Few of those life altering decisions...

OK, I'm being little sarcastic here but I am trying to make some decisions concerning a car seat and a stroller. I had my heart and mind set on a stroller until few days ago; however, then I started questioning myself and I think I found a better one.  Troy and I are thinking about buying UppaBaby Vista 2009 Stroller. It is similar to Bugaboo strollers, but not as expensive and seems to have many of the features.  I am a huge fan of the bassinet feature of the stroller. In Finland, most of the strollers have bassinets so I wanted to find one that would provide that feature. I had considered getting one of the "Moses Baskets" for the first few months for my little man to sleep in; however, I think I will be just able to use the bassinet from the stroller. I have not decided on the colors. If you want to give me your input, check out the options at http://uppababy.com/products/product.php?id=79

Some of the things that we are really excited about

• The seat can forward or rear facing, which I think would be convenient as he gets older and different things interest him.
  
• The seat sits up high, so there is less bending over plus he will be at a table level when going to restaurants (that would allow strollers)
• The weight limit is 50 lbs for the seat so we can hopefully use this stroller for many years and the bassinet is good up to 20 lbs.
• You can buy an extra feature that makes the stroller into a double stroller so we don't have to buy another stroller in few years. And even a standing board is offered so a older kid could stand while being pushed. 
• The bassinet is ventilated, which is huge since he is a summer baby and I'm hoping to  get out on walks as soon as possible
• The handle can be adjusted 
• It comes with rain and sun cover and the canopy  has 50 spf, which is good for Arizona.
• Also easy to fold up. The entire strollers weights 25 lbs, which doesnt seem too heavy but then again I dont have experience with strollers.

The one complaint that I have read about is the seat is reclined little too much even in the most upright position. However, I feel like all the other features outweigh this one.  Obviously this stroller is more expensive than some of the other ones. And I am known to be very cheap and frugal; however, I feel like this is one of those things that is worth spending little more money on. 

However, since I have not spent my money on this. If there are features of your stroller that you really like or don't like, please share. However, I do ask to not make comments about "it being a special stroller only because it's expensive". (Someone already made this comment to me in a very condescending tone and while everyone has the right to their opinion, I don't really want to hear that one). I am definitely not high-maintenance and don't believe in buying things just because they are a certain brand. 

We are also making a decision about a car seat, so what are some of the good car seats? We are thinking of Chicco Keyfit 30 (it's up to 30 lbs). Does anyone have experiences with this car seat?

I have realized that this blog is now mostly about pregnancy and baby stuff. I apologize if this annoys people. I never take pictures of things that Troy and I are doing, so I try to change that and blog about something else:)

When it was dark and cold

Since I announced my pregnancy after Christmas, I never got a chance to post pictures from our trip to Finland. We had the opportunity to spend few days in Lapland, which is the northern part of Finland and above the arctic circle. We took a night train up to Lapland and drove back South.It was very cold and most of the time it was dark, but we had a fabulous time enjoying the snow activities.  It was -20 F outside at times, so we didn't spend too much time outside other than doing our activities. 

We checked out the snow/ice hotel. Everything is made of ice except the sleeping bags and blankets that they give you. 

Troy wisely chose to come and sleep next to me in our cabin rather than sleeping alone in the snow hotel.

We explored the surroundings on snow mobiles. Cute picture of Anna and Troy.

Troy's first time of cross country skiing. Finally, I got to teach him something:)

We also tried snowshoeing and it was a hard work out. My brother had been in the army for the last 6 months and was used to hiking 10 miles a day. Let's just say that he's pace was little faster than what we could handle. 

I miss....

I miss my mom. How is a girl supposed to go through her first pregnancy without their mom's love and support. Or really how I am supposed to be a first time mom without her advice.  I have had a fabulously easy pregnancy and as you all know, I love it. However, I wish my mom would be here to share all the excitement of baby boys and motherhood with me.  I am blessed with incredibly loving and caring dad as well as a husband. They would do anything I asked them to do and do it gladly. However, the wonderful thing about moms is that they sometimes do things without even the need to ask. I like to think that she got cuddle and love my little boy in the spirit world. 

