Outdoor activities

I got to see Adam on slalom skis for the first time and I have to say that he is doing very very well. He can now get up with the lift by himself and get down without any problems, even the more difficult slopes.

Adam is sitting in the chair lift in the middle of the picture, a bit hard to see though...

The hill looks pretty beautiful when the sky is blue, I love it!

Jakob is normally very scared of snow mobiles but this time he wanted to try and sit on one, after I had promised him that nobody would start it.

The other kids also had a bit of fun riding the snow mobile. They only had a couple of small fights over who was going to sit where...

Fun in the snow...

Jakob's never ending energy level never stops impressing me. He was sliding down and walking up for hours without getting so tired. I was tired from just watching him.

Walking up in the deep snow is quite hard, I know because I tried it once and got exhausted.

7 weeks

Isak is now 7 weeks and is growing very quickly. Today I noticed that I have missed cleaning in between his fat rools under his chin... it was dirty and smelly and made me feel like very bad mother. Luckily it doesn't seem to bother Isak and I have to say that he is a very happy baby at this stage. He smiles a lot and even try to giggle!

His eyes are looking more and more blue so it looks like Adam will be the only one in the family with brown eyes. Apart from the colour of the eyes Isak looks very much like Adam we think. Not sure if he looks like me at all?

Saturday

Like most mornings Jakob gets up before everyone else and this morning I was number two to get up for a change. Normally Adam gets up. I found Jakob on the floor in the kitchen playing with cars and didn't seem to miss having company at all.
My job is to make a dessert for our ski trip so I made a French chocolate cake (it is much better than it sounds, especially if you love chocolate!) this morning. Jakob helped to clean the bowl after...


Adam and Jakob spent the day with grandma and poppa and Isak and I did our own things. Did some preparations for the trip and after that we met up with Carina for lunch in the city. It was really nice! After that I went to mum and dad for a while and as you can see in the photo dad is doing very well at the moment!

Jakob and Isak

Jakob is still very good to his little brother but now when poppa and grandma are visiting he doesn't really have time to spend time with Isak. He is always getting attention from someone and I think he almost forgets that Isak exsists. Tonight I gave Isak a bath and he screamed the whole time. I think I may have had the water a bit too hot. Poor Isak. When I was laying in bed with Jakob in the evening he said to me. Isak didn't like his bath. I think it was because you put water on his head, he didn't like that mummy.

Tired...

The only times when Jakob has a sleep during the day is if he is sick, has woken up extremly early in the morning, if he is in the car and we just can't keep him awake or if we actually drive him to sleep if we know he is going to have a big evening with friends etc. Most days he goes without a sleep and that means he is exhausted at the end of the day and normally falls asleep within seconds.

New experience!

Going to the singing was a new experience for Jane and also for mum who joined at the end. I had an appointment with a doctor during the actual singing (we always get there about an hour before singin starts so Jakob can play) and missed all the fun. Jane looked after Jakob and Isak for me with a bit of help from Zara who tried to keep Finn and Jakob under some sort of control. I was told when I got back that they had been wild and crazy as always and had not listened at all when she tried to stop them from killing each other and the other kids. Oh well, seems like they had a good time and so far no injuries (touch wood).

After singing we decided to go with Helena and Moa to Waldorf for lunch. I have never done it with Jakob before. Have always been to scared that he will go wild and run around like crazy. I was so surprised to see that he sat still and ate his lunch for a long time and was really calm. At the end him and Moa got up and started walking around in the restaurant but nothing too bad. Maybe there is hope?!

Jens is back!

After about 5 years in Australia Jens has now moved back to Luleå. It is so nice to have him here agan even though we wish Lynda was here too. Jens has been over a couple of times already after he arrived on Sunday and he quickly became Jakob's favourite. Mainly because of the cool garages he could build. He also held Isak for a couple of seconds before he started crying :-)

Sunny and quite warm!

Adam had to work Thursday so the rest of us had another busy day around town. Since the weather was so nice we went for a drive to look at the old church village and also saw a bit of the country side. John tried to shovel some snow which didn't go so well... We went to Kvantum and bought groceries for a life time it felt like with Isak in one trolley and another one filled with food and lots of chocolate.

We also had waffles at mum and dad's, yummy!!

Isak bonding with grandma.

Seeing snow for the first time!

