Things I miss from home

I have been meaning to blog about this almost since we got here. I had forgotten how awful the paper products are here and I am not sure why. One of the first things we did is buy soft toilet paper. The standard stuff in Swedish homes is some sort of public bathroom paper towel like product. Too rough for my sensitive bum! LOL! Even the tissues for my nose are ... weird. Maybe Fredrik bought some cheap Kleenex but the stuff is very stiff and almost like really thin paper that you can write on!

There are other items that I have missed while I am here. Salad in a bag. Either pre-washed or the stuff that comes with dressing and other condiments. Swedes eat their salad with their meal so they don't usually have dressing or anything but lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes. I also sometimes miss going to Starbucks for a mocha or latte. There is always coffee here but it is VERY strong.

Another food challenge was finding a formula that Linnea liked. What Swedish babies her age drink here is called Välling. It is some sort of oat and grain based formula with some milk in it too. She hated it so we gave what we bought to Cattis since Ebbe still loves drinking it. We did find some version of the formula that she drinks now. It is the same brand and obviously similar to the one we drink at home since she drinks it with no problems. Even all the baby foods are quite different here. Potatoes and fish ... meatballs and pasta ... Sausage Stroganoff ... potato, carrots and leeks ... taco ... etc. The fruit ones are more similar so those have been the ones we stick with. Linnea doesn't like carrots and she hasn't been too crazy about other meat dishes either.

I also miss how easy it is to find Japanese rice and low sodium soy sauce. Asian foods must not be popular here because the selection is so small and there isn't many options to choose from. We are making Teriyaki Chicken by request from Irene and the ingredients are very simple but finding good soy sauce and rice is more challenging. Anyway, I better get back to cooking.

Happy New Year!!

A Day Indoors

We actually never made it outside today but the weather did seem nice and sunny. I believe it was a bit warmer today at around -2 C or 28 F ... it probably got a bit warmer during the middle of the day but probably not over freezing.

Katrin borrowed Irene's car to take her son to her ex-husband and pick up her two girls. I am not sure I understand the schedule but they do share custody. So, we decided to stay home since we didn't have any other good transportation. Also, they brought the Wii upstairs for Davin to play with so we didn't see much of him. He loves the LEGO games and they had one he had not played before ... LEGO Star Wars! I want to play it too!

Dinner was a nice spaghetti with meat sauce and we shared the meal with Katrin and her youngest daughter Carolina who is 9. Johanna visited a bit earlier with her boyfriend but they soon took off. I don't remember how old Johanna is now but she is the oldest so I will say about 16?

I also spent most of the day sorting through some photos so I have a new album uploaded with more photos from Motala. There are a bunch still missing online since I pulled out the photos from the Mischief Factory and Christmas Eve so they will go in their own albums eventually. Too many photos!! Here is the new album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mhubinette/Sweden2008Motala2

Swedish Weather ~ Järvsö

Dec 29th ~ I told Fredrik to quickly snap some photos of the beautiful scenery that we were passing by in the car. I think we were almost in Järvsö by the time this photo was taken at around 2pm.

Dec 29th ~ We had arrived at Maj and Invar's minutes later and this is their view!

Dec 29th ~ You can see Farmor's car off to the left and the road that Maj and Ingvar live on continues off into the distance.

Swedish Weather ~ Motala

Dec 23rd ~ I happened to be awake and eating breakfast at 8:30am when I looked out the window. I jumped up and grabbed the camera and quickly took some photos of the neat colors in the sky. The wind was moving pretty fast so I was afraid the clouds would blow away soon.

Dec 23rd ~ I also decided to take some photos of our view from the kitchen ... or rather the enclosed porch that you access from the kitchen. I thought it was good timing that I was taking photos of the sky because this is what our courtyard looked like the day before ...

Dec 24th ~ And here it is the day after! This was Christmas eve morning around 9am and we were all delighted that there had been snow during the night. It was only a light dusting but we were sure happy to have a White Christmas this year!

Brr, It Was Cold Today

Today was a lovely day! The sun was out and shining bright but boy ... was it COLD! I actually slept in today since I stayed up way too late finishing a book I got for Christmas. I intended to leave the house a bit earlier so we had more time to visit with Fredrik's aunt and uncle who live in Järvsö, Sweden. It is about an hour drive west of here.


View Larger Map

It was my first time driving Irene's car (a Volkswagen wagon of some sort) but it is a very nice car with 4-wheel drive and studded tires too. It took a while for my brain to stop freaking out since I would never drive in weather like this if we were in Seattle. I think when we left Hudik it was about -4 C or 25 F and there is ice and snow on the roads ... or so it seems. Most of the roads are plowed, sanded and salted so they really aren't a problem. The smaller roads have compacted snow on them so they look much worse than they are. I actually had no problems driving and never felt the car skid, slip or slide. It was more of a problem remembering how to drive a stick shift and learning the controls of an unfamiliar car.

Anyway, it was a bit colder here than it has been in a while but when we got to Järvsö I barked at Fredrik to hurry and close his car door when he was casually getting out. It seemed much colder there as the biting cold was much more noticeable when we got out of the car. At first, I thought it was because we were so nice and cozy in the car and so the outside air just SEEMED colder. Well, as we hurried inside and peeled off all our layers ... they told us it was actually -18 C or 0 F outside at the moment!! Yikes! No wonder I noticed change in temperature! The drive over there was beautiful with all the snow on the landscape and the trees all white and the sun making everything glisten. I hope we got some good photos!

Well, we had a very nice visit with Maj and Ingvar (Fredriks aunt and uncle) plus Farmor and Jan were there visiting too for the new year. It was great seeing everyone and having the kids play and loads of people to entertain them. When we left, it was a chilly -20 C or -4 F so we plugged the car in to get the engine warmer going so the car wouldn't be hard to start or have a -20 C car to get into! Ah, the conveniences of Sweden! It took a few minutes getting the kids into the car and saying goodbye to everyone so almost immediately I noticed that my nose hairs were freezing! What a weird experience! I also got to see the stars and how bright and different they looked. You forget that the stars are in different spots when you are on the other side of the world. ;) It was also nice to see them when you are way out in the boonies.

Back in Hudik it is a nice warm -6 C or 21 F. It felt sooooooo nice and warm! We had tea and ate a light meal and now it is time for bed.

