Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day !!

.. to all the Pappas in Sweden!

Leia has a cold, and a tooth about ready to pop through.
I am in the beginning stage of a cold, and Fredrik is as well.
What fun! :/ :)

A break.

I'm taking a break from writing my literary analysis on Möss och Människor (Of Mice and Men) and Grabben i Graven Bredvid (The Guy in the Next Grave) to add some pictures of Leia's day at daycare on Friday:


Studyin-up about mushrooms.



LOVES pillows.



Playing dress-up with Anna-Karin. (She's looking in the mirror.)






Leia hasn't been sleeping well the last 3-4 days, so Fredrik and I are pooped. And he is also tired with all the driving to Lilla-Edet (at least 4 hours in the car a day).

Back to school work, and I will try to write again later.

Time.

There are not enough hours in the day.. :/

A few pictures.

The little boy standing is the other little boy doing his "inskolning" the same 2 weeks that Leia is doing hers. The woman sitting is Leia's teacher, Anna-Karen. The boy's mommy, Linda, is the nice gal that I've been with, but she is starting school now, and she'll be away tomorrow at least. So Theodor's Pappa (or however it is spelled in Swedish) will be bringing him tomorrow.








I think he is the only boy at the daycare! At least right now. And WOW! What a difference between him and the girls. He is very... yeah.. :/ :) He is so much more aggressive than the girls.

Leia did well today! It was great when we got there, there were only a couple of other children. But as the morning went on, more showed up, and that sorta caused her to invert a little, and she got more shy and all that. She was pretty tired and got a little whiny before we left. She is a lot younger than the others, so.. it will take her awhile to get used to everything. Now tomorrow I'll actually leave for about 15 minutes and let her be by herself. :) I hope that it will go well.

She is really well with the teachers. She doesn't care if they pick her up or carry her around, which she does NOT like from strangers. So she is great with them, and they are great with her. :) I really, really like the women. They are very laid back and easy going.

Leia doesn't do so well during the singing time. :/ They sit on their animal on the floor (Leia's is a frog) and they sit and sing a few songs, and put their little doll on a board (the one I had to make), and then they have some fruit. They do it around 10.00, and that is Leia's normal snack time, and so she is a bit hungry and cranky.. :/ :) And she doesn't sit still.. :/ She doesn't want to sit and sing, she wants to stand and dance and go around and look at everyone.. :/ :) But it will come.

Her temper has come through a couple of times when we've been there, when she isn't allowed to have something she WANTS.

I'm hoping we can at least be good acquaintances with the new Mom + Dad, because he is an electrician...! A good friend to have.. :))) Especially when we want to install electricity in our living room.

Another good day.

Leia had another good day at daycare!

Each child has a little doll, and today, the other new mom, Linda, and I, got to put yarn hair, eyes and a mouth on our child's dolls.. :/ :) Neither of us really "sew" so.. it was.. interesting. :) Leia's doesn't look too bad I don't think. The mouth was actually the most difficult.

Fredrik came home super early today so that I could go meet my Swedish teacher. He was super-nice, and actually lived in Ohio for a year. :P He was a foreign exchange student in Cleveland, during high school. He is in his 40's, and like most everyone else, has relatives and friends in the US, especially Ohio.

He commented that I am a "driven" student, as well as other Americans, something he really admires. We got along well. :) He is extremely impressed with my Swedish. And he thinks that I speak very, very well. That it is very easy to understand me and that it sounds good. That I just need to raise my confidence. ;)

I don't have to take a national test or anything like that. When I finish my last assignment, then I'm done. But we agreed to meet again, and I'll write a little something for him then, while I am at the building, to sorta end out the class with that. And give me a little spur-of-the-moment assignment to see what my writing is like without so many resources at home (dictionaries, Internet, Fredrik, etc..).

I didn't think he was going to let me leave. And he shook my hand, and took my hands in both of his... and for ahile I thought he was going to ask me out on a date..
Just kidding.. :P But he did freak me out a little. :P

Then Fredrik, Leia and I drove to 3 different places before we finally found the right spot for her BVC appointment...... They are building onto the Familjcentralen (the family center). They are building onto the normal BVC building, so they have split the employees into two different places. But Fredrik went to the vårdcentralen first (the normal health clinic), and that wasn't right at all. Then we went to one of the children's places, and that was wrong. By the time we got to the right place, we were 15 minutes late (also because my teacher wouldn't let go of my hand......). And we passed Leia's doctor on the stairs, luckily... so we got her appointment. She screamed almost the whole time. :D As soon as we took her clothes off. She is just not good with the doctor. She hates being poked at.

