the hunt

Just a little bit over a week left before the long journey back to America, California, Santa Barbara, home, work, school, reality, and best of all ROUTINE. Marcus & I obviously have mixed feelings about leaving. We are both super excited to finally start our lives as 3 since the last time we were in SB all together things were just temporary since we were moving to Sweden this summer. Anyways I am on the hunt for a job, either my old one or a new one. I have had a couple email, phone, skype interviews and discussions and I thought I had found a ”dream job” but turns out it was only part time (20 hours) a week. Though the pay was niceand the position was totally something I was looking for I would rather get my old job back & move up a level to get paid the same with more hours, and work somewhere familiar and family safe… having Miles makes things a bit more complicated as we need to find an affordable, loving and safe daycare for him for a couple days a week. 

 

He has been with us since day 1 and both Marcus and I were blessed with the Swedish government and me working for a school to have so much time to bond with the little guy. Marcus will cram all his classes into two days again this semester to get Swedish paternity money on his days off & be able to stay at home with Miles to avoid the costs of day care. It will be a nice transition for all of us, not easy, but nice. I will start pumping like a maniac throughout the days to keep up with Miles while we are apart and for once be able to wake up in the mornings all together and start the day!

 

I can not wait to go back to work and have something to do again, though I love being a mommy, a stay at home mom is not the life for me. I spent too much time shopping, eating out, hanging out with friends, and drinking wine and coffee but of course I spent tons of time with Miles and breastfed exclusively up until recently when it became a morning, afternoon, bedtime thing along with solids. 

 

ok I am babbling… well we are now deciding between jobs and apartments and it’s turning out to be extremely difficult to find a place, as almost everything is taken or applied for by people who qualify more than us looks like we might have to grab somethign temporarily while we find something more permanent perhaps after we pay off some bills and get settled and realize what we can actually afford after my checks start coming in and daycare takes it portion. 

 

adult life… 

august, 22

So we finally booked our tickets home. It feels sometimes like we have been away from home for years and other times we look back and it all went by so fast. Most of the summer has been spent with friends and family while some of it has of course been spent stressing out about what’s to come when we move back. We have a lot of discussing to do still when it comes to what we can afford, what bills we will aim to pay off first and how much we can try and save each month. Though we dreamed of renting a two bedroom this time around it looks like a one bedroom will have to do. 

 

Miles is still so young and has no real need for his OWN room besides me and Marcus getting our bed and lives together back but that can wait… I would love to get all of our debt paid off and find the perfect apartment together for a future move in. 

 

anyways Miles has been demolishing EVERYTHING in sight lately and loves everything he has tried so far, fruits, veggies, chicken, pasta (he just isn’t too into ground beef). He eats purees every now and then when he either can’t eat what we are aka American pancakes and bacon for breakfast or when we are out and eating fast food or don’t have time to pack something for him. I can’t wait to get back and in the kitchen whipping up some tasty baby meals we can all enjoy!

 

He is still scooting around on the floor and rolling from one end of the house to the other and the change in poop from baby breastfed soup like poop to big boy poop took us all by surprise and has become his new favorite thing to do. Poor little guy had a nasty rash this weekend and wouldn’t stop crying everytime he farted or pooped, heartbreaking….thanks to a little butt paste it was fixed 🙂

I am still trying to figure it all out considering he poops a few times a day now vs. when he used to only poop one big blow out a day… more diapers for us to buy and change… wahhhh

 

so we only have about 12 days left and this weekend we spent it at Marcus’ sister beautiful cozy wedding and my friend Cecilia’s crayfish party for her 25th birthday. After a two day hangover I finally rose from the dead and I’ve decided to meet Sofia, Madelene & Julia for a swim and lunch with Miles. I have to pack in as many visits with friends and Marcus’ family as possible now since it’ll probably be another year till I see alot of them… boo 

 

post coming soon on my favorite blogs I’m reading lately. I promise a new blog design and more effort, links, tags, etc. put into my posts when I get back home.!

it’s all happening so fast

It’s crazy how fast these little ones grow. I was just laying on the couch talking with Marcus about the possibility of another little someday… I know, too soon. Anyways somedays I feel like one is enough and how could I-we possibly do all this again but then he smiles or he babbles or starts to do something else super amazing and I’m sold.. ready for another. 