Playing Go

I am so tired so I hope this post will make sense tomorrow. We had a fun day today ... relaxing mostly. I actually had a chance to spend some time online so I caught up on emails and boards and blog posts. I was trying to sort through the photos we took but when I downloaded them there were over 650 of them! I forgot that Fredrik copied everyone's camera cards so we now have everyone's photos from Motala. I think it will take a while to sort through them! At least some are duplicates and a lot are pretty bad too but it all takes time to find the good ones with so many to sort through!

We had a yummy dinner that Irene made .... pork tenderloin with Gorgonzola cream sauce. It was served with linguine noodles and a nice salad too. All the brothers were here tonight too. Kent, Henrik and Per were here and after dinner the boys started playing Go. Actually, I am not sure where Kent was exactly but he was probably packing and getting ready to go back to Stockholm since he wished us a safe trip back home and left sometime after dinner. Fredrik was surprised that Per and Henrik didn't know how to play Go which is a board strategy game from China. It is sort of a mix between Chess and Othello. But different. I think they all had fun since the boys wanted to go home right after dinner but then we started a conversation about strange words ... then about Japanese ... then Anime ... then Go. Davin and I played on the Nintendo DS. He needed help playing Zelda but then it was hard to stop so he could go to bed. Now I need to go finish my tea and do the same. See you tomorrow!

Yikes! Let's start blogging ...

Ok, so I stopped blogging mostly because our network had been so bad toward the end of our stay in Motala. By the time I was done catching up reading emails and such ... then the network was so bad that I couldn't post anything. Plus, we had our Christmas and then we were packing for our travel up north to Fredrik's dad's. We are now staying in Hudiskvall, Sweden with Olle/Farfar (Fredrik's dad) and Irene. The weather is a bit colder here and there is a bit more snow but otherwise it is about the same. Today the temp is about 25 degrees at about 11:30am but now that the sun is up it is starting to get a bit warmer. The thermometer still doesn't say it is above freezing yet. I will try to blog about the days I missed.


View Larger Map

Toy Shopping

Now that we are settled in a bit more here, we decided to head to the toy store and do some Christmas shopping for the kids. Just what we need ... more toys but I can deny the grandparents their right to spoil their grandchildren. ;) Davin, Irene and I went to the store together while Fredrik stayed home with Linnea since she was napping. Farfar went ahead of us since he wanted to look at a few baby gates and other items. One of the first toys Davin zeroed in on was the Legos. I said no since Farmor had given us all of Fredrik's old legos so we really have enough now. Then Davin wanted a Lego Batman set which I also said no to. I pointed out it had an age range of 8-12 and he was too young for it. Then we went around the store looking for items that said 4 or 3 or 2 or 1 instead. I saw they had some sort of car garage thing and thought it might be similar enough to the one we bought for Ebbe. Davin also found a musical instrument set and I told him to pick that or the garage. Irene had a good idea of picking a favorite instrument and buying just one instrument toy. He picked the trumpet. He also picked a toy out for Linnea too ... a box that you can sort shapes into. We also got a little push cart for her as well since there really isn't anything for her to push/walk with here.

We headed out to lunch after toy shopping so Fredrik and Linnea joined us since she was awake. Davin however pitched a fit when we got there and I don't really know why. He might have had some gas since he was complaining that his tummy hurt but I didn't have any medicine with me ... it was in Linnea's diaper bag and Fredrik hadn't arrived yet. I also think he must have been hungry too. He spent most of the meal pouting and crying so Farfar, Fredrik and Davin left early to take him home. He was probably also tired which didn't make a great combination.

Katrin and her son Rikard arrived later to visit with us too. Davin was in a much better mood when they arrived and the two boys had fun playing together. I don't know how old Rikard is but my guess is about 13? It's funny because they had fun playing together the last time we were here too. At some point Henrik arrived to visit and he is Fredrik's half-brother along with Per who is his youngest half-brother. Although, Per might have arrived the day before to visit ... it's hard to remember now. We gave both half-brothers their Christmas presents ... Google black zip hoodies. I think they liked it. Katrin got a small family photo with Santa. We gave Irene and Olle their gifts the day before. A framed family photo, coffee, a 1/4 zip fleece jacket from Google, a shirt for Irene and jewelry. It was a good day even if everything is starting to blend together.

Traveling by Train to Hudiksvall

Today we had to get up early to finish packing and leave for the train station. I was reminded again about how much STUFF we packed with us. WHY??? I forget how many things the kids need ... food, medicine, clothes, diapers, wipes, boots, coats, toys, etc. I don't know if I can do it again unless we can survive with less things. I even left a few bags of items that I couldn't get to fit otherwise. It was just some toys, food, and clothes that don't fit anymore. I packed way too many kids clothes because I was packing in the middle of doing laundry and packed things that I thought MIGHT be too small but it was better than nothing. Then clean laundry appeared and I packed those things that I KNEW fit so it ended up with a lot of unnecessary things. I already gave a small bag to Cattis of clothes that are too small for Davin now. Ebbe is almost the same size but it seemed to work out great. I also have a larger pile of Linnea's clothes too. I swear she has grown out of some things while she has been here. I will give them to Farmor to keep and hopefully she will have a new granddaughter to give them to next year. I did mention that both Cattis and Anna are expecting? They are both due in August within about a week of each other. It's very exciting to have more cousins in the family!

Anyway, it took us a good half hour to load up the two cars with our gear. Farmor and Jan came to the apartment at 7:30am to help out and we left at 8:15am. Of course, this was the one day that the kids had to be woken up so we could leave the apartment. We left for the train station in Linköping since we decided it would be nicer to take a newer and faster train that goes from Linköping to Stockholm and then another train to Hudiksvall. The other option was an older and slower train from Motala to Gävle and then about 2 hours by car to Hudik. Well, I don't know which option would have been better really but we made it alright. It was a bit hectic getting on the train in Linköping ... we got there in plenty of time ... had a bit of coffee and pastry ... went potty ... changed diapers. However, Davin wanted to show me one last thing in the convenience store before we left and we thought we had enough time so I let him. Well, it turns out that the elevators are really slow and so the train had arrived by the time we got there and it was ready to go too! We had to hurry and find our train car and as quickly as we could load up our 4 large bags of luggage, our 5 carry ons (computer bags, purse, diaper bag, potty seat, etc.) and the stroller. Oh and the people too! We didn't get much of a goodbye to Farmor and Jan but we knew we would be seeing them in a few days when they would head up to Järvsö where Farmor's sister lives.

