Otto is 9 Months Old!

Hey Sweet Boy!

You are 9 months old now and time is flying by. I'm sad to think that our time home together is coming to an end soon.  This month was a busy month because we were in the US visiting family and friends for most of it.  The comment I heard the most was 'Now we will actually get to see if you are as happy as you are on Instagram or if you actually do cry."  I think for the most part people were surprised to see that you really don't cry.  I was thinking you wouldn't really have stranger danger and you didn't.  The only day you were kind of off was our first day in the US but you were tired and had a very off day the day before.  After that, you were good to go with whatever we asked you to do.

Stats

You weighed 8.81 kg (19 lbs 6 oz) which is in the 44th percentile.  You were 71 cm (27.9 in) which is the 28th percentile (and why you probably look chubby because you are kind of short. Your head is 45.1 cm which is in the 50th percentile.

Eating
You are nursing 5 times per day and eating 3 solid food meals.  We added breakfast once we got to the US.  You still mostly eat pureed food and some very basic table foods.  Honestly, it is mostly out of convenience and I don't want to deal with the mess of cleaning up a self-feeding baby (I already have two mess makers).  And I also don't want to prep more food.  I'm sure it is mostly mental but it just seems like too much extra effort right now.

Sleeping
Overall you did an amazing job this month with sleep considering we flew to the US and there is a 7 hour time difference.  We expect about 3 days to fully flip with jetlag.  On the first night, you cried about 20 minutes after we put you down and that made us worried. Your dad held you for 10 minutes or so and then put you back down. You woke up again shortly after but put yourself back to sleep and that was it.  The rest of the time you slept through the night until our last week there.  You did get 3 teeth while we were in the US so there were a few times you'd wake up before we went to bed and need a little help but nothing too bad.  

The girls were not thumbsuckers but you are which part of me likes and part of me hates.  I'm nervous about breaking the habit when the time comes but it is nice that you can put yourself to sleep.  Whenever you suck your thumb at a nonsleeping time I say "Hey, cheater!" and you giggle.

We had 3 nights away from the girls and were really excited about sleeping all night.  Well, shock of all shocks you woke up that first and second night.  I'm guessing the room was too dark because we put you in a closet.  Ha!  The last week in the US was a little rough with teeth I think and I nursed you which meant you started waking up to eat but we decided to sort it out once we got back.  After getting back I gave you 3 nights where I still nursed you and then on nights 4 and 5 I only let you nurse on one side and night 6 you didn't wake up.

Clothes
You are wearing size 9, 12 or 18-month outfits.  The 18-month outfits are mostly short sleeve and shorts rompers.  The difference between a 12 and 18 month was like an inch so I went with the bigger size.  You wore size 5 Huggies while we were in the US and size 5 Pampers when we were in Stockholm.

You wore a few of your daddy's old outfits when we were back in the US which was fun.

Playtime
You had lots of new toys to play with at Grandma and Papa's house plus at Grandma and Pa's house.  Some of the toys were ones that your dad and I played with as kids.

You love stacking cups, the swivel toy and really anything you can get your hands on.

Our Days
Our days were busy when we were back but you still mostly stuck to your eating and sleeping schedule which was intentional.  I did appreciate when you were flexible with later naps and you also slept in later which was AMAZING!

I feel like I need to clear the air or explain some boundaries before I get to what we did during our days.  We traveled during a pandemic which I realize some might not have chosen to do.  We hadn't been back to the US in 16 months and Jake's parents hadn't met Otto.  With me going back to work in August this was our best time to go without missing the Swedish summer (which is AMAZING).

Overall our strategy was to still limit our interactions with people who weren't vaccinated especially while indoors.  And in general not bounce around as much seeing friends and family as we usually do.  This was hard and I worried about hurting people's feelings but our safety, their safety and our parents' safety were leading our decisions so I hope you understand but even if you don't, we did was felt best for our family.

