Tuesday.

Looks like they will be coming back next week to finish up. :/ One of the guys has a Christmas dinner today, so they had to head back without finishing everything. They finished the outside frame, and two of the windows inside. And they will come back on Tuesday next week to finish the other two windows. But it looks pretty fantastic, though! Well worth the money!! The room, somehow, seems so much bigger now.




Fredde is out running errands. Stopping the mail while we are away. Getting copies of our house key made for the neighbors. Stopping by the police station to see if they are done with Leia's passport. And picking up a package that we hope is Leia's American passport. (Which would be record time if it is - considering they had to send all the paperwork to the US and make the passport and send it back and then send it to us - so we'll see.)

Daddy and his little girl.

Tack, Farmor!

Farmor came and spent a couple of days with us this week, and we really appreciate her coming! Tack, Farmor! Leia got to spend some time with Farmor and I got a chance to get some things done - especially gather together papers for our trip to the US in 1 week.

Next Friday we'll be going to Farmor o Farfar's and spend the weekend with them, so we have a couple of days before having to leave on our looong trip. We hope to take the weekend to go into Stockholm and look around a little. We want to get to Gamla Stan and maybe buy a few things, and get to Drottninggatan to an Indian store recommended by my Indian friend, Yamini, to buy some gripe water for Leia's tummy. And we have to make a trip to Täby and do a little shopping there.

Leia slept very well yesterday! She slept from 12.15-15.15 in her swing. Even with all the loud noise from the window-guys. She absolutely loves her swing, and I think Fredrik likes it more than all of us. :)) He really didn't think that it would work, but it does. :) All except on Wednesday, Leia falls asleep within minutes of being put in it.

And Leia is doing fantastic overall. I think her major growth spurts are done, and she is a more content baby. :) She has set up a schedule for herself and it is working well for all of us. :) She goes to sleep any time after 7 in the evening, and then sleeps anywhere until 1-2.30, and then she goes back to sleep and sleeps anywhere from 5-6.00. That will get messed up a bit by our time change of going to the US, but I think it will be easy to get her fixed back on that schedule while we are there. :) And luckily we are there long enough, that she will have a schedule for awhile before having to have another drastic time change when we come home.

She only cries when she is hungry, and that is an easy problem to fix. :)
I'm still pretty angry at the BVC nurse for the suggestion of not feeding on demand. Every American that I have talked to has been very displeased with their BVC. :/ Coming from a different place gives us something to compare the BVC to. Mind you, the woman is as sweet as can be and is great with Leia, but it seems more like they picked a woman off the street that likes to hold babies instead of someone that has any real medical knowledge... :/

Blah blah blah... :/ :))

The windows are looking great. :) I'll get some pictures on when they are finished up. Shouldn't be too much longer I think.. :)

Fredrik is home today and he was supposed to be off on Monday, too, but NCC asked (told) him to work on Monday ... so he has to at least go in for a ½ day. :/ Annoying, but they seem to forget that he doesn't work for them, that he is a consultant hired in and doesn't have the same demands for that project that they do... Blah blah blah... :/ :))

Hmmm...
More later.. :P

Tomorrow instead.

I guess it was more work than they were expecting.. :P They said they would come back tomorrow to finish. They put the other two windows in and filled in the insulation around the windows. Tomorrow they will put the window frames around on the inside. So, not too much work.

Expensive.

They started today with replacing the windows. The windows showed up on Tuesday, and then they showed up today to install. Since the company is coming from far away, they asked if they could stay a long time this evening to finish everything, instead of having to come back tomorrow to finish up what might only take a couple of hours.

So, here is what it looks like now:





Yes, the windows are the same, with the sectioning at the top. There wasn't much to chose from in this size of window, and we thought it looked nice, so we kept it the same.. :P

They have replaced two of the windows so far (now they are on lunch break). Only one of the windows will open. The price difference between the windows that open and don't open is at least 1000:- each (170$). It wasn't really that important to have them open, but we chose to have one that opens, to get a little bit of air going through the house during the summer months.

So, the whole project, including windows and labor is: 28.000:- (4700$). To replace four small windows... :/
It is so expensive because the curve on the wall.. :/ The other window company that came and looked at it said they wouldn't even touch the project because they knew it would be difficult. And one of the workers today marked how difficult it is.

The windows being replaced are the original windows from when the house was built in 1920! We hope to eventually do all the windows.. if we win the lottery.. :D

More pictures later after more is accomplished!

