First Christmas

This was a week with many firsts for us and Bjorn, it was his first visit from his Swedish side of the family, his Farfar and Farmor Moniqa, as well as his first Christmas. We picked up Farfar and Farmor Moniqa at the airport in Boston on Thursday evening (20th), of course there were some delays, not only weather, but also US customs (another story, hehehe), but finally we were heading back home. Friday morning when Bjorn awoke and saw the new visitors, he was not sure what to think, but after a few days he was very used to his Farfar and Farmor Moniqa and loved seeing them in the morning and after naps.

At Gritty's for lunch on Friday

We had time to do and see a lot during their visit, a trip to the Mall, Old Port for some shopping and dinner (at Norm's East End - my favorite!), and of course celebrate Christmas, with Kalle Anka's Julafton and risgrynsgrot. Bjorn did not really know or understand what was going on with Christmas, but he did enjoy the attention he received from everyone at home and at his gramma and grampa's house. He loved cheese soup which we had on Christmas eve, as well as many other types of foods, in a few years he can try Gramma's famous lobster rolls on Christmas Eve. He received a lot of fun gifts from his family in Sweden as well from us and his family here in the US. He received some fun new toys from IKEA, a playtable (Thomas the train), a rocking zebra, a set of Swedish movies, Alfons Aberg books, Bamse CD (audio books), as well as an Alfons CD and some other music, a new set of PJ's, a new set of plate, cup and silverware with paintings of Elsa Beskow and so much more. Now that Christmas is over, we are settling down and getting ready for his first Birthday.

3 Generations celebrating Julafton

Bjorn and his new Crocodile from IKEA

Almost Christmas

It is almost Christmas, and I have not updated by blog in so many weeks now, so much going on, school, work, spending time with Laura and Bjorn during my free time, but in 2 weeks I get a week off, my dad and his wife are coming to visit, and we all get to spend some nice, quality time together.


Bjorn has changed so much the last few weeks, he is showing more of a temperament, very persistent and knows exactly what he wants and does not give up. He is moving around everywhere, standing on his own, trying to walk, but not quite there yet. He loves reading books and every night we each read at least 2 books each to him, Laura in English and I in Swedish. We can tell he begins to understand when we talk to him, I especially notice how he understands Laura when she asks him to do something, like crawl to the bathroom so he can take his bath at night.




I am not sure yet if he understands me speaking Swedish with him, but I will keep doing so as most studies we read say that you have to be persistent and never to give up. The other night I played Pelle Svanslos for him, but I think he is too young still : - ) . This Christmas, we are watching Kalle Anka as I have it recorded on DVD for him, the older version with Arne Weise, hehehe.

We love to vacuum together

Trying to walk..almost

Björn is now loving the idea of pulling himself up on everything he can, sofa, chairs, toilet, tub, coffe table, etc, etc. He wants to get up so he can walk around the area, but the problem is, he lets go and then usually ends up hurting his little head or chin :- ( . He is so excited though when he crawls up to something, pulls himself up and then tries to grab anything he can from the table, hehehehe.

We had thought of buying him a walker, a long time ago, but our pediatrician recommended us to get a jumper toy instead as she said there are too many accidents with the walkers. I did not think much about it, and then this morning in my weekly baby update email, I saw this:

"A baby who's discovered cruising will "walk" around a room supporting himself against furniture and other surfaces for a long while. To encourage walking, hold your baby's hands (with him facing you) when he's standing and see if he can step toward you. Some 9-month-olds are ready for a stable push-toy to move around. One prop not to use is a walker, as they are associated with accidents and may actually impede development, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics."

I thought that was interesting, sometimes it is a Doctor's opinion, but I guess now there are several documented cases and I am glad we did not get him a walker, he gets in to enough accidents as it is without one : - )

9 Months and time is flying...

Wow, it has been almost a month since my last blog entry and Bjorn is already 9 months old, what happened to the previous 8 months?? We have all been very busy, I am back in school, which is tough as I want to spend time with Bjorn and Laura, which I do from when I come home until he goes to bed, then I try to read, do homework, etc, but it is tough. Bjorn is loving the swimming lessons and this past weekend he went to his friend, Mina's 1st Birthday! He loves playing with the other babies, unfortunately has he not grasped the idea of sharing toys yet, hehehe, but he will soon I am sure of it.

