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.