Michael and Ella

Michael, 2.5 yrs:
- still sleeps like this sometimes. I wonder how old he will be and still doing this? It reminds me he is still my baby.

- sang "I am a child of God" at church during testimony meeting today. Just went straight up to the microphone and belted it out for the whole congregation without an iota of reservation.
- learns songs in the blink of an eye. Knows more than I can count. He plays backseat DJ any time we are driving and is constantly asking "hey, mom, can you get ----- going?" or "can you crank it up?" or "I want the ----- song again!" or "this song is boring, let's find another one". I guess that actually makes me his DJ then, doesn't it? His current fixation is the Jay-Z version of "It's a Hard Knock Life" (radio edit, or course!) and we have listened to it about 500 times this week.
- is totally a daddy's boy. Goes out to the balcony everyday to wave bye to Rob as he rides away on his bike, and calls out emotion laden "bye, daddy, I love you!"'s for long, long after Rob is already out of sight. 

Colored vinegar fizzling in pan of baking soda. Fun tip from my sister.

- still loves letters and numbers and is surprisingly observant. Last week at breakfast he exclaimed "Hey! It says Ella on the milk!". And, sure enough, it was right there in the milk label, "Mellanmjölk".
- rode about 2 miles on his Strider bike yesterday, up and down some big hills on trails. Fast enough I often found myself jogging to keep up. It was like going on a mtn biking outing together. He is pure joy on the downhills, just lifting those feet up and speeding down. It's the best feeling to share a sport I love so much with him! Never thought this would happen already. I LOVE those balance bikes!

Ella, 9 mths:
- is finally, finally kinda sorta taking to solids. Yay! When she was 8 months old, she was still eating next to nothing (maybe a tablespoon a day), and I was starting to feel a little nervous about how it would go. She still doesn't chow down, and I laugh when I see the amounts of food suggested for babies her age, but at least it is something.

She likes guacamole. She even ate some, too.

- is still totally a mama's girl. I revel in it almost always, until I'm ready to do something else. 
- is still angelic 95% of the time.
- is in the crawling-all-over, putting-everything-in-her-mouth stage. The stairs are simply mind-blowing entertainment right now. I hate going outdoors during this period because all she wants to do is put grass and rocks and sand in her mouth and so I can't set her down for a single second unless my hands are on their marks to swipe away her fistful of goodies.

 I feel a little bad because when Michael was 9 months I think I wrote novels about all the intricacies of his development. But poor second-child Ella, I'm just like, yep, she's a baby.

Read more...

London Town

I saw an episode of Modern Family a few weeks ago where they are going to Hawaii and the mom says "I'm a mother traveling with three kids - this is NOT a vacation, it's a business trip". Oh, I loved that quote. I usually relate all to well and so I set my sights pretty low for our vacation to London, but the stars aligned and we had a great time. Michael was over-the-moon excited. The first morning we woke up there, he ran into my room yelling-singing with his squeaky little voice "See-saw sacradown, which is the way to London town? One foot up and the other foot down, that is the way to London town!". And then he requested me to sing it about 100 times throughout the trip. So he called it London-town the whole time, which was too cute.

To sum it up:
- Michael was obsessed with the double decker buses.
- Rob was obsessed with going to soccer games.
- I was obsessed with the Science Museum. It is magnificent and I think that your inner nerd would have to be buried really, really deep to not find it interesting. Since my inner nerd romps around my outer surface, I find it enthralling. (I've been on two trips to London now, and I have gone to the Science Museum on 5 different days. Wow. It's amazing I have friends.)
- Ella was obsessed with crawling around on carpeted floor. Soft, velvety, luscious carpet!


Rob has a friend who lives in London that happened to be going on a trip at the same time we wanted to visit, so they graciously let us use their house for nearly a week. So, on top of getting to visit London, Michael had a house full of new toys to explore, Ella had her glorious carpet for crawling, and I discovered the type of sheets I need to buy us for our own bed. Oh, and I got to poke my nose through a bunch of new books. I read some random stat once about how over 50% of the population, when using the bathroom at someone else's home, will snoop in their medicine cabinet. That has never occurred to me. But, if left unattended at a house, guaranteed I will poke my nose through every book on the bookshelf, and it will be a highlight of my visit.

We also used the friend's nanny for an evening and went to see Wicked, went on the London Eye (the huge ferris wheel), roamed Hyde Park, and ate lots of good chocolate croissants and shawarma (love, love, love Lebanese food).

Read more...

Påskfjäder

Påskfjäder = Easter feathers = a Swedish Easter tradition I will be taking home with me. I'm really drawn to the natural materials, and while nothing beats fresh flowers, there's something big to be said for stuff that doesn't wilt. You see them everywhere here, and on Lidingö they put them in the street island pots, looking bright and cheerful.
The feathers are sold in stores with little wires, or you can buy a bouquet of påskfjäder at flower shops as well. Smalls had fun helping gather the branches and wrapping the wire around the feathers, which is probably the main reason I finally made it for the first time this year.

