At last, we have arrived at our new home in Oregon! It's been a long journey, and even though we've been here for five days, it still surprises us to actually be here. Somehow it seemed like this moment would never come. But let me be honest: it hasn't been pretty, and it hasn't been easy.
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Spending All Day At the Playground
We needed a mini-adventure today, so we packed everyone into the car and drove into Stockholm. Our destination was a new (to us) playground in a part of town we've never visited. We stopped at the grocery store on the way down and picked up enough snacks to last us the day, and then we...
What Have You Been Thinking About Lately?
I don't need to mention how long it's been since I posted or how badly I feel about that—I'm sure those things are obvious. I've had lots of ideas for posts and zero time to write them out: we were in England for a week, visiting family; two days after we returned, we hosted family...
Announcing Pregnancies and Talking About Miscarriages
A dear friend is in the early stages of pregnancy with her second (and third - twins!) child, and she's not sure when she should begin telling people. She really wants to start talking about it (because twins!), and she's starting to show (twins!), but she hasn't yet crossed that unofficially official threshold of when...
On Being a Little Less Overwhelmed
My last post was a confessional about how overwhelmed I've been feeling, in light of a new baby and an imminent international move (and, um, writing—or not writing—this blog). Since publishing that post, we've made some pretty big steps: shown our apartment to a couple possible tenants, signed a lease on a rental in Corvallis,...
On Overwhelm
In 2014, we moved to Sweden and we had our second child, Leif. Having a baby and moving internationally in the same year was incredibly stressful, and I vowed not to do it again. Well, it's 2017, I had a baby a few months ago, and we're preparing to move back to the US. That thing...
A Huge Announcement
So, I have something to tell you.
A Wonderfully Quirky Swedish Spring Tradition
In my last post, I wrote about a rather sedate spring tradition in Sweden. This weekend, we attended one of the quirkiest traditions we've heard of: the spring cow release, or kosläpp.
Life in Sweden: Community Cleaning Days
Now that spring has (finally!) come to our part of Sweden, communities are having their biannual fixardagar or städdagar (fixing days or cleaning days). Most communities, be they neighborhoods, marinas, apartment or condo associations, or parent-cooperative preschools, have a day in the spring (and another in the fall) when members of the community get together to do whatever...
Raising Gender-Neutral Kids in Sweden
Last Thursday, when I arrived at school to pick up the boys before the long weekend, Leif was wearing a hot pink skirt over his pants. They'd done some dress-up for Easter and he hadn't taken off the skirt yet. When I commented on it ("I love your pink skirt!"), he seemed pleased and proud, then continued to...