Family Home Evening

Saku really likes family home evening. We have a lot of room for improvement in many areas of parenting, but we have been very consistent with FHE.

Saku likes his special FHE chair and we usually do one story out of the scripture art book.

This week, we did it outside and I have to say that while it was nice; it was little distracting.

We talked about prayer. Saku's prayer is pretty much this "Rakas Taivaan Isä, kiitos päivästä. Isi and äiti come to visit us. Thank for the food. Bless the food. In the name of Jesus christ Amen". The "isi and äiti come to visit us" is from the two weeks he stayed with grandma and granpa.

Every once in a while, he says a prayer randomly while playing and tells me to "read your scriptures". And "fold your arms". He will keep us on our toes.

More Isi

Dear Isi,

Are you coming home soon? I keep calling out for you when I am supposed to be napping or going to bed and it would be nice if you would be here for one of those times. Though I guess, you probably would agree with äiti on the fact that I need my sleep.

I have done facetime and called you few times. Usually I say "hey isi, how are you doing? talk to you later, bye". I also ask many questions now. "where are we going?" "what are you doing?" "what are you watching?" "what do you hear?" I hope you have some good answers when you get back.

Today I made äiti laugh as I told her that my tummy wasn't feeling well. She said that maybe I just needed more food. I had to tell "I don't agree". I did drink about half of a Costco smoothie and kept saying that it was "delicious".

I have been a lot better about sharing with Eerika. I think Eerika and äiti have been a lot happier because of this. And I didn't have to do any time outs today. Either I am getting better about listening or äiti is picking her battles more carefully to make sure she has enough energy to take care of us until you get home.

There were few silly pictures of me from yesterday, but the computer isn't working that well.

Hopefully tomorrow I can show them to you.

Guess what? I love you.

Saku

One Day We Will Actually Have a Fall Day

We were hoping to enjoy a fun fall day at a farm forty minutes away from Tucson. The temperature was around 95 degrees that day and there wasn't very much shade, so we did not really feel like we were celebrating the fall. However, we had a good time. We just let Saku run around and enjoy the outdoors. I carried Eerika in the baby bjorn most of the day while letting her get down and dirty every once in a while.

Alia, Brian and their boys came with us as well. We did a pumpkin patch trip three years ago before we had any kids. Oh how quickly life changes. Now we both have two kids!

You gotta love this stage when the babies get mobile and eat so much dirt!

While the boys enjoyed the petting zoo, they also enjoyed chewing/sucking their fingers. Seriously disgusting!

Our little family at the pumpkin patch. We took a little hayride there and Saku was excited about "the farmer" who rode the tractor there. We carved the pumpkin and it got moldy within three days, so I am not sure if it was worth the investment of six dollars.

The wonderful thing about kids is that they dont mind the heat. So Saku was in heaven the whole time there. And because we just wanted him to have a good time, we had a good time as well. I have learned to not have my own agenda when we are doing things with the kids and then everyone seems to have a good time.

These two boys just melt my heart. They are loud and crazy together. Just what boys are supposed to be. While Saku is little more on the wild side, I have to say that Cameron might be louder. I didn't think I would ever say that.

We didn't go there quite as prepared as we should have. Since it was such a hot day, we were so thirsty and drank all of our water very quickly. Ironically, I was proud of the fact that we brought delicious sandwiches as lunch...and then Alia informed us that there was a sign that said "no outside food". We ended up eating them anyway and bought some snow cones. My first snow cone ever. So if nothing else, our trip will always be remembered as the first time I had a snow cone.

More than Just Surviving Sunday

Dear Troy

Since the 16 hour time difference between us might make it little more difficult to FaceTime and skype, I figured I would try to post few things about our days here.

The Good:

I made it to church on time.

Both of the kids diaper rashes are doing so much better.

We had a great time walking around the neighborhood and looking at Halloween decorations.

