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A day in San Francisco

After our sprint to the Swedish consulate we had a day to play around in San Francisco. It's always fun to be up in the city.

First we went to the bathroom at the consulate building and then we stopped to feed Maya at private little garden. We had almost completed the feeding when some Nazi security guard threw us out.

We then took a long walk to, and through, China town to find a Dim Sum restaurant. You would think China town is full of those places and you are right it is, but try to find one without a steep set of 1 billion stairs to get to the dining area. Yeah, we quickly figured out that there weren't many of those around. We finally found one that we could access with stroller and had a nice lunch. We completed feeding Maya and went to the bathroom. After lunch we enjoyed a leisurely stroll through China town, looked at lots of different stores, bakeries etc and ended up back at Union Square.



We sat down at Union square to enjoy the sunshine and again feed Maya.





Please take note of the eclectic color combinations in Maya's outfit. We've got yellow socks, orange and pink striped pants, pink shirt, red/white hat and a blue bib. It's so weird it actually kind of works.(Daddy did not dress Maya for this outing so please spare me the accusations).

We looked at some art exhibition and then proceeded to look for bathrooms again which we found at Macy's. Are you noticing a pattern here?

At this point it was time for dinner and we went to the food court at Westfield shopping mall. We ate, again fed Maya and went to look for bathrooms.

This wasn't the usual type of day that we would have in SF but eventful nonetheless. If you ever need to find a public bathroom in SF just ask me, I'm an expert now!

Maya now officially a Swedish Citizen!

Daddy took the day off from work Friday to make another attempt at reaching San Francisco before noon on a weekday. Our last attempt was not very succeful but this time we set out early, certain that we would make it well before noon when the Swedish Consulate closes. However, we hit traffic, bad traffic and 101 was standing still while the minutes ticked away. Our beloved GPS showed an arrival time of 11:25, then 11:35 and by the time we were back to normal highway speed it showed arrival of 11:48. That would give us a mere 12 minutes to park and get to the 12 floor in the middle of the financial district....not very good odds of making it. Thanks to some aggressive driving we made it there by 11:40, dumped the car at some uber-expensive valet parking, put together the stroller and all the baby stuff like a SWAT-team on a mission and took off running around the block. We made it with bare minutes to spare and I'm sure that the Swedish Consulate closes ON-TIME every day but especially on Friday I was afraid they would cut out early. So, finally our little Maya Anna Mei is now a registered Swedish citizen. We'll get her personnummer in a month and then we can apply for her Swedish passport as well.
Maya at the Swedish consulate with two very stressed parents:

Now serving....Apple sauce!

So rice cereal feedings have gone so well that we decided to step it up a bit and move on to something more solid and nutritious. We decided on "apple sauce stage 1" which seemed to be a good start. Maya was slightly shocked by the new explosion of taste and sweetness in her mouth but gulped it down after some hesitation. She is definitely checking out the taste and playing around with it to figure out what's going on. So far so good, and if this goes well we'll move on to "sweet potatoe stage 1" to mix it up a bit. I know, this is exciting stuff!!

Solid!

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Originally uploaded by MattiasC

Per instructions from Maya's doctor we have started trying out solid foods (solid being a very relative term here as the rice cereal mix is pretty watery). Doctor Rosen said she would mostly be playing around with it and not really eat much. However, our little girl took a liking to this stuff right away and she is actually eating most of it every feeding. We heard/read that solid foods would fill her up more and she wouldn't eat as much and frequently as before. No such luck for us yet, she still eats like an elephant. Hopefully when we move on to a more solid mix she will be filling up better and we can feed less frequently.

And per request from a Maya fan... a bigger picture of Maya in her hat:

Maya 6 months old and yet again new numbers are in.

Maya turned 6 months last week. The week before last, we had our 6 month check-up with Maya's doctor. Maya is doing very well and continues to catch up with full-term babies. She is now 80th percentile when adjusted for her premature birth and 50th percentile compared to full term babies at 6 months. So Maya is now exactly average for a 6 month full term baby, amazing progress and Dr Rosen was very happy (and so was mom and dad). Our little Swedish/Chinese meatball was 61cms(24 inches) and 6.72kgs(14lbs 13 oz)!! She has grown so much the last two weeks that she is now too tall for 6 month clothes and we have stepped it up one size, to 9 months.

Pictures of Maya on her 6 month birthday:




This weekend we went to see the Aztec New Years Celebration at the Hispanic University. Unfortunately it wasn't the Mayan New Year but we'll try to catch that one next :-). Amazing costumes and loud hypnotic drumming. The whole area was infused with sage smoke and it was actually very interesting to see despite daddy being very sceptical at first. Maya slept through the whole event and wasn't bothered at all by the loud drums.

A sunny day along the Pacific Coast Highway

Last weekend we finally had some sun so we decided to go for a drive along highway 1. We started in Santa Cruz with a visit to the Boardwalk. Cindy's parents enjoyed the beach and a short walk along the pier. We had lunch at the boardwalk before setting off north on highway 1.

