Nemo and Dory

Penicillin is strong and Noah's ear is already better. That much better that we decided to pay Universeum a visit. Not sure if I mentioned it before but it's a science centre where you can discover the space, the rain forest and the ocean. It's a fantastic place, especially on days when it's rough weather outside. Like this weekend - snow, snow and more snow. In fact, it came that much snow that our first attempt to visit Universeum on Saturday failed, as the trams didn't run and we had to walk back home after hopefully waiting for a tram for 30 minutes.

Sunday was much better and we caught the tram, enjoying the views of the city with fresh snow - there is nothing like it, especially a day like Sunday when the sun is shining.

We have already been to Universeum once this year and at that first visit, we realised that having season tickets was the only way to go. So now we can pop in at anytime, just for a few hours to have a play and look at the animals.

Noah remembered where everything was and when we got to the ocean part of the centre, he pointed and said "sharks". But it wasn't the sharks that got the attention this time, he ran straight to the tanks where he knew he could find Nemo and Dory.

Bug attack

I'm down with a cold and Noah with an ear infection. It's so much easier now when he is a little older and can talk. This morning he said to me: "Mamma, öra ont", letting me know that his ear was hurting. So we booked an appointment with the doctor and just he had said, it was the ear. The penicillin is strong so we should see an improvement already tomorrow. When being sick, you're not always too keen to eat proper meals and for some reason Noah likes to stick to his beloved oatmeal so there is porridge for breakfast, lunch and dinner on the menu.

Fettisdagen

Fettisdagen is the last day before the Christian feast; the day between the Blue Monday, and theAsh Wednesday. Because it is the last day before the Easter Feast, it has created a tradition to eat buns, so called semla. The oldest version of the semla was a plain bread bun, eaten in a bowl of warm milk. Today, the Swedish semla consists of a cardamom-spiced wheat bun which has its top cut off and insides scooped out, and is then filled with a mix of the scooped-out bread crumbs, milk andalmond paste, topped with whipped cream. The cut-off top serves as a lid and is dusted with powdered sugar. Today it is often eaten on its own, with coffee or tea and some people still eat it in a bowl of hot milk.

Most grocery stores sell them already in Early January and Shawn, with the big sweet tooth, has bought a few this last few weeks. I'm not really into the shop bought version so Noah and I surprised Shawn and baked our own on Fettisdagen. Guess if he loved the surprise? And after tasting the "real deal", Shawn has requested homemade semla every year :-). Below are two pictures of semlor, the assembled product as well as a cut-up view of the semla. Anyone keen to visit next February...?

Happy Valentine's Day!

The in schooling at "dagis" is complete and there have been no tears. Only one of the first days when the teachers asked Noah to put away the toys for lunch! From mummy there have been no tears either, just an overall weird feeling that something is missing and the realisation that shopping without kids and a pram is a breeze :-D.

This weekend was a quiet one, yet still lots of fun. Friday night we had dinner with an old friend of mine and her partner along with another couple we never met before. It's great to get out and about and get to know new people, it feels as if the circle of acquaintances is growing! It was a lovely dinner and we could tell that we have been out of the scene for a while because we both woke up with headache the morning after :-).

Saturday day was spent lazying about at home as well as some cleaning, which really only takes a blink of an eye since this place is small! I love a spacious home but you gotta admit, it's hassle when it comes to the cleaning!

Saturday night Annelie and Tony came over for dinner. The good old slow cooker came in handy, being hungover and all, and we enjoyed a beef and mushroom stew with mash. What better meal a snowy winter day?

Sunday...sick again! Not hungover this time but I managed to catch the latest bug that Noah brought home from daycare. What is it with kids' bugs, they just seemed to knock you out?! So I've been in bed all day whilst Noah and Shawn have enjoyed the usual tram ride - I'm glad we invested in tickets with unlimited rides :-).

Even though being sick, I have enjoyed my so far most memorable Valentine's experience;

When Noah and Shawn came back home after their tram ride, they buzzed on the door. I didn't get why they couldn't open the door themselves since they had the key but I dragged myself out of bed and opened the door. By the bottom of the stair stood Noah, with the biggest and proudest smile on his face. He looked at me and started to walk up the stair with one hand on the railing. In the other hand he held a bouquet of tulips! He looked at me with sparkly eyes, smiled and said "Mamma, färger!". (Färger means colours and sometimes this is what he calls flowers - he is quite accurate I must say.)

Noah had bought the flowers with pappa in the shop and had insisted to carry them all the way home himself. He had also practiced to say "var så god" meaning "here you go" when passing over the flowers. But in all excitement when reaching the top of the stair and giving me a hug, instead he said "tack" = thank you. And he also decided to keep the flowers for himself :-).

Easy going weekend

Still lots of snow... Good weekend with a sunny sky and about -5. And another weekend has almost passed. It's been a fairly quiet one with some cleaning, a work out, shopping and catching up with friends. Shopping = storage solutions. Feeling like vintage at the mo. God bless IKEA but it's nice to blend it up a bit :-). Both Shawn and I are thrilled about this piece.

Noah loves being out and about in Göteborg and when we woke up this morning and asked what he wanted to do today, he answered "Åka tåg. Och buss". Well, we must agree, the trams and buses are running very smoothly here. It´s that convenient with the public transport system that we are considering apartment living even when we purchase a home later on.

Tonight will be an early night as tomorrow it is time for preschool again as well as Swedish class for Shawn. I believe a classical meal will be served tonight, Swedish meatballs, easy as.

Need Warm Toes and Feet?

Check this website out - here you can will a pair of extremely cute pair of slippers of the colour of your choice! http://frenchpressknits.blogspot.com/

1st Morning of Daycare

On the way to preschool this morning, I asked what he though of us going there. "Kul!" he answered back. Whether if I agreed that it was fun I'm not so sure, mums tend to be nervous about these things. But Noah was thrilled this morning, first because we had to travel by tram to get there and secondly, the place we were going to was to be full of new friends and cool toys.

In fact, this morning it went so well, that after 30 minutes the teachers asked me to leave for 45 minutes to see how he coped without me. He was so excited that he didn't even notice that I left! The teachers were impressed that he was so social. The poor kids has pretty much been alone with us for the past few months so no wonder really. They reckons that this in schooling will be easy. For him :-)...