The REAL first snow!!

So now here are the photos after the first snowstorm. Notice the thick drift of snow on the balcony railing and window frames! It's hard to see in the photo, but, in addition to the kids playing in the playground in the snow, there are also kids sledding down the big hill in the park. At one point, there were about 40 people sledding down that hill, and it was fun to watch them from up above. They were sure having a blast!

I also took a photo of the snow that drifted onto the balconies of the adjacent building. I was looking out the window to check the temperature on the outdoor thermometer, and I noticed the man in the blue jacket (on the middle balcony) shoveling the snow off his balcony and throwing onto the ground below. I found it funny and grabbed the camera. First of all, it seemed strange to me that he was going to the trouble of shoveling the balcony since it wasn't THAT much snow. Plus, I figured it would melt pretty quickly from the heat of the building. Lastly, I wondered what would happen to anyone down below should they not realize he was throwing snow over the railing and get nailed with it as they walked by! In case of serious injury (I know, still an injury prevention specialist, right?), an eyewitness account might come in handy... ;-)

First snow!

Okay, so it was actually about 2 weeks ago now, but here are some photos of the first snow. We got a light dusting in advance of a bigger snowstorm, and these photos are of the pre-storm snowfall.

These are some of the same views as in the fall foliage photos I took. So now you can see what the park looks like with bare trees. It's not too pretty when there's no snow, but the snow makes it look quite nice!

Planes, Trains and Automobiles...and Boats!

Wow, this is long overdue, but here are some photos from our weekend trip to Tallinn, Estonia (3 weekends ago!). In addition to the excitement of traveling by boat, which we can add to the list of the modes of transport on which the "World Traveler Baby" (as a friend calls Leila) has been, we also caught a cold. So were relatively out of commission for a couple weeks and are just now catching up on all that was put off while we were trying to get well...

We took the boat over to Tallinn on a Saturday morning with our friend, Sari, and her daughter, Liisa. We met up with Sari's husband (and also our friend), Juha, there since he was already in Tallinn on business. Included in the post is a funny photo of me- trying to get Leila to smile for the camera- in front of one of the windows on the ship. It was raining and quite grey so you can't really see anything, but that is the sea behind us!

We spent a lovely afternoon with some friends of Juha and Sari's, Tero and Silja (and baby Jussi), which is likely where we caught said cold since Tero was just recovering from one. The good parts of our visit were the great company, yummy food and seeing the kids interact. Leila seemed especially excited by watching Jussi since he was right on her level and was interacting with her as well. Here are some (sadly, somewhat blurry) photos of that as well as one of Juha playing with Jussi and Liisa walking behind them.

We had evening drinks in the bar on the top of the hotel (which is in one of the 2 skyscrapers in Tallinn) and then went to bed early since we had the kids in our rooms with us. I especially didn't sleep much because I woke up to Leila's every peep, but, this way, I got a preview of what it will be like traveling to California in December!

We did a little shopping in an Estonian department store before we left on Sunday, and then headed back to Helsinki on a slightly slower boat. Luckily, these boats have play areas for kids, restaurants, bars, a casino and disco and some stores and boutiques. So there is plenty of entertainment for the journey. We spent most of our trip near the play area so Liisa could stay busy and because it was nearest the bathroom with the changing table. Here's also a photo of Matt with Leila and Sari with Liisa (and other people with their kids in the background).

Next time we hope to spend a little more time in Tallinn so we can see more of the city than just the area around the hotel. If we can manage to go when it's not raining, we'd get to do a lot more walking around. I'll be sure to blog about any future excursions there!

Halloween, AWC-style

Since Halloween is widely celebrated in the US and is a fun day for kids, the women in the American Women's Club don't want the American kids here in Finland to miss out just because they're here. (Some Finns have started celebrating Halloween, but it's more geared towards costume parties for grown ups than for kids...) So the Club has put on a Halloween party every year for as long as anyone can remember. It's a big, elaborate bash, and it requires many people to pull it together. So I helped as much as I could with a small baby and had a lot of fun in the process!

We made tons of decorations to make the venue look festive and created game stations and trick-or-treat stations for the kids. There was even a "bat cave" that kids could crawl through. Even though Leila was too small to partake in the activities, I (and she, too) enjoyed watching all the bigger kids having fun. 

First of all, the coolest part was that every kid and the majority of parents there were in costume. Some people had made costumes, and others had store-bought ones either from costume shops in Finland or ones that relatives in the US had sent them. Spiderman seemed to be especially popular... 

The evening started out with a potluck dinner. There was an interesting mix of some classic American-style dishes as well as some very Finnish dishes and a few international ones. So we had fun sampling a variety of foods.

After dinner, the games started. There was a ring toss (tossing rings onto a broomstick), a "pin the smile on the pumpkin," a bean bag toss (into the mouth of a ghost cutout), a relay game (carrying a styrofoam eyeball on a spoon) and a couple others. The kids got prizes for playing the games, which they enjoyed immensely!

