More people coming!

Tomorrow is a big day. For some reason everything seems to be happening on the 1 of November. Some resorts that have been closed during low season will open and also some restaurants. About 6 new families are arriving to our resort tomorrow. On top of that it is Adam's birthday tomorrow, and for those of you who know Adam, his birthday is the most important day of the year. His parents and borther with family are also arriving here tomorrow, staying at the same resort as us. They will be here for just over a week. Tomorrow we will celebrate Adam's brithday and next Saturday is the day when we will celebrate John's 60th birthday. Lots of fun ahead of us!

Rain rain rain

After my morning at the temple we spent the rest of the day at the resort. The rain has been pouring down all afternoon and it is still raining. For the first time since we got here I was craving somethign sweet and felt that I had to have lollies or something else. Adam borrowed a scooter and went in to Saladan to pick up som Swedish lollies and the bag he brought back for me was gone in only a couple of minutes.
Apart from lollies today and a couple of ice creams I have been very healthy since I got here. I go for a 40min walk every morning and I also do laps in the swimming pool. I don't eat between the big meals and for lunch and dinner I mainly eat traditional Thai food. At least it feel healthy. I think very soon I will start craving other food, the thai foor is delicious but after having it for lunch and dinner every day for a week I am slowly starting to feel that I have to eat something else soon. Have to think about it...

The temple

Yesterday the staff asked me if I would be interested in going to an Buddist ceremony today. I thoguht the were joking with me (I was asking lots of questions about Buddism) but they weren't so today I left the resort with the owners (an older couple) and another family member. We went to the other side of the island where the temple is. Most people on the island are muslims so buddism is not a common religion here. The temple was filled with people and food and we sat down to listen to the monks talking and praying. I did not understand any of it but it was still extremly interesting to just be there, soak in the atmosphere and watch all the people. After the ceremony there was a lunch buffe for everyone and I got to try some really nice and spice Thai food.
On the way home we stopped at the owners house to pick up som fruit. They live in a big really nice house with an amazing garden where they grow herbs, fruit, mushroom and vegetables for the resturant at the resort. They were very proud to tell me that it was all organic.
I am really glad I got invited to this. Not only I got to experience something very different, I also got to see a bit of the other side of the island and spend some time with a really nice Thai family.

Early morning

This morning Isak woke up 5.30 crying a bit and he didn't seem to settle so I had to pick him up. Of course Jakob woke up too and he is not the sort of boy that would go back to sleep. He yawned a few times and then said it was morning and that he wanted to get up. Adam tried to talk him in to watching a dvd but it didn't work so the two of them ended up on the beach playing in the sand! I thought Jakob would be tired during the day but he has played witht he staff the whole day as normal. They have made paper planes, played with cars, been chasing each other, built garages and roads with blocks, he has been watching the kitchen staff make food, he has asked one of the bigger ladies that work here if she has 2 babies in her belly. Luckily she didn't get offended and they all laughed. Today we didn't manage to get him in to the water at all, he just loves playing with the people here!

Bee!

Today Jakob got stung by a bee for the first time ever, as far as we know. We think it was a bee anyway. He was running to our bungalow and came back screaming and in a lot of pain. When he had calmed down so I could speak to him he said that he stepped on a fly that almost died but it could still fly away after he had stepped on it. The staff had some cream to put on and a few minutes later he was fine again.
We haven't seen any snakes or other dangerous animals yet (touch wood) but we have had some ants in the room (most of you know how much I hate ants) and there are also mosquitos flying around in the evening.

Ice cream!

Today was a big day. The ice cream arrived! When we first got here a few days ago Jakob nearly had a breakdown because there was no ice cream in the ice cream box. It was empty. Every day he has been going to the box about 200 times to see if it has been filled up. When it finally was delivered tonight after dinner he was running around screaming I am so happy!! The funny thing is that he was so excited about seeing all the ice cream in the box that he forgot to ask for one and of course we didn't remind him.

