9 months of Aleksi

Aleksi's nine month has started with movement. He is everywhere.

He does the most adorable wounded animal crawl, but he is fast and gets everywhere.

He also likes you to walk him everywhere while holding onto my fingers.

He pulled himself up to standing against the bath tub on his own for the first time on his 9 month mark.

He gets a lot of excitement and laughter from all of us and as he explores the world around him.

I love watching him grow. This is my favorite stage yet. I think I said the same thing with Saku and Eerika.

He takes two good solid naps.

He wiggles during diaper changes.

He is up once a night. 

We bought a bigger size Zippy. It is our sleep crutch.

House Hunting Trip

We had our official house hunting trip last week to Colorado Springs. We decided to bring all three kids with us; part of it because we wanted the kids to get excited moving and part of it was because we didn't really have a place for them to stay. 

Our flight TO Denver was at 6:15, which meant that we woke up at 4 am and our return flight was at 10:25 pm, which meant that we didn't get home until midnight. So not the ideal travel times, yet our kids did amazing. Aleksi had about 10 minutes of crying on our return flight but eveyrthing else went smoothly. It helped that he was in his car seat on our way to Denver and he just slept in there pretty much the whole flight. I actually read a book, the kids had their devices and Troy watched something on his iPhone. 

We drove around a lot. We ate great food. We went to bed late and slept in late.

Aleksi slept in the bathroom. There was no flushing allowed if anyone had to pee in the middle of the night.

We checked out a ward when we hope to rent and people were very friendly. Both of the kids' primary classes seemed to have a good number of kids. 

We visited the amazing mountain zoo. We drove out to the country and for a minute or two we dreamed of a life that would include five acres of land and spending evenings sitting on the porch overlooking a beautiful valley. 

We spend an afternoon with Catherine and Jon's family plus Mimi and her kids. After eating out and spending four days in hotel, it was nice to be at someone's home. Plus they are so generous and gracious about having us over that you just feel at home. 

We also had a faith building experience. A good rental is very hard to come by and they go very quickly. We found one that would be in the Wolf Ranch development. We just felt good about it while it definitely would not be a home that we would buy. However it was very unsure whether we could rent it because the owner was also trying to sell it. I met Emily's sister Amy and started talking to her and it happens that they are buying a house and need to find renters for their current rental. It is 350 dollars cheaper than the other house. I truly feel like this was God's hand leading us. 

I truly cannot wait to move and live in that beautiful city.

Train ride at the airport is fun when you are in the front

Saku's favorite thing about the zoo was the rock climbing wall.

He worked on it and got pretty good.

I usually don't do the fun stuff but I did show the kids that äiti can be fun too.

View from the SkyRide

Eerika trying to figure out how to do things without a thumb.

Eerika was so excited to go that she actually woke up before 4:15 am alarm clock.

Aleksi was happy too!

Eerika knew that traveling meant pretty much unlimited screen time and she was ready to milk it for all its worth.

Saku got the old iPhone as his device.

Aleksi and I were both so much more comfortable since he had his car seat in the plane.

Still smiling when we arrived in Denver.

Hanging out while isi and Saku went to get our rental car.

First night's dinner was Eerika's choice: Pizza

Second night was Texas Roadhouse by Saku's choice.

Aleksi enjoying the freedom from the car seat.

Third night: Chili's

No Cavities

Dental check ups were a success. Both of the kids were brave and cooperated perfectly. No cavities. Saku's dead tooth didn't get pulled because his permanent tooth isn't ready to come in yet and there is a high likelihood of his teeth moving in his mouth and making the space too small for his permanent. He was a bit bummed out as he was hoping for tooth fairy to come after they would pull his tooth.

NO cavities. It was such a relief. We got compliments for our teeth brushing. I was seriously relieved because there are nights when we don't brush them.

Aleksi was patient even when the whole ordeal took us more than an hour. I love this kid's ability to just go along. 

Tide Pools

We visited some tide pools while in San Diego. This was a bitter sweet trip as it was our last time with Troy's family before our move. No more weekend trips or one day temple trips. 

I remembered that I should use the baby carrier more. Aleksi actually fell asleep in it. 

San Diego 2015

We visited San Diego again. We stayed in a two bedroom apartment, right by the original beach house. So our days were filled with playing with cousins, and hanging out with Grandpa and Grandma. But we got to have our own schedule when it came to naps and sleeping. 

Saku LOVED the ocean. It was just like last year, except he was a bit braver on the boogie board.

Eerika also loved the ocean. This was a big change. She loved jumping in the waves.

Aleksi had his first encounter with sand and the ocean. He didn't get to play there too much as it was a bit more work than I like to keep him from eating too much sand. 

Troy and Saku biked a lot. Saku's total mileage was 25 miles: 10 miles was the longest bike ride and 1.5 was the shortest when he was part of the 4th July bike parade.

Eerika and Cambree played together. 90% was very happy and fun and 10% was very emotional and loud expressions of anger and frustration from Eerika's part.

I enjoyed the quiet nap times when I was a baby prisoner in our apartment. I also ran on three mornings which was nice. 

Aleksi was so flexible and easy going. He napped well in the pack-n-play and slept well during the night. The whole family went to bed later and woke up later. Eerika woke up before everyone else on few mornings and we handed her the iPhone to watch a show so we could keep sleeping. I have become a lazier parent when it comes to TV shows.

Vacationing with a baby is a lot of work, as I would hold Aleksi on most days. The beach house wasn't the best place to just put him down with its tile floors, plus there were enough people that we couldn't have his usual toys to distract him. So I held him a lot. It meant that I wasn't playing with the older kids as much, but honestly they didn't really notice. They had enough of fun things and people around them. 

The car ride to and from San Diego was a bit rough as Aleksi doesn't nap well in his car seat. 

Overall it was a wonderful week of relaxing. 

Isi gave me a break from carrying Aleksi around.

This kid was so awesome all week long. And isi wasn't too bad either.

Strolling 

Beautiful evening with a  beautiful girl

Sunday evening walk

They look so thoughtful as they watch the waves.

Selfie stick in action

Not the cutest picture of me, but a proof that Troy and I were together on this vacation:)

Saku learned to walk to the ocean and catch a wave by himself'. Last year Troy would carry him, so he is definitely growing up.

She does not know how to make a normal pose and a smile for a camera.

Boogie boarding and silly poses

This boy loves the ocean.

Aleksi's first experience with sand.

The first walk on the beach; looking for sand dollars.

Äiti, Saku and Aleksi's footprint. Alexis's is very faint as he doesn't put that much weight on his little feet yet.