Sweet baby girl

Crafty stuff

Well, I've once again been slacking on my blog, but for good reason since the summer has been wonderful, we've been spending lots of time out on the boat in the islands, I was working at a preschool until the end of June, and I've been waiting for a good opportunity to take some photos of all the baby stuff we've been making.

M told me he was working on a baby bed/cosleeper but wouldn't tell me exactly how he wanted to make it...then he surprised me with this ADORABLE bed which is even more adorable because of the fact that we met while I was working on his boat as an environmental consultant looking for dolphins and whales:

 

 Here's a quilt I crocheted...at first it was hard to figure out which colors to choose since we don't know if we're having a boy or a girl, but then it was fun to just go crazy with all the colors:

I was also inspired by M's nautical baby bed to crochet an undersea mobile for the kiddo...M made the hanger from an oak tree in the backyard:

Lobster

Fish

Whale

Clam

Octopus

Jellyfish

I have a feeling that if we have a second child there's no way I'll have this much calm downtime to make so many cute handmade baby crafts, so I'm just assuming these will be for ALL our future kiddos too.  Everything is going smoothly with my pregnancy...a little less than 1.5 months left and I've officially crossed over from being "cute pregnant" to "kind of freaky pregnant."  Let's just say the next person who jokingly asks me if I'm sure there's not twins in there is getting slapped....

Spring has sprung!

...and it sure doesn't mess around when it decides to show up!  The weather for the past few weeks has been absolutely gorgeous, sunny, and warm....the flowers are blooming, baby lambs are being born, and I'm actually getting a little bit of a tan from spending the past week outside during Easter vacation.  It's amazing how much better and happier Sweden becomes when springtime finally shows up.  In more good news, the daycare where I had an unpaid internship has hired me to work 20 hours per week, possibly up to 30, through summertime.  It's a huge difference not feeling like an unemployed crabby pregnant burden on M and having so much to look forward to this summer.  Here are a few photos from the past couple of weeks:

A brand-new lamb born on the farm on M's parent's island.

I've been getting crafty in anticipation of the baby Sweedie.

 M's new boat, Vixen, is all spiffed up and ready to start his new company.

Every day the buds on the trees are bursting bigger and greener.

You know spring is here when the forest is carpeted with blåsippor.

 More fuzzy buds.

View over the fields on the farm where we live.

Vitsippor everywhere!

Howdy, stranger!

First we've had snow dumping down for several days straight, and today the sunshine finally made a much-needed but brief appearance on our wintry wonderland:

 I'm really glad to see the sunshine, but also a little disturbed that my first reaction to sunshine now is to run outside with my camera and take photos as if an alien has landed....hmmm.

Snö!

It looks like winter isn't wasting any time in showing up to Sweden this year...last night it was -5 Celsius when we went to bed (or "five degrees cold" as they say here) and the ground was all frosty and sparkly.  We've had our big kakelugn (tiled woodstove) burning off and on for the past few weeks now:

 Once the fire heats up, the whole tower section gives off heat for the next day or two, even if the fire goes out.

 Last night it got cold enough to light a fire in the old kitchen oven as well. 

This morning we woke up to a white, soggy winter wonderland and it's still plopping down as I type.  I've had a love/hate relationship with winter throughout my life, and this is the most snow I've seen since the winter of 2005.  But, I'm a northern girl at heart and I was a little surprised to find myself getting totally excited for the snow:

I've been lucky enough to live in hot, beachy, tropical places (Guatemala, Guam, and the Gulf Coast) for about 7 years of my life, but I never realized how much I missed the changing of the seasons.   Much like the upper Midwest of the US where I grew up (Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota), the seasons here in Sweden blast in and out in a way that's anything but subtle.  It almost seems like every single week here is different in some way, and it has a much bigger impact on the way you create memories and remember years past when it was a dry summer or an early winter or an extra-wet spring.  It's no wonder Swedes are so connected to nature, and forgetting to check the weather forecast here is as unthinkable as going without coffee or wearing your shoes inside the house. 

