Growing up.

Leia is growing up, that is for sure. She's getting taller and smarter every day. Her vocabulary is finally increasing! She has added new words to her vocabulary.

Older words:
- Tack / tack tack (thank you)
- Goo guu (good girl)
- Mamma
- Dadd-dee (daddy)

New words:
- Titta (look)
- Va? (Vad = what)
- Baabaa (bada = bathe)

Her vocabulary is mostly Swedish, which is to be expected. Especially since she has started daycare. That is a pretty good vocabulary I think, at this point, for a bilingual child.

Ticklish.

When daddies dress little girls...

Up and down.

Very cold today. When we left, after 10.00, it was -13 degC or 8.6 degF. :) During our 75 minute drive, it did get to -16 degC (3.2 degF). Not sure how cold it is now, but it has been a very cold Winter thus far.

Leia was very cranky this morning. We've discovered that her new diet is not supplementing her hunger.. at all. She is eating constantly, but who wouldn't if you were only eating: toast, yoghurt, apples and peas?

Today she has eaten:
- 3 yoghurt cups
- 4 pieces of toast
- 1 apple
- ½ cup boiled peas
- 1 portion (200 mL / 1 cup) majsvälling (corn based thick formula) (supposed to help her stomach)

Those of you that know Leia, she is not a light eater. Since she was 10 months old, she's been eating 2 portions of 15 month old gröt (breakfast, oatmeal mixture) and a banana for breakfast. Two hours later and she is ready for a snack. So this allotted food is not acceptable to her. :/ :) The nurse never said how long to continue this restricting diet, but since Leia is seeming much more herself (when her belly is full); we hope to implement some normal foods tomorrow.

She screamed the whole 75 minute drive to Trollhättan. :( Not very fun for any of us. After we got there, and after she had more food, she was very pleasant. :)

We enjoyed looking around in the few stores that applied to us. :P I bought Leia a Metallica shirt. :) Also more of her favorite pacifiers. We also found a couple of cheap movies to buy. There were some sales, but we were not looking for anything specific to buy, but keeping our eyes open. We are going to soon need a new DVD player, ours is about to die, so we kept our eyes open for good deals but nothing was appealing.















Leia is on the mend, and Fredrik and I are feeling ill. Typical.
We both have most of the same symptoms: hard bellies, pain/discomfort in the stomach/abdominal region, but I have some back pain as well. We are assuming we have some kind of bug.

Tomorrow is a holiday in Sweden, "trettondagen."
"Thirteenth day."
It is a holiday because it is the 13th day after Christmas, the day the wise men visited the baby Jesus. In English, I believe it is called "Epiphany." The celebration of the night before Epiphany is called "Twelth Night," which probably sounds more familiar to my English speakers.
After January 6th, in Sweden, you are then allowed to remove Christmas decorations. (I'm sure the tradition exists in other countries as well.) We all know how many Swedish traditions Fredrik and I follow.. ;) .. We took down our Christmas decorations.. on Saturday I believe.. :D

On Wednesday, Fredrik returns to work....... :( and Leia will return to daycare. I will be at home by myself, cleaning from our 2½ weeks of vacation. :)

Yesterday I made 4 quiche and 2 loaves of bread; I hope to do the same tomorrow.

That is enough for tonight! More soon. :)

Welcome, Lillie!

Even though she isn't blood relation, I am still entitled to bragging rights! :) As the proud "Aunt" of

Lillie Elizabeth Grace





She is SO beautiful!


Born on the 29th of December at 22.16 (3 weeks early).
She was 7 lbs 9 ozs (3405 gram) and 18½ inches (46½ cm).

Both mom and baby are doing well and we wish the family lots of love and happiness with their new addition!

Congrats to: Terry, Carie, Allyson and Trenton!

Cabin fever and regression.