Soapbox warning . . . Both sets of parents were vaccinated before we arrived and Jake and I got both of our shots while we were there.  Our first dose was within 48 hours of landing.  Getting the shot was incredibly easy. I had heard that people were getting emotional when receiving their shot. I imagine the relief of knowing that they are doing their part to end this pandemic brought tears to their eyes.  I will admit the emotion I felt was different than I expected. I was mad. Getting this vaccine is a privilege and choosing not to get it seems like an even bigger privilege. Hear me out. It was so frustrating knowing that people could walk into several locations and get a shot for free and they were choosing not to. I understand that free choice matters but it is about the greater good of the whole human race. Not just you and your family.  If you can choose not to get it because you aren't in a risk group, you can afford healthy foods to help you stay healthy, you have a support system in case you get sick, you can afford healthcare and get good healthcare if something were to happen, and you still think you don't need it that is just a lot of privilege all stacked up in my opinion.  Yes the US cases are going down . . . because people are getting vaccinated.  But the US is also hoarding shots for citizens who are letting them get thrown away and there are other countries with people who are desperate for the vaccine and their country can't get doses.  Will reading this change your mind if you weren't getting a shot, probably not, but I feel like documenting my thoughts and feelings while I got the shot is important to remember.

Activities and Outings
We had lots of fun activities this month while we were visiting friends and family.  You don't seem to have any stranger danger and it is fine if I walk out of a room or leave you with other people. I am so thankful for this!

Lots of time hanging out with grandparents. We had dinner with both sets of grandparents our first full day back.  Thankfully our parents live within 5 minutes of each other and they get along so hanging out in one big group is easy.

Helping in Pa's garden

Porch Swing Pics

Fun at Botanica

Firsts and New Skills
You had your first forward progress this month which was fun for your grandparents to see.  You were able to move pretty quickly when you wanted to.

You liked rolling to the entertainment center to see what you could pull off of the shelves.

Sister & Brother Moments

Helping Grandma plant flowers. Linnea did this 3 years ago when we were back in April shortly after Stella was born.

Pics of Linnea planting flowers 3 years ago.

Linnea with Pa 3 years ago.

Lots of bedtime stories

We brought back lots of artwork that the girls did so we could give some to grandparents.

My college roommates! Man, these girls and their families are so special to me.  We have regular Marco Polo conversations going on and recently it has been about really hard topics which have been really good.  We're practicing standing up for what we believe in and truly listening to others instead of just trying to convince them to think the way that we do.  Our time was too short but it was so full of love!

All 10 kiddos!

I've known Emily since elementary school when we hated each other. Ha! We started tolerating each other in upper elementary, getting along in middle school but we really broke through in high school.  College was next-level friendship.  Emily, Jami and I roomed together Sophomore, Junior and Senior year.  Kelli was Emily's potluck freshman roommate and they both hung out a ton in my room because I had cable tv and a pretty big room. Kelli lived with us our senior year.  They will forever be referred to as my roommates.

We got to go to cousin Jace's baseball game.  I spent many nights and weekends at the ball fields watching my brother and dad so this was kind of fun to do with our kids.

Aunt Missy

Oldest and Youngest boy cousins!

My brother Robbie and his family.

A taste of my childhood in one 5 lb tub of cookie dough.

Tea party with Grandma

Bedtime stories with Papa

Cuddles with Grandma Janet - We stay with one set of Grandparents for about a week and then moved to the other house and the back and forth again spending about 2 weeks at each house.  But during the week the grandparents we weren't staying with would often pop over just to give some hugs or hang out which everyone loved!

Grandma Debbie had to do a little surgery on Stella's baby Otto because all of his stuffing went into his head and he was very floppy.

Jake and I went on a little walk on a sunny afternoon.  We usually try to get away for a few days when we re in the US but with a nursing baby that was a bit hard but we stole a few minutes/hours here and there as we could.

Mexican food!

We drove to meet my friend Alyssa and her family. I met Alyssa through this family blog.  That story still makes me giggle. It was such a God thing that brought us together.  She is from Dallas and was going to Stockholm. She googled 'Giving Birth in Stockholm" and my blogpost about it showed up. she read all about it and then read more posts from me.  She thought we'd hit it off as friends plus our oldest girls are 6 days apart.  Well not long before they moved to Stockholm she saw on my blog that we were moving back to Stockholm.  Long story short, she is one of my best friends.

We talked about getting together and threw around a few ideas and almost didn't pull the trigger on a full family trip but man, I am SO thankful that we did.  They found a great house that had a playground, a beach, a trampoline, a firepit and more bedrooms that we could use. It was perfect. We spent 2 nights there and my only regret is not spending at least one more.  Vacationing with good friends who are in the same stage of life as you is just life-giving.  We all know that snacks are a must and dinners must be early.

Our first car ride as a family of 5. It was only 3ish hours but man at times it felt way longer.  We are not a good car trip family because we don't ever do it. The trip home was better but I think I still prefer to fly.

We ate all of our meals outside. The weather was gorgeous!

