Lucky people

Christmas is over but the fun hasn't stopped. It is so nice to have this time off together, we have never really had that since we got together. I mean yes we have been on leave at the same time, but really only to go travelling. This is different. To be home and only do what we feel like doing, with no pressure to see new things or meet lots of people.
Jakob has surprised us a couple of mornings with some nice sleep-ins. The new record is 7.45 in the evening until 9.15 in the morning!! The last couple of mornings he has woken up between 7-7.30 but I have been lucky to get to stay in bed when Adam has been up with Jakob.
Adam has finally had some luck with his shopping. The Christmas sales has started and he has bought a really nice and warm winter jacket, a fleece jacket and also some nice jumpers and jeans. He really needed some warm clothes.
Today we went to a swimming centre with our friends Maria, Andreas and their daughter Alice. When we got there there was a note on the door saying that the kids pool didn't open until 11 instead of 10, so instead of waiting we went to the riding club which is only a few minutes away. Jakob and Alice had a look at the horses and were really excited. Back at the swimming centre we all had a "swim" in the baby pool. It was heated and really nice and warm. Both kids loved it and Jakob even went in the big water slide a few times with Adam. After the bath we all had a drink and some fruit before we went home. Jakob fell asleep in the car and after carrying him into his own bed, both Adam and I fell asleep for an hour.

Jakob and Alice are starting to become very good friends. They live very close to us if you walk through the forest (a few trees...). Yesterday I walked there for the first time and it only took 12 minutes.
The picture shows Jakob and Alice dancing after the bath. They almost look like brothers and sisters.

Today after our sleep we went to my parents for a nice dinner. My brother and Helena and Moa were also there and the kids had great fun together.

The container from Australia has finally arrived and it will all be delievered tomorrow. We have started making room in the cupboards to be ready for the big day. We are very excited!!

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Eve started with a very nice sleep in. Our little angel decided to sleep until 8.30 in the morning. After some nice family time at home we went to Ale (a small village outside Luleå) were we have celebrated Christmas for as long as I can remember. That is where my auntie lives with her partner Åke on a sheep farm and that is were my cousins Åsa and Andreas grew up. Åsa and her Micke have now bought a house there and it was in their house we had Christmas this year.

This year we have been very bad at sending Christmas cards and wishes, but we do hope that you all will forgive us and we hope you had an amazing Christmas.

This is what a quite typical Swedish "Christmas Table" can look like. I didn't take a picture of the hot food which is normally meatballs, sausages, porridge, potatoes etc.

Santa!

Late in the afternoon Santa finally came to deliever some presents for all of us.

Jakob who hasn't had any proper toys since we left Australia (good news, the container arrives on Monday so Jakob will soon get them all back) was super happy with his presents and loved playing with his new stove.

And also his new tractor...

Christmas Games

One of our Christmas traditions is that Åke puts together some outdoor games for all of us. It is always a nice to get a break from all the food to go out and feel some fresh air. This Christmas we had about -17 but with the right clothes it is not so bad.

We all had to follow a path of candles in the snow and answer questions (in English).

The game ended with a trip on the sled behind the four wheeler that is used on the farm. Jakob got really scared and did not want to come with us. He wanted to go inside with mormor. Moa was really excited and so was the rest of us.

Jakob and Moa

Jakob and Moa are SO cute together! These photos are from Christmas Eve in Ale and they had so much fun together.

One more day before Christmas!

Tomorrow is the last day before Christmas and we are very excited. I finished the Christmas shopping today and spent the last hour wrapping all the presents. I think Jakob is going to be so excited over his new toys. Since all his old toys are in a container somewhere he doesn't have much to play with at all toady.

One thing that has changed since we moved to Sweden is that Jakob has started sleeping later in the morning. In Australia he hardly ever slept past 6, but now he normally wakes up between 7-8 in the morning. It is amazing!! The reasons are probably the darkness, his age, and also that it is so quiet around here in the morning. You don't hear any cars, planes etc at all that can wake you up in the morning.

