Havets Hus, Dec 30, 2010.

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Meatballs.

Leia loves, LOVES, L O V E S meatballs; especially those from IKEA. She eats a whole 10-piece adult meal, usually without any pause inbetween bites. A couple of pictures from one of our trips with Mormor + Morfar:

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Putting up the X-mas tree.

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Lucia 2010

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A new year begins…

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to those of you that I missed. :)

Fredrik returned to work today and tomorrow Leia will return to daycare (for her few hours a week). So things are quieter and getting back to normal. I hope that (and I’m certain they did) my parents had a nice visit with us. :) It was very, very sad for them to leave us. We had a fantastic 5 weeks with them here. A couple of trips to IKEA, a couple of trips to Töcksfors, a trip to Havets Hus (aquarium on the coast), and a stop at the mall in Uddevalla. And lots of shopping. :) Fun evenings with games and movies and lots of yummy holiday food.

And I’ve had Fredrik home for 3 weeks, so I miss him lots. The house is very quiet now with just me and Leia. And it will be even quieter after she returns to daycare. The house has been full of people for the last 6 weeks, and now it is empty and quiet. (Did I say that it was quiet?) Which is nice, too, I suppose.. I’d rather have quiet than a screaming child… ;)

New Year’s Resolutions?

Fredrik had one: Cut the Coke addiction.

Mine:

– Post on the blog more. Try to keep up with it better, and try to backtrack and post things that I’ve missed over the past 3-4 months. Including the remainder of the beautiful pictures from Norway. A big reason why I haven’t posted much is because I haven’t opened my old computer since Fredrik gave me the new one for my birthday. I’ve procrastinated with cleaning it off and transferring everything to the new one. And of course all of my pictures are on the old one. (Still haven’t put my Canon picture program on the new computer.) Starting in October I started going through all the pictures on the computer, to make back-ups on an external harddrive that we trust, but I haven’t looked at the computer since Fredrik got me the new one.

– Continue fighting, hopefully with success, my life-long battle with my illness (PCOS). Ever since I gave birth, the symptoms have been worse and worse, and I really want to fight my illness with all my might because I know it will make me happier, healthier and give me my life back. Fredrik bought us a Wii for Christmas, so I want to get the Wii Fitness now and start with that to help. Unfortunately I don’t have the time anymore to workout or prepare food like I did before Leia showed up, but I’m hoping to get things back on track like things were before I got pregnant.. and if my illness fights me all the way and doesn’t give in — at least I know that I tried.

– And finally, to keep in better contact with friends and family. We are lucky to have some fantastic people that care about us and we need to make sure we take the time to keep in contact with everyone. It can be difficult at times, because everyone has their own busy life to tend to, but it is definitely something that I need to commit more time to.

And I did get Leia her Lussekatt shirt.. ;)

Cold.

It has been so incredibly cold the last few weeks.
This last week they kept the kids inside at daycare, they thought it was too cold to take them out.

My parent’s luggage did eventually show up. :)
3 bags showed up 2 days late. The 4th bag showed up 5 days late!
By the time they received them they had already sent in claims to their travel insurance and to the airlines. So they should hopefully receive a little something for their troubles.

A pain to be without luggage, especially in a foreign country.

I hope my parents have been enjoying their stay with us. :)
We play games in the evenings and watch good movies.
We made a trip to Töcksfors and a couple of trips to IKEA in karlstad.

Fredrik has given in and we are opening the majority of Christmas presents on Christmas morning. :))

And we had Leia’s Lucia pagent for daycare.
She was a bit scared and unsure of everything. So she clung onto her teacher for dear life.. :/ :) And at the little party afterwards, she just stood around looking at everyone, very sceptical and observant. But there were so many people crammed into a little space, so I can’t really blame her. :)

Leia and Fredrik both had their Julbord (Christmas dinner) on Tuesday at daycare and work. Santa visited daycare and gave the children candy. :) Leia went on and on about it when I showed up, she was so excited to tell me about it. :)

On the way home from Töcksfors a couple of weeks ago, Fredrik admitted that we need new couches. Yay! :) So the next day we went to Mio and decided on them. :) I wish I could put a picture up of them, but they aren’t in Mio’s collection, it must be from a private company. They usually have their own catalogue at the store, but of course not this time.

