The Laukkanen Family

Kai Juhani Laukkanen

2011-02-04T12:03:00.000-08:00

Kai Juhani Laukkanen

December 21, 2010

Baby Kai arrived on Dec 21, 2010. He was about 2 weeks early! I actually went into labor while at work. I was up at Lakeline Animal Care and it was my official last day of relief work scheduled. At 4 pm, my water broke. I was 45 miles from home, so had to make the drive in early rush hour traffic! My doctor's office was not too happy about that! I arrived home about 6 pm and finished packing my bags. Markku and Suvi were so excited! They dropped me off at the hospital while their nanny Tracy took them to McDonald's.

I had called Heikki from work, so he could try to get out of New Orleans before the last flights of the night. (He missed Suvi's birth, remember?) Luckily, he did make it (thanks Southwest!) and arrived about 10 pm. My mom had come up from Boerne to be with me before he arrived.

When I arrived at the hospital, I had to go through the ER. They were confused because no one was with me, I was so calm (no contractions yet, it was my third kid, and that is just how I am), and I guess someone had given birth in the bathrooms a week before. So the admittance nurse was way more freaked than me! The doctor on call (Dr. Rutter) wanted to start pitocin right away since I was not contracting, but I convinced her to wait until Heikki arrived, just in case! So about 9:30 pm when we got confirmation that Heikki's plane had landed with him on it, she started the pitocin.

Nothing much happened for awhile, but I did not want to wait to get too painful so I got the epidural when it was painful enough! Then they turned up the pitocin, but Kai did not like that...his heart rate dropped and they had to do all sorts of things and place monitors and all before it came back up. Then we decided we did not need pitocin at all and I still progressed. My doctor, Dr. Jennifer Goss, likes to deliver her own babies, so she was called in for the actual delivery. She made it there, but barely. Just like with Suvi and Markku, once I got ready, it all went real fast! It just takes awhile to get to that point!

It was an interesting night to be born...it was a full moon and there was a total eclipse as well. (We had clouds so even though we were up all night, no sights of the eclipse!) A very rare event! Kai was born at the fading end of the eclipse at 5:22 am. He weighed 7 pounds 11 ounces, right in between Markku (7 pounds 14 ounces) and Suvi (7 pounds 10 ounces) and 20.5 inches. He was perfect! He had a stork bite on his left upper eyelid, and an interesting capillary pattern in his right ear (you see an array of blood vessals inside his ear). He was real loud right from the start...he cried right away with all his lungs!

He was a great eater right from the start. We delivered at the new hospital here in Kyle, so it was a new place for us as well. The nurses pretty much left us alone since we had been through this twice before and were happy to release us on Dec 22, so we were home for Christmas!

We all agree, this was the best Christmas gift ever! Here is a link to a great E card my mother made:http://secure.smilebox.com/ecom/openTheBox?sendevent=4d6a45324d7a67314e544a384e5455354e6a63784e773d3d0d0a&sb=1

Finally an update...

2010-08-25T21:03:00.000-07:00

Well, I am finally getting around to posting again. We have had lots of changes to report!

First off, Heikki has been called up for active duty in the Coast Guard for the past 4 months and will be for another 4 months. He is in New Orleans for the oil spill. He is very busy, dealing with financing the requests for aid. So it can be pretty high pressure, but with the spill finally contained and most of the accessible oil cleaned up, it is slowing down some. Now that things have settled down, he is able to come home for visits Tuesday and he leaves Wednesday. The kids really miss him a lot and often ask why the oil spill isn't stopped yet (although in theory it is, just the work is not yet down). His job at ExpressJet is waiting for him, but there are likely to be some changes when he returns as they have been bought by another company. It is unsure if this will be beneficial to us or hurt us in the long run. We are hoping he can upgrade back to captain soon, but it will likely be spring or later before that happens.

In bigger news, we are expecting our third baby! I am 21 weeks 4 days along which puts the due date as Jan 2. We are hoping for an earlier birth, as our insurance will expire when Heikki's job at the coast guard expires Dec 27! We can purchase some other insurance for the gap between his active duty coverage and his regular job, but if he/she comes earlier, we can get 100% of the birth covered! Come on Christmas baby!

Heikki decided we are going to wait to find out the sex...I wasn't so sure so now we have an envelope that was sealed by the ultrasonagrapher that has the sex written on a piece of paper inside! I was afraid i would not have enough willpower to not open the envelope, so I made Heikki take it to New Orleans with him!

This baby is very active. He/she moves so much, it is quite amusing sometimes. I am gaining an acceptable amount of weight but it is more than with either previous pregnancy, and I am way bigger this time around! I am trying to stay active but it is hard with this summer heat! I am mostly through the morning sickness at this point, but still have nausea sometimes and lots of headaches. I am really enjoying being pregnant again, probably more so as I know this will be our last child. It is quite bittersweet and makes the pain worth the gain!

Markku and Suvi are very excited about this new baby! They both want it to be a girl at this time, but at first Markku wanted a boy. They can not wait for this Christmas present!

Markku has started his second year of preschool, but he only goes part time again (2 days a week). He was so happy it just started again after taking a summer break. He loves school. He is singing lots of songs now-that is new. He always loved music but never really sang before. But too bad he is a really bad singer like his mom! He says really cute things like "that's my fater" meaning that's my favorite". and "truxins" for construction trucks. If he hurts me or makes me upset, he runs up to me and gives me a hug and say "I want to apologize". It is so cute! He is a fantastic swimmer and is currently been learning to swim freestyle. We may put him on swim team next summer-we will see how things go with the new baby! He loves to play with his cars, trucks, planes...anything with wheels as he puts it! He has a great imagination and makes up stories for me all the time. He has even started quoting movie lines! He was yelling " I hate it! I hate it!" one day and I told him to stop, that it was not nice. He told me he says it because Lightening McQueen says it in Cars! That is why-so it must be ok! He is also a great helper. He helps me clean, carry in groceries, help mummo plant flowers and pick up dog poop in the back yard! What a helper even though it often makes more work for me!

Suvi is a very bright, sweet 2 year old now! She is talking up a storm and loves to sing songs as well. She loves to do anything Markku does and for the most part he is a great teacher. She loves to play cars and trucks with Markku, but still loves her babies and stuffed animals as well. She took a dance class this summer and hopefully this fall as well. It was a tap, ballet, tumbling class and by far the cutest thing ever! It was full of 2-3 year olds. She is also an amazing swimmer and could spend all day in the pool if we would let her. She can swim about 15 feet or more under water! She is fearless in the water.

We had so many vacations this summer! We went to Port Aransas, Texas to spend 5 days at the coast with my mom and dad. The kids loved the beach and the aquarium. The kids and I also went to Buffalo NY to visit my side of the family. It had been 9 years since I was there! A long time. Heikki was supposed to come with us for a trip to Oregon/Washington, but after spending a day at 3 airports in Texas and taking a cab from airport to airport, we were unable to catch any flights to the West coast! We travel stand by and summer is a horrible time to travel, so we ended up taking a quick trip (driving) to Corpus Christi again. Heikki was able to get in some wind surfing, and we enjoyed the time with him as he has been gone for a long time this summer. I will be going to New Orleans for a veterinary conference in September and will get to spend 5 days with him as well, but the kids will stay with my parents.

Hopefully I will get better at posting again, and can update with some more photos soon!

2010-04-06T11:35:00.000-07:00

Well, we have once again been super busy and I am apparantly not a good blogger! But, we did have a 3 week adventure to Finland (the kids and my first trip) and Denmark, and then in order to continue to survive financially after 3 weeks with no work, I have been working non-stop for the past month!

Updates:
Markku is really enjoying his pre-school he goes to twice a week. He is starting to get how to hold a pencil properly (a feat his pediactrician said he should have mastered a year ago, but his teachers say is perfectly normal for him not to get it until he is 5) and has made friends he tells me about! He really wants to ride his bike with "only 2 wheels", meaning no training wheels. We have this handle my mom got for us to hold on as he rides, and he will go for 10 seconds or so without Heikki hanging on. Probably the worst thing for us, well Heikki in particular, is that he has recently picked up a SOUTHERN ACCENT! It is really crazy-most people around here do not have accents as they have moved from other places. This is Texas, not the deep south. But, nonetheless, he has started to say "Ye-ah" and really has quite the drawl. Not sure if that will last, but it sure is there now.

Suvi is really talking now, although there are still many things I do not understand right away. She has been talking in sentences for about 2 weeks now. She still really loves animals-especially horses and a "baby sheep" she got for Easter. She has a few strange words, like for Markku she says "Se-ta" or something like that. She really doesn't say Isa yet, but when I think I hear her it sounds like sha sha like Markku used to say. She is my artist-she loves to draw and color and sing. She has been holding a pencil correctly for about a year now! The difference between boys and girls is amazing. She turns 2 this month, I can not believe that!

I will hopefully post an entry soon about our amazing trip to Finland, and figured this was a good start. At least I logged on!

Happy New Year 2010

2010-01-08T20:07:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year 2010! We have been ultra-busy as usual. For New Year's we travelled to the Central Oregon Mountains and stayed with Heikki's family in Sisters. We went and did all sorts of crazy winter things that kids who live in Texas never get to do! After a loooooooooong flight and drive in (we arrived at 3:45 am which was 5:45 am Texas time!),a few hours sleep and off we went sledding with the kids. We had rented snow suits-whoever heard of such a thing?-and so the kids stayed pretty warm. They did love sledding (the first day Markku was hungry and tired so it took until the second day for him to LOVE it. Suvi really liked it right away.)

Luckily many relatives like Uncle John were there to help us with the kids:

Heikki's family rents a house in the Black Butte area (near Hoodoo ski resort and Sisters, Oregon) every year for New Year's. It is a beautiful area in the mountains with very tall gorgeous trees (except where the forest fires went through...that really bothered Markku to see that). This is a picture of just the Laukkanen family. There were probably at least twice as many total guests at one point or another. We got to see Mikko and Joanna and their 2 kids who came all the way from London, Kaisa and John who are about to have their own first child, Liisa and Johan who came from New York/San Francisco via Sweden I believe (lots of travelling there, never know who is where when), mummo and Bill, Jesse (John's brother) and then all the extended family and friends as well (who are not pictured here):

It was super hard to get everyone looking and there were 2 or 3 photographers so everyone was always looking the wrong way!

Heikki has been dying to go skiing since we left Alaska almost 4 years ago. This was his chance (and his Christmas present), but unfortunately he is not as young as he used to be and hurt his knee the very first day sledding. He was really bummed. Now he wants another Christmas present but I keep trying to tell him it doesn't work like that.
So on our very last day in the mountains we decided it was a good day to try Markku skiing. The age limit was 4 yrs old, and so I did what any parent would do-I lied and made up his birthday. sure enough everything fine....until they asked him how old he is! And he says "3" and shows 3 fingers! They said they were worried at first (I had already dropped him off) but he did really well and was able to learn to ski! We got great video that I am clueless as to how to download it (I have tried on You tube and it keeps saying there is an error after a forever long period of time) so you will have to look at still pictures until I can figure it out (or a loving relative who has a video of it can do it for me!-that would be you John!)

Markku and mummo just before the lesson

Markku ready to hit the slopes!

Suvi is too young to learn but she sure looks cute waiting in the lodge and sledding!

We had to leave and head back to Cathlamet, Washington to mummo and Bill's house after skiing. Here is Markku on Heikki's old bike!

We went on a day trip to the Oregon coast and went through a nature preserve. We were looking for deer and such, but only found this type of John DEERE heavy equipment, which made Markku oh so happy. He has a John Deere video he got for Christmas and sings the songs to me everyday "John Deere, make them nice and strong, John Deere".

Here is another picuture at the refuge showing the Columbia river and the low clouds against the mountains: It is so pretty there.

We then ventured on to the Seaside Aquarium-it was very small but still lots of fun. The kids are playing with the touching poo and pointing at the stingrays:

Needless to say we had a great trip. We loved seeing everyone again-including my sister Jenn who we surprised at 11:45 pm on New Year's eve as we were driving by her house on our way to the mountains! Happy New year Jenn! It was great to get back while Mikko was visiting with his family-they live so far away.

After we returned it was a rush getting back to work and preschool for Markku. One night, Markku decided he needed to help me clean. This is how he cleaned up our living room:

See, the floor is now clean! He said " I know you hate tripping on stuff, I clean up for you!"

More cute Markkuisms: 1. Mommy, Isa is making me cranky. He won't get me more Hee hee milk (soy milk).

2. He stepped on my foot and I said "Ow!". he said, "You ok. " So cute as whenever he gets hurt and has that shocked look on his face I say "You're ok, let me give it a kiss".

3. Marrku tells "funnies" now-he is trying to make jokes! He will say something random and then say "I tell a funny"

4. Not so cute things: he learned to say " I don't care." He says it a lot, like when I tell him to clean up, stop teasing his sister or go to bed. He also says "I hate it" now. I don't like that too much either. Then he says something that sounds like " Freakin Cumquat" when he gets frustrated. I do not know what that means or where he got it...any hints anyone?

Suvi also scratched me the other day and I said "Ow!" She was making these funny smooching noises and then said "Mama, mama" And when I looked down at her she kissed me. She was kissing my owie! It was very sweet.

Catch Up!

2009-12-29T17:22:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!

Well, it has been awhile since I posted an entry, and we sure have been busy! I still have issues posting pictures on this blog and then easily moving them around, so I am going to tell the storey not necessarily in order, a little backwards so I do not have to move the pictures around! Pay attention!

Well, Christmas has just passed. It was so much fun this year. We had our new house and Santa still managed to find us-both at our home and at mummo and Ukki's! Lucky kids! We had cookies and orange juice for Santa-that is what Markku says Santa likes to drink. Guess what?!-Santa did drink his orange juice! We also left out Reindeer food, a tradition I had never heard of before this year!

Suvi got Baby dolls, cribs/cradles, high chair for her babies, a cool tea set and lots of Little People to play with:

Here she is sitting in her toy high chair-playing with her little people's car and her new doll.

Cup of Tea anyone?!

Markku gots lots of great toys-back hoe loader, tonka tow truck, pirate ship, race cars and even a new camara:

He LOVES his new camera and took 480 or so pictures the first day! Here is a sampling:

One of his first-very blurry. I think it is Mummo

then later this more in focus one of Isa

And still blurry but a favorite of mine: Suvi

Today Mummo came to babysit while I did some errands. Things always get a little crazy with Mummo around. Markku found some Styrofoam and had an indoor snow storm:

He said, "uh-oh we better clean up. Mommy will be mad! And it was so staticky they had to vacuum it all up!

Here is Suvi braving the cold snowstorm! (Actually she is trying on her snow suit we rented for our upcoming trips to the Oregon Mountains and Finland).

Ok, back to Christmas: Here is the Jumpy house our family in Denmark sent the kids! It was a favorite as well. These are action shots!

Markku and Suvi spent a night in San Antonio at the Riverwalk with Mummo and Ukki to see the lights and right the boat and trolley. They had a great time and Mommy and Isa had a date night!

Dancing on steps at SA Riverwalk

Snuggling with Ukki

Markku had a school Christmas program. They had each class of preschoolers and Moms Day Out kids sing a song and tell the story of Christmas. It was really great-if you knew a kid in the class!

Markku was a shepherd

Since we last updated you, Markku learned to ride his bike (well, it has training wheels). He rides very well, up and down hills, on the trails in our neighborhood and even at Mummo and Ukki's. He even rode 2.3 miles with me and Heikki one day!