Poppa has never seen snow before so this climate is all very new to him and grandma. This morning they walked in to the city with Adam and even though the weather was great I think they didn't see much more than the ground in front of their feet.
Jakob was a dagis so the rest of us had lunch in the city and did some shopping. Adam finally bought a pair of jeans and some goggles that he needs for our ski trip next week.
Later in the afternoon Jane and John looked after the kids while Adam fixed some broken lights on the car and I went for a long walk by myself. It was great!! the weather was perfect and it was nice to be out walking without the pram.
Jakob loves having grandma and poppa here to play with him but tonight he was a bit tired and frustrated. I think it gets a bit much for him with all the excitment and also with the language. He understands English really well but can't speak more that a few words at this stage. He was a bit sad and told me: Mummy I can't speak English, I can only say One, two, three. It broke my heart and I really felt for him. I haven't thoguht about it so much but of course it must be extremly hard for him and especially since we try to encourage him to speak English. I think we have to take it a bit more slowly and help him a bit more when they don't understand what he is saying. I am sure he will become fluent in English in the next few years but we just have to give him some time and support and not try to push him.

Tuesday big day!

Tuesday was a very big day. Dad came home from the hospital and is feeling much better and grandma and poppa arrived from Australia (although they have had a few days in France before coming to Sweden).

Jakob and Adam picked them up from the airport and Adam told me that Jakob wasn't shy at all and walked up to them and gave them a hug. I think talking and seeing them on Skype has helped a lot. He played a lot with grandma the first night and also wanted her to stay with her in bed in the evening. She did for a while and when he was nearly asleep we had dinner. Half way through dinner we heard a strange noise but didn't know what it was. Later we realised it was Jakob falling out of his bed. We found him on the floor like in the photo. He must have been so tired!

Presents from Australia

Grandma and poppa broght lots and lots of presents for all of us from Australia and of course Jakob was over excited about it all. He loved all his presents and he also helped Isak to open his presents.

Poppa and Isak got on really well and before I knew it Isak was asleep in poppas arms an hour before bedtime.

Then he was handed over to grandma who made sure Isak was awake a little bit longer.

Jakob playing with his new Roary car! He loved it.

Jakob and Finn

Monday morning I had an appointment at the health centre for Isak and also for Jakob's 3 year old check up. Isak now weighs 5.1kg and is 58cm long. Jakob is 103.8cm and weighs 17kg. At 3 years old they mainly check the language and I knew that wouldn't be a problem since Jakob talks well and a lot.
After the appointment Zara came over with the kids and when she had to take Lykke to the doctor Finn stayed with us. That was the first time I looked after Finn by myself like that and it went really well. Both Finn and Jakob are at a stage where they can start fighting easily so I had to keep an eye on them the whole time. Jakob always wants the toy Finn is playing with and Finn doesn't want to give away a toy even though he is not playing with it.

They also have fun together and play really well. Jakob talks a lot about Finn and that he wants to see him and play with him.

Sunday on the ice

Sunday was a beautiful day with clear blue sky in the morning and quite warm. Adam was working all day so Stina and I decided to go for a walk on the ice out to an island. I left Jakob with mormor and met up with Stina on the ice. There is an ice road that goes around the city and out to the island where you can skate but also walk. It has become really popular and there were hundreds of people doing the same walk. At the island you can have a bbq or just buy simple food like hot dogs or sandwiches. The photo you can see is at the start of the walk were people were fishing from holes in the ice. I think there was a competition.
I was exhausted when we got back. Not used to walking on ice and snow pushing a pram. Good exercise though.

The week!

For some reason I didn't manage to download the photos I have taken earlier in the week. Will try again tomorrow.
The week has had some ups and some downs. Thursday morning when I was having a fika in the city with some friends mum called and told me that dad had 40 degrees temperature and obviously not feeling so great. We had to call an ambulance and mum went with dad to the hospital and Isak and I came after by car. He got given antibiotics and they took lots of tests and quite quickly he started feeling better. I stayed there for a few hours and mum and I had lunch at the hospital and when I left to go and get Jakob dad was just getting moved to a privat room.
So many people have been sick in the last few months so I am surprised that it has taken him so long to catch something. Having a high temperature is hard for the most healthy person so of course it hit him much harder.