Bjorn at Mina's party - he loved the balloons!

Bjorn is crawling like a mad man, has been now for well over a month, he does not crawl on his knees, but does the army crawl, either way, he gets where he wants to go and fast. He is also pulling himself up on everything and he has attempted to take steps on his own while standing, so I am certain it is not long before he will try to walk...

Bjorn playing at the party

He is talking a lot more, one of the words he loves to say is "mamma", and he knows who his Mamma is too :- ) , he says Da-da-da-da, but not Pappa yet, sometimes it sounds like he says "titta", because I say that a lot and then point things out to him, like the cats, which he loves, as soon as I say "titta...kissen", he starts looking for the cats. I hope he will/wants to learn Swedish, I think it would be fun for him to know my language and be able to talk to his Farmor & Farfar in Sweden. Hopefully will it not be another month before I blog, I will do better once my mid-term exam is over and the project work is well underway.

Bjorns forsta simlektion

I dag var det dags for Bjorns forsta simlektion, dom borjade forra Lordagen, men Bjorn var sjuk med feber och sen ett virus som bara sma barn far (Roseola pa Eng.), sa vi kunde inte ga, men i morse akte vi dit. Han var sa himla glad och forvantansfull pa att fa bada igen, vi har inte badat i bassangen sen Labor day weekend nar vi bada hos Mormor och Morfar. 9 barn blev det totalt, inklusive Bjorn och hans bastis, Mina (hon ar ocksa Svensk-Amerikan eller Amerikan-Svensk), Mina badade med hennes Pappa, Adam i dag, och jag badade med Bjorn. Lektionen varade i 30 minuter och Bjorn njot av varenda minut : - )

Har ar lite bilder fran lektionen


Bjorn var den yngsta av alla i dag, gruppen ar for barn mellan 6 - 18 manader, och dom flesta var runt 12-15 manader, men Bjorn hade nog mest roligt tror jag, han alskar att vara i vattnet och han plaskade och sparkade, alldeles som han forsokte simma. Nasta Lordag ar det Mammas tur att bada med Bjorn, ska bli spannande.

Pappa's Birthday!

This past Sunday was my 33rd birthday, I mean 23rd birthday ; - ) , hehehe. I woke up with Bjorn and Laura and Laura made us some breakfast, cinnamon rolls, eggs, sausage and OJ, it was delicious! After breakfast we opened gifts, Bjorn had bought me a new Starbucks coffee mug and a pound of some yummy coffee, Laura bought me a gift certificate to Amazon, a hand-saw, and a metal rake. The certificate is towards a camera I am saving up for, a Digital SLR, Olympus 510.

After we opened gifts and got ready for the morning, Per and Becky showed up, Laura had secretly invited them to celebrate my birthday : - ) , that was a nice surprise! We all drove out to Wallingford's farm where we picked some apples, unfortunately because of the heavy rain, we did not stay long, but long enough to get a few pounds of apples. After apple picking we went to Da Vinci's for lunch (yummo!), and after lunch we all came back to our house for some coffee.

In the evening, Laura, Bjorn and I just relaxed as we were all very tired from a busy day. Thank you Bjorn and Laura for a wonderful birthday!

Björn gungar

A nice, long weekend...

I was off Friday, Bjorn and I had a boys day, and when Mamma came home in the afternoon we went to Portland as Pappa had to get his parking sticker for school, which starts on Thursday :-(.

After we went to school, we met with our friend Sean at the Great Lost Bear, where we had some excellent food and beers (Allagash White, Pumpkinhead and Laura had Magic Hat # 9), Bjorn had his own food to eat, and he did great at the restaurant, ever since we got his new "chair" which attaches to a regular chair so he won't feel like he is trapped or sitting too high (as some of the high chairs do).

