Exploring

Yesterday we hung out with Lisa and Andrew, two PhD students from Princeton who are here working with James (they're the friends who have been sooo helpful in moving furniture and doing IKEA runs with us). We went walking across Södermalm yesterday afternoon, stopping at an outdoor bar for refreshments.

Demonstrating excellent posture:

Wandering old lanes:

Baba's back and it's time to snarfle

What a big day for us: Augie's first day at his new school (he'll be attending full-time for the first time ever), and James is back! Augie and I went to school in the morning and James met us there (just hours after his flight back from the US). It was a much-needed break for me, and some much-needed Baba time for Augie.

When they came home in the afternoon, we went into the bedroom for a big family snarfle. James would throw him around, snarfle him, kiss him, and tickle him, and when he'd stop, Augie would sit up and ask for more. He was so excited.

By the way, the bump on his head is gone and he's doing just fine today.

Snarfle session:

Day 167 alone: home stretch

***NEWSFLASH***
James is now an American citizen! He passed his interview and swore his allegiance to the stars and stripes on Monday, got his American passport on Tuesday, and is boarding his first international flight as an American today! He'll be back with us tomorrow morning.

No, it's not really day 167 alone, but it certainly feels like it. When Augie woke up at 6 this morning and I struggled through breakfast and his antics, I thought, "Gosh, I can't wait for Augie's nap today because I'm not going to make it through the day without it." And then Augie took a nasty fall off of his ride-on thing (he was going backwards, as he likes to do, and got caught on a rug) and bonked his head hard - very hard - on the edge of a bookshelf and immediately got a giant goose egg. I nursed him to help him call down and he fell asleep, but when I put him down on the bed he woke up and yelled in pain - so a nap at home wasn't to be for either of us. (For those concerned, I paid close attention all day and he's been fine - normal activity level, normal pupil dilation, normal wackiness, and the goose egg has gone way down, so I'm not worried about deeper damage).

I figured he'd be able to sleep just fine in the stroller if I left him sitting up, so we got on the bus and went back to our neighborhood - the university. There's a 4-H farm there, and I thought he'd like to see the rabbits and pigs and run around in the sunshine. He did!

He's now sleeping, I'm recovering, and thinking about getting into bed pretty soon because he'll be up early tomorrow, and I should be well-rested for his first day at preschool.

Oh, and he made 21 months today. So close to 2!

Normally Augie hates wearing hats of any kind and rips them off within seconds of us putting them on - but I put this on myself this morning and he seemed to find it funny enough to imitate:

My little snack buddy at the cafe near the farm:

He loved the rabbits!

Wandering through the community gardens:

Day 3 alone: playing

(I suppose the title is a bit misleading, as we aren't alone: Uncle Robert is here. But we're without Baba, so that feels like alone.)

Uncle Robert took Augie to the park for a bit this morning so I had just enough time to get some laundry done and start thinking about doing all of Augie's preschool forms (he starts on Friday!). The forms will be tough as they're all in Swedish, so I have to type everything into Google Translate to figure it out. Ugh.

Augie and I trekked out to the American Embassy this afternoon to fetch a travel document that was issued to James last March; we were never informed that the document was issued, and it's something that James is always supposed to carry when traveling. He's supposed to take it to his naturalization interview - which was today.

He passed! Barring him not being able to take the oath because he doesn't have this document (which looks like a regular American passport but is brighter blue and says "not a passport"), James is now an American! And a Brit! He must be so confused. He's supposed to take the oath in just a couple minutes, if they let him. Stay tuned for further updates on that.

After visiting the embassy Augie and I went to a beautiful garden/farm/cafe on Djurgården called Rosendals Trädgård. We've been there a couple times as a family (though I can't find a previous post about it to link to), but never has it been so beautiful: the flower gardens were in full bloom, the apples were ripening on the trees, and because it was midweek, it wasn't too busy. I didn't get great pictures, but we had a lovely afternoon nonetheless.

Day 2 alone: missing Baba

I guess Augie was missing Baba this morning, because shortly after waking he found one of his t-shirts and put it on.