And we are going to get a new bed. Our matress is on the floor, Leia is an acrobat and jumps while I shower. So we have the matress on the floor, but we need to get a new bed. So we are going to get one from IKEA that has storage units built into it underneath. We really, really need the storage room. So we will order those after the new year.

So we are getting excited about all our new furniture. :)) Hopefully the couches won’t take too long. And by Spring we should have new couches, a new bed and the balcony will be finished! We accepted the contract with the construction company. He said they will start in early Spring and he’ll have 3-4 guys and it will take 3-4 days. We’re so excited! :)

I have the hiccups. :( Very annoying. :/

Christmas Eve tomorrow and a very yummy dinner planned. :)
We made our homemade meatballs today. And we bought some yummy ham, sausages, raw salmon and lots of yummy mustards. :) And lots of yummy cheeses. :)

Leia took up right away with her Mormor and Morfar. :) And she is really enjoying spending time with them.

It is late and I want to go to bed, but Fredrik will kick me out if I come to bed with the hiccups.. :D So I’m waiting. :P

Might make another trip to Töcksfors right after Christmas. It is a good time to go.. usually isn’t crowded at all. A few nice strolls around the oval mall, a lunch at Burger King after all the holiday food, and maybe a few good deals at the stores.

Leia gets more and more anxious every day about opening presents. :) She carries around some of her presents and asks when she can open her “många presenterna” (the many presents). :) I’m a little afraid of how quickly she is going to make us all open our presents. :) Should be fun! :)

Now it seems the hiccups have disappeared and I need to get to bed!

Want.

I really wanted to get this shirt for Leia, but Fredrik wouldn’t let me. So if someone wants to get something for Leia.. this is it! (size 110)

Arrived safely.

My parents have arrived safely! 

They had a horrible trip with delayed flights (really bad winds on the US east coast), and all of their luggage was missing when they arrived.  Found out that it is in Stockholm and hopefully on its way to Gothenburg, so with any luck we might even get it this evening.

They will arrive in a couple of hours, then pizza and lots of chatting!  Hopefully a good night’s sleep for everyone and then a trip to Töcksfors tomorrow!

Record low.

Sweden is having some record low temperatures for this time of the year.
It was -22 degC (-7.6 degF) this morning when Fredrik went to work at 7AM.
It is hovering around -15 degC during the day (5 degF).

We plan on keeping Leia home from daycare a lot in December because of my parents being here, but I will most likely keep her home because I don’t think I can make the 2 hours of walking in this cold temperature.  Someone will find me frozen in my tracks somewhere along the way.  And Leia too for that matter.. I know Nordic children are used to the cold weather, even thrive in it, but this weather seems a bit much to get out in (for walking back and forth to daycare).

We were supposed to have more snow last night/today, but I’ve not seen one snowflake.  We’re hoping that the weather stays clear so that my parents have no delays or cancelled flights for their trip.  On the way here they fly from Cleveland to Newark, NJ, to Stockholm, to Gothenburg.  (What a long trip!)  And then on the way home they fly from Gothenburg to Copenhagen to Newark to Cleveland.  And I believe they are ready for their trip.  :)  Everything packed, even Christmas presents, someone to look after their cat, and someone to drive them and pick them up from the airport.  The temperature there is going back and forth between 30-50 degF (10 to -1 degC).  So I do think they are going to be in for a weather shock after feeling this bitter cold weather.  They have only been here one other time during the winter, and that was… 6 years ago!  They came and stayed 1½-2 weeks, right before Christmas until right after New Years.  So I’m curious to see how the cold and darkness affect them. :)

But that is all for now, I want to go start on dinner!

The plow.

The snowstorm on Sunday.

 

 

And the guilty plow.

Cold.

I’m getting ready to watch Law & Order, I love the show, so I always take the time to watch it.