Look at me sitting up and playing!

On Saturday, Mamma surprised me and Pappa with a visit to the Animal shelter where we could see all the kitties and doggies, I loved watching the doggies and when they barked, I was laughing so much, Pappa wanted to get a new kitty for me, but Mamma said we should wait until I am older (Pappa and Bjorn can't wait!!). Later in the day Mamma and Pappa took me to a Luau (Hawaiian feast) where I met a lot of my friends from playgroup, I had a lot of fun and rode in a swing for the first time, Pappa said he is going to get me a new swing for this Fall that I can use outside in our backyard.

On Sunday, we celebrated my birthday (Pappa's birthday), Bjorn didn't swim although he wanted to, it was much too cold in the air, but he did swim a lot on Monday. I enjoyed a feast of lobster(yum!), fresh corn on the cob, ceasar salad, and a wonderful coconut cake for dessert (birthday cake), it was all so good and so much fun! I received some money towards my new camera purchase for birthday gifts from Gail and Danny and Scott and Karen and Shauni and Mitchell. This coming Sunday we're celebrating my Birthday at home (my actual birthday) with Mamma and Bjorn. Overall, it was an excellent weekend and I did not want to go to work this morning....

Bjorn in his festive Hawaiian shirt

Tall Boy Growing

We finally got around to me-asure Bjorn and he is now approx. 28.5 inches tall (28.5 inch = 72.39 centimeter), which I think is pretty tall for a boy his age (7 1/2 months), so far it seems that he is growing approx 1/2-1" every month, so if that continues, he will be around 32.5-33 inches tall by the time he is one years old (82.55 cm tall). I wonder if he is going to be really tall or average (an again, American average vs. Swedish average), most men in my family are around 6 - 6.2 feet tall(179-183 cm), but my great-grandfather was taller (I don't recall how much taller), so we'll see when Bjorn is 20-22 how tall he has become : - )

7 months and growing!

We wanted to measure Bjorn today, but we only had time to weigh him, and he was still at 22 lbs (9.9 kilo), but he looks like he has grown taller, maybe we will have time to measure him this week. We went swimming Saturday because it was so hot and humid here, the temp reached 96 degree (about 35 Celsius). Bjorn still loves to swim, but now more so than before, he loves playing with everything in the pool, the big plastic ball, the noodles (loves sucking and chewing on these).

He has changed a lot, he is making more sounds now as he has 1 tooth, hehehe, yes, he has 1 little tooth at the bottom, and it looks like 1 more is coming soon. He has been a little more selective when he is eating, right now his favorites are carrots, sweet potatoes and all fruits (especially apples and pears). He is making an "Fa" sound and an "Shhh" sound, and is making noises of excitement when he sees Laura and I or Figaro (he likes Bailey too, but not as much as Figaro). I still wonder if he will speak Swedish when he does begin speaking, we will have to wait and see : - )

Björn's weekend of fun

Me and the other Dads with our babies

This was a very busy weekend filled with all kinds of fun activities, on Saturday morning, we met Inga, Adam and Mina at the Gray Animal Park, we also met Cindy and Dennis and their daughter Charlotte. Cindy is also from Sweden and Charlotte already speaks several words in Swedish, which was really cool to hear. At the animal park Bjorn got to see a Moose, Deer, Foxes, Fisher Cat, Mountain lion, Bobcat and of course a Bear :- ) . After the visit to the park, we all met at Adam and Inga's for lunch, who had made a couple of quiches and a salad, all of which was delicious! Afterwards the 3 children played together, although Bjorn is the youngest of the 3, he did pretty good trying to keep up, but he was not as mobile as Mina and Charlotte as they can both walk (Mina is almost 11 months and Charlotte is 14 months), but he does move a lot more, not crawling yet, but he is almost there now, he just needs to figure out how to pull his legs and knees up and he is on his way!