The train ride to Stockholm was pleasant and Davin had fun watching the different houses and cars go by. Farfar found us right away and helped us get all the luggage off the train. It was stashed in a number of different cars so it took a bit of time. It was a good thing this was the train's final destination. I really don't know what we would have done with only the two of us. I suppose we would have had to take a direct (slower) train instead. Anyway, Farfar and Fredrik went off to get luggage carts and I maned the stroller. Off we went to find our next train. It didn't take long and I decided to grab something to eat while we waited. It was a nice Asian baguette sandwich and I almost managed to finish it when they announced that our train was ready to board. So we hurried to get on the train so we can find spots for our massive amounts of luggage. It wasn't a problem really and off we went to Hudiksvall.

I don't remember if Linnea slept much on the train but I think she was getting pretty fussy by the time we arrived. I think she gets really frustrated being strapped into her car seat all day long. She can crawl around a bit on the train but it's hard too since lots of people want to do the same thing and she just gets in the way. I tried to sleep a little and Fredrik too so Davin and Farfar played a game or read something together? It was good for them to bond a bit.

Irene picked us up in Hudiksvall and we also saw Katrin who is Fredrik's step-sister. She is Irene's daughter from a previous marriage. I guess she now lives in Hudik so she just came to the train station to see us and help with the bags. She told us we would visit later but it was nice to see her even if it was brief. It is only a 5 or 10 minute drive to Irene and Farfar's home so it was nice to not be traveling anymore.

I don't really remember much after this since we were so tired. We ate a nice meal and met Kent who is Fredrik's step-brother. Kent lives in Stockholm but was staying with his mom for the holiday. He was having a party downstairs in the guest apartment so we saw him for dinner and then he headed back downstairs. I think we all headed off to bed fairly early. It was nice to have a REAL bed to sleep in. We got Irene and Farfar's room which has a proper bed in it where the apartment only had these folding cot-like beds that weren't terribly comfortable. Davin got his own room and it was the same one he slept in last time we visited and it is directly across from our room. Linnea also got her own "closet" that is right next to ours. There is also a little living room area between our room and Davin's. Farfar slept in the room Fredrik and I stayed in last time. It has a couch with a fold out bed. I will try to get some photos which should help out.

Christmas Day in Sweden

Today was a day to relax and do nothing really. Except I wanted to make dinner one last time and this day was the only day left. I made salmon cakes that are served on salad greens but it was hard to find the salmon at the store. If we had a bigger store next to us, it wouldn't have been so hard since I saw plenty of it when I was at other stores. So, I bought frozen salmon when I normally use canned because it is so easy. It worked out just fine and the flavor is probably better anyway. I poached the frozen salmon with sliced lemons, dill and chives. You drain it, cool it and flake it with a fork. Anyway, I thought it would make more than it did so I am afraid there wasn't enough for everyone to get full on. I knew Jan wouldn't like it much since he doesn't eat salmon or salad but Farmor said she would have something else for him. I made the cakes at the apartment and fried them up at Farmor's house. I think it turned out rather well despite the lightness of the meal. It is also hard to cook food for 8 adults! Even Jan seemed to like it or at least was humoring me by trying some. ;)

The rest of the day was spent visiting and enjoying everyone's company one last time. We tried not to make it too late since we had to pack all our stuff. We are traveling to Hudiksvall where Fredrik's dad and stepmom live and we have to get up really early. Ugh. Wish us luck!

A Swedish Christmas

Christmas in Sweden is celebrated on Christmas eve actually. It started a bit early for us since if I remember right ... the kids woke up semi-early today. I think it was about 7am that we all got up so we had plenty of time to get ready to go to Farmor's house by 12pm. It is tradition to have Christmas porridge at noon and then watching Donald Duck Christmas program on TV at 3pm and then open presents after. I don't know how kids in Sweden last that long but I guess they don't know any better so they do. ;)

Did I mention it snowed today!? It is an ever so slight dusting of snow but hey it is SNOW!! We can officially say it is a white Christmas here in Sweden!!

Of course, when Davin woke up he wanted to know if Santa came with gifts. I made him wait until 9am to call Farmor who was the only one awake. She confirmed to Davin that Santa had come so he was all excited to go and see what he brought. He also liked Farmor's house because it had a Christmas tree. We actually arrived around 11am and were definitely hungry by the time we arrived since it had been a while since we ate breakfast. Davin got to open one Santa present to hold him over until 4pm. Davin got a remote control car and Ebbe also got a remote control car too! The kids had fun playing and then we ate our porridge around 12 or 12:30pm. It is a strange thing to eat really ... milk and rice porridge that you add sugar and cinnamon to flavor it. I think there was also crispbread and other items like beet salad and caviar to put on it. More weird stuff. ;)

After lunch we had a few hours to kill before Disney comes on at 3pm. A bunch of people decided to go outside for a walk ... Ebbe, Cattis, Patrik, Erik and Anna. Davin didn't really want to go outside in the cold but when he saw everyone getting ready he wanted to go too. They were going to feed the birds along the lake and then to the playground for the kids to play. I heard later that they had a LOT of fun and poor Davin's hands got really cold and wet since he wasn't wearing proper snowball playing mittens. Still, he made other people create snowballs for him and then he had a blast throwing them at people. What fun! I am so glad I stayed inside. ;)

At 3pm Disney came on and everyone gathered around the TV to watch. It is a long standing tradition in Sweden and EVERYONE participates. It's really fun since they show some classic Disney cartoons which I haven't seen in a long time. The weird thing for me is listening to Cinderella and Lady and the Tramp in Swedish! We also saw a clip from the new movie Bolt too and then it was over. Time to open our 1000's of presents!

