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.

A day at the beach!

Last Sunday was a beautiful and sunny day and we all went to the beach together with Sigrid and her family. Isak had his first swim...

After the beach we relaxed on the veranda at home with a smoothie (made by Adam).

At mum and dads

Mum and dad have helped a lot as always and the day before Isabel was leaving mum took Jakob to visit Maggi and Åsa in Ale. We had planned to go to the beach that day but just as we had finished packing the bags the sun disappeared. At the same time mum called so we quickly changed the plans and spent the day in the city having coffees and cakes and talking, talking and talking.

Jakob and Isak hanging out at mormor and morfars.

Happy Saturday!

Last Saturday Adam wasn't working so he had Jakob most of the day. Isabel and I went shopping during the day and had brunch in the city. In the evening we had booked a table at a restaurant on a boat and enjoyed a nice meal in the evening sun talking talking and talking.

When the music got too loud for us "oldies" we went for a walk along the water before we headed home again.

Saw a few frogs on our walk and I just had to stop and take a photo.

The girls

I have a photo similar to this one of the 3 of us at safari in Kenya taken 15 years ago. I will scan it one day and add it to the blog.

One night we had dinner at Sigrid's place and as always when Jakob gets to play with Elvin all by himself he was so happy.

Isabel and mum and dad

Isabel has met my parents many times, the first time they met was actually in Israel when mum and dad came over for holidays to visit me when I was working there. Not long after Isabel and I (and Sigrid) went on our Africa trip and when coming home Isabel had decided that she really wanted to try and live in Luleå. She followed me home and stayed with me and my parents for over a month. She really liked it here and mum and dad loved having her staying, but it got too hard trying to find a job etc so she went back to London. A few years later Isabel and I travelled in Ireland at the same time as mum and dad and of course we met up and spent a few day together.

Isabel reading Jakob's favourite book to him in Swedish. It took her a couple of pages before she realised that the book was actually all about poos.

Hägnan

Finding time to talk during the days is not easy with two children but Isabel was really great helping me to look after them. Jakob who loves talking kept saying: Come Isabel and Now it is my turn to speak!

One day we spent at Hägnan about 10 min drive outside Luleå. It is a great place for the children to look at animals and to run around and play and have fun. Jakob was not in his greatest mood, very tired and grumpy and got very upset a couple of times.

Isabel

Isabel arrived from London on July 7th and Sigrid and I (and Jakob and Isak) picked her up from the airport. It was so nice to see her again after so many years. She still looks like 25 and as always with close friends it doesn't feel like we haven't seen each other for so long. Isabel gave Jakob a couple of really nice books in English and he wanted her to read them over and over again.

Isabel and Sigrid looking through some old photo albums from our trip to Africa and talking memories. We all remember different things from the trip and it was great fun filling each other in on things that happened on our journey through Africa.

Breakfast on the veranda in the morning!

Nearly rolling

Over the last few weeks Isak has been working hard on trying to roll over to his belly. These photos were taken a couple of days before he did it the first time. He is actually on his belly but his left arm is stuck under his body.

A day at Piteå Caravan Park!

When I grew up my parents had a caravan and we used to travel all over Sweden and also Norway with the caravan. I used to love it. Mum and dad sold their caravan to my brother and his wife only a couple of months ago but the other week mum and dad borrowed it for a couple of nights. Jakob, Isak and I spent the day with them at Piteå Carvan Park and we had a great day with nice weather.

Jakob and mormor on their way to the beach.

The beach is really child friendly with shallow water and nice sand. Mum and I took turns taking Jakob there, he love it!

Isak enjoying the shade!

More from Piteå...

Isak really liked the camping life and slept well on one of the beds in the caravan.

Last year Jakob was really scared of the train but mum managed to convince him to go with her and he was so proud of himself after having done it. This year he was still not sure if he wanted to do it but ended up going by himself!

Sunday

Today I haven't taken any photos at all so for fun I added this old photo of the 3 of us from Australia.

The day has been good. Adam and I took turns sleeping in this morning again and I love it!! after that the neighbours grandchild Filippa came over to play and she also had luch with us. Filippa is 3 years older than Jakob but for some reason they have so much fun together.

After lunch Isak and I went in to the city and had a fika with Carina and Stina. I also went past mum and dad to say hello before heading home again. The rest of the day has been very quiet, spending time with the kids, cleaning, taking away recycling, getting the bedroom ready for Isabel who gets here on Wednesday. I also went for a walk in the evening after Jakob and Isak had gone to bed. So nice to get out in the evening sun!

Lovely Saturday!

After taking turns sleeping in Saturday morning (mine was much longer than Adams...) Adam walked Jakob in to the city when the shops opened and I slowley got out or bed with Isak. Adam did some shopping with Jakob and I picked them up by car around lunch time to go to see Finn. The boys were really excited to see each other. It seems like something has happened to their friendship. Something positive. We still have to help them to sort out some problems (I had the car first, or He hit me etc etc) every now and then but most of the time they play really well and have great fun together. They played outside most of the time but had a few minutes in front of the tv a couple of times.

Taking photos of Adam is not easy. This could have been a good one if Adam had not started walking towards me when I was taking it. I think I will give up trying.

Isak is still happy most of the time but I thought I would show you a photo when he is not smiling. Still very cute though...

After a super nice lunch cooked by Micke and Zara Adam helped them to move some furniture upstairs. I am not really sure what I was doing when they were working but I am sure I was looking after some children. The boys got to play in the water outside for a while before we headed home to have som left over pizza for dinner.