Super happy baby. :)

Happy baby. :)

Some adorable pictures of Leia smiling!

World Record ??

Leia gained 560 g (1.2 lbs) in the last 10 days..!
Holy cow..!
She's up to 4685 g (10.3 lbs).

I guess my breast milk is okay... :D
And she gained 1 cm (~½ in) in length.
Up to 56,5 cm (22 in).

There was a student nurse, an older nurse, and a very old doctor. :)) All female and all very nice. :)

Leia has been fantastic today.. :/ :)
Passing gas like crazy.. :/ :))
But she slept from 09.30-11.30, plus her 40 minute nap earlier today. And she has been very well tempered on the whole (unless wanting something - she is very impatient). :/ :)

Lots of fun!

The meeting last night was actually lots of fun. :) Even though I was super tired.. :/ And Leia behaved very well. :)

We were 6 couples, with 7 babies. :)
The youngest was 3 weeks, his name is Oliver, and the mom had the same kind of delivery I had! If not worse! From her first contraction, the baby showed up 3 hours later!! :D After the dad parked the car and got to the room, the baby was already crowning! So, she didn't receive any pain medicine either. And that baby also showed up on its due date. :)

Out of the 7 babies, 5 were boys!
The other girl is Ella. And there are 2 Olivers, and a foreign named baby that I have NO idea what it was called.. :/ :) (the dad is from South America), and then the twins: Viggo and William.

Leia was by far the cutest.. :D ;)
We did receive some jealous looks.. ;) (lots of the mommies wanted little girls). And the other little girl wasn't so cute.. :D
Leia wore a dress from Farmor and some baby nylon stockings from Mormor. She was pretty cute if I do say so myself.. :/ :))

Completely forgot to take pictures.. :/ :(( We'll miss the next meeting, it is while we are in the US.

All the babies laid and slept, and were completely out of it. We were slightly jealous, but Leia made up for it by being adorable and taking notice of everything. When the midwife was handing out papers, Leia was completely following her around the room. And Leia is already flirting with little boys. She was eyeing one of the twins, William. :)) William's mommy sat and leaned over Fredrik and played with Leia while other parents were giving their baby presentations.. :/ :)

Strange to think that these babies will be her classmates in 6 years and we will be seeing these parents for as long as we live in Åmål.. :/ :)

Leia just sat on my lap (on her own, holding up her own head), looking around at everything and everyone. More alert than the babies twice her age. So, she might be a handful sometimes, but I think we have a smart little cookie. :))

She got a little cranky and easily fell asleep laying against my chest (the easiest way to get her to fall asleep now).

The other Oliver seems to be even more sour and cranky than Leia can be. The family ended up leaving early. That Oliver was born a day after Leia.

Aha.. :) Now Leia has woken up and she wants her mommy. This was her second nap today! Her first nap was 40 minutes and in her crib. And then this one was somewhere between 50-60 minutes, depending on when she fell asleep (I was in the shower).

Last night she slept great! She fell asleep at 20.00 and slept until 02.00 (slept for 6 hours), and then she was back asleep at 02.45, and slept until 06.00 (~3hr). :) So, we hope to try to keep this bed time routine, or something like it.

____________________________
Hmmm.. false alarm.. :P I went and checked on her and she was still asleep.. :P That happens often.

7 hours ?!?!

Leia slept for 7 hours straight yesterday. :) Unfortunately it was between 5 and midnight.. :/ :D But we are going to try to fix that, she had a short nap this morning, and she is asleep now.

It is very easy to get her to sleep, but her naps only last on average about ½ an hour.. :/ But we are going to try to push back her long stretch of sleep and see if we can have a more normal schedule for her. We're hoping if we can get her to sleep at least a little during the day, and have her fall asleep later in the evening, then she will sleep more during the night.

But at least she is willing to try to sleep now during the day, that is a start! And that she is sleeping longer at night is great, too! She likes her swing, and she might still protest a little, but she usually falls asleep. Fredrik noted, as I have, that she never reaches a deep sleep while in the swing, but maybe that will come as she gets more used to it.

We have our next parent group meeting today. :) Should be fun and interesting. :/ :)

New pictures of Leia.

Click HERE to see pictures from November.

Documented happiness.

Laban clothes.

Baby switch.

