Day at the Beach

Well we are finally in Thailand and although yesterday went with out an major hitch, we felt very tired this morning. The bed was firm (thats the kind way of saying it) and we only had one very puffed up pillow each. It was a tuff night, luckily Noah slept right through.

Often when you go on holiday you get that feeling that you've forgotten to pack something. Maria had that feeling in the taxi to the airport and although we had tried to think of what it was, we just couldn't put our finger on it............until this morning. It wasn't what we had forgotten to pack but what we had forgotten to DO! We had not given the keys to our hoousesitter, Bronwyn. In the rush of our last few days in Perth, we had forgotten all about it. Someone once said "never assume anything". We assumed that Moa and David had the right set of keys for our house. They didn't. We changed our locks and had a dead lock added and since then have never made an extra set to give to M & D just in case we lock ourselves out.

Hopefully this will sort itself out quickly with Bronwyn getting the keys from the realestate tomorrow.

I was very tired and slept some more after breakfast whilst Maria organised our room and unpacked. Just after midday we were on our way to Kamala Beach, just a short tuk tuk drive from Surin Beach. We had organised to meet with Petra (and old friend of Maria's from her tour guide days who is now GM of the hotel we are staying in) on the beach for some R & R.

It started to get warm around midday but when we got to the beach, a breeze was blowing and there was a clear blue sky.

Below are some photos of Noah's first day at the Beach.

The first day of our holiday

Pictures from yesterday; on the plane where Noah also happily snuggled in the bassinet, as well as the first time in the pool and the dinner on the beach...

Sawadee

We arrived safe and sound in Thailand this afternoon. The trip went well and Noah was really happy all day.
10 minutes after checking in to the hotel, Noah, Shawn and I were in the pool, sooo nice to go for a swim after the long flight.
Had an early dinner on the beach and watched the sunset. We ordered lots of diffrent local dishes and Noah seemed amused by watching us dipping into the food. Suddenly he started to reach after the food on Shawn's plate and got hold of a piece of vegetable. We thought it was just a random thing but during the course of the meal, he reached out again and again to our plates and tried to grab the food. He probably thought the Thai dishes were really colourful and that veggies would do great as toys :-).
It's now 9 pm and we are sooo tired, going to bed now so the uploading of photos will have to wait until tomorrow.

Easter weekend

Playing around

Today we received our new camera that we bought the other day. Were playing around with it this afternoon, learning how to operate it. Some photos turned out really well and others not so good, mainly when we didn't use the right function :-). Noah seemed to enjoy being the centre of the attention. However, it's hard work being a model and a cuddle and a little nap was right in place.

Swedish Mothers' Group

I have joined a Swedish Mothers' Group and the last few Mondays I've been meeting up with the girls. All the mums' are Swedish and have at some point in their lives decided to live in Perth. The kids are from Noah's age up to 10 years old.
The GPS we got for Christmas has come in very handy lately as each time we meet at someones house. So far it's been heaps of fun, with lots of "fika" (Swedish for taking a break from work or other activities and having a coffee with one's colleagues, friends, date, or family) and nice lunches. Outside speaking Swedish, changing nappies and chasing naughty toddlers, we tend to focus on just fika and enjoying traditional Swedish dishes. Eating-what a lovely activity hehe! Such a great way to keep up with the Swedish language, to expose Noah to it and at the same time get to know a new group of lovely people :-).

Lunch at Helena's in Fremantle

Yummy dinner

Tonight we caught up with Liza and Adam at their place. Adam made his famous Caesar salad which was fab- the best Caesar salad ever!!!

Lovely to be served dinner, which allowed us to get some extra cuddle time with the little one.