This fall we enrolled Markku in a soccer league in San Marcos. At first, he wouldn't leave the bleachers. Then the next week he stood there while Heikki moved his foot for him! then finally he figured it out and had a great time! He will kick the ball into the net and yell "I win!"

Turns out Suvi loves soccer as well.

Ok, so I know this was a little out of order and all, but at least I posted something! Next year I will try to be better about it. My christmas gift was a new laptop-and since my keyboard no longer works on my other computer....I guess that is a good thing!

We are off to spend New Year's with my in-laws in Oregon. The kids will see snow for the first time-well Markku saw it in Alaska when he was 4 mos old, but I don't think he remembers it very well!

Happy New Year everyone!

Halloween 2009

2009-11-08T19:17:00.000-08:00

Halloween started off with Suvi being sick-she had a fever of 101.8 in the morning. She stayed home, got some motrin and Markku and I went to swim class. Went I returned, she still had a fever. So, with all the hullabaloo about swine flu (she is not yet vaccinated), we headed out for the doctor. Being a Saturday, I was limited to the ER or urgent care. We spent 3 hours at our local urgent care-she tested negative for swine flu, but that apparently means nothing as the swine flu bedside test is about 10% accurate! But she was now 102.8 and really not feeling well, runny nose and cough. So they wanted to take some chest x-rays and monitor her until her fever went down. Chest rads were clear so then we just had to wait until she acted like a toddler. Once the doc saw her running around the room, even with a 101.6 fever, he was convinced she could go home. They have no idea if she has the flu. She how she does they say.

Of course now we were late for trick or treating! We rushed home and luckily mummo and Isa had Markku really excited and ready to go. Markku was Thomas the train-he picked it out-and Suvi was supposed to be Dorothy from Wizard of Oz. Suvi was feeling a lot better after motrin and Tylenol, so we dressed her up and let her walk around to a few houses (we were bad parents I know. But we didn't let her touch any kids!). they really loved trick or treating! It took a while for them to get it, but they sure liked it after the first few houses gave them candy! We didn't see any other Thomas' but we sure did see a million Dorothy's. So much for original!

Here she is with Toto and her ruby red slippers! She and Markku loved those shoes! I made them by gluing red sprinkles over the top of red satin shoes. They looked awesome!

Here we are ready to go out trick or treating.

I had to work the next 2 days, and Heikki was babysitting. When I came home after the first day, about half the candy was gone! I had said that morning that Markku could have 3 pieces of candy that day-boy oh boy someone didn't listen! After Monday at work, there literally was no candy left! I was so upset-no one needs to eat that much candy in 2 days! Especially since I wasn't home to eat it too! Markku did point out to me (after I told him how upset I was) that "Isa ate some too!" Well, I am glad it wasn't only the kids!!!

Suvi got better after 2 days of fever so I doubt she had the flu after all. Now we must wait and see when and if she can get vaccinated for swine flu. She is under 2 so she cannot get intranasal like Markku got and then our doctor does not want to use the multi use vials as they contain some thimerosal (even though it is reportedly safe!). So we are still waiting! I know many children have gotten the flu and parents say symptoms are mild, but I have hears accounts of perfectly healthy children dying. I am not willing to take that risk, it really does alarm me! So more vaccines for the kiddos!

Markku has started soccer. He was so excited to play. He would run around and kick the ball and say "I am a winner!" I do not have photos yet....mainly because he refused to even walk onto the field the first day. He just sat by the sidelines saying " I don't think so. I don't know how. I am so tired." I was so mad at him for not trying...but then he did fall asleep on the short car ride home! He really was tired. Then the next week I was working and Heikki took him and literally moved his foot for him to kick the ball. He eventually got into it, but mostly just ran around after the other kids. His first game was Saturday, but I was out of town so Mummo Frederick took him. He did sit on the bench with kids but just stood still when it was his turn to rotate onto the field! But it is a start. Unfortunately they did not have the game schedule out when I signed him up and we will miss all the rest of the games due to them conflicting with swimming! Oh well. It is just exposure right now anyways.

Suvi, now feeling much better, is really turning into a book lover. See her with her book? She almost always has one in her hands and reads to herself or brings it to use to read to her! It is very cute.

Big boy firsts

2009-10-27T18:40:00.000-07:00

Markku is a school boy now! He goes to First United Methodist Church preschool in San Marcos on Tues and Thurs. Here is a photo of his school- they have a pumpkin patch in October.

Here he is walking down the hall on his own to get to his classroom. He has his race car lunchbox by his side.

This is his classroom and his teacher, Ms. Melissa:

He was very excited to go. Here he is with Suvi, waiting to leave for his first day of school. He picked out his own clothes too:

Of course, with school comes homework (yes, preschoolers have homework!!!). He had to decorate his pumpkin. We were at our new Target in Kyle (that was one happy day for me when they finally opened! My own Target only minutes from my house!!!!!) and Markku spotted some firetruck stickers and said "we need to buy them for my pumpkin". He remembered he had to decorate it! So we bought them and he has the only pumpkin with firetrucks on it! There is a mouth, nose and eyes as well, but they are just randomly stuck on so it just looks funny! He is very proud of his pumpkin.

The end of Sept/early October also brought us some much needed rain. We are in such a drought here that even with tons of rain this month we are still in a severe drought in Kyle/Hays County. It is amazing how much it can rain here! One of the rainy cold days was the day we had tickets to go see Thomas the Tank engine. I was not too prepared and forgot to charge my batteries, so I only got a few pictures before the camera died. But here is one of Thomas arriving:

Markku and Suvi were both tickled beyond belief to see him. They were in awe! Suvi just pointed and screamed! It was like seeing a rock star... We did have fun with Mummo, Ukki and Isa so it made for a great day out. The rain even stopped for us for our visit, thank goodness.

One beautiful fall day I decided we would finally go visit the Austin Zoo. So Markku, Suvi and I went to feed the animals and see rescued wildlife. The Austin Zoo is a rescue zoo, so it's animals are limited to those that they have had to rescue. They have goats, llamas, pigs, chickens, peacocks, lions, tigers, wolves, turtles and birds. And a few monkeys too. It was small but a nice place to visit for the afternoon. The lions were roaring when we got there...it was a little freaky, like maybe they had escaped and were about to hunt us down. But we actually never even saw them stir as they were either asleep in the grass or inside (the inside one was making all the racket). The kids got to feed the goats and llamas. They loved that. And there was a small train to ride as well.

Markku is also learning to ride his bicycle with training wheels. He is actually riding it! He can't turn yet or go up even the slightest hill, but he is pedaling.

He is going to start in an indoor soccer league this week as well. We are trying to get him involved and playing with other kids and learning how to be on a team, etc. He is not quite getting the idea of sharing...we are battling it out at our house right now. His teacher told me he was a little worse at sharing than most of the other kids in his class...great! I am definitely seeing that at home as well. But hopefully we will get through this phase soon, and maybe even Suvi will learn how to share with all our training, fighting and taking toys away since no one wants to share!

We have had a busy month with Heikki going back to Corpus Christi for his 2 weeks of active duty and me working at the emergency clinic and one clinic in San Marcos/Wimberely.

We are getting ready for Halloween. I think our new neighborhood will be really busy with trick or treaters unlike our last ones....I wonder how much candy I need to buy!

Big Boy

2009-10-04T19:16:00.000-07:00

Well, our last month has been exciting around here. Markku is now almost officially potty trained! He started in August (on his own) and then took a little back slide after our vacation to Park City. He decided it was too easy to pee in pull ups (still went poop on potty). But then we got a call that he got into a part time preschool in San Marcos--but he had to be in underwear! So we bit the bullet and, while I conveniently went out of town for a weekend, had Mummo, Bill, Isa and Uncle John potty train him fully! It went great (even Mummo and Isa say that and they were here with him!). So now he hasn't had an accident in quite awhile, (but still sleeps in pull ups). He did discover one day that peeing in the yard was fun. I am not such a fan, but his mummo thought it was ok so he did it a lot. He would run outside naked and pee, then come back in. One time, he was wandering around with the underwear around his knees. I went out and asked him to get dressed. He told me I needed to wipe him because he went la (poop). Sure enough, I saw poop that looked just like his in the yard! I think we may have broken that habit, but am a little fearful I will get a phone call from his school...

So now that that has been tackled, he gets to start school on Tuesday. I am so sad because I will miss it, I actually have work scheduled! Mummo Frederick will take him and I know she will take plenty of pictures for me! Then I will take him Thursday and hopefully he still likes it! He went out and bought new underwear and a lunch box and is ready to go to school. He was a little worried the other day. I told him that he would go to school by himself and that Suvi and I would be at home waiting for him. He looked very worried and said, "Will you drive home? I do not know how to drive the car!"

I am not sure I mentioned it earlier, but he is in a big boy bed as well (well still his crib but no side on it, so he can get in and out!. What a big boy I have now. I can't believe how fast he seems to be growing. He did ask for the crib rail to be replaced the other night because his toys kept falling out of bed.

Suvi is starting another tantrum/screeching phase. It is lots of fun. Her scream can wake the dead, so I figure she is practicing for Halloween. I am wondering what developmental phase she is going through-what milestone we may soon see since her tantrums had calmed down quite a bit during the summer, but have returned full force now. She is also eating me out of house and home. She eats about twice what Markku eats!

I have been filling in shifts at the emergency clinic and am trying to find more daytime work. I start at a new clinic tomorrow and work Tuesday, but then only have emergency shifts the rest of the month! Yikes. We see interesting and complex cases. The one that stands out most for me was a 6 month old puppy that came in Friday night. He had been vomiting/diarrhea and not eating for 3 days and was diagnosed with a GI parasite 2 days before. He was not responding to treatment so was referred back to us. He was very sick. He was extremely dehydrated, vomiting, very painful in his abdomen, had a heart arrhythmia and had enlarged lymph nodes. He had what appeared to be a large kidney on his x-rays. I did some blood work and found he was in kidney failure, anemic and had very few blood platelets. He was only 6 months old! Our best guess was something infectious, we worried about leptospirosis ( a bacterial infection found in water sources, carried by wildlife) or a tick borne disease. We started him on fluids and found he did not produce any urine. His owners will not give up. He is on fluids, receiving blood transfusions, had in a urinary catheter and many medications (antibiotics, drugs to stimulate him to urinate and kick start his kidneys). Nothing was working, so he is now receiving peritoneal dialysis. I had never seen that done before so it has been very interesting from that point of view-a drain was surgically placed into his abdomen so fluids can be flushed in, set for a while and then drained out. This helps relieve some of the toxins that are building up in his blood stream since he cannot produce urine. It is trying to buy him some time while we try to fight the underlying infection we think he has. His bill is likely to be $7-10000 . Most owners are not willing to pursue this type of therapy. I really would love for him to make, but really do not have much hope that he will. He is one of the sickest pups I have seen in awhile.
Another crazy case was a 10 yr old iguana! He got into ant poison and was very lethargic. He would take one breath every 5 minutes or so, we always thought he was dead. He had blood drawn (a tech actually knew how to draw blood from an iguana!!!) and a interosseous (bone) catheter placed so he could receive IV fluids. That was crazy and am happy that he was actually someone else's case. I would have had NO idea how to treat him.

Heikki is working lots and will be spending 2 more weeks in the Coast Guard at the end of the month to help us pay our bills while my job is in transition. He does enjoy his time there and has lots of time to play out in the gulf even. Since Suvi has not been sleeping through the night I am sure he will enjoy his sleepful nights away-even though he will miss us.

Park City Utah

2009-09-08T20:03:00.000-07:00

We just returned from a week in heaven! We were in Park City, Utah. The mountains were beautiful, the temperature perfect, and we had great friends to spend it with. We stayed in a gigantic 5.5 bedroom log house in Deer Valley. It had a beautiful view of the valley. See photos for proof!

The house belongs to a friends company and she gets to bid on vacation weeks and decided to invite us (as well as several other families. These are Heikki's friends from King's Point, the Merchant Marine Academy). Thank goodness she still has her job! It was actually very interesting that of the 4 families present, one of the spouses from each family was unemployed/laid off in the past year. Another family who could not make it had both spouses lose their job in the past 1.5 years (they both have new jobs thankfully, which is why they were unable to take vacation time).

We spent the first day exploring Park City where the kids met a (fake) moose and lovingly walked together nicely with their new best friend Ava.

Heikki tried hula hooping with Suvi. Markku was too shy to even try. This was at their Park Silly Sunday Market.

We went hiking at Sundance Resort-a breathtaking place. We rode the ski lifts up and then did a 1.5 mile hike with the kids, then rode back down. It was a fun day.

Look at these giant dandelions!

We went back to Sundance the next day and rented bikes for a ride down the Provo River into Provo Utah. Tricia and Cesar went with us, and it was hard work pulling the bike trailer back up the river path on the return ride. Cesar, me and Heikki all took turns. Tricia, who is 5 months pregnant, still beat us all!

This is Bridal Veil Falls.
We also drove along the highest paved road in Utah-up to 10,500 feet or something like that. It was a beautiful drive with a pretty alpine lake at the top and the Provo waterfalls were beautiful.

Right after taking this photo Markku went in for a swim unexpectedly, and luckily Heikki caught him before he slid down or went over the rest of the falls! I was so scared for that second that he was in the water! Suvi then went running into Mirror Lake. Keep in mind that the water temps were likely in the low 50s or something. Very cold! I guess that is their Finnish blood.

We did a few more short hikes. One at Wasatch State Park where we walked to an old pioneer farm and picked apples. Markku really liked that part, although he complained a lot while hiking that he was soooo tired. Poor guy, he was at altitude and only 3 years old. Suvi got to ride in a back pack!

Markku and Heikki went river rafting (Suvi was too young to go so I stayed with her). No pics as Heikki did not bring the camera. It was more of a float since it is so late in the season. But they still had lots of water, and coming from central Texas and the drought this place was luscious and green and had so much beautiful water!

Markku finally rode the Trolley on our last night there. He kept asking to and we kept expecting to have more time. Look at that face...I am glad we made it before we left. He had a blast and it was just a quick loop around town. Suvi was home sleeping already!

We spent time eating, reading, playing at the house and just having a really nice time.

This is our friend Rachel and her daughter Nina. They used to live in Austin, but now California. You can ask Nina: "Where are you from?" She says "Texas". She also says "Hoo Koo" She is a true Texan even at 17 months.

Markku would fall asleep exhausted while still playing!

Heikki too was exhausted-Heat exhaustion hit him hard when he tried mountain biking at Sundance. No pictures of this, but afterwards, when he was better, I was wishing I had for this blog! He was pale as can be and very sick! Luckily we caught it early and were able to get him rehydrated and cooled down. He is fine now.

It was great to see these old friends again and to spend time with the kids together. Soon enough the trip was over, and we were packing to go home. We are looking forward to our next trip, maybe in the winter?

Busy busy busy

2009-08-25T19:28:00.001-07:00

Well, it has been a very busy time and I have been a bad bad blogger! But, I did spend over 1 hour tonight on this very blog just to have all of it deleted! I am not too happy now, and will try to just pick up on the highlights! Oh, and it will be in reverse chronology due to the fact that I am unable to move the photos without deleting everything!

We finally made it to the Austin Steam Train ride, only to find out that the steam engine is in parts all across the country. So we rode a diesel and Yes, Markku did notice the difference and asked to ride the steam engine! He still had a great time though. We rode about 3 hours through the hill country to a town called Bertram. Then we rode back to Cedar Park.

Here is Heikki and the kids outside the train

Markku and Suvi watching the scenery go by

Heikki's mom has a photo of each one of her 4 children in this cute red outfit holding the same teddy bear. So we have one of Markku when he was a baby (still need to get it scanned onto my computer) and this one of Suvi:

I love her smile on the left (she is wearing a back pack, one of her favorite things), and on the right I think she looks just like me when I was a baby! The funny thing is this outfit is from the 70's so it could have been a picture of me!