Davin helped me be Santa and hand out all the presents between opening his own. Ebbe slept through half of it so then it was fun to watch Ebbe open his without Davin getting too jealous. It seemed to take forever but it also could be that we were all starving too. Dinner was Swedish meatballs that were all handmade so they took a bit longer. Also there were many different recipes that we had to create ... no milk and egg one for Davin ... vegetarian ones for Cattis and Erik .... and regular ones for everyone else. YUM! Then we packed up our gifts, visited for a bit and then headed home. ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz

Shopping & A Yummy Dinner

Our network here at the apartment is now spotty at best. Fredrik thinks we have used up the maximum bandwidth already so it has put us on a slow connection now. It makes it very hard to browse but even harder to blog. I hope I can get through this post! Since we were all up early today we are very tired now. It is just after 9pm and it feels much later than that. I have finished wrapping all the gifts and had our cup of tea as well. Now it is time to blog before bed. ;)

We got out of the house today before noon again and went and had lunch next door at the pizza/kebab place around 11am or so. It was nice and the pizza's were huge so I had to take part of mine home. We then went grocery shopping for a few things we needed and the ingredients for dinner I will be making on the 25th. It is salmon cakes on top of a salad so this dish is mostly for Erik and Cattis but I am sure everyone but Jan will enjoy it. He doesn't eat salad or fish! :) It felt like we are staying for at least another week with all the food we bought!

We headed over to Farmor's after we dropped off the groceries but decided to head out shopping before our dinner reservations at 4pm. We wanted to buy a car seat but needed Davin to approve it before we buy it. He agreed to go with us and Linnea seemed tired so Farmor agreed to watch her while we were gone. We also needed to use our gift certificate too so we headed to that store first. We ended up picking two big tea cups for Fredrik and I got a ceramic Swedish gnome that you can put a candle in and it lights up. I probably won't get photos of it until we get home since they are all wrapped up for traveling. I thought it was really cute. Next was the toy store that had the car seats but unfortunately, they were all sold out of the one that was on sale that we liked. They did have the same seat in another color still available for 200 SEK (~$25 USD) more so we tried that one in black (a Brio) and a white one (an Aero) which was the same price. I didn't like the white one which was just like the fancy office chairs which I do like. Odd. I didn't really like the way it looked and I thought white was a poor choice of colors. It's a good thing Davin agreed about the Brio and it did fit him better too. I did happen to like the green/black version that was on sale but I am still pretty happy with the price overall and it seems like a nice seat that will grow with him. It certainly is cheaper than the other one I wanted to get in the States! I hope it works out...

Anyway, we headed back to Farmor's and we could definitely feel the brisk, cold air that was getting much colder even after an hour or so later. It is only a few blocks from Farmor's house to the center of town but Davin didn't like it too much. Neither did I but I am more willing to bundle up than he is. So, soon after we returned, Davin fell asleep in my lap. I wish we could have gotten Davin to eat something but I will take the sleeping too. Linnea didn't end up sleeping while we were out so she also went down for her nap too. Then it was Ebbe's turn and this was all within about an hour to 30 minutes of when we needed to head out for dinner. Jan went ahead and changed the reservation to 5pm instead so the kids could sleep a bit longer. That worked out really well since most of the kids were starting to wake up on their own by the time we needed to go again.

I don't remember the name of the place we went to but it was nice because we mostly had the place to ourselves and it wasn't far to drive to either. The food was good and I had the pork tenderloin with Bearnaise sauce cooked on a wooden plank and Fredrik had basically the same thing but with beef. Davin ate some corn and juice. Oh and some more Bilar (car shaped foam candy) that we picked up at the grocery store. Healthy meal.

We headed home after the dinner and Davin played game for a bit on my computer, then helped me wrap some presents (he mostly watched) and then he went to bed. I am glad we don't have to get up or stay up late to put things under the tree and all of Santa's gifts were hidden safely inside Farmor's earlier today. Tomorrow we celebrate Christmas!!

The Mischief Factory (Again)

We had another nice but very windy day yesterday. The temperature is still above freezing so we probably won't have a white Christmas but it sure feels colder with the wind.

The kids woke up early ... Davin 4:30am and Linnea at 5:30am ... so we had an early start to our day. We were planning on going to Busfabriken (Mischief Factory) again which was the big indoor playarea in Linkoping in the afternoon but since the kids were awake so early we decided to leave a bit earlier. Cattis, Patrik and Ebbe all wanted to go with us and we discovered that Erik and Anna also wanted to go since they wanted to spend some time in Linkoping as well. This meant that we took three cars and I was leading most of the way since we had a GPS and no one else really knew where to go. Of course, on the way there Fredrik and I decided we were hungry and maybe we should stop first to eat. We played some phone tag to get everyone else on board and decided that Erik should lead since he knew of a parking garage where we could all park. When we got there, we discovered it was full so the phone tag began again as we all searched for a place to park. The second garage that we tried was all full and only Erik and Anna found a spot. I gave up and started looking for street parking and ended up finding something almost right away and it was closer than the parking garage too! It was a good thing because the cold, windy walk was almost too much for Davin and me.

We ate at a kebab place called Hakepi that Fredrik and I have fond memories of. The sauce recipe has changed but it was still pretty good food. Davin ate his "chicken" which is just some kebab meat without any sauce and a bunch of fries. He also stole my Fanta so he was definitely ready to burn off all that sugar when we got to the playland.

Everyone had fun at the Mischief Factory ... even Erik and Anna who only stayed a little while to check it out. Davin roped them into looking after him as he wanted to show them his favorite part of the playland ... the MAZE! It is a huge area where you can climb and crawl through tunnels and go down slides. Davin also liked the trampolines too and had a lot of fun showing me his seat drops where he can bounce back up standing straight up!

Erik and Anna left to explore Linkoping and I left soon after to find a present from Santa that Davin had asked for. He wasn't very descriptive and I think it came from something he saw drawn in a book. He wanted a train that you can push. Well, it took some searching and it probably isn't quite the right thing but I got a Little People zoo train that I hope he will like. If nothing else, Linnea can play with it. It said from ages 1-5 years but it seems sort of like a baby toy we already have. I also looked at the store that had carseats but didn't see anything better than what we saw in Motala. I hope to buy it today. I also picked up a bottle of whiskey for Jan since my dad wanted me to buy him a drink. It was very hard since I don't know anything about whiskey. I saw the brand Jan likes to drink and almost got it but thought I should buy him something else to try. I picked an American whiskey called Maker's Mark which I have heard good things about so I hope it is a good pick. I ended up spending twice as much as I wanted to but I think it will be worth it.