Someone switched babies on us during the night... :/ :)

Leia slept from:

15.40-19.20 = 3 hr 40 min
21.00-01.30 = 4½ hr
02.30-06.00 = 3½ hr
08.15-09.15 = 1 hr

And she is asleep now, too (in her swing).. :/ :)

Fredrik and I both only had to get up 1 time last night. :) So we all slept well.
Fredrik spent 6-7 with Leia and then I got up and fed her from 7-8 and she was in and out of sleeping and then I put her in her swing and she slept in there.

She has had an unhappy tummy, but not nearly the same as it has been the last.. month.
And she laid for awhile in her baby gym this morning, very happy and content. :)

So, we are.. enjoying our happy baby while we have her. :)))

She will sit fine in her swing, but you have to be in the room with her, once she realizes your gone, she cries! So, I sit on the floor in front of her and fold laundry or go through clothes she's outgrown, until she falls asleep, and everyone is happy. :)

We're anxious to see if this is a one time deal, with her sleeping last night, her sleeping well during the day today, and her good temperment, or if things are getting better. :) We'll have to wait and see. :)

6 weeks.

Leia is 6 weeks old today. :)
We wish it was 6 months.. :D



Mummy baby. After a walk with Pappa today.

She sleeps for most of the time on her walks, but she always wakes up as soon as we arrive home.. :/ So, it almost isn't worth the effort of going on a walk since she doesn't sleep, and then mamma and pappa just waste more energy by walking so much.. :/ :) (without getting a nap after getting home).



Typical Leia behavior. She wasn't very happy to be in the baby carrier, but we have to get her used to it for airport use.

The Flying Baby.She usually keeps her limbs this stiff, and it makes it very difficult to feed her.. :/ At least she can hold her head well..

Yesterday was a pretty good day - today wasn't as good.. :/ :)
She woke up around the same time during the night, at 03.30, and whined a little but slept some with Pappa for 1½ hour. And then we tag-teamed and I had her from 5-8 this morning on the pull-out downstairs. Trying to keep her satisfied with food (which is getting more and more difficult), and trying to get her to sleep some.

She was unhappy because of her tummy.. :/ (the same thing as yesterday). She is grumpy and crying until she passes lots of gas, and then she poos and then she is fine.. :/ I don't think it is as much gas as it is constipation (I didn't think that breastfed babies could get constipated)... :/

She is fighting with feeding on the breast.. :/
And even though she eats constantly, my breast milk just is not coming in very well at all any more. :(

I fed her between breasts from 10-12 today, let her take her time, and just eat. An then at 12 she at 160 ml (6 oz) of formula. And then at 14.15, she wanted to eat again.. :/ There is just NO way I can keep up with her.. :/ You would think that with as much as she eats and quickly takes milk from me, that it would be constantly flowing from my body..... :/

So, today Fredrik and I discussed giving her only formula (modersmjölksersättning).. :/ I don't want to.. :( It is soo much better for her to receive the breastmilk, but I can not keep up with her demand, and my nipples are bruised and have sores on them, and they constantly burn.. :/ Because she is constantly attached.

I am going to try as hard as possible to keep it up at least until we go to the US, so that she has the option of comfort sucking on the airplane, which we hope will keep her quiet. :/ Fredrik doesn't think she will sleep at all during the whole trip to the US. I think she might sleep some on the plane, but I do think that she will be a big hassle.. :/ And I do think that everyone on the plane is going to plot against us and throw us off mid-Atlantic.. :/ :))

But that IS still 2 weeks away, and that is a lot of time in the World of Babies. She could be 100x better or even 100x worse..

But last night she slept from 16.30-19.30 (3hr), and then from 21.00-01.30 (4½hr), and then from 02.30-03.30 (1hr).

She slept only a short time during the day today when Fredrik took her for a walk, and then she fell asleep around 15.40 and is still asleep now.

I can deal with her sleeping little, I graduated from University - I didn't sleep for 4 year straight, :D but that mixed with the now troubled eating and her bad temperment (from wanting food all the time, being tired, and upset tummy), is trying at times.. :/ :)

But we still love her. ;)

Passport.

Today we went to the police station and picked up my Swedish passport. It feels a little more real now to be a Swedish citizen since I have my passport. :) And we applied for Leia's Swedish passport. Taking the picture was extremely interesting.. :/ :) She is crosseyed in her picture.. :D But it will do. We can pick that up in a week.

We will be 3 people and travelling with 5 passports.. :/

We also went to the bank and created a bank account for Leia.