Jakob is really happy most of the time, but he is starting to show more and more of a personality which is great. He knows what he wants, and likes telling us what to do, where to sit, what to eat. The other morning Adam picked him up when he woke up and took him in to our bedroom. Jakob was really upset and cried and didn't want to come to me at all. After a minute of trying to find out what he wanted, we figured out that he wanted to be picked up from his bed by me. Adam had to take him back to his bedroom, put him back in his bed, and then I had to go and get him. Isn't that really funny? Sometime nobody but Adam is allowed to change his nappy (fine by me) and today Jakob got really upset when I was driving the car and Adam sat in the passenger seat.

Big boy!

It is hard to believe that Jakob is such a big boy now. He can do everything by himself! In this photo he is relaxing on the couch with daddy after his first ever sauna! it went really well, he wasn't in there for very long because he wanted to play with the water that we had in a bucket in there, and we thought that game was a bit too dangerous.

The last few weeks we (mainly Adam) has spent a lot of time putting together all our Ikea furniture. Jakob is as always eager to help...

At child care the children learn to take their own plate from the table and put the left overs in the bin themselves, so now Jakob has started to do that at home. He does it really well, even though he sometimes picks up old food from the bin and start eating if we don't keep an eye on him.

Jakob is also a great helper in the laundry and nowdays we never have to load the washing machine. That is Jakob's job.

Happy Birthday mormor!

Yesterday it was mormor's birthday so we celebrated her with dinner at their place.

Earlier in the week Jakob got to decorate the Christmas tree for the first time with mormor. We don't have a Christmas tree this year, we don't really have many Christmas decorations at all actually. The main reason for that is that our container from Australia that was supposed to have arrived a few weeks ago, still hasn't come. In there, we have most of our clothes, all the kitchen stuff, Jakob's toys, Christmas presentes to everyone, and also all our Christmas decorations and Christmas tree. It is so annoying that it is not here yet, but I try to let it go, there is nothing I can do about it so no point being upset.

Lucia

Last week we went to a Christmas party in Ale, a small village outside Luleå where I have some family. Jakob and Moa were dressed in Santa clothes and also got to take part in the Lucia train.

Snow snow snow

This is what it looked like last Saturday morning. It had snowed a lot during the night and the driveway and the car was covered by snow. Adam worked really hard over a couple of days to get rid of it all. The last few days have been quite warm so the snow is slowly disappearing leaving just ice and water everywhere. I much rather prefer the beautiful snow so I hope the temperature will drop a few degrees before Christmas.

Leo's Playground

Jakob's new favourite playground is called Leo's Lekland. It is a bit like Wiggly Worms in Adelaide, but much much bigger and nicer, and the best of all, even the parents are allowed to play.

The first time we went there was together with our friends Maria, Andreas and Alice.

A few days after our first visit Adam went back there on his own with Jakob and they played hard for 5 (!!) hours and Jakob still didn't want to leave.

Why was there nothing like this around when I was a child?

Jakob and Moa

Jakob's cousin Moa is nearly 6 months older than Jakob and he adores her. He talks about her all the time, he dreams about her and when they meet he just wants to hold her hand. These photos are from morfar's brithday party where the 2 kids had so much fun playing together.

New stroller

Our friend Josefina recommended this stroller Brio Sitty and I have to say that it has been great! It was love at first sight for Jakob and he gets really excited when we say that we are going for a walk in "vagnen" (the Swedish word for stroller). I think the best thing with it is that it is so open. He can see what's going on around him by just turning his head.

Jakob and Alice

One of my close friends Maria, who i actually went to Australia to study with, lives very close to us in Luleå and has a daughter called Alice. Alice is about 6 months older than Jakob and he really likes her as you can see in the pictures.

To show Alice how much he liked her he copied everything she did.

Jakob even tried to pat Alice to sleep. Isn't that what friends are for?

Doing the dishes with mormor

The first few nights after our arrival in Sweden we stayed with Jakob's mormor and morfar in their apartment. I was a bit worried that he would find it hard being in a small apartment after being used to having lots of space around him but it went really well. Instead of playing tennis he just had to get used to more quiet games like doing the dishes.

First snow

Jakob got to experience snow on his second day in Sweden. This shows the first time he sees and stands on snow, and I have to say that he wasn't sure what to think...