Happy Birthday, Siri!

Dear Elzora,
Yesterday we went to a birthday party for our dear little Siri Luhao Wallin. Your extra special cousin is turning 3 years old on July 2nd and her mom and dad gave her a super fun birthday party to celebrate her special day.

Siri got all kinds of cool gifts. She loves horses so we got her some sweet little horses to play with and also a a charm bracelet with a July birthstone charm. She liked her gifts very much and was very excited. She also got a toy vacuum as a gift that I think was definitely one of her favorites, and the fake vacuum noise could be heard throughout the entire party. She is definitely a girl that likes to stay busy.

Siri is your extra special cousin because she came to us all the way from China. We love her very much. Siri is also mommy and daddy's god daughter. We are very proud of her. She is a strong little girl who loves life and brings a lot of happiness into our hearts.
I know you two will be very close.

This weekend was actually a very busy one. In addition to attending Siri's party on Sunday, on Friday night mommy and daddy and Auntie Linda and Uncle Morgan went to a pre-party for Rosemarie's 40th birthday next year. It was really fun and mommy and daddy had a chance to dance together for the first time. You and Siri stayed with farmor and farfar. I think that you had a lot of fun. Mommy and daddy had too much fun, but it was definitely worth it.

On Saturday the entire Karlsson clan attended Johanna's confirmation. It felt like a coming of age celebration more than a religious rite of passage and that's pretty cool. Obviously it is a tradition in the family. If you choose to be confirmed we will have a party for you, and if you don't, we will still have a party!!

You have learned to shake your head back and forth, but you can't nod your head. So you are currently saying no to everything. I think that you are about to clearly say your first word. I wonder what it will be. The strange thing is that sometimes you will hear a word and it sounds like you repeat the word, but you only say it once and then you make some other crazy baby sound. It's almost like you are teasing us. I love it!

Spain won the UEFA European Football Championship. Congratulations Spain!

And Happy Happy Birthday, Siri!

Love,

Mommy

PS In this picture Siri is wearing all of Mommy's necklaces.

Dear Elzora,
I have a confession to make. I love clothes and fashion. I love perfume and make-up and beauty products and purses. I also love jewelry, especially gold and diamonds (real or fake).

Every day at 4pm you and I sit together and watch re-runs of Project Runway. Today my favorite designer is Vivienne Westwood but it could change tomorrow. As Heidi Klum says "In the fashion world one day you're in and the next day you're out."
Last week VW had a show in Milan and used and very unique model.
I LOVE IT!

Don't worry, we may not have enough money to buy couture, but we will always be in style!

Love you,

Mommy

Trevlig Midsommar!

Dear Elzora,
We just returned from a fantastic Midsummer celebration with daddy, farmor and farfar at the sea. You enjoyed the celebration very much and tasted your first Swedish strawberries and even sampled some sill. Farmor Bojan and farfar Bengt made you a midsommarkrans to wear and amazingly you kept it on your head for quite a while. You were a little too small to dance around the midsommarstång but farfar held you and you loved watching the other children sing and dance.

Of course we were all thinking of Donald, but we turned our our thoughts of sadness to thoughts of celebration and raised our glasses to Donald. On the drive to Varberg, daddy played songs that reminded him of his uncle and we had a nice ride to the caravan. The weather was rainy but we had our little sunshine girl, Elzora!

During the trip mom was able to finish the first book of fiction she has read since you were born, Cannery Row by John Steinbeck. It was a gift from Auntie Liisa. She bought it for mommy when we visited Monterey, California. It will be in the library and you can read it when you are older. I fell in love with the characters and I'm sure that you will, too. It was wonderful to take the time to indulge in reading such a wonderfully written book.

Over the weekend you started making a clicking sound with your tongue.
You are very proud of yourself and I'm proud of you, too.

We got our tickets for Michigan. We are going to be in town for Ruby Stirling's first birthday.
Mommy is counting the days.

Love,

Mommy

We Will Miss You, Donald!

Dear Elzora,

Today is a sad day. Your farmor's brother, Donald, passed away at 12:15am this morning. He was 48 and the father of Max and Anton, daddy's cousins. Daddy is also Anton's god father, so I guess that kind of makes him your god brother, but you'll have to ask daddy because mommy doesn't know too much about these things.

He will be missed very, very much. I don't know much about Donald's life but maybe one day you can ask Anton and Max about their father. I do know that he used to take daddy fishing a lot and he is the reason why we have a Supertramp CD in our collection.

We need to be extra kind to daddy and farmor today. They are very, very sad. I hope when you read this yourself you will take a moment to say a little prayer for Donald. It will not be easy for Max and Anton. We are all thinking of them so much today.

It is important for you to know that you do have a history of cancer in your family. Please do as much as you can to educate yourself about cancer prevention and take care of your body, your heart and your mind. Daddy and I will do the best we can to help you. This is a reminded to daddy and mommy that we need to take really good care of ourselves to be the best parents we can be for our growing girl.

