Vacationing in the sand

Saku loves the beach. Eerika does not love the beach.

Saku loves the waves. Eerika is scared of them.

Eerika will play in the sand for 15 minutes and then she is done. She will happily play with cousins all day on the patio of the beach house and inside. 

Saku will go boogie boarding. Play frisbee until he dives into the sand too many times or gets hit in the face with it.

I have read two books. I have slept in until 7:30 on several mornings. I also stayed up way late one night to read one of my books.

Troy has biked on three mornings. I have walked on three days: one time on the beach and twice with Regina on the streets.

I have cooked zero meals as we have eaten out or eaten Troy's mom's meals. It is awesome.

I have worn make up once and let me hair air dry every day.

I have loved the own space that we have had in our beach hut, while being right next to Grandma and Granpa's beach house so we can play with cousins and spend time with Grandma and Grandpa. I have also been freaked out by the lack of privacy of our beach hut as we are right off the beach and people often hang out right next to our back deck. 

We have looked for sea shells. And bought few cooler ones at the shop.

We went to do Saku's school shopping. I am still in some sort of denial about the fact that he starts school. 

I have listened to the waves in the evenings and felt little ninja kick in my belly. It is pretty perfect.

Goodbye 7W

June 20th was my last shift at 7W. My "last day" came sooner than I had previously thought, but it felt like a good decision so I put in my notice in the beginning of June. I have felt so blessed to be able to work per diem for the past three and half years after Eerika's birth. Yet few months ago, I got a strong impression that it might be a time for me to be home full time. Saku is starting school, our little man is coming in few months and life is just a bit more hectic. Yes I only worked once or twice a month, but I felt like I just needed to focus on our family. Troy supported me either way but once I felt that I should quit, he really felt like it was the right decision for now.

For four and half years, I would walk into UMC lobby and take the elevator up to the 7th floor. Some nights I was nervous. Some nights I was scared (4.5 years ago). Some nights I was exhausted before the shift even started. Some nights I was excited. Some nights I was happy to make some extra money. 

Twelve hours later, or really closer to 13 hours later when you count lunch break and the extra time that it would get everything done, I would leave 7W. I would drive home. My eyes would often water for being so tired. I would get home and be greeted with happy smiles and tell Troy how much I loved my job. OK I don't think I told that to him for the first 6 months because I was so stressed out with the job. But for the past three years or so, I have really loved working at 7W. 

 I took care of some nice patients. Some very sick patients, dying patients, difficult patients. I took care of patients whose names I wont remember and I took care of some patients whose face I would never forget. I took care of patients who seemed to really like me and I took care of patients who probably preferred someone else. 

Many times the charge would tell me that I was given a patient who needed extra TLC and it made me feel good that they regarded me as a nurse who could "kiss some butt" to make the patient feel happy. I am not a nurse who enjoys intense action. I don't mind working hard, but I don't need the adrenaline rush that comes from a situation where patients are really sick.  I like to think that I was able to be the nurse who made them feel a bit safer, a bit more cared for. 

Each time I walked into the unit I had two hopes: I didn't want to floated to another unit AND I hoped that I wouldn't have a ENT patient with a demanding trach. Our unit transitioned into an ENT unit, among our other specialities,  while I was on maternity leave with Eerika and I never felt 100% confident with trachs. 

I worked with amazing people. My co-workers never showed annoyance when I asked about our new charting, where to find certain forms or other more "paper work" issues that change around the hospital. They supported me in many ways. They asked about Saku and Eerika. They showed excitement when I came to work. I am very grateful for them. 

I wondered if I would feel sad on my last shift. I didn't. It felt weird to know that I wasn't coming back. However, the night had gone smoothly and I felt like it was a great way to end this period of my life. I don't know how long I will stay home. I don't think I will miss working per se, but I think I will miss the satisfaction of being "Eevi the nurse" and solving problems, communicating professionally and knowing that at times my patients' well being was a bit better because of my care. And I will miss those pay checks. Saku said that I could be a cook and he would pay me a dollar for it...

Little Man

Today was our big ultrasound. When we had one of our "reassurance" ultrasounds at 13 plus weeks, Dr. Farias predicted that we were having a boy. She said that we shouldn't be painting any rooms, but she would put her money on a boy. So ever since, the baby has been a boy in my head. And today we got the confirmation that we really are having a boy.

Obviously I am very aware that Heavenly Father knows what is best for our family, but also I feel like another boy will be a great thing. Saku can have the responsibility of being a big boy example to his brother and Eerika is such a fire cracker that she can handle anything. 

The gender was announced right in the beginning, and then we spent our time marveling at the tiny bones, the healthy brain and beating heart. This little man was very much into having his toes over his head.

We had the kids with us, which made the experience fun. Dr. Farias was very patient about answering Saku's questions about the ultrasound machine and what was showing on the screen. Troy was able to point out different body parts to the kids. 

The baby measured about six days larger than what my due date's baby size is, but since due date is such an abstract concept anyways, I will just stick with what we tell the kids "that the baby will come sometime after we go trick or treating". 

Another testament of Dr. Farias is the fact that she gave us 3D pictures of the baby's face.  I just love the fact that she goes beyond the basic care to provide us with a special experience with the pregnancy. The baby's estimated weight was over a pound.  I don't remember getting a weight estimate before. I guess I am getting old and the technology is getting better with each pregnancy:)

I know it is still 18 weeks away, but I think I will get those little boy clothes out this weekend and get excited about the fact that I get to dress another little boy in those much loved onesies that Saku wore five years ago. 

