Obituary notice

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Dad's death notice

Sweden

Isak and I have now been in Sweden for almost two weeks. Life in Thailand seems so far away! The weather here has been a complete opposite to Thailand with some days with -20 degrees and some days with snow storm. It is really beautiful here now with all the snow and when the sun is shining (for an hour a day at the best) it looks so pretty.
We have had a busy couple of weeks. The first week back was filled with fixing the add for the paper, planning the funeral, get rid of all the equipment that dad had (a bed, two wheelchairs, a lift, a chair for the shower, all the left over drugs) etc etc. Me, mum and dad's cousin also went to see dad one day. I have only seen one dead person before, my grandfather more than 20 years ago. Dad looked very peaceful and it really looked like his soul was somewhere else, hopefully in a much better place.
Isak and I are staying with mum which is nice.
During these weeks I have seen my friend Carina and her 3 weeks old baby Nelly a few times, I have been to our house a couple of times, I have done some birthday shopping, I have had Christmas dinner with work, dinner with Anders and his family a couple of times, Christmas party in Ale, lunch with Sigrid, fika with Jens, bookclub meeting one night, fika with Maria etc. Mum has helped a lot with Isak and as always he is really happy most of the time. Last night he slept extremly badly, he woke up crying at midnight, around 3am, 6am and then 7am. Not sure why, could be an ear infection?
This morning I visited work. I am really starting to look forward to going back. The company is doing well right now and there are lots of projects on the go so there will be lots to do! Stina and Martin came over to mum's this afternoon with some nice flowers and when they left mum, Isak and I went to celebrate my cousin Andreas on his birthday. Andreas and his fiance Karin bought a new house only about a month ago and finally we got to see it! It looks great!
So my time here is and has been very busy and I am trying to make the most of it. The fact that dad is not with us anymore is hard to understand and believe but it is very sad and I miss him a lot.
In only a few days Isak and I will go travelling again. A total of 5 flights will take us to Adelaide and the rest of the family. This will be the longest I have ever been away from Jakob :-( At least I know he is having an amazing time with grandma and poppa and of course daddy.

Thailand

I took hundreds of pictures in Thailand but have not had a good look at all of them. Picked out a few quickly to show you how amazing it was! Beautiful sunset on Klong Dao Beach

Adam and Isak having a swim. Isak loved it and only laughed when he got water in his face and eyes.

Soccer on the beach...

Me attending a Thai festival with the staff from the resort one evening in November. I found this information about it:

The most colour festival during the year is Loy Krathong held on the full moon of the 12th lunar month (usually in November). This is a festival to pay respects to the Mother of Water to ask for forgiveness for polluting the water in the past. Loy means to float and a krathong is a kind of bowl.

Jakob and I went elephant riding one day. He was a bit scared in the beginning but started relaxing after a while. Lots of fun to do something just the two of us.

Jakob and his friend Lucas relaxing after dinner at one of our favourite resturants on the beach.

Our beautiful and amazing boys Jakob and Isak!

The first snake that we saw at our resort. The second one I didn't get a photo of.

Jakob playing before dinner at Long Beach.

Isak 10 months

About to have breakfast the morning Isak and I were leaving.

Jakob posing for the camera.

Isak just before he learnt to crawl.

Rest in peace Dad!

Just after 2 am Sunday morning dad passed away. Mum, my brother and dad's sister were by his side. I didn't make it home from Thailand but I was very glad to know that he had mum, Anders and Maggi there.
After his birthday earlier in the week he got really tired and on Thursday his condition got much worse. From Thursday night/Friday he slept more or less the whole time. He seemed to be in no pain and when he took his last breath he looked very peaceful from what I have been told. I think it happened just the way he wanted it to happen. He told me that he hoped that he would one day just go to sleep and not wake up again. And he wanted to die at home. He got what he wanted.
Isak and I left Thailand Sunday afternoon after 6 wonderful weeks at Lanta Sea House. It was very sad to leave but it feels good to be home and be with the rest of the family.

For those of you who don't know, dad was diagnosed with a tumor in his brain just over a year ago. A few months ago he had his last chemo treatment. Throughout this difficult time he has stayed very positive and always planned for the future. At the same time he has made the most out of each day and for example he started smoking again (he quit over 20 years ago).

I am glad that Isak got to meet his morfar even though I feel sad that they didn't get more time together.

Jakob and mofar have always had a very close and special relationship.

