Martyn and Jess

We had a visit this afternoon from Martyn and Jess, whom we hadn't seen since before Anna was born. Patrik met Martyn and Jess when they worked at Cypress together, and Martyn was a big help when we were doing mad renos in December last year. Which reminds me - tomorrow is the one year anniversary of when we got possession of the house. I can't believe how quickly this year has gone!

Anna also has a new favourite song that she wants to share with her cousins in Sweden...

Christmas Baking

Anna had a lovely day with Patrik today, as I had a few friends over for Christmas cookie baking and exchange. We had a really fun afternoon, and the freezer is stuffed full of yummy baking. Now the only trouble is trying to keep myself from eating through it before Christmas even gets here...

Nanaimo

Anna and I headed over to Nanaimo yesterday for a visit with mormor and morfar, and Tim, Josefin and Isabelle. Today we spent the day mainly with Josefin and Isabelle, going for a nice walk on the sea wall, eating lunch outside at Bocca in the Heritage Mews, visiting mormor at work and then hanging out at Isabelle's house.

Tonight, Anna read some books with morfar and then fell asleep in mormor's arms.

Although we're having a great time, Anna misses her daddy...

Hoodlum

The last couple of days have been fairly low key, with strolls in the neighbourhood, errands, a doctors appointment and a little baking. At our doctors office visit yesterday, Anna weighed in at 12 pounds 7 ounces - she's been gaining an ounce a day for 7 weeks now! This little red and blue hoodie was mine when I was little, and today is the first time that Anna has worn it.

Singing is such an easy way to get Anna to smile, so here's another video. This time it's one of her favourite songs, You Are My Sunshine.

Alina and Fanny

It was great to see Martin, Martina and their girls Alina and Fanny today. We met them this summer at midsummer and although we haven't spent much time with them, we will be sorry to see them move back to Finland next month. Patrik had a blast playing with the girls...

Stanley Park

We had a list of things that we were going to do around the house today, but we woke up to sunshine and so we couldn't resist getting outside instead. We went down to Stanley Park for a walk around the sea wall and then to the Roundel Cafe in our neighbourhood for a late lunch. It's mainly a breakfast cafe that I had heard about before we moved into the house last year, but this was the first time we have been there.

Cheeks

Anna's cheeks are definitely heading south through a combination of eating very well and gravity. Every day they seem to droop a little looowweerrr....

Mommy and Me Yoga

Anna and I tried out mommy and me yoga today at a local community centre. She thought it was pretty great to check out all the other babies and the weird poses her mom was doing, and was happy laying on the mat in front of me for most of it. Towards the end she started getting a bit bored of the mat, so I got some extra strength training in by doing yoga with her in my arms.

Hump Day

The past couple of days have found Anna and I trying to get out in the sunshine as much as possible. Yesterday we went downtown and visited Patrik and a couple of his colleagues while they had lunch, and today we met up with some other moms at the post-natal group we go to. Everywhere we go, people comment on how Anna is really 'filling out'...

Raspberries in November

Anna and I had a lovely day with Jen today. We met up near her place and wandered down to Granville Island for the afternoon. We walked, talked, stopped for fika and picked up some fresh wild salmon for dinner. Then we all jumped into the car and headed home for dinner topped off with some yummy raspberries that Jen had picked up on the island.

Dog Mountain

After a lovely breakfast in bed and a morning of running errands, we headed up to Seymour to go on a bit of a hike. We drove up through thick thick fog, but when we got to the parking lot, we had come out on top of the clouds. Neither of us had ever been to Dog Mountain before today, and it was a pleasant hours hike to reach the summit. No self-respecting Swede would forget to take a bit of fika along, and we enjoyed it while taking in views out over Mount Baker, the Lower Mainland and English Bay.

A Visit from Bronte and Deif

Mark and Lori came by today with little Bronte and their dog Deifenbaker. Bronte and Anna are sure to become good buddies. Anna showed them around her room and later we packed everything up to head out for a walk on the north shore. Wires got crossed somewhere along the way, and we ended up at Capilano and they ended up at Lynn Valley. Ah well - next time we'll get our connections right.

Anna worked on her neck strength later in the day with some tummy time on daddy's belly. She is really starting to 'talk' alot now, and it's a sound that we could listen to forever...

Welcome Weekend!

It's already Friday and we have the weekend with Patrik home to look forward to :) This week has flown by because Tuesday was a holiday...

The rain was back today, so Anna and I mainly ran some errands and then headed home to hibernate a little. I've got a bit of a cold, so my energy is not as high as it could be. I think that Anna knew that I needed a bit of extra rest today because she let me sleep in quite late (almost 8:30!), and she took a fairly long nap during the day...

Laugh, Dance, Vote

Sunshine! How happy we were today to wake up to blue skies and gorgeous sunshine after I don't know how many days of rain. Today was a big union meeting that I wanted to go to for work because their was an important vote, but I was loathe to sit inside on a day like this. So as a compromise, Anna and I walked downtown and attended half of the meeting. Well worth it - we had some good news on changes to the maternity leave program at the Port! Everyone thought Anna was a little angel - she was so quiet throughout the meeting, and afterwards was passed from arm to arm to arm...

Live Fast, Nap Hard

Although it was pouring rain most of the day today, that didn't stop Anna from wanting to go outside. There was yard work to do, and rain gear to wear so out we all went. Anna supervised us while we winterized the garden, but then fell asleep on the job...

Mastering the Drool Thing

Anna is starting to get quite the flow of drool happening - enough that I put a bib on her today because her shirt was getting so wet. But the bib did nothing to help the arms of her shirt, which were nice to chew on and get good and wet...

Test Driving the B.O.B.

What a lovely Sunday... No breakfast in bed today because we had company coming for brunch, so it was a quick cup of coffee in bed before getting going. Made some blueberry-peach-banana muffins - yum! - Swedish pancakes, fruit salad, etc, to share with Carrie, Darren, and Dylan.

In the afternoon we took the new stroller out for a spin, and was it ever nice! Smooth ride, that's for sure. Most leaves are now down on the ground, but there are the odd places where beautifully coloured leaves are still hanging on.

4:00 found us back at home to welcome some more visitors - Mark, Jane, and their little Joshua. And, just as they had taken off their coats and shoes, the doorbell rang to Curt, Kate and their little William dropping by for a visit. Fun!

Photo Session

It's a bit of a black and white day outside today, so we decided to spend some time on some of our own black and whites this morning...

The Mother Ship...

...also known as IKEA. With mormor in town, and a very wet day keeping us from spending too much time outside, it was off to IKEA "just to look". Of course, I came home with a bag full of things anyway...

Anna had lots of fun showing mormor how she can try to stand up and how she can spit up milk just like her mom used to do. After mormor went home tonight, Anna spent some time reading the book that she had given her.

Showers Inside and Out

Anna got very spoiled last night at a baby shower that Gunvor and Gunilla threw for us - thank you! So many cute things - she is going to be one well dressed girl :) Mormor came to town so that she could come to the shower (and, of course, spend some time with Anna). I don't think I'm going to get to hold her at all today with mormor here...