We found our house

Posted on October 27, 2013 by Wolfie217

Last Wednesday we signed a contract to our new home. It’s a little house in the village of Gamla Bo, just south of Ringsjön in Skåne. That is just about 10 kilometres south of where we live now.

We will have access to the place by December 2nd but we haven’t decided on when we move yet. We will have our flat until the end of January, so there won’t be any rush.

There are still some small hurdles to pass. On Tuesday we will have the house checked by a professional to give an opinion on what flaws there are to the house. We will also check the water to see if we have to connect it to the public water supply as it has a well now and it could be contaminated. (The previous owner thought the water was fine though so we hope it is).

The house is situated on an almost 3000 square meters plot of land with a driveway, a bunch of trees (some of them are fruit trees) on a grass lawn and a garage/shed. The shed part has to get its roof fixed; the rest is okay as it is. Surrounding the plot are fields belonging to a local farmer, though he doesn’t farm any more, but he cuts the grass there.

It’s about 100 meters to the lake. We will have a guestroom, if we use the rooms the way we think now. There are trees in perfect distance for a hammock, space for growing some vegetables. Maybe some chicken?

The house doesn’t have a basement. I don’t mind that. It uses the ground for heating and has a little fire place too. There is a balcony on the second floor and an outdoor room in the back, with a nice view of the field and the evening sun.

Detail of the house

Somehow it’s scary to buy a house. There are so many things to think about. I hope we have thought about most of them.

There are budgets to make, maintenance lists to create and plenty of new things to take care of that one doesn’t have to do when renting an apartment. Both of us grew up in houses. But we didn’t have the responsibility of taking care of them back then. The practical things I have seen. The paperwork I haven’t.

We will have to get one more car too. That is a bit of a bummer. And we just can’t afford an electric one like I would like to. (That would be perfect, commuting by electrical car). Now it has to be a small (but still 4 doors) thing with low fuel consumption. And cheap. Not too old. Did I mention cheap? I will use that go get to the train station, either in Eslöv (probably not as there are too few parking lots there), Stehag (even less probable as there are just a handful of parking lots there and only the local trains stop there) or Höör.

I have started to make a model in SketchUp of the house. It makes planning and moving in easier. I still lack some measurements so I will try to get them on Tuesday.

All the pictures are courtesy of Våningen och Villan, the real-estate agent helping in selling the house. http://www.vaningen.se/

Two Years: The best!

Posted on September 10, 2013 by Wolfie217

Today our daughter turned two. It has been an amazing trip. I don’t have words for how blessed we are with her. We celebrated her both yesterday and today, yesterday it was with some relatives, today it was just us as a family.

It is wonderful to see how she is growing up and learning new things by the day. We start to understand more and more of what she says. Her sentences are getting longer. She is playing with her things, letting them having long conversations.

Today we had the possibility to skype with both my brother and my parents so they could wish her happy birthday too. It is great what technology can do, making it possible to sit face to face and still be in different cities or on different continents.

Here are a few pictures from the celebrations:

Our daughter dancing away at the zoo.

Four generations, from Oldemor (great grandmother in Danish) to our daughter.

Now this tricycle moved here, it’s a good mode of transport to the playground.

Going down the slide is great fun.

TV-repair man

Posted on September 6, 2013 by Wolfie217

Our TV has been acting strange for a while. I don’t know exactly when it started but it might be a bit more than a year ago; it just didn’t start at once anymore but clicked a while until it started. In the beginning the clicking was just going on for a short time but it soon increased to be about five minutes. And this way it stayed until recently.

One Sunday evening a few weeks ago I wanted to chill in front of the TV and I started it, thinking it would take about 10-15 minutes (it had after the move started to take a little bit longer to start up). Half an hour later it still clicked away in the living room and I started getting worried. After one hour I gave up. I had chilled in front of the computer instead (not as chilling as the TV) and it was about time to go to sleep. I did not go to sleep, but started searching the internet if there are other people out there with the same problem.

I was not alone. Not alone at all. There are plenty of people who had the same problem as I had. Some got it fixed by the warranty. Most (that I found) didn’t due to the fact that the TV was more than three years old. Bad quality Samsung TV, with things in them that just barely survive the warranty. And it was all kinds of models affected. Ouch, that didn’t feel good. I already saw myself trying to find a new TV (from a different brand) spending lots of money we really don’t want to spend. (And no, I don’t want to live without TV, it’s just too nice to chill in front of it after a hard day).