On Sunday we went to Popham Beach for an outing at the beach, Laura had extended invitations to several of our friends and family, but no one responded but Aunt Karen, who did make it there before us : - ) .



Bjorn loves Aunt Karen so much, and she is so great with him, unfortunately shortly after we got there, I had a migraine attack, and even though I took 2 excedrine migraine, it persisted and I was useless :- ( . I had hoped to build a sand castle with Bjorn and do some other sand playing, but he had a great time with Mamma Laura and Aunt Karen who entertained him the whole time we were there. Laura took him down to the ocean and he was completely mesmerized by the waves, I love that he loves the water as much as Laura and I do, and I can't wait for him to start swimming lessons this fall.

Bjorn mesmerized by the waves...

Sleeping in his jogger after a long weekend - this was at the beach..

Thomas the train

This Saturday we went to see Thomas the Train in Boothbay Harbor, Maine. Thomas is a cartoon character who is a train, I guess he comes from the UK originally, I do remember seeing him when I was younger, but I had never known much about him. Bjorn's cousin, Mitchell, loves trains, always has, so when we found out Thomas was coming to Maine, Laura bought 4 tickets for us to go see him and ride the train, which was a lot of fun!

Bjorn and Pappa on the train

I have always loved riding trains, I remember my first train ride with "Dagis", daycare in English and my friends (many of whom I am still friends with today), we rode the train to Hudiksvall :- ) .

I think Bjorn really enjoyed the activities at the train yard, including the ride itself, he was doing really well even though it was very hot and humid out. We even got a chance to sit in an old fire truck, I love the American firetrucks, which still today are very shiny red color, whereas in Sweden the firetrucks are a bright yellow color.



After the events we all went down to Boothbay Harbor for some lunch, unfortunately was the ice cream place Laura and I love so crowded that the line went out on the street, it would have been a 25 minute wait (worth it in my opinion, hehehe), but Bjorn was getting tired so we went back to the car after lunch and headed home. Overall it was a really fun outing, and we got lots of video to show for it : - )

Bathtime

Now that Bjorn can sit up better, Laura and I have started taking baths with him, of course the water is very shallow and not as warm as we would normally want it to be, but it is still a lot of fun and enjoyable. It sort of feels like sitting in the puddle of water than runs in to the ocean at the beach, we all know which puddle I am talking about, the one we always want to be in when we were little because the water was nice and warm there, and even as adults, we secretly admire the kids who play in it and can't wait to sit down and play it in again.



When we bathe with Bjorn we bring some of his bath toys and he just loves playing with his duckie, blue boat (I call it the Big Diesel tugboat) and his green plastic cup, which he always try to fill with water, then picks it up with both hands and tries to pour the water in to his mouth, which he has yet to do (which Mamma and Pappa thinks is a good thing, that he has failed to do this...), but it is still fun to watch him try, he will tilt his whole head back and eventually arch his back so he can get better leverage to his mouth, hehehe, but when he tries to pour, it eventually runs out and goes over his body. Just like his Pappa, he loves to play in the tub (remember Farmor and Farfar...), but he does not like getting his hair washed at all, I remember when I was little I would tell my mom (Farmor) that I was all done and when my mom came in she could tell I had not washed my hair...something I hated doing, because I would always proclaim that the shampoo would get in my eyes, even though it rarely, if ever, did, hehehehe.

Eating and sleeping (sort of...)

Bjorn has now been eating some solid foods for over 2 weeks, and started with vegetables this weekend, butternut squash, not a vegetable I had ever had in Sweden, but I like it a lot now :- ) , but Bjorn is not a big fan of it...yet. They say it may take about 15 tries before they decide if they like or dislike a certain food. I know one thing for sure, no matter how many times I try Brussel sprouts, I will never like them, but who knows, maybe he will : - ) . In a couple of days Laura is going to try carrots, I am sure he will like carrots as they are usually sweeter in taste than any of the other root vegetables. He does love his rice cereal (ung. Svensk mannagrynsgrot), and he has tasted some other foods, such as water melon, which he liked. We will probably not start with fruits for another week or so, and we have to try 1 fruit/time to make sure he does not have an allergic reaction to any.

