Walk Like an Egyp... (er, check that) A 9 Month Old!

It is dark.  December in Sweden is like trying to use a spoon to find the bottom of the soupbowl. One can try and try, but the soup will just keep filling in the gaps. Streetlights, in this case, try in vain to cut through our murky darkness but it is all too encompassing to defeat. With no moon, low cloud cover and a meager 6 hours of daylight, one might think we are bit light deprived.

But our light in the darkness, besides the candles in the hair of the local Lucia, is Christopher's first steps.  

Gingerly, he will let go of the chair or table he may be holding, then, first a little step with his right foot, a balance correction, perhaps a deep-knee bend, and just when you think his bum will hit the floor he is up standing straight again and taking a quick three steps. We shook our heads and even rubbed our eyes in disbelief the first time. But apparently it was more than just a one-off occurance. He is on to this whole walking deal. It will be easier this way to chase after his sister. After all, she does have a two year head start.

Quirky Coincidence: our kids think seem to think that early December is the most appropriate time to start walking - in fact,  almost to the day!

Side-step Boogie

In the mid-1970s, there was a line dance called The Hustle that became famous with help from, among others, the film Saturday Night Fever.

Frankly, I cannot exactly recall the look or steps involved in the Hustle, but when I see Christopher, now 8 months, standing at the table's edge and side-stepping his way left and right, I can't help but whistle a bit of 70's disco music.

In fact, there are a few occasions where I have a habit of singing to myself when he does things. In the early 90's, a rap group called Culture Beat had a big hit called Mr. Vain. Christopher's pre-occupation with his own image leads to a bit of humming of that 1993 tune. Mirrors tend to get a lot of attention if Christopher is around.

Consistently, when he pulls himself up at the table's edge or on chairs it leads to my signing of Bob Marley & the Wailers Get Up, Stand Up. Moreover, getting him to sleep by rocking him in my arm is naturally an AC /DC song; For Those About to Rock (We Salute You).

Perhaps there should be a music anthology to accompany Christopher's childhood. I'm already convinced that there will come a day when he will say: "Dad, you were strange!", to which I will start singing the Doors' 1967 song People are Strange.

Quick Enamel Developers

One tooth, two teeth, how about six!

Christopher has won the tooth lottery. Tooth number three arrived last Monday, Oct 14. Teeth four, five and six showed up simultaneously today.

He's been rather cranky and perhaps the gum-buddies are to blame.

Sophia set the precident. She too got a mouthful off pearls rather early, though never do I recall three coming it at once.

Needless to say, he is drooling and chewing on everything around which he can get his mouth. Sleep is sporatic, at best, yet on the upside, he seems to really like this whole chewing concept.
Last weekend, we went on a road-trip to Karlstad in western Sweden. On the trip home, the thing that made Christopher most content was to sit in his car seat and eat crackers. Go figure.

What A Difference A Year Makes!

Back in July, I commented about how the horses and their foals had been put out to pasture in an area near to where I work. The young foals were testing their legs and would prance around their mothers full of energy.

Well, I suppose the attempted analogy has now become rather obvious.  Our little foal is bustling around his parents on all fours and getting into all kinds of new trouble here in our little pasture.  So much of the first months of his life were about the basics; eat, sleep, diaper-change. Within only a few weeks, he took his 6+ months of passiveness and decided that it's time to move - and really move, at that.

Just under a month ago, he began to make the first motions towards crawling forward.  As he has caught on, it has meant a new form of "babywatch" as he now motors around the apartment. Not to be content with just crawling, he has added the pull-myself-up-on-anything and -everything feature to his repertoire, so long as it doesn't fall back on him first.  All and anything is acceptable to be chewed on, so long as he can get his mouth around it.  It takes a new kind of awareness and endurance to keep up with him.


Actually, these strides seem all the more monumentus today in particular due to a rather special anniversary.  It was one year ago that we were at Akademiska hospital in Uppsala for an ultrasound.  

When I post a blog update, I tend to be cautious about using too much hyperbole and/or clichés.  We are not the first people to experience the development of a baby.  It is just simply that at particular intervals we recognize how very drastic the change has been.  To look in a mirror and compare our own reflection with that of one year ago would show few overt differences.  Conversely, to put a black and white ultrasound picture side-by-side with this little boisterous boy says volumes.

To now be cliché and sing "what a difference a year makes..." or use superlatives such as "Christopher is a talented boy, taking brilliant new strides at a phenomonal pace"... or to blankly say, "he crawls, he laughs, he is a happy boy" are all the same.  Instead, the better picture to illustrate is that it is in fact we, the parents, as the metaphorical mother horse.   We are close behind our little foal, with a gleem of pride and an eye out for danger, as he bounces, plays and discovers his world. 

He crawls... FORWARD!

Six months ago today, Christopher made this blog make sense. Up until then the name of the blog was a bit of an fallacy... Okay, nevermind. That lame attempt at humour is mearly a tangent. Here's the real news:
CHRISTOPHER IS CRAWLING FORWARD!
Like Neil Armstrong before him, he is taking one small step... er, crawl for mankind.

