A sunny update

Well, life goes on wonderfully down here in South Africa. This blog thing takes SOOO extremely long to download here for some reason so it's not often that I have the time and internet together to sit down and do this thing but here comes a little update on our lives..

South Africa had elections the other day so they're still in the process of counting and verifying them all, but there has no doubt been a HUGE win by the ANC which has brought about many mixed feelings by the citizens of this wonderful country!

Manne is heading into his last few weeks of studies and then it's exam time and then he will have his degree which we're pretty excited about! We're still busy praying alot about the future though we are starting to feel God put certain things onto our hearts for the next few years, but please continue to pray with us as we seek His will for this next phase of our lives.

Elias is extremely cute and so full of smiles and laughter. I must say that I'm thoroughly enjoying being a mom...it's been quite a journey! We've survived a busy 3 weeks with lots of travelling - we had some friends out from Sweden and have been on safari and to many different places. Elias really enjoyed seeing all the animals. We've also been visiting my fam a lot and helping my sister out when she had her 2nd daughter which was a very special time. Elias is usually a very calm and contented boy but eventually the travelling around took it's toll on him too and he became very niggly for a while. He unfortunatley also got his first tummy bug which was sad to see. But now he's back to his usual self!

He's also started the journey of eating solids. Which he started at about 4 and a half months. We were planning on waiting until 6 months but because of the fact that he had already doubled his birth weight by 3 months (Which most babies do at 5 to 6 Months ;-)) and he started waking up more at night we decided it was time to start the adventure...and he sure is loving his food! I've never seen him as happy as he was that first day that he ate maize porridge!!!

What else has been up? Well, there's been Easter, and there's been parties, braai's(bbq's) and rugby matches...life has been pretty hectic for the little Woodhouse-Schmit family but we've been blessed and God's been good, always providing for us and holding us close in His hand, for which we are grateful! We pray that the same has been for you. We miss you all...especially our cute little cousin friends over in the US of A(and their parents of course)...and of course farmor and farfar and the Janson clan on the Swedish side of the world. we're looking forward to returning to sweden in summer and seeing you all that are gonna be there!

Lots of love and hugs!

(For more photos you can check out mine or Manne's facebook...we usually get some photos up there)

Belated baby shower and blessings...

I was very blessed when my sisters and mom through me a belated baby shower. It was really fun and very enexpected! Thank you special fam!

Elias also had his blessing ceremony in church last week and after that we had a special naming ceremony for him at home. It was a special time. Here are a few photos.

Here's a few more photos. For some reason it takes a long time to upload photos here, so if you want to see more you can check them out on facebook!

Life in SA

Hey everyone!

Well, it's been a while since we've given any update! Things have been busy with settling in and moving up to Durban and Manne starting varsity. We also don't have internet where we stay yet, so we can only get online when we're visiting my parents.

It's been lovely here in the heat. We've met a lot of great people. We're staying in a lovely flat in a beautiful conservancy. we're renting a place from a lovely couple that are becoming like extra grandparents to us. There's a beautiful pool and it's very peaceful there.

Manne has now been at varsity for 1 week. It's been an interesting experience for him. Africa definately doesn't run on the same efficiency as Sweden, so he's been having some fun adventures.

Elias is doing great as well...he's a real blessing. He sleeps between 8 and 11 hours a night, so at least we get to sleep as well!!! He's getting big and strong now...and is starting to laugh a little. We'll have to try and capture it on video sometime...it melts my heart!

Anyway, we think of you all in America and Sweden often...you're in our prayers!

Lots of love and hugs!!!

An update from South Africa

Well, we're starting to all settle in well in SA. It's been wonderful being with family and friends again. And being in the heat...it's lovely. Elias seems to be enjoying the heat as well...then he can just lie and kick around in his nappy. Except he did get a bit of heat rash...

But otherwise he's been having fun hanging out with his cousin, Cayla and he loves having a bath.

We are doing well otherwise. Manne is starting varsity soon, which means that soon we'll be moving up to Durban. It's going to be quite fun living in a big city again. For New Years we went to the traditional Chinese restaurant. It was really fun. It's good being back home...but we miss Rocky and Elisabeth, and the rest of the fam, back in Sweden!

Well, it's Christmas time!!! What a wonderful cosy time of year!!! And with Christmas comes all the wonderful Christmas food. My favourite is a specially fried red cabbage...mmmm...it's SOOO good. Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without it. The only problem is that it makes our little gorgeous boy so gassed up...so I guess there won't be too much of that this year;-))))

At this moment I'm sitting and taking a break from packing. We leave on Saturday for Tidaholm where we'll be for Christmas and then we leave the 29 Dec for sunny SA. We're looking forward to that...all 3 of us, but will be sad to leave farmor and farfar(gran and granddad) behind in Sweden.

Otherwise all is well with us. Elias is growing well...he weighed in at 4.3 kg at his last check-up and was 55 cm long. He's a blessing...we're enjoying being parents. At the moment he still mostly eats and sleeps...but he has given us the odd smile and gurgle...very precious!

well, back to the boxes!!!

Hope you're all blessed abd well!