We went to the children's museum in New Braunfels (about 30 miles south of Kyle). They had cute mini furniture where Markku wanted to read to Suvi.

My mom and I were busy putting furniture together for my new house. The kids loved the boxes:

Markku is not much of a drawing/coloring person. he likes it for about 2 minutes then he is done. Suvi loves to color and draw. Especially if she can eat the crayons! Look how well she holds the crayons:

Here is a photo of the 2 of them helping me and mummo with a futon chair:

I will rent out these two helpers for a reasonable price! (Mummo NOT included).

We finally celebrated Markku's birthday party in early July. It was a pool party at our neighborhood swim center. It was a blast. He had 2 cakes-one yellow rescue truck made by me and a train made by his mummo Frederick! 2 cakes-what a lucky boy. He had lots of friends to help open gifts as well:

We did make it to Kyle's fireworks this year. It was lots of fun-the kids enjoyed it. Last year Markku was afraid since they sound like thunder, but this year he was ok. He was worried about Tillie at home since he knew she was afraid!

It has been an unbearably hot summer with 65 days of 100+ temperatures here. The record is 69 so we are definitely going to beat that! We have a good month of really hot temps then it is usually in the 80s by October! We have a severe drought going on, so we have to put a hold on any landscaping at our new house. Things are getting very dry.

Markku is talking up a storm these days-in English and finally starting in Finnish as well! He pretty much says every word in English now! He even tells me he loves me. He tells Suvi as well. I hear him say "I love you Suvi. Do you love me?" He is starting to teach Suvi and he even was teaching her Finnish the other day! "Say kissa Suvi, kissa" That means cat. Suvi says "Meow!". She is also starting to talk. She has several words now-mama, meow, bye bye, night night, back pack, she growls for bears and other growling animals and neighs for horses and goats. She LOVES to read books. You will almost always find her sitting in a chair reading a book, or she brings you one to read to her.

Markku is now sleeping in a big boy bed and is starting to go potty on a potty. He isn't trained to either yet, but we are getting better and better each day! Hooray! But where did my little boy go?!

Markku now weights about 35 pounds and was 39 inches in May. He is taller now as his 3 year old pants and PJs are to short for him. But he still wears 2 year old shorts since he is so skinny! His BMI was 15.5 in May. No body fat there. He is a true Texan as he wears jeans everyday he can and is freezing if it goes into the 70s.

Suvi is now about 26 pounds and was 32 inches (90%) at the end of July, but she too has recently had a growth spurt. They are both tall children for their ages. There was a teacher at the park the other night who thought Markku was in kindergarten this year!

Heikki was away for most of this summer. He spent 2 1/2 weeks in June in Corpus Christi for the coast guard and then spent July 14-Aug 14 in Virginia in a training course for inspections for the Coast Guard. It has been a long time without him here-the kids were really missing him! Of course in between he still has his work with ExpressJet to keep him away 4 days a week!

I too have had some changes. We have been real slow at work. And actually it has slowed down since they hired me 2 years ago. So, like the rest of America, my job was downsized and I was let go. I am still stunned and frustrated and angry. I am going to be doing relief work for the time being, but now there are 35 of us relief vets (there were 20 when I was reliefing 2 years ago) and with the economy much less work around town. Add in my non-compete clause for 2 years and I am not seeing a whole lot of work come my way! We will see what the future brings. For September it means a lot of emergency work!

Well, after another 30 minutes trying to re post everything-I am exhausted and afraid it will all disappear again! So, good night!

I guess We are up to May

2009-06-23T18:45:00.001-07:00

Things are happening too fast to keep everyone updated! I need more time, more sleep and more patience! So please bear with me! To save time, since I downloaded pics in chronological order, they of course have most recent at the top of the page. I could rearrange but that would take forever (which I have already mentioned I have no time!). So, I am going from most recent back to May!!

Heikki is doing his 2 weeks active duty for the Coast Guard down in Corpus Christi, TX. We went down to visit him for Father's Day weekend. Here we are going to breakfast on the Navy base in Corpus. Markku was having a bad day, so he wouldn't look at the camera!

Suvi was playing on the playset. Markku was off crying or pouting so no pics of him! I did mention he was having bad day! He was really tired-we kept him up late the night before, and boy did we pay (both kids were tired on Sunday as were we!). Saturday we had gone to the beach and had a perfect day! The kids were so much fun to be with! They loved swimming! They loved the waves and the sand! The water here is REALLY warm and it is around 100 degrees and Corpus is VERY humid. I really wish I could figure out how to download video as they were having such a blast and I would love to share it with y'all! But here are some photos instead (not quite as good at capturing the pure joy, but they will do!

Of course there was also planes, helicopters, kayaks, boats and you name it here on base! This is an old trainer-not used any more.

Just about 2 week before this trip, we were in Portland, OR for my sister Jenn's wedding. She and Dan finally decided to tie the knot after something like 12 years of dating. They still live in different countries, but maybe that can be rectified now! Markku was ring bearer, Suvi a flower girl and I was Matron of honor. We also visited my in-laws. Here is Suvi on Puget Island with some sort of elf hat on-something her Aunt Liisa made or wore or I don't know, I didn't get the whole story, but Suvi loved it!

Markku fits in Portland so well. He loves public transit, something Texas is sorely lacking! Here Markku is waiting for the street car-it is FREE downtown so we rode it around. Notice also he is carrying his model airplane. The streets are of course wet-it was raining. What a surprise! I just love the intent concentration-he did not want to miss that train!

Of course the reason we were there to begin with, Jenn's wedding. I don't have any of the professional photos yet, but here are some Heikki took...

This is of course the wedding party. Jenn wore a beautiful blue dress and the whole color theme was brown and blue. Even the cupcakes matched! My mom made the flowers out of felt.

Suvi loved her job as flower girl, but she preferred Jenn's bouquet-it was the biggest! Markku was very busy playing trucks and being bribed with candy to be good, be quiet, walk down the aisle, sit still, don't cry, etc to get too many pics of him! But he looked pretty cute himself!

We have seen Ukki and Mummo Frederick very little (except at the wedding), but back on May 31 we went to their house and swam and celebrated my birthday.Once again pure joy-my kids love to swim! Markku is mostly a blur and he jumps in swims, gets out and repeats over and over. He swims all the way across the pool.

Markku just jumped in-I just got the splash!

May 12 was Markku's third birthday. We celebrated with Mummo and Bill-my parents were not there and no party as both Suvi and Markku had had fevers just 2 days before! We had to cancel his party. (Don't worry, we have another one planned for July 5 and it is a pool party!)

Of course even if you have a fever you get to open presents!

Wow! A recycling truck!

Look at his cake that I made! No party but we had a really cool fire engine cake! My mom helped=but I did most of the decorating. Now I have to try again for the July 5th party! Yikes! Markku wants a yellow one next time he told me! He didn't like red Icing!

OK I think that gets everyone caught up. Now for some cute things that Markku has said:
1) We are learning the sounds that letters make (r says errrr!) So one night in the tub he asks, "What does 2 do?" I tried to explain that 2 is a number and doesn't have a sound. I am not sure he believe me!

2) We have been having some trying days sometimes. I can get overwhelmed and may have a few instances where I may raise my voice in exasperation (or desperation)! One night, I was trying to get Markku to listen and stop splashing water out of the tub and onto his sister. So I got mad after the third time. I yelled. Markku started to cry. So I explained that he has 2 choices, he can obey me with 1-2 warnings and get a nice mommy or try to push it and disobey me and get a mean mommy. "Your choice, nice mommy or mean mommy!" Well I of course felt guilty as soon as I said it, and figured he didn't really understand. But he did. The next day or so we were watching a Care Bears video and a mean ghost like creature with red eyes and a hood appears. He tells me it is scary. Then he tells me it is "mean mommy". Nice hunh??? By the way, the character's name is No Heart.

3) Markku was telling me he was all done with dinner. He says, "My belly way top!" He didn't eat much so I asked, Are you sure? He replies as he is lifting his shirt: "Yes, see?" He points to his tummy!

April

2009-06-02T20:20:00.000-07:00

Since I am still so far behind, I guess I will update everyone on April!
First off, we moved! We bought a house in Kyle, Texas (about 18 miles south of our previous home). We just love our new house and neighborhood, Plum Creek. There are hike in bike trails, stocked fishing lakes, playgrounds, pools, basketball courts, family activities, and more in our new neighborhood. We even have a playground right across the street!

Our new house and the park across the street!

Then on the 14th Suvi had her ear surgery to have the ear tubes placed. This is her at the hospital, riding in a wagon while we waited her turn. It was better than Markku's surgery day-we got to arrive several hours later and it was a surgery center just for kids. Everyone was very nice and Suvi did very well. So far, no ear infections!

Then, one week later on April 20, 2009 we had a very special day. It was Suvi's first birthday! I can't believe a year has gone by. She has grown so much and so has Markku! Suvi really enjoyed her party-especially the ladybug cupcakes I made myself! Yes, everyone, I made them. See the photos?! They look pretty good if I do say so myself! I will turn into a homemaker yet!

Here is the birthday girl eating her cupcake! And look at the cupcakes!

She really like opening presents. Markku could have cared less at his first birthday-but Suvi started tearing the paper off right away. She really got into it!

And of course, here is Markku eating Suvi's cake. He was almost as messy as Suvi!

At the end of April some friends and I (and the kiddos) went to the Weiner dog races in Buda, TX. It was fun to watch the races...I still cannot figure out how to upload video so I can't show you all the races, but here is Markku and his friend Donovan playing at the races. Then we got a family shot (well, minus Heikki) in front of a firetruck!

Technically the petting zoo was an event in early May, but it is a yearly event my new neighborhood puts on. It is called Front Porch days. They have a petting zoo, pony rides, jumping houses, 2 stages with concerts, food and more! It was a lot of fun and it was all free!!!! Suvi loved her first pony ride. Markku has yet to ride a pony. He went with Heikki to Oregon this weekend. He ran his first Marathon in Eugene! Go Heikki go! He did finish, not in record winning time but a very respectful time of 4 hours something--sorry hon, I forgot the exact time! So anyways, Markku was having fun with his mummo and Bill and Aunt Kaisa and Uncle John. Suvi and I stayed home and enjoyed some quality girl time. It is amazing how special that little girl is! I missed Markku so much. He was always too busy having fun to talk to me on the phone whenever I called. It made me so sad, but I was glad he was having fun! I guess on the last night Bill said something about momma and Suvi and Markku got real quiet, his lower lip started to tremble and he started to cry. He really did miss us!

Lastly, we finally went to see the bats fly out from under the Congress bridge in downtown Austin. We have been meaning to go forever, (or for 3 years at least!) and finally did it. It was an amazing site! There are millions of bats there-all of them were mommies and their babies stay up in the concrete under the bridge while mom goes out hunting at night! The black waves in the sky are all bats!

So anyways, I will next update everyone on May and I guess June. Maybe I will catch up soon enough!

Back up to March...

2009-05-16T20:51:00.000-07:00

Since I am sooooo far behind, I thought I would take it month by month to catch everyone up! So, back to March! We went to the Kite Festival in Zilker Park, here in Austin.

Markku flew his first Kite. He was pretty good at it-it stayed up in the air and he even took down another kite! He could be a Kite Runner!

One day in early March Markku was out with me drawing on the driveway with chalk. He decided to draw Tillie (our dog). He came up with this picture:

It was his first drawing that actually wasn't scribble! See her body, legs nose and tail?

What a cute boy. He was playing in the closet while Heikki packed for a trip and found Heikki's old Navy cover (hat). He liked wearing it.

Here's me with kids, hanging out:

On March 25, my mother in law got married in Maui, Hawaii. We had a grand adventure with the whole Laukkanen family (well, almost everyone...). Here is a sampling of photos-I took a lot!

Markku and Suvi meet the Pacific ocean. Markku is a little fearful. He told me: " Mar no like dat water. It's too loud!" What a great description of the crashing waves-too loud! Suvi on the other hand loved the ocean. She even surfed for the first time! Markku loved the sand and the kayak:

Here he is playing with his cousin Dashiell. They did ok-except both wanted to play with the one truck we had!

Markku and Suvi were adorable in their wedding attire-Suvi a pretty pink dress with polka dots for her mummo, and Markku in an aloha shirt and khakis.

The wedding was at a ranch on top of a mountain, overlooking th eocean. It was a beautiful day. Mirjami was a gorgeous bride and Bill looked pretty great himself! The Laukkanen's can really clean up!

Isa loves to put on a show with the kids. Look at Suvi fly! We tried hard to get a family pic, but the kids would not cooperate. So this is what we got!

Suvi and her aunt Kaisa, and Suvi with Aunt Liisa and her boyfriend Johan. I mean Suvi's boyfriend by the way. They were very smitten with each other! Suvi just loved him!

Aunt Liisa, cousin Ava and Suvi with a happy Dashiell.

Markku spelling out the sign we found. Quiet Trees at Work! Hidden semi-private beach.

Hiking, sight seeing, trip to the aquarium, hanging out and eating, and watching sunsets rounded out our great vacation! If you think our March was busy, just wait until I post April! Aloha!

Where to begin...

2009-04-19T18:43:00.001-07:00

Well, it has been awhile and I can't even begin to think about where to start! To your dismay I am sure, I am unable to find the cords and device I use to download my pics! My mom unpacked my computer, I can't find it! It will turn up soon, or I will buy a new one I promise!

Hawaii:
We went to Hawaii (Maui) at the end of March for my MIL's wedding. It was super fun-with the kids and the rest of the family. We had everyone there: us, Heikki's sister Kaisa and husband John, sister Liisa popped in from her trip around the world with boyfriend Johan, John's brother Jesse and his friend Elizabeth, Great Uncle Hannu and Aunt Wanda, Mirjami and Bill (the wedding couple of course!) and Heikki's brother Mikko, wife Joanna, Their kids Dashiell and the new baby of the family-Ava made her debut all the way from London! It was truly a fun filled week of sun, beach, family gatherings and of course a gorgeous Hawaiian wedding. Welcome to the family Bill!

Suvi loved the ocean-she thought the waves were fantastic! Markku preferred the swimming pool, but loved the sand. Suvi took her first completely independent steps in Hawaii-about 3 at a time. I got to see Sea turtles while snorkeling. I Love Turtles! I can't wait to show you pictures!

New House:
After that whirlwind week and LOOOOONG trip home on a red eye flight, we moved! April 3 we closed on our new house and finally are home owner's again! We love our new house. It is a 2 story house, very bright with lots of large windows. Best of all, there is a playscape in a park across the street! Markku says "I love my oooo house" every day at least 10 times (translation: I love my new house). Suvi likes that we now have carpet for her to fall on and practice walking. I hate that we now have carpet-pets and kids do not make friends with a WHITE carpet! We still have much unpacking and stuff to do, but if anyone is in the neighborhood or wants to be in the neighborhood, come on by! Again, I can't wait to show you pictures!

Suvi's ear tube surgery:
Then the next week (April 14) we had Suvi's ear tubes placed. I had to wake us up super early and drive into Austin last week for this. We should have post-poned moving! Suvi did very well-I hope that these tubes work for her as well as Markku's did. She is a trooper-she was smiling at all the nurses and doctors, making fast friends. She only cried a little after anesthesia while waking up-and nursing stopped that even. You know what I thought was strange--no one even listened to her heart or examined her. No pre-op blood work, no IV catheter. I guess they just depend on her pediatrician to have listened to her heart previously-the ENT doctor never has, nor did the anesthesiologist. I was very surprised when Markku had his surgery 2 years ago as well. It was a very nice facility with nice nurses and staff-they even called the day after surgery to make sure everything was ok.

