Rinse off 2009

Sandra took her first bath in the ocean today. Thanks to Katti and Stina she finally braved going to Kallis, the bath house of the shore here in Malmö. Sauna and a dip in the freezing water and discussing goals for 2009. This was actually the first dip in the ocean for Sandra in 2009. Matt never dared to go in, even in August when it was warm.. except the occasional wading at the dog beach in order to get Oliver to be ok with the water.

Christmas time

Our house was busy this Christmas. We had Matt's parents and brother over from South Carolina to visit Sweden for the first time and also to meet both William and Oliver. Sandra's parents also come down from Stockholm for the baptism and Christmas and then Sandra's sister and niece with family and friends came over for Christmas dinner. We did a traditional Swedish 'Julbord' (sans the 'Lutfisk' because that is disgusting). We had sausage, ribs, meatballs, lamb, ham, salmon, and lots of different pickled herrings. It was an eating fest like always. In the afternoon we played some Christmas games and played trivial pursuit junior edition (up to 8 years old!!). Yep, we were able to answer most of the questions. I posted a slideshow of the photos below.. Merry Xmas everyone!

Baptism

On Dec 21, our boy was baptized to William Morgan Goble. We had a small ceremony in Sjömanskyrkan in Malmö with family and friends, including his grandparents which were there from the US. We always say that William is such an easy baby and that he rarely cries.. yadda yadda.. well, of course when the ceremony starts he goes crazy. He cried hysterically and we had to make a break for it for a few minutes but then eventually after we did some readings trying to scream louder then him so we could be heard, he fell asleep. However, it was a wonderful service and I think what is a baptism without a crying baby :). We have been very lucky since we got William to sleep all night (mommy loves this) so we have been experimenting with naps during the day so I think this could be the reason... I posted some photos from the day and we really had a blast..

Anna and Gregg with Snow

So Winter came to Malmö. My niece always told me that there is no snow (or at least none that sticks) here in Malmö. However, Wednesday it started snowing and has been coming down ever since. It looks so beautiful and we are starting to get into Christmas spirit.

On wednesday Anna and Gregg also arrived here in Malmö. They

stopped by on their way up north to celebrate christmas. It was so great to hang out with them again. We were, of course, trying to talk them into moving here so that we can see more of them. We went to a really nice dinner and had 'planka' (in English.. plank steak), did some shopping (The boys did not want to join us), and hung out at our house.

Roman Holiday

Over Lucia weekend (Dec 13th) the family went to Rome for a little get-away. We were a bit worried about traveling with William for the first time, but it was so easy. He is still very portable and even if Rome is not a city that is 'stroller friendly', we had no problems since we were using the Baby Björn so much. We had a great time, there is so much to see and the city is absolute beautiful. Lots of history and art for Matt to just get lost in. We ate good food and the Italians seemed to love bambinos since we got so many sweet comments about William from the locals.

Baby cinema, party and Christmas cookies

Friday we went to a baby cinema and we watched Away we go. The movie was pretty good. Kinda like Garden State, plus it had to do with babies so that was interesting enough. This time there was a lot of babies at the movies, probably around 40 or so. William, as always was the quiet one :) Well at least we think so.

Friday night Sandra went to her christmas party in Malmö, she had a great time being out and even stayed out past midnight. It was her first time out on the social scene since William.. :). She of course had more of a separation anxiety then he did.

Saturday afternoon, Sandra her sister Katti and her niece Paula all baked christmas cookies. We had some grand plans for this day. We were backing sugar cookies, christmas carmel, ice chocolate and ginger bread and even putting together a ginger bread house. We had a great time but we spoiled two cookie recipes since we cannot follow directions, burned the ginger bread cookies and got too tired so we did not have time to decorate the ginger bread house. However, it was a great time.