I wonder what he will think of some traditional Swedish foods, such as Kalles Kaviar, O'Boy (a staple in any child's breakfast in Sweden, hehehe), Sill (probably not, hehehe) and kanel bullar, and most importantly, choklad bollar :- ) .


Whatever he will like, I know both Laura and I are happy that he does enjoy whatever we have been feeding him so far, and I hope he maintains a curiosity for different foods and will want to try a little of everything (including his wash cloth when bathing)

Bjorn ar ett halvt ar!

Bjorn is now half a year, ett halv ar (6 mos). You are now eating rice cereal in the morning and in the evening and so far you have really enjoyed it a lot :-) . It is interesting watching you eat and how you get so excited and want to try to feed yourself by grabbing the spoon and the plate, although Mamma and I are not letting you grab the plate yet, because we know you would make a big mess, hehehehe.

You are still only rolling from your tummy to your back, but you are pushing more and more with your arms and try to move with your legs, but they are not cooperating with your upper body yet, which makes you frustrated. This weekend you met your very first "big" dog, and I am not so sure you liked that, I think you still prefer your kitties at home, or "kissen" as your Pappa calls them : - ) .

Speaking of "kissen", they have both figured out to stay away from you now that you want to grab their fur or better yet, their tails, and Mamma and I both love how your face lights up and you kick with your legs when the kitties come around : - ) . I wonder if they will ever get used to you and let you near them as you get older and start walking : - ) .


Here's a picture from your "Birthday", on your birthday we went to the Mall and took some new pictures of you at Picture People, Mamma had this really cool idea of bringing the Swedish flag, and the photographer took some really great pictures, Pappas favorite of course is the one idea he came up with, where you are laying naked on the flag, hehehe, the picture which is now in Mamma and Pappas bedroom, you look so beautiful on the flag, I can't wait to show everyone the picture of you, and I am sure you will not be so happy about it when you get older, hehehe, we promise not to embarrass you in front of your friends by showing it to them : - ) . We also went to visit your friend Kiara, who had her very first haircut, she was so cute! She wanted to play with you and your toys and she even let you play with her toys, which you enjoyed a lot : - ) .

Happy 6 month Birthday my beautiful boy, Pappa alskar dig!!

Bjorn's first trip to New Sweden

This weekend, Laura, Bjorn and I drove up to see Matt & Jess in New Sweden, who live close to Stockholm, Maine :-). We started our trip Friday afternoon after Laura and I came home from work, Bjorn slept for about an hour or so and was from there on awake on and off until we arrived at 22:00. Overall he did great as it is a very long drive, especially for him sitting strapped in to his car seat. Laura sat in the backseat with him during most of the trip playing with him and reading to him, which did soothe him. Bjorn absolutely loved Jess, and he got a huge kick out of Matt, both of whom are going to make great parents very soon :- ) .


We did not have a great deal of luck with the weather, but we managed to spend a little time outside, and we had a very nice and relaxing weekend. It is so beautiful up there and people are so nice and friendly, and of course everyone we met adored Bjorn.

Father's Day

Yesterday was my very first Father's Day. Bjorn and Laura woke me up a little before 8 as they had both made Pappa some breakfast, his favorite, pancakes, but these were very special pancakes, Toffee-Orange pancakes with orange sauce, yum!

(Nice bedhead, huh?)

After breakfast, Bjorn took a little nap and after his nap I got to open my gifts : - ) . Bjorn and Laura had bought me a new chair (chair in a bag), which I get to use a lot this summer, it is very nice and comfy, unlike my old chair, hehehe. I also received a bit for my drill (a magnetic screw holder), as well as a book with pictures of me and Bjorn from the day he was born until recently. The book is wallet size so I can take it with me everywhere and show everyone our beautiful son : - ) .