And we went to the only store in town with anything "baby" in it and we bought an outfit for a friend of mine in the US that is having a baby in the Spring. We also bought some Laban clothes for Leia, that will fit while we are in the US --- expensive..! :/ :)) But we got some cute clothes for her. :) They are 3-6 months in size, so they will fit her for awhile. :)

Leia did well in the beginning of the night, then around 4 she started acting up.. :/ Neither of us could get her settled down and she just wanted to cry. :/ Fredrik couldn't get her to stop, and the only way I could get her to stop was to be connected to the breast. And she would fall asleep then, but if she unattached she would start screaming again.. :/ So, it was a little trying for awhile.. :/ :)

But she slept some with pappa this morning in bed while I showered and had breakfast. And Leia has been in a great mood today! She smiles at me when I smile at her and she has been happy and very well tempered. :) So, that has made us all happier. :) She hasn't cried today or been unhappy.
So, we're not sure what her unhappiness was last night. Maybe her tummy.. Fredrik thinks that she just gets in a mood and that is the way she is going to be until she gets out of it. And she got out of it by just crying herself to sleep. But I do think that feeding her more often is helping her plenty. Maybe not with the sleeping, but her mood is much, much better. Her sleeping is just her, she isn't interested.. so.. :)

Here are some cute clothes that Pappa bought for Leia last week in a store in Ed when he had to work near the summerhouse:

It might not happen again in awhile...

...but last night was a very good night.. :)




Leia slept from:

20.30-01.30 (5 hr)
02.30-05.30 (3 hr)
06.00-07.00 (1 hr)
And she had gotten 2 hours of sleep during the day yesterday (fallen asleep with me and stayed asleep during our car trip to Karlstad). So, she got 11 hours of sleep yesterday, and that hasn't happened in at least a week.

But I think I would prefer that she sleep only at night, than only during the day. We can hope that it will soon lead to a full nights sleep. (Maybe not for a long period of time, but we'll take what we can get.) :)

And I went to bed at 20.30 as well, so I also got 5 straight hours of sleep..! The most sleep in a row than I've had in 6 weeks!

I put her in her swing this morning while Pappa was getting ready for work, and I got a chance to straighten up her room some. She is growing out of her clothes very, very quickly.. :/ She has almost completely skipped a size of clothing.. :/ :)

I left her in her swing and I jumped in the shower. When I got out of the shower she was crying. I went and checked on her and she was fighting SO hard to not fall asleep..! She would close her eyes and then cry and pop her eyes open and then they would slowly close again.. so I turned the swing up on a higher speed, and she fell asleep instantly.. :) And she slept then for almost an hour, and I think she would have slept longer, but her little head fell to the side.. :/ Luckily we have a little baby positioner from the US that we can put in the swing to keep her head positioned well.

And I had no problem at all getting her to fall asleep today, even though she didn't stay asleep that well. So, she had 3-4 naps of about 30 minutes. Either I would move her to try to put her in her crib and she would wake up, or she would be in her crib asleep just fine, and she would have the World's most nasty poopy diaper..... :/ :)))
So, the naps could have been longer, if it wasn't for some constant bad luck.

She was in a much better mood today.
We are hoping that it is because she is getting food when she wants it.
Curse the BVC nurse that said to not feed our newborn baby when she is hungry... >:-( (crunched-eyebrow-frown-face ... very dramatic!!!)

And she fell asleep almost an hour ago, and is probably sleeping for her looong stretch of sleep. We'll see.

Right now my sisters are on their way to my parents' house for Thanksgiving.

Fredrik is off from work on Friday and Monday.
We have pellets coming tomorrow.
The windows are coming on Monday or Tuesday.
We have even more pellets coming Monday or Tuesday.
We have our parent group meeting on Monday.
Tuesday we have Leia's pediatric appointment.
Farmor is coming on Tuesday and staying until Thursday.
Then Fredrik is off Friday and Monday.
And then on Friday we leave to go to Stockholm for our trip to the US!! Time is going by quickly.

Busy, busy, busy!!

Leia in her swing:

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving !! :)

I love Thanksgiving.. :/ And I really miss being with family on this day. :(

This is the first year that I've been in Sweden that I haven't made a full Thanksgiving dinner. We just don't have the time now. :) But I have all the trimmings, and I think we are going to push our Thanksgiving dinner back to the Spring, and have it then, a little late, but that is okay. :) With all the trimmings, too, and pumpkin pie. :)

Today all my family will be busy baking turkeys and watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade on TV. And then American Football later in the day. And there are all the cartoons, too, Garfield, Charlie Brown, etc.. etc.. Okay.. now I am just making myself sad.. :D

Food.

