Wounded, Naked and Sweaty

This morning I woke up and read this post by my friend Bridget. And I thought "what a lucky woman". I woke up exhausted even though I only fed Eerika once last night.

Eerika took her usual short morning nap and woke up with a bloody nose. She must have rolled into the crib rail. So sad.

Saku kept trying to my patience and let's be honest, it was really all me. I took a three minute break while Saku read books/yelled my name in his crib and Eerika was trying to fall asleep/ crying and vacuumed the front bedroom. I don't even believe it when I say this, but I felt tons better after that.

Saku played with our one baby doll.

He wanted to check if baby doll had a bloody nose as well.

He realized that she was naked so he went to get his socks and tried to put them on.

After this, he wanted to put a diaper on. By the time, I got the camera ready, he was putting the diaper on baby doll's face. So he might not be ready for diaper duty at this time.

Eerika just chilled on the couch while eating her pacifier and talking.

Then gravity started to work against her

But she just kept chilling

When the kids fell asleep, I hopped on my treadmill and ran 3 miles while watched Prison Break. I love, love, love the feeling of sweat dripping. So gross yet so satisfying. Each mile makes me little stronger and faster and during those miles, I feel that I am in charge.

I feel like a new woman now. Thank goodness for the treadmill and healthy body that allows me to run. The kids will wake up any minute now and I will be ready to be a mom again. I do hope for a nice extended time all for myself, but for now, as long as I get a date with the treadmill, I will maintain my sanity. And more importantly, I will enjoy this day to day routine with the kids.

Happy Birthday Day

I think Saku's actual Birthday was my favorite birthday ever. We woke up early to make sure that we would be ready with breakfast and presents when he woke up. We waited from 6:30 until 8 am when he finally woke up. He was born at 7:58 am, so it was kind of fun that he woke up around the same time as well.

When we heard his usual "lisää äiti" (more mom), we opened the door and started singing "Happy Birthday". We had told him over the past few days that it was going to his birthday on Friday. Obviously he has no concept of time, but he quickly realized that finally his birthday had arrived.

We followed my family's birthday tradition and took Saku's presents to his bed. In few years, we will also do the whole breakfast in bed, but somehow chocolate chip pancakes in bed didn't sound like a good idea this year.

When he first started to open his toys, he still had his beloved tutti in his mouth.

Saku showing his new Thomas the Train bath toy to Eerika.

I just love how sleepy he looks in all of these pictures. Sleepy but happy.

He also got two little motorcycles and a hot wheels race track. We have not bought very many toys for Saku, so it was fun to get him few things that we knew he would love.

I love how excited he is about his motorcycles and the race track.

We played with the race track for a quite a bit that morning. It will have to be a supervised toy for a while, but it will give a good chance for Troy and Saku to play together.

In the early afternoon, Saku and Troy went to Peter Piper Pizza and Saku got to play different games and ride the caroussel. Yes, we spoiled him with things that we usually never spend money on. And of course, they got to enjoy the delicious pizza buffet:)

After everyone's afternoon nap, we hung out on our patio and enjoyed the kiddie pool that was Saku's one year present from aunt Anna.

Nothing is better than watching my kids be happy.

Our fancy birthday dinner was spaghetti and Saku's birthday cake was chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.

We kept re-lighting the candles few times because Saku liked blowing them off.

Eerika enjoyed the festivities as well. I had scheduled myself to work that night, which was little bit of a bummer. Fortunately, the kids go to bed around 7 pm so I only missed about half an hour of the day with them.

Saku, you wont remember your 2nd birthday but we loved sharing the fun with you. You are one awesome two year old. Happy Birthday! We love you!

Saku-two years of wonder

Saku turned two last Friday. He has become such a big boy. It is exciting, but there are times when I miss the little boy. I am sure I will feel this way throughout his life.

We went to the doctor on Thursday and Saku is doing well in all aspects. He still only weights 26 pounds, but it puts him in 25th percentile rather than the 5th percentile where he was a year ago. He is in the 50th percentile for height.

He got terrible upset when he got his one shot. Unfortunately, we had brought gummy bears with us and he stopped his crying within 10 seconds of seeing them. I must admit that I love the magic of bribery and treats when it is appropriate.

