The bed-time gang

Lola has many lovely toys and cuddly creatures to keep her company when she goes to bed. Her 3 favourites which form the core part of her bed-time routine are Pingu, Bunny and Mango.

Lola's winter wardrobe

Lola's look for winter 2012.

Our pre Xmas Xmas with Grandma and Granddad

Grandma and Granddad came to visit us all in early December. This cooincided with the coldest spell in Sweden all year (e.g. -20C during the evenings - Brrrrr!). While they were here we:

• Went to see David singing some fine festive songs at the local church with his choir
• Had a traditional English roast with the family (13 of us in total!)
• Went to the Chistmas market in Liseberg
• Did a spot of tabbogonning
• Had our Danish Xmas gift giving
• Watched Lola open lot's of Xmas pressies

It was a fun packed week and really good to see the old folks embrace the harshness of a Swedish winter.

Weekend in Stockholm

Sofia and I had a weekend away in Stockholm to attend the wedding of the lovely Miranda and Henrik. It was a great wedding which resulted in me getting home at 5.30 in the morning after some crazy pool table antics.

We're at the halfway stage now and Sofia is looking great.

Earthquakes

One little game Lola and I play from time to time is one I call 'Earthquakes'. This entails Lola lying on me while I shake her about shouting Earthquake! These usually last for a good 6-7 seconds (during which time Lola is laughing her head off) so it's over pretty quickly, but....earthquakes are quickly followed by 'Aftershocks'!!

Lola's new set of wheels

As our little munchkin keeps growing she is no longer able to comfortably fit in the Bugaboo so we have splashed out on a brand new set of wheels. This is a Brio! These little beauties are all the range in Sweden and are used by the royal family so they must be good. Lola seems to like it.

These cakes rock!

On our last 'Pappasdag' together (for now anyway) Lola and I made some rock cakes for the first time. The weather was absolutely horrendous all day so Lola and I stayed inside and kept ourselves busy in the kitchen. I remember making rock cakes with my mum and absolutely loving it. Lola was exactly the same. She helped mix the butter and flour together and also put in the perfect amount of raisins. She also enjoyed licking the spoon and bowl. Once finished in the oven they went together perfectly with a cuppa!

Klitterbadet!!

From August to the end of October I worked four days a week so that I could take a 'pappasdag' to enjoy with Lola. We spent most of our Mondays together going to Klitterbadet for a spot of swimming. The picture below shows Lola all ready to take our short stroll from the car to the pool. Nice.

Lola's trip to the moon...and London

Valarna is a nearby forest /play area/ exercise park/ theatre / petting zoo and ultimately a very picturesque part of Falkenberg. We are very lucky to have it right on our doorstep so we go there a lot. Lola and I went there recently and she went on one ride with a plan to take a trip to the moon...and London: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lt_OLwExOj4&feature=relmfu

The many faces of Lola

Lola is fast becoming a little actress/model with her 'many' facial expressions. These include; Happy, Sad, Fake Laugh and Blue Steel. My favourite from this clip is her fake laugh. Take a look at the future Oscar winner in her pomp: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nq-XvBd_ACI&feature=plcp

Lola's Autumn wardrobe

Lola has been lucky enough to be given/bought a number of lovely items of clothing. Below is a selection from her Autumn wardrobe:

Week 16 - A walk in by the river

Sofia's baby bump is developing nicely. Had a nice long walk in very mild weather over the weekend. Lola had a good play in Valarna and enjoyed running through all the leaves that have fallen from the trees.

First pics of baby number 2

On August 5th Sofia, Lola and I found out that we were expecting another baby. Booyah! We obviously kept it quiet at first telling a few family members and close friends. But now we have told the world! Today we went for the 2nd scan and could clearly see a heart beating, head, hands, feet, eyes, ears and what looked like the poor thing having the hiccups. Lola is very excited at having a brother or sister to play with. She says she would prefer a sister :). Sofia is very tired at the moment and falling asleep at 9.00 most evenings. It's all good fun though. We'll keep you posted.

Week 15 - Bump well on the way

Had a lovely Saturday with our friends Sarah, Steve and Julia in Kungsbacka. Sarah is 8 months pregnant at the moment but still managed to find time to provide us all with a lovely fika, dinner and fantastic cake for desert. Lola and Julia played really well together and it was a really good day out despite the rainy weather. Steve and I were drinking both for two so it was good to catch up with a fellow Englishman over a glass of wine or three.

The picture below was taken in the morning before we set off. Bump coming along nicely. Sofia still very tired in the evenings but it's all good.

Growing fast

As of September 15th 2012 Lola stands at a humongous 95cm! Getting bigger, lovelier....and cheekier!

Blue Steel

The summer has been pretty poor all over Northern Europe this year but when the sun has been shining we have been hitting the beach...and hitting it hard! Here is a picture of Lola and I sporting our Blue Steel look.

