After ski...

After some hard skiing Jakob and Moa got a well deserved break in the sun.

Wasn't really quite that warm yet so the jackets went back on and the hot chocolate got out.

Isak was having the time of his life playing with Lucas in the mud.

Since we were having such a great time we invited ourselves over for dinner so we had some nice hamburgers and sausages cooked on the bbq by Anders.

After a fun day at the ski slope both kids fell asleep in the car on the way home and we put them straight to bed when we got home. When packing the car we managed to pack Lucas outdoor clothes as well so that was good reason for Adam and Jakob to go back for more skiing the next day! Isak and I stayed home for a day in the city.

News!!

Big things are happening! Isak took his first steps yesterday and Jakob learnt to ski by himself today!

Me and the boys

Isak loves his wraps just as much as Jakob did when he was a baby. As soon as I get it out he grabs it and puts his two favourite fingers in his mouth.

Update

Yesterday I updated the blog but I just noticed that I updated my old blog that I had a couple of years ago. If you want to read the update have a look at: www.jakobiadelaide.blogspot.com

Hair

Isak's hair is very different from Jakob's. Jakob's hair is quite fair and thin and Isak's hair is dark and thick and grows very fast. Yesterday mum and Maggi looked after him when we were skiing and apparently Isak spent a big part of the day chasing Maggi with a hair brush in his hand wanting her to brush his hair.

Brothers cuddling...

Today was daylight savings in Sweden which means loosing an hour. For us it worked out really well since both kids woke up extremly early (Adam got up with them) and were very tired tonight. So no problems putting them to bed at 6. It felt just right. We have had a pretty quiet day today catching up on some cleaning, Adam working a bit on the bathroom, Jakob and Adam skating, Jakob's gympa etc. I spent two nights in Södertälje for work earlier in the week so it is nice to be home again. The trip was really good, we got to see 3 of Scanias plants and talked ot many interesting people. Also had dinner in Stockholm one night with an old uni friend.

Downhill skiing

Yesterday Adam, Jakob and I spent the day at the local ski slope Måttsund. It was a really great day but it is so hard teaching Jakob to ski! He is doing well and trying hard but I don't have much patience... We did a few runs with the harness and the good thing is that he is getting more and more control of the skiis every time. The negative is that he is not scared at all. I took the harness off once (he refused to do it anymore if I didn't take it off) and on the way down when I tried to get him to practice turns he just pointed the skiis stright down the hill and took off laughing! I had to ski up next to him and pull him over to stop him. And he was still laughing. After that I put the harness on again...

Gymnastics

Jakob has had gymnastics every Sunday for the last 8 weeks. He loves it! it is really his thing with lots of running and jumping and playing. His best friends from dagis Linus and Noel also goes and they don't leave each others side. It is great to sit and watch them have fun together but it is hard at times to not interrupt. At times Jakob doesn't see any other children than himself and Linus and Noel and just run over kids and ignore the line ups to some of the activities.

Isak 13 1/2 months

Isak is growing up fast. Still not walking, doesn't look like he will for a long time. He is so fast at crawling so I guess he doesn't see a reason for trying to walk. He is trying to talk a lot more and even though he still only says mamma and daddy he is communicating in lots of different ways. He is not shy at all and if he is like this at the end of summer there will be no problem leaving him at child care.

Next month I will be home 2 days a week so that Adam can start working a few days a week. I am really looking forward to it. After having had 2 busy months at work I can't wait to spend some more time with the boys.

Lucas 2!

A few weeks ago Lucas turned two. We went to his kids birthday party and also to the party for relatives. Lucas is really cute and a happy little boy who loves cars.

News in our life!

We have booked a trip to New York together with Zara and Micke, but without children. Jane and John are coming to Sweden in July for a month and we are taking the opportunity to go on a holiday by ourselves. Will probably feel very strange to leave without Jakob and Isak but we know they will have the best time with grandma and poppa and I am pretty sure we will find a way to have an amazing time over there. The other thing happening at the moment is that we are renovating the bathroom downstairs. An English guy is doing the work for us and Adam has been helping a bit too. That on top of me working lots and Adam being home with Jakob and Isak and also working a bit makes our life busy. When the bathroom is finished there will be a bath in there! We wanted that for Jakob and Isak but also for us. I love having baths :-)

Friends over

Last Saturday Zara and the kids came over early in the morning to play. Micke needed a sleep in and Adam was working on our bathroom so we looked after the children. The dads joined us at lunch time.

Tired boys

A few weekends ago we had Maria, Mattias and Felix over for dinner. The boys had fun playing all night until they crashed on the couch...

Jakob riding Felix

Jopikgården

A few weekends ago we went for a drive on the ice to one of the islands outside Luleå that has a cafe/restaurant.

The ice road is about 25 lanes wide...

On the island... Some people get there by snow mobile...

Mormor also came with us and we met up with Zara and the family on the island.

Happy Birthday Felicia!

Vill bara säga Grattis på födelsedagen Felicia!! hoppas du har haft en jättefin dag och att vi ses till sommaren. Jakob och vi andra längtar efter dig!
Kram Anna, Adam, Jakob och Isak

Saturday night

Adam has a boys afternoon/night tonight and I decided to have a quiet night at home. I asked mum to come over for dinner and some company.

When I wasn't in the living room Isak had climbed up on the couch and was sitting next to Jakob watching tv. It just looked so cute and just shows how much he wants to be like his big brother. When Jakob laughs Isak laughs, when Jakob shakes his head Isak does too etc etc.