So, the kids woke up today at 5:30am (Davin) and 6:30am (Linnea). We ate breakfast and put Linnea down for her morning nap. Davin is playing a new game that I bought from Big Fish Games so that means I should go take a shower. We are going out to eat dinner and Farmor is treating so we will head over there as soon as Linnea wakes up.

An Unusually Quiet Day

Today was a very nice day outside. Well, it was sunny and you could see blue sky but it was a lot colder than it looked. I saw the temp was warmer than it felt too so I suspect that the wind had a lot to do with it. The temperature was about 40 degrees but a lot of puddles had ice in them or completed frozen when we left the house in the afternoon. Davin had fun breaking the "glass". It might have been warmer in the evening when we went home from Farmor's but the wind was very cold so it still felt cold even all bundled up. There wasn't any ice that I could see when we were coming home.

Our morning was pretty good all considering. Davin woke up at 5am and I spent the next 30 mins trying to get him to sleep again. He wanted me to change his diaper first so I did but he must have just peed since it leaked all over his covers when I took it off. I cleaned him up and threw the covers in the laundry but then he didn't want to sleep on a naked bed. The only covers left were mine so I brought those into his room. He ended up sleeping with me which was interesting since it is a twin bed and he didn't want to be under the covers with me. Of course, he kept himself awake for at least an hour more ... asking for milk ... wanting his Leapster ... asking for another drink of milk ... etc. Then I had to keep telling him to turn the volume down and to stop hitting/kicking the wall. Fredrik told me that Linnea woke up at 7am and I heard her but was too tired to get up. Davin and I eventually woke up at 10am so I was glad to get a few more hours of rest even if it wasn't very restful.

I am also wondering if we found a cure for his tantrums. It might only work a few more times so we shall have to see. Davin was getting worked up again this morning and so I reminded him of the video I took yesterday that we were going to send to Santa. I told him I can go ahead and let Santa see it if he was going to continue with his meltdown. He stopped and got thoughtful ... then asked to see the video. He watched the whole 10 minutes of it and we could tell he was experiencing it all over again. He didn't cry while he was watching it but he definitely was upset. After that video was over he wanted to watch the other ones on the camera and kind of forgot about his tantrum. He did want us to erase the cranky one where he is in the bathtub but I said no. I was going to keep it just in case he wasn't a good boy and we needed something to send to Santa. If he was good then it would just stay on the camera. That seemed to satisfy him ... for now. ;)

We headed over to Farmor's house in the afternoon around 1pm. Cattis and Erik were heading over to Linkoping to visit their father since it was the only chance they would get to visit before the holiday. So, for once Farmor's house was quiet since there were 4 adults and 1 child less. Again, we had a nice visit with Bjorn and Carro and we hope they will get a chance to come visit us after her surgery. They headed home to Gothenburg since Bjorn had to work the next day and also through the holiday.

Farmor wasn't feeling well today since she seems to have caught the flu bug that Cattis had the night before. I hope she will be able to get some rest tonight. Tomorrow we are planning on going to the big indoor playground again in Linkoping. I am dying to do some shopping so I hope I can sneak away and satisfy my craving.

Lasagna was a Success!

It looks like the lasagna was a hit and there were plenty of leftovers too. I made one vegetarian one and two meat ones. Cattis and Erik are both vegetarian so they really appreciated a meal they could enjoy. I think it must be hard to be vegetarian in Fredrik's family since it seems that a lot of the food we eat if I am not cooking is very beef or pork heavy. There is usually some bread or potatoes or rice but very little vegetables. It isn't my style of eating so I can usually manage a meal or two but then I really crave a salad or veggies. Apparently, Jan and Bjorn doesn't eat anything except beef and pork. I am pretty sure I saw them both take two helpings of the lasagna so I am glad they liked it.

The rest of the evening was very nice. We chatted a lot with Bjorn and Carro who always have fun stories to tell us. She is also on a waiting list for a gastric bypass surgery but it is taking a long time. She has already been to the doctor many times over the past 2 years to make sure there are no medical problems that cause the weight gain. She is actually in too good of health or else she could get the surgery sooner. It can take up to two years before she would get it and they would really like to just get it done so they can move on with their lives. It seems like there are a lot of people who are wanting to have this surgery but the government doesn't give a big enough budget to meet the demand. So, she is looking into an alternative where she can have the surgery done in Germany but she would have to pay for everything up front. Then she would be able to apply for the money back from the Swedish government to cover most of the costs. The bad news is coming up with all the money and trusting the Germany hospital but the good news is that she could have the surgery in a few months. It still seems like a good option since the hospital does many more of these kinds of surgeries than the one she would go to in Sweden. I will be anxious to hear how it goes.

Bored so I am Blogging

I am sitting here home all alone and waiting for Davin to wake up from his nap. He woke up this morning at 3:30am and didn't go to bed again until after 12pm. It will be time for him to wake up soon which is good because otherwise I will have to do dishes or something. By hand. Gah.

I am glad he finally took a nap but it was really hard to get him to do it. He threw a major tantrum when we took his binky away and told him he could have it if he stayed in his room. Thankfully Linnea was sleeping hard since what resulted was a lot of screaming and crying and demanding of his binky. We really are at our wits end with him when he gets like this. I threated to tell Santa to not send him any presents for Christmas and even took a video so we can prove to Santa what a bad boy he has been. We tried reasoning with him ... bargaining with him ... giving him a cold shower to "cool" off. Nothing worked until Davin calmed himself down somehow. I think he just got tired of yelling and screaming and being soaking wet and cold. Ugh. I hope he will wake up in a better mood.

I spent all morning making lasagna and I am way out of practice. Maybe the noodles here are different but they all stuck together and I had a heck of a time pulling them apart. That took up most of my time and assembling everything in three different pans. I wasn't sure if everything would fit in two pans since they are a bit smaller than what I usually use. So, I ended up with three pans of lasagna. Hopefully, it will be enough for 12 people or so. In fact, that is why I am home alone because I sent the food over with Fredrik & Linnea so we can start it in Farmor's oven.

Now I am waiting for Fredrik to call me when he has put Linnea down for a nap and is heading my way. We will wake Davin up when he gets here if Davin hasn't woken up by himself by then.

A Fun Day

I hope to keep this short since I am very tired and want to go to bed. Our sleep troubles seem to be getting much better and I actually got a full night's rest last night. Fredrik had some troubles last night as Davin didn't want to go to sleep but it wasn't too late when they went to bed. Linnea seems to have caught a cold so she is a bit more needy and usually doesn't sleep well. I hope she will sleep good tonight.