But then I looked at the links that Google had shown me a little closer. And there were some people talking about fixing the problem. So I looked at one of the links; http://redpushpin.blogspot.se/2011/08/repairing-samsung-lcd-tv-with-clicking.html

and it looked kind of easy to fix. So I decided I would give it a try. One or more of the capacitors could have popped. The fix being replacing the capacitors and then it would work again. Just make sure you don’t use the same ones as they were not really good enough only coping with 10 V, one should use at least 12 V or higher (all other things the same).

The day after, in the evening when our daughter was asleep, I unscrewed the back of the TV and saw the problem right away. Two of the capacitors had popped.

Here they are marked.

So I unsoldered them and ordered new ones. Then the big wait started. It took ten days until the parts came. Ten long days without TV. Okay it was not that bad, but still.

When the parts arrived I soldered them into place. I’m actually kind of proud of my soldering even if they are not as perfect as the others on the circuit board:

It is the two objects called CM 852 and CM 853 that I replaced.

This is how they looked from the other side. (It’s the two black ones with a “K” on top).

After that I put everything together again and plugged all the parts in. I pressed the on button, it started right away and I had a little victory dance.

Sure all warranties are void now but hey, they were void already before due to high age. And watching TV isn’t an activity that needs to be planned ahead anymore.

The move in pictures.

Posted on July 20, 2013 by Wolfie217

Wednesday:

Packing the place.

Our daughter helping us.

Thursday:

Furniture ready to be loaded.

Boxes everywhere.

Our daughter still sound asleep.

Loading has started, rooms are emptying.

The truck being filled up.

The truck.

Friday:

The first things are unloaded.

Box-room, this room now is all filled up with boxes.

The flowers were placed and watered, they really needed water.

We rebuilt our bed.

A little vacation

Posted on July 13, 2013 by Wolfie217

The last couple of days we have been to Åland. For you who don’t know, Åland is an archipelago and region of Finland that is situated between mainland Finland and Sweden.

We felt like we needed to get some break from our moving business. And as a cruise and visit to Åland is a bit trickier from Skåne we decided it was time to go there.

We enjoyed two 5½ hour cruises, on the way there with a huge breakfast and on the way back with the buffet. Our daughter enjoyed the playroom and the ocean of balls.

We spent two nights and one day on the island, seeing some sights and enjoying the beach in Mariehamn. We also pampered ourselves with good food and massages.

Here are a few pictures from the trip:

Our daughter’s first time on a big ship. And the staple of Roslagskulla church, just across the road where I went to kindergarten.

We went to the open air museum of Jan Karlsgården. The swallows were not shy at all.

The flag (Åland has its own) and a few of the other things we did and saw.

On the way back. Our car parked on the car deck. One of the places we went to, to watch the big boat as kids, just a few kilometres from where I grew up. The modern skyline of Kista. Our daughter getting to sleep after a long day. On such a day it mus t be wonderful to be on a boat like the little sailboat we met.

Leaving the old, starting the new

Posted on July 8, 2013 by Wolfie217

Today I went to Höör to get our keys for the new apartment. It’s getting real now. In less than two weeks we will be living in this new place.

I flew down, leaving the old Bromma airport, arriving at the “new” Sturup airport the local airport where we will live (it’s about 50 minutes by car from Höör).

Now we have a new front door. I like that. And a new view.

Now we only have to move there. But first some socialising and vacation.

I’m going to miss the old folks

Posted on July 7, 2013 by Wolfie217

As you know we are moving soon. There are many things I’m going to miss leaving Blackebergs Gårdsväg, most of which I have thought about for a while now.

Today as I was walking over to our storage (it’s two houses down the road), I heard an old woman sing. I heard another old woman laugh. I heard one old man call for his caretakers and one doing (very loud) small talk with a relative (I suppose, I didn’t hear the other person, it might even have been on the phone).