Thanksgiving / Chicago reunion

Last weekend we went to Gothemburg area to celebrate Thanksgiving and get together with some old friends from Chicago. Elisa and Derrick and their daughter Noelle were our great hosts and they moved to Sweden in August this year after 10 years in the US, just like us. Paula, Thomas and their daughter Selma was also there which we got to know in Chicago and our newlywed friends Elin and Nish from Evanston who are expecting a little one in March. Since Thanksgiving is not a holiday here in Sweden we got together on Saturday instead and there was all the great fixings and foods from a very traditional dinner. Turkey, mashed potatoes, imported sweet potatoes from the US, pies etc etc... It was delicious! It was such a nice evening and fun to get together and talk about the old times in US and also a lot of discussions around the new steps we have all taken by becoming parents. The little ones, with Noelle being the oldest (1 year), Selma (6 mo.) and William (2 mo.) were so well behaved and happy to hang out with us all night.

The hosts Elisa, Derrick and Noelle

Elin and William

The kids table with Selma and William

The next day we took a hike in the woods with Elisa, Derrick and Noelle. It was the first time we really tried out the baby bjorn and William seemed to like it since after a few minutes he was sound asleep. It was a really beautiful hike and it was needed after all the delicious food that we ate the night before.

Christmas decorations

Friday Nov 27th we started decorating for Christmas since the 1st of advent was coming up. William was helping to hang the christmas decorations on the three.. ok, he got a lot of help from dad with this task but he gets and A for effort, right?














We also created a advent calendar where everyone in the fam (including dog) is getting 6 gifts each...

Stockholm weekend

Last weekend we went up to Stockholm to show off the baby and to meet up with family and friends. Friday we went over to Emma's and got to have lunch with her and Milla. It was great catching up and William got some adorable clothes. Saturday we went over to my grandma and grandpa to show of William. That afternoon we went to the Diagos. It was Bea's 3rd birthday party and she had invited all her friends and family. The house was filled with lots of toddlers and babies. Matt and I are now also part of the baby club. Paula had made some great food and was a wonderful hostess. It was so much fun to be back with friends and even if Malmö is closer than Chicago was to home, I still miss hanging out with my friends. Sunday we chilled and then went to see my cousin. Oliver was the only one who did not have such a great weekend. We were a bit worried how the baby was going to take the long drive up to Stockholm, but he was no problems.. He mostly slept. However, Oliver was all crazy for the entire ride. He hyperventilated and could not sit still. Also he got feed all sorts of interesting food from my family and friends so he really got stomach sick too. Here are some photos from the weekend..





Emma, Milla och WIlliam






























Great grandma and grandpa and William


















Linda, Paula, Matt and WIlliam at Bea's party













































Birthday Girl

Dog pacifier

We started wondering where William's pacifiers disappeared when we were watching a movie this weekend. We looked all over the floor and eventually had to give up and had to go get a new one. Well, eventually the dog comes up and it seems like he has been checking out what William is doing and wanted to do the same. Yep, he was carrying the pacifier in his mouth and he actually had it in there for about 30 min... until he chewed it to pieces. Well we all thought it was hilarious.. until he stole one more pacifier..

Lyon's name day

Saturday was Lyon's (great nephew) baptism. It was a beautiful day with lots of family, friends and laughter. The ceremony was so sweet and Paula singing left everyone a bit teary eyed.





Here is a photo of 4 generations. My mom, sister, niece and little Lyon

Happy Halloween

Halloween is a very American holiday but it seems to catch on here in Sweden too. We were invited to one of Matt's classmates parties and we decided it was time to get out a meet some people. We brought William with us and this year we were kind of lazy with our own costume. Since we had such a cute bear outfit for him we just decided to match it.

Baby cinema

Today we went to see the documentary Bananas at the cinema. They have 'baby cinema' at our theater which means that the movie is showed with the lights on and sound turned down a bit. They have a stroller parking, intermission with coffee and cake halfway trough the movie, changing tables etc. etc. I love how Sweden is so 'baby friendly'. If you do not mind baby screams this is really the best movie experience. Matt and I had a great time and William was really cooperative and slept through most of it.

