Wedding & Maya party!

My dear parents organized a party for us while we were in Sweden. It was a combination of a wedding party for us and a welcome-to-the-world party for Maya. It was a very nice event with lots of family and friends. It was great to see family that we normally wouldn't have time to go visit. I really enjoyed seeing aunts, uncles and my cousins and their kids which I haven't seen for years.

Due to the very unreliable Swedish summer weather my parents had arranged for a big party tent. The crew came out and had it up in no time. During our 3,5 week stay in Sweden it only rained one afternoon.....and of course it was the afternoon of the party so the tent was definately worth it.



After a few hours of work by the decoration crew the tent was done with both Swedish and Chinese decorations:



Filled with family and friends:



Maya eating cake with her godmother Xinran:



Three little Maya/Maja's from the Cedergren clan:



My dear parents with Xinran:



Thank you mamma & pappa for the wonderful party! We had a great time!

Maya's wooden truck.

Farfar built Maya a big wooden truck that she absolutely loves. It's perfect height for her to hold on to while walking around and she pushes the huge truck back and forth across the kitchen floor tirelessly.

Another favorite; Felix the cat. He gracefully agrees to be pushed around in the truck bed for hours.





Maya and her proud farfar playing with the truck that farfar built her:

Leaving on a jet plane

We left California Wednesday last week and took off for sunny? Sweden. We have a long vacation planned and will be here for close to four weeks so farmor, farfar and faster Malin gets to hang out with Maya a lot.

Packing was a bit stressful as we wanted to make sure we had enough of everything for the long flight. In the end it went well and Maya did great on the long trip. SF to Amsterdam took about 10 hours and Maya slept for about one of those hours. KLM gave us a great crib to put her in but we ended up using it mostly for storage of diapers, bottles etc since Maya wasn't interested in sleeping. Right next to us was another family with a baby girl the same age as our litte daughter. Their girl hung out in the crib for pretty much the whole flight. I have never seen such a calm and peaceful little baby. I have to admit we were slightly jealous of them while Maya was playing peek-a-boo with the whole row behind us, laughing at/with the lady across the aisle, pulling dads skin of his face, throwing everything on the floor, bouncing of the walls etc etc, their little girl just peacefully sat there and watched our little energizer bunny.

Amsterdam to Copenhagen took just an hour and was over before we could blink. Maya completed both flights without any fuzz or ear pain. Farfar and farmor met us at Kastrup and led two very exhausted parents to the car, all the while Maya was chatting up a storm with them.

Weather has been great so far and Maya and dad are already adjusted to the new time zone. Mom is struggling a bit but getting better with the sleeping pattern.

Farmor and farfar have left the building

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Originally uploaded by MattiasC

Exactly one week ago farmor and farfar went back home to Sweden. We all miss them an awful lot. It's always hard to say good-bye and I always question why on earth we live so far away from family.

Maya loved having farmor and farfar here and she thrived in their company. She really did have a huge growth spurt during their visit (which will be revealed in the next posting...stay tuned).

We took tons of pictures and video so they have something to look at back home and bore friends & relatives with. Burned two full DVD's with Maya media for them.

Mommy's parents are here now for a while so Maya is still getting awfully spoiled with attention. I shudder to think about what will happen when it's just mommy and me again. We have both returned from the brink of exhaustion and function somewhat normal now.

We hope to see farmor, farfar and aunt Malin soon again.

Please, please, please make farmor and farfar stay longer daddy!

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Originally uploaded by MattiasC

Maya really loves having my parents around. She is so excited she barely sleeps during the day anymore. Maya is talking an awful lot to farmor and farfar and wants to stay involved in what's going on all the time. She has started smiling so much it's hard to feed her these days. When she cracks into a big smile she forgets to eat and the milk just leaks out on the sides.

Maya, Cindy and I will miss farmor and farfar a lot when they leave end of this week.

Maya has discovered her hands and is trying to learn to control them. Sometimes she even manages to get them so intertwined it takes her a while to untangle them again.


On a positive note Cindy's parents arrived yesterday so Maya will still have grandparents around for a while to keep her occupied. The house is bursting at the seams right now and there are people sleeping in every bedroom. A nice change for Cindy and I to have the house full of family. Most of the time all of our family is so far away and we don't get to see enough of them.

