Stina's birthday

This afternoon we were invited to Stina's and Martin's cabin to celebrate Stina's birthday. They have a really great cabin on the water and we had a great time seeing Stina's and Martin's families and eating lots of cakes. Jakob also played a bit with Stina's sisters two kids.

Jakob is very interested in snow mobiles and he talks a lot about them and how he wants to have a ride. As soon as we get close to one he gets really scared though, and the closest we got today was to just give it a littel quick pat. He refused to sit on it.

Adam took the snow mobile for a drive on the ice but I just posed for the camera.

On the way home we stopped at mormor and morfar's place for a quick dinner (meatballs and pasta!).

Easter Monday morning

The weather over Easter has been quite average but today we woke up to a beautiful sunny and warm day. Since we went to our friends Marie and Paul for dinner last night Jakob stayed at mormor and morfars and Adam and I had the house to ourselves this morning. Adam got up early and got rid of the rest of the snow from our decking outside and after we sat outside for a while and enjoyed the warm sun that we haven't seen so much the last few months. It was so beautiful!!

Easter Sunday

Sunday afternoon Jakob went to stay with mormor and morfar but in the morning I took Jakob to see Alice and the rest of her family. Jakob is crazy about babies at the moment and spent a lot of time patting Melvin in between playing with Alice.

Andreas is a great play friend and in the picture Andreas is checking so that Jakob's teeth have been cleaned properly.

Walking around in shoes that are too big is a great game.

It is nice to have a friend like Alice who helps Jakob to get dressed when we are about to leave.

Jakob 2 years and 2 months

Jakob is now over 2 years and has a really fun but strong personality. He laughs a lot and talks a lot and he loves throwing things (not only balls unfortunatley...). He understands pretty much everything we say to him and he can speak really well back to us. It is great to be able to communicate with him through words. He is amazing at remembering names and knows all our friends names, and of course everyone at childcare. He is still in nappies and we are not really trying to toilet train him, we will probably just wait until starts showing a bit more interest in using the potty. We use our washing machine as a changing table and as you can see in the picture he doesn't really fit there very well anymore.

Jakob is obesessed with shoveling snow and he just loves doing it with daddy. When daddy throws the snow on him he can't stop laughing. Not sure what we are going to do when the snow has disappeared... Summer is nearly here now and all snow will hopefully be gone in a few weeks.

Easter Saturday

Friday afternoon we had some friends coming over who lives in the south of Sweden and were here on holidays. I used to ride with Annika before we both moved and we have known each other since we were about 12 even though it was when we were a bit older we started haning out a bit more. We both love jumping and used to train a lot together with the horses. Annika and her husband Johan have a boy Theo who is only a few months older than Jakob.

When they first arrived the kids played on their own and were not so interested in each other, but after a while they started to make contact and play together.

Especially Jakob had a lot of energy as always and he showed Theo all his tricks.

Jakob who normally goes to bed between 7-8 got to stay up until nearly 10!! both kids did really well and only had a short break on the couch watching tv.

Spending time with the Ihs family

This afternoon Moa, Lucas, Anders and Helena came over to visit and they also gave me a very nice birthday present. First the kids got to shovel some snow at the back of our house. Adam is trying to get rid of all the snow from the veranda, not an easy job so it was great with some help.

After that Moa and Jakob painted some really nice eggs. They did a great job even though they after only a few minutes started painting themselves instead of the eggs. Oh well, it was the first time for Jakob and I am sure it will be easier next year. At least we had a very fun time.

Moa and Jakob are getting ready for dinner.

Adam spent quite a lot of time with Lucas and Jakob also got to try to hold the baby.

Jakob and his new cousin

Jakob really enjoys being near Lucas and he is so gentle with him and wants to kiss, hug and pat him all the time. Here he is helping uncle Anders to look after little Lucas.

Jakob also wanted to be a part of it when I was feeding Lucas.

Playing with Moa

Jakob was so happy to have Moa here and they played together really well. They even invented their own games when we were in a different room.

Jakob and Moa got an Easter egg each filled with little toys and sultanas.

Jakob really looks up to Moa who is nearly 6 months older and he was so happy when Moa read him a book.

Easter!

It is so nice with a long weekend, 4 days in a row!! this is the first Easter that Adam doesn't have to work since we got together. Very exciting.

