Sweden: Gothenburg Day 1

 Today we explored a little bit of Gothenburg as we also adjusted to the time change. I was so thankful for a room at the airport hotel when we arrived, but in the morning, I was anxious to get going. We were all up early, and we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast before picking up our rental car. Then we drove to our hotel in Gothenburg and dropped off our bags before walking to Universeum, a children’s museum near the local amusement park. I was honestly underwhelmed by the museum, but some of the younger kids really enjoyed it, and it kept everyone busy and awake. Their exhibits included an Amazonian rainforest, a human body exhibit, a space exhibit, and a math exhibit. Joy certainly got a kick out of it all, as she ran around, exploring everything. 

After we left the museum, we headed back to the hotel to check in. Of course, we stopped for our first mjukglass of the trip while walking back. 

After checking in, we relaxed until dinner, when we walked to a restaurant that promised plankstek, a meal many of us had waited years to eat again. Unfortunately, the potatoes contained some sort of nut ingredient, and K and AJ had to choose a different menu item. 

After dinner, we walked back to our hotel to get ready for an early bedtime. It had been a long day, and everyone was exhausted from jet lag and all the walking.

A Bunny Birthday

Today J turned 2. She is officially past the baby stage, and I am full of mixed emotions.
It has been fun to watch her grow and learn new things, to speak and interact more with the world around her. She loves to jump, dance, listen to music, read picture books, and look at photographs of herself and her siblings. She also loves bunnies.

Since her birthday falls close to Easter (she missed Easter by three days when she was born), I thought it would be the perfect idea to have a bunny-themed birthday for her. The stores have plenty of bunny decor in the Easter section, and I had some Beatrix Potter cupcake liners and picks left from last year when I couldn't  make up my mind what kind of party I wanted to throw for her.

So at the beginning of the COVID-19 craziness, I headed out to get groceries and party supplies for her birthday. Annie's has a whole line of bunny-themed products, so I stocked up to be prepared, even though her birthday was a few weeks away at the time. 

The day was a full one. I arose early to wrap the presents, since I had somehow put it off until the Very Last Minute. By the time I was done, a couple of kids were up and ready for breakfast. J soon followed. Cocoa Bunnies cereal was the star of the morning for the kids, although I think J spilled more of hers on the floor than she actually ate. I was trying to clean up some of the kitchen when she found her presents, brought one to the table, and started to try to open it. It was then that we decided that opening presents would need to happen promptly if we were to witness the process as a family.

Still in our jammies, we gathered together to watch J open her gifts, filming the opening of those from family who could not join us because of social distancing. She quickly got the hang of it, and became quite efficient in tearing into her new toys, books, and other gifts. When it was all over, we moved to clean up the mess while she and the other kids tried out the new playthings.

Most of the day was average, but she did refuse to take a nap. All. Day. Long. I thought for sure she would crash at dinner, but, like the Energizer bunny, she kept going and going. I am sure it was my fault for choosing a bunny theme.

We ended our day with bunny-shaped mac and cheese (one of her favorite foods) with ham and vegetables for dinner. This was followed, of course, by bunny-themed desserts. I debated making a carrot cake, but she wanted chocolate. I used the cupcake liners I had, and I used some of the cake to mold a small bunny just for J. As if that were not enough, I had purchased some Lindt chocolate bunnies for the kids to enjoy as well.

Unfortunately, J did not like having us sing "Happy Birthday" to her. She started crying and protesting, "No... No!" After K helped her blow out the candles, she willingly tasted the bunny cake, especially enjoying picking the eyeballs off with her fork and eating them. She thought it was funny.

The evening was spent outside, running off the sugar energy. J and I went for a walk around the neighborhood, looking for wild bunnies (we didn't see any), followed by a bath and bedtime. She truly is a joy to have in our family, and I am blessed to have watched her grow the past two years.

Learning from Rembrandt

I am tutoring Miss A’s class, and this week we discussed Rembrandt and portrait drawing. With four and five-year-olds, I was intimidated by the thought of having them attempt a portrait, but they all did really well. The goal was to teach them about facial proportions and attending to the detail of facial features. Here is Miss A’s result from the class — a far cry from Rembrandt, but I think she learned a lot.

Wagons, Walks, and Airplanes

I recently started to take J on walks in the evenings. I put her in our red wagon, and off we go down the street. It isn’t a long street, so it isn’t a long walk, but it allows us to observe a little of our surroundings. After one of our recent walks, J heard an airplane and pointed up to the sky where airplanes live. She does this frequently, but this time I had my phone (and its camera) to capture the precious moment. 

Overall Update

I have been horrible about blogging for the past two years. Before that, it was mostly birthdays, so here is an update on the kids.

K continues to thrive in ballet. She loves to dance, and it consumes much of her time. She also completed her first year of Challenge this year. This included Latin, learning to draw a map of the world freehand from memory, winning the Science Fair, learning to draw and label several body systems, learning to recognize logical fallacies, writing nine persuasive essays that addressed choices made my characters in books, and more. Between the ballet classes and schoolwork, we didn't see as much of her as we like, but we are enjoying the time this summer. I took her to brunch this week, and she revealed to me that she enjoys parts of science that just may point her to an engineering degree.

