Tampere Trip

We made a day trip to Tampere to show the kids where I grew up. It was a cold day and winter really isn't the time to go and just see a city. 

We ended up in Pyynikin Torni. Climbed up the steps to tower, enjoyed some munkki and climbed up one more time. 

Troy said he really enjoyed driving around the city and seeing the different places that were part of my childhood (piano lessons, high school, elementary school etc).

Up in the tower it was cold and windy as our pictures show.

We had dinner with Iina's family and since they live in Rusko, we stopped by our Annala home. It looks way different than it did when we lived there. The little trees were huge, lot was split and there was a second house on our backyard, the huge rock had been removed and the house got painted before dad sold it, but it was fun to see it even if it was dark and you couldn't really see all the details. 

Skiing 2017

We invested in skiing this year. The kids got their own skis. They have goggles and we will buy them their own helmets. Aleksi even tried on some skis and talks about going skiing. We might try it while we stay at Keystone for the week. Both kids have had one one-on-one ski date with Troy and one with all three of them. 

They are already skiing better than they did last year and they are having a blast. It is an expensive hobby but maybe one day we will be all skiing down the hill as a family. 

Eerika is 6

Eerika loves birthdays. She has been looking forward to her birthday for months. She ended up sleeping on our floor for some of the night so that's where she was when she woke her up with the birthday song. She was smiley and gracious and just so happy. She got six presents; one from Anna, one from Aino, one from mummi and ukki, two from grandma and grandpa and one from us. 

She had apple juice and french toast for breakfast. When Saku headed for school, Eerika and isi left to go skiing at Keystone.  Her special lunch treat was lunchable. 

When they got home that night, she was still all smiles. We ate mac-n-cheese and smoothies for dinner and had brownies for the birthday cake. 

She shared her muumi laku with her brothers.  She was just so darling all day. 

Fazer Visit

Aino and Tatu got creative with their Christmas present this year and arranged a visit to the Fazer candy factory. 

Saku was disappointed at first as he wanted a gift that he could do something with, but I think he changed his mind after the visit. They got to sample candy, learn about the factory and even brought home a goody bag. Eerika was excited and graceful about the visit all along and wanted to wear her beautiful Christmas dress for the occasion. I love that while her clothes decisions sometimes clash with fashion, she is herself and wants to show respect for the occasion or use her imagination. 

Aino and Tatu are so wonderful with the kids. 

Finnish Kids

One day in Finland it was -20 C. I went to the temple with dad and Paula and as we were driving home, I saw kids walking around and I made a comment that Finnish kids are resilient and I thought that I should try to teach our kids to be more resilient. When I got home, the house was empty and Troy had taken the kids to the park nearby.

The kids played there over an hour. We have resilient kids:) 

20 weeks

This morning I woke up and could feel Little Moose moving around. Usually I feel him in the evening. At exactly 19 weeks, Troy could feel Little Moose moving around for the first time. 

I feel really blessed about this baby. I know I felt like that about Saku, Eerika and Aleksi, but after an emotionally challenging first trimester and even the weeks before I could feel Little Moose move, I was having some fear that something would go wrong. While I do think that this will be our last baby, and this made me happy during the first trimester as I struggled with exhaustion, nausea and anxiety, I am not 100% convinced that I want this to be our last one. I am not saying that I want more babies or that it is the plan for us, but during this easy part of pregnancy, it is not hard to imagine that this could be done again. I feel blessed that I feel so great and that I can feel the baby move. 

I was really consistent about working out until our trip to Finland and the lack of gym and regular rigorous exercise has left me feeling anxious about weight gain. It is just psychologically hard to know that someone will be weighing me and tracking my weight for the next 20 weeks. However, Troy took a picture of me yesterday and I feel great about the way I look so it gave me some anxiety relief. It is vain but it is hard to have your body change in such a public way. 

We find out the sex of the baby on Tuesday so only four days away. We are thinking that it is a boy. since that was the doctor's prediction at the 15 week appointment but it will be nice to have it confirmed and make sure that everything is going well with the baby.  Eerika and Saku are both hoping for a girl. 

Aleksi's Exploding Vocabulary

Aleksi is talking nonstop. Daily, sometimes even hourly, he comes up with a new word or a phrase and we are so excited.  Somehow he has become this little boy and I think he is really happy and proud of it. 

Tonight he pointed to "where the baby is" and then when I asked him who he was "a boy" he proudly said.

He is constantly asking "where did ukki/mummi/isi/äiti/saku/tatu go?" He doesn't know how to say his name or Eerika's name yet. 

Finnish words that he has learned in the past two weeks:

kissa

palju

mökki

nakki

pulla

naku

tutti

While it isnt a new word, he was happy to point out the plenty of nänni at uimahalli. Aleksi loved the vauva pool. Vauva is also a reference to anything small in addition to an actual vauva. 

He loves to say the word bum. He asks to go "eat" when he wakes up, even if he isn't really that hungry.  

It's wonderful that some things, like watching your kid learn new things, never get old even if it is your third kid.