More photos

Mats and I have been around the world, but we have never tasted any fish or shellfish nearly as good as what you find on Swedens west coast.
Vera-Mei plays in the garden. She has to be supervised every second, as she is now very quick and sometimes just runs away if she sees something interesting. Olivia has always been hanging around me ... but I have to get used to this. Putting Vera down in a shop, for example, is impossible. Keeping her happy in the buggy is equally impossible.
Granny gave Olivia a new bike as an early birthday present. Uncle Simon helps her practising the skills without stabilazors. She hasn't cracked it yet.
The girls in the sand pit at Södra fästningshörnan yesterday. My friend and colluege Eva came to visit us and we had a lovely day, though the wind was cold - this place is always on the lee side.
I think Eva was quite exhausted when she left ... her children are teenagers so she is not used to the pace.

Later tonight Mats will arrive, and spend a long weekend with us. The girls will be so happy to see him again!

Photos

At my friend Cilla's house Wednesday morning. We played for a little while outside.

Cilla herself ...
... before we went in and had some fruit. Cilla's children are Andrea and Filip.
Vera-Mei tries her new potty.

And Olivia tries her new helmet and child seat.
Today it has been almost like summer. We started the day with a tour by the sea down to a hotel at Apelviken and had some coffee. Olivia and Granny went by bike.
Varberg with the harbour and fortress and castle.
And Vera and I had a walk.
Leon and Gideon came and played this afternoon.

Yes! we'll get the visa!

Just a short message: Today I got a phone call from the British Embassy in Stockholm. They say Vera-Mei will get the visa! Yes!!! Yesterday everything seemed very negative, they sent all our documentation to a special unit in London for "further consideration" and we thought we would never get it. But, yes, yes yes! We have already booked tickets, on the 28th of April. Vera-Mei has an appointment with the doctor first, it's a mandatory follow up after the adoptive children's check up.
I will write more tomorrow and also post some photos from the last few days. We have seen friends, been to the playgroup and enjoyed the beautiful weather. This afternoon was so lovely. We met my aunt Pia and spent a couple of wonderful hours at the seaside. It was just like summer, with sunshine and the calm ocean glittering. There were even sailing boats out!
And, yes, yesterday Olivia and I went to a circus. Olivia found it very exciting, but missed about half of the performance as she fell in love with a boy next to us. The two of the wispered, exchanged sweets and giggled together through the first half. The second half was a bit more scary, so she found a safer place on my lap. And, Charlotte, not to worry, today she is asking about Sam again. She is so happy we'll soon go back to Sevenoaks, she misses her school, her friends, her house, everything. Borta bra, men hemma bäst! She asks me everyday if we can go tomorrow, then. I'm glad I can give her sort of a perspective. It makes the wait easier, ask me, It feels like I haven't done much more than waiting the last six or seven years.
Enough about that. A Bond movie starts in five minutes. Time to get ready!

Look, she's talking!

A short summary of Vera-Mei's progress in our family!
Vera has been with us for four weeks and she becomes more and more lovely every day. She is very sociable and cheerful, but also likes to play by herself and seems to think a lot. She loves the playground, the swings, the slide and the sand pit. She talks all day long. Still, most is impossible to understand, but it's clear she copies us and for an untrained ear it would sound as baby Swedish.
She now says
Hej (Hello)
Bye-bye
Hejdå (Good bye)
Upp (Up)
Där (There)
Titta (Look)
Bil (Car)
Mamma (Mummy)
Pappa (Daddy)
Lampa (Lamp)
Good girl
and she puts words together:
Titta-på-där (Look-at-there)
Titta-på-det (Look-at-that)
Bil där (Car there)
She understands a lot and nods or shakes her head to answer. I thought she would say "No" or "Nej" by now, but in a way it's nice not having to hear it yet ... She is happy all day long and falls alseep within a coulpe of minutes (angrily crying) - no nap made the whole difference.
The night sleep is getting better and better, and she hasn't had a night terror in one week. A relief! Her appetite is still good but she is starting to get a little picky, naturally, as she is two.
She shows much interest in the loo and has let us know she wants to use a potty. So we bought her one today and she was so happy! She undressed and walked around with the potty for hours. Olivia of course wanted to do the same, so we had to naked girls here before bedtime. Then, Vera wanted to try Olivia's nickers, and of course she forgot this wasn't a nappy and finished the day with making herself wet. Oh, well, it doesn't matter!

Monday

After 24 hours of rain Mats had to work hard to put the rubbish on fire at our summer house. He had promised hot dogs, so he couldn't give up, and he's efforts payed of after almost an hour.
Caroline, Uffa (Mats brother) and Maja (Olivia's cousin) came to visit us. It was very nice to see them, but unfortunately it was so cold and damp we had to spend most of the time indoors - where it was at least a few degrees warmer.
Vera-Mei found a lot of new toys and was in a good mood.
Maja had grown a lot since we saw her last time, and her hair is really long now.
Olivia with the beautiful smile!

Olivia and Uffa.
When we left the summer house in the afternoon, suddenly the sky was blue! I, Granny, Olivia and Vera-Mei went to see some Granny's friends for a short visit. They have sheep and the first two little lambs were born the other day. Olivia was thrilled, but a little scared. Vera-Mei was in chock, as it seemed, not impressed at all.
Olivia wants to go back another day, she wants to bottle feed the lambs. We'll see how that goes, as Olivia thought she was safest when held by me or Granny.