Happy days

This afternoon it has been raining for nearly 3 hours! it was quite nice actually, we had lunch at just stayed in the restaurant and watched the rain and the wind and the cool breeze from the ocean. Jakob was entertained building garages for cars with some blocks and he is actually still doing it 4 hours after he started. The staff here take turns playing with him and he loves it.
Isak is alseep and Adam is having a beer at the moment and I am just killing some time in front of the computer. Because time is something we have a lot of here!
This morning I went for a walk along the beach in the morning and it is just breath taking, so beautiful and peaceful! later on Adam went for a run and then we had breakfast together. We got changed and played inthe pool for a couple of hours before lunch and the rain. My plan was to have a massage but the rain stopped me so I will go later today instead. Life is tough!
Last night we tried a new place for dinner. It was right on the beach and we got to watch a beautiful sunset while eating dinner. There were about 4 other Swedish families in the restaurant so Jakob had lots of children to play with. He was extremly tired though and said a couple of times that he wanted to go home and have a sleep. That doesn't happen very often.

I was a bit worried about food for Isak before we got here. So far it has not been a problem. We just ask them to make baby food and they cook special food for Isak! Not bad.

See you!

Paradise

The place we are staying at is absolutley amazing! not too big, not too small, not too fancy, not too cheap. Pretty much on the water, really friendly staff, nice swimming pool, great restaurant etc etc. Our bungalow is actually bigger than I expected and so far it is working well for all of us staying in one room.
Yesteray when we arrived we spent the afternoon unpacking, swimming in the pool, eating and relaxing. Jakob was not really sure what to think about it all. He was a bit annoyed by the heat (but loved the pool) and didn't like seeing flies. He said he wanted to play with friends and said he missed Linus and Efe.
Isak went to bed 7pm, Jakob 7.10, Adam 7.10 and I 7.35. 7.30 this morning Isak woke me and Adam up. He had slept throug the night without a feed for the first time! Jakob was still dead to the world and at 9.15 we woke him so that we could go and have breakfast. Isak actually fell asleep when I changed his nappy at 9am and his morning sleep went until just after 12! during that time we had breakfast and spent a few hours in the pool overlooking the ocean. Just amazing.
In the afternoon we went in to the city of Saladan. The aim was to find some beach toys for Jakob and buy nappies. It was hot and sweaty but we got what we wanted. Next time I think we will go without children. I got my famous heat headache that I used to get in Australia sometimes. I have been drinking a lot so not sure what else to do. Had to lie down for a while when we got back and felt better after that.
Jakob loved his floaties and is now swimming by himself in the big pool! he is also getting to know the staff and is helping the feeding the fish, fixing the swimming pool, looking for the cat etc etc. He speaks Swedish to them most of the time but that doesn't seem to be a problem to anyone.
Hopefully I can attach a few photos another day!

The trip!

6 am Saturday morning we got up and pretty much just woke the children up and got in to the car (Anders took us to the airport). Both Isak and Jakob were happy in the morning so it went quite well.

The first flight to Stockholm went without problems with 2 happy children. Had lunch at Arlanda and Jakob played while Isak slept in a luggage trolley. The fligt was on time even though it was full, not one empty seat in the whole plane! We got quite disappointed when we got told that Isak was too old for a basinette! we had booked one through the travel agent and also when we checked in and nobody mentioned that the baby must not be older than 6 months. Not much to do. Adam and I took turns holding Isak when he went in to his night sleep. At least he got some sleep, we got nearly none.
Jakob did well but had a few moments of not wanting to sit still. It happened when they were handing out the dinners and he tried to get out under his tray and run around stealing lollies from other passengers. Not much fun and Adam nearly paniced. Luckily it didn't last for so long and about 7.30 he fell alseep on the floor. Not long after a flight attendant came and told us to pick him up, he wasn't allowed to sleep on the floor. Full plane, no basinette for Isak and trying to get Jakob to sleep sitting in a chair. Not ideal but we got through it.
In Bangkok Jakob who was probably over tired ran around like crazy for almost 2 hours. He did it in an area where it was ok to play and run so good for everyone. On the the short flight to Krabi he fell asleep and was reallly tired when we had to wake him up. It was nice to get picked up by a nice can with air conditioning and car seats for the kids at the airport at Krabi. I can't remember much of the car ride to Koh Lanta becaus I slep on and off the whole way.
Nice to finally get there after a long trip but I have to say it went extremly well. I don't think we can expect from Jakob who is a child that loves running and don't like sitting still for long to sit quietly in a plane for 10 hours. He did as well as he could.

