The four cousins

The other night Moa and Lucas came over for a visit.

Playing games

Jakob playing games with mormor and Isak wanting to be involved.

The dentist

The other morning I took Jakob to the dentist to start fixing the two holes he had last time we went. The dentist took some pictures of his teeth and it showed that he had 8 holes!!!! I couldn't believe it! Poor little angel had 8 holes!
The dentist was very patient and did a great job to slowly go through the process of fixing the problems. He put some "sleeping cream" on his hand first for 2 mintues and then he tried it in his mouth. Than he put some "sleeping liquid" on his hand before he gave the injection in his mouth. Jakob did not quite understand what was happening but he did what the dentist told him to do and he only got a bit scared when he started grinding the tooth.
This time it was all about training and getting used to the process but there will be many more visits before all 8 holes are fixed!

Tired boys

Jakob and Isak tired after a long day at dagis. They are both coping really well with long days but they are often very tired at the end of the day. Isak has now done nearly 2 months at dagis, hard to believe that he is such a big boy now!

Cars cars cars

I thought Jakob's interest for cars would die out or at least slow down over the years but he still loves them!

Mum's new apartment

Mum's new apartment is really really nice and homey. It is really well planned and has lots of cupboard and wardrobe space which is not so common in city apartments. It is quite amazing that dad actually grew up in this apartment building! I am sure he is smiling somewhere up there feeling quite good that mum is now living in the same building.
A small but nice kitchen!

Heaven

Last weekend Jakob found his new favourite place in Luleå! the new built skate park not far away from where we live. Jakob loves his kick bike and this place was just the perfect place for having fun with a kick.

I was constantly scared and it was more luck than anything else that we got away with only a couple of bruises.

Next time we go I don't think Isak will be allowed to come because me running after him trying not to get run over by a bike, kick bike or a skate board was not easy. Isak loved the place as much as Jakob but not for the right reasons. I don't think I need to say that he didn't listen to anything I said and I must have looked like a hysterical mum around boys just having a bit of fun.

Boys having fun

Sunday last week we had a nice day at Zara's. The boys played and had lots of fun and Zara cooked us a nice lunch with sweets for dessert. Can't complain about that.

Happy Isak!

Ale

Last weekend Adam was on a boys trip for 2 days so Jakob, Isak and I had lots of quality time and made the most of the weekend. On Saturday we did some work both inside and outside the house in the morning and when Isak had his sleep Jakob and I fell asleep together on the couch. We didn't quite have a "3 hours Isak nap" but nearly an hour and it was amazing. After nearly 3 hours we had to wake Isak up since we had planned to go to Ale with mormor.

Maggi was looking after little Vilmer who is now 3 months and real cutie. This time we even got to see him awake for a few minutes!

Åsa has a new border collie puppie!

We also stopped down to road in Ale to have a look at the house Maggi and Åke are moving in to in the next couple of months.

Looking good :-)

This is what I have been looking like for the last few weeks. Getting back to work after maternity leave wasn't a slow start. After only 4 days I started working 12 hours night shifts for a time that felt like forever. It was great fun (not so fun for the company though) and a challenge for me since it was work that I don't normally do. Tomorrow I go back to my normal job and I think I will appreciate things like sitting down, wearing jeans and having proper lunch, even though I will miss getting dirty, working with my hands and eating hot dogs at 2 in the morning.
During this time mum has moved to her new apartment and because of my work load we haven't been much help. Luckily there are others in the family that are willing to help!
Isak is doing great at dagis. He waves goodbye every day with a smile and is happy when we pick him up. He doesn't sleep as much as he does at home and they have to build a wall of pillows around him and the other children that sleep during the day. Otherwise he wakes them all up if he wakes up before everyone else. Not so popular. He is getting much more determined and gets very angry if he doesn't get what he wants when he wants it. He still loves sleeping and nowdays he walks to the bed himself as soon as we talk about going to bed. doesn't matter if it is in the middle of the day or in the evening. He is a freak. Jakob has never ever been like that, sleeping is just not so high up on the list of things to do for our oldest son.

The other day I booked flights to London so in November when Adam and the kids are in Australia I am going to visit Isabel for a long weekend. I need to have something fun to do while they are away.

Autumn!

Today we had a nice day at home, I am starting to get used to not working night shifts which is nice. Zara and the rest of the family came for lunch and after sitting inside for too many hours Zara and I took the kids outside and realised that the weather was really really nice. It felt like I hadn't been outside or seen the sun for a month.
Lykke and Isak in the cubby house!

Ice hockey

We ended a really nice weekend with taking Jakob to a live hockey match for the first time ever. Mormor looked after Isak.
We met up with last nights dinner friends and Jakob was happy to sit next to Felix.