Now, we are on the eve of Suvi's 1 year Birthday! This time last year I was getting nervous (not in labor yet, but Heikki left for a 4 day stay in California). I can not believe it has been a year. She is such a big girl now. I will for sure post pics of her birthday. We are not having a big bash like we did for Markku. We have been way to busy and with just moving and Heikki's schedule we could not get it done! I am hoping to have a party for Markku's birthday next month! I better get planning...

Ok, off the find that picture downloading device...

2009-03-09T19:39:00.001-07:00

We have been so busy these past few weeks. I am amazed how fast Suvi (and Markku) is growing up.

Suvi updates:
1. She is walking while holding on to one hand or a push toy.
2. She waves bye bye and says something that sounds like bye bye sometimes.
3. She wants to feed herself all the time, so she is almost weaned off baby foods! She can't get the concept of putting a spoon in her mouth yet with food still on it. she uses her fingers to shovel in it faster than I can cut it up!
4. She still has only 2 bottom teeth, but I am certain more are coming.
5. She is almost 11 months old! (birthday April 20)

Markku updates:
1. He knows his letters and reads them off to me all the time wherever we go. He only knows the capital letters so far. He taught himself from some bathtub foam letters we have. Friends gave them to us and we are missing a few. He calls "M" and "W" both an "M". He can read upside down! He calls an exclamation point an "i". as well.
2. He finally said another number today besides 2. He said "3" when he had 3 sippy cups of water.
3. He calls his mummos and Isa on the phone to hear there voices and will leave a message if they don't answer.
4. He may be getting the idea of time. He will say, "not now, in 2 weeks!" It started when I told him we would go see Mummo and Bill in Hawaii in 2 weeks, not now. Now he uses it for everything. No night night. Not now, in 2 weeks! or he asks me to save his banana for later-in 2 weeks!
5. He is almost 3 years old! (On May 12)

Heikki and Casey updates:
We bought a house! Our offer was accepted and we are on our way to owning again! Yeah! It is a very beautiful home that is located directly across the street from a very nice park! It is not in Austin, but a town about 25 minutes south. We are supposed to close April 3.
In between now and then we have lots to do. Besides getting a mortgage, inspection, etc, we have a week trip to Hawaii for Heikki's mom's wedding! We will meet our new niece Ava and see everyone in the family again. It should be lots of fun. We don't really ever take these type of vacations, at least not since our honeymoon! Of course, now we will have us and both kids in a room with us for a week, and very long airplane rides. Then we'll see if we ever do it again!
Heikki is almost 35 years old (on March 20)!

Markkuisms

2009-02-27T20:06:00.000-08:00

More cute things Markku says:

1. Gas house (gas station)
2. Play house (park)
3. Too loud! (he says this if I am too loud when Suvi is sleeping or if he accidentally sets off one of his toys while she is sleeping). If I ask him to be a little quieter when Suvi is awake, or when he hears Suvi wake up he says "Ok, loud now!")
4. No please (instead of No thank you, of course!) What a polite child I have...
5. Go see more big houses now Mama?- He asks when we are going to look at houses!
6. Yes Mama (or mummo): if I ask him to do something or tell him to be a good boy while I am gone he replies with this! It is said very seriously.
7. Soup bowl: (superbowl!)

Markku's favorite new saying:
Me do! And may be preceded with a loud cry/wail/whine: Nooooooooo! Me do!

So many new feats!

2009-02-15T20:06:00.000-08:00

It has been a month since my last post...we have been busy or sick or tired or all three! Here is an synopsis of our past month:

Markku has started calling me "mommy" instead of momma. It sounds so cute coming from him! Suvi has started saying "ma ma" a lot. Markku and I both noticed it on 2/5/09. We were getting Suvi out of the bath and she said "ma ma". Markku then said "Baby do mama!". Kiri heard Markku say " I love you" but I have not heard that yet (hmmm...).

Suvi got her first tooth (the bottom right one) on 2/4/09 and her second on 2/12/09 (bottom left one). She is teething like crazy-getting up multiple times at night and taking sporadic naps. Of course I rushed her into the ear doctor convinced she had another ear infection but it was just teething! She claps all the time and still has one of the cutest laughs ever.

Suvi is also standing all by herself for 10-15 seconds at a time. This started on 2/6/09. She is furniture walking s well and she falls constantly! I feel so bad for her-we have really hard floors (stained concrete).

Suvi started swim lessons in January. She LOVES them. She is going under water for about 2 seconds or so now. She is a natural. If she is fussy at night, I just put her in the tub and she is happy as a clam. She has even "gone under"in the bathtub for a second and comes up smiling! Her swim teacher is amazed at how happy she is through it all. She even tries to dive in when seated on the side of the pool.

Markku is saying new words every day now. He has finally become a true talker! Sometimes it seems crazy that I was so worried about his late talking as now I can get so overwhelmed at the constant chatterbox he has become. Some cute words/phrases:

Water house (Emler swim school)

Book house (library)

Sha sha - well, it's how he says Isa (dad in Finnish) but he says it for bicycle as well!

Ruff ruff help belly out back gu- His first really long sentence I heard was in reference to a book on a delivery truck driver named Tom- Ruff ruff help belly out back gu translates into : the dog helped carry the berries out of the back of the truck!

He goes to bed with at least one book and reads it to himself at night and often I go in in the morning and he is reading it to himself again. Especially if they are colorful truck books! (And in case you are wondering, he still has 1 fire truck, 1 bear, 1 Tillie dog, 1 allie cat, 1 baby horse, 1 mouse (an Australian critter my parents brought home and I cannot remember the name of it right now), 1 Toby train, 1 police car, 1 pillow and 7 baby blankets (yes 7! He keeps insisting on bringing more and more into his crib), and at least 1 cup of water which must be "full way top" every night ("no ice").

On the bad side, he is also pushing his sister a lot and taking toys from her. He pushes her off furniture and off his booster seat if she pulls up on that. We have been re-instituting "time out" and are almost up to 3 minutes in time out. But he does say sorry after-when will he remember BEFORE?! It is tough as Suvi cries/whines really loud when he does anything-so then we have her screaming, mommy yelling at Markku and then Markku crying as we walk to time out! It must sound horrible to my neighbors!

Last week we had Mummo Laukkanen and her fiance Bill here visiting. Markku loves it when they are here. He loves to be real loud with Bill and his mummo gives him all sorts of sweets to eat. They had fun hiking with Heikki at Enchanted Rock State Park-even Suvi loved to touch the big rocks! They built sand castles that resembled the big rocks and Markku still talks about the "big rocks!".

Markku is helping cook now. He breaks the egg shells into a bowl and mixes them up and pours them into the pan for me. He helped mummo Laukkanen make cheesecake and stared in fascination at the mixer going round and round! Then he licked the beaters clean! He runs and gets his stool anytime he sees me start to cook so he can help! It is lots of fun-but way more messy and takes a lot longer now. We made sugar cookies for Valentines day-but he just licked the frosting off and handed back the cookie for more!

We have decided it is time for us to buy a house again! I can't believe it has been almost 3 years since we left Alaska. Austin is too expensive for us-especially if Heikki leaves for another airline or gets furloughed etc. We are trying to downsize our spending and increase our savings-we don't ever want to be one of those people in foreclosure or bankruptcy! We have started looking in a town about 20 minutes south of Austin called Kyle. Markku loves to go into all the homes. He looks for all the kids rooms and tries to play with their toys or on their swing sets. He doesn't like it when they are empty or just full of adult stuff! He asked to "go bye-bye momma's car see big house" the other day!

This picture is from our fun "Little Lounge Lizards" disco dance party at a hip wharehouse district dance club in Austin. They have a shark tank under their dance floor. Markku and Suvi were entranced! As Heikki said, it is the closest I have been to a hip Austin night spot ever!

2009-01-19T20:11:00.000-08:00

Suvi pulled herself up on the ottoman on Jan 4. She is now pulling up on anything she can-furniture, people, Tillie and even trying to walk from one thing to the next. She falls often, but doesn't seem to mind most of the time. She is still army crawling but she is FAST and kind of gets up on her knees.

She is eating finger foods herself-most get in her mouth. Her pincher grasp is really good and she can find even the smallest piece of dirt or a leaf, etc. on my floor. She even ate an apple slice the other day (I thought she would just gnaw on it like a teether, but she actually ate the whole slice and wanted more!)

She has another ear infection, her third where she has needed antibiotics. She has had several other episodes with fluid in her ears. Our pediatrician is sending us to the ENT doctor for a consult. Heikki and I are happy-we were ready to go after her first one! We loved Markku's tubes. Ironically, his have fallen out and we are now keeping our fingers crossed that he won't need anymore placed. So far so good with him.

Markku is talking more and more every day. He is trying to learn his alphabet as well, and "spells" words. He points to all the different letters and randomly calls out letters. Sometimes he even gets them right. We have these foam alphabet letters in the bathtub and one night he was saying the letters and got 5 correct! Tonight he got 2 correct, but most nights they are just random. He wants me to spell everything though. We are also counting everything as 2. He wants me to count everything and say the real number, but he just says "2,2,2,2,2,2!" Today we were leaving music class and I was trying to get some errands done. I figured if I went to the mall to do most of them, then I wouldn't have to get back into the car so many times. So I headed to the mall. when we turned into the parking lot, Markku says "Here it is. Mar go mall now." I was amazed that he knew where the mall is. We do not go often and the last time was before Christmas. He always tells me when we are near our house and can even tell me which way to turn-when in the car or in the stroller/walking, and he knows mummo's house as well. He knows Gymboree and swimming, but those are all places we go to every week. When we drive at night he tells all the neighs (deer) to stay away, go night-night in trees! I appreciate that and so far have only had 1 deer and 1 raccoon disobey him. Luckily we didn't hit either!

Markku and Elizabeth

We had 2 play days this month. The first with a friends little girl Elizabeth. IT took about an hour and then after lunch they played together very well. Markku wanted her to go wherever he did! It worked out great. His second was his friend Donovan's birthday. He played piano and drove in a 4 x 4.

I have some great movies of the pianist and 4x4in toddlers, but have yet to learn how to post them. I will try again tomorrow as it is late-and in case anyone is still wondering, Suvi is NOT sleeping through the night yet! We are worse than when she was an infant (she gets up about 5 times a night!), probably because of her ear infection. And now she can get mad, mad, mad!

Christmas and more!

2008-12-29T19:32:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-12-10T18:49:00.001-08:00

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!

2008-12-08T18:54:00.001-08:00

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...

2008-12-07T18:18:00.000-08:00

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!

6 months old-1 month late!

2008-11-27T12:25:00.000-08:00

Suvi was a star for her photo shoot.

She got this lamb from mummo and ukki from New Zealand! It is so soft-she just loves it.

She can obviously sit up now-and wave. She lifts her arms to us when she wants to get picked up. She cries if we don't!

I love this shot of her playing with her sleeve. What a grown up she looks like in this outfit!

Look at those cute toes!

Next up are our Christmas photos-I still have to schedule them! Hopefully we will get them out before next year!

Additional news, I left Suvi and Markku with mummo and Ukki for 3 nights this past weekend. It was my first time leaving Suvi and the longest I left Markku. I am not sure they really missed me-they did very well! Suvi almost slept through the night one night...but has yet to do it again! Mummo and Ukki had lots of fun. One time Mummo set Suvi down on the floor in the living room. She stepped out to the garage to throw away a poopy diaper-and when she came back Suvi was gone! She ran to their bedroom assuming my dad had her, but he was in the shower. She ran back and searched again-she had crawled away and hid between the couch and chair!

She made these really extravagant cupcakes with chocolate butterflies and sunflowers on top. Markku loved them so much he pretty much refused all other food! Grandparents!

We had fun too, but I missed them a lot. We stayed with our friends Neil and Liz in NJ. Ava, their daughter, is Heikki's goddaughter. We have only met her one other time when she was about 3 weeks old. Boy has she grown! She loved Heikki so much-Uncle Hicky she called him. She wanted him to do everything for her-something only reserved for mom usually. Poor Neil! It was quite cold there compared to Texas...my body was not accustomed to that weather. Markku thinks it is too cold to go out when it is less than 60 degrees. He would have been frozen. What if we still lived in Alaska?? He would never go outside!

I am off to celebrate Thanksgiving dinner with Mummo, Ukki AND Isa for a change. Hopefully we will get a new camera soon so I can get you more photo updates.

Enough about Suvi...

2008-11-15T19:45:00.000-08:00

So I started this blog just before Suvi was born. Poor Markku-his early days are not blogged. So, after I was looking through old photos, I decided to write one about his early days...he was a cutie! The above photo has always been one of my favorites.

This was his 20 week ultrasound Dec 21 2005

May 12,2006 Markku's birthday and his happy new parents!

Doesn't Heikki look so proud and happy to be a dad?!
Markku traveled lots as a baby. He went to Washington/Oregon, Alaska, Pennsylvania and NY all before he was 5 months old!

This is his first hike in the Alaska Wilderness (Sept 2006)

Traveling in style with Isa-in downtown Anchorage

Pastor Larry baptized him. We traveled all the way to Alaska for his baptism. I loved our church, Amazing Grace Lutheran Church and our Pastor (Larry Jorgenson).

His happy grandparents in Boerne, outside of San Antonio. The one with Ukki is his first football game. He fell asleep! He had to be held all the time-so we used the baby bjorn lots! And once again he was sleeping. If I didn't remember correctly, I would think he always slept! Look at this cute yawn:

But we used to try everything to get him to sleep through the night-even swaddling! Sound familiar-I guess my kids don't like sleeping!

Mummo Laukkanen and Markku-the perfect wedding date!

First concert in Zilker park-Blues on the green (July 2006) and first dance with a bride (cousin Katri Aug 2006)

First movie Pirates of the Caribbean (July 2006) and first airline flight (in the cockpit even-Aug 2006)

First train ride (Oregon Zoo in Portland)

I just always liked this photo. I wanted him to wear everything people gave us at least once. But cousin Katri sent these outfits too late (Markku was also a big boy) so I could barely squeeze him in this when it arrived. So we took a picture right away. She also made him this awesome hat he wore in Alaska to keep warm. Boy did we laugh at first since it was 100 degrees out when it arrived in the mail!

Snow?! In Texas? Fake snow in Boerne for their Christmas fair!

Ok I could keep going on and on...and maybe another day I will. It is great to relive these memories! I am too tired tonight and we are only 6 months into his life!!

Not just another week...

2008-11-09T18:02:00.001-08:00

One more week is over. It was an exciting week with the election of our new president (Yeah!). Markku and Suvi of course do not understand the significance, but hopefully someday when they are in college that we can afford, because Heikki and I did not go broke paying taxes and health care premiums, they will be learning about life before Obama and how worried we all were...OK just me dreaming now but at least there is a chance for those things to happen. I am not unrealistic. I know it may take the entire 8 years or longer to enact the change Obama talks about. I just now have hope it can and will happen. Just like I hope Suvi will sleep through the night someday soon. (That is not me being sarcastic. Every night when I lay down to sleep, I think, it could be tonight! Then when I hear her stir and start to cry, I think, maybe it is 6 am already. I turn and peer at the alarm clock...darn! It is only 11 pm, or 1 am or 3 am or whatever other time comes before 6 am when Suvi inevitably wakes me up!) So how many of you are saying "What a sucker she is! Look how naive?!"? I can always hope (even more than ever now that Obama won!) that someday is at least one day closer!