I was able to get Eerika to take a little nap in my arms. I just dont have your magic.

The pumpkin bread is so good.

Eerika wore an adorable "big girl" outfit to church and her bow was on the whole time.

I wore my new skirt and I really like it.

Both of the kids were in bed by 7 pm. (no nap for saku and only two short ones for Eerika)

The Bad:

Eerika had pooped while we drove to church. I didn't notice it until I had carried her (while balancing on my hip) and got poop on my arm, my shirt and my skirt. I might have smelled like poop for the rest of the three hours.

Saku unscrewed the light bulbs off our night lamps and hit them together--shattering one of them on our bed.

Saku pushed one of his closet doors off its place so it doesn't slide now.

And I had to go into "time out" after I raised my voice at Saku as he was pushing on that door and I was worried that it would fall on Eerika and I.

I have eaten half of the huge loaf of pumpkin bread.

Eating dinner by myself stinks. I made those good costco raviolis and they were not that great this time.

The funny:

Josh (Anderson) asked Saku "what is dad doing in Japan?" and Saku told him that you ate goldfish and octopus.

I got a new toy-I mean I took out the ironing board and since Saku has probably never seen it, due to my lack of ironing, he told me "new toy, pretty cool". Yes, I am quite the lucky woman.

I asked Saku something today and he answered "sure, yeah,probably". How did we manage to create such a hilarious little boy?!

Saku has "found" the train in his closet. He will go and sit in the bumbo and pretends to ride a train. I got to be one of his passengers as I sat on the toy box.

Saku told me to stay in time-out for five minutes, then counted to 11 and made the time sound. Then I told me that he would go and get me money to make me happy.When I told him that I was already happy, he said that I was sad. I think our emotional coaching is working:)

I love you. Everyone keeps asking me how I'm doing without you here. I am doing well so far but I miss you. I hope you ate some delicious food again today!

Love,

Keiju

Choosing Happiness

I have been married for six+ years now. I knew that I would be with Troy for the rest of my life and all the eternity about month into our dating. I loved how he was so strong and I felt so little compared to him. I loved how he cooked for me. I loved that he didn't try to make me stop studying. I loved that he understood why I cried (and was bitter) when he got a better grade on a test than I, even though I had studied way more. I loved that he really knew me and still wanted it all.

Was our wedding day the happiest day of my life? Maybe I am the only woman (or even a man) who will say this, but it wasn't. It was a special day. I was excited. I felt beautiful. It was a start of this life that has been so good to us. It was a start of eternal relationship that has survived hardships and has let us enjoy pure bliss at times.

More importantly, it is a relationship that endured the routine of every day life.

That while we dream of every day passion and that "I can't get enough of you" feeling that we had during the initial moments of the marriage, we find joy in the fact that we can reach for each other's feet in our bed as our son sleeps in between us.

We might argue or get frustrated over the constant fine tuning of the responsibilities around the house, but we make it a home that is a good place for us.

We get through the newborn phase that for some people is the most joyful time, but for us is a little bit of a struggle. And after we get through those first months, we cherish these two beautiful children that we have and give almost all of our energy to them.

At times, I haven't been so little compared to him, but he cheered me on as I was determined to run off those pounds. And he assured me that those pounds didn't matter to him, but he knew that they mattered to me so he helped me to push myself.

We share the biggest accomplishment of our lives (so far) as we talk about the hilarious and maddening tricks that our kids do, yet we realize the need to be individuals outside of our role as a mom and a dad. Even as a husband and a wife.

I have just realized that we need to choose happiness. It doesn't come in a nicer home, or perfectly behaved kids. It doesn't come when my waist is smaller and my clothes more stylish. It doesn't come in a perfect job with a great benefit package. It doesn't come in adventurous around the world.

It comes in small moments when I know that I am where I am supposed to be. It comes when I look at a bigger picture and realize that some of the small details don't matter at all.