Saku loves playing in and with water. Whether it is in the shower, in a bathtub or in a dump truck, he loves it.

Saku is learning to play with other kids. It is interesting to see how different personalities emerge at such young age and how they work or dont work either each other. There are play dates that are fun and enjoyable for everyone and then there are those that resemble a battle field and it seems like one kid is upset/whiney/crying at all times.

James came to play with Saku for few hours and the boys had a blast. They pretty much copied each other and ran around our house.

Saku is very sensitive to different temperatures. It lets us know that anything that is even remote warm is "kuuma" (hot) and he prefers things cold. It took a while to get used to the coldness of ice cream and popsicles, but now we asks for ice cream all the time.

He is still such a beautiful boy. He is a desperate need of a hair cut, but I just love looking at his little face and wonder at his cuteness.

Saku likes bugs. He likes to check them out closely.

Saku likes animals. He is enjoying the wooden hippo at the park nearby Anna's apartment.

Saku knows how to count to eight. He knows how to sing twinkle, twinkle little star in both languages, parts of itsy, bitsy spider, Jesus wants me for a sun beam, and the oh so lovely one line of Jingle Bells that we hear all the time. He also enjoys singing the happy birthday song.

He is also good about remembering events and explaining them chronologically. When we went to Target last week, a little girl pushed him. Now we tells us all the time that a girl pushed him, he cried and then isi came to help him. Three simple sentences but I am amazed how he tells it so well.

He loves nursery and seems to behave very well there.

We are currently in the process of getting rid of his pacifier. last night was the first night when it was cut and it was sad to witness how attached to it he is.

He is a good big brother. There are times when he spontaneously gives Eerika a hug or gives her a toy when she is crying. I know they will fight like crazy at times, but I hope Saku will be a protective and loving brother to her.

Dear Saku, you are so full of life, personality and love. I am glad that I am your aiti and get to witness your little adventure here on Earth.

The Magic of Ordinary Days

Yesterday was a great.

I woke up at 6 and made sour cream pancakes for breakfast. We actually ate breakfast as a family, which doesn't happen too often on weekdays.

In the morning, we went to a playdate/Kendra's baby shower. I chatted with fabulous girls while Saku played. And there was tons of delicious snacks and food.

Both kids took great afternoon naps, so I cleaned and ran on our new treadmill. It was my very first treadmill run ever. It went smoothly and I enjoyed the fact that I was working out while the kids slept. It felt different than running outside and my feet are little sore today. It must be the different way that my feet strike the ground.

While dinner was in the making, we hung out outside and enjoyed the shade on our patio. Ironically, Eerika loves to sit in the 20 bucks umbrella stroller from Walmart where as she cries bloody murder when I put her in the nice stroller.

The kids are too young to really play together, but I can tell that Eerika is just in awe of Saku. She will look at him and smile and smile even bigger when he responds to her.

Honestly, I cannot get enough of this little girl. Except when she is about to go sleep and when she is hungry, she is always smiling.

This is not Saku's usual smile, but I am glad I captured it anyways. He was happy to have the whole family outside with him.

Troy got a smoker for Christmas from dad and Paula. We got some salmon from Costco and tried it out. It was so delicious. Saku ate tons of it, which is amazing since he isn't that interested in food. I think we will be eating much more of it this summer.

I love the days that are ordinary, yet they make you feel so happy and blessed by the end of the day.

Too Busy, Really?

For a while now, I have thought to myself and verbalized out loud "how busy I am" or "there is no time for...". This is true. I have two little kids and 99% of their wake time, I am holding, feeding, changing diapers, disciplining or just simply playing with them.

But I also have noticed that I waste time. When I don't have enough time to start a big project or I am not sure if I have long enough to take a nap or start cleaning, I sit in front of my computer and spend many short sessions on facebook and blogs.

I don't think it's bad necessarily because I am aware of what my friends are doing. I can offer them support and love via internet and it satisfies my curiosity of what is going on with other people. Yes I am very curious.