Saku felt the baby kick last night. It is whole another experience to have the kids understand and experience this pregnancy. Today Saku prayed that "the baby would be safe until he is ready to come out of äiti's belly".  

Saku at 5 years old

Our Saku Paku turned five years old yesterday. He had a countdown for his birthday and we were all very excited for it. 

His birthday started with the traditional breakfast in bed. Saku's chosen breakfast menu was greek yogurt muesli, scrambled eggs and apple juice. He was dead asleep when we went to his room about 7 am and it took him a bit to wake up enough to get excited.  Eerika and I had wrapped his presents and Eerika actually wrapped one of them all by herself. Saku was such a gracious gift received. He got three sets of legos, two pairs of scissors and angry birds alarm clock. He loved each one and showed so much excitement. When I made a comment to Troy about his gracious and grateful behavior, he said "well it is easy to be grateful when you get what you want." Ditto.

Troy stayed home in the morning and built legos with Saku for the an hour or so. His breakfast was mostly untouched as building took priority. He was also very nice to let Eerika build with his Star Wars set and Eerika did an impressive job of building and staying focus.

We went for a swim and came home for a lunch of otter pops and peanut butter sandwiches and nutella peanut butter sandwiches.

After lunch was the surprise movie outing to see The Lego Movie. Troy and the kids had seen it before, but I hadn't so when it was showing on the $1.50 day, I figured it would fit in with our lego themed birthday. Grandma and Grandpa also came, which was awesome and unusual as Grandpa is NOT a fan of movies. As in, he goes once every 5 years...

The day continued with swimming lessons. Grandma and Grandpa came along. This really meant a lot to me to have them part of our routine lives and see Saku and Eerika learning new skills. Grandma had made awesome swimming robes for both of the kids. They look professional now!
.

Saku's childhood is a quite bit different than mine and Troy's. I think that is an universal fact with this generation. We went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. Saku likes the fact that you can throw the peanut shells on the floor. Our only complaint was the fact that we waited for our food for quite a long time, BUT the kids were patient and there were no melt downs.

The birthday boy got to sit on the saddle and got the birthday shot out. He didn't even get embarrassed or flustered with the noise and attention. He is growing up. Saku had a bite or two of his ice cream courtesy of the restaurant but really he just wanted to go home at that point.

Eerika got to enjoy the saddle for a bit too.

It was quite the day for Mr. Saku. I decided that on the kids' birthdays, we will spoil them rotten and then Christmas will be more focused on the Savior and less about them getting presents. Troy likes the idea so birthdays might be over the top here, but really it is a special day to celebrate these amazing kids in our family.

We love Isi 2014

Father's Day took place right after Scout Camp this year so Father's Day celebration was more special this year Of course, we appreciate him every day but this year we were all more aware of how amazing he is and how much we love the simple fact that he is ours.

We let him sleep in and baked pannukakku for breakfast. We woke him up with "paljon onnea vaan". His present was two water bottles for his bike. It was his request as he wants his water to stay cold while he bikes to work. 

The lack of pictures for the rest of the day shows how we were caught up on being together and somehow didn't get around to taking a picture. I actually did request a picture after church but Troy quickly changed clothes. Not because he didn't want a picture but he just wanted to get comfortable. Fortunately, we have pictures from other ordinary days that show our awesome isi and the kids together. 

We had home made pizza for lunch and then left overs for dinner, which was nice since 2-5 pm church makes dinner pretty hard. We also surprised Troy with some Ben&Jerry's chocolate fudge brownie ice cream.

Troy also felt the baby move for the first time on Father's Day. It wasn't a ninja kick but a little flutter that he could feel.

Swimming while waiting for isi to get home

While Troy was at scout camp, we tried to keep ourselves occupied with activities without getting too exhausted. And we actually, or should I say that I, managed to do it very well.

On Friday afternoon when we had less than 24 hours until Troy would be home, we went over to a friend's house to do some water activities and swimming. The kids also made some Father's Day cards.

The kids had a sponge relay where they used a sponge to fill up a mixing bowl with water. Saku participated the whole time and had a great time. Sometimes he can be timid around bigger crowds so I was happy to see him join the fun. Eerika even went to do it once. 

Eerika opted to swim in the little baby pool, which really was fine by me as the pool was fenced and there wasn't a good spot for me to sit next to the pool and there was only one step where she could have been safe. 

So she played with sponges, splashed and floated to her heart's content. Plus she had the pool to herself.

Saku is such a strong swimmer but this was the first time that he had swam in a pool that had bunch of toys, bunch of people and a middle section where he couldn't touch the bottom and keep his head above the water.

He loved the tubes. He loved jumping into the water. He loved the bigger boys' games and horsing around. However, I was a bit nervous the whole time. He would swim underneath the huge tubes and sometimes he would keep bopping into them instead getting through them and I had to keep checking to make sure that he was strong enough to keep treading the water while doing his game.

It was a great experience for him, but it took a lot of energy out of me to SO vigilant plus to check on Eerika as well. 

Miss Eerika LOVES her swimming lessons

"What day is today?"

"It is a swimming lesson day"

"YAY!!!" followed by dancing.

Eerika loves her swimming lessons. She loves her teacher Ms. Savannah. She will jump into the water if you hold her hands and doesn't mind going underwater. She is still a bit apprehensive about floating on her back, but there are NO tears. She can do monkey walk all by herself and she can climb out of the pool after doing a monkey walk.  She has strong legs when she kicks around. She won't be swimming on her by the time this session ends but she will be moving up to the next class, which should be getting her much closer to independent swimming.

Plus girlfriend is cute enough to walk into Sprouts with just her bathing suit and rocking her brother's sunglasses.