And it comes realizing that not every moment will be good. There will be hard moments, sad moments, and those moments might even become hard periods of our lives. But you can still find happiness in life.

Happiness really comes when I choose him every day of my life to be the one who is the most important person here with me. And then I need to remember to treat him in a way that he knows it.

The attempt of girly photo shoot

On Tuesday, I attempted a cute girly photo shoot with Eerika. As I have said before, we don't do headbands before she pulls them off. Again, I tried to put one on because they really do make her look adorable and girly. However, these pictures will have prove that it was in vain and she will have to use her natural looks rather than accessories to stand out:) Also these prove that I am not the worst baby girl mom "who never care enough to accessorize her baby"

For some reason, I find this picture adorable It also shows that Eerika is starting to more and more hair.

Once Eerika noticed the camera, the photo shoot was over as she wanted to play with the camera.

I was crazy enough to take her diaper off for few seconds because I thought the bare bum and the rolls just looked priceless with the tutu.

"I really don't like having these around my head or neck"

For a sec, she was distracted with a toy to keep the head band on, but of course, i wasn't lucky enough to get a smile or even a look at the camera.
While my model was adorable and somewhat cooperative, I better stick to being a nurse rather than dream of a career as a photographer.

We also made a trip to the doctor for her 6 month shots (yes, little behind the schedule) and got her current stats.

Weight: 17 lbs and 10 oz (36th)

Height:27 3/4 in (67th)

Head: 45 cm (82th)

I think she is 100 percent fun and beautiful.

Mr. Independent

Saku being Mr. independent and putting on his shoes before going to the zoo. They were in the wrong feet, but I didn't want to take away his accomplishment so he wore them like that to the zoo.

While we were in Finland, Saku enjoyed being the center of the attention at Grandma and Grandpa's. It was only 12 days, but he seemed to really grow during that time. His English vocabulary exploded and he keeps amusing and surprising us with witty phrases and comments.

For a day or so, after we got back Saku kept calling me "grandma". He would say "Thank you Grandma" and then correct himself "Thank you äiti".

On our way to Olive Garden, I asked him if he would want some breadsticks. He replied "that's a good idea"

And this morning while driving to a play date, he said "that's a good idea". When I asked him "what was a good idea", He told me "watching a movie". The little man was using a little manipulation tactic.

As I was trying to get him dressed, which is not his favorite activity, he told me "don't fight me please".

He is mostly speaking English. Before our trip, when we would ask him what language he speaks, he would say "Suomi", but yesterday his answer was "English". I speak Finnish to him and he speaks English back to me. It is already difficult to speak two languages, so I am hoping that he will start speaking more Finnish again.

Grandpa's take on Saku was that if we wouldn't be able to open something, we should just give it to Saku and he could find a way to open it.

Grandma said that he is a really smart guy and she hopes that we have a lot of stamina and endurance because he will be a handful. She also wondered how we get anything done with Saku around.

I am grateful that Saku got to spend this time with grandma and grandpa. I was never too close with my grandparents and I hope that Saku and Eerika will have a special relationship with their grandparents.

Chicago

We used American Airline miles to fly to Finland for Anna's wedding. For some reason, the itinerary forced us to stay in Chicago for one night. So we did few hours of sightseeing. I really should say that we visited one park and ate lots of food.

I booked an airport hotel for us. However, it ended up being 30 minute shuttle ride away from the airport, so this made sightseeing little more difficult. However, I think we were happy with our experience.

After we arrived to Chicago, we just stayed in our hotel, watched some TV and ate some deep dish pizza.

Eerika was a big girl and snacked on her fruit nibbles.

We took the train from the airport to the city. Eerika enjoyed the train ride and made some friends with fellow passengers.

We've seen this monument in many movies so we decided to check it out at the Millennium Park.

This shirt could be a useful present for someone who likes to drink a lot.

Nothing like little snacking on some fall leaves.

