Santa is coming...to Finland!

What have we been up to? Suvi keeps us busy crawling at light speed and walking more and more daily. She leaves a path of destruction behind her, but does it with an infectious giggle and big smile so we can't be upset with her.
She went to the doctor for a follow CT Scan from her surgery, and all the doctors were extremely pleased with her progress.
She had her 1st birthday in September! We had lots of friends come over to play and enjoy brunch with us. It was so fun.
Suvi and I went to Arizona in October. We had lots of fun visiting Grams, Grandpa and Auntie Ree. I did not have fun flying solo with a 1 year old.
While we were in Arizona, Jarmo decided we were going to Finland to Christmas. It was time for his family to meet our adorable little girl. Jarmo hasn't been home in five years.
Wish us luck as we head to freezing, artic temperatures, 20+ hours of darkness and a foot or so of snow. We'll definitely have a white Christmas!
Here's a few pictures from months past.

Everyone have a Merry Christmas and blessed New Year!

Busy Summer

What have we been up to this summer?
Floating in the pool at Grandma and Grandpa Bradbury's...



Sending emails to our favorite friends...



Enjoying a few tall ones with mom and dad...


We hope your summer was just as fun!

Enjoying summer!

Testing, testing...

Is this thing on? Oh, hi, how are you? Sorry I abandoned you for so long, but we've been busy. "Doing what?," you ask. How about FREAKING OUT over the major surgery our daughter went through!
Suvi was diagnosed a few months ago with mytopic craniosynostosis. You can read about it here or here.
We were in the hospital for five days. Cincinnati Children's Hospital is amazing and took such good care of Suvi!
The surgery happened a little over a month ago, but she still has some swelling behind her right eye. Her incision, which is from ear to ear, is healing nicely, though. We'll continue to see the doctors every 3-6 months to ensure her skull is growing correctly and no "touch-up" surgery is needed.
We thank everyone for their words of encouragement, prayers, gifts and visits during that time. Friends and family mean the most!
I'm attaching some pictures from her recovering from surgery and more recent pics.

Christmas pictures

We got Suvi's Christmas photos taken a few weeks ago. We thought they were all adorable!

Halloween

We had a fun Halloween night celebrating with our neighbors. We passed out candy, had a few drinks and lots of laughs. Our little girl was a nice, warm frog. Surprisingly, she didn't mind the costume one bit. She even fell asleep at our friend's house wearing the costume and slept the entire night in it. There's no need to wake a sleeping baby, right??

Pictures!

We've been busy dealing with reflux, colic and lack of sleep. The reflux is now under control, and the colic is manageable...most of the time. It wasn't until we started the reflux medicine that we actually heard Suvi make happy noises and smile. She was in so much pain before!
Here's a few pictures we took over the past few weeks. She'll be 7 weeks on Wednesday.

p.s. I might just have to give in soon and sign up for Facebook. Not being on the stupid site is starting to cause problems in my dismal social life.

Aunt Marie

Aunt Marie came visited us last week. We rarely left the house, but there was enough going on inside to keep us occupied. Between fixing meals, cleaning and keeping Suvi happy we were exhausted by the end of the day.
While Marie was here Suvi had several days/nights of inconsolable crying. We're pretty sure it's her tummy that's bothering her. I eliminated dairy from my diet, supplemented w/ soy formula, gave her gas drops and prayed a lot. We're hoping one of these things works because it's heartbreaking to hear your baby so much.

Thanks Ree for all your help!

Auntie Lys

Aunt Alyssa came to visit last week! She was a natural with taking care of our sweet baby girl. She was also a huge help with laundry and cleaning up around the house. It's amazing how quickly laundry piles up with a newborn in the house.
The most exciting news is that she had an interview in Lexington while she was in town and she got the job!
Aunt Alyssa and Uncle Heath will be moving to the Lexington area in mid-October. That's only a few weeks away. We're so excited to have them nearby!

Aunt Marie arrives Tuesday...yay!

Goodbye Grandma!

My mom left this weekend after spending nearly three weeks with us. When she found out I was being induced early, she scrambled to get a new ticket and was by my bedside early the next morning.
We couldn't have survived without her help. She cooked many delicious meals, did mountains of laundry, cleaned up after us and gave Suvi and I lots of love.
Thank you so much for all your help!
We miss you already!

