Isabella's First Birthday!

Isabella is already 1! I can't believe it. I think that her first year passed much faster than Alex's. Maybe I was always so anxious for Alex to reach his milestones that I didn't take the time and really relax and enjoy him just being a baby. I am not sure, but Erik felt that it took longer for Isabella to reach her first birthday. Anyway, she is now a year old! We started her day taking Alex to dagis (daycare) then Isabella and I went to Kyrkansbarntimmar (children's church hours). While there we sang songs, played, fika'd (took coffee and snacks), and she made a moose using her foot and hands on paper. She was really tired afterwards and fell asleep in the stroller while we were on our way to pick up Alex from dagis. After lunch she had her 1-year check up and received her vaccination. She is quite the drama queen. She would cry then she would laugh then she would cry, etc. After the drama of receiving a shot we prepared for her small party that night. Her guests were: Mommy, Pappa, Alex, Farmor, and Farfar. We ate lasagne (Bella's favorite after spaghetti). Afterwards we had apple cobbler (she can't have cake because she is allergic to eggs). I think she had a really fun day, but by the end she was exhausted!

Spain Trip

Sorry for all of the late postings! I guess we have just been so busy! The first of September we went to Spain for ten days with Erik's parents and we had sooo much fun! Alex loved playing in the pool and in the sand! Isabella really liked the sand!!! By the end of everyday she had sand from head to toe. We all had a lot of fun taking it easy and relaxing! Every night though, Alex wanted to go home to sleep. He wanted to go home and then come back to Spain the following day! That was a lot of fun trying to explain to him every night that it wasn't possible. He had trouble falling asleep, but eventually the tiredness would take over. Now we wish that we were back in Spain because of the cold weather that we have here in Sweden!

Bean Visit Pictures

Busy August

It has been awhile since our last post. We have been very busy!

August began with a short trip to Göteborg to visit the Taubermans. The area that they live in is very pretty. We had a wonderful time and enjoyed getting to know their new addition, Elias. He is very precious and adorable! Fabian is a very proud big brother.

When we returned home Erik's vacation started for the following 3 weeks. The first week we worked really hard around the house and Erik worked to finish the ongoing completion of our yard so that we could relax once our friends, The Beans (Derrick, Missy, and Maggie), arrived. They arrived the following week from Nashville. The two weeks that they were here were a blast! We forgot how much we really did miss each other and how much fun we have when we are together. Maggie is a sweetheart and she and Alex really hit it off. They loved playing and being together. Alex still talks about her all of the time. Their two week visit passed too quickly!!

Now we are preparing to go to Spain for 9 days. We will leave Wed., Sept. 5. and return on Friday, Sept. 14. We are really looking forward to some hot weather! (I know many of you in the U.S. are looking forward to cooler weather, though!)

The children have overcome several new milestones. Isabella can now pull up and "crawl" everywhere. Pulling up is pretty new and she gets a little nervous. So she mostly only tries when she has my hand or leg for support. Her "crawling" technique is a little different from the average crawler. I call it the "wounded soldier" crawl. She is on her rear end and she pulls herself with her hands and her right foot that is in front of her then she drags her left leg behind and uses it sometimes to push off with. It is a little unusual! She is also starting to show more of her loving, sensitive side. She likes to kiss and hug people, stuffed animals, pictures, and even her own reflection. She also LOVES watching other people and especially children. She had a great time with Alex and Maggie. She is very interested in others. She and Alex play very well together, although at times I think Alex would rather play alone because she wants everything that he has.

Alex has overcome the greatest obstacle yet. He is now considered TOILET TRAINED, FINALLY! I think Maggie influenced him greatly! So thanks for the little push Ms. Maggie Bean. Once we started it was actually easier than we expected. He, of course, can still have an accident here and there, but he is doing very well. (And he doesn't even use a diaper at night or at naptime!) Now we only have one in diapers and it makes a big difference. His English is also improving a great deal and talks to me more in English now and he picked up some new words from Maggie. Such as, "Cuz" and "Sure". He uses those a lot.

I hope everyone is getting back into the swing of things after the summer and I will be posting again after our trip to Spain!

Isabella finally gave up waiting for her bottle of välling!

Pappa's Shirt

This is Alex in his Pappa's shirt. Erik had it when he was a child. I think that it is a little small for Alex though!

We have had a good last week. The weather has been nice for the most part. Ulrika has been in Trosa for the past week and it has been wonderful visiting with her and Jakob. Erik has made A LOT of progress on the yard, and we have planted our first tree. It is a cherry tree! My favorite! It was a gift from his parents for his "name day". In Sweden each day is designated to 1 or 2 names and it is considered your day of celebration. I, unfortunately, do not have any days.

We have taken several walks down to the harbor. One night we sat alongside the sea and listened while a man played his accordion. It was really nice. My favorite song that he played was "Somewhere" from the Wizard of Oz. (I think that is the name of the song?!) It is nice taking the children out for a walk at night because if we are lucky they usually fall asleep. Well, Isabella does anyway.

This weekend we are going to Göteborg to visit our friends, Helena, Jonas, Fabian and their new addition, Elias. We are all looking forward to the trip and meeting friends, especially Alex. He and Fabian have really missed each other! While they lived in Trosa we would meet up anywhere from 1-4 times a week! So they are really missed. Then next weekend the Beans come! We can't wait!! I keep ordering things and asking Missy to pick things up so that they can bring them when they come. I know she dreads everytime she receives an e-mail from me! As my Mom always said, "I can't bring America!" But I really appreciate it when she tries! So I send lots of Thanks! to Missy and Derrick.

We had a big event last week.....I had to go to the store so Erik was at home with Alex and Isabella. Isabella was outside on a blanket and Alex was running around playing. (He always finds snails behind our little storage house and brings them out to play with. He had found one, but it was only the snails house. The snail had moved out. And he had showed it to us.) Well, Erik was trying to get the grill started and Alex comes running over to Erik yelling, "Pappa, Pappa! Isabella is eating a snail!" (We believe Alex had given it to her to play with). At first, Erik thought Alex was just saying it without any meaning, then he realized that Alex did have snails out so he went over to Isabella. She looked up at Erik with this huge grin on her face and had snail-shell around her mouth!!! So, Erik panics and picks her up and tries to get the shell out of her mouth, while in the process Erik said she gets this strange look on her face. He flips her upside down and starts hitting her back (not too hard though) and squeezing her stomach and she throws up. By the time I got home I didn't notice anything. She was still playing on her blanket. I am sure if someone was watching they would have had a good laugh watching Erik in panic-mode! Needless to say, this story will go in her baby book as her first time to eat escargot!