Yet, I decided to make June a Facebook free month. For 11 days now, I have not logged in and seen the newsfeed. Part of me misses it and part of me feels very liberated. Sometimes it is good to not know so much about what everyone else is doing and focus on what I am and should be doing.

Instead of mindless reading of Facebook

We have woken up at 4 am or 5 am (due to jet lag) and gone to the park. It has been wonderful to have Saku run outside for an hour and a half (at 5:30 am) before it gets too hot

I have actively watched Saku and Eerika play while making sure that Eerika stays alive in Saku's hands.

I have gone to sleep early so I feel awake enough to go running at 6 am.

I even unpacked and sort of organized my house after being gone for five weeks.

And honestly, I feel like I have been happier for being in charge of the time I have for myself and using it little more wisely.

Though I am excited to see what July 1st brings when I wake up and do my morning routine of email and Facebook.

How well do you spend your time?

Smiles and Laughs Make Life Better

You know life is good when you wake up with snot all over your face and you are still happy and so darn cute!

I am loving the fact that Saku does pretend play and how clever he is. On our last morning in Finland, he decided to climb into a laundry basket, took a pillow with him and pretended to sleep. And the best part is that he knows when he is being funny and witty.

While we were at the Chicago airport, I had to go to the bathroom. Eerika was little fussy so I ended up taking Saku with me while Troy walked around with Eerika. Saku sees us going to the bathroom all the time; however, this time as I was ready to be done, he looked at the toilet bowl and got really distressed. He pointed and said "pippeli rikki" (penis broken). He said it over and over again and just seemed so worried about the fact that I did not have a penis there. Maybe it was the fact that we had been traveling for hours at this point, but I thought that it was the most hilarious thing ever. When I came out of the bathroom and told Troy, it took me several minutes to get to the bunch line because I just kept cracking up.

One More Day

Tomorrow, as in Monday, is our last day in Finland. I am sad to leave Finland but excited to go home. Does that make sense? Five weeks away from home and my regular life is a long time. I wish I could take my family with me and they could live 5 minutes away from me. Or I wish we could move here and live close by. It has been priceless to see how much Saku enjoyes playing with everyone and how much they love him. He might speak a word or two in English while he is talking full three and four word sentences in Finnish. I better have plenty of play dates so he can hear English again.

Also one more day until I start my "no candy until October 8th". It is sort of a random date except for the fact that Anna is getting married. No words to describe how excited I am for her and Risto. Since candy is my weak spot when it comes to sweets, I will be giving it up, including chocolate, until the wedding day. I refuse to think "I just had a baby" or have other people think that for me. I am going to get my body back. I wont be auditioning for bikini shoots, but I do want to feel confident and happy in my own body. Anna said that she would join me and to show that I was serious, I told her that I would give her 100 euros if I ate candy during the upcoming months.

I lived in the newborn baby fog for few months and then I have "vacationed" for five weeks and now I just want to get back to my life. Of course, it might take a week or two to adjust to the U.S time zones and get everything settled and organized, but I am ready to have a great summer in the blazing heat of Tucson.

I will surely miss this perfect 70 degree weather...

Public Transportation-So awesome

Since we arrived to Finland on May 4th, I have probably driven in the car about six times. Helsinki offers free public transportation to mothers who have strollers. It has been so great to not listen to Eerika scream in her car seat while I drive. Saku has loved the fact that he can sit next to me in the bus or he gets to ride in the train. It is fun to be able to talk to him and point at things rather than concentrate on driving.

There are also drawbacks to not driving to places.

It can take longer to walk to the bus/metro/train stop while pushing a stroller and then take actually get on the bus/metro/train. It is also physically more demanding to push the stroller while Saku stands on the stepping board or I am carrying one of the kids. And grocery shopping without a car is quite the trip. But I have enjoyed the fact that we haven't had to get in the car much.

Finnish people aren't known for the friendliness, but I have been impressed by the fact that someone has offered to help me to lift the stroller into the train each time I needed some help.




Our vehicle while in Finland


Anna and Saku waiting for the train


This was one of the few days when I actually got "dressed up" while Troy was still in Tucson. The weather was little cooler, so the kids were wearing some borrowed outfits.

How do you think you could survive without a car? Have you ever taken the local public transportation?