Christmas is here...soon

Wow, it has been over 3 months since I last blogged here, I cannot believe time has flown by. It has been a very busy fall for us, with school (2 classes), swimming lessons, all kinds of activities like Halloween, Thanksgiving, and now Christmas. Bjorn and Freja are growing up so fast, it is hard to believe. I have always been speaking Swedish to Bjorn since he was born, and I do the same with Freja, but sometimes it is hard not to speak English only to both of them, but I try to do Swedish only. The other day I mentioned to Laura that maybe I should only speak English, and of course, she was angry with me, but I felt a little frustrated and I felt like maybe I was confusing Bjorn. I did not stop, and the other night Bjorn really surprised me, it was probably the best surprise ever.



I usually sing Ba, Ba, Vita Lamm and a few other Swedish bedtime songs, and last night he asked me to sing "Ba, Ba", and before I had chance to start, he started, in SWEDISH, and he knew almost the whole song!! I was so schocked, surprised and happy at the same time, it was just amazing. Tonight when I put him to bed I asked him what song I should sing, "tail", which is Ekorren satt i granen...or "Ba,Ba", and his reply was, Bjornen sover...he just continues to amaze me with his vocabulary, in both English and Swedish, and how he remembers all the words I say. I notice now that when I sign, he watches me closely and listens, so I have to slow down and articulate more so he can hear and understand each and every word in Swedish.

Next week is Christmas, and we talk about Tomten and Santa Claus, Bjorn is so excited this year about Christmas, he keeps saying, "next week, Santa Claus", and then he says, Tomten, hehehehe. I will of course pass on the Swedish tradition of watching "Kalle Anka" at 15 on Christmas Eve, as I have a copy on DVD, we'll see if he is more interested in it this year or not.

Hopefully it will not be 3+ months until next blog entry, but in the meantime, God Jul och Gott Nytt ar till er alla (Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you).

A wonderful weekend

With all the rain we have had lately, we finally had some sunshine, although it was a little wet on Saturday as we headed over to some of our friends for a Swedish-American get together, but that did not stop Bjorn and I from going outside to chase the chickens, play in the big playhouse and of course ride a little jeep we found on the yard : - )

The best about these get togethers with the other Swedish moms and dads is that we all have a chance to share about our experiences as Swedish parents, but also use our language around our children, share our traditions with them. I think it really helps Bjorn learn more Swedish by hearing it from someone other than me.

Bjorn chasing the chickens : - )

Time to maker dinner...

Funny, no matter where we are, he always finds the vehicles...hehehehe

ON the lookout for more chickens and a really big dog!

On Sunday the weather was fantastic, we had sunshine and very warm weather (30+ Celsius), we went to the Great Falls Balloon festival, an Air balloon festival over in Lewiston, we did not see any air balloons at the festival, but Laura and Bjorn had seen them fly over our house on Friday morning and also this morning when they went out for a ride to get some things. As much as I am scared of heights, it looks like it would be so much fun to do.

Bjorn on his very first amusement park ride - all by himself!!

2nd ride today - had to ride with Pappa since there were no seat belts on this ride.

He loves riding Thomas the Train, and of course, his firemen boots : - )

Freja Eileen Margareta Sandberg

Freja was born on July 10th at 10:45 AM, some complications, but mother and child are doing well today, it was very scary when she was born as I was asked to leave the delivery room and I was never told of what was going on, but about 30 minutes later the delivery nurse came to the room and took me to NICU, where Freja was on monitors for breathing, etc, she had lost conciousness while being delivered and did not breath on her own right away. All I could think of the whole time I was waiting was that something was going to happen to Laura and/or Freja, it was the scariest moment in my life. I am so happy to say they are both doing great and are at home with our son, Björn.

I was home with the whole family for the last 10 days, had to go back to work today, which was not fun at all, have no vacation time left for this year, so I look forward to weekends and evenings when I can spend time with everyone. I will post some updated pictures tonight, I know Laura has taken some great photos of our little Princess. Who knew being a Pappa could be such a joy in life, it is definitely a life changing experience, all for the better :- )

10:e Juli

Då kommer vår lilla flicka till världen, vi har bokat tid klockan 07:30 EST den dagen, första operationstiden dom hade, Laura ville inte göra kejsarsnitt igen, men Doktorn rekommenderade det pga hur stor bebisen har blivit och hur hon ligger i magen just nu, dom sa att riskerna var för stora för att försöka med normal förlossning. Vi har fullt upp fram till den 10:e, mycket ska hinnas med, Björns nya rum måste bli klart, ny säng, lampor, osv.

Vi är båda nervösa samt ser fram mot den nya bebisen, jag bloggar mer om det och lägger upp bilder så fort hon är här.