We are all suffering from cabin fever. :/ Leia has been incredibly cranky and whiny the last 2-3 days, and that has left Fredrik and I a bit cranky as well. We've all been stuck in the house for quite some time and we need to get out! We've decided that we are going to go shopping tomorrow, hopefully to Trollhättan. The same town where I gave birth. It is a long drive there, but the only time I've been there has only been to the hospital for our sonogram and then for Leia's delivery. There are lots of nice stores there. Fredrik has been there shopping plenty, during our "quiet time" at the hospital when all visitors had to leave. Otherwise it is too far of a drive to travel for a normal trip, but we are interested in having somewhere different to shop. My only other suggestion would be Karlstad, because of IKEA, but we've been there so often, it is a redundant trip.

Yes, Leia has been cranky. :/ Standing and screaming for no apparent reason. She is eating her allotted foods okay, and she seems much better.. so there is no reason for her to be in such an angry mood. We are trying our best to just ignore her and not look at her during her tantrums, so that she gets tired of it and stops. We are assuming that because of being sick that she has regressed a bit with her temperament. We are trying to ignore her and hoping that that will help to get her back to her previous state.

Days like these are when we wish we had family close by. Someone that could give us a few minutes break. It has been very nice to have so much family time during Fredrik's vacation, but we have definitely missed being with loved ones during the holiday season. We were able to do plenty of deep cleaning but while Leia has been sick, the laundry has piled up high, the dishwasher always needs emptying, and there are always odd dishes in the sink to be washed.

We are hoping she gets over her moodiness soon, so that we can enjoy the last part of vacation as much as we enjoyed the beginning.

Förskolan: Fall 2008.

An update.

Here are a few pictures of our sick Leia during the week. :) She drank plenty of water during the night, and she woke up a bit earlier this morning at 6. Then she napped with me in bed for awhile. She's had 2 yoghurts this morning and some thin apple slices. After the apple she had a more proper poo, and she's been a little happier. :) She has been a bit cranky and whiny this morning, but we are expecting that until she gets more back to normal. Some pictures from the new gate that we put upstairs, which is giving Leia some much needed and wanted freedom to run around upstairs now.

The nurse last night had told us, the second time she called, that the couple of days that Leia was completely placid was probably when she got over her illness. She is assuming that she got sick again because we just completely gave her the wrong foods. She said that when Leia was ill, the bad bacteria took over her stomach and intestines, and now we need to supplement the proper food so that good bacteria will replace the bad stuff. Which is what will make her get back to normal.

But right now it is time for me to try to put Leia to sleep for a nap. Wish us luck. :)

Checking-in.

Not too long after the previous entry, the nurse that Fredrik had talked to ringed us back! She wanted to know how Leia was doing, and wanted to let us know that we could add omelets or "eggs" to Leia's accepted food list. :) She said that we should wake her during the night to give her the water, but to let her eat normally from the morning.

We were completely surprised and impressed that she took the time to call us back! How nice is that!!

Again.

Leia threw up again. :(
Everything she had from "dinner." And.. not only did she just throw up.. but she was sitting on my lap in the couch.. so she threw up all over me, all over my face and hair.. SO disgusting. :/ Fredrik threw Leia in the bathtub, and I got in the shower.. and.. ugh.. :/ :)

She was much happier afterwards, of course.. she felt much better. She started coughing a lot, and ended up throwing up from that.

Fredrik called the nurse's number again and they said it sounded like a stomach flu/virus. That we pushed too much with food she shouldn't have had (gröt/oatmeal type). She gave us a better list of foods to give and to not give.

She told us to start with the water mixture again and be careful of what food we give her and take it more slow with the food. She said she knows we are concerned, but that we just have to wait it out and all that. She wasn't surprised by anything we told her and she said it sounded like a stomach bug. She does think that Leia is sleeping too much, so she suggested waking her up after a shorter period, just to make sure she gets some fluid.

We tried giving her the fluid this evening, but she wasn't too interested and she got very angry when we pushed it. It was almost an hour after her bedtime and she was so tired. She got about 100ml (3-4 ozs) before going to bed.

It isn't easy waiting it out!!
I'm a hypochondriac, and.. so I think that Leia has some awful illness......

I've had an upset stomach since she's been sick, worrying about her.. And I have a feeling it will be that way until she is 110% better. :(