5 months old (Sept 20, 2008)

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!

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!

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

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

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

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"

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!!).