9 months old

Odin turns nine months tomorrow. We can hardly believe how the time has flown by...He's growing and becoming so adventuresome! Recently he started pulling himself up to standing and he does it all the time! On Friday Mom thought Odin was asleep on the mat in the living room so she turned her head for one second only to find him standing using the chair as a balance. Here he is using the sofa...














Odin also LOVES pulling himself up using the dishwasher and then helping Mom with the dishes by pulling all the forks and spoons out and placing them on the floor! (We've learned to put the knives in the way back so he can't reach them).

Today was our first really warm day here in Umea, Sweden.

And finally, for those of you following Odin's eating...Mom is super happy to report that tonight Odin ate chicken, sweet potatoes, potatoes and carrots. That is what we had for dinner so Mom took a bit of each item and plopped them in the blender with some of the chicken juices and water...and made mush. Odin LOVED it. He enjoyed it even more when Mom let him eat it using her fork (I think he wants to do what we do and since WE don't eat with baby spoons why should he??). Tomorrow red lentils and coconut milk soup is on the menu; hopefully he will like that too.

Helsinki

We just returned from a 2 week long trip. The second half of the trip was spent in Helsinki (the capital of Finland).

Here we are enjoying some lunch at a cafe in the downtown area of Helsinki.














Odin without socks enjoying the warm weather.














On a national holiday, we spent the day helping some friends plant potatoes, onions and garlic at their community garden. Dad helped till the land by hand while Mom watched Odin get VERY dirty!

A short walk from our hotel brought us to a calm and relaxing botanical garden. Mom and Odin spent many hours walking around the garden while Dad worked.

We took an overnight ferry to travel from Helsinki to Stockholm (and then a flight from Stockholm to Umeå). Here is a picture Dad insisted on taking...as you can see it was very windy!!! Check out Mom's crazy hair!

At dinner Odin made his usual mess (b/c he likes to feed himself...). One of the wait staff noticed this mess and appeared a bit annoyed until Odin flashed her his winning smile. She immediately melted and started playing with Odin (which he throughly enjoyed).

Odin showing off his Sweden t-shirt.

Walk and Slide

A nice walk in the woods in southern Sweden, near Gothenburg.

Crawling in the grass is fun! Lots to check out and try and eat!

My first slide ride!

Hanging out on the grass in Gothenburg.

Mother's Day

No better gift than sleep with Odin!














A few new Yoga poses for Odin.

Blueberries

We finally broke down and purchased a blender. So now Mom can make baby food from all kinds of fun food. I think so far Odin has decided his favorite concoction is blueberries, mango and banana...although the store bought jar of peaches and bananas is a very close second.

8 months old

Odin has hit the 8 month mark! Check out the video of him almost crawling.

Still having fun feeding ourselves...

Odin is having carrots and potatoes. In Sweden we just celebrated three holidays! The King's birthday, welcoming of Spring, and Labor Day. The King's birthday was recognized by Swedish flags being flown all over town. The welcoming of Spring was celebrated by big parties filled with bonfires, live music, and lots of people! Labor Day is celebrated by folks taking to the streets and protesting (although we weren't sure what they were protesting because it was in Swedish!).