On the lighter side, we are leaving today to go to the caravan in Varberg. Tomorrow is Midsummer's Eve and one of the biggest days of celebration in Sweden. This will be your first chance to dance around the midsommarstång. I'm sure that daddy is already looking forward to it and we will definitely bring the video camera.

Our hearts are with Donald's family today and we will be remembering him and celebrating him during this holiday.

Love,

Mommy

PS We lost to Russia last night 2-0, but it doesn't seem to feel that bad. We will be cheering for Holland, now.

Pirates and Princesses

Dear Elzora,
This is a picture of your Auntie Liisa haivng a confrontation with an evil pirate (Aunt Debbie).
It's from Tookie Loo's princess and pirate party that she had when she turned 6 years old.

I'm thinking of Auntie Liisa a lot today, and I bet she's thinking of me, too.

I can't wait to have some super cool birthday parties for you. We are gonna have so much fun!

Love,

Mommy

Sweden vs. Spain & The Karlssons

Dear Elzora,
Last Saturday Sweden played Spain in their second match of the UEFA 2008 showdown.We also had the Karlsson family reunion. Here are a couple of pics from the event. You had a great time and enjoyed meeting all of the relatives. At this year's gathering you were the littlest Karlsson. We had a lot of fun even though Sweden lost to Spain by one goal that was scored by Spain in the final minute of the match. Sweden's next match is tomorrow against Russia. If we win, we are going to the semi-finals. Go, Sverige!

BTW, you are totally obsessed with your hair today. You keep rubbing your hands through it like you are feeling it for the first time. I think you have also discovered that your hair is actually attached to your head. I know, the human body is amazing!

Love,

Mommy

Lulubelle

Dear Elzora,
Just a quick post to tell you that your Auntie Sarah in Oakland, California just adopted a new little pup. Her name is Lulubelle and she has her own blog.
Hopefully we will get to meet Lulubelle one day!!

Congratulations to Auntie Sarah on her new baby girl!

Love,

Mommy

And then there were... 5!

Dear Elzora,
We have been up since 4am waiting for the fifth tooth to break through on the top, your first maxillary lateral incisor!
This is a picture of Tookie Loo wearing a grill mommy got from Gold Teeth Master in Oakland, California as a present for my birthday one year. I know Tookie looks a bit coo-coo pants in this picture, but that's kind of how mommy feels after last night.

I hope you feel better soon.
Even in pain, you are a sweet little tiny one.

Love you,

Mommy

8 Months!!

Dear Elzora,
This is the picture of you and your daddy that I keep in the changing room. I just love it, and so do you. Of course it seems like only yesterday that we were at the hospital, but as of today you have been an earthling for 8 whole months. It's amazing how much our lives have changed since you came. We are so happy together.

Mommy hasn't been very good about blogging. Okay, I'm a blogging slacker, I admit it! But I know that there is always room for improvement so I'll just keep at it and hopefully someone will actually start reading my blog and I will feel compelled to post more often.

So what's happening in Elzora's world? Well you now have 2 teeth on the bottom and two on the top. I think that there may be one more coming in on top, but you won't let me open your mouth long enough to get a good look. You can wave good-bye and clap your hands and sometimes you get excited and wave good-bye and then clap your hands. Maybe you are just really happy to say good-bye to some people? :)

You love listening to music and rock back and forth when you hear your favorite songs. I really need to get some new tunes for you. Mommy and daddy are starting to get a little sick of the current options. Daddy particularly likes one song from the Music Together collection called "Everybody Loves Saturday Night." He sings it all the time and sometimes it makes mommy a little crazy.

We just finished the baby massage course. I definitely enjoyed it more than you did. I have the oil and I figure that we will practice the massage techniques at home. The nurse said that it will come in especially handy when you are around 4 years old and your legs are growing really fast. I guess it can be pretty painful and the massage might give you some relief from the pain. She also said it could help you relax when you start school and when you start asking questions about death and the afterlife. It makes sense to me. I love getting massages. A massage is a great present to give for a gift on Mother's Day! I know, shameless.

In the news, Barack Obama just became the first African American presidential nominee of a major political party. Mommy and daddy are very happy and you should be proud to be 1/2 American. The next few months are going to be very exciting.

And, of course, the European Championship football tournament is happening right now. It's actually pretty exciting. Sweden plays their first match on Tuesday against Greece. I can't wait. I'm kind of nervous. I hope we win. Go Sverige!!

I can hear that you are starting to wake up. I promised you that we would go outside and blow some bubbles, so let's go!!

Love,

Mommy

PS You just got a postcard from Niagara Falls in the mail today from Liisa and Jeremy. I'll save it so you can read it for yourself one day.