Our lunch from American Hotdogs. The special treat was a fried twinkie. I don't think I have ever had a regular twinkie, but the fried one wasn't too bad.

We also bought a bag of Garret's gourmet caramel popcorn. It was so delicious that I kept eating it until I was seriously feeling nasty.

It was nice to break up the long hours of traveling and while we won't be going back to Chicago, we had a good time.

Almost medaled!

We arrived to Helsinki on September 30th and I was registered to run a 10K the next day. This isn't a big deal since I have been running for few months very consistently and I felt that I was in good enough shape to race a 10K. The night before, I only slept four hours so I wasn't sure how fast I should try to attempt to run it. Troy said that I would be selling myself short if I ran slower than an 8 minute per mile. I was little worried that it would be too fast because of the circumstances, but I went for it.

The start was really crowded, which was irritating. I haven't done a race for a while so I had forgotten about that aspect of races. Once I was able to run around some people, I settled into a comfortable pace and was running around 7:35 per mile pace for the first mile or so. I kept glancing at my watch and was thrilled with the pace, and little worried but I was worried that it was too fast and I would not be able to keep it up and would end up running way slow in the end.

Right before the 5K mark, my left shoelace came undone. I had double knotted them, but they came undone anyways, so I had to stop and tie the shoe and start again. Not a big deal since it only took few seconds, but it obviously messed up with my running rhythm.

As I stopped to tie my shoe lace, a girl passed me and I decided to try to stay with her for the rest of the race. I was getting more tired as the race went on, but I felt mentally and physically strong and was maintaining a pace that was under 8 min/mile. The finish line was right next to the start line; however, I had not realized that this wasn't a 10K, it was a 10.5k. Yeah 50 meters doesn't make a huge difference physically, but mentally it threw me off. I had planned to get to the bridge and sort of sprint downhill to the finish. However, when I was running down the hill, I realized that people kept running past the finish line(or what I thought was the finish line) and it made me worried. It ended up that we had to run up another hill and turn back down to come to the finish line.

I didn't end up slowing down, but I didn't sprint to the finish line either. And I should have since I ended up being 4th place (out of 72 women) and lost the trophy by 5 seconds! My final time was 51:20 for 10.5 kilometers. They called it the 1/4 marathon, which I have never heard of before.

The good stuff:

I was so happy with my pace: 7:43 per mile according to the official results

the weather was beautiful

my body felt good throughout the race

Annoying stuff:

my lack of knowledge of the course

the fact that I had to hold my ipod in my hand

the shoelace incident

All the happy runners (pre-race) and Eerika , who doesn't look so happy.

1/4 marathon runners: Katja, Eevi and Risto and 1/2 marathon runners: Anna and dad

My coach and my cheerleader

The course started with a slight uphill over a bridge, but it was nice to know on the way back, we would have a downhill.

Risto and I after we had finished our race. I was way tired after the race and it seemed so hard to hold Eerika.

OK. This picture is embarassing, but I am so glad to see it. My form is terrible. Yes, I ran a great race and I am proud of myself, if I can say that without being prideful. But I looked awful! So I will be working on my form in the next few months.

Katja ran her first ever 10K (actually 10.5K)

Anna ran a great 1/2 marathon, even with the nasty foot pain.

Dad officially holds the Aura 1/2 marathon record: 1:54:32

All the runners, plus Eerika's legs, post-race. We got medals and a Fazer chocolate bar as we finished. My chocolate was gone in 10 seconds!

Garmin Watch Details

I didn't turn my watch on until we had run 300 meters or so, the distance is little off.

1	7:32.2	1.61	4:41.0
2	7:40.8	1.61	4:46.3
3	7:59.0	1.61	4:57.6
4	7:51.7	1.61	4:53.1
5	7:58.5	1.61	4:57.3
6	7:58.2	1.61	4:57.1
7	3:05.6	0.62	5:01.3

Overall, I feel that it was a great first race since Eerika was born and I had started training more seriously.