Read more...

Did it!

Yay! I officially completed my blog-a-day for a month goal. Accomplishing a goal feels so good, even if it's a silly one. I'm glad now that I finished it. Even if there was a certain level of pointlessness to it, there was also growth in trying something I wouldn't have done otherwise. I have a funny relationship with blogging because self-disclosure feels embarrassing to me, but I am fascinated by it. Plus I'm really, really big on introspection, and writing really helps with that. For every blog post there are 500 other thoughts and often things I end up just writing in my personal journal. It's not so much for the record keeping (there is way to much of it to ever sift through!) as it is a mental exercise - keeping myself accountable to my own self. It's great for practicing positive thinking - because negative thinking is pretty obvious when it's in writing. So when I blog and journal, I find that I analyze myself and my thoughts even more - which is good for growth but also annoying. 
But, at the very least, it probably helped me buy a few less things off of Amazon this month.
And hopefully it's helped a little with staying in touch with my lovely family and friends.
Ciao for now!
I'm sure I'll be back soon anyway, just back to a slower pace.

Read more...

Bä, Bä, Vita Lamm

I often take Michael and Ella to öppna förskolan, the free Swedish "open preschool". It's an open center for parents to come with their baby or toddler. Basically, the babies/toddlers play with the toys and the parents can socialize, there is a music time, and a dining area for snacks. Since almost every Swedish kid starts dagis (the free child-care/preschool) when they are 18 months, it's mostly just crawling with babies (zing!) and Michael tends to be the oldest kid, lucking out sometimes with the appearance of another toddler or two. But, we go anyway because he loves the music and Ella is pretty stimulated by it all, too. Oh, and I get to talk to adults. Adults! Real, live adults! We mostly talk about kids.

Anyway, Michael has learned a lot of Swedish songs through öppna förskolan, and as I see our move to the States (yay!) and away from Sweden (sob!) coming closer and closer on the horizon, I am trying to put everything into a little time capsule. Here he is, singing Bä, Bä, Vita Lamm.

Bä, bä, vita lamm, har du någon ulle-ulle-ull?
Ja, ja, kära barn, jag har säcken fulle-ulle-ull!
Helgdagsrock åt far, och söndagskjol åt mor, och två par strumpor åt lille-, lillebror. Ja! Ja!

Read more...

Fourteen Michaels

Several months ago Smalls was in his room when I heard him say loudly "three Michaels!" then "four Michaels" and "eight Michaels" and then "lots and lots of Michaels!". I wondered what in the world he was talking about and then walked in to see that he had discovered this effect with the mirrored closet doors in his room. It has been a great source of amusement ever since.

Read more...

Thank you, meltdown.

Today I was 15 min. late on my parking receipt, and as I walked out to the car there was an officer standing right there ready to write me up. But, *hallelujah!*, Michael was having a major crying fit and Ella was still in the stroller and it was pretty easy to play up the situation to his sensibilities. So, for perhaps the first time ever, I was grateful for Michael's meltdown.
Not that we have to pay tickets here, per se, but we at least attempt to be good citizens anyway.
It would be a pretty sleezy thing to do, to get my kids to cry on purpose as a means to escape possible future tickets - but it's hard to not to just think of the possibilities. I had a friend get out of a speeding ticket once just by saying she really really had to use the bathroom. So many possibilities. 

Read more...

Cherub

Why is it that all the phrases that come to mind when I see such a cherubic little baby like Ella make it sound like I am someone who eats babies? But, yes, I just want to gobble her up. I love to munch on her little cheeks. I love to raspberry that delicious, chubby belly. I love to smack my lips all over her cute tiny little toes and feet.
By the way, I need to issue a formal apology to her for saying that she was driving me nuts last week on account of her emerging will and personality. Sorry, Ella. I was dead wrong and I know better than to have worried that way. The cold must've affected her more and longer than I gave credit, because she is sweet as sugar again, even with her emerging desires to move and explore. On a related note, I'm sure, the last few days she is sleeping almost 2 hours more per day than she has any day in the last couple months. Ahhh, life is good.

Read more...

That thing you do

Something I really enjoy about my life right now is the time I get to spend with the Young Women in my ward at church. I've been a youth leader since we moved to Stockholm and the time I spend with them is inspiring and entertaining.
Anyway, today our class topic was "Arise and Shine Forth". Since "being nice" was mentioned as a way to shine, we tried to solidify that idea a little and it got me thinking about specific people who have "that thing they do", like their trademark way to be nice.
And it got me thinking of
- my friend Michelle, who is always sending nice notes and postcards to people. I just got a postcard from her a couple days ago, in fact. She must send out hundreds every year, I think.
- my mom who is always baking things and cooking dinners for other people.
- Rob who is so good at staying in touch with his family and friends, so good about giving that call regardless of whether he gets the calls in return.
- a friend in high school who was the hugger. Always hugging everyone and they were seriously great hugs that made you feel so warm.
- my friend Anna who is just the friendliest person alive and just chats with anyone and everyone. She is the type who will make best friends with the person sitting next to her on a plane. One of her new friends is someone she met because they work at a store she shops at. Seriously.
- Rob's mom who is always crafting and creating and then giving it away, either to family or friends or charity.
- my Grandma McKee, who always remembered birthdays. She had 9 children and I can't even remember how many grandchildren because the number is over 70 and I've lost track of cousins long ago....but anyway, when she was alive, she remembered all of us, plus friends and others. So I figure she must've averaged several birthday cards and presents every single week. She wrote in her journal that her first thought every day was to find someone she could serve. Wow.