Lastly, there were 6 trick-or-treat stations. The kids got to go around to different conference rooms and closets and knock on the doors to get candy. They seemed to have fun with this, even though it was an artificially created arrangement. I think they were just glad to have the opportunity to go trick-or-treating period.

So here are a few photos of us at the party. (In the third one, you can see some of the game stations behind us.) Leila and I went as a kitten and mama cat. Leila's cat ears ended up being a bit too big in proportion to her head so a few people thought she was supposed to be a mouse. In any case, many people told us how cute Leila was, and one little girl kept coming around to find us to say hi and play with Leila. I thought we looked pretty good considering that I only had a couple hours during a nap time to make our costumes!  

Leila is five months old...well, almost!

Since Leila just had a well-baby visit with the doctor, we decided to post her latest stats a little ahead of her 5-month birthday (which is only a week away). She now weighs 6.2 kg (about 13.6 lbs) and is 64 cm tall (about 25.2 inches).

She's in good health and has been gaining weight well, although she is still below average weight for her age. According to the charts, she was 20% below average for weight when she was born. Now she's *only* 7% below average so it seems she's at least catching up a little.

We're not absolutely sure, but we think Leila has started teething. She's gnawing on anything and everything she can get her hands on and is constantly drooling. She seems to particularly like Daddy's fingers... These photos give new meaning to the phrase, "Finger lickin' good!"

Planes, Trains and Automobiles...and Buses!

As many of you know, Leila has had quite the jet-set lifestyle during her short time on the planet. She's already been on three plane flights, on a long drive from State College to New York, and in all forms of public transit. However, on Tuesday, I added another type of trip to the list- on a long-distance, regional bus. 

Although the networking I've been doing with the American Women's Club, especially the Mothers' Network, has been great, it's more difficult than I thought to get together with people. It turns out, to my dismay, that most of the women with kids live in the suburbs. So, to get together with them, I have to trek out to the 'burbs. The transportation options here are good, but sometimes getting out to these parts of the greater Helsinki area is not as straightforward or fast as one might hope. Plus, it's difficult to lug a baby all the way across town, especially if she's due for a feeding, a nap, a diaper change or some other necessity.

I wanted to get together with my friend, Amy, who lives about an hour outside Helsinki. She's been driving to the city pretty often lately and was lamenting about the cost of gas (sorry, Americans, if you think gas is expensive THERE, you should see the prices here!!). So I offered to visit her, which meant taking a regional bus. 

These buses are of the Greyhound/Trailways sort, rather than the local transit sort so this was a new experience for me and Leila. On a local bus, I can just wheel Leila on in her stroller, and she can hang out there for the whole ride. The regional buses have only seats and no room for strollers (except in the hold below). So I had to take her in the baby carrier (a la Baby Bjorn) and leave the stroller at home! (Oh, and we don't get to ride the regional buses for free- darn!)

Since the bus we were taking was nearly empty, I decided to take up the last row, where there are 5 seats across. That way, I had plenty of space for myself, the diaper bag, my own bag of stuff and Leila. This worked out well because there was even room for Leila to take a nap during the journey. I just molded my coat into a little bed for her on the seat, and she snoozed away for most of the trip (see photo)! So that went much better than I expected...

Amy picked us up at the bus station in Lohja, and we put Leila in Amy's daughter's infant car seat. After playing at Amy's all day, we did the whole trip in reverse. It went pretty well that way, too, with the exception of the crazy bus driver (who weaved in and out of the lanes and braked too abruptly).

The benefit of living outside the city, as with most suburbs vs. cities, is that you can get more space and more natural surroundings. Although it was raining off and on that day, hopefully you can appreciate the beautiful views from Amy's living room. The village she lives in is quite lovely, and there are lots of trees and a lake nearby. So it was well worth the trek to get there, and it was a really nice visit with Amy.

Who knows which mode of transportation will be next- camels?

This week's balcony photos

As you can see, many more leaves have changed color since last week! Here are some of the same views as in the post below so you can compare. In any case, the view is STILL lovely (maybe even nicer!).

Balcony views

Here are some of the views from our balcony, which faces directly towards the park. When standing on the balcony and looking from right to left (the photos are in order), you'll see the building next door that was in the previous photos from the side windows. Then there are two shots of a larger playground (which you can't see well because of the big tree right outside) and an old brick tower (also behind the tree). Then there's some grassy space and pathways that meander through the rest of the park.

By the way, I've tried to figure out what the tower was/is for, but no one I've asked so far seems to know. I've also looked on the internet but haven't found anything in English... The park is named for the Sinebrychoff family because they had their home next to the park (the yellow building at the bottom of the hill, which is now an art museum) and their brewery nearby. So the tower could have had some function when the brewery was operating. (Any of you Finns reading this know the answer??) In any case, the tower is a symbol/landmark for our neighborhood.

Fall foliage from our apartment windows

I'm really enjoying the fall weather here. So far, the temperatures have been tolerable. Maybe a little cooler than October weather in PA (more like November) but not as bad as I expected. (However, I'm sure I'll change my mind once winter hits!)

