Getting Out and Having Fun and Getting Sick

Last week was a fairly busy week for us. Matt took the girls swimming on Monday, we went to a play group at church on Tuesday, Wednesday was the animal park, Friday night IKEA (do you know they let you leave your kids 3+ at a play area while you shop? Plus, they've got cheap meals) and Saturday we went out exploring the area again. We also got some more snow, gone now, that made playing outside lots of fun!
Unfortunately, somewhere along the way the girls caught colds (our first Swedish virus!) and that has made the last couple of nights pretty eventful.

Here is last week in pictures...

Sonja's Repertoire

As I am sitting her with Little Sonja Doodle I thought I would update you on her repertoire and other new facts. For one, she is getting about 5 new teeth right now. Two on top have poked through and there are another 2 on top and one on the bottom that are just about to pierce the gum. She is well on her way to have a mouth full. It's funny because up until this point, she's only had the 2 bottom teeth, which came in a few months ago.

As Sonja closes in on her first birthday I can already tell she is not a little baby anymore. While she is not quite walking, she does do a few other tricks. She says, "UH-OH" even when she deliberately drops something. And when Linnea says "ready, set" Sonja says "go" (or something that sounds like that). It is a really fun game for both of them to play. She also gives kisses, blows kisses goodbye and does a baby sign for "tickle my neck", which is throwing her head back and tickling it herself. She also eats everything we do, except nuts, eggs and shellfish. Right now she's really enjoying a grilled cheese sandwich. She really likes cottage cheese, peas and avocado. All to be eaten by herself, of course. Sounds like someone else we know...big sister perhaps. Sonja does baby signs for milk and food as well. We are currently working on please and more.

Linnea is really having fun these days playing with her little sister. This week it snowed a little and they both love for me to pull them around in the yard in the sled. The girls get along really well, so far so good. And they are getting better at Skyping with Nana and Papa and FarMar and FarFar. I think they both just really enjoy looking at themselves on camera.

This week we are starting a new routine where Matthew takes the girls for one afternoon a week so I can have some time to myself to read or run or nap. Tomorrow is the first afternoon and I'm really excited. Hopefully it'll be a nice day. Matt is most likely going to take the kids to the Sim Hall (Swimming Hall), which I know they'll just love.

I've got a few more pictures this week and also some new video that is cute. Unfortunately I have to find a way to reduce the file size of the video before posting because it's too large. But here are some photos for now.





Yesterday we toured around the city center of Lund. And we forgot the camera, of course. But I'm sure we'll be out and about more and more as the weather gets nicer. Yesterday we toured the cathedral and part of the cultural museum, as well as a toy store. Linnea was supposed to by thinking about and looking for what she would like to get her sister for her birthday, but I think she was mainly making a list of things she wanted. It was quite the super toy, baby, candy store. Very exciting and possible location for future outings in town.

A Nice Family Weekend

As the weekend comes to a close, we all feel pretty good. It was a good family weekend. Yesterday, we visited the cities of Landskrona and Helsingborg. Landskrona had an old citadel (above) that we toured the grounds of (although it was pretty chilly!) and we spend the afternoon in Helsingborg, a larger city, with a castle. Linnea really liked the castle and was very agreeable to climbing all the stairs to the top!

A view of Helsingborg from the castle grounds. This is one of the reasons I really love being in Europe - old castles, how cool is that?


Now this we couldn't quite figure out. We think that it is a giant, stationary antenna used to communicate with aliens. Definitely built by the transcontinental Egyptians.

And Doodle being Doodle...


And Linnea didn't want to have her picture taken with this statue, I don't really know why, she loves statues.


The girls are doing great! They are adjusting so well, but Linnea does talk about going back to Minnesota and going back to playing with her friend Emma. If you didn't know it already, Linnea is quite the drama queen. However, lately she really has been cracking us up, it's hard not to laugh. This morning she was getting all moody and dramatic about not having any milk for her Cheerios. In her drama, there are a few tears and mostly whining. But I tell her there is nothing we can do for her, there is no milk. End of story, right? No, later she draws a picture in the car on the way to church. I ask who it is, is it her? No, she says it's a picture of a boy crying because there is no milk for his Cheerios.



We had great weather today and Linnea was able to fly her new kite outside in the field behind us.

Sonja is closing in on her first birthday and we just can't believe it. She is "cruising" all over the place and loves following her big sister around. She has just started holding fingers and walking around. Both the girls are in love with avocados and eating them every day. Luckily I've been finding them pretty cheap at the grocery store. Sonja eats almost everything now and gave up any baby food type food a couple of months ago. She just wants to eat what we're eating, which makes it a lot easier to travel with her. She is a real smiley girl, loves to laugh and giggle. She often hears her sister in the other room and will call out to her, yelling something that kind of sounds like "Linnea!" She is also learning to "fight back" a little by pulling hair and pushing Linnea out of her way. Showing lots of independence too!