Her weight:
11,5 kg (25½ lbs)

Her height:
79 cm (31 ins)

Head circum:
47 cm (18 ins)


The BVC nurse did a few hearing tests with bells, and she thought Leia had extremely good balance for her age, and thought she moved very well. And she got her 3rd immunization shot.

That is all for today.. :P
I spent about 1½ hours writing a poem in Swedish..... :/ It wouldn't have taken so long, but there were certain requirements/guidelines that I had to follow about "plot." It was "lots" of fun!!!!!!

Oh yeah.. Fredrik has to go to.. Lilla Edet for the next 3 days. His boss called him this afternoon, and she asked him to go for the rest of the week, and he said that he couldn't tomorrow, that he has too much other stuff to do. So they agreed for Thursday and Friday. She called back later and said that he has to go tomorrow too... :/ He doesn't have a choice. They need to do more sediment analysis for the ground for a railroad that is being built. I suppose Fredrik has to tell them where to do some of the drilling. It is a 2 hour drive in each direction.. so.. blah.. :/ :) So he will be getting lots of work hours the next 3 days and coming home super late, and possibly leaving early. So I am longing for the weekend, for when we will get to see our Pappa again.. :P

Happy Election Day!!

May the best man win.. ;)

Daycare!

Leia had her first day of preschool today! And she did fabulous. :)) We are so proud of her. She played SO well with the other children, she did well with the teachers, and she could have cared less if Fredrik and I was there or not. :)) She ran around like crazy and one of the teachers was running around after her taking more pictures of her than I do.. :D

They showed us around soon after we got there and the place looks nice. When we were there for their Open House, they had a lot of work still yet to do, but the place looks great!

They go out for walks in the forest and parks 2 days a week. There were lots of adorable artwork from the children all around the room.


Some pictures of the 1½ hours we were there today:











Leia looking in the mirror with one of the 3 teachers.



Leia's drawer where her drawing, papers and artwork will go. Her's is the bottom left. They had given her the symbol of a frog! Everything that is Leia's will have a frog. Including her spot to sit at singing time at 09.30 every day, and her coat rack, etc..

The entrance, where the children keep their shoes, extra clothes, diapers, etc, etc.. You can see Leia's spot, there on the end with the "girly" jacket. ;)


Above their clothes, as you can see, is a picture and a description of the child and the child's family. Each child has a little family booklet that the teachers make, including a picture of Leia's home, a picture of her parents, a few pictures of her playing at home, probably a picture of Caesar, etc. So one day one of the women will come by and take some pictures of us at home! And then she will have a folder, with past artwork and drawings, and medical information, her pick up/leave schedule, etc..

Fredrik and I are extremely pleased. Leia was so happy and content. :) I don't think we could be any happier with the place.

Another child was there this morning to start his "inskolning." The mom is sorta young, and she isn't from Åmål either. Her boyfriend is from here, but she says they have outgrown his immature friends that just want to go to parties all the time, etc.. And she said they have had a horrible time meeting other parent-friends. So we could relate to each other. :) She was very, very nice and I look forward to the next two weeks that we'll be at the förskola together!

Her "inskolning" will be 2 weeks. Including time when I will leave for 10-30 minutes, and then end the last 3 days next week where I will leave her by herself for the entire time. So hopefully it will all go well! I'm glad Fredrik was there with me today. Tomorrow it will just be Leia and I.

Fredrik got ahold of two fireplace fixers today, but one was in a meeting, and the other had bad reception.. So he will call them again tomorrow. :/ :) One said he couldn't start until after Christmas. So, we'll see what they have to say, and all that other stuff..

I'm going to meet my new Swedish teacher tomorrow for the first time. Since they switched teachers on me, I haven't met this one, and I am almost done with my class. So I think we should meet before I finish. :P

He told me that I was "suverän" which means "supreme" or "superb" or "excellent" ... his response to my sammanfattningar (summaries/analysis) to Swedish stories that I wrote. I have a feeling my degree in English literature helps me to write such good papers in Swedish...... :P

Fredrik and I fixed Leia's schedule for the next 6 weeks with the daycare. We picked Tuesdays-Thursdays, 09-15.00.. 6 hours a day for 3 days a week.

That is enough for tonight ! :P

Word morphing.