The birth story

Pull up a chair and get comfy. Those of you who know me know I don't tell short stories. Here is the story of Suvi's birth:
I went for my 39 wk. check-up on Tuesday, Sept. 1st. The Dr. said my water was close to breaking and she'd prefer it to be broken in a controlled environment b/c of the excessive amount of fluid I was carrying. (I believe the medical term for this is hydramnios).
We headed to the hospital and checked in at 10:30am. They started pitocin around 3pm, and I started having contractions shortly afterwards. After a night filled w/ awful late night tv programs, increasing contractions, and only 1.5 hours of sleep, I was fully effaced. I took the first dose of pain medicine in my IV at 6am Wednesday, Sept. 2nd.
The plan was for me to get my epidural that afternoon and they'd break my water, which would make me dilate quickly. At 3pm Wednesday afternoon as they start placing the epidural, my water breaks. I can't move as they're putting a needle directly into my spine. Immediately, I feel an extremely painful contraction hit, and I was instantly brought to tears. I still couldn't move b/c they weren't done with the epidural. I endured a few more contractions before the medicine kicked in. The nurse had to talk me through me them as my legs were shaking so bad from the pain. I totally commend women who have natural childbirth...no way I could do it.
I was fully dilated a few hours later, but they couldn't tell if Suvi was face up, which would be bad. Her head also wasn't descending into my cervix as it should be. They continued to wait around and see if her head would drop down. The epidural only took on one side so I continued to feel small contractions on one half of my body. They gave me another dose of medicine around 8pm or 9pm, and I become completely numb. I couldn't feel my legs at all. They rolled me on my side to see if gravity would allow Suvi to turn face down, but it didn't work. I then pushed off and on for an hour or so to see if her head would come down, but it didn't.
Around 10pm Wednesday night they decided to do a c-section b/c I was exhausted, her head wasn't descending, they didn't know if she was face up, and continuing to push could result in more harm than good for Suvi.
She was born at 10:39pm. I was so drugged up, exhausted and experiencing severe shakes from the medicine they gave me that I didn't get to feel the extreme joy and happiness I was looking forward to upon her birth. I just wanted to sleep due to the morphine they gave me at the end of the procedure.
As soon as I got a few hours sleep and some of the drugs left my system I was overjoyed and completely in love with our little girl.
Jarmo was great during it all..he took lots of pictures and was such a proud dad.

Even though her birth didn't happen as I would've liked, I would it all again b/c the end result is amazing.

Suvi Lynn has arrived!

Suvi Lynn arrived Wednesday, September 2nd at 10:39pm.
She weighed 8 lb, 11 oz. and was 21.5 inches long.
She's beautiful and perfect! I've been told she looks like Jarmo. Poor girl.
I'll post her birth story and more pictures later.

SAHM I am

I'm officially a SAHM! I'm still waiting on the baby part, but I'm "retired" from work. It hasn't quite set in. I feel like I'm on vacation.
So, what have I been doing these past few days?
I've been running errands and cooking like crazy. I will say the eggplant parmesan I made last night was worth not being to distinguish between my ankles and knees from standing up all day preparing the delish dish.
Today is more errands and a double batch of muffins to freeze.
Now if only I could be as motivated to clean as I am to cook.

Surprise Shower!

My friends Brooke & Pilvi found out I wasn't having a baby shower in Cincinnati and put together a surprise shower for me yesterday!
Jarmo told me were going to lunch, and we ended up at my friend's house. I walked in to see several of my friends waiting for me.
It was a fun afternoon complete with a pink and brown theme. We played baby shower games and enjoyed delicious homemade cakes and pastries. Pilvi is a genius in the kitchen.
I didn't have a camera, but will post some pics once my friends send them. I only wish Jarmo had said we were going somewhere nice for lunch so I could've dressed a bit nicer.
I'm truly blessed to have met such great friends here!

I'm also officially 37 weeks today...only 3 more to go!

7 weeks and counting

I'm officially 33 weeks today. SEVEN weeks to go, but who's counting, right? I feel pretty good, but am starting to feel worn out. It's humid, my feet always hurt and I could be the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man's stunt double with all the swelling I have. If you poked holes in me and set in the front lawn I'm sure I'd water the yard better than our cheap sprinkler head.
But some positives to looking this pregnant and still have almost two months to go:
1. When shaving I never have to worry about nicking my ankle with my razor because I have no ankles due to the constant swelling.
2. People stare, but move quickly out of my way at the gym. (I think they're afraid I'm going to have the baby right there on the elliptical machine!)
3. It's socially acceptable for me to balance my plate on my stomach to avoid spilling food down my shirt.
4. I got out of going to an after hours work event b/c my boss said I couldn't help set-up tables, etc. and she didn't want me standing on my feet for the 2 hour event. Very thoughtful, indeed.

