Daily Jamie

We're having kind of a rough day, Jamie and I.  One of us has an upset tummy, and not the one who is responsible for cleaning up the aftermath of upset tummies, so we're going to take it easy on the blogging today.  I would never deprive you of this, though.  Because really, is there anything cozier then footy pajamas when you're not feeling good? 

Daily Jamie

The Front And The Back Of My Mind

Jamie and I went into the city today.  I had two items of business to take care of there, one being to pick up some Swedish gifts for a couple of new baby friends Jamie will meet in Ohio in a couple of weeks, and the other being to see if I could get into the city with the baby and all of his accoutrement in tow.  I could.  Jamie wasn't impressed and, indeed, slept the entire time minus a quick snack in a dressing room at H&M.  He was a prince, making the whole trip incredibly easy for me.  So easy, in fact, that I got to concentrating so hard on getting where I was going and dodging other mommies capable enough to venture into the city that I forgot to gaze lovingly at Jamie for several minutes at a time.  This is kind of a first, since he and I spend nearly every moment together, many of which I spend gazing lovingly.  But you know, every time I did look down at him sleeping peacefully in his stroller, it was like remembering something absolutely wonderful that was in the back of your mind but that you hadn't thought about for awhile.  You know the feeling I'm talking about, right?  Usually it's fleeting, though, like a vacation you're looking forward to or a piece of cake with your name on it.  Only now, for me, that feeling is forever.  No matter what, whether I'm gazing lovingly or not, I will always be Jamie's mom. 

Daily Jamie

The System

You know the weekend is here when the town center is packed with folks queuing at the liquor store.  Such was the case last Friday evening as the limited, government-controlled opening hours at Systembolaget in Kungsängen drew to a close.  These folks needed to get in line to place their order over a counter, old school-style, before seven o'clock otherwise miss their opportunity to imbibe since there's nowhere else to buy alcohol.  This kind of government-calling-the-shots may just be one of the reasons socialism is frowned upon in some parts of the world.   

Daily Jamie

I Got Schooled

Okay, this is a little embarassing but I'm going to tell you anyway because I think it illustrates something about the way we think about other cultures.  Something deep and important.  Like everything else on this blog, obvs.  So anyway, I was at Ikea on Saturday afternoon and was waiting in the loading zone for The Swede and Jamie to roll up in the Volvo and pick up me and my new favorite plastic and glass things when a dude parked his car next to me.  In the front seat sat a toddler and in the back was a sleeping baby.  I heard the toddler ask his father where he was going, to which the dad replied that he would be back in just a few minutes.  And then he left the kids alone in the car.  And I was like, "What!?  This would NEVER fly in America!" and proceeded to take a photo so that I could tell you all how safe parents feel leaving their kids alone in the car to go into Ikea in Sweden and how if you did this in the States you'd surely be arrested.  But then the dad came back to the car a few minutes later, as promised, with a sack of strawberries from the fruit stand RIGHT BEHIND me and a total of five steps from his car.  He had the car, and his kids, in full view the entire time he was gone.  The only weirdo around was me, the creep taking pictures of little kids in the Ikea parking lot.

Daily Jamie

Clearly I'm the luckiest lady in the world.



What Longing Looks Like

If The Swede would ever approve of it, you'd be getting a Daily Trip McNealy too.  Because my imaginary pug is named Trip McNealy, of course.

Daily Jamie

View From The Top

The folks we bought our house from had a little boy too and were kind enough to leave us their Fisher Price baby carrier when they turned the place over to us.  It took us almost a month to even open the box, a month during which I could have gotten a lot more done around the house, let me tell you.  This thing is a tot tamer, a bambino breaker, a dividend dominator even.  The minute I snap his carrier to my harness and start moving the kid is out.  It seems wildly uncomfortable to me, but hey, so does a womb and he seemed pretty satisfied in there for, like, ten months, so what do I know about babies.  And I love it, of course, because I can do my constant head-sniffing more discretely so as not to creep out The Swede.

Daily Jamie

Power Wash

Earlier this summer The Swede borrowed his dad's power washer to clean the roof of our terrace.  It was a job that took quite a while but which The Swede attacked with verve I haven't seen since he shovelled the snow off of the Segersten roof back in the winter of 2010.  And I got to watch my husband working with his shirt off, water splashing down on him from the roof as he annihilated the grime that had accumulated there over who knows how many years.  A good time was had by all.  Then, this morning, I saw this sight: some worker hired by the community, no doubt, spray washing the unnecessary lighthouse.  If only they'd known about they guy who lives right here who would have done it for free.  