What I didn’t hear was the regular moaning and screaming for help that we also hear from time to time. Living here has given me a window into the horrors of being old and dement. Hearing old people scream because they don’t recognise the people that try to help them is heart breaking. Why I didn’t hear this on my walk this morning I don’t know, maybe the warm weather also makes the old people happy.

Now that I have been at home with our daughter I have seen more of the old people. During the day some of them are taken out for a walk or a roll. (Most of them are in wheelchairs). Some of them really enjoyed talking to us. Others are just sitting outside in the garden, saying hi and looking happy as we reply.

It has been special living next to this huge house full with old people during last period in life. I heard from one of the staff that most of them living there only live there a few months or less before they die. That is how it is in a home for people that need care at the end of their life.

Here you can see the house behind our house and on the right of Susanna.

I’ll miss you. Not like your relatives will, but as a stranger who you smiled at and whose daughter you made laugh.

We bought a car.

Posted on June 17, 2013 by Wolfie217

One more thing has come to place in the process of moving. We bought a car. A Skoda Octavia Combi 2.0 FSI.

I think it will serve us well. It is always a risky thing buying a car and we will probably know the result in a few years but now we have it and are happy about it.

Here is a picture of it. (Name is still not decided).

Picture by the previous owner.

Happiness in little things.

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Wolfie217

Today was a beautiful day, just as all of you who went outside in Stockholm already know. We, that is my daughter and I went for a walk in the afternoon, mainly to get some groceries, like most days. As it was warm I thought of carrying her on my shoulders instead of the sling. (I did bring the sling just in case though).

On the way home I let her walk along the path through the forest by herself. She really enjoys it now, not long sections but still.

As I wasn’t in any kind of hurry I let her explore the surroundings. She skipped along and once every now and then she stopped to pick up a stone. She didn’t keep them, just picked them up, looked at them and carried them until she found a new one.

After a while doing this it hit me. She was enjoying little things. Literarily. She was enjoying picking up small stones from the side of the path. Most of them spread out during winter to keep it safe to walk. Stones that had ended up outside the path for no good. (The stones on the path had been brushed up earlier this week). But they still had reason. To make my girl happy exploring.

As these thoughts came to me I decided to get down to her level. Just to see some other little things. And sure enough, the stones are pretty; they have all kinds of colours and shapes. Some are mashed into the dirt so that one has to dig them out to get them; others are stuck in the asphalt.

And there are more little things going on this time of year:

Leaves starting to show. (You have to look really close on some).
Birds singing.
Birds playing.
Children having fun.
Old people walking enjoying the sun.

All these are little things. But they are important. And if I hadn’t taken the time to take the walk home in my daughters pace, I doubt I would have thought about any of them. But they made this day so much richer.

Finally I’m done with the pictures of 2012

Posted on March 28, 2013 by Wolfie217

I have finally finished 2012, that is organising the pictures of the year. (This time I did it before I filed my tax-report).

Here is a short preview:

Many pictures of our daughter:

Our daughter

A few from my trips:

Malmoe

A few from our trips:

Copenhagen

And some other more random pictures:

Bicyling

Enjoy: wolfmaier.se/2012/2012%20in%20pictures/

Winter again

Posted on January 19, 2013 by Wolfie217

As winter came back the joys of winter returned too.

The first is that it’s not as dark anymore. The snow lights up everything.

The second is that it is fun to play in the snow, especially with my daughter. Last Thursday my brother and I had some time on the slope next to our house with her. Going down the hill with and without my daughter is great fun.

Here is a short film of us going down the slope.

[embedit snippet=”fun-in-the-snow”]

The third this is the sound that walking on snow makes on a cold day, like today. It’s a kind of squeaking or crunching noise. It has to be below -5°C.

The forth thing is the fog over the lake on a cold morning after a ship has passed by and broken the ice.

Bicycling in the snow is the fifth. I really like it. It’s just a bit tricky when it is snowing. I did bike 17 km with the trailer last Tuesday. (For you who weren’t in Stockholm that day, it snowed more than 20 cm that day). My daughter has a swimming class and I had made up my mind to go by bicycle as I like that more. On the way there I had a real workout. On the way back it became a bit too much, so I had to stop and get some food. My daughter seemed to enjoy it though. (She slept on the way home). That’s how the bicycle and trailer looked like at the stop:

This is it folks!

