Miio at 4 months

Honestly I was a bit worried about Miio reaching four months as each of my babies have hit a rough patch with sleep and Troy was going to be gone. 

Sure enough, Miio had the worst sleep for the first two weeks Troy was gone. I did transition him into the crib and maybe that changed things but there were nights when I was up almost every hour and cried at 2 am as I was worried how I would get through the next day.

Ironically, he also learned to fall asleep on his own. One day I just laid him down when he was making noise but not crying and fell asleep on his own. So now he falls asleep on his own regularly which has made my life so much easier. I can't figure out why he has a hard time staying asleep and sleeping well at night when he naps so well. 

I did finally start unswaddling him. I am not sure if it has made difference for good or for bad. 

He has started taking three naps and I try to space his feedings four hours apart. Scheduling is tricky with our evenings being very busy but he really does go along really well. 

He found his toes and started getting interested in toys. Missie gave us bunch of toys as I had somehow gotten rid of our old ones. 

Aleksi loves him. So much. He loves to lay on him and smother him and poke his nose. 

Last 2.5 weeks have been exhausting but Miio is truly a sweet ray of sunshine. Troy makes comments how content he is as we face time. It is crazy how much Miio has changed in the last few weeks. 

He poops every morning and has a blow out pretty much every morning. I even put him on size three diaper but somehow we are always leaking poop. He does well at Villa Kids which is nice. 

He loves to gnaw on things. He takes the tutti and it helps out a lot when he gets more tired. 

Miio seems to get this look on his face when I put the camera in front of him. Now he also tries to eat it.

Camping baby

Sometimes I leave his arms unswaddled but I am not committed to anything yet since our sleep has been so up and down at night. I actually woke him up from his nap so I could go to a gym class, but he had been sleeping for 2 + hours so I felt like it was okay.

It is so fun to see him grab things. He cant really hold on to things well yet but toys do entertain him for a while which is nice. 

Aleksi loves loves loves Miio. It is fun to have these two brothers at home together while Saku and Eerika are at school. Few people have made a comment on how Miio looks more like Troy than the other kids. 

As I look at these pictures of Miio, I feel so humbled and blessed to have him in our home. Yes I am way beyond exhausted right now and at 7 pm, I am so ready to be done being a parent but those eyes looking at me and the sweet smiles remind me what a blessing it is to be aiti. 

Soccer Season

Our Saturdays are spent on the soccer fields now. Since this is our first season of having two kids playing, it is busy. Luckily Aleksi is a good sport and so far, Miio has been able to nap during practices and games. 

Saku had a little bit of a rough start. He had a really hard time concentrating and he seemed intimidated on the field. It was frustrating to watch him not play up to his potential. However, last weekend at his third game, I finally started playing the way he played last season. Of course we want our kids to do things well, but we really do try to focus on them working hard and trying their best. 

Eerika has done really well. She works very hard on the field. She doesn't have that many skills yet but she runs after the ball and gives nice big kicks.  She even took down another girl as she was using her body as a shield to protect the ball.  She did feel upset when she played against her friend's team as she felt that it wasn't nice to try to beat them. She has complained few times, outside of practice and usually at night, how hard it is to keep running during the game. 

Saku had his second X country race. It was the first official race. And he did so well. I was worried that he would use all his energy before the race being super goofy with his friends. It is hard to not nag sometimes and try to control the kids. I told him that he needed to run and not walk during the race. When he came to the final stretch, I could tell that he was tired but he kept going! I was so proud of him. 

Life Goes on Full Speed

Somehow we are in the end of September and I have hardly written down anything about our life again. 

Eerika is more willing to let me do her hair. I bribe her with a TV show while I do her hair. She still cries and moans and she definetily has a sensitive head, or she thinks so at least but we have gotten some cute hair dos, thanks to you tube. 

These are 6 month pjs that Miio fills up. I dont think there is any way he can fit into them by December so I put them on him in September.