Last night Jakob slept at his friend Finn's place and it went well. They had a great time and played really well. Finn fell asleep at 7.30 and it took Jakob until 9 before he finally went to sleep. Zara read him hundreds of books so he probably thought he was in heaven. After such a late night you would have thought that he slept in this morning but no, he woke poor Zara up at 5. The good thing is that he feels 100% comfortable at their place and with them and not once he mentioned mummy and daddy or was upset. He was extremly tired tonight after such a big start of the weekend. For the first time ever I think he said he wanted to go to bed before Isak and hit the pillow around 6.40 and was asleep only a couple of minutes later after telling his teddy that he is now back at home and will sleep with teddy all night.

A day in the sun!

I had decided that I was going to spend the day outside today. After not seeing the sun from work all week I really needed some time outside! the sun was luckily shinging this morning and it was quite warm so we packed a bag with hot chocolate, sandwhiches and sausague and headed in to the city to watch the snow ball fight competition on the ice. What we didn't realise when we left was how windy it was. After meeting up with Zara, Micke, Finn, Lykke and Jakob (yes, he came with them since he stayed at their place last night) in the city and spending about 15 min on the ice we had give up the idea of staying there and went to our place for a bbq at the back of our house. Very successful day in the end with lots of time in the sun!

Isak 13 months

Isak is now 13 months old. He is still not walking but he is learning to climb a lot more.

Tired boy

Isak sleeps once a day between 1-3 hours and 11-12 hours a night. He loves his white wrap that he sleeps with, just like Jakob did. When he gets tired during the day he crawls around looking for something that looks like his wrap. In the photo he has found a tea towel that he is trying to go to sleep with on the floor. He is still a baby that likes sleeping but in the last week he has started waking up earlier and earlier in the morning...

Winter

This is how beautiful winter can be up here in the north of Sweden. And it is just our backyard. The photo was taken through the window because it was -25 degrees outside.

Busy life!

Life has been pretty busy after we got back from our trip. I started working straight away and have worked long days and every weekend. It is really fun to be back working but I don't think I would work quite as much if I didn't know I was having time off soon again. I will work full time in March, 3 days a week in April and have May, June, July and half of August off.

Adam is doing great being home with the children. The house is tidy and dinner is ready most days when I come home. On top of that he is doing some renovations in the house. He is doing it much better than I was. Mum is helping a lot too, what would we do if we didn't have her? she had both boys yesterday for most of the day and it went really well (Isak slept for 3 hours, he never does that at home anymore but always at mormors). The photo is from yesterday just after mormor gave them a bath.

Isak is growing and showing more and more of his personality. He is still not walking but crawling very fast and standing by himself with no problem. He loves food and goes crazy as soon as someone eats in front of him.

Jakob is having a sleep over at a friends place on Friday for the first time. Maybe. He is really keen and talks a lot about it but you never know if he will change his mind when the time is in. I hope it goes well, at least I know that he will be well looked after, Zara and Micke are planning a fun evening for Finn and Jakob. And Lykke.

Tonight Adam is out for a drink with some English speaking guys. I mean English is their first language. I am home with a bag of lollies and the computer. Nice with a quiet night at home :-)

Dad's funeral

Dad's funeral was held in Luleå about a month ago, the day after we arrived from Australia. The ceremony in the church was of course very emotional but also nice. We had organised a soloist who sang the Swedish song Stad i ljus and Somewhere over the rainbow so from now on I will always think of dad when I hear those songs.

Jakob and Moa did really well at the funeral. To me it is important that Jakob and Isak are involved in everything in our lives and I will always try and be as honest as I can to them. Even if it is tough at times and a part of me just want them to not know about any scary thing in the world. The thing is though that I think death can be more scary if you don't talk openly to them about it. Jakob asks about morfar sometimes. He asks where he is and if he is still in heaven. He asks if I know when he is going to die and when mummy and daddy are going to die. He doesn't get sad and it doesn't seem to worry him. I am sure we will have many more talks like that when he gets older and I am sure there will be times when it will make him upset. But at the moment he just seems curious about it and tries to understand.

One little flower for each one of the four grandchildren to put on the coffin.

Winter!

This is what we came back to after 3 months in the sun. Cold air and lots of snow!

Going home...

The trip home was long but went really well. Jakob is getting used to flying and it is just getting easier and easier to travel with him. Isak was more active on the way home than on the way over but we stuck to our plan to let the kids play as much as they wanted at the airports, and sleep as much as possible on the planes.

A group of young students got absolutley crazy when they saw Isak in this trolley. The just couldn't stop touching him, talking to him and taking photos of him.

At the airport in Stockholm we couldn't stop Isak from falling asleep. He was exhausted. The second night after we got home he slept for 16 hours!! from 6.45 in the evening until 10.45 the next day. Jakob didn't handle the jetlag as well as Isak and woke up around 4 in the morning and wanted to play for over a week.

Leaving Australia

After 3 months of travelling we went to the airport for a long journey back to Sweden and our house.

Buffet lunch!

Lunch one afternoon with Adam's family, his grandmother, aunt and her husband and Adam's cousin. The place we went to had the most amazing dessert buffet I have ever seen. Dougnut machine, ice cream machine, chocolate mousse, pavlova and about 20 different cakes and other sweets.

Julie, Ben and Isak

Ben and Julie cuddling with Isak. In April we will find out if the baby in Julie's belly is a boy or a girl...