Mayas first restaurant visit

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Originally uploaded by MattiasC

We decided to take a drive along the coast on highway 1 earlier this week. The weather has been amazing and we wanted to take advantage of it and get some sun.

We started from San Francisco, made our first pit stop to refuel Maya and watched surfers on the waves.

We continued down the coast making stops mainly when it was time for Maya to eat. In Pacifica we decided to have lunch and found a nice Italian restaurant right by the water with a lovely view. This was Mayas first visit to a restaurant but she pulled it off like a pro. She even started charming our waitress with big smiles and cooing.

We ended the trip at San Gregorio beach which is a really nice spot. The little river outlet carries down tons of drift wood to the beach which then visitors use to build all sorts of structures. It's like an open air art gallery sometimes and very interesting to visit.

Hanging out with farfar

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Originally uploaded by MattiasC

Maya is soaking up all the attention like a sponge. She barely sleeps during the day now since she doesn't want to miss a second of the action with farmor and farfar.

I think she likes her farmor and farfar more then mom and dad. She is all smiles, talking up a storm and attentive with them. Mom and dad are boring and not nearly as much fun.

Maya is so exhausted from reading books, smiling and talking that she has finally fallen asleep with farfar.

Napa trip and complete meltdown.

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Originally uploaded by MattiasC

We've been so busy spending time with farmor and farfar that I haven't had time to update the blog much.

Yesterday we went up to Napa to visit some wineries and for a nice dinner. We had a great day and spent the afternoon at Sattui Winery with a tasty picnic and some wine tasting. Maya enjoyed the warm weather and all the new sights. Farmor and farfar enjoyed the cheese, salmon, olives, prosciutto, bread and of course, wine.

In the evening the intent was to have dinner at a nice restaurant in Napa and then head home. Maya had a different plan.... After some shopping to build up our appetite again, Maya decide to have a complete meltdown. It was probably a combination of over-stimulation, hunger and tiredness but she was inconsolable, crying at the top of her lungs. We were stuck in the parking lot for a long long time trying to get her to eat some milk and calm down. She finally relaxed and we decided to drive straight home instead. All of our nerves were shot and we just wanted to get back. It's strange how very very far away it feels with just an hour and a half drive when your little princess is unhappy.

Apart from the meltdown we had a fantastic day out.

Christmas.....again!!

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Originally uploaded by MattiasC

We saved the Christmas tree so that Maya could have a second Christmas celebration with her grandparents. I sincerely doubt that farmor and farfar managed to fit any clothes in their suitcases, both seemed to be filled with Christmas gifts for Maya. Maya almost disappeared in the big pile of gifts she got.

Proud farfar(in his Christmas gift cowboy hat) and proud farmor.

Farmor and farfar have arrived!

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Originally uploaded by MattiasC

We made it to the airport in time for my parents arrival.

I think Cindy fell asleep as soon as we saw them in anticipation of a full night of uninterrupted sleep.

Maya didn't care that farmor and farfar had been on the road for 24 hrs and we had to make a pit stop to refuel her on the way home.

Hmm, what's the name of that bug in Swedish again?....

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Originally uploaded by MattiasC

Maya is very excited to be welcoming farmor and farfar tomorrow. She can barely sleep tonight from being so keyed up. Mom and dad are also very much looking forward to it.

She has been busy all day studying Swedish with her favorite book as you can see on the picture here.

Tomorrow will be a busy day. We start off with a doctors appointment at 10am tomorrow. Followed by vaccinations again. After that a quick lunch and then off to the airport to pick up farmor and farfar. We'll bring them home and then I'm off to IKEA to buy an extra bed for them to sleep on. We only have one guest bed so it's time to invest in a second one. I don't want to put my parents on the big green air mattress we have that slowly but surely leak air.

Happy New Year

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Originally uploaded by MattiasC

The weather has been really very nice the last few days and we've taken Maya out in the garden to look at all the flowers. She loves to "walk" around and look at all the colors and see the different flowers.

We have four more days until farmor and farfar arrives from Sweden and we are REALLY looking forward to having them here. It will be nice to see them both and we are looking forward to some help with Maya. Just getting a few hours break will be great.