Posted on December 31, 2012 by Wolfie217

I think 2012 will in my mind be remembered as a year with much joy in the everyday life.

It hasn’t been a year of big things like the year before (when we had our daughter) but of many small things.

Like:

Our daughter learning many new things to our and her joy. (This could be a long list in itself).

Having a few short vacations to Germany.

Having a nice summer vacation driving around Sweden.

Having my brother coming over much more than before. (See his homepage for updates: www.wolfmaier.com)

Being home with our daughter (that will continue well into 2013 too).

A few business trips to Gothenburg and Malmoe.

A beautiful snowy December.

Now it’s coming to an end. I’m writing this while our daughter is playing with the pens on my desk, right after our New Year’s dinner. It has been a good year. I have learned new things about myself. I have learned to enjoy new things.

I’m so happy to share this year with my family. Susanna is the best wife I could ever have found. Our daughter is just the cutest there is. We enjoy our company and like doing things together. Basically most things we do together end up being fun. Even fairly boring things like shopping for food.

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

Posted on December 25, 2012 by Wolfie217

Merry Christmas to you all!

Here is our Christmas card for you:

I wish you all have a wonderful time with family and friends in great fellowship, good food and much joy!

This year we stayed home for Christmas, having my parents and my brother for Christmas Eve and Christmas day, Susanna’s parents are coming on the 3^rd to have a second Christmas with us then.

It is lovely to see how our daughter for the first time really enjoyed the feast. The joy she had opening presents, (she started with the small ornamental ones we had put in the tree) and later playing with her new toys. This really makes giving fun.

Now it is time to rest until it is time for sound on Sunday.

The perfect Friday night dinner?

Posted on December 15, 2012 by Wolfie217

Today I think I made the perfect Friday night dinner. You decide for yourself if you agree.

Take one day of perfect Friday with beautiful snow and sunshine.

Blend with a bicycle ride and a nice walk through the forest.

Prepare a sourdough-sunflower-seed bread in time (in the morning) for part of it becoming the buns for the dinner.

While the daughter is sleeping (after a short stay at the open preschool) start making the last preparations for the bread.

Take it easy for a little while.

Make dinner; the task for today was; it should have bacon in it.

Form burgers from minced meat.

Bake the buns.

Put french-fries in the oven.

Fry burgers.

Fry bacon.

Have your wife come home.

Take french-fries out of the oven.

Prepare lettuce and other assembly details.

Put the rest of the bread into the oven.

Assemble the burgers.

Serve with beer.

Enjoy!

Don’t forget to take out the bread before it is black. (As a good dinner takes a while it might be in the middle of it).

Now let the weekend begin!

Sourdough

Posted on November 8, 2012 by Wolfie217

This last two weeks I have had a little project. It was to start my own sourdough and bake bread from it. Tonight we had the first slices of it. It actually tasted really good, like the one mum made when I was a kid.

Sourdough is a bit of a project in itself. It takes a while to start it, but they say it is easier if you have the right kind of flour to start from. In the beginning of September we got some rye flour at the old mill where we live. (It’s an old mill that is preserved as a museum, but they run it and make flour a few days every year). The flour was organic too, this because you need as much of the natural yeast that starts the sourdough and as little other things like leftovers from pesticides or fertilizers.

To start all this I had a little help. We have two good books about baking bread: (Both in Swedish)

Gateaus brödbok by Claes Christenson (brödbok = bread book) that I have used a lot before to make my Sunday buns. It has all kinds of bread in it, but mostly yeast based ones.

Surdegsbröd by Martin Johansson (surdegsbröd = sourdough bread) that I used to get my sourdough started and some ideas how to bake the bread, like using a thermometer to know if the bread is ready instead of just timing the baking.

None of these books has simple plain sourdough bread in it. (Okay some are fairly simple, but not just rye, water and salt). And I wanted to start out with a rye bread that was just that simple and German. So where to look, our good friend Google sent me to this page: chefkoch.de that helped me with the last part. I did half the amount in the recipe, I didn’t want to waste too much rye if I failed and our food processor might retire if I have a too big dough in it.