It's still snowing like crazy outside, which makes being inside with a cozy fireplace that much more enjoyable.  I feel like I've come full circle back to the wintry north now, and even though I'm on the other side of the world, it feels like home.

***** Snow Update, six hours later *****

After I posted this the power went out and the snow kept dumping down...so instead of the wussy little dusting above, we now have this:

 

Six months in Sweden

I can't believe it's already been half a year since I passed through customs at the Stockholm Arlanda airport with my shiny new residence permit.  After an absolutely gorgeous, sunny, and even hot summer followed by the most beautiful crisp fall imaginable I can say it's been much better than I expected so far.  Not only does the beautiful view outside my doorstep remind me on a daily basis of how lucky I am to live here, but it's been much easier to settle in and find productive things to do than I imagined.  Before I moved here I made the mistake of reading some expat discussion boards online where everyone constantly whined and complained about the impossibility of finding jobs, poor treatment of foreigners, coldness of Swedes, dark winters, rain, high cost of living, difficulty of learning Swedish, and generally how much they hated Sweden.  Reading posts from these crybabies was a really bad idea as it only made me nervous and doubtful about moving here.  I've been pleasantly surprised and relieved to find out that Sweden is wonderful and most of the expats who feel the need to go online and grumble and complain about their lives would most likely be doing the same thing regardless of where they were living.

So, six months later and I am getting more and more comfortable understanding and speaking Swedish, I have two part-time jobs that fill up my schedule give me something interesting to look forward to, I've moved up through several levels of Swedish classes to the point where I'm being challenged and enjoy my class, I've made lots of wonderful friends, and I can finally say enough words in Swedish to get a giggle out of M's super quiet, zero-English-speaking father.  Life is good and I even feel up to the challenge for the cold, dark winter ahead.

My Swedish classes have been moving along quickly and now I'm finally in the correct class for my level of Swedish.  The typical language-learning path that most newcomers to Sweden take begins with Svenska för Invandrare (Swedish for Immigrants), or SFI.  This class can be good or bad, and I was lucky enough to have enough Swedish under my belt to test out of the class after one week and move up to Svenska som andraspråk (Swedish as a second language), or SAS, which has three levels (Ground, A, and B).  It all gets a little confusing if you're not in the system yourself, but I'm in SAS A now which is basically high-school level Swedish.  I just started SAS A last week, and my new teacher is excited about teaching and challenging her students rather than just sitting around and chatting about current events.  I have class once per week for 4 hours and I'm really happy with it so far.

My two little jobs have been fun and although they're not the most economically lucrative choices in the world, I feel that right now it's more important for me to get comfortable speaking Swedish and making new friends and being happy and content here than it is to leave for another five weeks at sea in the middle of trying to settle in.  I've been babysitting for a few different families which has been by far the most fun way to learn Swedish.  The little girls I watch are quick to correct me if I say something wrong and love to teach me new words and meticulously help with my pronunciation.  I've also been hired as a native language English teacher for kids who speak English in their homes (most of the kids in my classes have one Swedish parent and one parent from an English-speaking country).  The kids range in age from 5 to 9 so it can be tough to find activities on a level that everyone can enjoy together, but I've come up with a few good ideas and right now I'm reading them one of my favorite childhood books, Charlotte's Web.

Having M home for the whole fall has been wonderful as well...he has been working on his 12-meter steel workboat that he built himself.  I've been helping him paint and pick out carpets and colors for the inside, and it's starting to look fantastic.  There will be several beds, a small kitchen, and a toilet/shower area inside so we'll be able to use it as a little floating guest house when we have visitors.  I can't wait to take it island-camping next summer!

