16 Months

Can you believe how much this baby has changed???? Here is a photo of Axel at around 2 months, and 16 months. It has taken us about this long to realize that he wasn't the cutest baby because we had baby blinders. But at the time, we thought he was the most beautiful thing ever! It's kind of amazing how that works.

This week, a friend needed help with a 16 month old who she was babysitting because she had hurt her back. I told her to bring him to our house because Axel would love having a friend to play with all day. We had a lot of fun, although he was a little hard to put down for a nap. We tried twice without luck, then Sharon ended up driving him around in her car until he fell asleep, then we transferred him to Axel's crib while Axel slept in his travel tent in our bedroom. When his mom came by to pick him up in the afternoon, she asked me regarding Axel: "So, can you just put him in his crib at bedtime and he'll sleep through the night?". I said yes, kind of surprised and was thinking "What else would you do??" She said that they had never been able to get their son to go to bed by himself, that for his naps they had to drive him around in the car then transfer him to his bed. Which isn't so bad, I have friends who have done this, but the worst part is that at bedtime they have to lay in bed with him until he goes to sleep, which takes an hour or so, then he wakes up a couple times each night needing them to rock him to sleep. She said she regretted never doing sleep training with him and that they were exhausted.


Eating lunch with his new friend, Ryan

I realized how ignorant I am about other parent's sleep schedules who have toddlers. I assumed that all babies 1 year old and older went to bed easily and slept through the night. I was immediately thankful that we started sleep training with Axel while he was young, and stuck with it. Because he has been sleeping 12 hours without waking up (unless he's teething or sick), since he was around 7 months old. It also reminded me of how hard sleep training was, and that lots of people give up!

So I gave her the name of the book I used, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, and told her to give it a try.

In the mud. He is part redneck, after all

I try to pride myself on keeping a tidy house. However, these days, it is getting harder and harder. Axel is kind of like Pigpen from Peanuts, wherever he goes, he takes with him a whirlwind of destruction. He likes to go through the house opening cupboards and cabinets and pull everything out, then go on to the next. He does not stop moving from the second he wakes up until the second his head hits his mattress. So we try to be outside a lot. However, it has been so hot and sunny that my skin is tired of sun! We are either at the beach, at our friend Olivia's pool, or playing with a tub of water in our yard. I was telling Olivia yesterday that I think Axel is a pretty easy baby. However, if I were a lazy person, Axel would be extremely difficult. I think we just match up really well because I am always moving as well!

Mommy and Daddy surf morning

I have found a couple of things that will keep him still though.....snacks! He is a very good eater, and eats almost everything I put on his plate. But I have found a couple of genius snack ideas that will get him to sit still in his high chair for about 1/2 hour, perfect for when I have to cook dinner! Here they are:

Drinking his Sili Squeeze smoothie

1. A chicken leg. Yes, weird, but my mom gave me this idea. He loves sucking on it and he loves it if there's a little meat on it.
2. Blueberries. They are small so they take a little work to pick up one by one. Totally worth the cost.
3. Smoothies. I make him a banana spinach smoothie every day to get him to eat some more vegetables. Sometimes I add a spoonful of peanut butter for protein. I put it in this thing called the Sili Squeeze, which is a silicone bottle with a spillproof lid. It's the best idea. I sometimes put yogurt or applesauce in it as well.
4. A teething feeder. Amazing contraption. I put in some crunchy fruit and it keeps him busy for a long time.

Since we have been working on our words lately, we've been doing a lot of pointing at objects and naming them. He still has a hard time saying them, but now I can ask him in Spanish "where is mommy's belly button" or "donde esta el ombligo de mama?" and he'll point to my belly button. He can do the same to daddy's as well. He can point to his toy monkey if we ask him, and some other things. So he understands, just can't say the words yet. I was talking to Naty and Olivia yesterday about Spanish, and we realized that there are really no easy baby words in Spanish. For example, in English, there are tons of easy one-syllable words like hat, cat, dog, bus, etc. But in Spanish all of these words have at least two syllables, sombrero, gato, perro, okay, bus is one syllable in Spanish, so I'll use that one. Anyways, it's harder with more syllables! So we're a work in progress, but it's coming.