Anyway, we went to a big indoor playground in Linköping which is about an hour drive from here. Fredrik thought it was a really big McDonald's playground but I didn't really think so. He took some photos so maybe sharing those will help. There were trampolines, a ball pit, ladders and slides and other climbing areas. One of Davin's favorite places was a big 3 tiered structure where you can shoot soft balls from an air gun down into a common area. I will have to ask Fredrik what else they did since I didn't go up and play very often. Ebbe also came with us and Farmor too. Cattis has some sort of stomach flu so she stayed home to rest. It was interesting for Fredrik to look after the two boys since they had their own ideas of what to do and didn't always want to play together. It all worked out fine and everyone had a great time. Linnea spent most of her time in a baby play area where there were soft things to climb and a small ball pit too. I hope we can go back again before we leave Motala.

Tomorrow is a big day since 5 more people are arriving to visit for the holidays. Patrik (Cattis' boyfriend), Björn (Fredrik's cousin), Carro (Björn's girlfriend), Erik (Fredrik's brother) and Anna (Erik's girlfriend) are all coming. I hesitate calling everyone "boyfriend" and "girlfriend" since they have all been together a long time and are probably common law married by now. It is especially weird when they have children together and the only word I have is "boyfriend" or "girlfriend". Anyway, I am making lasagna for everyone so I hope I made enough. Farmor is also making some food too so I think we will be fine.

The Weather

I had a friend ask me how the weather is here since I neglected to include it in my blog. The weather in Seattle is quite cold as they are having a winter storm and lots of cold weather. I have been reading a lot of posts from my mom's group and also emails from my mom and other people complaining about the weather at home. Apparently the temperature in Seattle hasn't gotten much above freezing and well into the twenties at night. It even snowed yesterday in Seattle too!

Anyway, the weather here has been quite nice actually. When we first arrived there was plenty of snow and around freezing outside. It felt a lot colder since we weren't prepared for such cold weather when we were traveling. All our warm gear was packed away. The next day or two stayed about the same temperature and the day and night temps were pretty close to the same ... around freezing. On Sunday or Monday the temps started going up which melted most of the snow. It was probably in the mid-30's? The last few days have been pretty warm during the day since the temps got to around 40 degrees. At night it still can get cold and windy but so far it hasn't been too bad.

Today was the first time it rained and while I haven't been outside yet, it doesn't look more than a mist or drizzle. Well, I suppose I should get a shower so we can head out for the day.

Happy Anniversary!

Our 12th wedding anniversary was on Dec 8th and we were too busy packing and getting ready to go to Sweden to celebrate it. I figured that we might have a lot of babysitting available to us while we are here that we could take advantage of it and go out to dinner without the kids. Farmor was happy to watch the kiddos for us so it was just a matter of deciding when and where to go. Thursday turned out to be the best since many more people are scheduled to arrive on Saturday. Fredrik looked at a few suggestions and eventually chose Valven in Vadstena, Sweden. It is a short 10-15 minute drive from Motala and Vadstena is an old Swedish town. The building we had dinner in was quite old and it was a very nice meal. The food was a bit strange but it was okay. I think I prefer the more traditional Swedish meals that you can find elsewhere but for a special meal I think it was worth it.

We started with a Caesar salad that wasn't like any I had before. I think the only thing that was Caesar about it was the dressing. It had some cured ham and sauteed fish and the greens were fancy and slightly bitter. For the main course, Fredrik had reindeer fillet with whey cheese sauce and I had veal and beef two ways. The beef had a red wine sauce and the veal had chanterelle mushroom sauce. For dessert I had the three-colored chocolate truffles with ice cream & berries.

Here is the website for the restaurant:
http://www.valven.se/index.asp

A map of where Vadstena, Sweden is:

View Larger Map

Photos on Picasa

I finally had a chance to go through the photos we took so far so here are the rest of our photos if you want to take a look:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mhubinette/Sweden2008Motala#

Photos Part 2

These photos were taken Tuesday Dec 16th in the evening. This was the day that Cattis (Fredrik's sister) and her son Ebbe who is two years old arrived. He is a very active and happy boy!

The two cousins getting along at last! It took Davin a little while to warm up to Ebbe but once Fredrik started snapping photos and Ebbe was being a total ham then Davin joined in with the fun. It was pretty crazy for a while when the boys were playing.

I thought this was a very nice photo of Jan and Monika. Davin wanted their picture taken so he really does make a good director!

This photo was taken Wed Dec 17th. There was a lot of playing with this ball. Bouncing it all over the apartment. Good thing it wasn't our place and Farmor didn't care since we usually play with balls outside. ;) This is a rare photo of Davin being candid and happy.

Photos at Last!

Since I was awake anyway and am having a hard time falling back asleep again I decided to go through our photos and upload some. I will edit our Picasa album later but in the meantime here are just a few photos so far...

This was taken Saturday Dec 13th in the evening when we were finally up for having visitors. Davin can be a stinker about having his photo taken so this one is after he was hiding for the first photo. He likes to see what he looks like after the photo is taken.

Jan's sister Inga is pictured on the right. She was only able to visit on the weekend so unfortunately we didn't get to visit with her much. We were still adjusting to the time difference and were sleeping much of the time that she was here.

Left to Right: Monika (Fredrik's mom), Jan (Monika's husband) and Inga (Jan's sister)

Linnea is enjoying her new outfit that I bought her before going to Sweden. I thought it looked like a nice warm outfit and it has worked out pretty well so far. You can't see it but there is an Elmo on the front of her shirt/dress.

I guess you can only post 4 photos at a time in a blog? This photo was taken on Tuesday Dec 16th in the evening when we went to Farmor's since Fredrik's sister just arrived with her son Ebbe. Farmor was trying to show Davin her photo albums of her grandchildren. I think she was trying to prepare him for his cousin's visit. The green one is for Ebbe and I think the blue one is Davin's? Davin was very tired so I am not sure how interested he was.

Awake again....