Since I don't really agree with most of what the BVC nurse has said to us, I've decided to throw-out the "only give food 2-3 hours" thing.. And feed Leia as often as she wants. I think the crying is because she is hungry, because it started around the time that we switched her eating habits. So, if baby wants food, baby gets food.. :P Even if it is every hour. She is growing so fast, it is very cruel of us to deny it to her. And things have only gotten worse since the advice from the nurse, so no use in using that approach any longer.

We bought the swing! Have to get batteries for it, though.. :/
We bought the cheapest they had, for 900 kr (150$), they had one of those Fischer-Price rainforest ones for 1800 kr (300$), but that was a bit ridiculous with pricing.. :/ Fredrik wanted the one with the least "busy" stuff on it, he is a minimalist..... :/ :))

On the way home from Karlstad, Leia tried her hardest to get milk to come out of my finger.. :/ :)

We found some new pacifiers that are a little different than the others we have already tried. One with a round, small bulb on the end, but she didn't like that one at all. And another one that is just a more narrow version of ones we've already tried (with the slanted edge on the bottom), and that one she has taken a little. So, we'll keep trying with that one.

Everyone from the US keeps telling us that Leia needs more bulk food. And they keep suggesting "rice cereal." It is baby cereal that you put in formula or pumped breast milk (and can give to newborns), and it fills up their stomach better so they are less hungry. I don't think they sell anything like that here.. :/ But I have a feeling that that would work to make her less hungry.

Now Pappa is going to try Leia out in her chair, so this I wanna see!

Don't know what to do.

So... I've sorta.. given up any hope now.. :/

Leia's eyelids are so red and she has dark purple cicles around her eyes.

Took her on her walk, and she only slept a little of the way, and woke up as soon as we got home (what she always does). And my walk wasn't very long today because I am just so dead: physically, mentally, and emotionally.

It isn't only her sleeping, she is being difficult with eating now, too. She either keeps her body completely stiff or she moves her limbs rapidly, where it is impossible for her to latch on, and then she just screams even louder.
And she cries all the time, probably from being so tired. She cries all the time, even when she is held, and usually only stops if she is sucking on a finger (and that doesn't always help), and she starts crying as soon as I take it out.. :/
So, I don't get to sleep..
And if I want to shower, eat, or go to the bathroom, I have to lay her down and listen to her cry the entire time.

I think most of my frustration is with the BVC nurse, who just shrugs away the problem every time we have questioned her with it (at least a couple times a week for the last 3 weeks). She gives no suggestions, and it angers me that she hasn't sent us to a doctor, just to make sure there is nothing wrong with Leia medically, to cause her to not be able to sleep.

I think we might be going this evening to get a swing, but we both have our doubts that it will help. Maybe the first time, but we don't think it will be anywhere near a solution to her sleeping problems. An expensive experiment, but we have to try it.

Hearing her cry breaks my heart, especially that I can't do anything to help her.. :(

Lots of sleep.

Leia got lots of sleep today.. :/ :))

This morning I got her to sleep for about 45 minutes. And then she ended up sleeping 4½ hours this afternoon. :/ :)

She slept for an hour and I straightened the house up some and had some lunch, and then she and I went on a 45 minute walk, even though she was already asleep, the walk was more for me. :P :) To get some fresh (cold) air. And then we came home and she continued sleeping and I even managed to get a 1½ hour nap before I woke up and was surprised she was still asleep. :)

I have my doubts that she will sleep at all tonight now.. :D But the optimist in the house, Fredrik, thinks that she is on the road to getting better. :) So we'll see.

I'm anxious to get the swing. I really wanna get it sooner than Friday.. :/ But the store closes at 6 and Fredrik gets home at 5 and it is at least an hour drive there.. :/ He could of course come home early, but he has done that almost every day the last 3 weeks. :D

Her head has gotten so much bigger in the last 2 days, and her legs are getting much chubbier. So, maybe Pappa is right, and she is going to be getting better with eating less and sleeping more.

If the swing works, though, we are going to have to make Farmor get one (Mormor already has one), and get one for the summerhouse, too!

What the..??!