I miss running. I have been reading my Runner's World magazines and dreaming of a painful, exhausting and so rewarding run. I miss feeling the "runner's high" and the sore muscles the next day.  I actually miss having defined nice muscles in my legs. I miss knowing that I'm really pushing my body to the limit. Obviously I will get to experience this in few months as I give birth:)   Because of crazy schedule and morning sickness during first part of the pregnancy, I gave up running at 12 weeks. Honestly, I almost felt relieved at that point because I was so tired and didn't want to feel guilty about not running so I just used to  "pregnancy card" as an excuse to not run. Now that my center of gravity has dramatically changed and my sweet belly weights quite a bit, I don't dare to attempt to start running again. So now I try to walk three miles a day on my days off and even in the end of my three mile walk, I have to hold my belly up because it starts hurting. 

I miss deli meat. It's one of those "do not eat foods" during pregnancy and I have tried to stay away from it. I think a nice sandwich with deli meat will be my first meal after this little man makes his appearance. 

I miss Finnish candy. This has nothing to do with pregnancy but I wish I could just have my weekly or maybe a daily dosage of Finnish candy. There are wondeful things about living in America like In-N-Out and Chipotle, but the candy here is just below average.

I miss my sisters and brother. I love getting their emails and feeling their excitement about their first nephew. Aino, my youngest sister, was so excited about this baby that she was convinced that my "fat roll" over Christmas was actually a baby bump. And I love her for that.  I also love how my brother's humor and his way of showing his love. This is a conversation from Sunday via gmail chat.

Eevi: How do you like my belly pictures?

Mio: Honestly, I did not notice any difference from last summer. 

I'm lucky enough to have them coming over in July to visit us and meet Rölli. 

I miss Troy. He had to go on a work trip during MY SPRING BREAK! So I am all alone for few days. I know so many people deal with this all the time.  Troy and I just absolutely hate it and never really get used to being away from each other. However, I count it as a huge blessing to be able to be married to a man who is my best friend and whose absence really does make my average daily life that much less exciting. Good thing he will be back in two days:)

Our bigfoot

Our little guy has decided to start practicing his soccer moves and moves around all the time. I absolutely love it. It's amazing how each one of his little flips and kicks can make me smile even if he just had moved few minutes ago. HOWEVER, he has a bad habit of kicking my ribs and really pushing up there and it hurts. We were at Joann's on Friday and I could barely breath because he was pushing up on my ribs and lungs.  He also decided to do the same thing last night as we were driving home from Phoenix. My bladder was ready to explode and I was doing "labor breathing" because of the rib pain and I said to Troy "this is the first time, i really feel very much pregnant". But when you look at the picture of his little foot doesn't your heart just melt. 

Since the drive last night was quite unpleasant, I apologized to Troy for being a complainer and he said "oh you barely ever complain. You have really handled this pregnancy like a man". Oh the irony of that sentence. He had meant it as a compliment, which I appreciated but I told him that men could never handle pregnancy well. Don't you ladies agree?

Many of you must be wondering about the name for this son of mine. I have bad news for you. You will not know until July. Yes, his scheduled arrival is June 23rd but the Finnish tradition is that people other than the parents wont know the name of the baby until the baby blessing. We have a nickname for him, which is a name of a children's story character in Finland. We have had few people here try to pronounce it and without much luck. We affectionally call him "Rölli".  Dont worry though, his actual name will be a name that both the Finnish folk and American people can pronounce without a problem.

I meant to take another belly picture last night; however, we didn't get home from Phoenix until 11 pm and I just about crashed right after eating some chocolate pudding. I am still loving my pregnant body when I look at myself in the mirror; however, the numbers on the scale are scaring me and I am trying to be logical and rational about this weight gain with varying results. I should probably just stop weighting myself...what a novel idea:)

The stuff that comes out of people's mouths!