Anyway, the point of this list was just to get me thinking about different people and their trademark things, to try to find and develop more of one in myself. One of my "things" is massage - I think it's great and I like to share that healing touch with others - but that would be a pretty creepy thing to share in the broader sense outside of my nearest. So my current thoughts are on finding a "thing" that can be shared more broadly.

I'd love to hear about it if you have a good trademark thing you do!

Read more...

Breakfast

Many, many mornings I end up eating breakfast at the little red table with Michael. This morning it was Rob and the sight made me smile. Michael was alternating between bites and pushing Ella in the wagon, so she's only momentarily abandoned there.

Read more...

Hockey Tourny

Rob is lucky now and then when his work is to play. Today his job was a diplomatic hockey tournament between the embassies of USA, Sweden, Finland, Russia, and Canada. I find it kind of ironic to pick a game as rough as hockey to build diplomatic relations, but I guess everyone is probably just stocked to get to do something fun rather than the formal stuff.
Russia won.
Smalls, Ella and I had fun cheering them on.

He's not bored - it's just that took his flag waving duty pretty seriously and was really interested in the game.

Read more...

Mugshot

Anyone else having trouble lately with blogger messing up high-def pics?

Read more...

Happy Pi Day

Pi day made me think about the old college days when I would sit in the Talmage building at BYU and just sit and work on math all day long. I miss exercising my brain like that. One B.A. in math education, a year in a master's program, 8 years of teaching math, countless hours tutoring and doing math on my own "just for fun".....and now two babies later I wonder what I even remember and how long it will take to get it back once the occasion arises. What is it like for someone who has put their career on hold for many years while they raise kids and then suddenly try to get back into the game? Maybe I'd get back in the game okay now, but I wonder just how daunting it will feel in like 5 more years.

Also, I've been pondering the fact that even though I've taught math up to calculus, I still don't have a clue about how a little kid learns basic simple math. Right now Michael has a lot of interest in numbers and it makes me really happy to teach him. Today he wanted me to write out all the numbers to 100. But I am wondering if he is actually so interested in the numbers, or more that he is responding to my enthusiasm for it. My dad really loves math and I'm sure that influenced my own interest quite a bit. I always thought it was so much fun when he gave us kids little math riddles to figure out and I always enjoyed that way to connect with him. I really look forward to that sort of thing with my own kids.

Read more...

Nike Air Jordan IV

This was Rob's birthday present this year. It was all he wanted. 

When it comes to shoes, Rob and I definitely have role reversals from the stereotypical norm. 

He has way more shoes than I do, and knows/cares about what is in style much more than I do. He says he has wanted this pair of Nike Air Jordans since 1989. In 1989 I think I was still pretty stoked about Payless canvas shoes. The Nike Air Jordan IV shoes been out of production and just got re-released in February, and were sold out online within 10 minutes.

 Today he got a new pair of Toms in the mail. He ordered me some, too. He's always helping me out like that with my shoes and wardrobe.  

Read more...

Monday

One of my favorite things about where I live is the really really close access to many great running paths and trails. Another really great thing is that there is a nice track just down the street as well. I've almost always neglected it in favor of the trails, but recently I'm rediscovering my love for the track and hard intervals. Going hard in short bursts just feels so stinking good. I just love getting into that "hurts so good" zone with intervals. And since my goals are silly little ones, I love not really caring enough to go into the "hurts so bad" zone.

My run tonight had me getting dinner on a bit late. In the meanwhile, Smalls munched on some crayons. There were red and brown bits all over, so I think he spit them all out.

Same child told me today that he wants to ride a motorcycle.

Same child somehow ended up face down on the hardwood stairs today. Luckily not hurt too bad.

Ella. My dear little Ella. My sweet, peachy, good-natured, lovely little princess Ella is, well, still all those things. But also driving me batty. I don't think it is her cold - it's mostly better. I don't think it is teeth - I see no signs of them. It is much, much worse. It is an emerging will. Du-du-dum. She is getting a will. She is realizing she can move, that she can explore things, that she has desires other than milk. And today she had desires all day long. She's so interested in everything that she won't nap as much as she needs either. Any minute I was not directly involved in entertaining and walking her around and loving her to pieces, she was whining. Intervals of attention and fun no longer cut it. Dang. She's still lovely, but I guess whenever she is exceptionally needy it always throws me off guard. She's supposed to be the easy one.

Read more...