Last Friday morning, my friend Jessica went into labor! She and her husband checked into the hospital late that morning, and our friends, Carolyn and Natalie eventually got there afterward. I went later in the afternoon once Johan had gotten back from work so he could watch Axel. When I arrived, Jess had been in labor for about 12 hours an was in a lot of pain. She had wanted to have a natural birth, so she had no meds. Yep, she's a rock star. Ella was the last to make it there. We all took turns massaging her back, saying comforting words, praying, encouraging, and just trying to keep the atmosphere encouraging and calm while Doug was coaching her step by step. Later that night, Natalie told me that Carolyn had overheard the nurses talking about how many people we were in the room with Jess. Since this was my first birth experience, I didn't know any better. I asked Natalie if people usually have many others in the room (since she's a doctor and has seen many, many births), she laughed and said "no, they probably think we're a cult or something". I thought it was funny that we must have seemed so weird. But we really don't care. Jess and Natalie were present for both of Carolyn's babies, and Natalie got to witness Axel's birth, so that's just how we do things because we all treat eachother like family.

Anyways, after a grueling 28 hours of labor, baby Owen Anderson was finally born! I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to experience the exhaustion, joy, pain, and perseverance of labor with Jessica and Doug. Especially because I don't know if I'll ever have a natural birth since I have already had a c-section. Yay for babies!!!

Summertime

Helping Dad wax his surfboard

In previous years, I was always kind of annoyed when I asked parents how old their baby was and they gave me the age in months. I always wondered "why don't they say a year and a half, instead of 16 months?" Now I understand, it's because during these first few years, each month the baby is changing so dramatically and each month is so different from the next that a 16 month old can be so much different from an 18 month old.

Which is why it's a little overwhelming to say what changes we've gone through already in this post. I guess I can try and summarize a little by saying that in this moment (16 months), life at home with Axel is so, so much fun right now and is much easier than it was during the crawling period (about 8-12 months). He is absolutely crazy with energy and doesn't stop moving. However, now that he's walking, he is exploring on his own and likes to be a little more independent. When he was crawling, we had to entertain him much more and help him see and experience things he couldn't on his own. So I have really appreciated my time with him lately.

Wearing his headphones like a DJ

I also LOVE that it is summer. The beach is such the perfect place for a baby his age. He loves the waves and will run into them with no fear. I recently started surfing with a Mom surf meetup group where the moms switch off watching each others kids so everyone can surf. It's the most genius idea ever. It's free fun that I feel so blessed to have access to every week. I appreciated the beautiful San Diego weather before, but having a baby in a place with beautiful weather makes life just that much easier and better. I don't know what we would do if we were stuck indoors all day long! I guess we'd have really nice skin.

He still takes 2 naps per day, between around 9-11 am, and 2-3:30 pm, then goes to bed around 6:30 pm and sleeps around 12 hours. We just went to his 15 month check up and vaccination. He was:

25 lbs 10 oz
33 inches tall
Still has an enormous head in the 99th percentile, I don't remember the circumference.

So I think he was about in the mid 80th percentile for height and weight. He hasn't really started talking yet, but we didn't expect any words out of him for a while since he's learning 3 languages. But his pediatrician said she'd like to hear him say 3 words by the time he's 18 months. So we've got homework to do! I do think he can say mamma, but he won't say it when I ask him who I am. We think he has said "grött", which is Swedish for "porridge", and I thought he said "agua", or water, but again, he doesn't say them consistently so I don't think that counts. Plus, speaking three languages, when he babbles, he might be saying words, but we don't know what language he's speaking! But it does amaze me that he understands me in Spanish. We talk all day in Spanish, so he understands very well all of the basic words and commands that we use every day.

He is also getting more and more personality every day. He really knows how to get people to notice him. He will smile at you, clap his hands in hopes you'll clap back with him, he'll laugh at you, yell at the top of his lungs, play peekaboo, all with the hopes of getting a little attention from anyone he can. He started getting stranger danger recently, so for the first couple of minutes around new people or in a new place, he'll cling to us, but eventually he'll be comfortable and will want to take off and explore.

Wiping down his high chair after lunch

His favorite play is doing things he sees us doing. He saw me with headphones on so he puts them on. He likes trying to change the tv with the remote control. He loves the vacuum and will take it around the house. I will turn it on with the hopes that he'll actually help me clean. He does a pretty good job! He gets under the coffee table, and even the sofa. Then when he's done, we wipe things down with a rag. He's very good at this too, he'll wipe down the tables and chairs, walls. He also loves to help me do the laundry by putting in or taking out clothes from the washer. Outdoors, he will rake or sweep with the broom. We got mulch from the dump and had it in a huge pile, and he had a blast picking it up and throwing it on the ground or putting it in the wheelbarrow. So I have my very own housekeeper, free of charge!