Just a few lines about our food processor, it’s a few years old, actually I don’t know how many as I got it second hand from my grandmother some years ago. It is one of the kinds where the bowl and the hook turns, makes a lot of noise and is a bit tricky to get clean. When I lived by myself I had it packed away above the fridge, making it a bit of a project just to use it, needless to say I didn’t use it very much then. Now we have it standing on the counter so it’s just to start it whenever it is needed. It also has a vegetable chopping part and a blender.

Back to the bread:

As I had started I decided that I would use sunflower seeds in it to give it some extra taste. I really like sunflower seeds; they fit perfectly in bread too.

As the bread got ready, the baking took a lot shorter than what the recipe said, I wanted the bread to be 98°C inside as I had learned from the book on sourdough and that took only about 45 minutes not 1 hour and 15 minutes as the recipe sais, I wonder how the bread would have been if I had waited that long?

After dinner (we had Penne with a mushroom, tomato and crème fraiche sauce) we all had a slice of the bread. It was wonderful. I never imagined that I would actually be this successful on the first try. Sure I have been baking Sunday breakfast buns for a while now, but still, first loaf of bread, first sourdough bread and first bread I made that was only rye. It tasted just like when I was a kid.

The bread:

One month and counting

Posted on November 5, 2012 by Wolfie217

Now I’ve been home with our daughter for one month. Time has passed really fast. Somehow I haven’t had one full week alone with her anyway. The first two weeks fully planned, as Susanna only worked 60 % then, then a long weekend in Germany shortened two more weeks, and now this last week Susanna got sick and stayed at home for two days. So I still have to cope with the first five days week ahead.

Last Friday was a new record though. Susanna had some thing at her work with dinner attached to it. She left right about eight and didn’t come home until half past 11 at night, that’s fifteen and a half hours, more than five hours longer than the longest she has been away from our daughter before. I can’t imagine how that feels. Susanna and our daughter have a special relationship, sure all mothers have that with their kids, but I think Susanna is one of the more attached kinds. I think that is good. That makes for a good caring mother.

This night was also the first time I had to get our daughter to bed by myself. I haven’t done this before. Mainly because Susanna is breastfeeding our daughter to sleep most nights (I think I know of one exception lately where Susanna and our daughter went to bed, but before the breastfeeding started our daughter just fell asleep). I’m not that good at that, due to the lack of milk-producing breast like most other men. The only way I have to get her to sleep is to walk with her in a sling. That was what I did tonight. I’m happy my winter-jacket still is large enough to cover us both as I didn’t want to put on her warm clothes as they would have been too warm in bed, or she might have woken up if I tried to take them off. (I have had that problem during the afternoon nap before).

There are a few things that have happened during this time. Our daughter has finished her second swimming-class, we have gone to the “open preschool” a few times and autumn has given us some really nice days. We did also go to Germany, see previous post, and attend a great wedding of two good friends.

This far I’m not bored or don’t know what to do with the days, actually I’m happy when I have a day without plans, as I get to take long walks with her then. (I could do long walks anyway, like today when I walked over to a friend about 50 minutes away). Walking is relaxing. Walking without direction or goal is even more so.

Now as the days have become short and it’s getting colder there are a few things that have to be done. I’m starting to tick of things of my to-do list, but somehow it’s growing faster. I don’t mind that, it just shows that I find new things I could do. Many of the things on my list aren’t that important and don’t have a deadline. I really don’t like deadlines that much, it is better to take things when the spirit is right, they go so much faster and smoother then.

That’s all for this time, now on to the next month of being at home…

Summer in October

Posted on November 2, 2012 by Wolfie217

Two weeks ago we went to Germany to celebrate dad’s birthday. We stayed at my uncle’s and we met with most relatives. It was like coming back to the summer we didn’t have here. It was so nice having a few days off. Okay, I can’t have days off like when I was working, but still it was a good break from everyday life.

Travelling with the family is always a great thing. Our daughter is easy to travel with, we always see it when we fly and she behaves in a good way.

Here a few pictures from the trip.

Our daughter at the playground in Arlanda.

Susanna and our daughter in the bus waiting to get to the terminal in Hamburg.

As the trip was short it was intense. First night there was the celebration.

Our daughter was playing with the stones lining the floor.

The second day we spent mostly outside in the sun.

Some trees are just nicer than others.

Our daughter behaving like the star she is.