I remember so clearly the HELL HOUR we would face each night the first few months when he would do nothing but cry and want to be held close up against me, spending hours breastfeeding and skipping showers, meals, hugs with Marcus and then all the sudden it was over. Then there were the months where Miles only wanted me. nothing or no one else. We would again spend hours breastfeeding and cuddling, which sounds amazing but when you start stinking and missing out on life itself, it gets tough. Like I mentioned in the last post something amazing happened at 8 months. 

 

All this time I thought Miles would for sure skip crawling. He hated tummy time from day 1 and has spent most of his days from about 3 months only turning to his stomach to just turn back to his back right away, he never did more than 1 roll at a time & LOVED standing with the help of us or something else. 

 

All the sudden when I was in Malmö he rolled around like a maniac and still hasn’t stopped. He can roll himself all over the house in seconds and even off the bed, if we left him. scary stuff. 

 

well lately he’s been getting a lot of floor time and these hard wood floors make it possible for him to roll like a maniac to his little hearts desire and all the sudden today, he started making scooting attempts. He is spending most of his time on his tummy and hands and reaching with all his might for his favorite things, water bottle, plastic hammer, our phones. 

 

After realizing he could grip the floor and pull himself he has made a few attempts. I can’t believe it… ok sounds small but trust me, you moms know how I feel right now. I also don’t know how I feel about crawling haha… this means no more just sitting and playing in one area, this means no more picnics remaining on a blanket at the park… well well … it’s all SO WORTH it. Someday when he’s walking and running around I will miss the days he would army crawl around the house. 

 

 

love you little Miles. Keep impressing daddy and I. 

& then it happened

Something magical happened around the time Miles turned 8 months old. I’ve been trying to get Miles used to falling asleep or taking a bottle from Marcus or anyone else beside me.

Out of no where he started enjoying bottles as long as they were warm and he drank them either being held on our hip or in his car seat or stroller. He also started falling asleep without me or nursing. We started with giving a bottle a day at random times to get him used to it. I was around during the bottle feeding so he didn’t think the bottle meant no mommy.

Marcus can now bottle feed and put him to sleep. Suchhhhhh a relief for me. He just goes and lays down for a few minutes and pats his butt and that’s it…. Amazing.

I honestly have no tip or idea as to how this happened. I swear he just grew out of it and having a bottle of breast milk every now and then got him used to relying on others just as much as mommy.

Anyways so I took advantage of this and went out for dinner and wine with friends last night & usually I get a chaotic snap chat or update from the madness back home and I rush home or Miles ends up crying himself to sleep. This time he drank his bottle, watched TV with daddy & grandpa then fell asleep cuddling with daddy in bed. Not a single whine or issue. Love love love it.

Just in time for a big party Marcus and I are going to this Saturday as we may or May not be the ones putting him to sleep.
Love a well rested mommy
❤️

Worst day so far

So the day started with Marcus & I arguing over who wakes up early with Miles more often and who deserves to sleep in. Seems to be the argument of the year lately…. We both are so tired in the mornings and still for some reason can’t agree on a system for waking up with the little man at 630/7 am. Anyways…

After some coffee and breakfast we got over it.

Today was supposed to be record breaking in the heat department so we decided on swimming. Arguing over a pool or beach swim we decided on a local beach. After that we argued on what to have for lunch resulting in an angry trip to the grocery store just to argue over what kind of meat to BBQ.

Anyways we made it to the beach. It was beyond crowded and with only a small bit of shade left for us we unpacked. Miles played on the picnic blanket as Marcus opened the one time grill from it’s packaging.

Since miles grabs EVERYTHING these days he grabbed the grill (not lit of course) as I was changing him and in order to avoid poop everywhere I yanked his hand away not realizing he was holding the grill.

Ok so he sliced his finger open a little and it wouldn’t stop bleeding. I panicked. Cried. Yelled. We got in the car and headed to the ER to have it looked at. It was bleeding quite a bit considering his size and after a 2 hour wait it stopped and didn’t at all look bad. Miles was happy and himself the whole time and even using his hand to grab everything around him… We figured we would see the dr since we already made the co payment and didn’t want to look like bad parents leaving an ER waiting room.