Since I am done with my clinicals at L&D, I am actually working and making some money. I have not worked for 4 months due to hectic school schedule and some sweet vacationing over Christmas break. It actually feels very nice to be back at work and know that I will get a pay check in few weeks. Of course, i have already spent all of that money (at least in my mind) but that's beside the point. Today I was even lucky enough to just work 7 hours instead of 12 hours, which works out way better for me. So instead of checking four o'clock blood pressures, I get to blog and enjoy the kicking match my son is having. Of course, I had to call Troy and tell him that his son has never been so active as he is right now. He must really like the Finnish candy that I am eating right now.

I just wanted to share few comments that a lovely nurse gave me today. 

"Oh you are pregnant! Are you sure you aren't just fat?" and "I remember gaining weight in my face just like you have"

Let me tell you that this person has always said inappropriate and STUPID things and it's a good thing I love my pregnant body because otherwise I probably would have had a nervous breakdown. I am not sharing this so everyone will tell me that I look great; however, I thought that you might enjoy the comments and find some humor in them. Of course, I  have also had about 15 of my patients ask me if I'm pregnant(my scrubs can getting pretty tight). It is amazing how random people comment on your belly status (again I am not complaining rather just observing). The other day I went to buy a water bottle and the cashier said "is the water for the baby?".  Yes, I was planning on pouring it into my belly button to hydrate the baby. 

here is  also an updated picture of my belly at 23 weeks. At first, it didn't look like it was much bigger than I was at 20 weeks; however, there has definitely been some growth happening:)

After my little sister saw this picture, she said "are you gonna get much bigger than this?" The answer is most likely that I will have a huge belly in the end. However, my attitude is that I dont care how big my belly gets as long as I dont gain the weight in my butt and tights. So far I'm doing Ok with this so let's hope that I won't suddenly expand in every possible direction. 

"Actually it's a girl"

In order to get ready for the second love of my life, Troy and I headed to the mall to do some shopping! We decided to check out what Gymboree had. I love their clothes, but usually they would be out of my price range. While in the store, I ended up making a mom very mad. I made a comment to Troy how the store has mostly girls' clothes and the "baby boy's stuff is pushed to the corner". I was too busy looking for clothes for my little man that I didn't notice that there was a baby literally in the corner. According to Troy, after I made the comment the mom of the baby in the corner gave me a NASTY look and said "actually it's a girl". She thought that I had referred to her baby as a boy. The best part is that I was completely oblivious that she was talking to me and therefore ignore her comment. So I don't think I will be doing a play date with her in the future. I almost went up to her and said that I was not talking about her baby, but I decided to let it go. Though there are more girls' clothes in every store, I have to say that I love the boy clothes. Don't get me wrong, I hope that in few years I will be buying some pink ribbons and silky dresses, but right now I just love the little boy sweaters and pants.  Since I am a first time mom-to-be and the first big shopping trip is obviously life changing, I thought I would share what I was able to get for 25 dollars!! That is a steal from Gymboree or really any store since baby clothes are kind of overpriced. 

How could I resist buying this when he will most likely to be a little "pumpkin head" just like his daddy

What are some other good places to shop for babies? I like a more preppy, classic look rather than all the onesies that say "mommy loves me". Dont get me wrong, I am not a high maintenance in any way and I think babies are cutest butt-naked:) However, since I'll be raising this kid in U.S instead of in Europe, I better keep him clothed.

It's a "POIKA"

The day of the ultrasound finally came and we were sure ready for it. Of course, my doctor had to go and deliver a baby just when I was about to get in, so we had to wait another hour and a half. Then we finally found out that we are having a BOY!!  We are so excited and I finally get to go and do some shopping. I also find out that my placenta is located in front of my uterus and it kind of cushions the kicks from the little BOY, so that is why I haven't felt him move around too much. Of course, he was being little difficult and was folded like a sandwich and kept kicking himself in the head:) That kind of behavior must come from Troy's genes. 

So my house will be filled with cars and balls for the next few years. I cant wait!!! We didn't get a good picture of his boy parts so I have nothing to really share regarding that. However, I will share a cute picture of his foot in the next few days.