Leia's "deh" has gone through several changes over the past few days. It went from "deh" to "deck" and now it is at "dack." :)) But sometimes it sounds like "duck." :)))

So we are anxious for the "t" to replace the "d." We are counting this as her 2nd word, after Mamma. It isn't bad for her to have her 2nd word now. Being bilingual, it can be a good 6 months inbetween her getting out her first and second words.. :/ So hopefully we can keep pushing her to get out more words.

Fredrik has been trying to get ahold of the fireplace guy, but it seems like no one wants us to get our fireplace fixed..... The number isn't working, and the website isn't either.. So, he'll keep trying, and hopefully we can get something started. We are extremely anxious to see how long the process is going to take. We don't think the fixing will take very long, but the drying of the cement or whatever they use might take awhile. And after it is all done, someone will have to come and test it.

It is -6 degC at 7 in the morning (21 degF). We are waiting for snow to show up.

Fredrik had a ½ day on Friday, because All Saint's Day (November 1st) is a holiday in Sweden. So he was home by 12.30, and that was very nice. And he took tomorrow off, to be with us on Leia's first day of daycare. We hope her.. inskolning (assimilation) goes quickly, so that I don't have to join her for weeks until she gets used to everything.. :/

We think she will really like it, but she is attached to us. :/

We ended up having 2 trick-or-treaters on Saturday! Even though Halloween had passed, it was still nice to have someone knock at the door. :) They were older, maybe 12, a boy and a girl.

I've started my final Swedish assignment. I've done about ½ of it, the easy half. I have to write two papers for two novels that I read in Swedish. And I have to write a poem.. ehh... I don't like writing poems in Swedish...... :/ You can't just translate. I have to think in Swedish then.. :P And it is easier to go back and forth then to only work in Swedish.

Hmm...
Leia's favorite toys right now.. water bottles and paper milk cartons.. :P She is very attached to them. I think we have about 10 water bottles under the couch that we can't reach.. :/ Get them out once a week when we vacuum.

I keep dreaming about our neighbor...... blue/gray house. I think it is because Fredrik and I talk about him all the time. We see him in his house by himself, and he looks so lonely (probably isn't). And we are so curious as if to if/when he is going to sell his house.

I dreamt we had connecting houses, with a thin wall inbetween, but also a door that connected the two houses (on the second floor). And Fredrik decided that he was going to invite him over for dinner and watch a movie with us...... And Fredrik kept calling him "broccoli"... NOT "broccoli-man" or something of the sort.. just "broccoli." It was... weird. :/

And I'm certain we'd never invite anyone to watch movies with us, not the God-awful B-rated movies we end up watching...... :/ :D We watched some horrible movies this weekend.. :))) But it is fun though. We watched "Labyrinth" with Leia today for the first time, and "The Goonies."

Hmmm...
That is enough for tonight.. :P
I'm sure I'm forgetting plenty, I always do.

Happy Halloween!!

No trick-or-treaters for us tonight. :( Maybe some tomorrow........

But here are some pictures of Leia in her Halloween costume. :)))

Fantastic week!

Ever since Saturday, Leia has been super-fun to be with. :) She has been behaving so well and she's been back to her normal self. She's been playing better, and she has her enormous appetite back. :)

No teeth though. :/ Her bottom, left gums have entirely been swollen for the last 4 weeks, even now, but no sign of any teeth. :/ But she is more content now at least. :)

We've had lots of fun the last week. She enjoys her walks again. The construction hasn't been going on for the last 3 weeks or so, but the last couple of days, they have finished the last little bit of sidewalk paving, and she really loves watching the machines. Especially the big roller to press down the black-top.

It is unbelievably cold, though. :/ It is around -3 degC (26 degF) at 22.00, and around freezing in the mornings around 7. It doesn't get above 4 degC (39 degF) during the day. Caesar is trying his hardest to fatten up for Winter. He is eating like crazy; he is going through a box (1 kg / 2 lbs) of dry cat food a week, including plenty of wet food, and table scraps, or raw meat trimmings. He begs for peas and corn from the dinner table.

