Ormond beach now

Just wanted to say that we are now in Ormond beach. Kathy came up yesterday and Alex will come tomorrow with Buddy and Cory. The rest (Marlee, me, Linn, Lilleba and Stefan) had a beautiful drive up here today. Mostly along the coast where we stopped a few times to look at all the nice beached. Jupiter was one of them.

South Beach

Dec 27
We went to South Beach. The weather was really really cold and not even Sweded could go in the water, but we had a good day!

Miami from the car...

Lunch by Ocean Dr
             Linn                     Morfar (Grandpa)

Marlee

Marlee with mormor on South beach

Miami Ink (from TV)

Ocean Dr, Miami beach

The past days in detail


Dec 20
My parents arrived late at night
(Linn was supposed to arrive but was delayed due to snowy weather in Germany...)

Dec 21
Breakfast outside, then took off for Key West (without Linn :-(  )

Mormor (grandma) helping with breakfast

Linn arrived to Miami late and took a Greyhound bus to Key West the next day.



Dec 22

Swam in the heated pool.

Marlee exploring in his swimpants

Walked around in Key west



Southern most tip of the US
Mormor                  Marlee                 I



Linn arrived and we had dinner at a nive vegetarian restaurant.



Linn

Dec 23

Started the day by the pool.

Took a glasbottom boat ride. Nice, but nothing like snorkeling.

Watched a lot of fund aoutdoor shows before the beautiful sunset and after that we had a very good dinner att Jimmy Buffett's restaurant Margaritaville. Yummy!

Dec 24

Left early to go back to Miami.

Stopped at Bahia Honda Beach. Supposedly the second best beach in the US according to the guide book. Quite a disappointment since the weather was cold and the water was freezing!!! But, the sun was shining and we had a nice breakfast at the beach, Marlee played in the sand and everyone except me and Marlee went swimming. I am proud of my family! ;-)



Seven Mile Bridge (Florida Keys)

A very nice Chrismas dinner was waiting for us when we got back to Miami.

Marlee got to open one Christmas present... A super cute Reindeer outfit (not in the picture) from moster (aunt) Linn.

Marlee in his Christmas outfit from Aunt Jackie

Dec 25

Christmas presents for Marlee before we left for Christmas finner at Reitnauers.

Dinner at Reitnauers. Marlee was wearing his tuxedo, which he got from my friend Johanna, nice pants from Sarah and shoes from Jackie and Doug. He was the most handsome guy at the party!!

Back home again we finished opening Christmas presents.

Dec 25

Bike ride in Shark Valley with the Meyers.

Grumpy gator!

Marlee was not too exited to see the
gators... and feel asleep...

My family visiting

It is already a week ago since my parents arrived to Miami. My sister's flights could not depart as planned because of the snow in Germany so she arrived one day late. It is so much fun to have them here and we have done a lot of fun things!

The first days were spent in Key West enjoying some nice sunny days. The pool at the motel where we stayed had a heated pool which was wonderful! Marlee had a really good time :-D

Back in Miami we celebrated Christmas. Marlee got a lot of very nice Christmas presents and wore some of them (clothes) for Christmas. My family got to meet a lot of Alex's family's friends. We went to Shark Valley with the some of them for a nice bike ride. It was nice but pretty chili.

Today we took the car to Miami beach where took a walk on the cold beach (it is really cold here now!!) and walked around the city. We also went by the "Miami Ink" store from tv :-)

Tomorrow we are getting up early to head north. The plan is to watch a basket ball game in Gainesville and after that, spend some days in Ormond and the surroundings.

It is late now so unfortunately pictures will be added later, but here is a "sample".

Visit to Key West (Marlee and mormor / grandma)

Birthday, Babysitter och Christmas preparations



He refused to lay down in the stroller...

I have not written for a while and I will try to summon what we have done the last cople of days... Took walks to the bridge to watch the fish, it has almost become one of our daily routines now.