Frankly, this is a bit of overblown excitement. Its significance is moreso because it should lead to the end of some of his frustration. For the last number of weeks, we have noted his determination and frustration at being unable to reach things. Now that he can inch forward, perhaps we will see his excitement about discovering, instead of hearing a dull whine of getting stuck under the dresser, again. :)

Happy 6 months Christopher! Way to go!

First Crawl Backwards - it will lead forward

The summer months are gone and the fall is full of colour and promise. Holidays in Canada were superb and both kids were excellent travellers.
Our arrival home has meant a return to routines and perhaps also a bit more awareness of the small things. Specifically noted is Christopher's ear-splitting screams, his attempts at crawling (at present only backwards), and the two sharp teeth that have appeared on his lower gums.
Sophia is back at daycare and is the local Cinderella. Each day when we pick her up, she is wearing a blue Cinderella dress and twirlling like she is at the ball.
At home, she has her Cinderalla slippers (bought by grandma) which seem to always be on her feet.
The kids laugh at each other and continue to be helpful. As both Cecilia and I start our work schedules, our kids seem to be finding their own little routines to make the world turn.
After spending the majority of August in Grandma & Grandpa (Farfar)'s 200+ sq m house, returning home to our 69sq m apartment was a bit of an adjustment.  Luckily the kids found a way to compartamentalize themselves (see picture)

Summer is for Somersaults

Most of Sweden is remarkably quiet right now. It is high season for holidays and we (the Uppsala Montgomerys) are not yet among the masses already on vacation. I read a study that said that close to 80% of Swedes holiday in July. That is perhaps the reason it is so quiet. Nevertheless, I am still working and we are still at home, that is until next week when our holiday will finally begin and we will jet off to Canada.


I work 20km south of Uppsala, on the countryside, next to a horse farm. Each day as I pass the sprawling pastures, I see the young foals prouncing around testing their new bodies. It never ceases to get me thinking of my own little ones, who too are testing their new legs, so-to-speak.

Earlier this week, Sophia, Cecilia & Christopher came to visit me at work. We took the chance to go see the horses in the pasture. Sophia got the concept of the mothers and their babies, pointing at them she would say "mamma häst" or "bebis häst".

What was perhaps more noteworthy of the visit was Sophia's spontaniety. As she was meeting some of my co-workers, for whatever reason, she decided it was high-time for a somersault - no explanation, but very funny!

Like the horses, I suppose she was just trying our her legs.

We have lots of laughter

The spring has breezed past. Perhaps that sounds cliché, though it does seem quite remarkable that Christopher is three months old today. The last posting talked a lot about spit-up, laundry and sickness and those have all tailed off. Thinking back to the first month, we certainly did have a lot to do, but it certainly could have been much worse.
Our son and daughter are quite a fun pair. Christopher is growing quickly and gaining a joyful personality. He laughs, gurgles, explores and seems to be well advanced motor-wise for his age. He has rolled over, will often try to sit up, and has always had a strong neck - all things that are not necessarily expected of a 3 month old. The good health over the last month seems to have let him really develop. No sickness led to lots of weight gain and this whole awareness thing. Today, he had a spontaneous laugh attack... and that was certainly contagious. At the last weigh-in Christopher tipped the scales at 7.2kg (15.8lbs) and 64cm (26" or 2foot 2inches).

Sophia meanwhile is wonderful. We see very little jealousy and simply a lot of desire to help and care for her little brother. There are the typical outbursts of a two year old and that leads to conflict between Sophia and her parents, but for the most part, we are a pleasant little family.

I have been in my new job (same company, but now with Inside Sales) for 6 weeks. We had a visit from our sister company in France last week. Swedish is our language at work, English is my mother tongue, but deep in my brain I still know a good deal of French, though it has not been accessed for a number of years. My French is a dusty old file folder in the back of a file cabinet. It is enlightning meeting and speaking with folks from other European cultures, yet having some sense of intelligent speech come forth from my mouth would perhaps be even more worthwhile in such encounters. The result last week was more or less a collision of my three languages causing a linguistic traffic accident and forcing my eyelids to shut in hopes that they could sort it all out. A bit of a ridiculous situation, but our colleagues from France were quite forgiving. In the end, I realised that a refresher course is in order and a French course this fall looks très bien.

A month old and lots of laundry

Us Montgomerys have run the gamut of common illnesses over the last 31 days - and all four of us at that. Common colds, stomach aches, fever, sniffles, stuffed sinuses, coughs, even engorgement (look it up on Wikipedia if you so dare) etc...

For the most part we are all doing fine. I suppose it is simply a rythym that we are striving after. The tough part has been having these little illnesses pop up every couple days. Christopher makes the big strides when he is healthy. The awareness in his face, his strength in his neck, the general calmness, come when he hasn't been battling the two head colds that have lead to stuffed-up breathing and short sleeps and long nights for his parents. Eventually they too succumbed to illnesses (see above list). Let's put it this way, we've bought our fair share of tissue paper!