The Dr called us in and literally 2 min later we were sent home with a band aid. Ughhhhh by the way our BBQ uncooked food sat in the car and we had to pay an arm and a leg for parking.

Well… First scare at the ER so far and I must say better safe than sorry. We did realize however we need to slow down and focus more and stop letting our frustrations get the best of us.

Love. One tired mommy

Miles’ necklace

For those of you wondering why Miles is always wearing a necklace.
1. It’s not for looks
2. It’s an amber stone necklace
3. It’s made for babies aka choke proof, each bead is knotted individually & the clasp will break if pulled
4. It’s not for him to teeth on or bite. It releases a healing analgesic when warmed by the skin aka an alternative healing to over the counter medicine

For more info check this page out. You can order them through tons of vendors on etsy. Just make sure it’s raw amber 🙂

Amber Teething Necklace FAQs

We’ve had luck. I think. Miles has been a pretty easy baby and though he has his whining moments and still hasn’t actually gotten a tooth he’s for the most part always happy and sleeps through the night. It’s worth a shot getting one of these necklaces and if your worried about baby wearing it, we take his off when he sleeps and put it around his ankle with a sick over it!

8 months and counting

Baby boy please stop growing up so fast. My little man is 8 months old today and it still feels like just yesterday I was losing sleep at night because he wouldn’t stop kicking and flipping around in my tummy when now I lose sleep because he kicks and flips around in bed.

He’s rolling, sitting, standing, babbling, eating solids, laughing and turning into quite the charmer. As he lays next to me on the floor rolling around and banging his toy hammer on the walls I can’t help but want time to stand still. Even though he makes me wanna rip my hair out sometimes, I’m head over heels in love. Marcus and I have so much fun with him already and it’s all just beginning.
Even though I want him to remain this small and cuddly forever I can’t wait to hear the cute comments he makes and answer all his silly questions. We love you baby Miles and will continue to love you forever and ever …

Today we spent the afternoon in Hagaparken with Marcus’ oldest sister enjoying a picnic in the sun and them headed home for some grocery shopping and dinner with his dad.

Miles is up pretty late tonight since he took a nap from 6-7 but hey it’s kinda like his birthday right ?

Now for some wine for daddy & I to celebrate ourselves making it this far not only in one country but two and with tons of drama and moving in between. It’s not easy being an international couple but when you really love someone you make it work….

Love you daddy M ❤️

Date night

Last night Marcus and I were invited to our friend Oscar’s for Marcus’ famous Parmesan cream lasagne. Basically an explosion of calories, cheese, carbs and all the other goodness that starts with C. After two slices, a glass of red and too much garlic bread we headed out.

The night was young (830) and Miles was tired. I got him to fall asleep with the help of the magical ergo and laid him in his stroller. Marcus and I randomly decided to bust open our sparkling rose we bought and sit ourselves across the way on a dock on a little island called Långholmen.

Långholmen is probably one of my top favorite places to be in Stockholm because of it’s charm & the fact that it is surrounded by my favorite little hipster part of town Södermalm. There was amazing music coming from the blues band across the water and a little family of ducklings kept us company.

Embarassing enough we forgot glasses so we drank from the bottle. Moments like these make it all the more memorable.

With miles fast asleep in the stroller we sat on the edge of the dock with our feet dangling above the water just soaking in one of the most perfect Swedish summer nights so far.

After half the bottle and a setting sun we headed for the subway. Marcus and I hardly get to enjoy ourselves like this since we usually head home for Miles bedtime but now that I see he can sleep perfectly in the stroller I think we owe ourselves a few more fun nights out!

Anyways my mommy brain is feeling it today and I’ve got a small headache…. Some coffee should fix that 😉 Miles woke up around 6/630 but after some playtime, breakfast and cartoons we both laid down for a nap and daddy left for football practice.
Plans for today? I’m thinking of taking the bus to the nearby public pool and swimming with Miles…

How does your Saturday look?