It's been a good week!

MMMM.... Swedish pancakes with lingonberries of course!






This week we went to play group twice and set up our new IKEA igloo. We are planning our first Swedish day trip tomorrow. I nice drive up the coast. I look forward to a little warmer weather. The spring flowers are supposed to be amazing. Of course, we can't wait until summer to go and see the Linnea flowers!

Öppen förskola

So I took the girls to our first Öppen förskola today. Öppen förskola means open preschool. Basically, it is an organized playgroup for children 0-6 and their caregivers. It is housed in a little yellow building next to an elementary school and it led by a nice woman named Carin. Most of the children were between 1 and 2 as most older children go to regular preschool. This open preschool is free and is offered 3 mornings a week for 3 hours at a time and then one afternoon a week for 3 hours. I definitely plan on taking the girls back. There weren't any children Linnea's age this morning, but she had lots of fun playing with all the toys. Carin told me that sometimes there are older children that come to the afternoon one after they get out of school. We're going to try that tomorrow. I met some really nice parents, all of whom speak great English. As I have been noticing a lot in Sweden, about half of the caregivers present were fathers. Seems like the duties are pretty much split 50/50. It also helps that there is great parental leave for dad and moms alike.

Sonja has pretty much given up her morning nap. It's OK with me, I don't want to fight it and it means that we can have more flexibility about going places instead of getting stuck inside all day. I'm still trying to squeeze in some time so I can learn a little Swedish too. So far I can tell I understand a little bit more than I did 3 weeks ago, but I would really like to get better at speaking.

In Sweden!

So we made it safely to Sweden, the girls were awesome on the plane. Just slept most of the way and we actually had to wake them up for landing! We were lucky in that the plane was not full at all so we took up some extra seats, Sonja got to sleep in a bassinet and Linnea slept across two seats. Matt and I had the hardest time sleeping because we weren't able to recline much or stretch out our legs, but that's just the way it goes.

Jet lag wasn't too bad - for most of us. Linnea had the hardest time. We just couldn't keep her awake past 5:00 PM even if we are in the middle of IKEA and then she's be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 4:00 AM! That lasted about 4 days, we are all well adjusted now.

So, our new place is great, big, spacious, cold, drafty... all of the things we expected with an old farm house. We don't mind the cold that much, we just wear warm clothes inside and keep our slippers on!

It is so nice to live in a place with a yard! Today we found a cat (most likely the neighbor's barn cat) who looks like Hobbs, so we've been calling him/her Hobbs. Linnea also spied a bunny in the backyard when we were out playing. Our neighbors to the east have a farm where they board horses. There have got to be at least 9 of them and some of them are the nicest horses I've ever seen (very well bred) and huge!

So here are some pics of the place. If it looks like everything came from IKEA that is because it did. It's hard to imagine anything but IKEA decor here. We did hit IKEA the second day we were here and it felt just like we were back in the US. Kinda strange.







So, it is interesting finding out what is different here than what we expected and what really isn't all the different from home. You can never really know until you experience it. One thing that has been hard for me is that I can't find my usual stuff at the grocery store. OK, I anticipated this, but it's weird that I can't find many canned tomato products or Mexican products but that I can find tons of prepackaged, make from a box Indian cuisine. The cereal isle is limited to one shelf but they have an overwhelmingly supply of Musli (pretty much granola) and several candy isle (these people have a sweet tooth). And I so miss the Super Target back in MN where I can get almost everything I need in one spot. Here I have to go to 2 different grocery stores just to make dinner. But I assume that'll all start to change as I learn to adjust. And it really isn't that frustrating, mostly humorous.

I still haven't seen a department store, I think they are all in the mall. The only one I recognize is H&M, must be a European company. We looked at getting a used stroller and quickly found out that strollers here are super pricey because they are all deluxe. Which brings me to another point. Luxury. It seems as though there are very few personal comforts items (scratchy sheets, scratchy recycled paper toilet paper, etc) - very minimalistic and practical. Then you get to things like baby strollers and cars and we're talking high end luxury.

We're all doing well. Matt started classes this week and has been riding his bike into Lund. We have signed up Linnea for school but she hasn't been placed yet. We've got internet, some TV with about half of the time showing something American, and new Swedish cell phones. Now we are anxiously awaiting our first visitors. Andy and Kelly will be here in a about a week and a half. Make sure you pack your slippers!