Why I would Want to be a Dad

The only reason I would ever want to be a dad instead of a mom is so I could sleep through anything. The lights were on, Eerika was crawling all over the place and babbling and I was watching a tv show on my iPad and the man slept through all of it!

These are pictures from our first night in Finland. Due to the 10 hr time difference and my experience with children and jet lag from our May trip, I decided to not stress out about the fact that Eerika would wake up and want to be awake in the middle of the night. So our first night in Finland, she slept for one and half to two hours and was up for two hours, which means that she kind of just "napped" through the night. I slept about four hours that night, but it wasn't bad at all. It is amazing how different things are when you adjust your expectations and your attitude; in May, I was falling apart because of the time difference and weird sleeping schedules. Of course, I was by myself with two kids that time and this time, I had one kid and Troy with me, but stilli it is nice when I actually learn from my experiences:)

At some point, we did wake up isi because I was getting little bored:)

Sometimes You go Sightseeing

And sometimes you are the attraction!

As we were about to board our plane to London, I let Eerika crawl around for few minutes. She found her way to a group of Asian tourists and let me tell you, she was a hit. I would say six to seven people took out their cameras and took pictures of her (with the obligatory peace sign that they tend to use for pictures). Eerika even got to facetime with someone as seen in the picture.

Back in May, we noticed that few people took pictures of us as we were in Paris with Eerika. Maybe it is a strange thing to travel with a small baby?! Or maybe she is just so dang cute that we aren't the only ones who get excited about her beautiful smile.

Plus she knows how to get people "ooh" and "aah" over her. She gives them a coy smile and reaches out for her admirer. Don't let this fool you though. She does not want you to hold her. Just wants to play with your hand from far away.

On a sidenote, I should say that she has been confused for a boy several times during this trip. But as long as the people admire her, rather than complain, I am not upset about it at this age.

An Unusual Morning

This morning, we, as in Troy and I, woke up at 10:25 am. I cannot remember the last time that I have truly slept in. Granted, it is 8:25 am in London where we spent the last four days before arriving back to Helsinki last night. The room that we sleep in doesn´t have any windows so you are in complete darkness, which makes you sleep really well ; however, it leaves you little disoriented and you have no idea if it is a day or a night until you look at the clock.

Eerika is still asleep. Saku is Phoenix with Grandma and Grandpa. And Troy is somehow managing without any parenting from me. I am just doing whatever I want! What an amazing feeling. It is rainy outside and I am in my PJs. There are no chores to do and no obligations. Ah, the little luxuries of life.

But I miss Saku! Fortunately, our schedule is has been busy since we got here so I havent had time to sit around and think of him too much. Troy and I keep talking about the little fun and ridiculous things that he does and how much we miss him, so it would be an understatement to say that I am excited to see him on Tuesday. But I don't regret leaving him in the U.S. This trip was too short to deal with a two year old jet lag plus London would have been impossible with Saku since he is on the go all the time.

I am not going to lie. It has been so fun to spend time one-on-one with Eerika. It has given as a glimpse of a what life would be like if she was our only child. No, I wouldn't want it, but she is an easy going child so life is pretty chill and she is THE champion traveler. She seems to enjoy the attention as well and her personality seems to come out more and more each day. It is nice to be able to just concentrate on her and really pay attention to little details that I might not notice when life is crazy at home.

Every once in a while, she lets us know that she has had enough and her "I don't like this" facial expressions reveal her awesome two bottom teeth.

Most of this trip she has been happy, smiling, giggling and squealing.

.

Reasons to Go to Bed Happy

We had two rainy and cloudy days. Saku got to wear his rain boots that are way too big for him.

Working out with excellent personal trainers. I ran 4 miles on Friday morning and felt great. I am trying to be patient and not push myself too hard, but I am ready to get faster and stronger. Now If I could only put away all the chocolate candy bars:)

Eerika loves showers.