I put Leia in her stroller almost an hour ago for us to go on a walk.. and as soon as I laid her down, she fell asleep and she is still asleep.. so deeply asleep that she is snoring!! So, I left her there and skipped the walk.. :/ :D (There is a 50% chance of her waking up before the trip home.) Maybe that will be a way to get her to sleep.. She associates the stroller with sleeping, so she just lets herself relax maybe when she is in there. I'll have to try it tomorrow morning.. :/ :))

Guess who...

...slept in their bed last night?!

All of us! :)

Leia fell asleep at 5 (I really wish we could push that time back a little).
She slept from:
17.00-21.00 (4hr)
22.30-02.00 (3½ hr)
02.40-04.00 (1½ hr)
04.40-06.00 (1½ hr)

With feedings and diaper changings inbetween. :)
Not sure she slept as well the last 2 bunches (from 2), but she was in bed and didn't complain loudly until the times I wrote.

We all got better sleep than we've gotten in a while. Last night better matches how she used to sleep before a couple of weeks ago.

In the World of Babies, it doesn't mean that anything is different or better.. (unfortunately).. :/ :) But we'll take the good times when we can get them! :)

So, since I got better rest last night, I'll be much more able to really work harder on getting her to sleep during the day.

On Friday, I think we are going to go to Karlstad, and see if we can buy a swing, it might help her sleep better. It is one of our last desperate options.. :/
Something like this:

Something that can constantly rock her (my arms and back can't take it any more).. And she falls asleep the instant that the car moves, so we are hoping this will give some.. similarities, and help her (and me) sleep more.

So, wish me luck in getting her to sleep today..!

Worse and worse.

It feels like things are just getting worse and worse.. :/

Leia slept only one stretch yesterday, of 3½ hours in her bed. Pappa tried to get her to sleep from 9-11, but then he needed to get some sleep for work, so she and I spent the night on the couch. We've decided that we are going to make out the sofa bed and she and I will spend our nights down there when Fredrik will be working. Cause her crying echos (when she cries) through the house and keeps everyone awake.. :/

She is back to crying ALL the time.. :/ (since this morning) So, we think the gas is back.. :/ I only had 2 days of milk and a little juice ... so I am stopping it all again, with hopes that she will feel better.

We're taking it a day at a time and trying to keep our sanity.. :/ :)
Right now we see no light at the end of the tunnel.....

Pacifier woes.

Leia took the DIF pacifier, and used it without complaint, the only one she would take (but only if she was calm or sleeping..... which takes away the point of a pacifier..... but anyways..). Then after 5 days she refused that pacifier and has refused all pacifiers since.

Then I tried the DIF pacifier this morning, for the heck of it, and she took it...... So.. she is a picky one.. :/
As soon as she took it she fell asleep..... And she's been asleep for almost an hour now... Silly baby!

None of us slept much last night.. :/ :)
Her sleeping seems hopeless.. :/

I have a horrible time getting her to sleep. Fredrik has much better success, and he is much better at putting her in her crib so she doesn't wake up. When she falls asleep with me, she reaches out her hand every so often to touch my chest or my face to make sure I am still there........!! Or she will just sleep with her hand on my face. So, it is hopeless for me to lay her down in her bed without her waking up. Granted, it is incredibly sweet and adorable that she does that, but it makes life a little more difficult! :)

We are tired, but we are learning to live with little sleep. :)

Her eating is keeping me drained, too, though.. :/ :) She eats every 2 hours, and feeds for at least 1 hour at each feeding...! :/ :))

Leia can almost entirely hold her head up on her own..! If you sit her on your lap, she can hold her head almost perfectly. She gets tired after a little while, but we are very proud of her. :)

Caesar is getting a little clingy to Leia. :)
When I am feeding her, he will jump up on the couch and try to sit in my lap, too, next to her. :) And during the night he sleeps in her room. :) So we are happy that he is taking to her well.

3 weeks until we leave for the US!
Time has gone by fast. We are anxious for Mormor and Morfar to get to meet Leia. It has been sad and difficult for all of us that they have to wait so long to see her and that they won't get to see her so often.. :(
She will also get to meet her aunts and cousins, and even her 2nd cousins! And we are going to take a looong roadtrip with Mormor and Morfar to visit lots of great-aunts and great-uncles, and many other distant relatives.

Leia and Thea.

Here are a few pictures of Leia and Thea.