The Mother Post

OK, so it’s been over a month since our last post and so much has happened and is still happening! So this is going to be, hopefully, the Mother of all Posts! So, you’ll have to set aside a few minutes for this one. Who knows when we’ll get the chance to post again – we’ll be doing so much adjusting to life in Sweden. We leave for Sweden on Tuesday! Wahoo. Our Visas did arrive within plenty of time and we are anxiously awaiting our non-stop flight to Copenhagen ;-). We are flying into Denmark because it is the closet large airport to where we will be living in Sweden, which is Lund.

So let me back things up to early December. My parents (Diane and Lee aka Nana and Papa) came to visit us in St. Paul. They were lucky to be there for Linnea’s Christmas program at church. Linnea was lost in a sea of preschoolers, but we could pick her out and it seemed as though so actually was singing! And she really seemed to enjoy it. Both girls enjoyed having Nana and Papa visit and spending a pre-Christmas, Christmas with them.

My parents left on Sunday the 14 of December and that is when the packing mayhem began. First Sonja seemed to come down with a little bit of a stomach bug on Sunday and couldn’t keep anything down, but you never really tell with an infant if she is actually really sick or just spitting up. So we really didn’t think anything of it. Then Linnea comes down with a urinary track infection on Monday evening. Monday morning she vomits but I had read that can be a symptom of a UTI in small children and don’t really think much of it! Matt brings her to the clinic, spends all day with her there because she refuses to pee, let alone pee in a cup. If any of you know Linnea, you know she’s got an amazing ability to “hold it” (part of the reason for the UTI in the first place). Matt then gets puked on in Target (ah, parenthood) and finally comes home with a catch basin because the kid still won’t pee. Hmf. So by the time they come home, I’m not feeling so hot, guess the stomach thing was a virus after all. Bam, I’m sick the rest of the day and the following morning. Then, Linnea finally decides to pee and gets on an antibiotic. Then, bam, Matt gets it on Wednesday. So this really starts to delay our packing! But never fear, with the help of our great and friendly neighbors we managed to get everything packed and stored (with some minor hang-ups, of course). Thank you friendly neighbors! We also end up infecting their kids with the stomach virus and they still helped us pack/move. Now those are some quality friends!

On Sunday, December 21^st we left St. Paul and headed for Washington. We drove long hours each day, stopped for the night in Billings, MT and were able to make it to Matt’s grandmother’s house in Ellensburg, WA early (about 2 AM) on the 23^rd. We encountered extremely cold temps in North Dakota and Montana and a bit of snow in Idaho and Washington, but overall it was a pretty good trip.

So, this is when it gets interesting… Turns out Linnea is very allergic to dogs and is asthmatic. She started having itchy eyes and ears while she was around the dog and cat at Grandma Pat’s but it is not until Christmas Eve (in Tacoma) that we notice that she is having trouble breathing. So we make the decision for Matt and his dad to take her to the ER. About 3-4 hours later they return with a very hyped-up 3 year old (yeah, drugs), an inhaler and a prescription for the urinary tract infection that just didn’t seem to want to go away.

So, am I discouraging any of you would-be parents yet? Don’t worry, it wasn’t as bad as it sounds, just really bad timing. We had a really nice Christmas with Matt’s family. We met our newest cousin, Olivia, for the first time and Linnea and Sonja played with other cousins they didn’t even know they had! Bonus!

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This past Sunday we had Sonja baptized at Ellyn and Wayne’s church in Bellingham. Most of the family from Ellyn’s side was able to come, which was very, very nice. And Sonja has really taken to her godfather, Uncle Andy.

Linnea and cousin Taylor.

After Christmas and until now we have been spending our time with Matt’s parents (Wayne and Ellyn aka Far Far and Far Mar) at their house in Sumas, WA. Fortunately, they still have Grandma Pat’s old travel-trailer and Linnea has been sleeping in that with one of us because it is pet-free. She really likes it; it’s like her own little clubhouse. When we first got to Sumas there was tons of snow, so we went sledding, built snowgirls, etc. But now it is all gone! It has been raining for a week straight and there is major flooding in the region. But that just meant we could go play in the creek instead.

Sonja meets the animals: Donuts the Donkey, Suzie the horse, Floppy-top the goat, Kinsey and Kiley the Scottish highland cows, Wallace the dog and Mystic and Hobbs the cats (hope I didn't miss anyone!).

And now we are in the midst of major packing for Sweden. Sorting out what to bring one last time and making sure all of our ducks are in a row. Wish us luck!

Kristin, Matthew, Linnea and Sonja