothenburg. They arrive early evening, but it will be about a 3 hour drive from the airport.
Then they get to start their 6 week vacation with us. :))

We are going to the summer house for Midsummer. Fredrik and I can go fishing and leave Leia. :)

We hope to take a trip to Halden, Norway, but we'll probably do that a different time.

We'll be going up to Höglekardalen for a week! We are excited about that. :)) Fredrik and I have been there often, but this will be the farthest North that my parents have ever been. It will be a long drive with all 5 of us in the car, but we'll make it work.. ;) That trip will be late July.

Some pictures (of course):
:))


Here are my "Bananas in Pajamas." :/ :) I got these from Jen A (one of my best friends) when we were in high school. My parents found them and sent them in a recent box, and Leia LOVES them. :)) She loves the TV show theme song, too. (Although I only know 2 lines from it, but I just repeat them over and over, and that is good enough!)



We gave her only one of them to play with. But yesterday we gave her both, and she went nuts.. :D She was so excited that there were two. :))



And a few days ago she started playing with her toothbrush again. She's getting ready for keeping her new teeth white and clean.



She loves to stand at the couch and she will walk back and forth between the couch and the coffee table, or the couch and the fireplace.




We have the broken coffee table turned upside down in the office. Of course there is the top part, and then underneath is a smaller board. Today Leia stood and stepped up onto the larger board lying on the ground, and then she raised her knee and placed it ontop of the smaller board, and she was trying to climb up ontop. Little booger.

With what has been going on since we moved here, we wish we would have stayed in Nyköping.. :/ :D

A little rain today, but only for a couple of minutes. :( Dark clouds everywhere, but no rain.

Leia is sleeping lots.. :/ :) Making up for the days that she doesn't sleep, I guess. Yesterday she slept 9-12, and then 3-5, and she fell asleep last night around 19.30, and she didn't wake up until 08.00 this morning !! How nice. :)) And then she slept from 11-2 during the day, and we didn't try to put her down for another nap.

Fredrik was pleased that Leia slept in, seeing as it was his morning to get up with her.. ;) Didn't matter for me, though, because I'm still not sleeping. :( Just stress I think. "Just."
Work. School. Money. Baby. Friends. Time. Take your pick. :P

Very excited for Mormor and Morfar to experience their first Swedish Midsummer. :) Hopefully we will have nice weather to BBQ. :))

Okay, now it is time to do something else. :P

Could it get any worse ?!?!!

Our DVD player decided to die today. And it isn't just the DVD player, it is also the amplifier for the surround sound system. So.. that is probably dead, which means, yeah..... something else to buy.

We haven't been having much luck since we've been living here. Everything seems to be going wrong, or costing lots of money.. :/

We could really use some good luck for something to go our way for at least a little while.

We finally got some rain yesterday evening, and a little bit today. Not nearly enough. We hardly have a patch of green grass in our yard.

We are waiting until Mormor and Morfar get here before we put Leia's new carseat in the car. We want to try all the best positions to find out where we have the most room with all of us in the car. We want to avoid putting it in the front seat, because then we have to turn the airbag off. And to do that, we have to go to Volvo service, and it costs 1500 sek (200$) to have it turned off.

Leia slept 3 hours this morning, and she has been asleep for about an hour now as well. :) She was allowed plenty of orajel today and she has ran around like crazy on the floor. She's been all over the place, and that helps make her more tired.

Her gums are very, very swollen. She is still swallowing all of her saliva. :/ She isn't drooling at all. :/ And because of her teeth, she is fighting us with eating. She is hungry, but won't open her mouth very wide, and turns her lips inwards. :/ So we try to shove in there as much as we can when she opens her mouth.. :/ :))

Some pictures from today:



Leia trying a puff snack. It is made only of corn, and it has no salt, and only 2 grams of fat for the entire bag. Someone at the last appointment (dentist one) suggested them. Leia liked it lots.

Leia and Pappa having fun outside with Caesar.

I had to hold Caesar in my arms, while taking the picture, to get Leia to look up at me.



Of course we had a little-miss-funny-face when it was my turn for a picture with her. *rolling eyes*



And a beautiful Caesar. He has lost all of his Winter weight, and probably weighs ½ of what Leia does.




While Leia napped this morning, I worked in the cellar. Fixing and organizing and reboxing stuff. Fredrik stayed on the main level, to have an ear open for a crying baby. :) Which is why I can't get things done by myself. We don't use the baby monitor anymore, cause it isn't necessary. But when I'm here alone, I don't want to be so far out of ear-shot.

I was able to unpack 2 boxes, and repack those winter clothes into a better storage box. I finally got to put together the container boxes that Mormor + Morfar got for Fredrik and I last year, for Christmas ornaments, etc. That helped to empty out some Christmas boxes. And now the Christmas stuff is better organized and in a safe place. My plan is to do lots of organizing, etc, when my parents get here.

Leia keeps adding lots of new sounds to her vocabulary. :)

Hmm..

While cleaning downstairs.. I found my baby book! :)
Mormor was really good at keeping it filled in.

I found this extremely.. crazy..

Leia is now 8 months and weighs 21 pounds (9,5 kg) and is 28 in (72 cm)...
When I was 8 months old, I was almost the same length, but not as long, even though I was longer than Leia (and Fredrik) when I was born.
But when I was 8 months old, I only weighed 16 pounds (7,2 kg) !!!!
I didn't weigh 21 pounds, until I was 1½ years old !!! :/ :D

Farmor always tells us how late Fredrik was with doing things, crawling, walking, etc..
Well, we definitely know that Leia is taking after Mamma with development.
I was crawling at 5½ months, standing at 6½ months, and walking at 11 months.

I started sleeping through the night at 7 weeks, Leia at 8.

My first word was "da da" at 6 months. It will take Leia a little while longer to start talking, having 2 mother tongues.

And I also got my first tooth at 8 months.. :D

Leia is me reincarnated.. :D