[for the non-Swedish speakers, Thea = pronounced: Tee-uh]






Thea is the daughter of Daniel and Lisa. Daniel is a childhood friend of Fredrik's, one of the few that he is interested in keeping contact with. On Tuesday evening, Fredrik, Leia and I went to visit Daniel, Lisa, and Thea at their apartment in Stockholm.

It was extremely interesting to see the two together - they are like night and day. :)) Thea is enormous, quiet, still, and sleeps all the time. Leia is tiny, loud, trying to look at everything, and barely sleeps at all. :) It was interesting to see another baby around the same age. Interesting to see differences in temperment and development. :)

Thea was due 1½ weeks before Leia, but Leia was born first and is 5 days older than Thea.

It was lots of fun to visit with them and Fredrik pretty much demanded that they have to come and visit us. Fredrik and I are already making plans for them to come stay with us in late Spring (when the weather is nicer), we just have to let Daniel and Lisa in on the plans as well... :)))

US Embassy.

I've been trying to load some pictures, but blogger is being difficult, so that will have to come later.. :)

We got to the Embassy on Wednesday morning with plenty of time to spare.

We walked up to the gate and there was a line with around 25 people in it, and we read the sign and it said something to the effect of "immigrant visas" and then I saw another sign that said "US Citizens" and there was no one in that line. So, we went and stood in that line, and the guards took us first before everyone else, then.. :/ :) Which felt a little weird, but was nice because it was very cold outside and we didn't want to wait.. :/ :))

If you have ever travelled to the US, then you know the kind of security you have to go through when traveling in or out of the US... well.. this was worse.. :D They did everything besides a cavity search.. :/ :)) But the security people were in awe of Leia and kept her occupied while we had to be searched. We weren't allowed to take our cell phones with us or anything like that.

Then we were able to enter the actual embassy building (which was extremely ugly).

There were lots of people there already ... all trying to get visas to travel to the US. While waiting to get through everything, (we had our own seating area next to the windows, of course, apart from everyone else), we got to hear all the pleas of people trying to con their way into the US.. It was.. interesting.. :)

Leia was hungry and grumpy.. :/ But she did fairly well while waiting. We were there about an hour. We talked to just a normal person and she went through all our papers to make sure we had everything we needed. And she thought Leia's passport photos were good..! We were very surprised by that, we were expecting them to be completely wrong.

And the woman thought that Leia was a lot older than she actually is (which is what everyone always thinks).

Then we had to wait for awhile until we got to talk to an official, our "interview." The person that would sign all our documents and notarize our signatures.

When we got in a line to pay for everything, we got to go before everyone else in the line, that had been waiting who-knows-how-long.. :/ Because of me being American. We didn't really have a choice about the matter. The guard placed us in front of everyone else, and the cashier said to the Swedish guy behind us "That is just the way it is." .. :/

We should receive her American passport in about 3 weeks. Her Social Security Number (personnummer) will take about 3 months, but that isn't necessary to have right now.

And some interesting info for some fun:
-Leia will have to file for American taxes every year for the rest of her life now.. :/ She will have to register her income with the US government. She won't have to pay anything, though, unless she makes over like.. 80,000$ (600 000 sek) in one year.
-Her children will NOT be allowed to be US citizens unless Leia lives in the US for 5 consecutive years after she is like 13 years old or something like that. So, my US line ends with Leia unless she lives in the US.. my grandchildren will not be allowed to be US citizens then.

All of it is extremely complicated, though.. :/ :)
But we still need to get her Swedish passport, and we can pick up my Swedish passport when we get hers.

And a big thank you to Fredrik..! He took Leia for a walk, and he let me nap for 3 hours today while he took care of her. :) He actually kept her asleep, so she got a 3 hour nap, too today, while I slept. I really needed the sleep.

Leia seems much happier now, the last couple of days, than she has been in a couple of weeks. So, we are hoping things are getting better for her.. :) Slowing down a little. Of course it will be different tomorrow... :)

I'm going to try to get some pictures on of Leia and Thea, we'll see if blogger lets me do that!

Milk.

I forgot to mention yesterday that I am allowed to start back a little on some milk products. And we'll see if Leia can tolerate it better. I have really missed my milk products.. :/ And it has been difficult with having food to eat. So, we hope this goes well. :)

Leia is a bit constipated, though. She went a couple of weeks inbetween her poos (which is a bit longer than what is okay), so I have to eat some prunes, to help Leia go to the bathroom easier. :/ :) She is having less difficulty passing gas, which we think will also help her sleep better.

