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):

Relaxing

Ahhh. We've arrived.

It finally feels like it, at least.

We had friends come over on Friday and they were magnificent with helping us move furniture, watch Augie and vacuum as we went. And the result is that we have a layout we can live with. There's still a lot to do - we're going to swap bedrooms once we buy a new bed (our backs are killing us!) - especially when our things arrive in a few weeks, but we're comfortable enough now that we can relax a little.

This is Augie's new bedroom (remember his old one?):

It's a big room for a little boy, and it takes a lot of space that we could use in other ways, but there's just no way we can have him in that little dark cell anymore. And he has definitely relaxed - yesterday was the shortest bedtime we've had (since overcoming jet lag) and tonight was the first scream-free bedtime we've had! As soon as our bedtime routine began last night, everything just felt different - he was so much happier, so much more relaxed, better able to understand what was happening and what was expected of him (go to sleep!).

Baba also finds it relaxing:

Today we went to Ikea (reputedly the largest in the world) to look at beds and rugs and curtains and all the other things one goes to Ikea to look at. We were hoping to get a king-sized bed, but that's not a standard size here and they didn't have anything as large as we wanted. We're going to need a lot of space for all those babies sleeping in our bed! And we ran into one of Augie's old preschool teachers while we were there! Remember when he went to preschool a few days per week when we were here last winter? I saw her and thought she looked familiar, but then thought, I don't really know anyone in Stockholm so I can't know her, but then James saw her and figured it out immediately. She seemed thrilled to see Augie. She lives nearby, so we're going to try to get in touch with her.

I took a big nap after we got home, as I was utterly exhausted (I could use a 2-hour nap each day just to feel normal - this baby's taking it all out of me). Before dinner we went for a stroll through the neighborhood:

Augie was hilarious at dinner - I gave him a bowl of frozen peas, and he'd hold each one up before putting it in his mouth, waiting for me to name it. "Pea!" I'd say, then he'd grin and put it in his mouth. Over and over and over again.

I forgot to tell you that yesterday we went on a tour of Augie's new preschool, where he still start on August 29. It's about a 15-minute walk from here (also a bus that goes right there). We were really impressed. His age group there is called the Trolls, and he'll be in the green group. We liked the layout, the light, the rooms, the teacher we met, and they serve 60-70% organic food! We know it will be a difficult transition for him, but we are really excited about this place and think it will be great for him. They speak Swedish there, but because almost everyone speaks English they'll be able to communicate with him until he understands Swedish.

That's all. Hope you're having a great weekend.

Our local park

We're starting to feel really excited about making this apartment our home. We have big plans to rearrange all the rooms tomorrow (seriously, three out of four rooms are changing their purpose entirely!); the most important thing about doing this is that it gets Augie out of this little hovel of a "bedroom":

And they call this a civilized country!

We also have to do some major rearranging before our things arrive in a couple weeks - we're going to be overwhelmed with stuff. We got rid of so much before we left, but I'm sure it will still be a shock to see how much arrives. Luckily there's actually a decent amount of space here, we just have to figure out how to use it well.

We've been sleeping on a terrible mattress, and James and I have been waking up with backaches; this weekend we're going to buy a great big bed that we can all sleep in. Augie has been sleeping with us the last few nights, and we love it. That said, we want him to get back into sleeping in his own bed before the new baby comes. Back in Princeton, he would sleep most of the night in his bed, and then come to ours when he woke in the night (anywhere between midnight and 6am, though usually around 4am).

* * *

We spend a lot of time at the local park. It's just a block away, there's an area for Augie-sized creatures, a little splash pool, and lots of space to run around. James usually takes Augie there in the morning while I get a little extra sleep (the baby needs it!), and then there's usually another trip there in the afternoon.

Augie wheeling around Parklek Högalid:

Here he is in the splash pool. We love that children here often go swimming naked, and it isn't a big deal to let your kid run around with no clothes on (though last week there was an accident in the pool, from a kid right next to Augie, but we've learned that they empty and clean the pool out regularly). After they swim, you'll often see kids running around the rest of the playground naked.

Tomorrow we begin the big apartment rearrange (with some help from James's friends for the heavy lifting), and then in the afternoon we're hoping to go check out a town where we're considering buying a house.

Staying in Söder

After an emotionally trying 12+ hours, we've decided to stay here in this apartment in Södermalm. We love the neighborhood, the parks, the connectivity, and we're getting to know the neighbors. We are more than a bit surprised by the utter lack of human decency the property owner has shown us (not too surprising when you consider he has books about the "Aryan Christ" in his home), compounded by a similar lack of sympathy or assistance from our so-called representative at the letting agency. Nevertheless, we're going to find a way to make it work here, and we're going to go out of our way to find kind, helpful people who can show us a different side of Swedish/Stockholm nature. Augie starts at a great preschool in two weeks, the weather is beautiful, and we'll soon be blessed with another bundle of poop and energy and love.

Duck duck duck

Last weekend we went walking in Djurgården with James's interns. who are visiting from Princeton. Augie chased ducks and grabbed onto an electric fence! He didn't even react, but it sure scared me when I went to help him.