The Coshall invasion....I mean visit

For one fun packed week in late August the lovely Coshall family paid us a visit. Much fun and frolicks were had and Lola loved playing with Harry and Elsie. We saw plenty of Falkenberg and even had 3 days in Dalsoförs. It was very sad to see them go and Lola still speaks of her play dates with Harry and Elsie at Valarna. Hopefully see them again soon. Check out the clip of Harry showing Lola how to use the pole. Happy days!

Booyah! Number 2 on the way.

Today Sofia, Lola and I found out that Sofia is pregnant! Early days at the moment but we are all very excited! No more drinking for Sofia now so I am drinking for two.

The Claw!

Inspired by the Jim Carrey film Liar Liar, Sofia and I have been regularly showing Lola 'The Claw'! It can strike at any time and it can go pretty crazy! Lola loves it!

Happy cows!

On May 1st we went to watch the cows of a local farm be let loose from months in the barn to the wide green fields of Halland. It was a very popular event (not so much entertainment in these parts!) and we went along for a peek. It was nice to see some friends there and the cows did go a bit crazy when they opened the barn doors. The excitment all got a bit much for Lola who was fast asleep as soon as we stopped for lunch.

Phew what a scorcher!

The weather over last 8-9 days have been absolutely lovely. Blue skys and sunshine all the time (well one or two heavy showers too but that's all OK). With great weather comes time on the beach so Sofia, Loa and I have been doing exactly that. Lola loves making sandcastles too but she always destroys them before we can take any pictures!

Upsidedown

I love it....Woohoo!!!

Scooching

Lola's grasp of understanding Swedish and English is really coming along. She picks up words very quickly. One word that I use a lot when I read to her is 'scooch' over. This literally means to move ones buttocks over. She does exactly that when 'scooching in' close to read a book with her old man. Nice. This was largely inspired by The Simpsons episode when Christopher Walken reads Goodnight Moon.
http://www.youtube.ug/watch?v=vpZazF6bL7w&feature=related

It's potty time!

I'm sure when Lola grows up and reads some of the things we have written here she will not thank me for sharing this! But, as very proud parents, we have to tell the world that Lola had her first No.2 on the toilet on April 8th! And as there was nearly 48 hours since her last No.2 it was a doozy! There were tears in the eyes of both Lola and Sofia (she was helping Lola) as the task was completed. Another milestone reached. High 5's all round!

Songs and nursery rhymes

Lola loves books, songs and nursery rhymes. She has mix of English and Swedish favorites. Some current favorites include:

• Pop goes the weasel
• Krokodilen i bilen
• Three blind mice
• Lille katt
• En elefant balanserade
• The wheels on the bus
• The tickle monster
• Goodnight moon

Our little munchkin turns 2!

Our little munckins has turned 2! Her Granddad, Grandma and auntie Alice came over from merry England to help us celebrate. Suffice to say Lola was spoit rotten over her birthday. Her presents included:

• Loads of new clothes
• A tricycle
• A scooter
• A tent
• Books
• A table and chair set
• And lots lots more

As Lola turned 2 she measures a mighty 89 cm!

Kisses

Recently I taught Lola 2 new ways of kissing:

1. The Eskimo kiss (rubbing noses)
2. The Butterfly kiss (fluttering eyelashes)

She pefers the butterfly kiss. If I'm lucky I get three types of kiss before her bedtime!

Lola's love of food

We're very lucky that Lola will eat pretty much anything! There isn't much that she won't eat which makes it very easy for us parents. Her current favourite foods include: Tomato (Lola says: Mart), Toast (Toost), Yoghurt (Yoghurt!) and Pasta (spaghetti in particular).

She also loves drinking tea. Earl Grey is her particular favourite and she will always ask for a slurp of her Daddy's before it's all gone. I do remind her to blow it first of course.

She's not so good at sharing her food though. I always give her some of my toast but she never gives me any of hers. Bah!

Mahnamahna

We try not to let Lola watch too much TV but there are occasions when we just have to let her. This helps to bring peace to our flat! Some of her favourite programmes include; In the Night Garden, Dora the Explorer and Camberwick Green.

Lola's favourite characters are Igglepiggle (Lola says: "Piggle, Piggle") from In the Night Garden and Windy Miller (Lola says: "Mahnamahna" - It sounds like the Muppets song!) from Camberwick Green.

Other notable favourites are Timmy Time, Me Too!, 64 Zoo Lane, Postman Pat and Tikabilla! We also really like the numer rap on cbeebies. Now we're in Sweden we like everything on Bolibompa.

Swinglish

Lola can say lot's of words now in both English and Swedish - in her own special way of course! This is commonly called 'Swinglish'. Her vocabulary includes the words: No, Please, Tack, Moon, Stars, Heart, Pear, Cat, Dog, Ekorra, Cow, Lion, Spoon and Dodecahedron.