Not much to say about today, other than that we survived. Augie fights terribly about getting almost any sort of clothing put on - diaper, pants, socks, shoes - and sometimes it feels like the fights about clothes take up half of our non-eating waking hours together. Maybe I'd have better luck if I gave him free reign over Baba's wardrobe?

Uncle Robert arrived just before dinner, and Augie went crazy - I think he was just showing off all his skills and words. I'm going to send them to the park together tomorrow morning - here's hoping they both make it back!

Day 1 alone: survived

Not much to report here. James took off at 5:30 this morning so Augie and I were on our own all day. The morning was a bit of a disaster (putting clothes on him is the battle to end all battles, and is the biggest test of my mettle as a mother), but when I finally got him dressed we went to the park and came home for a three-hour nap together. Three hours! We both needed it.

The afternoon was much easier: we met with some friends we made last winter at a nearby park, and the kids ran around while the mothers chatted. The mother, Wendy, is English (Australian? Oh, I'm so embarrassed that I can't easily peg her accent and that I don't remember her history!), and has offered to be part of our Augie-care team when I go into labor. Plan A when I go into labor is for Ah Mah to make it here in time to be with him, but we're not counting on that happening so we're building a support team. Right now, our most likely plan (which we're calling Plan C) is for a world-famous scientist we befriended last winter to come to the hospital with me to act as a sort-of doula while James stays with Augie (and then, if possible, when the baby's about to come, she and James would swap places). The things you don't consider when moving to a foreign country at the end of your pregnancy: what's going to happen with the older baby? I've never spent a night away from him. In the end he'll be fine, but a mama worries about her baby when she's not there... (though I'll be plenty busy and occupied when this comes to pass!).

Beds

We've spent the last two days settling in more: two IKEA runs, more furniture moving, unpacking, laundry, etc. This place is very close to feeling like a home. I'll try to post some pictures in the next week as I get it a little more organized. I'm terrified, though, of what's going to happen when our stuff arrives from the US - there's nowhere to put it all! I actually have minor panic attacks when I think about it.

James leaves early tomorrow morning for a week in the US (his naturalization interview, exam and oath!), leaving me here alone with Augie. I don't know how I'm going to survive. I'm almost 8 months along now, and I'm more exhausted and fatigued than I've ever been - and that's with James here to do early mornings, dinners, baths, and bedtime (and more)! Augie's Uncle Robert will be here a couple days to help out, and I hope the two of them have some fun together. My posting will probably be erratic for a week or so.

Yesterday's nap - the last time any of us will sleep in that horrible bed:

"Helping" James put together the new bed:

I'll try to keep up with posting, photo-taking, and city-exploring, but mostly I'll just try to survive the next seven days.

Breakfast with my boys

This is what breakfast generally looks like in our home. (Well, usually Augie is wearing clothes). Augie could eat three breakfasts a day, and sometimes does. He's much less interested in dinner.

We found a new park

Our Norwegian neighbors tipped us off to a park we hadn't been to, across a long bridge on an island called Kungsholmen. We all three (four!) walked there this morning, then James took the bus to work and Augie and I played. It was fantastic! It's got so much for little ones to do and explore, both climbing/play equipment and areas designed to ignite the imagination. I saw a dad from our local park there, too, and he was there for the same reason I was - sometimes we just get sick of going to the same place every day (twice a day). I'm very excited to take Augie there again and again!

 Flying high on the swings:

This slide was really big so I tried to go down with him the first time - but he just pushed off without me and left me at the top! He ran up the stairs and went down again about 5 times. He loved it.

These are Augie's favorite things on playgrounds: he rocks back and forth like a wild man.

One of those high-imagination areas: a "garage" where the kids can give all the bicycles and tricycles and carts tune-ups and such:

Apropos of nothing else in this post, the view from our living room window:

Mmmmm!

Augie enjoying his mid-morning snack (email subscribers click here to view the video):

Waking up

This morning we went to check out a town where we'd considered buying a house; but, like most towns around here, it was missing the town part. There was a concrete shopping center and a nice little bakery, but no cozy square or central area for gathering, eating, people-watching. We'll have to keep searching.

We were all exhausted when we got home, so Augie and I took a nap together. These are the "after" pictures.

(That's my belly his heading is resting beside):