Good bye Sweden!

11.40 pm and almost ready to go to bed. I think everything that can be packed tonight is packed, apart from some baby food from the freezer etc. Kids are asleep, Adam is asleep, I should be asleep. Have had a busy last few days saying good bye to people, packing, shopping, having a haircut, spending time with mum and dad, talking to the neighbours etc etc. I still can't quite believe we are going but if everything goes as planned we will leave early tomorrow morning with two happy kids :-)
Jakob has been a bit stressed, sad and angry the last two days. He didn't want to leave dagis yesterday and he seems to be mentally very tired. It is of course hard to understand what is about to happen. All he know is that he is leaving his friends, his room and everything else that is familiar to him, to go to something unknown. He knows he should be excited because we keep saying it is going to be fun, but how would he know? he has nothing to relate it to? We have probably not done so well in our preparations with Jakob but hey, you live and you learn. And we keep learning that's for sure.

Hopefully it won't take too long before I will give you an update from Thailand!

Mum and dad and Isak

Isak saying good bye to morfar before our loooong trip!

Mormor and morfar and cousins

This last week we have spent a lot of time with mum and dad and also seen Moa and the rest of the family a lot.

Anyone got some got advice on how to take photos of 4 children under 5?

Jakob and Moa playing with morfars bed.

Isak

Isak practicing sitting...

Even when he is eating he wants to have his two middle fingers in his mouth!

Look at Jakob's mouth!

Jakob and Linus

On Monday Linus, Jakob's friend from dagis came over by himself to play in the afternoon. They had SO much fun!

Isak in his new room

Isak has now slept in his new room for about a week and it is going great. I still feed him once between 4-5 but one morning he had an all time best and slept until 5.40 and went back to sleep after a feed until 8am!

Last day with Zara and her family :-(

Last Sunday was spent with Zara, Micke, Finn and Lykke. We will miss them a lot when we are away!!

Packing...

Not long now before we get on the plane. Saturday morning Anders will pick us up around 6.30 in the morning to get to the airport in time for the first flight to Stockholm. Around 2pm we are flying from Stockholm to Bangkok and from there to Krabi. In Krabi we will get picked up by a van that has air condition and carseats for both boys. It will take us all the way to our resort in Koh Lanta. It feels great to know that we have a comfortable and hopefully safe car ride from the airport. I have a feeling we will be pretty tired at that stage.

So, the last few days have been all about buying the last few things for the trip, fixing things with the house before we leave, talking to the neighbours, seeing friends and family, packing etc etc. Tonight I almost finished packing Isaks bag and also his carry on bag. Tomorrow I will get on to my own bag. Adam is responsible for packing Jakob's bag.

Monday this week Jakob's best friend from dagis visited us without his parents for the first time. It went so well and they played like crazy all afternoon. I told them once that I thought they were so cute together and then they laughed and said: we are not cute, we are cool!!
After they left we went to mum and dad to have pancakes for dinner and Anders, Helena, Moa and Lucas were also there. Jakob and Moa always go crazy when they are together and we did our best to keep them as calm as we could. At least they had a great time. They took turns pressing buttons when dad (morfar) was lifted to the arm chair and they also helped giving him his medicin. One tablet each.

Today has been all about packing for me and looking after Isak, a short trip to mum and dad, grocery shopping. We had Anders and the family over for dinner, it will probably be a while before we can get together all of us again.

Isak is now feeling better after his cold and he is much happier again. He is also sleeping well in his new room even though I still feed him once around 4.30 in the morning.

Jakob is still coughing a bit but is well enough to go to dagis and has lots of energy as always. Tomorrow he is bringing ice cream to dagis to give to all the children to make the day a bit special since it will be his last day for a few months.