Seeing your friends meet your babies is just something I am so thankful for!

We were really lucky with warm weather on Friday and Saturday which made beach play possible.

This playground set is on the property as well.

Emma is 6 days older than Linnea. William is 6 months older than Stella. They all played so well together!

Blue Bell Ice Cream jackpot! I brought cookie dough ice cream back to Kansas!

Mother's Day Morning!

Happy Mother's Day to us!

Hugs goodbye. Ugh, this was the worst!

We got to hang out with Kevin (our best man) and his family.  It was great getting together and kind of crazy because we have 6 kids between us!  We both had long bumpy roads to parenthood but you wouldn't know it when you see us together.

Thanks for reaching out to see us!

Mother's Day Lunch where the moms don't have to feed the kids!  I need more meals where I'm not in charge of feeding a kid.

Uncle Bob is here and with gifts!

Uncle Bob gave us new KC shirts and we love them!

We went to the Sedgwick County Zoo

Cousins!

Jake and I went to KC for 3 glorious nights for a little getaway by ourselves . . . well, our sidekick was there but it mostly felt kid free. Ha!  I would have NEVER said having one kid is kid-free when we only had Linnea.  But after haveing 3 kids, one easy-going baby is a walk in the park.

They have a sweet Ninja Warrior room.

I usually see my old teaching colleagues when I'm back but again we were trying to limit our contact.  So while Jake had a happy hour with his work friends I hung out with Amy which was super fun!

We stayed with Jon and Liz for two nights and played games and just hung out. It was great.  I hung out with one of my best friends Jan and her crazy kids.  She had a little boy 6 weeks before Otto was born.

Gavin and Otto

Then we stayed with Erin and Spencer.  Man our time with them was way too short. I can't wait to stay at their beautiful house again!

We headed back to Wichita for the last few days before heading back to Stockholm.

We got to meet Teo and hang out with Ali and Barclay.  We went to high school with Ali and now she lives in Barcelona.  We both did IVF and have reconnected recently with our ex-pat experiences.  It was so great seeing all 3 of them!

Jake and I had to get Covid tests to fly back. Thankfully the girls didn't have to get tested.

Mexican dinner before we head back.

We watched Ted Lasso and ate ice cream with my parents. It was fun.

We flew back to Stockholm through Houston and Frankfurt. The flights went well plus you can transfer in Houston from the domestic terminal to international without leaving security (woohoo). No delays but our long flight was more full than the one on the way to the Us.  Thankfully I was able to convince a few 20-year-old guys behind us to move together so we could have two extra seats for Linnea to sleep on.  We also ordered kids meals on the flight which means they get their food before the rest of the plane (special meals are served first) and the food is typically kid-friendly.  This meal was really kid-friendly (compared to the flight here which wasn't so great). They had chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, pbj, jello and fruit.  I ate what they didn't eat and it was actually really good.

We ordered a taxi to get back to our apartment. There was a lot of traffic and what should have taken 45 minutes took 1.5-2 hours.  That was a hard way to end a long travel day.

We had a stroller gang hang out shortly after getting back to Stockholm.

Linnea New Skills
Linnea rode a bike with pedal breaks vs handbrakes while we were in the US.  She did well with it.

Linnea loves a good tree swing.

Linnea Funnies/Quotes

Linnea has a certain amount of laughing that has to be done each day it seems. So at night if she hasn't hit her quota yet she gives big belly laughs about ridiculous things. So this night I decided to laugh as hard as I could with her.

Linnea had my mom read Sleeping Beauty about a hundred times when we were at their house.

Linnea got to wear some of her Aunt Annie's clothes.

Linnea tried a few leaves while we were in the US. 

Stella New Skills
Honestly, I am sure she is doing something new but I can't think of anything specifically. We thought she might learn how to ride a bike with pedals but we didn't really push that.  She enjoyed riding on the tricycle and the balance bike while we were in the US.

Stella Funnies/Quotes

We went on a walk with Stella and she tried to get as many dandelions as she could.

Remember

I want to remember that trips to the US are always worth it.  There is a lot of hard stuff we had to overcome this time around due to covid and Jake was really dragging his feet about the trip but it was worth it.

I also love nursing you and that time we get together several times away from other people.

Reading to you and your sisters is probably one of my very favorite things. I checked out several library books when we were back and tried to read as much as we could.

Love you so much sweet boy and I'm so thankful that I get to be your mama!

Love,

Mama