Anders was there with Moa and Lucas and later in the match Jakob wanted to sit next to Moa. Lucas got really tired so Anders took him home before the last period but Moa stayed with us. Jakob and Moa had lots of fun together but didn't watch much of the hockey.

Stopping at Kvantum on the way home.

Moa's birthday party!

The sun always shines when Moa has her kids birthday party! this year they had 16 kids over!! for hamburger lunch and some cakes and ice cream. Very much appreciated by everyone but especially by Isak.
The yearly treasure hunt!

Isak who was the youngest child at the party couldn't quite keep up with the other kids. By the time he got to them they were gone again. He gave up in the end and played his own games.

And cleaned up everyones plates and cups.

Dinner with friends

Last night we were invited to Maria, Mattias and Felix. We had a nice dinner, ate lots of sweets, played soccer and outdoor floor ball and planned a ski trip next year.
Isak spent most of the evening eating something but went to sleep nicely in the travel cot filled up with sugar.

Two tired boys having a night snack on the couch.

Fun in the sun

After a nice and cool week summer came back on the weekend. Jakob, mormor and I went to a market day in one of the nearby suburbs on Saturday. The first thing we saw was a fire truck. A real one! Jakob got to sit in it and try on a helmet, very exciting.

Moa, Lucas and Helena were also there!

No pony riding this time but at least they got to go in a carriage pulled by Henning.

Jakob having a drink and a hot dog before leaving. We had parked the car outside Stinas parents house so before going home we popped in for a nice fika.

Last day!

Friday was my last day of maternity leave before going back to work again. I made it in to a great day. I had a nice morning with Jakob and Isak and we all rode the bike to dagis, and after I had dropped them off I rode in to the city for a one hour hot stone massage. It was amazing! after that I caught up with Stina for lunch and after that with Jenny for a fika. I rode the bike home and picked up the kids on the way. We relaxed for a while before we went to McDonalds for dinner together with mormor. We haven't been there for a long time and it was actually fun. The food is not great and it is not the cosiest place to have dinner but Jakob and Isak ate a lot, were really happy and it was nice to not have to cook and clean. Jakob got to stay up a bit later after Isak went to bed and that time in the evening with Jakob is often the highlight of the day.

Isak 18 months

Isak is now 18 months old and is ready to start day care next week which mean me going back to work full time again. Over the last two weeks he has been training at dagis starting with only a few hours a day and the second week staying for 6 hours every day. It has been going really great. He waves to me with a smile when I leave and looks sort of happy when I come to pick him up but keep playing with whatever he is doing. All the carers are back from holidays and have had a good chance to get to know Isak (they have only had about 6 children to look after). They have all changed his nappy, put him to bed, fed him etc etc and even though he has his one favourite lady he is quite happy being looked after by either of them. The last week he didn't sleep very well there but it doesn't seem to effect him so much other then that he after a bad day sleep can sleep up to nearly 14 hours at night.
Next week Jakob and Isak will be at dagis from about 7.30 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon. Most children will be back at dagis so from being only 6 there in the last week I think there will be nearly 20 children. Hopefully Isak will cope ok but I am sure I will have some tired children in the evenings.

It is hard to believe that Isak is now 18 months! He is a great child to be around, he just makes us happy. He is still a great sleeper. When we put him down at around 7pm he waves to us in the bed with a smile and wakes up normally between 7-8 in the morning. He loves lollies and ice cream and cakes and everything that is not good for you (just like mummy) but he also eats his porridge and other meals quite well. As long as there are no cakes near him...

He is not talking very much, he says mamma about 500 times a day and tack (thank you) when he points at something he wants to eat. He is starting to understand a lot though and we understand him quite well even though there are no words coming out of his mouth.

Kickbike!

Jakob loooves the kickbike he got from grandma and poppa when they were here and Isak also looooves Jakob's kickbike. So after trying to solve fight after fight when Isak tries to take Jakob's kickbike we bought him his own. Isak is now back being a happy child again!

Day care

Isak has now had his second day at child care. Yesterday we stayed for 1,5 hours and I was there the whole time. The place was nearly empty, all the kids are still on holidays, only Jakob and Isak and two other new kids were there. A good start for Isak I think, he gets to know the place with all the different rooms and toys and also the carers without too many disruptions.

Today I left after half an hour. Isak waved to me but didn't start crying. Not sure if he really understood what was happening. When I came back just over an hour later he was happy playing outside and did not seem to really care about me coming back. Stina, his carer, told me that everything had gone very well.

Tomorrow Isak will have lunch at dagis for the first time and if everything goes well he will have a sleep there on Thursday. Will be interesting to see how that goes!