Time to get some much needed sleep! The good thing is that Adam is not working this week (apart from Monday) so we take turns sleeping in the morning. That way we can do some "work" in the evening after the kids have gone to bed without being so tired.

Happy Birthday Poppa!

Yesterday was Poppas 60th birthday and all of us here in Sweden hope he had the best birthday! we all look forward to celebrating properly in Thailand very soon.

First snow!

Today the trees and roads were covered by a thin layer of snow. I remember how exciting it used to be to see the first snow as a child. This time is the first time Jakob really understands what it means and he was so happy! when I picked him up after day care today he told me that they had been throwing snow balls and measuring how far they could throw them. He did 6 metres and was very proud!
Adam is in Kalix today and will come home late but Jakob, Isak and I had a very cosy and fun afternoon and evening. Jakob is just the best big brother! most of the time at least and today was one of those good days. He fed Isak his dinner and his porridge before bedtime and did it SO well. Put just the right amount of food on the spoon and placed the spoon very gently in Isaks mouth and pulled it out again at the right time. Last time he tried feeding was a couple of months ago and it didn't got so well but tonight Jakob was the king of feeding! it helps that Isak adores Jakob and can't take his eyes from him. When I feed Isak he always try to turn around to look for Jakob. Isak is not quite as happy as normal because of his cold but as long as you hold him he is fine, so I can't complain. Isak and Jakob are the most amazing children, of course everyone says that about their own children, but they really are! I often feel that Jakob is a lot smarter than I am (not so hard to be, I know...) and I learn from him all the time. He makes me think about what I say and makes me think twice before doing something or saying something. He is caring and helpful and very attentive. He is curious and wants to learn and understand how things work. He is not shy, the other day in the supermarket when we were lining up to pay, he asked an old man in front of him if he can run. The man said yes and then he asked if he was a fast runner. Then he turned around and asked the same question to the man behind him.
Today at dagis one of the carers said that Jakob had said that he didn't have a ticket to go to Australia. I asked him about it and he said that daddy has said that I am not going to get to go to Australia. Hmmm. I have to ask Adam about that when he gets home. Probably one of Adam's bad jokes ;-)
9 days before we leave for Thailand. Can't quite believe it.

Wednesday!

Jakob moves around a lot in bed when he sleeps. Some nights he wants to sleep at the top and some nights at the bottom. We let him chose every night. Here he has managed to move as far away from his pillow as you possibly can in the bed.

Ikea!

Sunday Zara and I spent the day at Ikea! I haven't been there for a long time so I was really excited about going. Adam was home with both children and looked after them by himself from 8 in the morning until 5pm.
Zara and I had a great day with lots of shopping of course and a nice quiet lunch.
We are about to move Isak out of our bedroom. He will go in to our office so the main thing with my Ikea trip was to buy a cupboard for the laptop. This is what it looks like now when it is finished.
The last couple of days have been very busy trying to organise everything in the office, moving some things upstairs, throwing things out etc.
Not sure when we will move Isak. He has a cold at the moment and isn't sleeping so well. He is good until about 1am, then he starts to move around in bed, cries on and off for a few hours. I can't sleep at all during this time so I hope he will start feeling better soon.

Saturday night!

Saturday night we were invited to Maria and her family for dinner. We haven't seen each other for so long so it was nice to catch up on things. Jakob and Alice played really well together the whole night!

Åsa's birthday!

Last Saturday we were invited to Ale to celebrate Åsas birthday. Isak and Adam stayed home so once again Jakob and I got to do something fun together and Adam and Isak had some time for bonding.

After having had some nice cakes we went to have a look at the lambs.

The lambs have grown a lot since last time!

For the first time ever Jakob tried to sit in a real tractor. At first he didn't want to but when Moa did it he changed his mind.

Anders parked the caravan under cover for winter and is reading the instructions to make sure he has done all the right things :-)

Singing

Last Friday Jakob and I went to the singing together. I haven't been there for quite some time because Isak normally sleeps between 10 and 12 in the morning but since Adam was home I could go without Isak. It is so nice for Jakob and I to do things together just the two of us.