Time is flying

I am starting to realise that we only have just over 2 week left here in Thailand. There are still a few things I want to do before we leave so I said to Adam today that we should make a list of the things we want to do and plan them in. We have been talking about maybe taking a ferry to another island for one night, I want to go to Phi Phi islands, Adam wants to go fishing one day, I want to have more massage, some more shopping, maybe a cooking class for Adam, visiting some other beaches on the island, trying a few restaurants that I have wanted to try but still haven't etc etc. There are so many things to do here and time is running out...

Saladan

Today we all had lunch in Saladan. It is nice sometimes to leave the resort and go in to town, but it is even nicer when we come back to the resort after a few hours in Saladan. Today we tried a new place on the water, can't remember the name of it. The food was average but the staff was super nice. As soon as our food came in they picked up Isak and walked him around until we had finished our meals. It means a lot to be able to eath without worrying about him crawling off the edge of the restaurant (it was on poles in the water). Isak is not scared at all of new people, he just seems to like it.

Elephant riding

This morning Jakob and I went elephant riding. I have been wanting to to something fun together with Jakob, just the two of us, and elephant riding was a good choice I thought. He was really excited when he saw the elephants and it was no problem getting him up on the big elephant. When the elephant started walking I could see and feel (I had my arm around him) that he thought it was pretty scary but after a while he started relaxing. The guide was good and stopped a few times so we could look at things in the djungle and that made the ride more fun and relaxing.
After the ride we watched a baby elephant show and Jakob got to feed the little baby with bananas.
We had a really fun time Jakob and I and it is a great memory to take with us back home!

Another early morning

I know it is pretty good to have a 9 months old baby who sleeps from 7pm until 5am without waking up. But 5am is just insane. I don't want to get up at 5am in the morning! Normally Adam and I take turns in the morning but the last few days I have been getting up since he has been sick. This morning he actually went back to sleep when I fed him in bed, but woke up when Adam asked what time it was. I was not happy. Anyway, leaving the room to not wake Jakob up at 5.45 is so much better than 5...
Isak seems to be feeling much better and his day sleeps were back to normal again today, which means us having to wake him up.
After a few days with not so much exercise I have had my morning walk and my laps in the pool today, since Adam is feeling better. I love it!

Colds

Adam is sick and Isak is sick. Adam has a sore throat and is very tired and Isak is coughing and has a runny nose. Yesterday afternoon and today Adam has spent in the air conditioned room and I think he is feeling a bit better now. Isak has not been sleeping so well but is still happy as always. This morning he woke up at 5 am again, not fun, and didn't sleep as much as he normally does during the day. I am sleeping badly since Adam is moving around a lot in bed. Luckily I don't feel so tired here and getting up at 5 in the morning is not as bad as it sounds even though I would much rather be in bed....
Isak can now crawl about 4 steps before he goes flat on his belly and rests before getting up again. His fifth tooth is almost through. He can now wave with one hand when someone says good bye. He goes from laying down to sitting quickly and easily. And he is pretty much always happy!

Living life!

So, what's been happening here the last few days? not much really. We have our wonderful routines which means walking or running in the morning, taking turns having a couple of hours off before lunch, lots of swimming and playing with the children, good food and early nights. At least most nights are early nights but the last to evenings I have been out a bit later than normal.
THe other night the staff at the resort asked if I wanted to go with them to a festival at the other side of the island. I said yes of course and at about 8pm we left. It was a very traditional Thai festival with music, thai dancing, markets etc etc but the main thing was to light a little "boat" made of banana leaves and push it out in the water. It means good luck and getting rid of all the problems. That's sort of how they explained it to me but I need to look it up a bit better to understand the meaning of it all. It was a very beautiful tradition and I am so glad I got to go.
Last night after the kids were in bed, another Swedish girl and I went to have a massage on the beach. I had a foot massage and I loved it. We had dinner after.
There are some really nice families staying here at the moment and lots of children. Jakob is hanging out with two older boys and most of the time it is going well even though I can see that he sometimes feels a bit left out when the games are too advanced for him.

Early mornings

Isak woke up 4.50 this morning. That is too early for me. He did have a small sleep when I breastfed but at 5.30 we gave up and Adam took him outside to not wake Jakob up. That didn't help because only seconds after Adam had left Jakob woke up and his first words were: I want to go outside and play. I managed to keep him inside the room until 6 but after that it was impossible and his day of hard playing had started. I swapped my morning walk for a sleep which was amazing! haven't done that for a while. We go to bed so early that we get enough sleep even when we have to get up between 5 and 6.
The last couple of days Jakob has been playing with two other boys and they have so much fun together, they feed the fish, they have running races, the go snake hunting, they swim in the pool and the ocean, they fight over toys etc etc. Today for the first time since we got here, Jakob played insied our bungalow in the middle of the day with his friends and they even watched a dvd! Or the truth is that Jakob watched for about 10 and then left, and the other boys watched for half an hour.
Jakob did not want to go to bed tonight but he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Snake

