Saturday, November 26, 2011

A Girl and a Tiger

We had some pictures taken of Inara!

She's now five months and we can't believe how big she's getting. It's wonderful and scary all at the same time.



Favorite #1



Favorite #2









Sunday, November 20, 2011

Carrots and Peas

Inara has started eating solids! She's only tried carrots and peas so far, but has started looking at everything we eat and opening her mouth to get some. We had a nice weekend with dinner at my uncle's house and going to yard sales. I somehow ended up with about 40 old-style glass canning jars for about $10. Guess I'll be doing some canning. Or maybe not. 

A lot of the pictures are blurry this time, but I thought they were still worth sharing. 


Nothing like a good book
Say wha!?




What you got there?


Hmm...

Oh yeah!

Just give me the bowl!

Only a few teaspoons?

I guess that's ok...

I still feel pretty good, since after all...

I'm not wearing pants!



Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Father's Day

Sunday was Father's Day here, so I made an "American Breakfast" and my dad came over to enjoy it with us. (My mom, like most Swedes, was not able to stomach bacon and pancakes at that hour). ***ANDREW NOTE (She was able to stomach coffee and her regular breakfast, which may have spoiled her appetite). Inara had made a card for her dad who was quite impressed by how superior her written communication is compared to her oral. By the way, Inara has transitioned from blowing raspberries to imitating a an old creaky door. In today's swim class the instructor was accompanied by a constant creek.

We will be moving in to our apartment on December 1. It's a smallish attic apartment on the fourth floor (Andrew is convinced I'm trying to kill him by hauling our stuff up and down), but will be perfect for us until Andrew graduates. It's going to be nice getting into town where everything is within walking distance and where there are more options when it comes to stuff to do.


Father's day

Inara and my dad


The fog rolling in outside my mom's house





Thursday, November 10, 2011

Welcome!

Yesterday the world welcomed a new little girl and Inara got another cousin! The little one doesn't have a name yet, but Inara seems partial to "Adababa." Then we could always say that her first word was her cousin's name. We are so happy to hear that everything went well and that everyone is healthy!

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Dragon Diplomacy

Here's a little explanation of the origins of Inara's name: Inara is an old Hittite (ancient Middle Eastern culture) goddess of wild animals who once slayed a dragon. We felt this would be a great name for the smart and beautiful little girl our daughter was bound to be. However, Inara now wants to make it a point that she harbors no ill feelings towards dragons in general. That's why she decided to be a dragon for Halloween.



It should perhaps also be said that the name didn't appear to us in some moment of supernatural clarity, but in a geeky sci-fi show.

Dressing Inara up and carving pumpkins was the extent of our Halloween celebrations this year. Next year it might be a little bit bigger deal depending on where we're at and how Inara feels about it then. This was the first time I tried this kind of fancy carving, but hopefully it at least resembles an owl. Andrew made a pretty awesome ghost and a scary monster. It was my mom's idea to put them in a tree outside her house, and it looked really cool, but it was hard to get a good picture at night. 






Other than that we haven't been up to too much. Andrew came to swim class this week and I think Inara enjoyed having both of us there and was a good sport even when her dad accidentally sprayed her in the eye or let her inhale water. Below are just a couple of random videos and pictures taken this last week. 





Inara loves "standing"

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

On the Road Again

Inara had a serious case of wanderlust, so she talked me in to doing a little bit of traveling last week. We took a boat and a train and went to visit my dear friend Moa and her family in Dalarna (rural part of Sweden north of Stockholm). I've known both her and her boyfriend for about ten years and they have two wonderful little boys - the youngest exactly a month younger than Inara. We had a great time just hanging out in her kitchen all day and talking about babies and memories. Inara was mesmerized by Sigge (as you can see in the pictures). 

Frank, Sigge and Inara


"Excuse me..."
Two days later we continued our tour to Stockholm where I stayed with my good friend Rebecka. We've also known each other since high school, but it's been at least three years since we last saw each other. She made a delicious dinner that we enjoyed together with her boyfriend, parents, sister and her sister Sara's boyfriend who's from Zimbabwe. It was fun talking to him since he's familiar with the organization I went to visit in Kenya. In the morning Karl, another old friend, came by for breakfast and later in the afternoon we met up with my cousin David for coffee.

Rebecka and Inara

Ragnar and Cecilia singing to Inara (they're really good singers so she was in for a treat)

Inara and Sara
Dinner

Karl and Inara

David and Inara
Our trip ended on a fabulous note with a visit to Ragnhild and her son Iwo. Inara had spent most of the day making funny "spit" sounds, so I shot a little video of her doing it just in case it was a one time thing (which it has been). I'm the one doing the sounds in the beginning to try to encourage her to do it, but towards the middle there is no stopping her. 

In summary, we had a great time and it was so nice to reconnect with some truly good people.

While we were gone, Andrew just went to school and missed us terribly I'm sure. Other big news are that we are moving in to an apartment in Visby in a month. It's pretty small, but we like it.



Ragnhild and Inara
Finally, Inara had to wash off her travels. She loves taking baths!





Also, since some of you have asked, I wanted to let you know that it is possible to leave a comment on the blog even if you don't have a gmail account and if you would like to be notified of new posts, there is a sign up button on top of the page.