Peter LeMarcs visa - något som jag brukar sjunga till Björn ibland på kvällen när vi gungar i hans stol inne på hans rum:

Dina fasor, dina våndor finns också i min själ.
Du är mitt kött och blod.
Det bär ett dyrbart namn, det är min kärlek utan villkor.
Jag gör vad jag kan. Så stor och stark på dagen, men så liten mitt i natten, när ingen ser, när ingen vet, kommer gråten mitt i skrattet.

Fem fingrar ska skydda dig.
Ett är månen, ett är solen, ett är polstjärnan bakom molnen. Ett är hopp och ett är tro.
Handens fem fingrar vaggar dig till ro.

Stort är mörkret nu.
Månen är itu, men det är natten som gör dagen ljus och mitt ljus är du.
Och denna jord är rund, finns här ingen annan som kan ge mig sån förtvivlan?
Och som är lika sann. Du blir rädd för dina skuggor, alla hot som aldrig når dig. jag ska sjunga dig ett löfte, och jag vet att du förstår mig.

Fem fingrar ska skydda dig. Ett är månen, ett är solen, ett är polstjärnan bakom molnen. Ett är hopp och ett är tro.
Handens fem fingrar vaggar dig till ro.

Om du tänker dig den skogsväg, vi vandrar ibland, gick vi stigen ner till vattnet.
Din hand är i min hand. Se så långt där ner i djupet, på botten av den sjön, där finns en silverskatt som glimmar, den är din inatt.
Så slumra in och dröm.

Fem fingrar ska skydda dig. Ett är månen, ett är solen, ett är polstjärnan bakom molnen. Ett är hopp och ett är tro. Handens fem fingrar vaggar dig till ro. Handens fem fingrar vaggar dig till ro

Father's Day weekend

Last weekend was a very special weekend for me, I took Friday off as did Laura, so the three of us went down to Portland to the beach, Crescent Beach in Cape Elizabeth. We had the most amazing day and Bjorn loved playing on the beach in the little streams of water, and of course playing in the sand. After the beach we went for lunch and then home for a little rest. On Saturday, Laura had planned a surprise for me, she had reserved time at Picture People, for me and Bjorn to get a picture together. We got a really nice picture of us together, which is now hanging in our living room. Sunday morning, Father's day, Laura made us all a very special breakfast, walnut-maple pancake bake, which was delicious!! After breakfast Bjorn and Laura gave me their gifts, Bjorn had made this very special shirt with his foot and hand prints, the shirt is blue with the prints in yellow, very creative! Laura gave me the Indiana Jones DVD set, something I had wanted for very long time, now we just need to find the time to watch the trilogy and see the 4th one in the movies.

It was the best Father's day weekend anyone could ever have asked for, it just reminds me of how lucky I am to be a Pappa to Bjorn and how lucky I am to have Laura as my wife and Bjorn's Mamma.

Min favorit bild

Min favorit bild av Björn, togs av Laura under våren när dom var hemma och lekte.

Björn med en del av sin lekmatta (Alfabetet)

Trucks, and more trucks

Bjorn in his Cool Dude Glasses

Bjorn's favorite toy(s) are all of his trucks, and especially his truck books, where he opens the pages and cites each type of truck very quickly, loaders, diggers, bulldozers, dumpers, buses, etc. Anytime we are out walking, or a big truck drives by, Bjorn yells out "Truck!" and points at it. He also loves airplanes and helicopters, as we live near an airfield, we see a lot of airplanes when we are outside playing.

He has definitely expanded his vocabulary the last couple of months, several new words, and several new Swedish words, like "Middag", "Gunga", "Aka", "Tack", "Mjolk" mm. He loves to kiss Laura's stomach and says "baby", I wonder what he will think of his little sister, who is about to arrive in 6 weeks. Right now we are preparing our guest room to become Bjorn's room, I need to touch up on the paint job in there, move the bed downstairs as well as the dresser. We are finishing an old dresser that used to be Laura's Mormor's dresser, I stripped it last weekend, and started painting it blue, then Laura is painting the drawers different fun colors, like red, yellow, green and orange. Once it is finished I will post some pictures : - ) .

Bollibompa och Postis Per

En sak som jag saknar, och jag tror även Björn saknar, från Sverige, är dom fina barnprogrammen på TV på morgonen, som Postis Per, vi satt och kollade på bla Postis, och en del andra fina program varje morgon. Mycket av barn programmen i USA, förrutom Sesame Street, är Dora the Explorer och liknande "tecknade" program, men dom vi såg i Sverige var mer om riktiga barn som gjorde saker, och Postis Per (claymation?), program som kanske är lite mer normala i tempo och inte bara action hela tiden.

Jag undrar om man kan ladda hem lite av dom och bränna på DVD?