Yesterday I went to the post office to buy stamps. After waiting in line for about 30 minutes, Marlee was behaving extra ordinary, I got my stamps and went back to the car. Put the stamps on the trunk while putting Marlee in the car. Then I left... with the stamps still on the trunk... they were not there anymore when we got home... had to go back today and buy new ones (and wait in line for another 40-60 min). Today Marlee stayed home with daddy though. 

  

Baby Fish Dish Package

Last night Alex, Cory and I went out to a bar / club with some friends, called Bardot. It was the first time I went out for a few years!! AND it was the first time I really left Marlee with someone else, my mum has taken him for about 3 hours before. We had a great time but Marlee was not doing so good. He woke up shortly after we had left the house and he did not want to go back to sleep. Finally Kathy called us and we turned back home. It was already late so we got home around two.

Today we went to get the Christmas tree. It will be interesting to see what Marlee thinks about the tree once it has all the ornaments in it...

Ah, I almost forgot. It was Alex's birthday two days ago. We organised a suprise  dinner at a restaurant and  had a good. After the dinner all the friends came with us home and had some beer and wine.

Hiding in a box

I can feel a tooth!!

This morning Marlee was biting on my finger and I could feel a little tooth coming!! Maybe that is why his cold / cough will never give up? He has been crying more than normal (normal at this moment) during the last two nights and yesterday morning Alex got up with Marlee and let me stay in bed for another 1,5 hour. So nice!!!

Today is Alex's birthday! I was planning on giving him breakfast in bed and sing for him but he got up earlier than I thought he would so I made him lay down on the couch instead :-) Tonight we are going out for dinner to celebrate. Three days ago it was Cory's birthday so there is a lot of birthday cake this week :-D Yummy!

I cooked fish for Marlee two days ago, for the first time, and he liked it. So far he has liked most of the food I have made, I guess he simply likes home made food :-)

Marlee just ate on his own! (3 videos)

It is morning and Marlee and I just had breakfast together. He took a few pieces of bread to eat, on his own, for the first time!!! It is strange how he wants to put everything in his mouth but when I have put small pieces of food on his tray he does not want to touch them. Until now!

Eating with my own hands!!

The noicy little eater (drinker):

Playing with one of my favorite books:

Yesterday we went to the Swedish Lucia Celebration. All the singing in Swedish and after it they served Swedish Glögg (hot sweet wine) and pepparkakor (ginger bread). It was nice to have some Swedish celebration and hear some Swedish.



Big Lucia and small Lucia :-)




Cold Miami and Swedish Baking

Yesterday was a really cold day here and I was actually wearing a hat during our daily stroller walk, maybe not neccessary but nice. Today I have a very busy day with baking and a nice walk to the "fish bridge" with Marlee. He is lauging when he sees the fish and it was a lot of big ones today. So much fun!



Marlee in the stroller

 

Fish by the bridge



Later Alex took a bath with Marlee so i have two clean guys now! :-)

Clean darlings!

Marlee is getting better and better at crawling and is sometimes gettin around fast! And can tell that this little guy is going to explore the world in detail very soon and I have to be there and make sure that he will not get in trouble! :-)

 

The new life west



Just tried some of the cake I made and it surely turned out a lot better than the Lussekatter I made with dried yeast... I am not good at that!



Chocolate cake with Raspberry mousse
(all made from scratch, of course!)
You might need to be Swedish to like it...?



Shopper - that's my baby!!

Sorry, I never got the crawling on tape today.. Went out for dinner with everyone in the house and after that Kathy, Marlee and I went shopping... Marlee is such a good shopper! He was sitting in the cart just laughing and having fun :-D I found a nice dress for Christmas for $30, original price $139 :-)

No more news for today!

He went crawling!!!

Today he crawled for the first time!!! Unfortunately the battery in the video camera was dead but we are charging it now so maybe we can put up some proof here later today :-)

We will be back soon!

Teething sticks

Marlee and I took a walk to a near by bridge today and watched some needle fish in the water. He really enjoyed that. He also enjoying a teething stick for a while today before he realized that he really really badly needed to be carried and bursted out in load crying to make sure I would get the point. This is a very "surprising" age... Next second he is very happy just lying on the couch playing on his own... (of course I am just next to him making sure he will not fall down). 