Yesterday was a busy day hanging out with friends. Went to the singing in the morning and Jakob was quite calm for a change. Normally he runs around like crazy and I always worry that he is going to run over the babies laying on the floor but this time he was pretty relaxed. And as always hanging on to his cars. After singing we went to Sigrid's house to celebrate Elvin who turns 5 today. There were 5 of us (mums) with our 5 boys and 5 babies (4 girls + Isak) and I have to say that it was full on and I was exhausted when driving home. It went really well and we had a great time, but just being around that many kids for a whole day makes you tired. I don't think I could work in child care... In just over a week the same group of people have hired a cabin at a ski resort together and are going away for 2 nights. I am really excited about it and it reminds me a bit of my own childhood where we used to go away skiing for a week every year. I hope we can make this a tradition! This time of the year it can be so beautiful outside and to spend a few days with lots of friends and their children is always fun.
Friday ended with a girls dinner in the city, same people as earlier in the day apart from Camilla who couldn't make it. Both Jakob and Isak went to sleep like little angels just before 7 so I got to the restaurant only a few minutes late. Zara had picked the perfect place, and we got the perfect table, and the food and company was perfect. It was so nice to get together without kids for a change, we realised after, that we didn't even talk about the kids at all! normally we talk a lot about children and babies and everything that involves them so it was nice to be out not having to think about nappies etc. I hope we can do it more often. I got home about 10.30 and all the boys were in bed asleep :-)
Isak is now 6 weeks old and has grown a lot. He is now sleeping really well at night I think. He goes to bed at 7 every night (like Jakob) and some nights he has a cry every 20 min or so for the first our or so (not every night) but he doesn't really wake up before his first feed somwhere between 11pm and 1.30am. More often it is around midnight than 11pm. His second feed is somehwere between 4 and 7 pm and depending on the time for his second feed I might feed him a third time around 6.30-7 where he goes back to sleep for an hour. In the beginning it took about 50 min before I had him back asleep after feeding, wrapping, settling etc but now it is normally just 20-25 minutes. Isak is still sleeping a lot during the days but I am noticing a change with more time awake and also that he wakes up more easily. Some days he still has a 3 hour sleep in the middle of the day but some days he wakes up for a feed.
When Isak is awake he is quite relaxed and happy but he is not the sort of baby you can just put down and he is happy on his own. It does work sometimes but most of the time I hold him or play with him when he is on his back. He normally has a short time during the day when he is a bit unsettled but nothing too bad. This morning he gave me a big smile in bed just after he woke up. That was a really nice moment. He started smiling a few weeks ago but normally he smiles at the fish above his change table, but this morning I am pretty sure it was me he was smiling at :-)
Jakob has started doing something strange since Isak was born. If he wakes up before Adam he doesn't come in to our bedroom like he used to. He just sits outside our bedroom door and play with his cars until Adam comes out a few minutes later. I guess he is doing it because he doesn't want to disturb Isak and wake us up. It doesn't seem to bother him at all, he just sits there and plays and talks to himself a bit. I don't want him to feel like he can't come in because of course he is always welcome, but at the same time it is quite good at this early stage of having Isak to get that extra sleep in the morning and to not have Jakob jumping in the bed like he used to if I am feeding Isak. I don't think it is worth talking to him about it since it doesn't seem to be a problem, he still hasn't shown any signs of being jealous and he is happy in the morning so we might just leave it for a while and see what happens. This morning he woke up at 5.30 but as always Adam gets up with Jakob so I can sleep a bit longer.

Family day

Today the whole day has been spent with family. In the morning all of us stayed at home. Adam and Jakob went outside to shovel some snow (yes, it has been snowing again...) and I did a bit of cleaning inside.
After lunch Isak and I went to the hospital to visit dad. As always around that time of the day Isak slept the whole time at the hospital. Dad had a room to himself and he was looking (and feeling) much better. Hopefully he will be home again in a few days and also start his next chemo treatment soon as well.
Isak and I went straight to visit mormor after the hospital. Maggi was also there. After a while Adam and Jakob joined us and Jakob was in a really good mood.

Jakob was due for a haircut and as always Maggi was the hairdresser. Jakob did well and sat still the whole time. He was watching Pingu at the same time so that may have helped.