Shopping

We want to get the new uptalked phil&teds pram the "Vibe". However, we have been waiting since January for the release of the new model and as we are soon to embark on our holiday, we have decided to get the 'current' model (the Sport) that is availalble in the shops. We went to pick it up today, choose the black colour. I thought it was going to look kinda boring but actually looks quite stylish! Our plan is to sell it in Sweden before we go back to Australia and then buy the Vibe when we get back (hopefully by June it will be out in the shops!) This will mean travelling back will be easier for us since we don't need to carry a pram. Also, as phil&teds prams are so expensive in Sweden, compared to here, we will be able to make a profit even though we are selling the pram second hand- good stuff!

phil&teds Sport

Today, Shawn, Noah and I met up with an old friend of mine that I used to work with in Portugal. Kirsi works for the Emirates and flew into Perth today so we caught up which was great fun. We spent the day lazing under the trees in Kings Park- the only sane thing to do when it's 36 degrees!! (Pictures to come...)

This week Noah is due for another immunisation. The last ones he got was when he was only a few days old and he handled it really well by sleeping through it :-). However, this time around may be a different story as he is more aware of what's going on. Keep your fingers crossed!

2 months old

Today Noah is 8 weeks old! Can't believe that the little man has been around for 2 months already!! Things are staring to happen really quickly now and we see changes in him every day.

His colic has improved a lot and he doesn't cry much anymore. He has put on lots of weight, is very alert and aware of his surrondings. He is yet not really interested in toys and instead he finds great amusement in windows, lights and the TV (which Shawn wants to ban already haha). Also, he smiles when we sing to him, especially when there is sign language along the rhymes. He tries to speak to us and makes small sounds and gets very excited when we reply back to him.

A breakthrough the other day: Noah feel asleep by himself in the sofa! Morfar (Noah's grandfather, Maria's father) sent him a comfort blanket. Its name is Bamse and is a very famous book- and cartoon character in Sweden. We have made sure that Bamse is next to Noah every time it's naptime. The other day when I put in Noah the sofa with Bamse for a nap, he started to speak to him, smiled and feel asleep. Just like that! Being used to the hourly struggles to get him down, I was AMAZED! Tonight he progressed further by pulling Bamse closer to him in bed before falling asleep.

Yes, things are certainly happening here and there is no risk that we will miss it; he has outgrown the newborn nappies and we have 'upgraded' him to the infant size, he is now officially a 'big' boy :-). See the big difference in him on the photos below.

Above is Noah with mummy 9 Feb, exactly a month ago. The pics below are taken tonight 8 March.

Passport hassles

March has arrived and it's now just a few weeks until our holiday begins, yah! Since we are going overseas, Noah needs his own passport and today we finally lodged the application. Been a bit of a hassle to get all the paperwork ready...
Noah's birth certificate that we had ordered got lost in the mail and never got tracked down so a new one had to be issued. When we were down in Bunbury we took passport photos of bub. This turned out to be a a tricky one as he has no neck control yet and must be held, however our hands cannot show on the photo. The lady at the Post Office made three attempts before we got a good shot. Back in Perth we brought the paperwork to Shawn's parents to sign the form as witnesses, stupid of us not to read the instructions properly becuase relatives can't sign the form. Instead we had David to sign the form and the photos and finally all the paperwork was ready. So we though...
Went to lodge the application at the Post Office today and guess what? The Post Office staff rejected the photos of Noah and claimed they weren't correctly taken. Don't they have the same rules in Bunbury as in Perth for the measurements of passport photos?!? So new photos had to be taken but this specific Post Office didn't take passport photos of children (of course) so we had to go to a mall to get it done at a photo shop. When we got there, Noah was half asleep in Shawn's arms and we had to wake him up, clap hands, sing songs and try to keep his attention while the woman tried to get a good shot. Noah found the the camera and entertainment quite amusing and fired off a big smile to us and she managed to capture it! So he will have a passport picture where he actually smiles (not all of us have that great pictures and hide our passport away from people to avoid embarressment haha)!
When taken the pic we had to go to David and Moa's house to have Dave to sign the new photos, then head to the Post Office and finally; we lodged the application!!
After all this trouble, we don't dare to wait the 2 weeks it's said to take before getting the passport (you never know what can happen...) so we decided to pay extra to get it quicker. A total of whopping $175! But hey, it's all worth it and Noah will be able to begin his globetrotter lifestyle at a age of 3 months :-).

By the way, indicated on the passport next to the photo of Noah, 7 weeks old, is his height: 58 cm. The funny thing is, it's valid for 5 years...