We stopped at several little beaches to check out kite surfers or just the views. We turned around after our visit to Pigeon Point Light House and made our way back to Santa Cruz and then home. A very nice day with lots of sunshine and nice vistas.

Out and about in the rain

It's been raining a lot in California lately and we have been locked up in the house all the time so about 2 weeks ago we braved the elements and went out for a walk in Shoreline Park. It was raining but it was nice to get some fresh air. We got to try out the rain cover for the stroller and it worked great. Lots of birds were out and we saw a Great Egret sitting right by the path we walked.

Maya and her rabbit part 2.

We have a correction to a previous post. Maya's favorite toy was a Christmas gift from my dear sister, faster/aunt Malin and no one else.

Here are some more photos of Maya playing with her rabbit. She absolute adores it.

So daddy had his birthday last month...

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Originally uploaded by MattiasC

Daddy turned 27...or something like that... last month and every year mamma and pappa (that's farmor and farfar to you Maya) send a nice gift package over. Despite my old age it's something I look forward to every year. Now, this package would normally be filled with stuff that daddy really likes, like Swedish chocolate, some good Swedish crime novel and Fantomen. This year however things have taken a turn that I'm not 100% sure I'm on board with. Look what daddy got this year! A very simple graphical novel with pull-outs. I have to admit it's kind of cool to guess what's hiding and then pull it out and see a pig or horse but I thought I had moved on to more grown up stuff. Or maybe this wasn't for me at all??

Visit from Maya's godmother, Xinran

Xinran and Maya
Originally uploaded by MattiasC

Maya's godmother, Xinran, was in town for her latest book "China Witness" and we spent a nice afternoon together. We strolled around in the city a bit and had Swedish pancakes for lunch.

I'm glad we made it up there to see Xinran despite an aborted attempt earlier in the day. On the second try Maya was in a better mood (meaning sleeping instead of melt-down mode) and we all got there without shattered eardrums.

Unfortunately we did not make it to the Swedish consulate in time so we will have to make another trip to get Maya her Swedish citizenship.

It was great to see Xinran and it looked like both Xinran and Maya really enjoyed meeting each other. Xinran made Maya a really cute dress that fit perfectly. It looks like Maya liked it a lot.

Maya playing with friends

Maya has had some friends over to hang out with.

First Nuria came over to hang out for a bit and get to know each other.

Then a week later Lucia came over to catch up with what's new since the NICU.

Daddy got so excited that the focus insn't very sharp in either of these pictures. These little girls are already moving around so much it's hard to get the pictures in focus.

Strike a pose!

Maya in pink
Originally uploaded by MattiasC

Maya modelling in a dress that farmor bought for her.

Picking oranges

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Originally uploaded by MattiasC

This year our orange tree has been extremely productive. We have tried to get rid of as much as possible by forcing visitors to take oranges home. We finally bought a juice press so that we at least can use some of all the fruits. Waigong has been busy harvesting the tree with the help of waipo and Maya.

Maya and her favorite toy

Maya and her favorite toy
Originally uploaded by MattiasC

Maya and her favorite toy, the psychedelic rabbit, again.

Please note in the background how our living room has been invaded by toys. We have no idea where it's all coming from but we are seriously suspecting the rabbit has something to do with it. The toys seem to be multiplying over night just like rabbits. I'm thinking we should lock that rabbit up over night just to be safe.

Our little girl is growing up.

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Originally uploaded by MattiasC

Maya loves to stand up and she is getting steadier every day. She looks so big when she stands up on her own! She is playing with her favorite toy, the psychedelic green rabbit that farmor & farfar gave her for Christmas. It can be seen in almost every picture of Maya these days. She loves to pull his longs ears and chew on his nose.

Waipo and Maya

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Originally uploaded by MattiasC

Waipo/mormor and Maya get along great and spend lots of time together. As you can see on the picture they play very well together too. :) This is what it looks like most mornings when I stumble out of bed, Maya and waipo happily playing together in the living room.

Waipo is now sometimes the only person who can get Maya to focus a bit and eat. Maya is very easily distracted by things around her and feedings take a long time. Maya has also started to develop a very strong will and is very clear on when she's bored with eating. She arches her back and screams loudly to make the feeding stop. As soon as the torture stops she is happy as a camper again and smiles with her whole face. After a few minutes of play and talking, Waipo usually manages to get Maya to eat again.

I shudder to think how life will be when waipo and waigong leaves us to our own devices again. It's a pleasure having them here and they are such a great help to us. Unfortunately it's been raining almost every weekend so it's been difficult to get out of the house much. We hope that the water reservoirs fill up fast here in California so we can wish for sunshine again without risking water rationing this summer.

Back in business

Sorry for the long silence on our blog. I know all of you have been sitting at the edge of your seats for weeks now waiting for the next update on our action filled blog. We switched over to a new company for Internet, cable and phone and now have blazing fast Internet, a bunch more cable channels that we never watch and for the first time in years, crystal clear phone connection. The switch was flawless so I guess I can't blame the silence on that. I guess I really don't have a good excuse so I'll move on to the regular broadcast. Stay tuned for more.