So at 1am I woke up to go to the bathroom and discovered Davin was still awake. I guess he was watching DVDs in his room and when he heard me, he wanted a new DVD. I am not sure if Fredrik got any sleep but probably not too much. We took away the DVD player in his room which upset Davin so much that he woke up Linnea. Ugh. I ended up "sleeping" in Davin's room until he calmed down. He tried to negotiate the DVD player back into his room but I finally managed to convince him that he can have it only after he falls asleep. Nice trick huh? He fell asleep pretty quick after that.

Now I am awake with Linnea and she is watching a DVD and eating some too. She is starting to get a bit cranky so I think it is time to try putting her to bed now. Will the sleep troubles ever end??

Shopping & Naps

Today turned out pretty good but the night is still young. We headed over to Farmor's house around 11am and had lunch. Fredrik got to shower so that was nice. It took a while for the kids to fall asleep so they had a late nap and it was a bit long too. Maybe 3-4 hours? Davin had an excuse since I gave him some Benedryl after lunch. He refuses to listen to me when I tell him that he can't have chocolate because of the milk in it. Well, he ate it anyway and then said his mouth hurt. Duh.

After he crashed on the couch and Linnea fell asleep, I took the opportunity to do some shopping. We got a gift certificate for a shop in town that carries glass and cookware. Fredrik and I went to take a look at what they had and left the kids asleep with Farmor (and Jan too). The shop had a lot of nice things but we weren't sure what would be best to take home with us. We have a whole week to pick something so we decided to wait. I needed some socks -- I bought some to take with me but of course forgot them. Also, the socks I bought for Davin weren't quite tall enough to go over his boots so I bought some for him too. Then we were off to look for gifts for the cousins since we forgot the presents we bought at home. We were able to find something cheap and that they will like. We also found out there are two more cousins on the way so I also got some baby toys for them too. Then I got a small toy for Linnea and then we were done.

I also looked at buying Davin a booster seat. The brand we like doesn't have the model I wanted and it was super expensive. They had another one on sale that looked pretty good and not too big or bulky either. The seat we have for Davin came with the rental car and isn't very good. We also have to return the car on the 26th and so we will be without one for the rest of our trip. Our only option is to rent another seat when we get to Fredrik's dad's or buy one since we need one anyway when we get home. I was thinking that we will probably need two booster seats for each car at home so buying a cheaper one now and buying the one I really want when we get back might work really well. We will take Davin to the store tomorrow to try it out and see if it fits ... and if he likes it.

So, after all the shopping we went back to Farmor's and ate dinner, had coffee and woke the Davin up. He was super grumpy so we just decided to head to our apartment. Now both kids are awake but hopefully not for too much longer. It would be nice to get a good night's rest again.

On Swedish Time At Last!

Wow, we actually all got a good night's sleep last night! I think we might be on our way to adjusting at last! I just hope it sticks now. ;) Linnea woke up at 5am and Davin at 7am so it wasn't too bad. Now of course Linnea is sleeping again and Fredrik decided to take a nap too. We don't have any hot water today since they are working on the water heaters so as soon as everyone wakes up, we are heading to Farmor's home (fredrik's mom). I managed to get a shower in this morning before the shutoff but Fredrik and Davin still need to get clean. I am sure the quiet here won't last long so I better sign off for now....

Adventures in Grocery Shopping

I actually managed to wake up at a decent hour so I thought I would make dinner for everyone. This meant venturing out to the grocery store. It is really nice since it is right next door. First I had to figure out what we needed and what things were called in Swedish. I only thought to translate the spices since I wasn't sure I could figure them out on my own. It would have been nicer if Fredrik was with me but someone had to stay behind since Davin was sleeping.

My first challenge when I got to the store was renting a shopping cart. I had forgotten that you need 5 Swedish Kronor to use a shopping cart and I only had paper money with me. I went inside and asked the cashier if she spoke English ... nope so she paged someone else to help me. The young woman who came said her English wasn't good but we managed just fine. It wasn't hard to figure out I needed change for the shopping cart. ;)

I think it took me about an hour to shop. I had a lot of things on my list and many of which I didn't find the first time looking. Either things weren't where I thought they would be or I didn't know what they were called in Swedish. Then there was the converting from metric to the US measuring system. I also had forgotten how many conveniences we have in the US too. Already shredded cheeses, prepackage croissant roll dough, washed salad greens, etc. I also had to adjust the recipes since some of the veggies did not look good. The green onions were brown, dry and not very appetizing looking!

Still, I got most of what I was looking for and we headed over to Farmor's house to prepare dinner. Fredrik's sister Cattis and her son Ebbe came to visit today and will be staying at Fredrik's mom's. It was really nice to see her again and also to meet Ebbe for the first time. It is challenging since he only knows Swedish but I think we managed. Once Davin woke up from his nap, he had a lot of fun playing and the language barrier didn't seem to matter for them. Davin seemed intent on teaching Ebbe the letter "W" at first but Ebbe showed little interest. Ebbe is a very active 2 year old boy and delighted in getting into as much trouble as he could!

Dinner turned out great and we headed home after the second time the boys woke Linnea up from her nap. I went to bed around 10pm and I think Fredrik and Davin were about an hour behind me. Whew, maybe we are on our way to adjusting to Swedish time?

Sleepless in Sweden

One of our biggest challenges is the sleeping. We knew this going in but boy it is rough. We thought we were making some progress on Saturday since we weren't too far off but Sunday was much worse. We didn't make it out of the house until 4 or 5 pm and mostly it was because someone was sleeping at one time. Linnea would be awake and then Davin would be asleep or Fredrik would be taking a nap. Right now, Fredrik and I are sleeping in about 4-5 hour increments and switching who will be awake in the middle of the night to watch the kids. It almost makes me question if this trip was worth it!! Still, it was nice to finally get out of the house on Sunday.

View Larger Map

Monday we tried to take a little trip to Vadstena, Sweden which is about 15 or 20 minutes by car from where we are staying. It is a quaint little town that is full of history and charm. It was however much colder there than it was in Motala so walking around was not any fun for the kids. Actually, I think Linnea quite enjoyed looking around as she was bundled up snugly but her nose did get red after a while. Davin was a pill though and constantly complained the whole way. We decided to get something to eat even though it wasn't quite 3pm yet. Unfortunately, no restaurants were open except a pizzaria and a chinese place. Neither which anyone was excited about. So, we went back to Motala and ate dinner at a place Monika and Jan (pronounced "yawn") like a lot. It was good food and we barely made it through our meal before Davin had a meltdown. He was pretty much up all night and we had to wake him up to leave for Vadstena. That made him very grumpy the rest of the day and he pretty much crashed when we got home at 6pm. I also fell asleep too since I was up with him most of the night.