And it is cold, very, very cold.  Now it is -15 degC (5.5 degF).  I think my parents are going to have a weather shock once they get here.  :)  They leave the US tomorrow and then arrive here on Thursday.  We are excited for their visit!  Excited to have company during the holidays, and we are trying to plan some fun things to do.  (Like taking another trip to Havets Hus (The Ocean’s House / House of the Ocean – depending on how you want to translate it), especially since Leia loves fish and water.)  Everytime we drive by a body of water, she guesses how many fish live there.  The numbers are usually somewhere between 5-10. :)))

She is counting to 30 now in Swedish. :)  She put the numbers together herself and just started blurting them out one day.

In October we were going to take a trip to Örebro to visit Fredrik’s grandmother, but October is such a busy month for us, we decided to put it off until November – so we made that trip this past Saturday.  It was very, very nice to see her, and get an update on family and how everyone is doing.  She fixed a delicious meal for us, and it was great letting her and Leia visit, even if Leia was extremely shy.

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We went to the mall in Örebro, it is a very nice place, but always extremely crowded, and Saturday was no exception!  We were lucky to find a space to park, we looked around a little and headed out before it got too dark.

Fredrik worked in Nössemark today.  He is not very happy about being out lately because of the cold.

We had a very bad snow storm on Sunday, Fredrik wasn’t sure that he was going to go to work on Monday.  Many of the roads had been closed in our county.  But very late Sunday evening, they finally started plowing.  We were happy about that — until the plow ran over the electrical box.  We have a very steep hill infront of our house.  The plow went down, and then backed-up the hill, and when he backed up he ran right over the electrical box and pushed it over.  We lost our electricity right away and the plow left.  (About 6-8 houses around us lost electricity as well.) He went around the street a few more times and then eventually came back and to look at it, after Fredrik had already called the electrical company (Vattenfall).  Fredrik was out shoveling around the box, trying to dig it out from the snow when the driver came and talked to him.  It didn’t take too long before someone from Vattenfall showed up and called and ordered the parts needed to make the box work.  But it took a few hours before the parts showed up and then they started working on it, having the power return some time during the night.  The box will have to be completely remade in the Spring, after the thaw, what we have is a temporary fix to last the Winter.  Having the electricity go out like that with such freezing temperatures made us very grateful for having our fireplace fixed.

We’ve had our first advent on Sunday, feel strange to celebrate the first advent in November.  Feels too early for Christmas, although with all this snow and cold it feels more like February.

Leia has a little cough that she just can’t get rid of, and I have a cold.  Not a bad cold.. just icky and a stuffed-up nose and a little coughing.  We’ve been wrapping Christmas presents here and there and we’re planning on going to Töcksfors for shopping the day after my parents arrive.  And Fredrik has started taking off Fridays.  Started last Friday and will continue until the end of March.  We still have a lot of time that we haven’t used, and this time of the year can be bare for him with work, so it makes sense to go down to working 4 days a week.

Now my show has come and gone and now it is time for bed. :)

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving!!

This is my first year in Sweden that I haven’t made a full Thanksgiving dinner.  A bit sad, but a bit of a relief as well.. As it is usually a group job, lots of cooking…  And it can be a bit overwhelming at times preparing so much food.  I’ll probably try to do it next year, as Leia will be a year older and it will be easier trying to explain to her what we are doing and why.. :)  But like always, I really, really miss watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade, with Santa at the end of the parade, welcoming in the Christmas season.  But I do NOT miss Black Friday.  The Friday after Thanksgiving, when the stores open up at ridiculously early morning hours, so that the shoppers can get out for Christmas shopping.  The biggest shopping day of the year, but with fantastic sales.  I don’t miss that hectic chaos at all! :)

Dominoes.

Leia received a little present from Farmor and Farfar and this morning she took the box out for the first time.  I took a peek to see what she was doing with them, thinking that she was just stacking them to make a tower… And this is what I find.  And she pointed at the box and said “samma”  (the same).  She was SO proud of herself for making them match like the few pieces on the box.  I hurried and grabbed my camera  before she could take it apart..  And had to share a picture, being the proud mamma that I am.

But presently she is wearing each box side as shoes and ice skating around the dining room… :D

“Wall-E”

Snow and shopping.