Jakob is always so helpful! and he has calmed down a lot. Only 6 months ago he used to go crazy at singing and did not listen very well. Now he is listening to the songs and also to me (at times...).

TV star!

Last week mum and I were in the city looking for a book. A TV team asked me if I could answer a couple of questions in front of the camera that would be shown on the news that night. I said no straight away and really tried my best to get out of it but the guy managed to talk me in to doing it.
Dad's helpers were very helpful and organised so that dad could sit up in an armchair in the living room and watch us (mum was also on tv) in the news.

The lifting aid they use to move dad to and from the wheel chair etc looks like this. It is actually designed and made by a Luleå based company and works really well.

Good day!

The departure for our trip to Thailand and Australia is getting closer and we are starting to prepare and fix everything that needs to be done before we go. If we go. Adam and Jakob will go whatever happens but Isak and I will probably decide what to do in the last minute. A very difficult siutation.
Today Adam had a sleep in and I got up with the kids. Jakob slept until 7.30, doesn't happen very often! In the morning when Isak had his sleep I started raking the leaves at the back of our house. It was really fun and nice to do some work outside the house. I don't do that very often. I also managed to squeeze in a nap on the couch before Isak woke up :-) Finally posted our passports with the visa applications to the Thai consulate in Gothenburg today. I hope we get them back before we leave...
Jakob and I did some more raking in the afternoon after dagis so it is starting to look quite nice at the back. Still some work to do at the front of the house.
Today after dinner I asked Jakob to take Isak in to his room and play with him while I was tidying up. Ok mummy he said and picked up Isak gently, carried him in to his room, put him on the floor and played with him/next to him for quite some time. He is such a wonderful big brother. Most of the time...

Helping morfar

Yesterday Adam took Jakob skating after dagis and after that he dropped him off at mum and dads place. Maggi was there visiting and she had promised to cut Jakob's hair. He looks great in his new short hair cut!
Dad eats most meals in bed and as always Jakob is so helpful. He brought the plate with food, a glass of milk and also dad's medicin to him.

Sunday i Kalix

I have been wanting to go to Kalix with the children to visit Adam at work all summer but for some reason I never really found a good time to do it. Sunday Adam was working in the cafe all day so we decided to go for a drive up to the golf club. Jakob got really excited and went to his room and picked a really nice shirt to wear for the day. He wanted to be dressed up when visiting daddy at work!
Adam making coffee!! I didn't know he knew how to do it.

Jakob and I had hamburgers cooked by Adam for lunch.

It was a windy and quite cold day but the sky looked really amazing.

Jakob getting ready to go out and try some golf. Him and I hit some balls on the driving range and it was actually quite fun! Jakob did well for the first 10 minutes and after that he missed every ball but had great fun.

Finally some new photos

Finally I have attached some photos from the last couple of weeks. It is Saturday night and as soon as I have posted this I will brush my teeth and go to bed. For some reason I am really tired tonight. Jakob has been pretty active all day and Adam has been in Kalix all day so even though we have had a fun day it is full on! Zara, Finn and Lykke came over after our picnic and I think Zara felt a bit the same as me (and Adam when he came home). Nice with some company though and Zara and I started planning a trip to Ikea. I need to get a few things from there before I can move Isak out of our bedroom.

Picnic at Udden!

Since the weather has been so amazing all week Zara and I decided to have a picnic at Udden. Of course today was not a sunny day but that didn't stop us and we had a great time!

Isak trying a swing for the first time.

Jakob focusing on going as fast as he can!!

Lots of fun...

Lykke is such a cute little girl!

Zara and I managed to get the boys to sit down for a bout 5 minutes to have some hot chocolate and a sandwich.

Me trying to impress Jakob by climbing higher and faster than him :-)

Back home!!

After just over 2 weeks in the hospital dad came home again yesterday. It went really well and he was very happy to be home in the apartment with mum again. He has a new bed (hospital bed), a lift to help him to get to and from the bed to the wheel chair and gets lots of help from the council. They come 4 times a day and 2 times a night to start with but that can also be changed if needed.