Temperatures were well above 20° C, barely any wind, just the way you like summer to be. Needless to say, we really enjoyed it. In the evening we had dinner with the relatives again. It was so nice to have two evenings altogether. Even my brother came, as he lives a lot closer now.

The last day we were early with packing up before going home so we had a walk in the neighbourhood. The view with the trees in autumn colours is just so nice. A cat followed us around. Our daughter really likes cats, but hasn’t really understood the fact that screaming with joy running after them isn’t the best way of getting to pet them. She’ll learn that someday. (Maybe when we get ourselves a cat too).

Full time parent

Posted on October 1, 2012 by Wolfie217

Now I’m officially on parental leave. We have a great opportunity here in Sweden where we can stretch it to relatively long times. I will be home for at least half a year, but probably longer.

I have actually not worked since Wednesday, as I had worked some extra hours during the summer making it possible for me to take Thursday and Friday off. Having four days all three of us was really nice. On Friday we all went into town and had my parents over in the afternoon. They really love being with us, especially our daughter. She likes them too; she brought almost every one of her books to my dad and he read them to her.

On Saturday we did a little excursion to Drottningholm with our bicycles. That is always nice. We looked at the sheep, gees and tourists walking around the park.

Today was the first day I was home with her alone. I didn’t know how it would be. I couldn’t even imagine it before. Would I be able to take care of her in a good way? Would there be time to do all the things I wanted and had to do? Would I be able to comfort her when she was missing her mother? Today it all went fine. I think anyway. And I even had time for a shower. (With my daughter playing with the shower curtain at the same time).

The hardest thing was to comfort her when she was longing for her mother. She walked over to the door and sat down crying for a little while. I picked her up and talked to her, after a few minutes she stopped crying and started playing again.

She is just so cute when she talks her own little language. I wish I knew what she is saying. I think she wishes we knew too.

One thing we didn’t do during the day was taking a nap. She does need a nap during the day. Today she took the nap at 6 in the evening, making it hard for her to get to rest now while I’m writing this.

So this was the first day. Now there will be many more to come. Tomorrow we will go swimming and we will do that a few more Tuesdays. I don’t have that much planned. I should have the dinner of this week planned, but I still lack a vegetarian meal on Thursday, so if you have a good idea that isn’t oven-roasted vegetables give me a hint.

Happy Birthday Ellinor!

Posted on September 10, 2012 by Wolfie217

Today is your first birthday, you might not think so much about it, but you have lived in this world for one year now.

One day you will understand the fuzz about it and enjoy the special things we do for you on your birthday. You might even understand this text if we do some things right. Today you just enjoyed the cake, pancake cake with raspberry jam, strawberries, chocolate and whipped cream, the new toys and your parent attention.

It feels like yesterday, the day when you came. It was a beautiful day, a bit strange, maybe because of the fatigue. I just loved you the moment I saw you, just like I love you today.

At first I didn’t know what to do. I was scared. But then, when I could hold you to my chest all that disappeared. Today a year later you are greater than ever. Now you walk, enjoy food and like moving things to new spots.

I’m so happy you take us on this journey. I couldn’t imagine half the things I have seen happening this year. Some were hard, some fun and some just plain. Still even the plain things are special.

I’m so happy when I get home and I hear your voice, “papapapapa”. When you give things to me, even if it’s a half eaten piece of pasta.

Here are some memories:

When you just were born.

Enjoying our first trip together.

Visiting our relatives in Germany.

Sitting in the bicycle trailer

Eating your birthday cake.

Opening your birthday gift.

And some film too:

A small film form you when you were one half year old.

[embedit snippet=”%c2%bd-year-old-ellinor”]

A film of you walking over to your wagon.

[embedit snippet=”moving-things-on-her-one-year-day”]

I’m so looking forward to being your dad for many years to come and for the time we get together when I’m home taking care of you that starts soon.

Someone wants to walk

Posted on July 8, 2012 by Wolfie217

My daughter has a new thing going on. She wants to walk. Bumping is just not good enough anymore. (Bumping is explained in the post of How to not feel rejected).

We realized yesterday that she was a bit grumpy. Didn’t really know why at first. She didn’t need to go to the potty, (yes she does most of her business there), she didn’t want to get a snack from Susanna and she didn’t want to play with some toys she shouldn’t like cables.

