Visiting Theo

Yesterday Isak, Jakob and I took a trip north to visit Annika and her family at her parents summer cabin. We spent most of the day there and the kids played outside and inside and had a pretty good time. It was nice to spend some more time with Annika and since her baby girl was born just 2 days before Isak we have lots of talk about.

Isak had hardly no sleep all day. He slept for about 20 min in the car on the way to the cabin and on the way back, and had about 30 min in the pram at the cabin. Annika and I went for a walk with the babies and Isak woke up as soon as we stopped the pram. He was in a really good mood though and didn't seem to mind not having had much sleep.

The wiew from the water.

The view from the cabin

Visiting Alice!

After a morning with rain and thunder on Tuesday it cleared up a bit and got really warm. We decided to take a walk over to Kronan to visit Maria and her family. They have been away and just got back so it was nice to see them again. Alice had a friend over when we got there and wasn't really interested in Jakob but Jakob didn't seem to mind at all. He followed Andreas who was mowing the lawn around with a wheelbarrow for a long time...

...until Andreas gave him a "proper" lawnmower to work with. He took the job "helping" Andreas very seirously and copied the way Andreas mowed the slopes.

Isak having fun after waking up from a sleep in Melvin's bed.

Isak and Jakob playing!

Tuesday morning we woke up to big heavy rain and thunder storm! haven't experienced anything like that for many many years! Adam went to work in the morning and Jakob, Isak and I watched the ligthning and had a really cosy time together. I even lit the fire.

Monday!

Isak is still a very happy and easy going baby. He laughs a lot and smiles a lot, he likes sucking on his fingers, he now plays a lot on his belly and look really funny when he turns himself back to his back. He just leans his head back as far as he can, twist the head to the side and with the help of the weight of his head his body falls so he lands on his back. Does that make sense? I feed Isak 2 times every night. A few weeks ago I only fed him once a night but now we are back to 2 times a night. It doesn't really worry me and I won't try to change anything at this change. He sleeps between 7pm to 7am and the feeds are around 1am and 4-5am. During the days he normally has 3 naps. Isak is also a very cuddly baby. Jakob was never really like that, he never used to relax when he was held, he always wanted to stand up or be walked around. Isak is sometimes happy just resting on my chest. Even though he of course has his bad days and cries at times like all babies do, I enjoy every day when he is as charming as he is right now.

Isak is not the only joy in our life. Jakob is now 3 1/2 years old and knows everything. Great fun to be with, very active, wants to learn, is not shy at all, wants to win, can be very soft and very hard at the same time. Life with him is never boring and very challenging at times. Lately he has played a lot by himself and he talks all the time when he plays with cars, animals, little people etc. It is really interesting to listen to his conversations with the toys. Can't think of any good examples but I will listen carefully next time.

Today Isak had his first try of solids. He got some potatoes mashed with breast milk. He is nearly 6 months now so I thought I better get started with solids so that he is eating well by the time we are leaving for Thailand. The potatoes went down quite well. He wasn't really sure what to do with it at first but I think most of it went down in the end. I will try again tomorrow.

Today we have had a relaxing day after our big weekend. After lunch my parents best friends son Fredrik came over with his wife Johanna and their children Vera and Lovisa. They live in Gothenburg and are only up in Luleå to visit family. It was very nice to see them and Jakob had fun playing with Vera for a couple of hours.

After they left we went to mum and dad and I dropped Jakob off for an hour or so when Isak and I had a quick look at the sales in the city. Had dinner with mum and dad and Jakob had a bath before we headed home to go to bed at about 7pm.

Big weekend!

After a big and fun Saturday on the island we had another great day on Sunday with lots of visitors. In the morning Annika, Johan and their children Theo and Lise-Li came over. Jakob and Theo played really well when they last met a few months ago (Annika lives in the south of Sweden). This time they also had a great time even though Jakob got upset a few times and didn't want to share his toys.