6 months old, Halloween and sleepless nights! Oh my!

2008-11-01T19:23:00.000-07:00

I sit by myself!

Swinging at our park! Weeeeeee!

Suvi was 6 months old on Oct 20. She is getting to be a very big girl...19.38 pounds, 27 inches tall which put her in 95% and 90 percentile. She is sitting up, really trying hard to crawl (she gets up on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth, pulls herself forward like she is crawling under barbed wire) and LOVES to bounce. She swings at the park and with help goes down the slide. She is eating 3 real meals a day now. She eats her rice cereal, bananas, peaches, squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, green beans, apples. Markku has fed her real apples and veggie hot dogs as well-they didn't go far before I caught them and swiped her mouth clean! She is a happy content baby for the most part. Except at night....see below on sleepless nights.

Happy Halloween (see lollipop we used to bribe him?)

For Halloween, Markku was a bee and Suvi a ballerina. It took 3 parties (refused to get into costume) and bribing with lollipops to get Markku into the bee costume but he finally did it in time for trick or treating! Suvi is pretty easy to just put in her costume. She loved eating her tutu as well. Just to show how big she is, her tutu was sized at 18 months! Heikki was out of town for Halloween so mummo Frederick came up to celebrate!

Bouncing around to swan lake!

We put Suvi's tutu on Markku! He wouldn't wear the bee costume and in his leggings and shirt he looked like a male ballet dancer. He was actually kicking and screaming to get it off!

Sleepless nights are currently what is happening in our neck of the woods. As I type, Suvi is screaming her head off and resisting falling asleep. As soon as she dozes off, she jerks awake and starts screaming all over again. We started sleep training Ferber style about 12 days ago or so. The first few nights weren't too bad and I thought we were home free. But then Suvi started waking up more and more and not falling back to sleep on her own. Here was my night last Saturday:

8 pm : Suvi to bed. Fell asleep within 5 minutes of putting her to bed. Not bad...
9:15 pm: wake up, starts crying. Don't go in for 10 minutes as per Ferber...and have to get Markku out of tub, dried off, lotion on, teeth brushed, in PJs, read 2 books, and him to bed, all the while saying "hurry up, I have to go to baby! Shhh! Don't let baby know we are right here!"
9:35 pm: Suvi hysterical. Pat her on the back. She is shrieking and kicking her arms and legs.
9:37 pm: leave room almost in tears myself
9:55 pm: Suvi still shrieking. Go back in, rub her back, leave
10:05pm: still crying, getting quieter. Go in her room...starts shrieking again. Damn! leave room.
10:20pm: I think she is sleeping.
10:50 pm I am in bed.
11:50 pm: Suvi starts crying again. Leave her for 15 minutes this time...She is shrieking.
I go in and out of room every 20 minutes for 1 hour. Finally asleep again (it is 1 am).
2:00 am: awake and shrieking again. I am crying as well. Don't go in as it only seems to make her mad and I am delirious and tired.
3:15 am: I am awake and she is still crying-or if she stopped she is now awake and crying again. I am not sure as I am really tired. I go and nurse her as it is passed the 7 hours my doctor said to wait between night feedings.
3:40 am: She falls asleep in my arms but I am to wake her up so she sleeps better (are you *??!*!* kidding me????).
4:30 am: still crying.
5:00 am: still crying and I am up reading my Ferber book. It says if not working within 7 days (it is day 6 for us) then need to stop and reassess what sleeping problem is. (Yeah, no shit!). Read chapter on dependence on nursing to fall asleep. Ferber says that although a 6 month old does not need to eat at night, if they are accustomed to it it is cruel to stop cold turkey and should wean off. So first of all, Ferber who is known for being hard (many people think his methods are cruel) and letting babies cry it out, is saying that what I am doing is cruel! (I was listening to my pediatrician) Second of all, why didn't I read ALL the chapters before starting sleep training????
6 am: up for day....if you can call what we are doing as being awake!
So then I tried to gradually increase the time between night feedings. But she is still waking up every 2 hours. Now I am not to feed her and she gets hysterical and takes 1-2 hours to cry herself to sleep. But if I nurse her, then I am continuing her dependence right? Well, everyone needs sleep once in awhile. So I nurse her...Even if I nurse her now she wakes every 2 hours. Even if I let her sleep with me she wakes every 2 hours. Or worse, she wakes every hour. I hate night time right now. I think Suvi does too.

It is 9:45 pm and Suvi has cried herself to sleep (I have gone in once) after 1 hour. She went to bed at 8 pm and has already woken up once and cried for an hour! See how fun our nights are? Poor Markku. He sleeps in the room next to her. Heikki is miraculously gone 6 nights this week--how did he arrange that schedule??

Suvi's baptism

2008-10-08T19:26:00.001-07:00

On Sunday September 28, 2008 we had Suvi baptized at our church, St. Martin's Lutheran Church. Pastor Craig baptized her for us. Suvi's sponsors ("god parents") were our friends from church-Anita and Scott. It was a really great day spent with family and friends, with the exception that Suvi was diagnosed with a really bad ear infection the Friday before and had explosive diarrhea from her antibiotics! I was so afraid her dress would get ruined. My mom had her baptism dress (yes, from 1950!) and we had to alter it slightly as it had some small holes in it, but it fit Suvi perfectly! We had another party dress for afterwards as well. It is so fun dressing up little girls! Here are some photos of our day:

Suvi's baptismal dress (Mummo Ginny's)

Pastor Craig and Suvi

Suvi, momma, Isa and Markku up front at church

Suvi's other party dress!

Markku's berry cheesecake face

And our friends and family:

Jesse, Rachel, baby Nina, Markku & Mummo Laukkanen, Kiri and Suvi

Ukki & mummo Frederick, Markku, Isa, Suvi & Momma
Mummo Laukkanen with Isa & Suvi

We had a beautiful day. We did not however get ANY photos of Scott and Anita (Suvi's sponsors). Keep in mind my camera is broken and I had to get photos from mummo's. They were all so focused on our family that we missed many of our friends! Also, I was a little consumed by Suvi's illness (ie diarrhea blowouts every 20 seconds!) and lack of sleep (she got me up every hour the night before)! We will have to get a picture at church next week! I feel really bad!

Also, Suvi has sat up all by herself! She did it Sept 24 while I was at work (of course) and now will sit by herself for several seconds! She can also get up on her knees and kind of throws herself forward-almost a crawl. She rolls every which way and gets all over the floor or her crib.

Suvi and Markku get into screaming matches for fun (their fun, not ours!). They take turns screaming back and forth! Markku loves to play with her and she she loves her jumperroo. Sometimes I hear it making so much noise I yell to Markku to stop shaking her bouncy seat-but then I hear Suvi laugh and it is her jumping to the ceiling!

Heikki goes back to work tomorrow after 40 some odd days off! It will be strange not to have him around again and I know Suvi and Markku will miss him as well. He is not too excited as he will be a first officer again. At least we get to pick his schedules and not have him on call. He should be home more often. He has been babysitting for both kids when I go to work on Wednesdays also. He is getting pretty good at it.

Lastly, I rode my bike to work yesterday and today! Finally!

5 months old (Sept 20, 2008)

2008-09-21T14:50:00.000-07:00

5 months old

Wow! 5 months old! I can not believe how time is flying by! Suvi is such a delight and so much fun. Markku loves her so much and she really laughs for him and reaches for him and I think I have seen her hug him! I will often be yelling at Markku to be gentle!! and then I realize that although he is shaking her exersaucer so hard her head is flailing from side to side--she is laughing! What is a little brain damage as long as they are having fun, right?!

Suvi is eating new foods every 4-5 days. Now she can eat rice cereal with breast milk, peas and sweet potatoes! She eats 2 meals a day, plus still nursing. She can almost sit gorilla like but topples over if I leave her for too long. She plays with her toes and anything remotely near her goes straight into her mouth!

Anyway, I have tried and tried to figure out how to add a link to a photo website but am unsure how to do it. Someone needs to tutor me on that (hint hint all you bloggers!). But in the meantime here are some of my more recent photos (although I said I would take as many pics of my second child as my first, I admit I have not! At least we have the professional ones of Suvi!)

Markku wake boarding on Columbia river in Washington state. With Tati Kaisa on boat!

Driving tractor with Bill in Washington and Heikki and Casey before our Human Race 10K.

Hiking in our neighborhood flood/rentention pond and Markku walking Tillie (or vice versa!)

Anyways, our camera is quite old now and is not taking high quality photos so I do apologize-but at least you can vaguely see how are family is doing! I guess I know what we need for Christmas!

Here I am!

2008-09-13T20:30:00.000-07:00

Boy oh boy have we been busy-hence no posts.

We went to Washington last week to visit my inlaws. It was fun but a busy week, with 2 days spent traveling. Markku had a great visit with his mummo Laukkanen and Bill, and his Aunt Kaisa, Uncle John and my sister, Aunt Jenn. He got to sail on 2 sail boats, ride a motor boat and a kayak and canoe! Play on the beach and pick fresh perfect blackberries off the bushes on the beach. Ride a tractor. Visit a dairy farm. Play with his Isa's (Heikki's) old trucks and cars. Take a sauna. He was so busy that 2 days he refused to leave the house and would cry "no no! House! House? Why? No water!" He flew on a plane and rode buses. He said "high sky!" and made a plane engine noise. And we didn't sweat the entire time. I did get bit by 2 mosquitoes but since we were outside on the water everyday that is not too bad. We even had to wear sweatshirts and fleece at night and in the early morning! I flew home with the kids by myself as Heikki went to Reno for the air races. It went better than expected but was so exhausting I have yet to recover 3 days later (of course I had to get right up and go to work Thursday!). Markku was so funny-he woke up early on Thursday-he was still so tired he fell fast asleep on the couch for another 1.5 hours or so! I have never seen him do that before!

Also, I have picked up an extra day at work so now I work Wed, Th, Fri and every other Sat half day. I have only worked one of these weeks so far and am exhausted at the thought of another! I need the hours to make up for Heikki's salary cut and need the time to get surgery days at work (they wanted me to work at least 3 days to have a surgery day). I hate not doing surgery-it seems silly to have all my patients treated by someone else and is certainly not good for my career. But, it is really hard to work 3 or 4 days in a row with 2 young kids and husband gone a lot. Here is how my days go:

2am: Suvi wake up call.
2:20 am: back to sleep
5 am: Suvi wake up call
5:20 am: back to sleep
If I am lucky: 6:30 am up to shower, get dressed and ready for work (including breakfast and pump time).
If unlucky: 6 am: Markku wake up, get him milk (after fighting about not having juice first thing in the am.) Set him up in front of video, then back to 6:30 am shower, etc. But much time spent talking to Markku and helping him with stuff.
If really unlucky: Suvi doesn't go back to sleep and i have to entertain her and Markku and shower and get ready for work.
7:30 am: Kiri arrives: YEAH!
7:45am: supposed to leave for work
7:52 am: finally leave for work
8am: arrive at work and if lucky start appts and go go go all morning.
1:30 pm (if lucky) home to see kids and eat lunch. Or eat on the run and stay at work.
3-6:30 pm: back at work
6:30-7 pm: home. Markku incredibly happy to see me and whiny that I have been gone and very fragile. Cries readily. Suvi smiles, then gets cranky.
6:45 pm: feed Suvi dinner
7:15 pm: Suvi bath. Markku watches TV or video to keep him occupied. Usually ignores it and tortures Tillie or Suvi.
7:45 pm: nursing Suvi and bed for Suvi
8 pm: Markku bath
8:30 Markku in PJ's. Suvi wakes up as we made too much noise in bathtub.
8:45: Suvi back to sleep. Read books to Marrku. Fight about bed. Go in and out of room 4 times saying "night night. Quiet, Suvi sleeping." Try telling a 2 year old to be quiet b/c his sister is asleep-it doesn't work very well.
9:15 pm: Collapse on couch. Eating crackers. Wait, I forgot to eat dinner. Too tired to move to cook or prepare food or even go to bed!
10 pm: either go to bed or watch the news.
11:45 pm: Suvi wake up call.
12 pm: back to bed.
2 am: see above and start all over!

It is slightly better on my off days as I can leave out the work part. Markku isn't as cranky those days since I am with him all day so he doesn't "need me" as much. But, it is exhausting taking care of two kids also (but really rewarding and worth it). Some days I can even nap for a little bit in the afternoon if both kids are asleep (rare, but it does happen).

My next challenges will be potty training and a big boy bed. I am way too exhausted to start either of these now so hopefully we can hold off for awhile. Can you imagine my night if Markku can just pop out of bed???!!!

Oh and remember my big ideas about cooking every night and riding my bike to work and running?? Yeah, they aren't happening. I am just trying to survive each day as it is, so we will see if those things can be worked back in some day. (I did run the Nike Human Race 2 weeks ago. It was fun, hot and crowded. But I did it and ran in about 10 minute miles. Not too bad!)

Look what I can do!

2008-08-26T10:20:00.000-07:00

Now that she is 4 months old, Suvi is doing so much more! After her doctor visit, we decided to let play in the exersaucer and jumperoo! She loves to "practice" standing and being a bit more independent. She can't really do too much in these yet, but she enjoys looking at herself in the mirror and twirling in circles. She is too short for the exersaucer, so she stands on one of my veterinary textbooks (with the Internet, I don't use them much any more!).

Just look at that face! She didn't really know what to do in the jumperoo! Markku is very jealous and wants to get in himself!

More exciting things happened two nights ago: I started Suvi on solid food! She had her first rice cereal. She is about 1 month younger than when I started Markku. I can tell the difference. He seemed to have better control of his tongue and was just dying to eat when we started him. Suvi is very excited and I can tell she likes it (see picture where she is eating her bib to get every last drop), but she spits most of it out.

Yummmmmm!

This stuff tastes great!

She is over her ear infection, but seems to still be a little congested. Cold? Allergies?? Markku is starting his 6th semester of swim classes! He is supposed to be in extreme water babies, but they only offer that class at night around traffic times. We already drive 30 minutes to get there, we don't need to add time with traffic delays. So, is still in advanced water babies and they will "teach up" to him. Today he was so excited to go to swimming that he ran and got his swim suit and started crying when we told him it wasn't time to leave yet! I am glad he enjoys it so much. He is really quite a good swimmer also. Now we have to see if we can start Suvi after she turns 6 months! (It is kind of expensive, so we'll see!). I will have to swim with her. It has been enjoyable having Markku swim by himself and just sit with Suvi in the waiting area!

4 months old

2008-08-20T18:18:00.000-07:00

Suvi is 4 months old today! She had her check up and is a whopping 16 lbs 9.6 oz. Almost as big as Markku at this age (he was 17 lbs). She is in the 97% in weight and at 25 inches is in the 75-90% for height and 95% for head size (43 cm)! Everything went well and she got her 6 vaccines (yes, I said 6!) and so far is holding her own (I have been giving Tylenol). I am figuring out she needs to go to bed before Markku's bath-easier said than done, but it seems to make things much smoother. She almost always wakes up at least 3-4 times over the night. Our pedi says I can't sleep train her yet (not until 6 months) and that she is hungry at night so I have to nurse her (so Heikki gets to stay in bed while I get up). But we can start her on solids anytime now. I didn't today as we are having a hectic enough day, but will real soon!