Trying to steal everyone's bocce ball

He also LOVES stairs. Going up, coming down, up, down, up, down. We could do this for hours. Up until about a week ago, he was great at going down the stairs backwards. But recently, since he's so good at walking and wants to be like the grownups, he thinks he can walk down the stairs. So I have to constantly be there.

But he is also continuously testing his independence. I feel like at this moment, we are doing really well together with him testing boundaries and me either letting him do something, or telling him no. I am very careful with what I say "no" to, because if I say "no", I can't back down or else he won't respect what I say. For example, he is not allowed to pick the rocks out of the indoor plants and throw them indoors. He has tried several times, but each time, I have to either say no or redirect him to something else. I also try not to make a big deal out of it so he doesn't get a ton of attention for doing something wrong. I usually give him a very serious look, and he smiles at me (to see if I'll smile back and laugh, which to him would mean what he's doing is okay) I don't smile or laugh, and so he moves on. I doubt this will work in a couple of months, but it works great right now! He also learned to open the front gate to the street. That was a battle of constantly telling him it was dangerous and absolutely he could not do it again, serious face, not raising my voice, and he eventually got the message that it wasn't worth fighting over because he wasn't going to win. But I'm stubborn, so maybe this is easier for a stubborn person to out-stubborn the baby.

Loves camping in his baby tent

Last week was our 9th wedding anniversary. Johan and I have a tradition that every year one of us is in charge of planning the day, and it's a surprise from the other person. We've had some pretty great anniversaries so far:

Year 1 (Johan): Rags to Riches Theme - We camped in southeastern Sweden, went kayaking, stayed in a bed and breakfast, rode horses, then last day we stayed in an old castle, played crochet on the lawn, and ate at the restaurant by the castle pond.
Year 2 (Tina): Went golfing for the first time in Sweden, which started us on a golfing craze of playing every weekend.
Year 3: (Johan): Gypsy Kings concert, I might have cried I was so happy
Year 4: (Tina): Went to Estancia Spa in La Jolla, went to dinner at the Coronado Hotel
Year 5: (Johan): Universal Studios
Year 6: (Tina): Palm Springs
Year 7: (Johan): Stayed in a cabin up in Mineral King, hiked, watched deer walk by our window
Year 8: (Tina): Played golf at Tecolote Canyon Golf Course in San Diego
Year 9: (Johan): Camping and surfing at San Elijo State Beach

Me and B taking a break from backpacking Dinkey Lakes

I was pretty excited about our anniversary this year. We camped for one night at a campsite overlooking the Pacific. We both got to surf before sunset and just after sunrise. It was short, but totally unplanned and very unstressful. We took no food or drinks, we just bought burritos and bought a six pack of beer and a jug of water, brought two chairs and our tent. Oh, and Axel! If you know me well, you know that I do not like to plan. I like to do things simply and I don't like traveling with lots of items. A couple of years ago we went backpacking overnight with our friends Brittney and Garrett Keller (pre-kids), and I was responsible for packing the backpacks. For our food, I packed tortillas and two cans of chili beans. The Kellers, on the other hand, had brought good wine, somehow refrigerated meat, and ingredients for a gourmet dinner. Johan was so mad that all he got was chili beans while the Kellers were camping in style. They ended up sharing their food with us, but that's how I am, I don't like stress and I like to live simply. So this camping trip to San Elijo was my style, and I was very, very happy.

A Whole New World: Cloth Diapers

Kissaluv Marvel One-Size, All-In-One

Warning: This entry is extremely boring UNLESS you are interested in hearing every detail about cloth diapers. Johan is already refuses to hear another word about them. Just wanted to warn you.

Since my recent debut as a full time stay at home mom, I have come to the harsh realization that I can't just go buy whatever I want when I want it. Since Axel was born, we haven't made too many changes with our spending. But that was mostly because I always had some sort of income from working at home and working the short stint back in the office. I am still working from home, but the work is sporadic and I don't want to depend on it, because it's not dependable.

Without making any drastic changes like getting rid of our cell phones or t.v. (never!), I thought it was the perfect time to try out cloth diapers. I don't know why I didn't use them earlier. I think we were just on the go too much for me to be bothered with the hassle of them. They seemed like so much work, and I already had enough work set out for me. I had also tried a couple that Brittney had given me, the Kissaluv Marvels, and they had leaked (more on that later), and I had friends who had used cloth unsuccessfully, so I wrote cloth diapers off as a waste of time and money.