All that said, we are such a content little foursome. Sophia continues to be a helpful big sister. She has learned the word for spit-up (in Swedish "Kraks") and points it out with great glee. Her parents on the other hand try to catch it with one of our many handtowels before it goes all over him, on clothing, furniture or the floor. The downside (aside from the laundry and stained clothes) is that it seems like all our photography is taken with a puke-towel as background. The poor kid is going to have baby pictures constantly framed by 5kr ($0.99) Ikea towels (see above). Thank goodness for modern photo-edit programs - a bit of Photoshop can jazz them up a bit.


Even if there does seem to be a lot of "feedback" after each mealtime, he is certainly gaining weight. On Saturday, he and I stood on the scale and if my math is correct (subtract my weight, squared, cancel the x, square root, carry the one, etc.), then his one month weight has brought him up to the 5.0kg level (11.0lbs). More significantly is perhaps that we've graduated two diaper sizes in one month! He is growing up so fast. Not that graduating two diaper sizes isn't enough, the kid on the new version of diapers doesn't even look babyish! (oh, the anguish of a young parent!)

Perhaps even more exciting is that Sophia is quickly leaving her diaper days behind her, or rather better put, she is putting cloth, instead of diapers, on her behind. We are proud of her new talents, but at the same time constantly a bit nervous for a so-called "accident". Thankfully, available at a moments notice, there is always our abundant supply of spit-up towels!

Hugs from Uppsala... The Montgomery four.

Some recent pictures

They do seem to like each other. Sophia is always eager to hold Christopher though admittedly her interest tends to wane after a half-minute or so.

His little neck is remarkably strong and his eyes seem so infinitely curious.

The Siblings

Sophia met her little brother in mid-afternoon on Thursday March 15. She ran to mom's bedside and in mid-hug saw her little brother sleeping beside Cecilia and uttered in a kind of combined sense of awe, surprise and wonder "bebis". It was a bit of a cautious approach at first and she gently reached out and touched him saying softly "klappa" (to stroke or pet). It wasn't long before she was eager to hold him and on her face was what I can only seem to described as pride and fascination. Here she was holding her little brother. The concept of birth, brothers and babies are slightly too big for her to fully grasp with her mere 2 years of gathered wisdom, but somewhere inside her head the wheels were spinning and we like to think that she kind of gets it. Sophia is a big sister and a good one, so far, at that.

Late Night Fika with Dad

In contrast to the ceasarian for Sophia's birth, the local anestetic thankfully worked while on the operating table and Cecilia was able to be conscious for the procedure. Cecilia had the chance to cuddle with her baby boy in some brief and heartfilled minutes.
Christopher Hayden Scott received his names after both his maternal (Krister) and paternal (Scott) grandfathers. Hayden was thrown in for good measure.
Speaking of measures, shortly after his birth both dad and baby left the operating theatre to do the standard weights and measurements. Christopher weighed-in at 3550 grams and was 52cm long. He had a normal body temperature. After getting diapered and swaddled in a warm blanket he and dad then were given what is the very uniquely Swedish tradition of fika.
Essentially, fika is an all-encompassing name for a coffee break. There doesn't necessarily have to be coffee, nor food, but it is certainly a break. Perhaps a better translation would be in essence to a "pause amid the chaos". Thus, Christopher and his dad took pause.
The post-trauma fika this time was equally as surreal as it was during Sophia's birth though admittedly this time Jamie expected it and had the sense to photograph the moment for posterity's sake.
Poor Cecilia meanwhile received no fika per se. She was busy being sewn-up on an operating table and thereafter attempting to gain back movement and feeling in her extremities. After approximately three hours, Cecilia could lift her legs under her own strength and was given permission to leave the post-op and was wheeled to rejoin her "two guys".

Just Before Midnight CET

Wednesday, March 14 seem to last forever. Or rather, it was segmented into too numerous to remember contractions, visits by doctors, nurses & midwives, and much talk of this mysterious being making moves inside Cecilia.
We were admitted to the maternity ward at 7am and given a remarkably comfy delivery room complete with lazy-boy chair for "the dad". Cecilia had been having contractions since early the previous evening and had slept very little. The admitting mid-wife correctly sensed our exhaustion and prescribed us rest - with some sleeping pill assistance. Jamie didn't get a pill but he slept like a log and he, the mom, and the soon-to-be child were back to life around 1pm. At that point, contractions were still consistent but the overall delivery process was going slow.

As the day turned to night, the staff at Uppsala's Akademiska hospital opted to initiate the delivery by breaking the water. The process did not necessarily speed up, though the pain and contractions did and thereby resulted in an epidural for Cecilia. As the evening wore on a concern arouse around the baby's heart rate. At the end of each contraction, the baby's heart rate would drop drastically from 130bpm to below 60 only to within seconds come back above 170 and then stabilise again around 130. This caused the attending medical staff concern and was the eventual reason we ended up on an operating table at just after 11pm. We would later learn that the embilical cord was wrapped around our baby's neck and was causing a kind of asphixia as the uterus contracted the baby downward.

Our baby boy came into the world on Wednesday, March 14 at 23:50.