So, now we are up at midnight and will probably be awake until the wee hours of the morning.

Travel to Sweden - Part 2

Our 9.5 hour flight to Copenhagen was fairly smooth although Fredrik and I would have liked a lot more sleep. We thought we were golden when the kids fell asleep almost as soon as we took off but it didn't last long. They slept through dinner. We had plenty of food and really didn't need to eat beforehand. Linnea of course cannot eat the meal and Davin was asleep. Not that he would have eaten it anyway but it smelled good. It was a teriyaki chicken and noodle dinner with some fruit and a Kit Kat bar. When Davin did wake up, he ate 3-4 dinner rolls and the candy bar. He didn't end up sleeping for the remainder of our trip. I think it was too hard for him to sleep sitting up ... or it was too exciting. He did love the new Leapster hand held game that we bought him for the trip. Plus he loved watching all the movies on the plane too. He kept waking me up every hour or so for a new movie or to go potty. Linnea really wanted out of her car seat when she was awake but it was really hard to let her crawl around on the plane. Fredrik was sitting next to her on the plane so I am not sure what exactly he did to keep her entertained. 

View Larger Map

We landed in Copenhagen just fine and we had a nice gentleman from Sweden who helped us off the plane. Our stroller wasn't available when we landed but would be with our baggage which wasn't a short walk. Of course, there were no luggage carts to be seen until we got to the baggage claim either so it was nice to have an extra set of hands carrying things. Customs was uneventful and we got our baggage pretty quickly too. Even with our flight being delayed we still had about an hour to wait for our train. What I didn't realize until we got to Malmö was the short time we had to transfer trains! They didn't even check our tickets on the train from Copenhagen to Malmö so we could have taken any train really. They left every 10 minutes and the train ride to Malmö , Sweden was maybe 20 minutes or so? It would have been nicer to have more time in Malmö to transfer but we would have had to stand out in the cold longer. Also, we didn't have any Swedish money to rent a luggage cart so somehow Fredrik managed to haul our 4 bags all by himself to the next train platform. Thankfully, it wasn't far to go but it sure was a lot of work!

View Larger Map

We braved the 3 hour train ride to Mjölby, Sweden with no troubles but again there was little to no sleeping. I think the only one who got any sleep was Linnea and she was really cranky to have been woken up when we got to our destination. She cried all the way in the car to our final destination ... Motala, Sweden. I think she was also hungry but I couldn't sit next to her in the car due to all the extra car seat. Monika (Fredrik's mom) had rented a car for us and two car seats. Apparently there were only two types to choose from ... one that is rear facing which Davin is too big for and another booster seat that doesn't have a back to it. It just uses the seat belt strap and isn't very secure in my opinion. We might look at buying one while we are here since we need a booster seat anyway. I just hope the options for ones you buy as opposed to rent are more to our liking. 

At least it wasn't a long car ride ... maybe 30 mintues or so? We basically got to the apartment Monika had rented for us and crashed. We didn't wake up until 2pm the next day! Although it wasn't all sleep since that is another adventure on it's own!

Traveling to Sweden - Part 1

I am writing this a few days later so let's see how much I can recall.

I always put the packing off to the last minute. I tried to be better about it but we had so much laundry to catch up on that it made it hard to do. We ended up forgetting some things too which is inevitable but what disappointed me was that they were Christmas gifts and the shell for my jacket. Doh. A friend of ours is sending them over to us so we should have them soon. Too bad it will be too late for Christmas but at least we will be here to see them open them. 

Our schedule this day was pretty good. We wanted to leave the house around 3pm in order to get to the airport around 4:30pm. We had a 6:45pm flight time and we figured that would be plenty of time. We actually left the house around 2:45pm so we had enough time to pick up Davin at school and were on the freeway around 3:10pm or so. We needed to stop in Seattle at a golf course to pick up my dad who was going to take our car for us while we are gone. I am pretty sure we got to the airport around 4:30pm since there wasn't much traffic. We got to the ticket counter and were surprised that there wasn't a line so we walked right up. Of course, we learned a few minutes later that our flight was delayed by an hour! Oh well, we had a lesiurely dinner and we beat the crowds which came in right after us. 

Even getting through security wasn't too bad either. Again there were barely any lines and the most time consuming activity was unloading all our belongings. We had a stroller, the baby car seat, two laptop computers, medicines, baby food, formula, and my wrist brace. Apparently, everything food related needed to be "swabbed" and also my wrist brace too. Ok, after a quick Google search I learned that they were checking for exposives. Whew. Glad we aren't explosive! Of course, we had to all take off our shoes, coats and whatever else was in our pockets. THEN, there was the fun joy of repacking all our stuff again but we made it and we had PLENTY of time still to enjoy some dinner. 

We didn't have great dinner choices but we took what we could. Davin picked out a huge sandwich from Starbucks but didn't eat any of it. I think we gave him some snacks that we had packed for the plane. Fredrik had Wendy's and Linnea had some baby food. The hard part about eating was finding a place to sit down. The one table we did manage to score was covered in soda and we had to wait for someone to come and clean it. They didn't do a great job since all they had were paper towels so everything was still sticky. Good thing we had wipes! 

After eating we managed to make our way to our gate and we realized there were some food options there too. We would have had less food types to choose from but at least there were plenty of tables. At the gate there were not a lot of spots open for 4 people. We ended up sitting one gate away but at least we only had to wait for about 30 minutes or so. There were a LOT of families on this flight so we had a long line when we actually got to board the plane. At least we got on the plane easily and there was lots of space for our stuff in the overhead bins. On to part 2!

Time to Blog Again

So, it's been awhile since I have blogged. I am lazy. That and I had a difficult time with being nauseous for so long when I was pregnant with Linnea. It was a good 4 months before I felt better but I was also on some medication which helped me eat but it made me super tired and I think even a bit depressed. Anyway, after that it was the holidays then it was time to give birth and then it was adjusting to taking care of two children ... etc! Also, my business has been booming so that has been exciting as well!

Now we are taking a 4 week vacation to spend the holidays with my husband's family in Sweden. I will try to blog about our experiences here so stay tuned!