As soon as Susanna or I held out my hands, she grabbed them, pulled herself up and started walking. Before she just would have bumped to her spot, but not yesterday. It was walking day!

After a while she did let go of our fingers, only to lose balance and we had to catch her to not hit her head or worse.

Just a few days ago walking with her was an easy thing, I could steer her the way I wanted. Yesterday she started complaining when I steered away for a room she shouldn’t enter. She then very decisive led us to the little pool we have had put up in the garden. She wanted to bathe.

She really practises standing. First holds both hands, then one, then just something else, like my leg or a table, then nothing, plumps. Stretch out arms to someone to get pulled up again.

I don’t know how I feel about it. I know she will learn to walk eventually, but she really doesn’t have to start so early. (Sure there are kids that start earlier). With her walking around, climbing will evidently come soon too. More things have to be child-proofed. More than one pair of shoes has to be bought. Cables protected. Flowers moved. (She likes digging in flowerpots). And she will be even faster from one room to the other. With bumping I can look away for a few seconds and I still have a chance to find her again.

Here is a picture of my daughter walking with Susanna and one of her walking with me

There are some things that will be better as soon as she walks by herself.

Our backs will be lest bent. If she holds my pinkie fingers I can walk with an almost strait back, but normally she grabs some other fingers first and it’s a bit hard to change fingers while she is holding on like it was for life.

We won’t have to follow her everywhere. We do have places where she can go by herself. It is comfortable to just sit down in one place and let her explore without one having to walk with her all the time. Bumping had the same pro, maybe even better due to the slower speed.

So let the betting begin: When will she walk by herself for the first time? I’ll buy the winner a beer. (Winner is the one guessing the date closest to the actual day here in the comment field. In case of a draw I’ll have to buy two (or more) beers. Susanna and I will be the undisputable judges of this contest).

2011 in pictures

Posted on June 28, 2012 by Wolfie217

It’s about time. I finally got my picture-documentation of 2011 ready.

It was a year with many things happening but not as many pictures taken. Still I have managed to put together a little resume like the previous years.

A little preview:

From winter,

from trips,

a few trains,

and of course us.

Here comes the link to the page: 2011 in pictures

Enjoy!

Happy Midsummer

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Wolfie217

I just want to wish you all a happy midsummer!

We had a small traditional lunch/dinner outside. Ellinor loved the food!

Taking it easy

Posted on June 16, 2012 by Wolfie217

Today was a good day.

A day with a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

All day with my lovely family.

Now the day is coming to an end.

The TV is on, great music is coming out of the loudspeakers. (Yes the music is coming from the TV show, Summerburst makes it possible).

I’m warm. (Not thanks to the weather).

Ellinor showed her finest side.

Susanna doesn’t mind the music too much.

Had a good nap on my parent’s sofa.

Nice talk with my aunt and uncle.

Enjoyed easy food, good food, bad (not to the taste) food, fun food.

Not thinking about getting things in order. (None of us did).

It all started already yesterday.

All three of us being laidback: That’s just how we are…

Ellinor’s first bike-ride

Posted on June 9, 2012 by Wolfie217

Today was a special day. On Thursday, Susanna bought Ellinor a bicycle-helmet. Today we tried it out.

This afternoon we installed the seat in the bike-trailer. Now we can go for bike-rides all three of us. This will be great, so much better than to walk and take the bus or subway.

Afterward we had a little short test; we took a short trip of a few hundred meters to try it out. Ellinor seemed to be okay with it. I just have to be more careful crossing speed-bumps and curbs. Her head with the helmet on wiggled a bit much.

Here a picture of us when we got back in.

So many things have happened the last month. Ellinor eats more and more of the same food we eat. Sure we have to chop it up, but some things she eats whole. I don’t really know what her favourite is, but she really likes potatoes and tomatoes.

Her technique to move around has been perfected. Now she can get around the entire flat. We really have to be watchful, just looking away a short moment and she’s in boxes or pulling cables. Luckily her technique of moving around has the pro that a standing chair is a barrier she can’t get past, but for how long? We have started to remove things from floor-level; some things remain to be removed still. We don’t want to take all things away; she has to learn that some things just are not to play with and some things we just can’t remove; the electric outlets, luckily they are protected so that small fingers can’t get hurt. We don’t want her to learn that it’s okay though, one day she might get to an outlet that isn’t protected and we don’t want an accident then.