We're happy we had the winter tires put on the car already, it seems like Winter is coming early this year. I hope we have LOTS of snow though, for Leia's sake. :)

Fredrik has lots of things to finish with work before December. :/ Not meaning that the projects will be finished, but he has certain things that need to be done. His workmate will be gone after next week. :/ So he will be by himself again and have even more responsibilites. Fredrik isn't sure if they are going to try to find someone else. It is extremely difficult to keep these workers in the area. :/

When Fredrik had his annual raise meeting a couple of weeks ago, he made sure to mention to his boss that he plans on sticking around for awhile. He hopes it will make them more inclined to give him a bigger raise than his coworkers. Why give a raise to someone that is going to move away? Instead of someone that plans on putting more effort into their work and stick around for awhile.

At work, they released a paper for his... district (Västra Götaland), of wages for people with the same type of job as Fredrik. Fredrik is the 2nd highest paid in his field for Västra Götaland. The first highest was the guy that is leaving. :P Fredrik feels weird having a higher pay than people his age that have worked with this job for 10 years or so, and people that have more experience, etc. I told him that they must have really wanted him to work for them, and they really wanted him to stick around and not move away. But we're not complaining. ;)

School is okay! I've been putting off my accounting work and just working on Swedish. I have two assignments finished that I still need to turn in. And then I have one more assignment to do, and then I am done. I still need to meet him. :/ And then I don't know if I have to take a national test or not. :/ What he said, sounded like I could just continue onto the next level if I want. So I'll have to talk to him about it. Not saying I wouldn't mind not having to take a national test.... :))

I've decorated a bit for Halloween. I only carved one of the pumpkins, they go bad so quickly, I didn't want two stinky pumpkins in the house at the same time.. ;) I'll carve the other one tomorrow.

Don't get me started about Halloween in Sweden. Those that know me know how much I loath the Swedes "trying" to celebrate it. They seem to think that Halloween should be celebrated on November 1st, All Saint's Day...... And it just really annoys me. NO scary movies on TV tomorrow, but there are plenty on Saturday........

But we all know that I have my own fantastic horror movie collection; horror, thriller, slasher, cannibal, film noir.. you name it, I've got it. :P

Fredrik's been trying to call the fireplace guy, but no luck. I've not heard anything back about my US driver's license..... :/ A little scared that they won't renew it. They are cracking down on not letting non-residents renew. But I also wanted them to change to my married name on the license, so that might also be why it is taking so long. And it takes a week in the mail. So, hopefully it will show up soon, or they will at least let me know that they won't renew it or whatnot.

Leia goes to the BVC on Tuesday for her 3rd immunization shot. It will be her last time seeing the pediatrician with the BVC. From now on she will go to the "big people" clinic. We're anxious to get her length and weight.

I'm trying to plan a Thanksgiving dinner with my American friends. :) We invited B+R to our house, but now we know that L+K won't be leaving for the US until later, so they will be joining us from Norway.

There is always lots of stuff going on of course. Being a mom is a full time job, and then housekeeping and laundry and cooking and school.. and of course try to get a little time in for me and Fredrik.. and then with what few mintues I have, I do try to put a little something on the blog.

We are planning a trip to Stockholm, a 5 hour drive West.
Fredrik's friends would like us to come for a visit, so we decided it was due time for us to take a trip there. We haven't been there since we flew back from the US in January. We decided last Christmas that we really wanna be at home for this Christmas. We were so far away, and we want to have Christmas at home with Leia. Not sure yet if anyone will be visiting us or joining us, but I think we will have a very nice time here. :)

We are going to Stockholm the first weekend in December, when DIF (Djurgårdens IF - Fredrik's favorite Stockholm hockey league) has a home game. So we plan to go to a hockey game, check out Stockholm center and shop a little of course. We want a lunch at Pizza Hut, a dinner at Friday's, and we have a short list of people we definitely want to see while we are there. And maybe a late evening out for Fredrik and I.

I'm pretty anxious to go. We get a couple of babysitters (Farmor + Farfar). :)) And some alone time for Fredrik and I. :)

The only time that I feel like I live in a different country is when we go to Stockholm. I think it is because it is more crowded and the buildings are so different. It is a bit more exciting to be in Stockholm.. a bit more fun than our town of Åmål.. ;)

But I suppose it is good that I don't feel like I live in a different country on a daily basis. I suppose that means that I.. feel like I belong. :P

Ehh.. that is enough for tonight. :P :)
It is almost 22.30 and I'm super, super tired.
I hope to try to complete as much of my last Swedish assignment as I can tomorrow, so wish me luck. Along with it, I have to write two reviews of two novels that I read in Swedish. :P

Go'natt! Sov gott!

[Go'natt :: God natt :: Good night]
[Sov gott :: sleep well]