Kissaluv Marvel All-in-One, showing attached insert

So in my quest to save money as well as my annoyance for inconvenient Costco trips where I go for one box of diapers and instead leave with a truck-load of snacks, baby clothes, and army-sized portions of food that we end up forgetting in the freezer, I started doing my research. I had no idea where to start, so I just googled "Best Cloth Diapers". Oh my Lord, I had no idea what I was in for. There was this whole new world that I never knew existed. I was overwhelmed with the options as well as a new vocabulary that I had never heard of: pre-folds, all in ones, one sizes, liners, inserts, I had no idea what anything was when I was reading product descriptions. When I was a baby in the early 80's, there was pretty much one type of cloth diaper. It was a little towel that you folded around the baby's bum and fastened with pins. The options now are so overwhelming, it felt like when you go to one of those mega stores for laundry detergent and they have 100 different brands lined up on both sides of the aisle. How do you choose with so many choices?

After a LOT of emailing, posts on Facebook (it is actually good for something), calling, and asking friends, this is what I learned about the cloth diaper vocabulary:

1. Covers: Just an impervious shell.
2. All-In-Ones: An impervious shell with a pocket that contains an attached absorbent insert.
3. One-size: A diaper that has a bunch of snaps that allow the diaper to be smaller or larger to grow with your baby. Usually from about 6 months until potty training.
4. Inserts: Individual, separate, thick absorbent pads that you stick into the diaper.
5. Liners: Look like a dryer sheet. You place these between the baby's bum and diaper so that poop doesn't stick to the diaper and is easily removed and flushed down the toilet.

Flip One Size Diaper Cover

6. Pre-folds: The original cloth diapers. A thick towel that folds into thirds that you can put in the diaper for absorbency.

Flip One-Size Diaper Cover with Insert

And there is actually much more that I won't bore you with.

Bum Genius One-Size Diaper with Insert Pocket

I was still overwhelmed. So I asked around, and a friend offered to lend me a couple of her diapers to try out. She actually gave me a lot of info. She lent me two different types of diapers: The Flip one-size diaper covers and Bum Genius one-size diapers with a pocket for inserts. She also gave me Flip and Bum Genius inserts, as well as some liners. Hopefully, you have studied the above definitions and understand exactly what I'm talking about.

So I gave them a shot and tried them out on Axel, as well as the Kissaluv Marvels that I already had, and here's what I think:

The Kissaluv Marvels all-in-one, one-size, are PERFECT for nighttime. They come with an attached insert so they are super easy to wash and use, and I add an extra Flip insert and have not had a single leak in 2 weeks, even with Axel sleeping 12 hours at night. The Kissaluvs leaked, as I mentioned, when I tried them out months ago. I read online that they need to be washed several times in order to increase absorbency. After washing them a couple of times, they are my favorites for nighttime. They are a little bulky, so I prefer the diaper covers with an insert for the day, which are very trim. But definitely Kissaluvs for nighttime.

Bum Genius One-Size with Insert Pocket

The Bum Genius diapers were worthless. The elastic at the legs seemed stretched out, so they leaked every time. But maybe the diapers I borrowed were not the norm? The ones online look like they have good elastic and they are very popular, so I feel like something happened to the ones I borrowed. In any case, I tossed these aside. Their inserts are pretty skimpy too.

The Flips were amazing. No leaks ever. During the day, all I use is a Flip cover, and a Flip insert or any old pre-fold that I used to use as a burp cloth, and Axel stays dry for around 5 hours. One reason I love the idea of a diaper cover over the all-in-ones or the ones with pockets is that you can just wipe the cover and reuse it and simply replace the insert. Less laundry makes me happy.

The liners have worked wonders for us. My big fear of cloth diapers was of getting poop all over myself. But the poop just falls off of the diaper and into the toilet, no problem. Don't get me wrong, you'll have to touch poop at some point. But after becoming a parent, I think we need to succumb to that at some point. I have also continued using my Diaper Dekor pail. I tried using our open laundry basket, the but ammonia smell from the diapers was so overwhelming I couldn't handle it. So I just pour in a little baking soda and throw the dirty diapers into the Dekor and there is no smell at all. I've also been able to get away with doing laundry twice per week, but I ordered enough diapers and inserts to hopefully only need to do laundry once, max twice per week. I wash everything, then hang the covers and dry the inserts in the dryer. Everything is dry within an hour.

I realize that while these diapers have worked really well for us, there are a million other brands that work for other people. Optimally, you just have to try a couple out first and see what works for you. The good thing is that the websites I bought the diapers from have free shipping on certain diapers, and allow free returns even after you've used them, so they encourage people to try out several different brands.