I also notified work that my last official day would be August 21st. That's five weeks away...I can't believe it! Our lives are going to drastically change soon! But, for the better.

How to clean your basement

We learned how to efficiently clean our basement this weekend.

1. Fill basement with 3" to 5" water.
You can do this yourself by putting a hose in the basement, but we opted for the free route of having our power go out at midnight Friday morning, and let the torrential rainfall seep into our basement. Woo-hoo...way to avoid that high water bill!
2. Let soak for a few hours, or in our case until 6:30am when we woke up to a hot, sticky house b/c we still have no power and realized we should check our basement.
3. Purchase costly gas powered generator from Home Depot employees who laugh at you and wish you luck. Dangerous thing to do when it's 7:00am and you haven't had coffee because you still have no power.
4. Let your husband move all the boxes from the basement to your backyard because you can't lift a damn thing b/c you're 7.5 months pregnant.
5. Run to Home Depot again for a longer extension cord for the generator. Plug in generator to sump pump and curse yourself for not having battery backup system for said sump pump.
6. Let the neighbors come over and look at your ruined, limp, wet stuff that has been scattered across the backyard drying all day.
7. Grill out with neighbors since food in your fridge/freezer is defrosting at an alarming rate. Admire their wet, ruined stuff in their backyards, too.
8. Go to Costco and purchase shelving units for basement and lots of Rubbermaid containers for basement storage.
9. Sort through semi-dry stuff. Wonder why you had half that crap saved in boxes in the basement. Fill multiple trash bags with ruined stuff, including most of your Christmas ornaments that now weigh three pounds each because they were filled with water and quickly rusted.
10. Assemble shelving units. Have husband carry back down all the stuff now in Rubbermaid tubs. Give husband lots of beer.

We now have a fresh, clean basement without a speck of dust in it because it was all washed away. Aren't you jealous?

I hope your weekend was better than ours!

Beer Tasting

We hosted a beer tasting with a few friends and neighbors Friday night. Jarmo and our next door neighbor, Tim, put together 11 beers to sample. They realized too late that several of the beers were heavy, and might not be liked by the participants. I mean who wouldn't want to taste a beer called "Old Engine Oil?"
Or what about this Finnish beer? It was so thick it left a trail of sludge behind in the cup.
My favorite was this beer mainly because the name. I adore Elephants, but was rather surprised when I realized the skunk smell wasn't coming from outside, but from the beer. It really smelled like skunk!
The heavier beers also resulted in several of the participants being highly intoxicated by the time we finished the tasting. Several games of cornhole ensued. The trash talking ended by the third game, but only because everyone's speech was slurred and incomprehensible.
Everyone had an enjoyable evening, including this pregnant lady who looked longingly at the beers as they were being tasted all night. This is going to be a long summer.

Under construction...

My mom came to visit last week and helped us paint the nursery along with the upstairs and downstairs hallways. She also helped put together some neat pictures for the room.
Since our camera died, and I'm too lazy to go downstairs and figure out where my husband put the batteries, undoubtedly somewhere high up where I can't reach anyway, I'm going to post the pictures my mom sent me of the nursery.
Thanks, mom, for all your hard work! I hope the half bucket of paint you dumped in your shoes came out in the washer.

We still need something to hang on the far wall of the nursery that you can't see in the picture. I'm debating on putting her name in wooden letters on that wall, but I'm just not sure yet. We still have time, and a few more things to purchase for the room.

By popular demand...

I'm posting a belly shot. I had to crop the heck out of it b/c my husband's photography skills need some work. He usually isn't allowed to take pictures because he refuses to use the zoom, and we end up with pictures where you can't tell what the focal point is, (I kid, I kid!).

I'm 22 weeks in this photo. I'm starting to feel big, and noticing I'm out of breath more easily. I'd be okay with my size if it weren't for my co-workers. I would think women who have had babies in the past would know that the only acceptable things to say are, "You look good" or "Your pregnant stomach is cute." NOT-acceptable things to say, "The Doctor said there's only one in there, right? You look like you're having twins." Do you think HR would really reprimand me if I punched her in the face? (Again, I kid...well, sort of)

Also, here's a link to the bedding we bought for the nursery.

Ready, set, action!

We're in the market for a camcorder. The last one I used was my parent's. You inserted the full size VHS tape into it. Oh, the joys of seeing me go through the awkward early teen years.
I'm thinking relatively easy to use is a necessity for this purchase.
Any one have any recommendations?