Now that we finally got most of our boxes unpacked so I can actually step out onto our balcony and get close enough to all the windows of our apartment to take photos, I thought I'd post some. I took these last week, and already more of the leaves on the trees have changed color. (If I have a chance to take some more, I'll post those, too.) However, this will give you an idea of how they look as well as show you the lovely views we have. Thanks to being in the last building adjacent to the park and facing the park side, we get to enjoy the views and the late afternoon sunshine as well. I'm sure I'll be appreciating THAT in winter when there are so few hours of sun...

So these are the views from the side windows. When looking towards the park, you can see the building next to ours (which I think is identical to ours on the outside) and the lower half of the park. When looking towards the center of the city (the other direction), we see rooftops. In the second one of those photos, you may also notice the thermometer hanging outside the window (on the right), which has been handy in determining how much one needs to wear to go out! Down below us on that side is a small playground for the apartment building residents.

Coming up will be the photos from the balcony side of the apartment...

Leila is four months old!

Time sure is flying by... I can't believe that Leila is four months old already. Although she still seems small to us, she has grown quite a bit- more than double her birthweight! At Leila's last well-baby visit on September 30, she was 5.725 kg (about 12.5 pounds) and 62 cm tall (about 24.5 inches). Her head circumference has increased by 5 cm (almost 2 inches), too!

Here are some of the latest pictures. In these, the people she's with are her dad, her aunt Paula and her cousin Veronika, respectively. Also, at this stage, Leila is really enjoying grabbing things and trying to shove them in her mouth, even if the things are WAY too big to fit!

Baby or alien?

I don't think I mentioned this before, but Leila has a "trick" ear. For some reason, her left ear tends to fold in half, especially when she's been lying on her left side. The funny thing is that it sometimes gets stuck that way. It looks really crazy! 

It's tough to capture this oddity in a photo because I rarely have the camera handy when it happens. Plus, it's difficult to hold a baby and work a camera simultaneously. However, yesterday I managed to get a couple of pics. They're pretty unflattering because I didn't have much time or leeway for getting a good angle, but you at least get to see the ear. I'm sure she's going to HATE these photos when she's older, but oh well... We all know how cute she normally looks!

Fall in Helsinki

The classic signs of fall have appeared: kids going back to school, the leaves changing colors, days starting to get shorter and snowsuits. What? Yes, snowsuits. Apparently, when the temperature drops below 60 degrees (15C), many Finnish parents seem to think their kids are going to turn into popsicles if they are not bundled up like living Weebles (you know, they wobble, but they don't fall down!). 

Today, as I passed through the park next to our house, every kid on the playground was wearing a snow suit, snow boots, mittens and winter hats. I don't know how they weren't melting! As a point of reference, I was wearing capri pants, a t-shirt and a light, 3/4-length-sleeved, cotton sweater and Crocs (without socks). In my mind, at 15C, it was lovely early fall weather. What's more, the sun was still out so it seemed even warmer than the thermometer registered. 

I could swear that some of the parents were eye-balling me to figure out why I was not bundling Leila up similarly. She was wearing a long-sleeved, footed sleeper with a sweater over it and extra socks and a fleece hat. I thought that the hat might be overkill, but I figured it would keep her ears warm. Maybe I'm the weird one, but I thought that was sufficient, especially since she was in the baby carrier and therefore drawing heat from me as well.

If the kids are this bundled at 15C, what the heck do they wear when it's -15C?? I'm so curious to find out!

Leila's latest trick

In addition to talking to her little red monkey toy, Leila recently discovered her reflection in the mirror and talks to that, too. Furthermore, she has now figured out how to roll onto her stomach and prop herself up on her elbows. It's really adorable (see first photo). The only problem is that she has trouble rolling back to her back so she tends to get frustrated when she thinks she's stuck (see second and third photos). However, it won't be long before she has that mastered, too...

Leila is three months old!

She's now a few days past her 3 month birthday because I didn't get a chance to post these earlier in the week... She's been growing a lot and finally just had her first well-baby visit to the Finnish health center. 

As of her appointment, Leila was 5.25 kg (or about 11.5 lbs) and almost 60 cm (or about 23.5 inches). So she's still long and skinny, but everything is on track in terms of her development. She also got her vaccines started. We'll be going back in another month to see how she's progressing.

Leila has been a lot more alert during the day and sleeping more at night (although she's still waking up a couple times to nurse). She has gotten quite playful and is interested in many of her toys now. When she's really engaged, she "talks" to (coos at) them. It's quite cute. Check out the accompanying photos to see her interacting with a hanging toy monkey!

Who knew sitting could be so much fun?!

For those of you who are Leila fans, I'm putting up a few more photos. Now that she's able to hold her head up well, she's very excited about being able to sit up. She loves to sit on our laps either leaning back against us or facing us and holding onto our hands for balance. 

In the US, I had heard about this new baby seat called Bumbo that supports babies to enable them to sit up as long as they can hold up their heads. I bought one thinking that at some point it would be handy, but it seems that it is already getting some use! Leila is still not steady enough to sit in the seat for an extended period of time, but she does like the novelty of sitting in it for a bit each day. Here are some photos of her enjoying her seat and the new vantage point it allows her!