Flushable Liner

Next thing was PRICE.

Kissaluv Marvel: $24 each
Flip Cover: $9.50 each
Flip Inserts: $4.00 each
Thirsties Cover: $11.00 each
Diaper Liners: $8.95 for 100
Charlie's Soap Powder for High Efficiency washer: $12.99

I bought 4 Kissaluvs and 6 Flips. A friend also recommended Thirsties covers. I ordered two of those and am going to try those out. I also bought 21 Flip inserts, 100 liners, and Charlies powder laundry soap. Charlies soap is amazing. I use 1/2 tablespoon for a load of diapers and they come out clean as can be. And I bought everything at cottonbabies.com and nickisdiapers.com.

Okay math people, here we go:

Cloth diaper, liners, inserts, total cost: $250
Disposable diaper cost: $48.00 for 180 diapers, size 4
We use approx 6 diapers per day
Cost of disposables per day: $1.60
Time needed for cloth diapers to pay off: 5.5 months

Approximate cost of disposables for 2 years  $1200
Total cost of cloth diapers for 2 years: $250

Thirsties Diaper Cover with Velcro Closure

Not bad! Figuring Axel will probably be in diapers until he's almost 3. Not to mention we can use these diapers for our future children as well, and we're keeping all those disposable diapers out of the landfill.


So my summary of all of this is that life does not seem any harder after making the switch. But the switch might have been easy because Axel is older, I've heard cloth aren't always the best fit on newborns and young, small babies. So far, it's been a great experience for all of us.

Sweden...And Traveling with a One Year Old

I'm not sure if our flights to and from Sweden were better than we expected because Axel was such a good traveler, or because our expectations were so low. In any case, we prepared as best we could for comfortable travel. We brought minimal luggage and only one small carry-on, which consisted pretty much just of Axel's stuff....diapers, toys, snacks, etc.

We got to San Diego Airport at around 11:00 a.m. right after Axel's morning nap. Our flight didn't leave until around 1:00. The flight attendants at the desk were so nice to us, they gave us three seats even though we only paid for two adults. After the plane took off, I got up and put Axel in the Ergo, since it was past his nap time. He cried for a couple of minutes, but then he was out. I covered him a little with a muslin blanket, and he slept that way for about 3 hours! He woke up about 1/2 hour before we landed in Chicago. I was amazed.

In Chicago, we had a 4 hour layover. I was kind of mad at Johan for scheduling that, until I realized the genius in it. We found a playground inside the airport close to our gate, so we let Axel play there with the other kids for what seemed like hours. By the time our flight was boarding, it was about 10:00 pm California time (WAY past his bedtime), and he was exhausted. Again, the flight attendants were so nice to us and gave us bulkhead seats and included a baby bassinet that hung on the wall in front of us. The age limit, by the way, for those is 9 months and 24 lbs. Axel was 13 months and pushing 25 lbs but we were desperate to try anything, so we told them we thought he was 24 lbs (which he might have been after the hours of playing!).

He had to sit on my lap for takeoff, but he was so tired, he laid back into my arms and just fell asleep. Poor guy. So as soon as I could take our seatbelts off, we made his bassinet cozy and laid him in it to sleep. It was amazing. What a luxury to have your baby sleeping like that on an airplane! It was a drastic change from our horrible experience on the red-eye flight to Boston when Axel was 4 months old.

So we relaxed, ate dinner, drank some wine, and played Monopoly on the iPad. A couple of hours later, Axel woke up. I think he was a little uncomfortable because he barely fit in the bassinet! He could hardly turn over he was so squished. I held him in my arms a little, and we gave him some Benadryl to help him sleep, and he was out again so we put him back in the bassinet, where he slept until the plane was ready to land in Copenhagen. That was 8 hours! Again, we were completely amazed.

But Axel was really tired. He is used to 12 hours of sleep each night, so he was still pretty tired. We had one more flight from Copenhagen to Gothenburg that was only about 45 minutes long. The funny thing was that that was the toughest out of all the flights. Axel was grouchy, he wanted to crawl everywhere but was still mad and crying. We all couldn't wait to get off.

So all in all, it wasn't so bad! We didn't sleep at all so we were exhausted, but as long as Axel was sleeping well, that made all the difference in the world for the trip. Oh, and I threw away all the toys I had brought. He looked at them for 2 seconds then was off to more interesting things. He just isn't into toys. Oh, and the same thing with the iPad and the tv. Did nothing for him. He needed to explore the plane and nothing else was good enough.