As you can see, Bjorn loved helping his Pappa open gifts, he also sucked on the Father's day card he bought for Pappa : - ) . Later in the day we went over to Mormor and Morfar's house to celebrate Morfar on his special day, and Bjorn went in the pool for his very first time. He was not so sure what to think of swimming, but the second time he went in, he went in naked, he was pushing with his legs and splashing with them as he was trying to swim :- )

(swimming with Pappa)

5 Månader

I dag ar Björn 5 månader! Han har växt så otroligt mycket dom senaste 2 månaderna, man kan knappt tro det är sant :- ) . Han älskar att sitta vid bordet med mig och Laura och försöka ta allt han kan nå och stoppa i munnen, speciellt om vi äter middag, vi har försökt att ge honom en liten smak på bla vattenmelon, glass och vatten. Han tycker det är roligt att dricka vatten i hans egen kopp, en sån där plastmugg med handtag på vardera sida. Nästa månad när han blir 6 M ska vi börja mata honom "flingor", dvs, havregrynsflingor för bebisar, de flesta föräldrar säger att när man matar dom flingor på kvällen så sover dom hela natten, vilket vore fint :- )


Björn is now 5 months old! He has grown so much the last couple of months, it is hard to believe it has been 5 months already. He loves to sit with Laura and I at the dinner table trying to get his hands on anything on the table to put in his mouth, especially food. We have given him a little taste of watermelon, ice cream and water. He drinks water out of his own cup, a little mug with handles on each side, you should see his face when he takes a sip, so funny! Next month he will begin with cereal, probably in the evenings. Most parents we talked to say the babies sleep a lot better if they eat cereal in the evening, which would be nice : - ) .

Blommor fran Bjorn

I gar plockade Bjorn blommor at Pappa nar vi var ute och jobbade i tradgarden : - ) . Pappa klippte lite gras och gjorde rent med hans nya "weed wacker", en 32cc maskin som han kopte pa Sears for en vecka sen. Bjorn alskar att vara ute och leka, fast han kan inte krypa i graset an, men han gillar att rulla pa sin filt ute i graset : - ) . I gar brande han sig lite pa armarna sa han sov inte sa bra pa natten, vi hade smorjt in honom med solskydd, men det rackte inte for solen var sa stark i gar och det var narmare 32 grader hela dagen. Vi maste kopa ett litet soltalt at honom sa han kan vara ute och leka utan att branna sig.

A visit to Swedish Mecca

This Saturday, we all went on our pilgrimage to IKEA in Stoughton, MA, aka Swedish Mecca. This was Bjorn's first visit to IKEA, but not the last by any means, hehehehe. We had a good time eating Swedish meatballs in the cafe and some lingondricka and Bjorn loved the toys they had set up in the childrens department, he loved the rocking moose, hehehe. Laura and I are already planning another trip down this Fall to get him the Rocking moose for Christmas and a few other things. Laura and I bought a couple of bookcases (Billy) and some small things for the kitchen, a mat for Bjorn's room (looks like a city with roads) and some goodies from the food section.

Big weekend for Bjorn

This was a big and exciting weekend for Bjorn, he went to his first carnival with Mamma and Pappa, there was a small carnival set up near our house and we all went there on Sunday, where Bjorn got to ride his very first carnival ride, the horses (not sure what it is called in English, hehehe), he was not sure what to think of it, but he smiled for pictures. Later Mamma won him a stuffed dog at one of the booths, she beat Pappa with a second :- ) . Bjorn also learned how to use a computer, he managed to delete a few files, close some windows, but he was very excited about the idea of typing and did not like it when we pulled him away from the computer. Who knows, maybe he will hack in to the Bank when he is 7 and make Mamma and Pappa millionaires, hehehehehe.

Toys for Bjorn (or Pappa, hehehehe)

I was on EBay tonight looking for toys for Laura's office as most of her clients are school aged children, and of course, I happened upon my all-time favorite toy as a kid (and adult, hehehe), the STIGA Table Hockey game (see the picture here in the posting). These are still being manufactured and sold around the world, not cheap though, about $80-100 and now you have the option of buying different NHL teams, as well as National teams, like the board I want to buy for Bjorn one day, has Sweden vs. Finland! This is the dangerous part of being a parent, it is going to be very difficult to not go crazy around Christmas and Birthdays as he gets older....and of course there will be a chance for me to be a kid again ; - ) , hehehe.