Heikki found out Monday that he is going back down to First Officer (from Captain). This is causing us a great deal of stress as we are trying to figure out how to make it financially and he is so frustrated to move backwards in his career as well. But, there were several hundred pilots furlowed and many others who were downgraded and their wives are stay at home moms-so they are all in a worse position than we are. On top of all that, his company wants them to take an additional 6& pay cut! We are already losing about 40-50% of his salary and now they want to take even more. So no one, please no one who talks to me, ever complain about the price of an airline ticket and how they are gouging you etc. It costs a lot to fly a plane and with fuel prices, no one is profiting (except oil companies). The employees and their families are all suffering! And we don't even get great flight privileges anymore! Ok enough bad news.

Markku was such a great helper today. Yes, a 2 year old can help! He was playing with his trucks and making quite a mess while I was on the phone with an insurance company for about 20 minutes. I was just happy he was preoccupied so I could talk, and when I got off the phone and looked around, I didn't see any of his 100 trucks around. The cabinet door was even closed. I looked and looked and finally thought to check the cupboard where they are kept-they were all put back into the Tupperware container, lid put on and door closed. He cleaned up all by himself without me even asking. This may never happen again so I had to get it published! He also helped while I was weeding and placed the weeds into the garbage pail and then carried the broom back into the house! It did take 3 times as long as it would have taken me, but he wanted to help and did it! It was very sweet. We then went out to Marie Calendar's so we could get pie for dinner! It was as good an ending to a stressful day as we could imagine! (Cooking was not in the mix as we were tired, hungry and wanted pie!).

Promised Pics

2008-08-14T19:16:00.000-07:00

OK so we hae had a tough week. Suvi is still sick (thanks a lot to 24 hour fitness where I am sure Markku picked up his virus and then passed on to Suvi) and kept us up the past 2 nights. I finally decided it was time to go to the doctor (Kiri took her as I waited until a work day unfortunately). Sure enough she has 2 ear infections! No wonder, the poor thing. I realized now that she has not been talking or laughing this week either! I feel so bad for not noticing, taking forever to get her to the doctor and for yelling at her last night when she kept me up! I was so tired, but so was she AND her ears hurt. I have no excuse and poor Suvi still manages to smile at us every day despite her pain and not feeling well. But I did manage to get a photo of those crazy thighs!

And her chubby arms:

And her adorable smile (a close up):

And her thoughtful look:

And her loving brother:

I cannot believe she is almost 4 months old! She is now rolling over so I find her in a different place from where I put her when I go into her room in the middle of the night! I am re-reading the sleep book by Dr. Ferber in hopes that if when her ear infection clears up, if she is still not sleeping through the night, I can start her "sleep training". I do not want to wait until she is 14-15 months old like I did Markku. I am exhausted trying to work, and be a wife, home maker and mom to two lively kids. You know, about 6 or 7 months ago a client came in and claimed she had no idea what her dog was doing-if he had diarrhea and vomiting, if he was eating, etc because she was a "busy mom of two!" Her dog had a horrible intestinal blockage that had perforated before she could really see that he was sick. (He died). I was so frustrated with her, but in my sleep deprived state, I am beginning to understand.... I hope I NEVER get to that point! Sleep Suvi, sleep!

The cutest giggles/yucky poop day

2008-08-10T19:57:00.000-07:00

Suvi is laughing and giggling now and it is one of the sweetest sounds ever! I am trying to get it on video and then I will try to figure out how to download it. But for now, she stops talking and laughing when the camera comes out! And I will post a picture soon of how chubby she is, I promise! Better yet, she is in her own crib right now, freeing me up to blog! (But, she wakes up every 2-3 hours all night long still. I am soooooo tired, especially since going back to work. Thank goodness I only work 2 1/2 days a week!
Markku has taken to the potty-but not BEFORE he has to go, only after. So yesterday he disappeared for a time and was real quiet. Kiri went and hunted him down and found him in the bathroom, on the toilet, no diaper. Good right? Well not when the poop was in the diaper! I laughed and was glad I wasn't home. Until this am when I was in the shower and he did it again! He came running in my bathroom without pants on, poop dropping off all over the house and smeared all over him too! It was not so funny that time! I guess I better get a book on potty training soon.

"These kids are breaking me"

2008-08-03T13:23:00.001-07:00

So the other day I went to the gym and was gone for 1 hr and 20 min. I left Suvi and Markku with Heikki-Markku was asleep for his nap when I left but Suvi would not sleep (what a surprise!). While I was gone I guess Suvi just cried and Heikki was unable to console her and then Markku woke up crying and wouldn't eat dinner. So Heikki leaves this message on my cell phone: "Where are you? These kids are breaking me. Come home now!!!" It was said in a very exasperated tone. When I got home I could hear Suvi screaming from outside. She was laying on her playmat (screaming) while Heikki was defrosting her milk and Markku was eating graham crackers for dinner. He was very mad and frustrated and said he was going to take a job in China! I tried hard not to laugh, picked up Suvi to make her a little happier and we got on with our night. Maybe now he understands my life a little better (except I watch the kids for much longer than 1 hr and 20 min!!).

Alone time with Suvi

2008-08-01T20:28:00.001-07:00

So Markku is off with Mummo and Ukki on quite the adventure. Last night he actually babbled to me on the phone (the first time he tried to hold a conversation with me over the phone!). He was having a good time swimming and floating on the Lazy River and tonight he was at Sea World! I am not sure he even misses us...but he was excited to say hi to me and Suvi tonight on the phone!
It is so different coming home to only one baby who is only 3 months old. The house is much quieter, until Suvi sees me then she starts to babble like crazy! I think she is telling me all about her day. She just talks so much-Heikki is worried as his mom reports his sister Liisa was like this as a baby. And we know what she is like as an adult (her nickname in the family is Hurricane Liisa). I don't personally think it would be so bad...if she was like her Aunt Liisa she would really enjoy life and go and see the world and explore and have fun--all the things I never did. But of course she may also party and have crazy ideas about quitting her job and moving to South America!
Suvi is trying so hard to sit up these days-you can just see her trying and then falling over sideways! She sits in her high chair while we eat dinner. She does sleep a few short hours in her crib at night and for the occasional nap. But she gets up about 5 times a night if I let her sleep on her own! So I often give up after 1 or 2 wake ups and bring her to bed with me. I just need sleep these days! I am not sure what I do to make my babies not sleep....but at least Markku now sleeps a full night through (but Suvi please don't make me wait 15 months like Markku did to sleep through the night!)
I did fail at my endeavor to ride my bike to work this week. Thursday I realized I did not have a bungee cord to attach my breast pump to the bike so I drove, and then today I had to take in Tillie as she has been limping all week. I think she just has arthritis, but that must mean she is getting older and that makes me sad! I feel I have been neglecting her and Allie for the past 2 years. I hope to be able to change that real soon-but where does all this time come from?? I did however ride my bike to the eye doctor and to the gym this week and next week I will try to ride my bike to work again (Heikki went and bought me a bungee cord!).
It's getting late and I need to go and research a case from work on VIN (a website for veterinarians with tons of info...).

The new stuff summary

2008-07-29T15:41:00.000-07:00

OK, so I started back to work 2 weeks ago (going well). I started cooking dinner at least 5 nights a week 1 month ago (doing ok-Markku doesn't like my food, but Heikki and I do!). Now I have bought a bike and plan on riding my new bike to work! Let's see how that goes...
Why now? Why start all these things now that I am a really busy sometime single mom of 2 kids? I have no idea but am feeling motivated to do it so will keep trying! I'll let you all know how it goes.

Markku is starting to say more and more words now, although some are still just the beginnings of words. He nows tell me "Momma, stay. Stay." That means do not go to work or the store or to the bathroom... That is the hardest thing to hear! But on the bright side he also is saying and recognizing some other colors than yellow! He says Blue and seems to know when things are blue. Some red recognition too and he'll say it, but only after we tell him that it is red. He has the cutest "Yes" ever, but we also have to prompt that. He just says "ohh" meaning yes! He is swimming like crazy-he loves it! He will hold his breath for >10 secs and swim back and forth from 2 people or from the wall. He also loves to jump in from the sides. He is trying hard to ride a bike, but he doesn't quite get the pedaling thing. In stores, he always picks out the pink bikes... drives Heikki crazy I think. He also loves to brush his teeth (but not when I do it). He really just wants to suck the kids toothpaste. I caught him eating half the tube the other day! Tomorrow he is going with his mummo and Ukki to a resort near Seaworld to stay for 2 nights. he will be swimming and playing and eating all sorts of junk I bet! Ukki has a hard time saying "No" to Markku. It will be me and Suvi at home (well, I will be working so Kiri and Suvi for a large part of the time!). He is starting to tell me things that he did when I couldn't see him-like having wet hair from seating outside while playing or when he spills his water or food, or if Tillie eats something of his. But, yesterday was a little different. Suvi started screaming and I ran over to her as it was an unusual cry for her. Markku was standing by her so I asked what happened. He stomped his foot down on the ground and pointed to her! I was horrified thinking her may have stomped on her (she was on her playmat). He kept telling me he did and looking sad. I am not certain that is what happened as he can't be reliably deciphered yet most of the time, and I sure hope he wouldn't do that. Poke her in the eyes and lay on her with all his weight while giving her a hug, Sure. But not something deliberately mean. I sure hope not at least!

Suvi is becoming more mobile. She can spin around on her play mat and roll from back to side and vice versa. She is trying so hard to sit up and roll over and even crawl. It is amazing to watch. She talks (coos and such) so much of the time it is amazing. She also screeches like a dolphin or whale at times as well. She is very chubby. Her thighs are huge! It is so cute. We met a couple at church whose daughter is 2 months older and much tinier due to a feeding problem. They were amazed and delighted to see her baby fat and kept making me show them her legs!

Heikki is still a captain at work for now. That will likely change soon as ExpressJet is closing down their branded flying early September. Hopefully he will at least have a better schedule and be home more often. Some sort of trade off for losing his captain spot and half his pay!

Back at work

2008-07-23T19:05:00.000-07:00

Well, last week I started back to work. I worked Thursday and Friday and it was not very busy, but kept me at least a little busy. It was good to be back and working again. I didn't miss the kids too terribly although it was hard to get going in the morning. Suvi didn't wake up until after I left for work both days! Markku did ok, but it was hard to share his nanny Kiri with Suvi-he wanted her all to himself. After work was the tough part. Heikki was in New Orleans for Coast Guard duty so it was just me...and that was VERY hard.
I tried to eat dinner but Markku just wanted to play and show me EVERYTHING. He wanted to play outside in the 100 degree heat and mosquitoes. Yuck! But I did it because I love playing with him and missed it all day. Suvi actually slept for about 40 min so I could leave her inside away from the bugs and heat. Then came bath time and getting ready for bed. Suvi cried through it all. Markku cried about going to sleep and by 9:20 he was in bed, I fell exhausted to the couch with Suvi. I got her to sleep and then finally was able to eat something! But then she woke up again so I decided to just call it a night and we both went to bed. Friday was similar, but since I didn't have to work on Sat. am it was much better!
Sat we were still adjusting-I was still sooooo tired and Markku was fairly clingy all day. But we did something different--we went to a Pamper's diaper print ad audition! I took Markku and Suvi (we met Kiri there). The ad said it was for moms 20-35 (ie NOT me!) or caregivers so I thought Kiri would be in the pics. But they wanted me anyways- so I got in the pics as well. It was 1 1/2 hours of a wait and then just 3-4 pictures and we were done. They didn't call us needless to say-oh well. There were a lot of really pretty younger moms there. And actually, I saw 2 dads that I thought should be in the photo shoot if they wanted to sell ME diapers-they looked very nice with their babies! But they didn't listen to me on that either.... Sat night I went out downtown with some girl friends-what a thing to do!
Sun was a great day! I just felt great and the kids were great and we had a great day! We went to church and then to the park at Central Market to play. I just had such a great time playing with the kids and then picking out a few treats at the store (nice organic fruit and veggies). Sunday night Heikki came home and it sure seems almost easy when he is here (he wouldn't say the same). I actually had a night out on Tuesday as well (but I took Suvi) as my book club friends had a mom's night out. Heikki watched Markku AND Suvi earlier in the day when I went to a work meeting. He was so tired afterwards. I think he may be realizing how hard my job is when he is gone! It has been a good week. I think I definitely enjoy my time with kids so much more when I know I will be at work Thursday!

Toes on corn

2008-07-13T08:13:00.000-07:00

I never seem to have time anymore to really write what I want to tell everyone. But, Markku went down to my parents last night (so no 7 am wake-up call) and Suvi is still asleep at 10:20 am. What a difference! Imagine how well she would sleep (and me) if she were an only child! Of course I didn't get home until 11 pm and it took another half hour to get Suvi asleep, so not a full night sleep by any means. And to make it worse, I tried her in her crib! She did sleep 3 hours in it (until 2:30 am) and then I tried to get her to go back to sleep without nursing AND in her crib. What a mistake! I gave up at 4 am, and just brought her back with me. I did not nurse her though and she did go back to sleep (just in my bed)!! Then, she woke again at 5 am and almost 8 am where I did nurse her as she was liking hungry then. But she went back to sleep and is still there.
She is a really good baby. Her coos are so delightful! She talks so much more than Markku did and they are so soft and sweet and girl-like! She smiles and almost laughs a lot during the day. She just doesn't sleep well-but overall she is a good, happy baby. Her neck is much stronger now and she really looks around at her world. She nurses for only a real quick stretch as then she can't see the world! Much different from Markku who took 30-45 to nurse! Boys!!
Markku is as cute as ever. He is trying new words and ideas all the time these days. His cutest was when he asked for corn and toes. Corn and toes?? What?? He kept repeating it. I finally figured out he wanted butter on his corn (he loves butter) and that he was probably trying to say toast, which normally he sucks the butter off! So corn and toes it is! He says a word like "gee-lo" meaning all colors, not just yellow. And he loves to point out all the different colors (but he just calls them all gee-lo). On Friday, he finally said Blue and red when Kiri prompted him to! For those of you who don't know yet, all trucks are "gu" and he LOVES trucks so we here that a lot. When he wants more of something, he signs the word more in sign language, and the word he says is "mama". Not me in that case, but more. So "mama, gu. Mama gu. Mama gu" while we are driving down the highway means more trucks! I want to see more trucks! Or mama juice! Or mama choo choo, or mama cack (more crackers!), or ma (milk). He also shortens a lot of words so milk is "ma". Now is Finnish, milk is maito-or something like that, so I think he may be shortening that word. Markku is also "ma" but a little more drawn out like a southerner talks! So he says "Maaa baby. Maaa baby." Meanign Markku's baby, which is different from "MINE! MINE!" that he also says all the time, referring to anything he may want at the moment! Another favorite is "why"? Juice, why?? When I won't let him have juice! He is starting to put more words together, like "mummo taz bye bye". Meaning his grandma's dog Tazi has gone bye-bye (or is at her house). He just learned to say he is two. And all numbers are two. So if he sees 2 trucks, he says two gu!! And gets very excited. He holds up 2 fingers (thumb and index finger though) and waves them saying two gu! Even if there are 210 trucks he says two! But he loves to hear us count. He is also to the point where he corrects me if I say the wrong thing back to him. For instance if he says "ma gone" and I think is says "maa done" and so I say "you're all done?" he says no and repeats himself until I figure out what he means-his milk is all gone. Of course if I can't figure it out a tantrum may ensue, but who wouldn't be frustrated that they aren't being understood when they are trying so hard! He also realizes Heikki has to leave and be gone a lot. He just says "sha-sha bye bye". He tells me all the time... When we get close to home in the car or after a walk he says, "Tillie Allie, Tillie, Allie" (our dog and cat). Then he often says, "sha sha bye bye". I think he saying that we will be seeing tillie and Allie real soon, but not dad. He isn't home!
We are supposed to go down to Boerne today to see my aunt and cousin again and go to Sea World, but Suvi is still asleep. I may have to wake her up now! I just wanted to get some of the cute things Markku says and does, and someday soon I may forget! He still calls Heikki "sha-sha" short for Isa, but he longer whispers it! Things are changing already...