After getting to rest, we finally were able to settle in and enjoy being back in Sweden. We got to stay at the Franssons lake cabin in a small village called Bondstorp, which is just 20 minutes outside of Johan's hometown, Jonkoping. Everything was green and beautiful, just a little chilly, but that didn't really bother us. Every morning we'd eat breakfast, then take a walk around the lake and through the village. When I say "village" all I really mean are some houses and a church. There are no stores there.

We were again amazed at how well Axel got on a nap schedule. We brought his baby tent with us, and he was so exhausted from all the traveling that he fell asleep immediately for all of his naps and at bedtime. We were usually driving home late from Johan's parents condo in the city so Axel usually passed out in the car on the way home within minutes. And we also had to wake him up every morning at 8:00, which is SO late for us. But it was such a luxury to wake up so late.

Almost every day we would drive into the city to visit Johan's family. They live close to the main street, so we would leave Axel with Grandma and Grandpa and go shopping or whatever. Again, such a luxury.

The first Saturday we were there, we organized a reunion with three of Johan's best childhood friends, their wives, and kids. The funny thing was that all four families had 1-year olds! That was pretty cool. It was a fun day event. The kids got to get in the lake, we had some BBQ and drinks, and just got to hang out. I hope we can make it a tradition every time we come to Sweden for the summer.

The next day, on Sunday, Johan's parents and uncle had a family lunch for everyone to get together and to meet Axel. It was really nice to see everyone since it's so hard to get that many people together. And it was so nice of them to do that for Axel.

During the 2nd week, we decided we wanted to go to Stockholm to visit friends. We had planned on taking Axel with us, but changed our minds at the last minute since Johan's parents said they wouldn't mind taking care of him. So we left on Monday morning, and I immediately started bawling my eyes out. We had never both left him and gone off on our own overnight. I didn't know I'd feel that way, but it just felt so awful for all three of us to not be together. We had to stop the car and talk it over. I told Johan that I wanted to make a rational decision, not an emotional one. So we prayed about it right there in the car for us to make the right decision and immediately in my head I heard God say "It's more important that the grandparents get this time with Axel than for you guys. And even if you have an awful time because you miss him, they will have a wonderful time because you left him with them". That totally made sense, and it was rational. So I felt completely fine about our decision and we kept driving to Stockholm.

We stayed with our longtime friend, Hans, who lives in the city. Another good friend, Stefan, came and met us and we went out to a really nice Italian restaurant close by. It was the start of the European Cup in soccer, and Italy was playing, so you can imagine the place was packed. It is always so fun to be with Hans and Stefan. They have visited us several times in SD and they're so much fun. I love them.

The next day we wandered around the city. We were supposed to stay that night with Johan's very good friend, William, and his family, but his 1-year old came down with a stomach virus. Since we had all just had an awful virus, we decided it was best to stay away, and sadly, we didn't get to go see them at all. We instead decided to drive back home since visiting William's family was really our only next plan. Plus, I missed Axel!

The rest of the trip to Sweden was really relaxing. The weather got a lot better, so we had some time at the beach by the lake. The only bad thing was that we all got eaten alive by mosquitoes. I think I had itchy mosquito bites for at least 2 weeks after we got home.

The day before we left, it was midsummer's eve, which is huge in Sweden. No one really seems to know why they celebrate it, but they love it anyways. They build a huge maypoll decorated with flowers, hold hands, and dance around in a circle and sing. Then they eat pickled herring, potatoes, schnapps, and strawberry cake.

The whole time we were there, the nicest thing for me was that I didn't have to spend a minute thinking of how to entertain Axel. At home, I am always planning our day and we have to keep moving. But in Sweden, everything was so new and interesting that we never had to worry. It was SO nice!

The flight home wasn't as easy with Axel, but it never is because it's during the day. We let Axel take his morning nap in the car on the drive to the airport. Then he was awake the whole awful flight to Copenhagen. From Copenhagen to Chicago, he was crazy. He was crawling everywhere, wanting to touch everything. But everyone was so nice. The flight attendants, again, were amazing and gave us business class seats!! I felt to important with big seats and nice food and drinks. However, we didn't get to enjoy it all since were were busy playing in the back of the plane where the flight attendants hang out. I think he was up on the flight for about 4 hours. But he was exhausted. I tried putting him in the Ergo to take his nap, and he'd scream and scream and scream. He was just overtired. Finally, I had to pin him down in my arms and not let him move, after which he just passed out, exhausted. He slept in my arms for the rest of the flight, about 3-4 hours. We got to Chicago and played a little at the airport there, then had another 5 hour flight to San Diego. Axel slept for 4 1/2 hours on the flight, which I was so thankful for because that was the only flight where we had no extra seat or a special seat, he had to sleep laying across us. When we got home to SD it was 11:00 at night and I was worried that he would think it was 8:00 in the morning and be up all night. But I think the good thing is that since we always have him on a pretty good sleep schedule, he needs his 12 hours of sleep a day. If he doesn't get it, then he's really tired. So even though he slept for so long on the flights home, his sleep was broken up and he was still really tired. So as soon as we put him in bed at around midnight after we got home, he was out and slept until around 6:30 the next morning. And, amazingly, he got right back on his normal schedule again.