4 Months!

Today Björn is 4 months old, and he is growing so fast! He is now 18lbs (8.1 kg) and 26.5" tall (68cm), and he has started rolling from his back to his tummy on his own, he still tries to crawl, but he can't yet get the legs and arms to cooperate at once :- ) . He is smiling and laughing a lot, lately he finds it funny when Laura sneezes, before it would sort of surprise him. He is playing more with this toys and sticks everything in his hands into his mouth, so we have to watch what we let him play with now. Last night he wanted to stick Morfar's finger in his mouth, hehehehe.

Sunday was his first Mother's day, last year on Mother's day we told everyone in our family about Björn coming (well, we did not know it was going to be a Björn yet at that time), so of course this Mother's day the question was asked again if we had any news to share, which we didn't : - ) . Laura really enjoyed her first Mother's day, Björn had bought her a really nice card, as did Pappa, and Björn and I gave Mamma a digital picture frame and made her breakfast in bed, and for dessert we had a banana cream cheesecake from the Cheesecake factory (www.cheesecakefactory.com) , it was a very nice day overall : - )

New Toys for Björn

Well, not only has Björn outgrown a lot of his clothes, but also some of his toys, he is a lot more active and trying to pick things up, holding them and putting them in his mouth :- ) , and some of the toys he had before are for kids who are not as active and more interested in the motion and sounds. Laura has added a lot of fun toys on his Amazon wish list (http://www.amazon.com/ - wish lists, lolamoe@yahoo.com) . One thing we need to get for Björn now is a pack & play, a crib if you like that you can fold and take with you outside or when going places, so he has a little play area where he can safely be with his toys : - ) . I think we're going to look in the papers for upcoming yard sales during the summer weekends and see what we can find at yard sales as well, a lot of people sell barely used toys at yard sales for a fraction of the new cost, a good way to build a toy collection and save some $.

Bjorn's Day with Pappa

Thursday I took a vacation day as Laura had clients scheduled and her mom had an appointment, and since I did not want Laura to cancel her appointments, I decided to take a vacation day to spend with Bjorn. We played for a couple of hours in the morning and then he took a very short nap, maybe 30 minutes or less, enough time so I could start some laundry and fold some clothes. After his short nap we played a little more and watched some TV, his new favorite activity, hehehe. After a little playtime, I fed him with his bottle, he was very good and ate all of it. After his lunch, we went out for a walk in the area, Bjorn fell asleep the minute we left our house, and he was asleep the whole time we walked (1 hour), and when we came home he was ready for some more play time : - ) . It was a fun day and I am glad I had a chance to spend the whole day with him : - ) .

So many new changes

So much has changed in little time : - ) , Bjorn is now able to hold his own head up and he loves to sit in his jumping toy where he can "stand" up and play with the different toys attached to it. He is also much more active when playing on the floor as well, moving around like he's trying to crawl (which I am sure won't be much long now). He is so much more attentive and has started looking at himself in mirrors intently, before he would just glance at them, now he is staring in to the mirror. He has also started sleeping in his own bed in his room, we started this Friday night and he has only slept with us in the co-sleeper once since then. It is amazing how quickly he's changing right before our eyes, I can truly understand now why parents have more than one baby, you miss that stage when they are so small and just want to be held all the time :- )

First time at the beach!

Yesterday was Bjorn's first time at the beach, we all went to Reid State Park, the same beach Laura used to go to every weekend in the summer with her family. The weather was amazing, it was in the low 20's (celsius) and sunny and the waves were amazing. We had a little picnic on the beach and then walked up and down the beach with Bjorn in his stroller. I can't wait for him to be able to walk on his own at the beach and start building sand castles : - ) , now I have a legitimate reason to play in the sand again, hehehehehe.