This morning we just stayed home and took it easy. Adam and Jakob played outside for a while, I made a blueberry pie, did a bit of cleaning and washing. Jakob has been sleeping really late all week, one morning he slept until 8!! I start work about 7 so I haven't seen him in the mornings since he is asleep when I leave. Today, when none of us is working and Jakob didn't have to go to childcare, he got up 6.15! why can't he sleep until 8 when we need a sleep in? anyway, he had a sleep around lunchtime and both Adam and I had a kip at the same time. Nice.

After we woke up mormor and morfar came for a quick visit to give Jakob an Easter egg with a little Pingu inside, and some Easter presents. Jakob loved getting present.

A baby boy!

Tuesday evening Maria gave birth to a healty baby boy and it all went really well. Last night we went to the hospital to meet them and Maria looked great, hard to believe she gave birth only 2 days ago.

Jakob was interested in the baby for about 5 seconds. We met in a corridor at the hospital where they have a big woodden boat that kids can play with. Jakob loved it.

Home again

It was great for me and Adam to have a night and a morning to ourselves but it also feels so nice to have Jakob home again. After a day in the snow Jakob helped Adam to put together a new bookcase, and afterJakob helped me to fill it up.

Jakob cuddling up in an armchair before bedtime

Daddy reading to Jakob before he went to bed tonight.

A day in on the ice!

Adam and I picked up Jakob from mormor and morfars around 11.30 today and went straight out to see Maria, Andreas and Alice at Maria's parents holiday house only 15 min drive outside Lulea. The cabin is in a beautiful spot right by the ocean, which is of course frozen over at the moment. In this picture you can see (apart from Jakob and Maria's dad) a small deer running on the ice in the distance and also the little wind shelter that Andreas has built up on the ice.

At first Jakob was a bit upset and tired I think but it didn't take long before him and Alice were playing together happily. A couple of small spades to play with and a bit (I mean a lot) of snow could keep at least Jakob happy for a long time.

Maria who only slept a few hours last night because of back pain battled along really well but took it quite easy. She is now probably only days away from giving birth. Very exciting!!

Andreas took care of the fire and he also cooked sausages for as all. Yummy!

Alice and Jakob went for a walk on the ice but stopped after a while and yelled out "carry". Adam picked up Jakob and I took Alice. She calls me mummy nowdays. I think she thinks mummy is my name since mummy in Swedish is mamma. I think it is really cute.

Cross country skiing again!

Adam had another go on his new cross contry skiis and he is looking more and more comfortable on them.

Proudly smiling after a little ski trip on the ice.

Play in the cabin!

After playing outside for a couple of hours we all went inside Maria's parents cabin. Jakob and Alice started playing with some Easter decorations.

After some playtime we all had some left over birthday cake.

And then Alice and Jakob went in to the bedroom. As we all know they both love spending time together in bed.

After a while Adam joined in before it was time to go home.

Sleepover

Last night Jakob had his first sleepover at mormor and morfars place. I started preparing him in the morning by explaining what was going to happen and we talked about what he could bring to their place. The plan was that he would leave with my parents after my birthday party. It all went really well. When it was time to leave we packed his bag together, and after that he was almost panicing beacuse for some reason he thought he would have to stay with me and Adam. After they all left Adam and I had a few hours on our own in the house, that has never happened before! In the evening dad picked us up and took us to a restaurant in town where we had a really nice dinner together. After we went to a bar for another drink before we decided to go home. We had a great night and it was wonderful to wake up in the morning not having to think about anyone else.
Jakob's sleepover went very well. He had a bath, played, ate lots of food and when it was bedtime he just run to bed on his own and was asleep within 5 minutes. He woke up 6.15 this morning and was very happy. Adam and I just stayed home and relaxed in the morning. I think Jakob thought it was a little adventure to sleep at mormor and morfars place. Hope it goes this well next time he does it too.

This is our house! the photo was taken today when the sun was shining and it was quite warm. We still have lots of snow around the house and it is hard to imagine that it will all be gone in only about a month.

More birthday celebrations!

Yesterday I had invited the rest of the family over for cake. Birthdays are always a nice opportunity to get people together.

My birthday!

Thursday this week was my birthday. It started very early with Jakob waking up 4 in the morning. I think he had a nightmare but he refused to go back to sleep. He was in a very good mood though and after a couple of hours he and Adam gave me some really nice birthday presents and Jakob said Happy Birthday mummy, something he and daddy had practiced to say all week.

I left work at about 2 and had a really nice sleep. Mormor and morfar picked Jakob up from child care and after that they all came to our place and spent some time with me and Jakob. Jakob helped mormor with some baking as well.

Adam had to work late so I had a few girlfriends over for cake. I had a great birthday!