Ohh Du

We are back from our trip to Sweden, we had a lot of fun and did a lot of fun things. We went swimming, visited with family and friends and even made a trip to Paradis badet :- ) . It was fun to watch Bjorn interact with his Farmor and Farfar Ricky and his Farfar and Farmor Moniqa. We also had a nice dinner with Nina and Niclas / Per and Paula and their children. Bjorn also got to meet many of Pappa's other friends at his christening, Jens & Sara, Robert & Isabel, and all of Pappa's other family (uncles, aunts, cousins and tremanningar).








Bjorn picked up so many new words in Swedish during the time we were there, one of which was "Oh du", which basically means, Hey You, he also said "Tack", "Hej" and a few other words. Being his father's son, he loved the Swedish sweets as much as his Pappa does, as well as Messmor, Pastej and Swedish pizza, hehehehe.

Bjorn is talking up a storm

It is so funny to come home now, every day this week it seems that Bjorn has learned a new word, now everything he hears during the day, he mimics, and he loves it when Mamma says "Oh shoot", he giggles and says "Oh shooo", he also says "Usch" when something is not so nice. His latest thing is to get in bed with us in the morning after we get him up, and then he wants to move all the pillows and stand up to touch the World map we have on our wall, and of course if the cats are on the bed, chase them around until they jump off.



Tomorrow we have a play/lunch date with some of our Swedish friends in the area, which should be fun, I am hopeful that more Bjorn hears other people than Pappa speak Swedish, the more he will be able to pick up. I know he can understand what I say based on how he responds to my questions and comments, and I know it will take a very long time before he will communicate in both languages : - )

On the road again

This is the 2nd trip I make in the last few weeks, I don't like being away from Laura and Bjorn, the last trip was my very first time away from both since Bjorn was born over 14 months ago, it felt very strange. I am leaving in the morning, flight from Rochester to Philadelphia, then Philly to Portland, can't wait to get home! Bjorn has grown so much and is more and more interested in everything, he did pretty well with me leaving, I am not sure he understands why I am not home, but I know he loves it when I come home, I am usually greeted with a big smile every day after work, and this time I am bringing a small present, which i know he will love : - )

Laura's appt went well Monday, I had a chance to go with her before my flight, which was nice! So far everything is looking well, except her aches and pain in her lower back (ichias), her Doctor is going to try some PT for the pain, I hope that works better. 3 weeks until our trip to Sweden, I am still worried about flying across the big blue ocean with Bjorn, but I am sure it will be fine, it will be nice to get home again, almost 2.5 years since the last time, feels like a lot longer since so much has happened since then : - )

More than half way there

Back in swim class - did not like it at first...

Laura is more than half-way to the delivery day of our little girl, we have a few names picked out, and we both have a favorite name so far : - ) . Bjorn is not quite sure yet of what is going on, I hope he will be ok becoming a big brother, I know he will not like sharing his Mamma, but I think he will grow in to the role of being the big strong brother. This week was hectic, I was in Rochester, NY Sunday - Wed, came home after midnight on Tuesday, exhausted, but I did get to spend the whole day Wednesday with Bjorn, which was nice. I missed him and Laura so much while I was away, this was the very first time I have been away since he was born.



We did have a nice play date on Sunday afternoon with Bjorn's friend Mina, and we also met a new Swedish-American baby, Niklas (great name), he is 6 months old and his Mamma is from Sweden, just like Mina's Mamma. It is so cool that we meet all these Swedish people around here that have kids, it does help for Bjorn to hear Swedish other than from me. He does understand most everything I say to him in Swedish, but so far he has only said "Katt" and "Pappa" in Swedish, the rest is still English, which makes sense since he hears English all day from his gramma.

Bjorn wearing Mamma's glasses - he loves to take our glasses and run away

5 more weeks and we're going over to Sweden, I am so excited about it, it has been almost 2.5 years since the last time we were there, feels like an eternity, I can't wait to show Bjorn everything back home, and of course, take him swimming at Paradis badet, it will be nice for him to see the rest of his Swedish family, I wonder what he will think of all the food and noises, and everything around him.

Another busy week

Another week has gone by, really quickly again, Bjorn is moving around a lot, running at times, he is very shy at first when we go somewhere, like a restaurant, but after a short time, he warms up to everyone and wants to walk around and talk to everybody there, and of course, who does not want to talk to a smiling baby walking around? This week we had dinner with Per & Becky and Per's Pappa, Arne, it was very nice, Arne treated us all at Gritty's in Freeport.

