"Serious Talk"

The last few weeks Noah's language skills have really developed and he tries to make sentences when he speaks. It's really fun to listen to and even though the Swedish is more dominent, he mixes English and Swedish all the time. He has also started to communicate more what he wants and needs, anything from that he needs to empty his bowels to what type of food he prefers or if he wants more of something. Here are some examples from the last week;

The other morning, when cuddling in bed, I asked Noah if he wanted breakfast. He was fast out of bed, looked at me and said: "Mamma, come on!".

When in the mood for a snack, he opens the fridge, points at the yoghurt tub, with the brand Yoggi and says "Vill ha Yoggi nu." meaning "Want Yoggi now."

When hungry and wants another sandwich he says; "Macka ost mer" which means "Sandwich cheese more".

When reading a book where kids bake with their grandmother he points accurately in the book and says; "Det är pa-ka bord." which states "It's gingerbread cookie table."

Since he loved baking gingerbread cookies in December, the other day we decided to bake banana bread and Noah happily helped with the pouring and stirring. When it came to the vanilla sugar, he must of felt the lovely smell of vanilla because suddenly, he quickly put the heaped teaspoon in the mouth. To his surprise, it was very sticky and the roof of the mouth was sealed to the tounge. After a couple of seconds, when able to speak, he said with the mouth full with a stunned face: "Stuck. Dricka!" = "Stuck. Drink!". He looked so funny and both Noah and I were laughing out loud :-)!

Today on our way home from fika with Aunty Annelie, Noah was babbling on as usual. Most of the time, he speaks about the buses, trams and cars driving by. After a while, I heard he was repeating something over and over again. With the noice of the city in the background I was wondering what it was that he was saying and leaned over the pram to hear better and heard: "Tappa sko, tappa sko". I looked under his blanket and to my surprise, I found that- yes, he had lost his shoe! I looked back down the street and a couple of hundred meters down the street, I saw his little shoe.

This is a new part of our lives and it is so NICE to be able to understand him, to be able to keep conversation and have a good laugh together. And today, we also managed to not have to fork out money for a new pair of shoes!

Dagis

We have listed Noah for day care (dagis). There are around 15 day cares, all walking distance from our apartment. Fantastic I thought at first, however it turned out that the waiting was until August (!) - quite stressful as I was hoping to go back to work way before then! So I contacted the International Preschool here in Gothenburg, an English speaking day care. It is one of the few private daycares here, yet it's the same price as the public ones ( less than 200 AUD a month which also equals the Governmental payment all families get every month) so I gave it a shot . And guess what, I had the luck with me that day when visiting them and we got offered a spot - Noah starts in schooling already Feb 1st!! Now of course, the emotional journey begins, to leave our boy in hands of others, scary thought! I'm sure it will be fine, he longs for friends and age appropriate activities and it's time for him to try his wings a little bit. Even though he will make new friends, there is one girl that always will hold a special place in heart - miss Heidi ;-).

What a lovely view

This morning our shipment from Australia arrived! The men unloaded the truck within 30 minutes and suddenly the whole apartment was filled with boxes.

It was an surprisingly emotional experience to see the boxes being carried into the apartment. It was like it sunk in again; we are going to live here now, for real. I actually shed a tear and thought about everything in Australia that we'll miss out on.

I must say though, that it was lovely to watch Noah unpack his boxes together with us, he was sooo happy to see his own bed and all the toys. And I was happy to see my kitchen gear, jewelery and hand bags - up to now I've been carrying things in a Woolworth's green shopping bag under Noah's pram, can you believe it!?!

Anyway, today we've spent 12 hours unpacking and we still have about half the boxes to go! But there is no rush to unpack the rest - first we need to purchase some storage solutions and I think we know the right place to go for that....IKEA, sweet IKEA ;-).

Our Birthday Boy

After watching a puppet theater in the morning, we headed to Annelie's place for lunch and "kalas" (birthday party). Being new in town, by 2 days, means that most likely you will be the only child attending your own birthday party. Luckily, he has a mother, father and godmother who happily play silly games with the decorations and loves to eat yummy pancake-birthday cake ;-).

Only child at the party or not, Noah seemed to have lots of fun on his birthday and that is all that matters! He loved his presents and ate as much cake as his dad!

Thanks heaps Annelie for making us feel so welcome in Göteborg and for making Noah's birthday so special!

The First Night at Home

Ahhh...moving again! With everything stuffed back into the suitcases and with a few of my boxes that's been kept at my parents all these years, the car that we had rented yesterday was filled to its maximum capacity! Driving on the right hand side again in a new city in winter conditions is probably not what I would recommend to anyone but it actually went really well! The big freeway outside Lundsbrunn runs straight to Göteborg so there was not many turns before we rolled up in front of our new "home".

Since we don't have any beds yet, we have borrowed mattresses from Annelie which we have padded with unfolded moving boxes underneath, to make it a bit softer and warmer. We are also very lucky; since the guy we are renting from was moving abroad, he decided to donate a few pieces of furniture to us! He left us his kitchen table, some office furniture, a sofa and living room table - how sweet!

We slept really well on the floor last night and just the thought of that we finally have our own place eliminates any thoughts about wanting more fashionable furniture or better comfort! It's cosy in here - with Noah sleeping comfortably in the portacot and with the candle lights we've spread out around the room it feels...nice!

Tomorrow is another big day - Noah turns 2. After the recent events of Christmas, he now has practiced the "unwrapping technique" to perfection and I'm sure the gifts will be opened in seconds!

Good night, sleep tight...

The Scoring of an Apartment...

Yes, you read it right, we have managed to get hold of an apartment in Göteborg, yay!!

It is not like Australia when it comes to rental properties and it is almost impossible to find one here, people sometimes line up years in advance. After endless of hours searching online for a place and trying to get hold of the people renting the properties out without any luck, this one suddenly it popped up - with the right price and location and to be rented out ASAP! We saw the ad online only an hour after being posted so we emailed, sms:ed and rang and left a message. Desperate? Oh yes :-)! We nervously waited all day and in the afternoon he rang us back. Each ad normally get a few hundred responses so that he actually called us back was a very positive sign! As he was leaving the country for work in just 3 days, we needed to come to Göteborg and meet him and have a look at the apartment. After much talking on the phone, he decided that if we liked the place, we could have it since we "seemed so NICE"! Thank you, thank you, thank you - that's the news we've been waiting for!

So on the morning of New Years Day, January 1st, we headed for Göteborg, filled with hopes that it wouldn't turned out in disappointment. And we couldn't have been happier, the place was just what we needed - little and cheap with shops and amenities just around the corner and only 3 tram stops from the Central station! And that's that - we signed the contract for a year and are to move in next weekend!!