Daily Jamie

Baby or Buddha?

Not Quite As Fun As Lemonade, Though

I can't believe I haven't written about saft yet because it is SO Swedish.  Saft is a liquid juice concentrate that is added to water to make a beverage that can most closely be described as Kool-Aid.  It's totally not Kool-Aid, though, and it's definitely not like the frozen juice concentrate you get in the States and it's not even a syrup per se.  It really is like nothing I've ever seen before coming to Sweden.  Saft is also outstanding as it has been stuck with the worst translation I've ever heard: lemonade.  That's right.  There is an entire country of people walking around thinking that lemonade is saft.  Which means, of course, that they have no idea what lemonade is.  Can you imagine?  So I'm taking it upon myself to at least rock my Swede's world.  Just as soon as Jamie gives me a few minutes to hand-squeeze these beauts that I picked up from the fruit stand today.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Daily Jamie

I am madly in love with this little boy.

Daily Jamie

Just Too Much

I used to relish any excuse to put on my galoshes, but between the stroller requiring its own raingear and having to stress about the angle the rain is coming down so that it doesn't fall through the air flap and onto the baby and generally looking like a three-ring circus walking through the 'hood, I think I'll let the galoshes gather dust the next time it's raining. 

Daily Jamie

What August Is All About

Yesterday our friends Emil and Sophie hosted a group of some of The Swede's oldest friends and their families for a kräftfest at Emil's mom's house by a beautiful lake out in the country.  We had been hoping to eat outside, but it had been raining since Friday, which was unfortunate for Emil and our friend Patrik, who had spent the entire night on a boat catching the kräftor.

At any rate, everyone had a great time and the food was awesome and much appreciated since we only get the opportunity to eat kräftor during this limited season.  The weather even cleared up for a couple of hours so The Swede could lead the group in a few games and the dads could take the kids fishing.  It's hard to face the end of summer, so cherished traditions like this one make the transition more sweet than bitter.

Daily Jamie

Daily Jamie

Plus Mom and our sunflower.

Questions, Questions

This morning we had an appointment with the immigration board and The Swede and I had to go separately into an office and answer questions about our relationship, our internation travels and our future plans in terms of our living arrangement.  Yep, like in The Proposal.  And I blew it!  I totally forgot about having travelled to London and Norway twice in the past year.  The Swede covered for me, though, making a joke with the suit that he won the prize for best memory of our travels in the relationship since he could see on the computer screen that my answer was incomplete, so I don't think it's going to be a problem.  Anyway, I went in first and when I came back out to wait for The Swede to take his turn I noticed that he had been reading a magazine while he waited.  I flipped it closed and it was American Horse.  Um, excuse me?  First off, why the heck is there a copy of American Horse in the waiting room at the Swedish immigration board offices?  Second, and this one is directed at my husband specifically, is that really more interesting than the August 2007 Vogue that affirms that Wynona Ryder doesn't mind turning thirty-five?

Daily Jamie

A Day In The Life

The Swede went back to work on Monday so little Jamie and I are working on getting into a weekday routine together and I have to say, so far so good.  Jamie, like his mommy, loves to sleep in.  That is, he continues his two hours sleeping, break to eat, two more hours sleeping, etc. schedule until I feel like getting out of bed.  Which is shamefully late these days, I admit.  Once I do feel like getting on with the day I feed and diaper him so that he's satiated while I take a shower, tidy up the house and check Facie and emails.  He sits in his vibrating chair or works out in the baby gym just outside the bathroom door while I get ready and usually doesn't start screaming until I have a really nice, thick shampoo lather going on.  Timing is everything to those babies, isn't it?  Sometimes I get to eat lunch, sometimes I don't, because Jamie's exorbitant nutritional needs trump mine.  I never scream when I'm hungry, he always does.  In the afternoon we've been taking a nap together during Toddlers & Tiaras, which is challenging because I don't really want to take my eyes off of it, but you know what they say: sleep while the baby sleeps.  I usually manage to take some pictures and blog and do some laundry in the afternoon and today we even took a walk around the neighborhood.  And before we know it The Swede is home to take over the cuddling.