On Tuesday it snowed.. a lot.  So when Fredrik returned from work, we packed in the car and went to Säffle’s sporting-goods store and bought Leia a really nice pair of snowboots.   She needed a new pair, and Fredrik read a study/test about the differences of getting a higher quality, more expensive, pair of boots.  So he really wanted to get her a really nice pair.  She cooperated well while the guy tried to figure out her shoe size, and now she has a nice, new pair of black snowboots.  :)

We also went to KappAhl (since it is just across the hall) and I got her a few clothes items for Christmas.  Two pairs of fleece paints, and 3 shirts, all long-sleeve, which she really needed new long-sleeve shirts, and one is even a turtle neck.  KappAhl and Lindex are our only baby-clothes store options here.  We usually end up going to KappAhl since it is easiest to get to in Säffle.

It snowed a little on Wednesday as well.  But by Friday it had rained some and now the snow is all gone.
Leia has had a sore throat all week.  She coughs in the morning, evening and during the night.. and she didn’t sleep well because of the coughing.  A really dry cough, and a bit tired and cranky from lack of sleep, so I kept her home from daycare this past week.

But of course after we returned home on Tuesday from shopping, we realized we had coupons for KappAhl… *sigh*

Leia and I spent the day on Friday baking and making Fredrik’s favorite cookies, for Father’s Day, which is tomorrow (Sunday).

We have decided to finally put Leia’s crib and changing table up for sale.  We should have done it a long time ago, but it is very difficult to do (psychologically).  Making that decision that there will be no more babies.  (Of course my illness has something to do with that.)  It is a little sad, but we really like the size of our family.  I’m very thankful that we were able to have Leia.  But once we sell her stuff, and get her changing table out of her room, we are going to move her toy-storage-unit up to her room.  And that is going to make the living room empty!

And as my friend Carie knows, I’ve been very obsessed since we moved here, about getting new couches.. :D  so for the fun of it we went to Mio this morning to look at couches.  It was surprisingly crowded, but always fun to look at everything.  We really need more living room sitting space.. :/  And I’m trying to talk Fredrik into the idea that we need a new living room ceiling lamp… :)))

Ehh.. but anywho..

We also went to Säffle today to buy Leia a 2-piece snow outfit.  She has a one-piece, but we realized that sometimes she just needs a thick pants to go outside if we are going to the store or something.  Or something that is easier to take on and off her.. or just a really thick jacket..  So we decided to use those KappAhl coupons and go back to get her a nice set.  We went with the purpose of getting pants, but ended up getting a jacket as well.

The coupons were for 25% off of one item.
We had 2 coupons.

So I sent Fredrik in line first with the jacket.  So the 600 sek (100 $) jacket was 450 sek  (75$).
And I went right behind him with the pants.  So the 400 sek (67 $) pants was 300 sek (50$).
The worker looked really annoyed when I plopped down the pants right behind him with another coupon.. :D

A family at daycare was getting their roof retiled, so we called the company they were using and a guy came over to look at the roof and balcony.  Since the other company obviously decided they didn’t want to help us, we needed to find someone else.  He came over and spent a few minutes looking here and there.  And then we figured that we would never hear from them again, or have to call 100 times to get a response.  But the guy actually called back the very next day.. so that was awesome.  They said they would do it, but couldn’t until Spring of course.. and that they would soon be sending an estimated cost.  So we received that in the mail this week: 65 000 sek  (10,000$).  Less than what we figured.  And it really doesn’t sound that bad when you figure all they will be doing.  Taking off what roof is there, replacing wood, building the roof double height, two layers of insulation, we’re guessing a metal roof, and then the balcony.   And then all the labor.  He even had good ideas about how to fix new gutters for the curved part of the roof.  So, we are just pleased that someone will help us!  And they specialize in roofing.  So we think we will be well taken care of.  :)

It feels like so much money, but it is an investment in the house, and now the door off Leia’s room will have a meaning.  :)))  And we can finally use all the furniture that we bought for the balcony this summer.

But now bed!  Leia has been sleeping much better, especially considering her slight cold.  Her week of sleep medicine did help, and we changed her bedtime routine, which we think helped a lot.  More on that later!