Xx

the last 7 days

ahhhh sory I dissapeard. It’s been a busy week. As you know Marcus, Miles & I have been staying at Marcus’ sister’s apartment closer to the city for the last month and it was time for her to come home so we had to pack up everything and move out over the weekend. 

 

Miles & I however fled for Skåne (Malmö) (the south of Sweden) to visit Stina (Miles’ godmother and her family). After a few days exploring Malmo Miles and I hopped on a train and headed to Copenhagen, Denmark to enjoy all there is there. 

 

Since it was just us two it was quite a journey and between the thunder storms and intense heat wave we made it through the day and came back with a bag of Denmark’s highest rated coffee. Miles & I did tons of walking, shopping and meeting of a few coffee shop owners there and learned a lot about Copenhagen & coffee which was amazing. 3 iced coffees, a feta watermelon salad and some shopping later we headed back to Malmö on the train. 

Monday early morning we flew back to Stockholm, about a 45 min flight, and lucky me Miles slept both the way there and back in the ergo on my chest… sitting in our seat. Perfect. The way there we had a whole row of seats to ourselves and unfortunately the plane was full the way there but we sat next to a 10 year old girl flying alone who kept Miles entertained during take off and landing when he had to wake up, face forward and wear a baby seat belt. 

 

We are now back at Marcus’ dads and on our last couple weeks here. I am looking forward to the move back already and starting to go through all we have to pack and figure out what we should take and what we should leave/donate/sell. Miles has started an obsession with rolling EVERYWHERE. He has known how to roll from front to back for awhile now but has never done two rolls in a row or realized it can take him places. Lucky for us because up until now we could leave him on beds and couches. We are back to co sleeping due to lack of space and I now can only sleep with him near the wall in fear of him rolling off. 

 

Next comes crawling… he still only sits and rolls but has started to enjoy being on his tummy more and is using his hands to prop himself up. I am not looking forward to beach and park adventures chasing a little eel around… 

 

anyways yesterday we spent the day at the beach with his little friend Alvar and family and today we sale shopped for future ”swedish brand” clothes for Miles. Thank god for us all the summer clothes go on sale since the cold winter is approaching, since we basically have summer year round we benefit from these 70% off deals!

 

ok pizza time. I promise more updating from here on out… I’ve got lots left to tell about BLW, feeding, rolling, Miles updates & everything else. 

 

xx

ps pictures coming tomorrow as soon as I get more internet on my phone. 

spoke too soon

Ok so last night didn’t go AT ALL as planned.

I tried to put Miles to bed around 8pm since he was acting tired and his nap was about 4 hours earlier. It was a pain, he spent the whole time talking, yelling, playing with his blankets, rolling around, kicking me, and distracting himself with just about everything in the room.

I gave up.

Marcus took him for awhile and they played somewhere (this usually tires him out). After another 20 minutes I tried again, same thing, he was acting super frustrated kept nursing and releasing, spitting his pacifier out and biting his own arms and blanket. Yesterday we noticed the top of a little white tooth finally poking out on his bottom gum. This would mark the start of his first tooth and explain the bedtime resistance… poor little man.

anyways about an hour and a half later of trying he finally just laid there quietly, facing away from me, and talked himself to sleep. Once he was asleep he didn’t wake till about 4/5am and slept till 8:15! I can’t imagine the pain of a tooth cutting through the gums… and this is only the beginning.

This morning when it was nap time he did the same thing! He loves his 9/930 am nap and wouldn’t miss it no matter where he was, how loud it was, or who put him down. This time was different… frustrated, whining, sweating, crying, everything but sleeping. He would close his eyes and face me for cuddles for a few seconds then rip his pacifier out and start crying again 😦 I gave into the power of infant ibuprofen this time… I am hoping it helps with some of the pain and allows the little man some proper sleep.

lord get me through these next few weeks.months.years

I am not big on using medicine and at this rate I can imagine it being painful day in and day out so anyone have any tips on home remedies? Besides teething toys, frozen toys, blah blah… we’ve tried those and they’re either too cold to hold or thaw out too quickly.

tips are greatly appreciated
-love a tired mamma