So I am really thankful that traveling with a baby turned out to be a pretty good experience. I have to admit that, as parents, you don't sleep even if your baby sleeps. So we were exhausted after the travel. But like I said earlier, as long as baby is happy, the whole travel experience is SO much more enjoyable. I also know a lot of people were praying for us for a comfortable trip, so I don't think we can take credit for any of it really. But we are extremely thankful to have these opportunities to travel as a family.

New Steps and Disappointments

A lot has happened since my last post, so I'm going to go in reverse chronological order, because it feels more interesting to talk about the "now" than the "then". I'll put up another post later on our Sweden trip. So in reverse order, I have blisters on my hands, feet, and inside my throat because I got hand, foot, and mouth disease from Axel. And it just so happened that Axel showed the first signs of it literally (and I mean literally) the second we stepped out of our truck and onto our camping site at Shaver Lake.

He had seemed so happy and had napped well at my parents' house just hours earlier, so imagine our confusion when we get out of the car to unpack when he started crying. We noticed that he was burning up so we gave him Ibuprofen and the fever went down, so we wrote it off as teething. A couple of hours after going to bed, the wakings began. Axel woke up what seemed like at least every hour. He wasn't hot, and we didn't know what was wrong. So at around 5:45 a.m. we pulled him out of his tent and this time he had a fever. We thought his lethargy throughout the day was from not sleeping, and still thought the fever was from teething. But later that afternoon, we noticed some dark red bumps forming around his mouth. My friend, Natalie, is a doctor, and told me that hand, foot, and mouth disease was all over San Diego. So we called her and pretty much confirmed that's what it was, then packed up and drove 7 hours straight home to San Diego. It was a rough drive home! I made Johan drive because I was in and out of consciousness because I was so tired. We ended up having to play the loudest, most obnoxious music we could find on Spotify to keep us awake. We finally got home at around 2:00 a.m. and fell fast asleep.

Cleaning his high chair

I was pretty sad. I had looked forward to Shaver, as many of you know, all year. I've talked about it to everyone, we prepared Axel for it by taking one night camping trips, Johan made beer to have on tap, and even bought me and Axel floating lounges for the lake. I imagined all of us adults relaxing on the beach with our homemade beers, while the kids played at our feet in the sand, and wakeboarding while the lake was calm, and listening to the Baker girls make fun of each other. It was supposed to be perfect. But then the camping gods decided to plot against us. I accidentally turned off the electricity in the garage to the beer refrigerator before we left for Sweden, so the beer spoiled, Garrett had to work during the 4th so the Kellers canceled camping and decided to stay in Brittney's parents' cabin the days they were there, then the last thing we had going for us (our health) went down the drain as well. Boo hoo. I told Johan and Garrett that after the horrible turn of events this year, next year can only be better, right? We have to hope so.

Cleaning the cabinets

Some fun new things happening around our house is that I'm home full time! Axel took his first steps the exact day he turned 14 months, so on June 26th. He walks around like a drunk zombie, all wobbly with his arms sticking straight out. He runs into everything and pretty much walks wherever his center of mass directs him. But the whole time he's got this huge grin on his face because he's so proud of himself.

Cleaning the grown-up chairs

He also loves seeing if things fit. For example, he likes to see if my keys will fit in the bowl in the tupperware cabinet, or if Johan's glasses will fit in the pyrex dish in the cabinet with our serving platters. Notice a theme of Axel putting things that are pretty valuable to us in places we would never find them. This is the main reason why we keep a close eye on him, not because we're afraid he'll get hurt. He still could care less about his toys or t.v. So we are still sticking with playing with everyday things around the house. My car keys, the remote control, and any kind of lid (thanks for the idea, Ginnie Grupinski!!) are probably his favorite toys. I'm pretty sure it's because he sees us using these things every day and wants to learn as well.