And Fredrik has fixed his pappa-leave. At least until we get back from the US. Not starting this Monday, but he is going to take every Friday and Monday until we go to the US. So we will have a couple of weeks with 4 day weekends! And then when we get back, he'll fix something new. :) It will be so nice to have him at home so much. :) Leia and I are looking forward to it. :) And with Pappa home, we can get the house straightened up and looking a bit better before we leave on our trip. :)

We also had no idea what Leia was SO underweight for her length when she was born. It would make sense if it is the problem for her.. over activeness.. It might just be an excuss on the nurse's part to help us keep our sanity for a couple more weeks. Giving us false hope so that we have a light at the end of the tunnel.. :D

But still, her little sleep is having no effect on her health, with as much as she is gaining in weight. So, obviously nothing is wrong.. :)

Leia did sleep a little better last night than she has in awhile. And all this morning, she has been very well tempered and in her baby gym, playing with the ghosts and making lots of happy baby noises. :)

She is 5 weeks old today. :)

Another ½ pound.

Leia's BVC appointment went well today!

Before we did all the weighing and measuring, we got to talk to one of the gals from our parent-group! She was there with her baby, a boy. (She, like the other couple we saw, were hoping for a girl.) She, like everyone else, couldn't get over how cute and adorable Leia is, and how small. :) Fredrik and I are anxious for our next parent-group meeting, to see all the babies, and compare them to all the pictures we drew of what we thought the babies would look like.. :D

This past week Leia gained 250 g (½ pound) and 1 cm (~½ in) in length. So she is at 4125 g (9 pounds) and 55,5 cm (~22 in).
So, she is growing like crazy, still ... although she isn't nearly as big as her cousin Kalle when he was born!

We won't have any more appointments, though, until her appointment with her pediatrician in a couple of weeks.

The nurse had a good idea that Leia would start to calm down in 1-2 weeks, though. That her eating would lessen, and her sleeping would get better. She says that Leia's body is trying to catch up to her length, and at the rate she is going, it shouldn't take much longer. (Her "curves" are starting to line-up.) Leia isn't nearly as chubby as she should be, yet, for her length. She doesn't have those chubby legs that babies have (which is why her pants and diapers don't stay on her very well), and why she looks a lot longer than she actually is.

She said that even though I don't feel I can keep up with her milk-need, that obviously her feeding is working very well, because of her weight gain since she was born. And we talked about how she notices everything and how good her head control is, and the hopes that she will start to sleep a little more. (Just doesn't seem right that a 5 week old sleeps about 6-7 hours in a 24 hour period.)

So, we are.. holding out for some change in her behavior.. :)

And tomorrow, I'll try to write about our trip to Stockholm.. I haven't had the time to get to that yet.. :P

Great great Aunt Gittan.

On our way home on Wednesday, after the trip to the Embassy, Leia got to meet her Great great Aunt Birgitta ("Gittan"), Kerstin's aunt. During the visit, we all decided that Gittan is going to be our babysitter (barnvakt). :)






She also got to meet a very close family friend, Gerd.

Progress?

Leia cried (screamed) herself to sleep this morning for the first time while I showered..

She wasn't needing for anything, and I put her in her crib like always, so that I can jump in the shower, and she is always crying way before I get out of the shower, but today when I finished she was quiet. And I checked on her, slightly afraid, but she was sound asleep.. so I'm hoping this is some progress..?!

We have decided that I am unable to keep up with Leia's milk need (she is a Milk Monster), no matter how much water I drink..
So we have started giving her formula (modersmjölksersättning) 1-2 times a day, to help my supply refill a little, and to make sure she gets a very full tummy. So, we hope this will help in the long run, maybe with her sleeping, too! (Probably not, but we can have false hope, no?) :))

We have plenty of snow and it is cold.. :/
Hope to take Leia for a walk after she wakes up and has her next feeding.

We have a BVC appointment today, Fredrik will go with us later, some time after 4.

Present from Aina.

A dear family friend, Aina, made this absolutely adorable kitty for Leia. Aina is extremely talented when it comes to handicrafts and this kitty is absolutely precious!

Great grandfather.

On Tuesday, Leia got to meet her "Gammel Morfar" (great grandfather, Kerstin's father). We didn't get to stay very long, this was a short visit, but we hope to stop by again for a longer visit on our way to Stockholm in December.