Later in the afternoon Zara, Micke, Finn and Lykke came over. The dads trying to enjoy some quite times with the little ones...

...and the mums relaxing for a few moments.

Lykke and Isak.

Calm kids...

at the end of the day the boys, especially Jakob, were quite tired and actually sat still for a few minutes here and there.

Isak watching the rest of us having tacos for dinner.

Strapön!

Saturday we were invited to Jens parents summer house on an island outside Luleå. I went to university with Jens and he also lived in Adelaide for about 5 years (is that right?).
Here we are getting ready for the boatride to the island.


That Jakob could not sit still on the boat was not a surprise but he really loved the boat ride and the boat was big enough for him to walk around a bit. Isak had about 3 girls playing with him non stop :-)

The island was beautiful and set right by the ocean. My only problem was that I couldn't stop worrying about Jakob falling in to the water. He has no respect for it and I know how dangerous it is if he would fall in to the water especially if we didn't see were he fell in. Not sure what to do. Probably teach him to swim when he is old enough and maybe buy him a safety vest to wear when he is playing close to the water. Not talking about when we are on a beach playing. I mean when we are looking at boats or just playing in areas where there is deep water nearby.

All of us enjoying a great lunch!

Isak getting to know the floor while the rest of us were eating.

Brothers in the bathroom

Trying to think back to what I did last week between Wednesday and Thursday but no, I can't remember. All I know is that I went out for dinner at BBB Friday night with Sara Palmman and a few other girls. As always it is nice to be out and about and sitting outside in the evening sun, with great company and food is about as good as it can be.

Fika and fun!

After a nice relaxing morning at home with Isak and Jakob we went to mum and dads where Jakob got some lunch. Isak and I walked in to the city to meet up with Carina for a fika. Isak seems to like cafe life at this stage but I am sure that will change once he starts crawling.

Carina and Andreas are going to Greece tonight for a week holiday. Not bad to leave Luleå when it is cold and raining.

When I got back to mum and dads I found Jakob and mum having a picnic in the grass outside their apartment.

The rest of the afternoon Jakob had a bath, helped mum and dad cooking (they made "palt") and he played with the thousands of little toys that mum has collected over the years. I got myself a little nap when Isak had his afternoon sleep which was very nice and needed after a few nights with bad sleep. Isak has been good though, he has been awake around midnight for the last two nights but gone back to sleep without me having to do anything. The only problem is that he wakes me up and I find it so hard to go back to sleep again.

A day in Gammelstad

After having spent quite a few days at home with the kids I was dying to get out of the house. Zara and her family came back from their car trip on Monday so yesterday we went to see them and ended up staying the whole day! It was a perfect day with happy children and nice weather.

The boys flying a plane!

Zara having fun...

Jakob and Finn playing in the sandpit, I want one too!!

Camilla, Sampan, Tuva and Love came over a bit later and we all had dinner together. Both Jakob and Isak fell asleep in the car on the way home. Exhausted after a great fun day.

Sleeping

The other day Isak fell asleep on the floor. He did that sometimes when he was younger but it hasn't happened for a while so I was quite surprised.

Jakob and Filip

Earlier in the week and on the weekend Jakob spent some time with his new friend Filip. Filip lives on our street and is the same age as Jakob. His mum used to work at the same company as I but left a few months ago. She is also an engineer like me, and really nice. I hope they will become good friends!

Tummy time

Isak flips over to his belly pretty much as soon as you put him down. He still sleeps on his back at night, will be interesting to see if he starts sleeping on his belly soon, like Jakob did.

Here we go again!

Sorry for not having updated the blog for so long. When Isabel was here I didn't want spend time on the computer and when she was gone I felt like I had no time or energy to do it. After some bad sleeps I had a great sleep in this morning and now I am back feeling great again. I am also proud to say that I have started exercising again and I am now only 2 kilos away from my pre-pregnancy weight! those last two kilos will probably be the hardest ones to lose.