Miio thinks hands are delicious. He sucks on his fingers. He gnaws on his fist and loves to gnaw on my knuckles as well. He is so droolly already. 

Aleksi doesn't nap anymore. He will be in quiet time and stay there, but he doesn't nap anymore. I know I was completely spoiled with Eerika's napping until she was five! Aleksi is pretty happy overall even without the nap and I try to put him to bed around 7 pm, before the big kids, so he seems to be getting enough sleep. 

Saku has done excellent job with the Spanish Immersion. He made a new friend, Norah, who lives a street away from us. He is doing choir, X-country, piano and soccer. It is way too much but luckily piano and choir are the only activities that will last all year along. X country is done in three weeks and soccer by the end of October. 

Being surrounded by Spanish all day long made it difficult for Saku to concentrate at first and he would start reading instead of doing the class activities. You can't really fault him for that and if his "crime" is reading extra, it isn't too bad but we still had a talk about how he needs to try to understand and tell the teacher when he doens't understand.  When he reads in Spanish, he sounds phenomenal. 

He started with a new piano teacher Sister Trent. 

X-country practice meet was a good practice to try to learn that you don't walk when you are racing. We will see how the rest of the meets go. 

Eerika loves Spanish Immersino. She has her three best friends in the class with her; Ivy, Sophie and Maelle. Also Luke, the boy Eerika fell in love with two years ago, is there too plus a handful of kids that she knows from last year.  She loves biking to school. She had school lunch for the first time last week and she thought it was the best thing ever. 

Aleksi is liking being the big kid at home. He still loves Miio so much and asks to hold him. He likes to smother him when Miio is in the swing or in the bouncer. He also loves to give loves to Kenzie who is his friend Jaxon's little sister. He likes to go to Villa kids and proudly says how he is a big boy now and doens't cry there. "I'm happy here" he tells me. He loves to talk about butts and poop.  He loves to bike on his scuut bike everywhere.  He loves to inform you what he will do the next day "I will wake up and come to your bed. Then I will have breakfast-mini wheats". He probably gets his way more often that not, but I don't think he is too spoiled. 

Before Troy left for Japan, I drove up to Denver with the two younger boys and went to the temple and lunch at Cheesecake Factory. We hadn't eaten there for two years so I had forgotten how big those portions are. In the end Aleksi had had enough of the place and Miio woke up early so I left in a hurry but it was a good day up there. We also shopped at Ikea for some fun things for our kitchen. I am trying to make it look more "Farm Style" and the fake plants that I bought make me happy every day.

Miio does such a great job napping on the go. He falls asleep easily and sleeps well most of the time. It is such a blessing that I don't have to stress about it much.

Eerika started her first official soccer season and she is doing wonderfully. She is hard working and aggressive and scored a goal! Her coach is pretty intense but it works for her. I love to see her do something well as Saku's talents are sometimes more easily observed. 

I have started experimenting on braids in my own hair. For years, I have given the excuse that I don't know how to do hair and I am ready to learn and not have that excuse anymore. 

One Saturday morning I decided that we needed donuts. So Troy got a dozen and I think I ate at least three!

Aleksi mostly likes to lick off the frosting and leave the rest of the donut for someone else or the trash. 

Sometimes you just have to try on costumes to see how cute you are in them.

Mighty Miio at 3 months

Miio is 3 months! He has become quite smiley. He will make a little squeal when he gets really excited. He wears size two diaper and size 3 m clothes. He seems like he has equal portions of heigh and weight. He isn't chubby but he seems big, Troy often comments on it.

Just in the last week, I feel like our naps have started to go very well. There are still some 45 minute naps but overall, they are nice 1.5-2 hour naps. He is still in our closet. We moved him to his own room for few nights but when Troy's parents visited, it was just easier to have him in our closet. We had some rough nights when he would only sleep in my arms, so there was no way I was walking around in my Gs multiple times back and forth between rooms. 