Never too young to learn

We went to 'öppna förskolan' (open pre-school) with William yesterday. We were actually there to support the cousin Lyon which is 6 months old but since they had baby hour William and Sandra also tagged along. It was so much fun. The place was filled with babies moms and also some dads. William was of course the youngest one and slept through the whole thing, but Sandra is still going to call it a success. The babies were all hanging out and playing, while there was fika (coffee time) and social hour for the parents

William with Sara and Paula doing what he does best, sleeping...






Lyon found a friend.

1 month old

William is one month old today! It is amazing how many things happen the first couple of weeks. He starts being so much more alert, the first smile and we have all started getting used to his different cries and grunts. I posted some photos from lately.

The first smile that we managed to capture on camera.









Trying out the baby björn carrier... William still have some growing to do before we go out hiking with him in this one.






Trying out the baby gym.. The lamp in the ceiling is still more interesting

Grandma and Grandpa visits

My grandma and grandpa came down from Stockholm to visit. They brought lots of gifts.. most are still a bit too big for me, but what isn't. I had my 4 week check up and everything looks great. I am finally more than 3 kg (3.2 to be exact which is 7 pounds) but I am following my weight curve perfectly. When grandma and grandpa was here we went to the dog park and Oliver found a friend. He did not want to leave the park and I think he had so much fun he forgot about his whole family.. Matt had to come chase him down and carry him back to the car in order to get him to go home with us. That night we also went out to dinner to celebrate grandpa's birthday. We celebrated American style with ribs at TGI Fridays, but we never dared to ask them to come sing for him.. that probably only happens in the US. Both William and Lyon was hanging out at the restaurant no problems, mostly sleeping in the stroller.

Sickos

I guess the first couple of weeks of your new baby is usually spent indoors at home with lots of sleeping (not you but him), feeding and changing diapers. In Swedish this is usually called sängkammartiden (sleeping period) ..however, now the whole family has been ordered to bed. I woke up yesterday to Oliver (puppy) throwing up. He recovered fine and after lots of TLC and some time at the dog beach he seems perfectly fine. However, Matt has been feeling ill and after going to the doctors he found out he has the shingles. Yep, probably the only person under 60 who have this disease. William and Mommy however feel great. Sandra also extended her cable TV package and bought her husband lots of candy so I was a really good wifey. I also posted an adorable photo of all the boys in Goble family.

Dinners, games and parks

William had is first dinner out. We went to a thai restaurant with some of Matt's school friends. William was a perfect little son, he slept through it all.









On Saturday night Katti invited us over for dinner and then we headed back to the football game between Sweden and Denmark. It was a pretty sad game so good thing we got a good dinner before hand.

Here is a cute photo of 3 generations: Katti, Paula and Lyon










We also took a stroll to the dog park this weekend to make sure that Oliver does not feel to left out now when William has arrived. He is actually not bad at all at doing agility, but Oliver does anything for a treat.

Matt, Matt Goble, License to Drive!

Today was a good day, today I passed the drivers license test. It's been a long, strange road.... first I started off by driving for 13 years in the US. Then when I got to Sweden it was like it didn't even matter. I had to go to a weird all swedish seminar to learn how drugs and alcohol and being tired effect your driving. Then it was simulated ice driving (in the middle of summer), which by-the-way was a lot of fun. Finally I had to study my butt off for three days straight to pass a 70 question test to end the day with a old swedish guy telling me I could drive, but just not properly... Well three weeks later, I gave it a second shot and no problem this time. I'm claiming it's me. But probably more about the vägverket (DMV) guy who I had judging me this time.

Weight is always an interesting issue, most people are always trying to loose weight, but apparently William has his dads metabolism. We've (Sandra) has been working pretty hard to get him to gain some weight and today at his check-up he showed that he is following the curve :)