Leos and more...

Last night Isak had his best night so far and I had a great sleep! He went to bed at 7pm as normal and didn't wake up until 4.30 for a feed! then went back to sleep until 7.10am. In the last week I have stopped feeding him around 1-2 am. He wakes up, has a little cry, stops and I can hear him sucking on his fingers, he moves around a bit in bed, scratches with his fingers on the mattress, kicks the sides of the cot and so on. I try not to move because if he hears me he starts looking for me. If not he just stays awake for about 20 min or so and goes back to sleep by himself. Really great and I never thought it would be that easy to drop a night feed. Last night was the first night he slept through that 1-2am wake up and I slept like a log between 10.30 and 4.30. It was great! I have also stopped feeding him during the day. I breast feed when he wakes up in the morning, before he goes to bed and once at night.
Jakob and Adam went to Leos at 10 and Isak and I joined them after lunch. Anders and the children were also there. I had an ice cream and played a bit with Jakob but left at 3 to go and se dad at the hospital. He was very tired after having been up in the lunch room earlier today for the first time since he got to the hospital 2 weeks ago! Tomorrow there will be a meeting at the hospital to decide when and if he can come home and what will be required for it to happen. He needs a hospital bed and a lift for example and also help a few times a day and at night. After tomorrow we will know more. Adam is having the day off so I will be able to go to the meeting without Isak. After the hospital I am going straight to the stable to have a ride! hope the weather stays as good as it was today.

What else have we been up to? On Saturday we did a lot of cleaning. Adam did the outside and I did the inside. Andreas and Karin came over in the afternoon for a coffee and I also went to the hospital by myself for a couple of hours. Dad told me that if he had the power to decide were to have a tumor he would chose his little toe.
Yesterday was skating day for Jakob and according to Adam he did really well! After skating we went to Zara and Micke for lunch, yummy! in the evening Jakob and I went to the riding club just the two of us. He really likes it there and loves feeding the horses etc. He is not scared, at least not of the small horses.

Jakob was very excited tonight thinking about dagis tomorrow. It makes life so much easier knowing how much he loves being there. Maybe one day this week he will get to go home with his friend Linus after dagis for a couple of hours. His mum asked him last week if he would like to do that and I don't need to say what he answered... The only problem with Jakob having such a good friend at dagis is that he gets a bit obsessed with him. If Linus isn't there when we get there he doesn't want to do anything, he just wants to wait at the door for him. When he comes they take off playing and don't seem very interested in any other children apart from one other boy that they play with. I am glad that we are the ones going away for three months and not Linus. Not sure how Jakob would have coped without his best friend :-)

Photos from Stockholm

Emma took lots of nice photos when we were in Stockholm, here are some of them...

Food and more...

Isak is still eating solids really well and even though I still breast feed him about 4 times a day he doesn't seem to need it as much as before as he gets full from solids. Today I made some different types of mince sauce with some new flavours for him to try like garlic, tomatoes, oregano, onion, corn. Will be interesting to see his reaction when he gets to try it for lunch tomorrow.

I also filled up the freezer with some new fruit pure the other day. Isak looooves fruit, just like Jakob did!

I am trying to think about what is happening in Isak's life and how he is growing and developing. He is still as happy as ever and laughs and smile a lot. I still feed twice a night even though I only fed once last night, hoping for another night like that. He is not crawling but he is pushing himself up with straight arms when he is on his belly and he can move himself around on the floor by rollling and pushing himself backwards. He is getting stronger and more determined when it comes to playing and reaching for toys. I can't say antyhing negative about this little man he is just a joy to be with most of the time. Of course I love time away from him too since I have had him on me pretty much all the time for the last 7 months. Today mum looked after him for a couple of hours in the middle of the day which was nice.

Sleeping at the top!

Falling out of bed at the cabin didn't scare Jakob and when we came home he was convinced that he wanted to start sleeping at the top of his bunk bed. Tonight will be his third night up there and so far it is going really well.

Monday

Just outside dad's room at the hospital there is a big box full of toys and that keeps Jakob busy for at least a few minutes when visiting morfar. There is also another fun play area at the other end of the hospital so when I bring Jakob there I try to time it so that mum can take Jakob there when I spend time with dad.

Dad has now been on antibiotics for a few days and his health is actually improving a bit. He is not as tired, eats a bit more and can talk better.

Yesterday when we were about to leave Jakob walked up to dad and said: morfar, I am going to be at dagis for three days now so I can't come and visit you for a few days.

Dad

After coming home from the cabin on Sunday we had lunch, I voted and after that drove to the hospital to see dad. Adam was home with both Isak and Jakob and it was really nice to go by myself. After a few hours Adam brought the children to the hospital so that Jakob got to see dad. He doesn't seem to be so affected by dad being sick. He talks a bit about it and says things like: morfar is sick and can't play, he sleeps a lot and is very tired, he can't talk so much and he doesn't like the food at the hospital.

The hospital enviroment is an exciting place for a child like Jakob. The long corridors make him want to run and he wants to climb up on all the benches along the way. He also starts talking to lots of people and ask them if they are sick etc.