He still sleeps in the bassinett. He is officially the slowest to transition to a crib. Aleksi still sleeps in the crib so we got another one from Jess since Lily isn't sleeping in it anymore. We haven't put it together yet and dont have the mattress for it yet. I think Miio can only do another week or two in the bassinet because he will be too long for it. He often sleeps double swaddled. We bought another swaddle blanket with a rice bag on the chest to mimic the pressure of a hand. We aren't impressed because Miio would get unswaddled super easy but we are still using it on top of another swaddle...maybe it helps. 

Miio has had two nights when he was up only once, he has had many nights when he is up twice and also many nights when it is 3-4 times. I try not to analyze it too much. Troy has stepped up in the past two weeks and helps out so I don't resort to nursing him back to sleep. 

Miio does well in the car seat. He often falls asleep in it and stays asleep which makes going from place to place easier. 

He has fallen asleep at VillaKids and most of the time, it has been a positive experience. Once, he cried for the whole 30 minutes which made me upset but luckily it was an outlier experience. It still is a bit stressful for me to drop him off there. 

He likes it when you rub his head. I have been able to get most of the cradle cap off his head! He has started taking baths and likes them. Aleksi, and Eerika sometimes, love to climb in with him. 

He likes to eat his hands and chew on my knuckles. He has started to drool and still spits up a ton. 

The big kids sure love him. And I am grateful that he didn't end up being colicky. I wish I wasn't so sensitive about people's perception of my babies. 

We love Mighty Miio. What a blessing he is. 

My boys

While there is definitely sleep deprivation and things aren't all perfect around here. I dont think anyone has once said anything bad about Miio and the extra work and attention that he requires. Aleksi still asks to hold him and he loves the fact that Miio is smiling and more attentive. Saku also has stepped up and become quite the help. 

And Troy has been amazing with middle of the night help. 

This stage is exhausting physically and mentally and I feel like I am not the best version of myself and it is hard for me, but as I look at these pictures, I am reminded how hard work and those sleepless nights are so worth it, and manageable as long as we get few good nights in between, and one day these kids won't need me so much anymore and I know I will miss it. 

quick update

I have about seven minutes to write before it is 10 pm and I feel like I should be in bed so I can maximize the sleep I get. 

Troy's parents came to visit two weeks ago. That's right. They have been here for two weeks. I think it is officially the longest visit from them. While there were few moments of, I need my space and time with Troy and I need some sleep, it has been so wonderful to have them. I know it has meant a lot to Troy to have his parents stay with us.

We went to visit Swink and La Junta where Vern grew up. It was cool to see the apartment where Troy's parents lived as newly weds. The house that Vern's dad build. The elementary school and junior college that Vern attended. We also stopped by a farm that belonged to a guy whom he knew from his childhood and we walked away with two cantaloupes and a water melon. Plus Eerika and Saku got to play with the barn cat. 

They put up a curtain rod for me for the black out curtains in the kids' room. Barb cooked many dinners. Vern supervised kids who got up before Troy and I got out of bed. Vern mowed our lawn twice. And this weekend, we got some shelves put up in the garage. I feel like the relationships with my kids and them have been strengthened. Grandma has given Miio some good snuggles and held him so I could get some stuff done that required both hands. 

The kids had their first day of school today. Last night they were both pretty nervous since they were starting the Spanish immersion program. This morning Eerika seemed to forget all about the nervousness and quickly got ready for school. Saku had a hard time getting out of bed and he was more serious on the field, where the classes met. He was very aware of the fact that he is behind in his Spanish understanding skills. However, both kids were happy when I went to pick them up. Well Eerika was happy until it started to hail and she got pounded by some hail. She was upset about it and then she said that she got "yelled at in Spanish for talking" but she couldn't understand what the teacher was saying.She was also sad because she didn't get to see Saku very long during lunch. I am sure the day was overwhelming for both of them. Plus Eerika has been amazing about helping with Aleksi as they sleep in the same room. Last night I found her giving him a drink of water when I woke up to his crying and coughing.  She can be bossy and she can bug her brothers accidentally and on purpose but she really does have a very kind heart.