A short film of Ellinor eating tomatoes:

[embedit snippet=”ellinor-eating-tomatoes-2012-06-09″]

When I get home from work, if she is on the floor, she looks around the corner in the cutest way, leans forward to check, not having to take two or three more hops to the front.

Travelling with our daughter

Posted on April 21, 2012 by Wolfie217

Wednesday night we got home from our trip to Germany. This was the first time abroad for Ellinor. We flew to Frankfurt, took the train to Stuttgart where my uncle met with us to take us to his place.

One thing I realised travelling with her is that I can relax more than when I’m travelling alone or just with Susanna. I don’t know why that is, probably it’s because I have a different focus now.

Flying with Ellinor is easy. She does not cry much and enjoys playing with simple toys. After a while she wanted to sit on the floor, but that was not possible on the short (2 hour) flights. We found some really good seats (for us) on the plane that goes between Stockholm and Frankfurt, the row in front of the emergency exit has only two seats, so we didn’t bother anybody else there and there is an open space between the seat and window where we could put things that were in the way otherwise.

In Germany we met with all our relatives there. First we stayed in Lorch, a small town about 40 km east of Stuttgart were one of my uncles lives. There we met with the relatives on my father’s side.

A picture of the group in Lorch.

Ellinor had everyone’s attention from the start. She charmed all of us with her best mood and fun sounds. She has started to make more sounds again, some of them sound like mama and papa and lampa (lamp in Swedish).

Ellinor had everyone’s attention.

We had one day with better weather so Susanna, Ellinor and me went on a walk. (I had done this walk already on Sunday). It was really nice to get out into the fresh air, Ellinor really enjoyed it too, but that’s normal if you don’t have to walk by your own.

Klotzenhof, the furthest point of our walk.

Most days we had a busy schedule. We wanted to see as many people as possible. We tried dinner at a restaurant too. Not entirely a success. Ellinor does get tired in the evenings so Susanna, Ellinor and I had to leave before everyone else so that we could get her to bed.

Ellinor is a Schwab. (A person from Schwaben, the region in Germany where my dad comes from. In this region Pretzels are staple food).

After a week in Lorch it was time to get to the next place, this time my aunt with family in Hagenhill, a small village near Ingolstadt. I hadn’t been there for a long time and Susanna hadn’t met them before since they didn’t make it to our wedding.

The drive there was not as relaxing as one could wish for. Ellinor didn’t feel well so we had to make plenty of stops. I think it could be the fact that we took some smaller roads there and that it was lunchtime for her that made her upset. If driving with her is this bad every time it just isn’t fun. (But it wasn’t).

We had a great time there, catching up and getting to know each other. Here the days were a lot less crammed with activities so we got some well needed rest.

Ellinor playing in Hagenhill.

Here our car really did fit in, since this family only has BMWs (when it comes to cars, they have a bus and a tractor too), could be because the husband of my aunt worked there before.

The last day we went to my other aunt that just had returned from India. We had a nice day with her too. We had a walk through the nice old (more than 1000 years) town she lives in. In the evening we looked at pictures from her trip. We didn’t stay up that late this night since the next day would be a long one.

A few houses in Hersbruck.

Ellinor enjoying my aunt’s company.

The journey home started at eight in the morning. We first had to drive back to the airport in Stuttgart where we had rented the car and had the air tickets from. This is under ideal conditions a trip just under three hours. We had ideal conditions and some. Only one shorter traffic jam and a restroom stop (for me) left us time to do some last minute shopping, filling up the car and returning it in good time before twelve. Ellinor slept for most of the trip and when she didn’t she was happy with sitting in the car.

Our flight home went fine, even if the transfer time at Frankfurt was a bit short for my convenience, but hey, we didn’t have to wait at all.

Ellinor and Susanna in the plane.

My parent picked us up and drove us home, I’m so thankful for them.

I’m looking forward the next trip I make with my lovely family, they just make travelling much more fun.

My thoughts and random rambling

A simple blog about my life.

Tag Archives: Pictures