Isak is doing great and is as cute as ever even though he is starting to show us different sides of his personality. He had his 5 months injections a few days ago and did well, only cried for a very short time. Jakob was there with us and he really liked being a part of it and getting to see Isak getting the shots. Last time Isak had his injections he didn't seem to be effected by them at all but this time he was very grizzly in the evening before bedtime. Not sure if it was due to the injections or if there was something else he was unhappy about. He is growing the way he is supposed to and he now weighs about 7,6 kilos and is 68 cm long. I still only feed him breastmilk but in the next couple of weeks, when he turns 6 months, I will start trying to give him some solids.

I realise that I haven't taken any photos over the last few day and I haven't got any recent photos of Jakob. Tomorrow I will make sure I take some.

Jakob has started hanging out with a new friend who lives on our street. I know his mum, she used to work at the same company as me but has now quit, and the boys met a couple of times last summer. Jakob and Filip are the same age and they both start to be more intreseted in playing with friends and Jakob often says to me now that he wants to see a friend. Today Filip and his dad came over in the morning and afte a while Jakob followd them over to their house for an hour or so. Isak had a sleep at the same time and Adam and I enjoyed some quiet time in the house. It felt very strange! Towards the evening our neighbours grandchildren were out playing and Jakob who loves Filippa who is 3 years older had a great time playing with her. He even got to have dinner with them. Isak and I went to visit mum and dad for a couple of hours so I haven't asked the neighbours how the dinner went but I look forward to hearing about it. Jakob is becoming such a big and independent boy all of a sudden and going to friends by himself and having dinner with other people is all new to us and to him.

Quiet days

After Isabel left Jakob, Isak and I stayed home for a couple of days and just enjoyed each others company, relaxed and I cought up on some housework. Jakob has been really wonderful the last few days and has slep very well, been really happy and had some time just playing by himself. It has looked like he has enjoyed some alone time and he has not been interested in involving me in his games. Isak on the other hand has been getting more and more frustrated the last week or so. From being a baby that always smiles and laughs he is now starting to show a strong personality. He can no roll over to his belly and back to his back again but he often gets frustrated when laying on the floor and wants to be held standing up or sitting down so he can see more. The last few nights I have had to feed him 2 times a night and I think the main reason is that he moves around so much in bed and wakes up when he gets stuck in a corner.
He is dribbling a lot so I think we will see some teeth popping up in the next fe days. He sucks constantly on his fingers or whatever he gets hold of.

Jakob runs around barefoot a lot so one of our new bedtime routines is washing his feet. He loves feeling the warm water on his feet and never wants me to turn it off.

Evening sun!

Isabel left a few day ago after having stayed here for a week. It was wonderful to see her again after all these years and great to catch up on what's been happening in each others lives.

I love hearing stories from her life in London that is so different from the life that I am living. Isabel is one of the kindest people I have ever met and she is so interesting to talk to. We had a few nights when we stayed up quite late and talked but I had to mix it with going to bed early a couple of nights to cope with the night feeds and getting up early in the morning. It worked out really well.

Isabel started feeling really sick on her last night and the morning of the day she was leaving she felt even worse. Poor thing could hardly get out of bed all morning and I am not really sure how we managed to get to the airport. The trip home is described by Isabel: "I can safely say that the journey home goes down as one of the worst in the history of my travels". I haven't heard all the details yet but I felt very helpless and sorry for her when dropping her off at the airport.
I hope we will see each other soon again here in Luleå, in London or maybe in Africa. We started planning a trip back to Africa together and if everything goes as planned we will do it in about 3 years I think.

Horses

Isabel likes horses but has never spent much time around them. When we are together we always try to see horses and on her last day we went out to Rutvik to give Robban a pat. In Zimbabwe we went riding once and also on Ireland and Isabel has tried it a couple of times before in Sweden with me.