Christmas and more!

We had a wonderful Christmas and hope all of you did as well. It actually was cold about 2 days before Christmas, so it felt more real to me. But then it got all Texasy again and went up to 80 degrees-what a rip off! The whole country is covered in snow and we can't even get a cold 50 degrees or anything! Here are some of our cold photos:

This is how they look when we went for a run! (Before the blanket went over them)

And this is the final product! Imagine if we still lived in Alaska!

But despite un-Christmas like weather, we had a truly wonderful day... But first we had to celebrate by getting a tree:

Our tree is from a Christmas tree farm in North Carolina!

Then we had a great Christmas brunch at my parents' clubhouse in Boerne. It was a fabulous brunch, balloon animals were made, and Santa was there. Markku would NOT sit on Santa's lap, but Suvi sure did! She loved him and all the attention she got. Markku barely held still for me to hold him on MY lap with me sitting next to Santa! Markku's balloon animal was a pink and purple butterfly-he picked it out (sorry Isa. He loves pink and butterflies, what can I say?!) Here are some photos of that beautiful day:

Look at that smile on her!

She loves her mummo (and the camera too! Is she a model or what?!)

Then we went to another town to visit a virtual winter wonderland (a water park in Texas-it is fake snow!) and all the Christmas lights-Markku loves the lights still!

Family photo and notice the fake snow on Suvi's head (soap bubbles!)

There were trains (Markku was hysterical leaving the red choo-choo. He had to be bribed with ice cream!) and here is an example of the light shows.

Now for Christmas morning:
Markku and Suvi actually slept late-until 8:15 am! We were at my mom's in Boerne and Santa found us there thankfully! Markku was sooo tired Christmas eve he went to bed when Suvi did and we didn't even have time to set out the cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer-or as Markku would say: "Ho Ho. Neigh, high in the sky." Which for those who do not understand, of course translates into: Ho Ho (Santa) is coming on a sleigh led by reindeer that flies high in the sky". You just can't beat the excitement of young children at Christmas! Suvi of course is too young to understand, but she sure got excited about all the wrapping paper, boxes and even some of the gifts.

Wow! A new loader! It even has real rubber tires and parts that move-virtually indestructible as well!

A new wagon that even Suvi is in love with! It has cup holders!

Suvi is eating a potato (play food). It proves she is Finnish. We had some doubts about Markku as he does not share her affinity toward the potato. This should make Mummo Laukkanen proud!

Suvi opening her presents with the help of Ukki

And the BEST present of all-Markku's new kitchen! (And an apron to match. He is shirtless as he had been getting dressed into his new PJ's that Kiri gave him-but he had previously opened the shirt way before Christmas, so it was in his suitcase, not the package. But he insisted on wearing the pants.

Suvi enjoys the presents so much!

And this is from before Christmas. His new favorite game is "Where did Markku go?" He hid under his crib for a good 5 minutes. A long time for a 2 year old!

And this adorable photo is the two kids in a bath for the first time together. They love taking baths!

So we have been busy, as I am sure many of you have been. Suvi is now 8 months old. She can army crawl all over-she is REALLY fast. She is trying to stand up on things-but is really shaky at this point. I am off to put Suvi back to bed-she is sick again and STILL not sleeping!

Yes!

So Markku's new thing is saying "Yes!". He says it for everything-even if he really means no! Want to play? Yes! Want to eat candy? Yes! Want to eat broccoli? Yes! (He won't eat that though!). It is really funny to listen to it all day.

He is starting to get frustrated when things don't go his way. I am discovering I really have to watch what I say and how I express frustration, anger, etc. as he does copy what I do (and what Heikki does). He yelled at Tillie the other day for having her head in the garbage (which was a good thing to stop her from doing that, but maybe not the exact way he followed through!) Poor Tillie gets the brunt of all of our frustrations! And boy does he get upset when Suvi wiggles over and steals his toys. "No baby! Argh! No!" But then if I gently remind him she only wants to play and can he give her something else to play with he does share his toys with her too. It is very cute....and her scream when he takes something away is not so nice, so I think it scares him into sharing as well!

He got to open some presents from his Mummo Laukkanen today (it said to open early on the package...). He was thrilled even to open Suvi's gifts. They were warm PJs that we need since we got snow over night last night and it will get even colder tonight! Thanks mummo! Who would think we would need them in Texas? Of course Markku hates the cold weather and runs back inside saying " Cold! House! House!"

More firsts....what a fun first year!

Well, since I want to use this blog as a memento of Suvi (and Markku's) year, I have to update you on some new stuff I saw today. She has been struggling to sit up from a laying down position for several weeks and I finally saw her do it today! I am not sure it was her first time, but it was the first time I noticed...it is amazing to watch how strong babies core muscles are! I wish I could say the same about me!

She is a crawling machine-but still an army crawl with attempts at getting up on all fours. I put her down on the carpet in the living room and in seconds flat she has followed me to the kitchen-across the cold concrete floors.

I was watching her play with Markku's toys while he was napping. She would pick up his balls and try to reach high above her head to the top of his ball tower to drop the ball in! It was amazing that she was cognizant of what Markku was doing just hours before, and wanted to repeat it.

We went back to Gymboree after 4 months off. Suvi had her first class-music. I enrolled Markku in music as well. It was fun, but unfortunately we were the only family there. They want us to try an earlier class, but it is during Suvi's nap time. We will see how that goes. She was a little overwhelmed by our loud instructor, but he is awesome. Markku really loved the DRUMS-and all other really loud instruments. He tried very hard to play them like the adults did. The triangle was probably the cutest of them all. Suvi just ate all the instruments.

Not so fun firsts...

We have had a most stressful week in the Laukkanen household. It started a week and a half ago with me up all night vomiting. Then all seemed quiet, until Tuesday night. Suvi vomited-projectile all over me while nursing her at bedtime. It was her first vomiting. Unfortunately it continued into Wednesday and early Thursday morning, then the horrible explosive diarrhea. I won't go into details, but we are doing lots of laundry here. I think the Colorado River authority will be investigating our water usage this month-with the laundry, baths and cleaning up we have been doing! Then on Thursday night Heikki started. I have never seen someone puke so much! Then inevitably, Markku. It was his first time vomiting as well. He was so perplexed by it! Too bad it started at night as we had to change bedsheets twice and use lots of other blankets and towels to help make cleaning up in middle of the night easier. After recovering from each vomit episode he would ask to go play! Then he would realize how tired he was and go back to bed. Suvi kept waking up whenever Markku did so I was up all night myself (Heikki was still recovering). Then on Saturday even though he still felt sick, Heikki went back to work (gee, I wonder if all the Suvi diaper changes had anything to do with that?!) So we are still in recovery mode with Suvi having vomited today and she is still refusing all solid food. I may have to make another trip to the doctor...
But I think they are better. Not sleeping on the right schedules yet or eating right, but we may be on the road to recovery. And that would be good as I am exhausted from not sleeping or napping for almost a week now! Now I am off to pay bills and catch up with household chores as I FINALLY got the kids to bed I think!