Last week of maternity leave

2008-07-11T15:01:00.000-07:00

Nice mohawk. I have been noticing them coming back into style... how does he look??

Remember all the stuff in Markku's crib? Well, here is a shot of what he wanted one day! I took out most of the stuff so he could sleep but it sure made him mad!

Well it's here. My maternity leave is officially over and next week I go back to work. I have mixed feelings about this as Suvi is only 11 weeks old. We are still adjusting to naps and sleeping...Suvi is not sleeping during the day very well and does not sleep in her own crib at night. I was hoping she would be by the time I went back to work. Oh well...I do love cuddling with her and spending alone time with her, but I also need my space sometimes too. On the work side of things, I feel I have been gone forever-there are new employees I haven't met and was only just starting to get regular clientele before I took off for three months. Now I have to start all over again! I am anxious and stressed about how it will all work out so at this point I just want to get it over with! (I figure it will be better than I expect and I will realize there is no need to worry!) I will also be anxious to get back to my coworkers as I was really beginning to feel like a part of the work family before I left!

On the home front, we have been as busy as ever. The fourth of July was spent at my parents in Boerne. We went to a parade with Suvi in a beautiful dress and Markku in a too big Train shirt that he loves! He picks out his clothes these days-sometimes he wears jeans to bed and PJ's in the daytime. I don't fight him too hard as these can be screaming tantrums if I try to pick out what I want him to wear. We have to pick our battles they say! Mind you, he also wants to pick out Suvi's clothes-I often draw the line there. I want her to wear all her new clothes-not just the jean skirt that is his favorite! We spent the rest of the weekend relaxing at the pool or just with family. It was very nice.

This week my aunt Jane and cousin Shannon are visiting from Buffalo. I have not seen them since my wedding-where Shannon was one of my bridesmaids! That was 5 years ago. Jane was so great playing with Markku and Suvi, it really makes me wish we all lived closer together. We are going to plan a visit to NY to see all my relatives real soon-at least sometime this year I hope! It has been too long...

Notice the picture of the dinner table? That was the dinner I cooked for us! I have been planning meals and cooking for 2 weeks now! I took a class offered at my doctor's on nutrition and meal planning for families. It was very helpful for someone like me who needed both a little prodding and a way to present it to make it easier for me to do! So now I have to see if I can keep it up after going back to work as well... I made lasagna and salmon with tomato/corn salsa (not everyone at salmon!). I even made steamed green beans and a salad! I had a glass of wine to celebrate. That was very nice also. I have been pregnant or nursing for 3 years now, so I don't drink very often!

Sick babies

2008-06-22T12:53:00.001-07:00

Well, I knew it might happen and it did. Air travel comes with the risk of getting sick. Both Markku and Suvi are sick now. Markku is cranky and has a cough and runny nose. Suvi is coughing and sneezing and very congested. She woke up every hour last night. I was so afraid this would happen-and it did. Bummer. I hate hearing Suvi breathe when she is so congested-it makes me feel so bad for her.
Heikki also called in sick to work for 1 day, so at least he is home for about 28 hours to help me out. I just hope I don't get sick too...
It is Heikki and my 5th anniversary today. We are not celebrating (he wasn't supposed to be home) and it makes me sad that we don't plan something...Obviously with 2 sick kids we can't just run off. I wouldn't trade them for the world though. Actually, Heikki has worked 3 out of the past 4 anniversaries we have had! He was there for the wedding of course, but other than that his job takes him away for most anniversaries, birthdays and holidays. As he would say, "You knew what you were getting into when you married a pilot!", but to be fair, he was only a flight instructor then and was home every night....we didn't even have kids until he started being away nights!
So we spent the morning recovering from a rough night with Suvi, then went for a run together with the kids in the jogging stroller and Tillie. It was so hot by the time we got out, I could barely pick my feet up to run! Then we just continued on with routine daily stuff-paying bills cleaning and getting kids to napping. Not real exciting stuff, but since I hate the idea of grocery shopping alone with 2 kids, I'll take Heikki doing it for me instead of dinner out! Maybe after I have adjusted better to being a mom of 2 kids we can get back to couple time! Right now we are just trying to survive. (And that is ok with me!)

2008-06-20T18:49:00.001-07:00

More Suvi smiles and she is now definitely smiling at things we do and say and this is her on her play mat.

We have been very busy this month (hence no posts! My birthday (June 2)! It was very uneventful- we had a nice dinner out but no dessert because the kids started being fussy. I was sad as I wanted some dessert (but to be honest, the baby weight is not coming off as easily this time. It was probably better I skipped it since I have had cake at 5 different birthdays!) We have some pictures of Suvi in her party dress on my birthday (someone may as well be dressed for the party!)

I had a work conference in San Antonio the first weekend of June (5-7). My parents stayed with the kids and I at a hotel in Downtown San Antonio (no pictures from here yet as my mom took them all). But we had so much fun (even me at the conference). Markku got to ride the trolley (he called it a train), the boat ride on the river walk, just spending time with mummo and Ukki (Ukki let him have candy, juice, even iced tea!). My parents would come to the conference hall during my breaks so I could nurse Suvi and we were able to meet for lunch. It was great, but also made me realize how tired I still am! It was so much easier having 3 adults around to help with the kids.
Markku started his new swim class (he is the one on the yellow turtle) where I don't get into the pool with him! He does very well and listens to his swim teacher-at least so far. It is amazing to see how well he can swim (good thing since we have invested a lot into it!). It will now be possible for me to bring Suvi and then hopefully start her when she is 6 months old.

Then we went to Washington state this past weekend for Heikki's uncle's memorial service. Uncle Mikko passed away last month from a heart attack (but he had multiple health problems). Although a sad reason to get together, it was a lot fun to see everyone again. Suvi got to meet her Aunt Kaisa and Uncle John:

which is Heikki's sister and brother in law and my sister Jenn from Portland, Or.:

Markku even got to meet a camel that belongs to Bill (Mummo Laukkanen's fiancee). He was a little scared but did feed her carrots.

Now we are home with Markku sick with a cold (bummer) and Suvi had her 2 month well check. She is now 12 lbs 11.5 oz and 23.5 inches (90% percentile). She is healthy-no cold so far but we are watching closely. I am exhausted and trying to get everything in order again and schedules back (naps were forgotten on the trip!). I have 1 month more of maternity leave to get things settled.

So much going on

2008-06-20T09:09:00.001-07:00

First smiles

2008-05-30T17:07:00.000-07:00

Suvi has been smiling for a few weeks, but now she will smile at you when you look at her and talk to her. She was smiling and even sounded like a laugh with Heikki the other day:

And here is when she got her first bottle on Wednesday morning. Markku was so upset: he thought the bottles and milk should be for him! I thought he would want to breast feed again, but he never has. Instead he wants her bottles!

We had a few tough days this week. On Tuesday we had to go get my signature notarized and some money orders for Heikki and the kids Finnish citizenship. Markku was a wild man at the post office and of course there was a long line. So afterward we were too tired to cook and decided to go out and get food. We used Markku's last diaper at the bank, but he went again! So Heikki left him without a diaper-very dangerous. We decided we had to get right home! But then I noticed Suvi had a poopy diaper and it was going everywhere. She hadn't pooped in a week, so imagine...It went all over her clothes and I forgot a spare outfit, so she left in justa diaper (after a washdown in the bathroom!) and Markku left minus a diaper. Could it get any harder? The next day, Suvi just wouldn't sleep and cried a lot. I was so tired and frustrated-I just didn't want to have to hold her all the time. I wanted a little time for myself. I sleep with her next to me, nurse her 8-10 times a day, and hold her in the sling up next to my body for hours. Heikki was home but both of us thought we would have a breakdown. Luckily Heikki realized I needed a break and watched both kids-yup, both of them for the first time- so I could go for a run. Of course it was 10,000 degrees outside but it was exercise and time alone.

I started running again about 2 weeks ago and have worked up to about 3 miles in 30 some odd minutes. Of course running involves feeding Suvi, then pumping then going for the run and having to hurry so I can get home and shower before her next feeding! It is hard to get going with the heat and humidity lately, but it feels good to be exercising. Yesterday and today Suvi slept well (in her swing) and was really good. Heikki asked if we switched babies! I think she is just good for Kiri, our nanny, as those are the days she was here! But, then again everything is easier with 3 adults when you have 2 children!

Laukkanen's reunite

2008-05-27T20:07:00.001-07:00

We had a great time this past week with the Laukkanen side of the family. Mikko and his wife Joanna and son Dashiel were visiting from London. As we don't see them much, mummo Laukkanen and Bill, Liisa and her boyfriend Johan all came to visit as well. This is everyone above (except Johan was taking the picture). We were missing Heikki's sister Kaisa and her husband, who had school and another family obligation to attend to. We really missed them though.

We spent the first part of the week at a rented condo on Lake Travis (a dammed river here in Texas-it is a huge lake). I was still unable to swim and be in the sun-which was unfair due to the 90 plus degree temperatures. But no one else was used to heat so they wanted to stay inside most of the time anyways. And with two 2 year olds and a 4 week old baby no one gets anywhere on time or even gets out of the house some days!

Here is Heikki and Markku walking into the lake. It is a very warm lake as Texas lakes usually are. But no one went swimming in the lake (I wouldn't let Markku go under water as I heard that warm temperatures lead to bugs in the lake that can cause meningitis if swallowed. So they say don't swallow the water, but how do I make sure my 2 year old doesn't swallow water? I think everyone knows I am a worrier and perhaps a little over protective! But no one else went in either....). We did try to rent a boat, but that is very expensive so we gave up!

Then we went to my mom's house for the later half of the week. My parents moved out and we took over! We had lots of fun in their pool, hiking in their neighborhood, and those who could went tubing on the Guadalupe river! They had a blast (I couldn't go this time!) We also had Markku's third 2nd birthday celebration at the country club in my parent's neighborhood. It was really fun! Markku and Dashiel even started playing together and hugging each other by the end of the week! They are so cute together. Being that I was always holding Suvi and my husband almost never takes the photos-I have very few pictures of the best buddies. Hopefully Bill got some.

Markku and Dashiel hugging

Markku's beautiful Thomas cake and his even prettier face afterwards! The train actually moved around the track!

Family on the river walk in San Antonio

We did make it to the river walk for a short walk and dinner. It was so hot that the London Laukkanen's were melting! We had to limit our travels somewhat with 2 year olds and since we also got great news--Joanna is pregnant and due in November! It was so hard on her with the heat and all the walking and the time change I am sure. I remember being pregnant in London last year (at least she wasn't vomiting on the river walk like me in downtown London!). We also tried to be very efficient and pick a restaurant quickly-we chose a little too fast and found the only restaurant in Texas WITHOUT air conditioning!! No one wanted to be a bad sport and say we had to leave so we all sat in the unbearable heat and sweated it out-and then complained later as we felt the air pouring out of every other restaurant on our walk back to the car! Luckily I had to feed Suvi and we found a nice cold hotel lobby to cool off in.

I wanted to post more pics but the site won't let me. I will have some on the Picassa web site though. I wasn't the best at taking photos since Suvi is not letting me put her down very much. She is getting so much bigger and she smiles at us now when we talk to her. She turns her head to look at you-she definitely loves her brother's voice. She is holding her head up for a few seconds and can even stand on her legs for a few as well. She is even outgrowing her newborn sized clothes. I can't believe how fast time is going-she is 5 weeks old now. She had really bad baby acne this past 2 weeks so I didn't take too many pictures of her directly. It is starting to clear up now I think...she doesn't care but I sure seem too. She is so beautiful I want everyone else to think so too!

Firsts

2008-05-15T12:12:00.000-07:00

Markku had his first dentist visit and first haircut this week! We have been busy. The dentist didn't go well-it started with dragging him from the trains in the waiting room. Then they wanted to see in his mouth which he hates to show anyone! I am not sure they saw much, but the dentist just looked in there and then said to come back in a year! They did tell me to brush and FLOSS! Is this a joke I asked? I can barely brush those teeth. But today, he did let me floss about 5 teeth!

Today we got his haircut! It was so hard because we cut off his baby curls! Of course I saved them, but it is very sad to look at him without the curls! But it was getting long. Last night he looked like Donald Trump with a comb over! (His hair is so thin). I have posted pics of the haircut, but forgot to take pics of the dentist. It was a fun place with cars to sit in and movies to watch, right inside toys R us. They even used clippers on his side burn areas and the nape of his neck!

Suvi smiles now-after eating, before sleeping and sometimes just because. She is so pretty. She is almost 4 weeks old! I never seem to have enough hands to take a picture when she smiles, but trust me, it is beautiful. I will try a bottle on her real soon and then I can have a little more freedom. I am supposed to go to a work conference in about 2-3 weeks or so. It is full day lecture with small breaks and 1.5 hr lunches. I will need her on a bottle then! (My mom is coming too so she can watch the kids-it is only in San Antonio). I can't believe how fast time is going.

Mother's Day and Markku's 2nd Birthday!!!!!

2008-05-12T19:47:00.000-07:00

Well we have been busy! Yesterday was Mother's Day and we went down to Boerne to spend it with my parents (and because we had to pick up Heikki at the San Antonio airport). It was a good day with swimming and relaxing (a nap for me!) and a nice dinner. Markku actually ate meat (porkchops) so that was great! My mother's Day gift was a hand-made card by Heikki- he drew a picture of him with an aiprlane, Markku and Suvi-then had everyone on the airplane sign it (all the passengers!). It was very cute (lucky for him that they were cooperative-otherwise he would have been out of luck! His procrastination did benefit him this time. I took a photo of the card so you can see it...

Markku also had a very important day-his 2nd Birthday! (Suvi is 3 weeks old as of yesterday) We went to Dr. Patil-his pediatrician who we love- and he weighs 29 pounds is 35 inches tall-he is in the 90% percentile for height and 50-75% for weight (and >97% for head size). He is so big now! We celebrated with my parents last night and then with his nanny Kiri, and our friend's Jesse and Rachel and their 8 week old daughter Nina-seen in a photo above with Suvi. He got a garbage truck (a gu as he calls it), many trains and train stuff like a flashlight, blanket and T-shirt, some books and a play airport. He also got his first piggy bank-or rather an airplane bank! Now he can start saving money! He got 2 birthday cakes so far-yesterday and today. He learned how to blow out candles! I think he had a good day. We have another birthday party when his mummo Laukkanen and Bill, Uncle Mikko and Aunt Joanna return next week. He will think he always has birthdays!

Fears and follies

2008-05-10T19:14:00.000-07:00

We are all still in 1 piece, yeah! I feel very drained each day but am making it through without crying. I can't say the same for my 2 kids-Markku cries more than ever these days. Over not getting juice, if he even slightly bumps his head, if I nurse Suvi on the "wrong" side. Suvi cries too, but I really don' t know why yet. Tonight we had a thunderstorm-there was a really loud crack of thunder and Markku jumped, started crying and literally flew into my arms. He was so scared. He cried for the entire 20 minutes of the storm. He has never cried during storms before-well, there was a night time one and he was crying but it was hard to tell over what as he was so sleepy. Tonight was just so sad. He cuddled up so close to me and would hide his head behind me with every clap of thunder. I tried to pretend nothing was happening-we watched Bob the Builder and sang songs but he (and Tillie) were both scared. It finally ended and then he acted like nothing happened. Lets hope no more storms for awhile!