... who wasn't afraid at all, not even when mummy Sheep complained loudly as Granny lifted the white baby lamb.


Mats is back in Sevenoaks, he left at 5 am this morning. He will be back Friday night, gepending of the outcome of our correspondence with the British Embassy regarding Vera-Mei's visa application. Fingers crossed!

Happy Easter

We spent Good Friday at the summer house, tidying up in the garden. The girls are very helpful. Unfortunately the camera battery needed loading so I couldn't take any pictures when Mats set the dry grass on fire later on ... it was a thrill.
A new golfer is born. If you ask dad.
Olivia's second cousin Oscar came with his dad Jesper to visit us yesterday. Oscar is one day younger than Olivia. When they have met before they haven't been interested in each others company, but yesterday they played very nicely together. Promising for the summer!
Dancing to The Muppet Show.
By the way, Olivia will have another second cousin tomorrow when Christian and Gwenn at Mauritius will have their second baby by Cesarean!


Olivia loves eggs.


We had a treasure hunt in the garden. Olivia found the Easter egg very fast and finished the sweets even faster.
Daddy helped her, of course.
It took Vera a while to understand she needed to blow in the whistle.
Learning to use a jo-jo.
Happy Easter!
I think Vera-Mei will also be a daddy's girl, just like Olivia. Vera follows Mats around the house like a little puppy and cries every time he leaves the house.
Being a mum is definitely ungrateful sometimes!

We expected Simon with Leon and Gideon for Easter dinner yesterday, but Leon fell ill and they stayed at home. It was a disappointment of course, but we had a nice evening anyway. Olivia stayed up late at went to see the big Easter fire.

Skärtorsdag

The girls were excited when they found dad n the bedroom this morning. We are now looking forward to a relaxing Easter. We will spend quite a lot of time in the summer house, tidying up in the garden and soaking up the sunshine. Mats also wants to play golf and I want to go to Kallbadhuset, a place where you heat yourself up in the sauna while over viewing the sea, and then cool down by jumping in to it. The colder the better - unfortunately I missed the ice this winter!
Vera-Mei now says Pappa, titta, tavla and upp, and very often där. (Dad, look, picture, up, and there)

Olivia and Granny baked this lovely cinnamon buns yesterday.
Watching The Muppet Show on the computer.

Today

Another beautiful day with lots of smiles. We tried the local playgroup (Öppna förskolan) and both girls enjoyed it. But now it's time to prepare supper so you have to look at the pictures to see what we have been up to!

Lazy days

We made it in to People's Daily, the number one voice of the Chinese government! The story is about outstanding bars in Beijing, and JO Waldner's bar is one of them. Our family isn't mentioned, the text only says "The Swedish play table tennis at the W Bar". But it's a great memory anyway! I would have been very surprised if they mentioned we were in China to adopt, I really didn't think they would publish the picture at all. But here we are: Granny Gunilla, Olivia and Mats (and Fang, Mats' Chinese colleague).

The wonderful weather continues. The girls and I enjoy playing on the beach ...

... in the garden ...
and at our summer house.

Mats returned from Finland on Thursday evening. He worked from home on Friday, and Olivia and Vera were very happy to have him around. We also went to the driving range for a short visit. Olivia impresses everyone. Mats wants her to start taking golf lessons this summer. I'm afraid the fun will go if it's made to serious, but on the other hand she likes structured playing and exercising. We'll see.

Vera also tried to hit golf balls, but she finds it easier to throw them out on the field. Clever girl!

Olivia's best this week:

Granny, you have to stand in front of me when pushing me on the swing, otherwise you can't see my beautiful smile!

Olivia is still very jealous and tries all sorts of things to get all the attention (but I think she already gets most of the attention and I feel bad for not having the time to concentrate on Vera, and at the same time I feel bad for not being able to giving Olivia everything she wants - maybe cloning isn't a bad idea after all). This is a completely new side of Olivia which we haven't seen before. Her latest trick is refusing to eat. Well, she isn't starving so we let her stay hungry until the next meal. But most of the time the girls play nicely together and enjoy each others company.

Olivia is also a very protective big sister and very proud. She often enjoys being the big girl, especially when she is allowed to stay up one hour longer every evening.

I think everything will be easier when we come back to Sevenoaks and Olivia can go to school and see her friends as before. She misses her friends a lot, Sam in particular.

Vera-Mei talks a lot, but most of it is totally impossible to understand. I think she is practising the sounds and rhythm of the Swedish language. She can say "Titta", "Där", "Lampa", (look, there, lamp) but understands much more. I think she will start talking a lot more soon. I also hope she will start telling me when she needs the loo - as I wrote before, she seems to be toilet trained but we always have to guess when it's time. When it's warmer we will take her out of nappies when in the garden and see what happens.

Vera-Mei still cries angrily every time we put her to bed, but without the midday nap she falls asleep in a few minutes. She still cries during the night, but not as many times and I think she stops quicker. It's nice to have Mats here, so we can share the calming down duty.

Mats will go to Sevenoaks this afternoon, and return here on Thursday. We keep our fingers crossed that the nice weather continues - we want to spend Easter in our summer house.