Lunch in the city

Adam, Jakob, Isak and I having lunch in the city last week.

Another Weekend away!

On the weekend we were invited to go with Zara, Micke and their children to Zara's parents cabin. Since Adam has worked so much during summer it was nice to go away together. The drive was beautiful with colorful trees and impressive clouds. I took these photos through the car window.

After a quick lunch the boys went down to the lake and started fishing. Zara and I were being good "house ladies" and got the cabin set up (beds, food etc) and took care of the babies until we had enough a few hourse later and demanded them to come back and help. I think Adam could have stayed until midnight if he had been allowed to!

Finn and Jakob having a break from fishing. Adam and Micke just kept going and did not have a break for probably 5 hours.

Having fun!

Isak can almost sit all by himself now...

But at times he falls over... Lucky Lykke was there to catch him!

After fishing with the dads Jakob wanted to have running competitions with me. To my big surprise he didn't get upset when I ran fast than him. He just said mummy you are faster than me! Hmmm. I wish he would treat his friends with the same respect.

Zara gave the boys some BIG bags of lollies. Jakob was so happy that he didn't know what to do with himself! Even though he has a mum who is addicted to lollies that doesn't mean he gets to taste any. I am very good at hiding my lollies at home :-)

After a really nice sauna the babies went to bed at 7 and the older boys not long after. As soon as they were asleep we started stuffing ourselves with lollies and chips etc and then we played cards! I haven't done that for a long long time but it was really really fun!

Day 2 at the cabin

The night did not go so well. I couldn't sleep at all and fed Isak 1.15. Not long after that we heard a loud noise and Jakob screaming. He had fallen out of bed. From the top of the bunk bed! It was pretty dark in the room so I couldn't really see him but i managed to pick him up and hug him. He stopped crying and just said he wanted me to sleep in his bed. I quickly moved his quilt to the bottom bed and tried to go to sleep next to him but it was impossible. I started worrying that maybe he had hurt himself and was passed out from an injury and not asleep. After an hour I told him that I would go back to my bed and only a very short time after that Isak woke up again for a feed. 6.10 Adam had to go to the toilet and of course that woke both children up. I stayed in bed and Adam got up with them.

Jakob and Finn running towards the lake to look for Adam who was fishing. No bruises or other injuries from the fall, Jakob seems perfectly fine and not scared at all. The first thing he said when he woke up was: when we get home I want to sleep in the top bed.

Spending time at the hospital!

It is so lucky that Isak is as calm as he is. I can bring him pretty much anywhere without having to worry about him being upset. Even though Jakob also was a quite happy he wasn't at all as calm as Isak and I never knew when he was going to need lots of attention.

Dad

After being away for a few days I went to see dad and he wasn't feeling so well. He was coughing and was very week and tired so we decided to go to the hospital. The photo is from the emergency ward waiting for a doctor.

We were lucky and didn't have to wait very long. Dad got moved to a palliative ward where he will stay for at least a few days. When he is feeling a bit better he will come home again and get looked after by family and the home care support system.

Karin

Karin did her thesis at the company where I worked in Australia and she also filled my position when I was on parental leave. Now she is having her first child in only a few weeks and living in Västerås. After two nights in Stockholm Marie had to go back to the south of Sweden and Emma was leving for a work trip to China. Karin, Isak and I took the train to Västerås for one more night before heading back to Luleå.

I got to meet Karin's boyfriend Stefan for the firs time!

The trip back to Luleå went well. Isak was an angel on the 90min bus trip to Arlanda airport and also slept for nearly 45 min. At the airport I found out that my plan was over booked and they were looking for volonteers to re-book to a later flight. Since I wasn't in a hurry I put up my hand and got moved to a fligth not even 2 hours later. I got a 150 euro travel voucher to use within a year which means that my next trip is already paid for :-)

Back in Luleå I was very happy to meet Jakob and Adam at Kallax airport. It was great to be away for a few days but it is always nice to come home again.

Last day with the girls!

Sunday was our last day together all four of us. We started with a quiet morning at the hotel where we took turns having breakfast. Marie and I had breakfast together when Isak was asleep.

The afternoon we spent in a cafe just eating and talking. My mum had asked Jakob what he thought I would be doing in Stockholm and his answer was: talk talk and talk! he was almost right, just forgot to mention eating as well.

Happy girls and happy Isak!

After a big breakfast at the hotel we walked around in Stockholm and did some shopping before we stopped for the first break. The cafes in Stockholm didn't seem to want to have babies there because it was always very hard to find a high chair. Luckily there were 4 of us looking after Isak and he loved all the attention.

Isak's hair has been tangled on top of his head and I haven't really tried to do anything about it. Marie decided to try to detangle it. After a couple of tries it was all done and he now looks almost like a normal baby.

Happy as always!

Photo exhibition

In between all lunches and cakes and coffes we visited a photo exhibition Saturday afternoon. The place was very busy and the exhibition was very interseting and I would go back without Isak on a more quiet day if I had the chance.

Stockholm is a beautiful city to visit but I would not like to live there.