Tonight when he went to bed we had 3 blankies, 1 towel (still damp from the bath), 1 stuffed kitty Allie and 1 stuffed Tillie dog, 1 school bus, 1 train, 1 truck (Bob the builder truck Scoop), 4 pieces of train track and his night light turtle in his crib. He walks around looking for that special "thing" to put in his crib and then he walks over to have me put him in! He was putting together the train track when I turned out the light! That was after we read 4 books (1 on tractors, 2 on trains and 1 Alaska moose book).

Suvi took her longest nap today- 4 hours. It was nice but I was wearing her in a sling so not as nice as if she were in a crib! She would have slept even longer but her Aunt Joanna from London was visiting and wanted to say hi! She is now asleep in the sling again. Dr. Sears would be very happy but Dr. Ferber would be saying I am stating bad sleep associations! (They are both pediatricians with differing opinions on how to have babies sleep). But if I don't put her in the sling, she won't sleep for even an hour! She only sleeps about 12 hours a day-supposedly she should be sleeping 18 or more! She is dreaming right now-she is making funny noises and fluttering her eyes and shaking her arms-like when Tillie dreams! She is so sweet. She smiles so pretty-not at things we directly do, but just at various times of the day.

I have to go and fold 2 loads of laundry now and make a mother's day card because of course I never got out of the house to go and buy one. I kept trying but it was always time to feed the baby! I really feel that is all I do. I wasn't quite ready to venture out with 2 kids to try to look at cards! Hopefully my mom will understand-she really does so much for me (painting Suvi's and Markku's rooms, hanging pictures, babysitting, cooking dinner while she babysits for me, gardening and being a really special friend to my son...) I really am spoiled. Thank goodness she lives so close. She certainly deserves a good mother's day. I am going to try to make it down there tomorrow morning, but we'll see what time I actually get there!

Surviving alone

2008-05-09T20:24:00.000-07:00

Heikki was called in to work today for a 3 day trip. He will get home on Mother's day at least. I did have Kiri here this am to help ease me in to the transition of being a part-time single parent! She left at 2 pm-when I thought I had Markku down for his nap! Of course he took over an hour to fall asleep! But then Suvi and I managed to take a nap as well.
I was able to successfully make dinner (well-rice with veggies, applesauce), eat dinner, go for a short walk around the block with 2 kids and a dog, and then started bath time. Mostly our afternoon went well, but at one point at dinner both Markku and Suvi were crying-Markku wanted more rice- but not from my bowl. But of course, that was all that was left. Suvi was just hungry too I think. They settled down on their own after about 5 minutes thank goodness. (Just before I got stressed.) Then Markku was a doll for Suvi's bath. I use her bathtub in our kitchen sink and although I had put in a new DVD-Bob the Builder) for him, he carried over a little play vet office and sat at my feet playing. Then it was his bath time and I wish I could say Suvi was as well behaved. She cried, wanting to be held and possibly she was hungry again (how can it be, I had just fed her right?!). I had to let her cry while I washed Markku, brushed his teeth and got him dressed. It was very hard on all of us. Next time I will feed her immediately before Markku's bath I think. We read stories and put Markku to bed at 9 pm! I started getting ready for the baths at around 7:15 pm-it took forever! Suvi only just fell asleep after 10 pm. I am exhausted!

A few cute things before I go:
Markku saw Suvi lying on the floor yesterday and tried to pick her up-but he seemed to know he shouldn't and just looked at me and Heikki for help! We helped him get her settled on his lap. He really likes holding her and kissing her.

Markku has a funny habit of bringing things to bed with him. The other day he brought his 3 tillies (blankets), a stuffed cat Allie, stuffed dog Tillie, 2 buses, 1 airplane, about 5 trains, 1 large train book, a pick up truck, his night light constellation turtle, and his hair brush. There was barely any room for him. When he woke up I found most of the stuff piled on top of each other at one end and was sprawled in the other end with his feet on the big pile! I wish I had my camera there!

Suvi is opening her eyes more every day. She looks around in wonderment at the world around her. She loves to look at me! She actually slept in her crib for the first time today for a short nap (about 40 minutes), and in her bassinet for 1 hour last night. She usually sleeps with me (I know she isn't supposed too, but I am too exhausted to let her cry it out in her bassinet). She is still so tiny and really seems to need the closeness. Pretty soon she'll be slamming doors in my face and rolling her eyes at me, so I will spend the time with her now. She already has to cry more than Markku ever did as sometimes I just can't get to her or hold her when I have to work with Markku.

I sure can't wait till Sunday when Heikki comes home! He helps out more than I ever realized (although it is nice not to have to clean up after him and the 2 kids!). I am jealous of people whose husbands come home every night-but at least mine comes home for a few nights a week. I really don't know how single moms cope!

Heikki's last day off!

2008-05-07T19:45:00.001-07:00

Today is Heikki's last day off-although is is only on call tomorrow. He may have another day off, but we will have to see! I am a little nervous (ok-a lot nervous) about tending to 2 children by myself! I do have Kiri's help some days, but will have to do it alone a lot of the time. I am especially worried about bedtime-the baths and reading books and all that. We may be up till midnight!

We went to see the photos that were taken last week. They are really precious-I can't wait to get them! You should see our new family! They are of course ridiculously expensive, but my mom bought a bunch so we can have some of them!

Suvi is crying with her dad now-so I guess I should get back to them before she wakes up her brother. I will try to post new photos of her later! It is hard because the ones I take are no where near as nice as the ones the photographer took. So I keep erasing thema nd trying again. I guess I have to not be so picky!).

Our first trip-12 days old

2008-05-02T18:18:00.000-07:00

Well, we made it! We drove down to my parent's (Mummo and Ukki) house in Boerne on Wednesday. We filled the back of the passat with baby gear and our clothes (we were going to stay ONE night!) and then with the 2 kids in the middle and us in front we were fully loaded! It took forever to get out of the house with naps, packing, loading car, taking Tillie to boarding at work and then having to feed the baby-but we finally got there at about 8 pm or so (better 2 hours late than never, right?!).
We then had our professional photos taken on Thursday of our new family and mainly of Suvi and Markku. We spent 2 hours at the photographer's-but I am sure we got some great pictures of us and especially of the 2 kids and even Suvi alone. I am very excited to see them. It will be hard to choose only a few!
We were having so much fun at Ukki and Mummo's that we decided to stay another night and then that turned into another day as well! We finally got home around 5 pm today-and then had to do everything in reverse! Unpack, get Tillie, feed baby, feed Markku, get to grocery store, etc! It is 8:30 and I am utterly exhausted (and Heikki was here to do most things either for or with me!)
When I picked up Tillie, I brought Suvi into work and showed her off to my co-workers and also weighed her-she was 8 lbs! At least I know she is eating. She had not pooped in about 3 days so I had been worried, but then today she exploded-it leaked out the front AND back of her diaper and all over me and her outfit! She got an early bath today! At least I don't have to worry this weekend about her being constipated. Even though I had Markku just 2 years ago, it is easy to forget things like how much they should poop.
Markku is still doing well. He loves flowers-he picks them all the time. It started with dandelions so I didn't stop him. But now-it's any and all flowers he sees. It can take forever if we walk by a wildflower field! He then puts them in his pocket-or in mine. I sometimes forget to take them out before laundry-that makes a mess in the washer! Sometimes I find rocks or even broken pieces of glass or plastic he finds and thinks are special. He is my little collector.
Well, it is bed time and I better get both kids ready now!

Getting Settled-9 days old

2008-04-29T18:58:00.000-07:00

We are starting to adjust to our new lives-but that means being very tired most of the time. Suvi wants to eat about every 2 hours- so I am kept quite busy with that. Markku is starting to get more jealous-he has a little tantrum when I feed Suvi on the left side (he thinks that is his side!). But he is a really good big brother the rest of the time and loves to kiss her and pat her head. He is surprisingly gentle with her. When is out of the house, and about to return home, he gets exicted to see me and says: "Mama!" Then he says: "Baby!". So he does expect her to be here with me!

Suvi had her first bath last night-she didn't like it as you can tell from the photo. She had another one tonight because she decided to poop all over her and me! We are doing yet another load of laundry now!

We are planning our first mini trip-down to mummo Frederick's tomorrow night. We'll see how that goes!

Markku's Nimi Paiva

2008-04-25T19:02:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Today was Suvi's 5th day and Markku's nimi paiva or "name day" in Finland. There names actually have their own birthday so to speak! So we celebrated his name day (with a cake, special presents from his mummo Frederick--after which Heikki tells us they have never celebrated these before!) Well, I guess we can start these traditions! In the attempt to keep Markku from being left out, I think we may be spoiling him. He gets someone there constantly to play with or make him happy and has received so many presents...what are we gonna do, keep this up forever??? What's even crazier is that his 2 year birthday is on May 12-so even more presents and cake. And then the London Laukkanen's and mummo Laukkanen return for a one week visit (with another birthday celebration?!!! Yikes). Well, I guess soon enough he will face reality that it will be him, mom and Suvi most days. No presents, no cake! (Well, not everyday at least. I do need to lose the pregnancy weight).

We had a tough night last night, but I finally realized that Suvi was just not tired yet. At 2 am she decided it was ok to let mom and dad sleep some. Luckily Markku has continued to sleep through the night for the past week. We'll see if that continues. She is starting to open her eyes more (and boy is she beautiful when she does) and she even sat in her bouncy seat through the whole dinner/name day celebration! That was a first.

Heikki is off work until May 8--longer than I thought so I am very relieved. He has heard some stressful rumors about SkyWest trying to buy out his company and Continental saying if that doesn't happen, they will terminate their contract with ExpressJet. That will happen slowly over several years-but still will mean likely furlows for some pilots and Heikki will "never" get off reserve duty. That is bad news for us-his schedule usually means he is home for just real short periods of time and then in California (or flying) for the most part. But, nothing is settled, so I try not to think about it. After all, airlines are shutting down every day and takeovers and buyouts are happening faster than we can keep up these days. So everyone in the field is suffering.

Well- I have posted photos from today and some from his first backyard pool experience with mummo Laukkanen.

4 days old

2008-04-24T20:45:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Suvi is 4 days old now. We are maybe starting to get used to each other and figure some things out! She was losing weight and jaundiced, but we turned that around real quick (who needs sleep-just keep nursing every 2 hours!). Yesterday she was back up to 7 lbs 5 oz-up from her low of 7 lbs 0.8 oz (of course still less than at birth weight of 7 lbs 10 oz). She is a very beautiful girl and so sweet. She won't let me put her down, even for naps. (Alissa- I may need your advice now!!). Markku is adjusting REALLY well-I am very surprised. That may change when dad goes back to work and visitors stop coming. But so far he is a great big brother. He has 1 meltdown a day but at almost 2 years old that is probably more age related. He is just an amazing boy-Suvi has a great role model. Heikki's mom and Bill just left today, so now we are kind of on our own...we do have Kiri (our nanny) coming by several times a week to help out, but no one cooking and cleaning up after us and all that! Markku had such a great visit with his other mummo (grandma)-it was really great to see them playing. I will post some pics soon of them playing, but too tired tonight and must get some sleep!

She's here!

2008-04-21T15:40:00.000-07:00

Suvi finally arrived-still before her actual due date. She came Sunday 4/20 at 9:49 am. She was 7 lb 10 oz and 20 in long. She is very healthy and a good eater so far. Mom is doing well (very happy to not be pregnant!) and we are now officially home! I will post some photos my mom took. In case your wondering-Heikki did not make it home for her actual birth. He missed it by 4 hours. We tried to stall, but even with epidural I was still pretty painful this time, so I gave up waiting. Luckily she waited for my mom to get there (after I finally called my nanny at 7 am to relieve her from babysitting). I drove myself to the hospital-apparently that is a bad idea according to everyone else, but I didn't want to wake anyone else up and Markku was asleep! The hospital is very close to my house and it was like 3 am. At 4 am they decided to admit me as I was in labor, and by 5 I had my epidural. It worked well at first, but then at 7 I was awakened with pretty bad contractions. When it came time to push, it was just 11 minutes and she was there! Markku came to meet her and was quite shy but is starting to warm up-especially once Heikki got there and showed him it was OK. Sorry some pics are sideways-I can only do so much holding a baby and aftre I got them attached is when I noticed! Oh well- I DID just have a baby!

Nope, not yet

2008-04-19T18:41:00.000-07:00

In case anyone is checking in-nothing yet. Don't want anyone to think that if I didn't write I MUST be having a baby...I am starting to get bored. I am tired of cleaning everyday, just in case she comes. I wish I could spend more time really playing with Markku, but it is so hard to play with a big uncomfortable belly. Heikki left for work and my mom is now with me. No Suvi though. The 20th sounds like a good day....

Nothing Yet

2008-04-18T18:19:00.000-07:00

No Suvi yet. She loves making her mom wait! I am trying to keep real active (opposite of bed rest?) but it is getting harder and harder to do normal things. Heikki Markku and I went on a little (1 hour) hike at Barton Creek today. It was nice to get out, but I don't have really good balance so I had to watch real carefully where every foot went-or I would trip (and it's hard to see my feet these days)! Markku was a lot faster than me! He ran most of the trail. We think he may be a cross country runner some day! Heikki leaves tomorrow around 3 pm-so if she doesn't come by then she has to wait another 5 days! Or, Heikki may just not be here. That is starting to sound like a better option to me. I NEVER even thought she may be late or even born near her due date. I just assumed she would be here by now....

Another day of waiting...

2008-04-17T19:00:00.000-07:00

Well today is almost over and we are still waiting. I am having much stronger contractions that do seem painful...maybe she is coming?? Heikki was able to make it home so it would be perfect timing. He has to leave Sat. for another trip, so everyone cross your fingers that she will come before then. We went to dinner with some friends tonight that have a 4 week old baby. Markku was interested in seeing her and kept asking to go look at her. Hopefully that means he won't hate his baby sister! He is very fond of my growing belly-so I am sure he will be disappointed to lose that AND have a little sister taking attention from him! Here is a photo of him loving the belly... I admit I am very torn about all this. I am excited that Suvi is almost here and sad that I will have to share Markku! Will I have enough time for both of them (and not be too cranky with Markku?)? I know mothers do this every day (mine did too) and that your capacity to love just grows, blah, blah, blah. but, I still find it a little unsettling. Of course, maybe I am just reluctant to lose sleep again! It took Markku 14 months to sleep through the night...now what have we done?!

Hooray! I finally got started!

2008-04-16T21:13:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!

I have decided to finally start a blog so you can keep up with the Laukkanen family (of Texas). We are very excited and ready to add to our family-I (Casey) have been ready for awhile now...Heikki wants me and Suvi to wait until he gets home first! So he is due home tonight for 3 days. So hopefully Suvi will make her appearance soon. I have been very motivated to get things accomplished and really hope that means she is coming sooner rather than later (you know that nesting thing they talk about right before labor begins!). Anyways, I'll try to keep up on this blog so everyone can figure out how things are going and to eventually post photos for everyone as well!

I had my 39 week doctor visit yesterday and she thinks things will happen this week as well-Suvi is very low in the birth canal already and my doctor thinks labor will likely go faster this time (since she is already through my pelvis)! I am having intermittant contractions that get me all excited, but then they stop. Maybe she is waiting for us to finish painting her room-ha!ha! We are almost all done-just need to paint the ladybugs and touch up here and there. My mom is doing all the painting so we have to squeeze it in her visits. Her crib came and we are just waiting for the changing table. The pictures above are her room-I was trying to post them below, but can't figure out how to do that! Hopefully I will get better at this stuff soon. Bear with me in the meantime!

Maybe the next time I post I will have exciting news!