AJ finished his fourth season of flag football with disappointment. His coach this year didn't live up to the standards of AJ's previous coach, and the two boys AJ had played with before felt as discouraged as he did. AJ continues to love Legos, and he builds them quite creatively. He also attended an invention camp this summer, which he enjoyed thoroughly.

H is very much my out-of-the-box kid. He does things his own way, as has been the case for a while. In many ways, he is not a crowd-follower, but he does value the opinions of those close to him. He also enjoys Legos, and he can solve some wooden puzzles we got in Prague quicker than any of us. He may be the most likely of my kids to do some sort of computer programming.

If S is singing, he is happy. He also wears his heart on his sleeve. He is very tenderhearted, but he does have some spunk, too. Oh, and this kid can do math.

A is still finding her place. She has enjoyed her ballet class since last fall, but only time will tell if she remains passionate about it. She also loves to be read to and wants to do her schoolwork when the other kids are doing theirs. For the past two years, she has enjoyed filling sheets of paper with her own "writing" -- lines filled with round-ish figures that archaeologists would classify as some ancient form of writing.

J is a great addition to our family. Everyone dotes on her, and she loves every minute of it. I have had to eliminate quite a few foods from my diet as she has a sensitive stomach, but she is worth it. She is such a little cutie, and her smiles and chuckles bring joy to the whole household.

Joy to the World

On April 4, 2018, we welcomed our sixth child into this world. After five kids, I thought I knew what my labors were like. She changed everything.

In the weeks leading up to the delivery, I had several appointments and tasks I needed to complete. The running joke was that "after this, I can go into labor." Well, my to-do list grew shorter and shorter, and there was still no baby in sight. Finally, two days after my due-date, Timo asked me to give him a haircut. After that, I could have the baby, we joked. After I finished cutting his hair, he went to the bathroom to comb it to see if there were any stray hairs I needed to trim. I had just finished trimming his last stray hair when I felt a gush of fluid.

"I think my water just broke," I stated.

"Really?" he responded, doubtfully. My water had never broken on its own.

"Yeah," I said, as I started to remove my soaked pants.

After hopping in the shower and changing into some dry clothes, we headed to the hospital. I still was not having contractions, but I continued to gush fluid, especially when Timo made me laugh. The towel I was sitting on was not sufficient to absorb the tremendous amounts of amniotic fluid, and my pants wicked it down my legs and onto the floor of Timo's truck.

A couple of minutes before we arrived, I started to have mild contractions. After parking the truck, we headed up to the maternity ward, where I was given a dry hospital gown. After I was given the go-ahead, we walked the halls, timing contractions by how many I had in one turn around the hallways. When the contractions started to get more painful, I headed back to the room. Upon discovering that I was still only dilated to a four, I decided to walk the halls again, this time with an IV in tow. The pain eventually got bad enough that I decided it was time to ask for an epidural. Unfortunately, it did not work its magic for me this time. One side of my body was pretty numb, but I could feel everything on the other side.

Assuming that my progress would slow down after receiving the epidural, I sent Timo to the cafeteria to get some dinner. As my contractions grew stronger and stronger, I began to regret my decision. When the nurse checked me, she was surprised to find that I was about ready to push. And Timothy still wasn't back. I called him. No answer. As I struggled to send him a text while breathing through a painful contraction, he walked in the door. I felt so relieved, but I still had to wait for the doctor.

Thankfully, the doctor and resident arrived soon, and I could finally push. About ten minutes later, our sweet baby 6 was born. They immediately put her on my chest for some bonding time while waiting for the cord to finish pulsing so they could clamp it off. After Timo cut it, I sat there bonding with my newest bundle of joy, finally able to hold my cutie pie. She weighed 8 lb. 10.3 oz, and measured 19.75 inches.

At five hours of labor, this was my quickest delivery and the only time my water broke on its own. I am sure she will continue to pave her own way, proving that she is her own person in many more areas of life. And I will love her through it all.

S's Fourth Birthday Party

We celebrated S's fourth birthday last night, with a Mickey Mouse theme, just one special friend, and plenty of pizza and chocolate.

Since S did not have a party last year, he was allowed to invite friends over this year. He chose just one person, opting for familiarity over chaos (because, let's face it, that is what a party of preschoolers is). S wanted me to order pizza, so we started with pizza before the kids went off to play. Timo was traveling, but he came home in time for pie and presents. S does not like cake. He never has, and I have not baked him a cake since his first birthday, when I was clueless. Knowing this, I created for him a Kinder chocolate "cupcake" instead, and baked a chocolate silk pie for everyone else. This was purely selfish because I wanted chocolate pie instead of cake. Since my birthday boy was happy, I took liberty to indulge myself (although I didn't hear any complaining from the peanut gallery).

His party was very low-key, but S smiled his huge smile as I tucked him into bed that night. "Happy birthday, Sweetie," I said before giving him a hug and a kiss.