This weekend the weather was a little nicer, so we were outside and played, Bjorn loves playing in the snow and he always wants to help, whether it is shoveling snow or hacking ice, or inside with cooking dinner, doing laundry, etc. Today we were down in the basement cleaning, which he loves, he loves being down there exploring everything, so while Laura and I cleaned, he was playing with a basketball. I can't wait to do something with the basement, putting up more walls, paint and rugs so we can have a nice, big play room down there, it will give us all more room to play in, we'll see when, first priority is a fence in the front yard so we can play outside and not worry about the cars.

Tomorrow is Laura's appointment when we find out what we're having, we both thought it might be a girl, but now we are not sure...but by tomorrow around 10, we will know : - )

Bjorn's surgery

This Monday was the day for Bjorn's surgery, we went to Maine Medical at 7:10 in the morning, to arrive and check in around 8, we were called in to the exam room almost immediately, thereafter Bjorn was examined by the nurse, weighed and measured (11.1 kg and 77cm), and then the anesthesiologist came and talked with us about the procedure, and finally his Dr, Dr. Jumper. Laura and I were both emotional wrecks, while Bjorn was his self, he was playing, walking up and down the halls and seemed to do very well. The most difficult part was when the nurse walked him off to surgery on a little truck, we walked with him, but did not want to see him go under anesthesia (the Doctors did not recommend it, as it is very emotional to see your own child going to sleep on the operating table), we both cried.

Then the longest wait of our lives began, from 9:35 to 11:37, when Dr. Jumper came out, he had excellent news, the surgery went very well, he found his right testicle in a hernia (a pocket inside his body), and he was able to move it down successfully. We were then walked in to recovery where Bjorn was still asleep, once he woke up he was not very happy, groggy, and confused, just as they explained he would. We were in recovery for about 2 hours, and Bjorn went in and out of sleep, drank some apple juice, but was not himself. We came home around 15:30 and he started playing a little more. By late evening he was almost 100% again, and yesterday he was full speed ahead : - ) . We are both so relieved that this is over with, I do not want to go through something like this again, it made me think of our friends who went through a much more serious surgery with their daughter, I cannot even imagine how they must have felt...

Walking & Talking

Bjorn out in the snow, loves the taste of it, hehehehe

It has been 2 weeks now since Bjorn's first birthday party, we had so much fun and he had a lot of fun playing with his friends who were here. He has started walking more and more now since he started taking a couple of steps before Christmas, now he gets up and goes, still a little wobbly, but overall better for each day. It is so much fun watching his expressions and how mobile he is, and he is saying several words now, most of them are in English, but I can hear him say "lampa" and "kopp", and I believe he understands what I say to him in Swedish, the other day when we were in the car I asked him "vart ar mossan" and he pointed down on the floor and said "daah", which could be "dar" or there, not sure yet, but he knows what frukost is, middag, bada, etc. I guess with time we will know if he can speak Swedish or not.

Trying on a shower cap

This morning we watched Saltkrakan for a little while, he loved hearing the children sing, Tjorven, Pelle, m fl. Now when we go to Sweden in April, we have to make sure to buy some more classics, such as Pippi, Emil, Madicken, and some of the other great Swedish movies.



For those of you who may now know, we are taking Bjorn over to Sweden for the very first time this April, we are staying for 10 days and I know it will be hectic visiting everyone, but while we are there, we have planned a dop for him (baptizing), so that will make for a good opportunity to meet with everyone.

The Bjornado

Laura coined a new term for our little bear the other night, the Bjornado, which he truly is now, every night when I come home from work, the living room looks like a tornado, or in this case, a Bjornado, went through. There are toys everywhere, books on the floor, toys in the kitchen, sometimes a shoe, socks, and much more, but most importantly, a smiling baby greeting me when I walk through that door. He has been calling me "Baba" and the other night, Laura heard him call me Pappa for the first time :- ) .

The Bjornado leaving his crime scene

This coming weekend is his birthday weekend, his actual 1st birthday is not until Tuesday the 15th, but we are going to celebrate with everyone this coming Sunday, which will be fun. We finally got the rocking moose for his birthday, they did not have it at IKEA before Christmas, but when I went down there after dropping off my dad and Moniqa, they had it in stock, so I bought one for his birthday (pictures will be posted after this weekend). Of course, with both of us having some time off over the Holidays, we had a lot of quality time to spend with Bjorn, and opportunities for pictures were plenty, below are some samples of our latest favorites:




Laura had her first sonogram this week, we went to the Doctor's on Monday, Laura is seeing the same Doctor as with Bjorn, we both really liked her and felt comfortable with her, even if it means driving down to Portland, we both felt it would be worth it. We saw the pictures of the baby, which was very active and moving a lot, its heartbeat was a lot faster than Bjorn, and everything looked really good so far. We will not know for another 7 weeks whether it is a boy or girl, either way it is very exciting for us and for Bjorn to have a sibling coming.

Pappa and Bjorn cooking pizza dough on New Year's eve