This afternoon one of the guys working here saw a snake just outside the restaurant. When we came back from lunch the staff was putting up a net around one of the fish ponds where the snake had been spotted. A snake hunter came to the resort to try and find it but had no luck. It was very fun watching them all working and of course we were dying to see the snake. Unfortunatley it wasn't found so as far as we know there is a snake very close to our bungalow (our bungalow is the one closest to the snake area). According to the snake expert it can't get out of the area they had closed in. I hope that because I don't want to meet an angry cobra tomorrow morning at 5.30 when I take Isak for a walk.

Saladan

Today we all went in to Saladan for lunch. We picked a pizza place and my pizza was delicious! we eat so much thai food here (of course) so it is nice to sometimes have something different. Saladan is a really nice little place with lots of nice restaurants and cute shops with a mixture of nice things and crap. My plan was to go in there by myself tomorrow but there is a muslim holiday tomorrow and most places will be closed.

Time off

Adam and I have started taking turns having 2 hours off every morning. We start the day by taking turns getting up with Isak, and as soon as Jakob wakes up one of us goes for a walk or a run on the beach. When that person is back the other one goes. That way we have both excercised before 9 in the morning. Between 9.30 and 11.30 (when Isak is asleep) on of us spends time with Jakob and the other one is free. It is a great system! It is nice to have those hours when you can switch of the brain and have no responsibilities. It is also and opportuinty to explore things by yourself. The day your have Jakob is also nice because you get some real quality time with him. Good for everyone!!

Isak

Isak is now just over 9 months and he is growing and getting stronger. He is trying his hardest to crawl but is not quite there yet. He eats like a horse (maybe that is just a Swedish saying?) and likes everything. Jakob was not quite as easy to feed so it is nice with a child that just opens the mouth to everything you give him. I still breast feed morning and night.

Isak has two sleeps during the day. One between 9.30 and 11.30 and one between 2.30 and 4pm. We always have to wake him up, if we didn't I don't know how long he would go for but he is sleeping much better at night now when we try to control his day sleep a bit.

At night he is sleeping really well now. He goes to bed around 7 and wakes up between 5.30 and 6.15 and doesn't go back to sleep. Sometimes he wakes up at night and can be awake for 45 min or more but he doesn't complain, just talks, plays in bed, moves around and finally goes back to sleep. Adam and I are now taking turns in the morning to take Isak out of the room when he wakes up so he doesn't wake the rest of the family up.

Life

Today Adams parents and brother with family left the island. Life is back to normal which means me not having ice cream every day.

Jakob

Jakob loves Lighting McQueen and do I need to say that he loves this t-shirt and that it is a struggle to get him to put on any of the nice PoP t-shirts that we have. It is not just a struggle it is nearly impossible.
Jakob is doing so well with his English. Last night he ordered a meal all by himself, he said Can I have a hamburger? This morning he ordered his breakfast as well, all in beautiful English. For the first time he has started to use the language to speak and he often comes up to us and ask how to say something in English.

Tour of the island

One day we hired a van and a driver and took a half day trip around the island. First stop was at a gypsy village in Saladan. Felt a bit strange walking around looking at these people and their houses. We have so much and they have so little but I bet most of them are happier than most of us.

A short stop at a really nice beach called Klong Nin (I think).

The old town of Koh Lanta seen from a pier.

Cooking class

Karen and I preparing the vegetables to one of the 5 Thai dishes we cooked.

5 course dinner?

Can't promise that I will ever be able to cook these dishes again, but at least I have done it once and they tasted delicious!

Koh Rok

When Adam's parents were here Adam and I took the opportunity to have a day to ourselves when they kindly looked after the children. We had an amazing day snorkling and spending a few hours on the beautiful island Koh Rok.

Having lunch with our Swedish friends!

Visitors on the island

Adam's parents and his brother and family have been here for 8 nights. It was great to have them here and we had lots of fun together. Jakob and Isak loved having them here.

Jane and Isak

Karen and Hugo on the beach.

John and Isak

Cousin Hugo

Paradise

Most resturants on the beach have toys for the children. Going out for dinner with two children in Thailand is piece of a cake. Imagine doing it in Lulea or Adelaide?

Isak is still as happy as ever. He just smiles to everyone around him and is just so beautiful. We are so lucky to have such and angel in the family.

Walking along the beach in the evening. Now we also have a stroller for Jakob and he loves it. He even fell asleep in it the other day when we went out for dinner in the evening.