The autumn has brought an abundance of food, so all of our meals are usually around 80% locally harvested wild game and vegetables.  There are potatoes and sweet corn grown here on the farm along with wild mushrooms in the forest and huge piles of apples on the ground.  Last week we picked 120 kilos of apples and dropped them off at the Värmdö Musteri (local cider mill)....now we have a stack of boxed cider in the cellar that should keep us from buying any type of sugary drinks for at least the next year.  M always keeps our freezer full of deer, moose, fish, duck, and whatever other creatures he manages to capture, so I am definitely getting spoiled by high quality meat and doubt I'll be able to stomach gross US factory-farmed beef and chicken again. 

Mushroom-O-Rama!

Unfortunately my little garden didn't fare so well this year (I think our yard is too shady since it's right next to a rock cliff), but I did get lots of dill, lettuce, parsley, carrots, a few green beans, and some basil out of it.  M's parents gave me some pumpkins from their neighbor and I introduced M to his first roasted pumpkin seeds and pumpkin pie from scratch.  I was nervous about making pumpkin pie for the first time for a group of Swedish friends who had never tasted it, but luckily it was a hit.  Everyone said the pie tasted like gingerbread cookies (which are a huge Christmas favorite here) so I was glad that I managed to represent and give everyone a little taste of authentic American culture.

So, that's my six month Swedish update...so far so good!  I would say "bring on the winter," but I'd rather keep this bright sunny autumn weather for as long as possible.

The perfect fall weekend

We just spent a long weekend out on M's parent's island with M's best friend, wife, two daughters, and a total of four crazy little hunting dogs running around.  Our friends were visiting from Göteborg on the western side of the country, and they brought us fresh lobster and a huge bag of shrimp. The weather was unbelievably gorgeous...bright sun, the water was like a mirror, and just a little fall chill in the air. 

This photo was taken just a few hundred meters up the road from our house.

The bay where we live, headed out toward M's parent's island.

 Island sheep

 Island ponies

 This pony is so teeny, he looks like a dog.

One of the best things about M's parent's house is their wood-fired hot tub out on the dock.  There's something about soaking in hot salt water and then jumping back and forth into the chilly sea that makes you feel like ten pounds of dirt has been scrubbed out of your skin. 

 We stopped to grill hot dogs on the way out to watch seals on the rocks

A grey seal

 Taking photos of swimming seals from a bobbing boat wasn't easy, but with a good zoom I managed to catch this guy's eerily human-like eyes.

Swan launch

Homestead-y

Aside from last-minute Spanish adventures or cheering on drag queens in Stockholm, I've spent the past few weeks getting used to being in Sweden on my own while M is away at sea.  Everything is getting easier and easier now that I can understand a lot more Swedish (I'm still around the level of a 2-year-old as far as speaking, though).  I've picked up some extra work as a nanny for a few days a week, which should work out nicely with my Swedish classes once they start later this month.  Being around kids is by far the fastest and most fun way to learn Swedish...kids here don't start learning English until age 9, so it's not an option for me to wuss out and speak English with them.  They talk nonstop, usually seem fascinated by a silly grownup who can't speak correctly, and they love teaching me new words and correcting my pronunciation.

In the meantime, I've been crocheting (virkning) a blanket for M's cousin who is having a baby boy next month:

Hmmm....I don't think she reads this blog, so hopefully it will be a surprise!  I've also been on a potato-harvesting spree since M volunteered us to tend two 80-meter rows of potatoes on our landlord's farm.  I had never harvested potatoes before, but it's pretty fun...you turn over the whole potato hill with a pitchfork, then sort through the soil with your fingers and pick out all the buried treasure.

Lots and lots of potatis.

So far I've picked over 40 kilos (90 pounds) of new potatoes!  The new ones are small with thin skins, and you have to eat them right away or else boil and freeze them.  While I like potatoes as much as the next guy, I'm nowhere near as crazy about them as your typical Swede.  So, the majority of the potato harvest went straight into the freezer or was given away to friends and family...I'm sure it would've been a different story if I had been picking raspberries.  But, between the potatoes, deer, moose, fish, and wild mushrooms, there's something intrinsically satisfying about watching our big chest freezer fill up with fresh food from just outside the door.