It seems like he getting closer and closer to crawl now. He tries once in a while but so far he always end up flat on his belly :-) It is very cute! I also think that he is starting to understand what "No" / "Nej" means, eventhough he normally just looks at me, first serious, then smiling, while he tries do it again, what ever it was he was trying to do... What a "charmtroll"!!!

Now we are going to take a little car trip to see if we can find the life west and get some baby food.

Happy Marlee

Yesterday was another nice day. Kathy left early for a business trip to Mexico and Marlee and I spent most day out walking or just outside by the canal. Alex's brother was here and helped him some with his work that was due yesterday. Buddy took us all out for dinner at an Italian restaurant. Yummy! Marlee was in a really good mood all evening and went to bed around eleven. Slept pretty good most of the night.

Yesterday I found out that the Swedish church has a St Lucia celebration here in Miami January 11th, with Glögg and pepparkakor :-D I will definately be there!!

I have not really made any plans for today but I might go and look for a life west for Marlee so that he will be safe if we go out on the dinghy (the small boat). It can be an ealy Christmas present and I can just wrap up the box for Christmas, he will appreciate the bow more than the life west anyways :-)

Well, time for some lunch, Marlee just fell asleep om the couch while listening to some classical music, just like an old man!! ;-)



Napping on the couch


This video took hours to upload so the post was published long after I wrote it...

Nice day with sun! Kathy and I went for a walk with Marlee to the ocean and after that when Marlee was napping, I went jogging for about 20 min. The first real exercise in a year!!!! I am pretty surprised that I actually manage to run for so "long"! See how I feel tomorrow...

At the moment Marlee is sleeping and he has for almost 2 hours and it is 7.40 pm now. It normally does not affect his night sleep so lets hope it will not this time either. He got some white bread with Philadelphia cheese this morning which he really liked. My dinner plan is chicken mixed with veggies and some avocados. I do need to start making him some fish dishes, too!

I saw today that the Swedish radio have a channel with only Christmas songs (and no talking) so I put that on when Marlee went to sleep. I have had it on his whole nap and maybe that is why he has been sleeping for so long!? :-)

That is all for today! Now I am going to have some of the cherries Alex's parents got for me today!!! :-D

Day in the park

Another shiny day! Alex has been working and Marlee and I took the car to the park, Dante Fascell Park.  Really nice weather! Marlee was mostly interested in watching the other kids playing but he also had some good laughs in the baby swing :-D

I do not wanna make a big fuzz about it but right now Alex is on his way to a restaurant to see a friend, Mario... AND... he has Marlee with him!! AND I am still at home. I am really happy that they get some daddy-son time together without me interfering! I am so excited and proud of Alex!

Just a random sign in our neighbourhood..

El computo has arrivo :-)

So I finally have a computer again!! Not that I cannot borrow the computers here, but it is so nice to have my own again!!! Be able to organize everything and stuff :-) But it was a hassle... Decided to get a Netbook but realized after one day of research that I would have to pay $150 extra to be able to have the keyboard in Swedish!!! Important since English does not have Å and Ä and Ö. It just was not worth it! After looking at the Internet a lot and visiting a few different stores I finally got myself a Dell and so far I am very happy. Enough of that!

So what about Booger... He is eating like a horse and have started to make "air-kisses-sound". Soooo cute!!! He is doing very good during the day, happy and giggly, but the sleeping is still an issue. Tonight I am going to try not to give him the binky when he wakes up and see how that works... There will probably be a lot of baby rocking tonight so please sent me some strength!!

Apart from looking for a computer Marlee and I have been enjoying the pool. I went swimming, Marlee only sat in the little "water thing" between the hot tub and the pool, splashing water :-) If he did not have a cold I would have let him go swimming if he had wanted to. Leon and Doreen came over the other night, too, and Marlee really enjoyed their company!

For the Swedes: Hanna Graaf and a blond dude that I recognized were on TV today. They are going to start some new show in Sweden I think..

Think that it is for now, lets see what pictures I can add and after that I am going to prepare myself for the night!



The head grew... need a new hat!



Only another 14,5 year left! (at least)