After a nice dinner Anneli turned up with lots of presents for Isak from herself and from Karin and the family in France. Even Jakob got a present so he was of course in heaven. Thank you Karin, Vincent, Felicia and Anna and Anneli for all the beautiful gifts.

Big brother

Most of the time Jakob is really good at helping me with Isak. Here he is just relaxing holding his hand.

Reading about going to the dentist to Isak.

Right now the kids are asleep, Jakob with two cars and a ruler under his pillow :-)

Drawing

I have to get better at coming up with new things for Jakob to do when we are home more together. Both things that we can do together (that don't involve cars) and things that Jakob can do by himself. Anyone has any good suggestions?

Today he was happy drawing when I was cooking dinner.

Jakob baby sitting Isak

This afternoon Jakob was eating sultanas next to Isak on the couch. I asked him to keep an eye on Isak when I went out to the car to get the pram.

Guess if I was surprised when I found this when I got back not more than 2 minutes later!

Present

Jakob got to chose a small present at the dentist today and he picked a pink ruler.

When we came home and I was feeding Isak I showed Jakob how to use the ruler and helped him to measure all his cars. He loved it! he went to get all his cars, one at a time and gave them to me to measure and tell him how long they were. Then he sorted them by size (tried to at least) on the table. Even I thought it was a fun game. Maybe it was the engineering side of me that got excited.

Going to the dentist!

Seeing the dentist in Sweden is free for children up to 19 years old. That has saved my parents lots of money since I have had problems with my teeth all my life. I really hope Jakob has better teeth than me.
Today was his second visit to the dentist and I have prepared him by reading books and talking about what it would be like. He knew all about the chair, the bib, about having to open his mouth etc and I think that helped. First of all he climbed up to the chair himself and the dentist let him have a play with the buttons that move the chair into the right position. A good start since Jakob loved it and thought it was so funny to feel the chair move after him pressing the buttons.

Jakob gettin in to positon...

I was SO proud of Jakob. He did everything the dentist told him to do. He opened his mouth, he closed it, he answered questions and sat still the whole time. It couldn't have gone any better.

The result was good. At this stage Jakob's teeth are looking very good and we don't have to come back for another 18 months. He told us to be careful with what we give him to eat and to avoid suger. We will from now on try to be better with that and cut down on things we know is not good for the teeth (and health in general). I think we are doing quite well already but I don't want my kids to be as bad as me when it comes to eating sweets.

The dentist also told Jakob that mummy and daddy have to brush his teeth in the morning and at night until he is around 8 years old depending on how good he gets at doing it himself.

Jakob left the dentist with a smile on his face and so did I.

Playing with mormor

Mormor was going to come with us to the dentist today to look after Isak and she came an hour early and played Jakob's favourite game (after driving around with cars), building garages for the cars.

Monday at home

Today we spent almost the whole day at home for a change. It was really nice, but not something I would like to do every day. Isak was awake most of the morning and I am not really sure what we did, but time went quite quickly. When he went to sleep at about 10.30 I thought it would be a long sleep so Jakob and I started the project "cleaning the bookcase". Half way through it Isak woke up so that made it much harder. Jakob was great though and helped stacking his books in one pile and my books in one pile. The only trouble I have right now with Jakob is when I am trying to get Isak to sleep. He just can't help himself and runs up to Isak, wants to touch him, talks very loudly in his face and just won't leave him alone. I don't want to have to tell him off all the time when he is so good with Isak and I guess Isak will get used to it, but it is still quite annoying when he has just gone to sleep and Jakob wakes him up. Oh well, small problems I guess.

Sunday night!

All of us were quite tired tonight, both the kids and Adam and I. I had a little sleep on the couch when Adam and Jakob were out shovelling snow and Isak was asleep in the car seat. Nice.

Jakob is absolutley crazy about cars. That's pretty much all he wants to play with and he carries them around everywhere. He sleeps with them under his pillow. He wears clothes with cars on and I am sure he dreams about cars. Today when he once again asked me to play with his cars I told him that I am sick of it and want to play with something else. I suggested a few games but nothing was good enough and he just kept talking about the cars. After a while I suggested that we get some horses and put up fences to jump over on the table. Guess if I was surprised when he said yes straight away!!

Tomorrow Jakob is going to the dentist. I hope it will go well and most of all I hope his teeth are better quailty than mine.