Before: Rust at bottom

Speaking of being like Mom and Dad, he has started demanding that he help me clean. "Well, if you insist, Son!" When I wipe down the table, he wants a rag of his own to wipe things down as well. I have be careful because he'll try and sneak the rag into his mouth when I'm not looking and suck the water out. It's a gross habit that we have no idea how got started. And when I vacuum, he insists that he hold the neck and vacuum himself, even though the vacuum itself is usually upside down or repeatedly cleaning along the same line. I love that he's excited to learn something new.

After: No rust at bottom!

Yesterday I went on an all-out cleaning rampage. I deep cleaned the bathroom. I was pretty proud of myself for saving some money and refinishing our brush holder. I almost bought a new one at Target for $20, but then had to remind myself that I'm now a dependent according to the Tax Bureau so I need to be frugal. This is probably one of the most helpful tips I've ever gotten.....if you ever have anything metal that is rusty, just rub it with aluminum foil, and the rust is gone in seconds. Brilliant! I fixed up my bike this way too. Some other little projects around the house finally got done as well. We finally refinished the kitchen counters and redid the caulking. I think that took us about 6 months. It also took me about 10 months just to hang up my banner that I had made as my All In back in the Fall. Now THAT was tough. To move it from where it hung on the curtain rod in the dining room all the way to the bedroom wall. 10 months.

The meanings of our names: Johan, Axel, and Rosanna

Order your Tina Fransson potholders today! Only $100 each

Again, going in reverse chronological order....at the end of June we had a baby shower for Jessica Anderson. It was so fun to put together. Natalie, Carolyn, Lisa and I put it on. Natalie was the coordinator, and just has an eye for this type of thing. I offered to sew a million potholders as gifts because I thought it would be pretty fast. Which it is....if you're only sewing one potholder. But they turned out really pretty and it felt nice to give away something handmade. I also made Jess some other gifts, like baby clothes, and a blanket. It turned out so beautiful, all the food was totally delicious, and everyone really loved it. Especially Jessica, which is what matters most!

Jessica's mom, Ginnie, made a surprise visit from New York. She wrote about it in her blog and it was so touching that I wanted to share it:

It's been a week since I returned from a trip to San Diego for my daughter's baby shower. I was gone four days, and it was just not long enough. 

Tina Fransson onsie: Only $50 each

It's hard having my youngest child live so far away. It's especially hard now that she's pregnant, and I don't get to share in the day-to-day discoveries of her journey into motherhood. It's hard knowing that this new little one will grow up so far away from us, and that we will only see him or her twice a year. I have to tell you, as hard as I try not to let it, this hurts. The good thing is that I know my daughter was brought to San Diego by the Lord. He has a plan for her life, and at least for now, it's not on the East Coast. She traveled to California for her own reasons, but she found a deep and wonderful relationship with Jesus when she got there.  

California is where she landed in a great church, met some wonderful friends, and eventually, her husband. I love the times I get to sit and watch the interactions between Jessica, Doug, and their friends. It's truly inspirational. They have a sense of community that I have rarely seen. They love and depend on each other. They pray for each other and speak into one another's lives. They get together just to have fun and play games and socialize and eat. It is what I think the Lord intends for the church. They live their faith every day, all week long. Their lives are intertwined in ways I can only guess at. They truly support and carry each other in the toughest of times.

Natalie made that cake

Natalie's beautiful homemade backyard

One of the girls is having some very difficult health issues. The friends are holding her before the Lord, and even at the baby shower, there where those who gathered around her to pray for healing. Some spent time to just speak words of encouragement to her, or to share what God has said during private time spent with Him regarding her situation. Just glorious. 

Planned into every shower is prayer time. This is a time to pray for the one who is being celebrated that day, whether it be a bridal or a baby shower. It's wonderful to hear these women who know the Lord speak blessings over my child. I get to pray too, of course. It's a beautiful tradition that I think should be done at every party, everywhere. The newest addition to our family is due next month, and I get to return for the birth. I'm so excited to see this little shining one. She or he will bring such joy to us all, as babies always do. Very soon now, my baby will be holding her first baby; what a delight! Whenever I talk about becoming a grandmother, I always share how seeing your grandchild for the first time is just as amazing as seeing your own child for the first time. And how you love that child just as much and exactly the same as you loved your own child when you saw it. And when you hold that baby in your arms, oh how sweet and how joyful that moment is! You never want to let go.
I really do love being a grandmother............even long distance.

Jessica, Ginnie, Grandma, and Gail Anderson

Baby shower tradition: Pray for mom and baby

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