Daily Jamie

The Alien's Native

Jamie's passport was ready yesterday and, aside from marveling at how quick the process was (and not just because he's a baby - apparently it only takes a week here for everyone), I couldn't help but stop and take a moment to comprehend the fact that I gave birth to a foreigner.  Well, technically I'm the foreigner, but still.  If you had told high-school me that my future son would be a full-on Swede I would have thought future me was just way too cool.  Good thing she's not here to find out I'm actually still a huge dork.  Oh, also, lots of people asked me when I was pregnant what nationality Jamie would be.  Well, because he was born in Sweden to a Swedish father he automatically has Swedish citizenship and since his mother is American, he also has the right to American citizenship, which we can, and will, apply for before his 18th birthday. 

Daily Jamie

It's exhausting being this cute.



Daily Jamie

Leaves A Little To Be Desired

Saba was sitting out in the front yard when the wind picked up.  The Swede noted how majestic she looked with her fur blowing in the breeze, like, and I'm quoting here, "Brad Pitt in Legends of the Fall."  Okay, babe, sure.

Daily Jamie

A Highlight of Swedish Design & Innovation

I've been to a lot of hotels and into a lot of homes here in Sweden and every one has a tube of Kalles Kaviar available as part of a balanced breakfast.  I had never, however, seen an apparatus designed especially for squeezing out this treat until yesterday morning at the Scandic Crown in Göteborg.  Obviously I'm dying to know where I can get one to put in our bathroom for the tootpaste.

Daily Jamie

Cousin Elin got really good at the claw machine at the amusement park.



Going Out In Göteborg

After a long day, Mama and Papa Swede, Sarianne and Julia (Magnus and Elin were living it up at Liseberg), Matt and Anne from London and our little family went out to dinner last night.  Anne grew up in Göteborg so she led the pack through the city to a quaint little Italian restaurant.  It had been a beatiful day, but by dinnertime it was too cool to eat out on the patio, so we all packed into a corner to enjoy what, for me, was the first real Italian food I've had since I've been here.  And no, that's not my gigantic pizza sitting there at the end of the table, but if it was it would have been so good that I nearly cried.

Daily Jamie - One Day Late

Daily Jamie

Regarding My Coolness

As we took off on our roadtrip to Göteborg this morning, me sitting in the back seat to watch over the baby, no view of the scenery due to the Spiderman sun shades, I realized that the giant heap of street cred I've accrued over all these years has gone out the window, never to return.

Daily Jamie

Down To The Station

No, nobody here broke the law.  Unless hunkiness and extreme cuddleability (yeah, feel free to use that one) is illegal now.  Actually, we headed over to the police station first thing this morning to set Jamie up with a passport.  You know, since he's going to be the next generation International Superstar and all.  It was a good thing we went early, too, because his criminal background check took forever.  Heh. 

Daily Jamie

Daily Jamie

Everybody Cut, Everybody Cut

Cancel my meetings and hold all my calls.  Footloose is on TV4, like, NOW.  So if you're in Sweden turn on your set before it's too late.

Daily Jamie

Strolling

We took our first semi-successful leisure walk with Jamie yesterday after dinner.  Our neighborhood is split up into two areas: to the west, where we live, are modest rowhouses while the eastern half is multi-million kronor mansions.  That is to say, an average-sized American family home or what would probably cost about $100,000 in present-day Cleveland.  At any rate, we walked through the swanky half of the neighborhood and daydreamed about which house we would buy if we could while I secretly counted my blessings that we only have to vacuum ninety square meters of cat hair dust bunnies.  Another item we noted on our walk, one that made us both just a little depressed, was that flying V of geese heading south already at the beginning of August.

Daily Jamie

Cabinwarming

Gurra and Gunilla took over the summer cabin right next to Mama and Papa Swede's and have spent several weeks of their vacation building it up from a skeleton.  It's finally finished and last night was the housewarming party so we gathered on the deck overlooking the lake and were treated to dinner.

After the meal, while we sat around chatting and enjoying the evening, this kid walked by with the biggest fish I've ever seen on dry land.  Of course, Papa Swede, the fish master, struck up a conversation with the little guy about his impressive catch.

And I know this is the worst picture of all time, but I had to mention that when this boat with an American flag on it floated by we all clapped.

When it became cooler and the wind began blowing too hard for us sensitive ladies and newborns, we brought the party inside for the real entertainment.  Gigantic fish and American boats ain't got nothin' on my Jamie.