I'm glad to see January go

Hurray for February!

I suppose this makes me superstitious, but January was a month of bad health news for our family and I couldn't wait for February 1st to roll around to give us a fresh start. I feel somewhat safer on this page of the calendar.

My mom's dear little doggie, Geisha, passed away last week. She had been ill and lived a life where she was loved, cared for and definitely spoiled. As my mom became an empty-nester, I know that Geisha's companionship was more important than ever. She was always there to offer a bark, or fluffy cuddle. My mom is a friend of all animals and her mothering instincts never faded. Geisha gave her a way to continue sharing that warmth and nurturing when her daughters flew out into the world. I hope that our kitties, Miuku & Mauku, who moved in with Grandma as we started our moves this year, are keeping my mom good company.

Early in the month we got the news that my dad's cancer had resurfaced even though he had had surgery, radiation treatment and hormone treatment two years ago for prostate cancer. We don't yet know the details of what is happening or where, but lab tests show that something is happening. Thankfully, my dad is otherwise as healthy as a man his age can be and has a positive attitude to match.


We also heard that a long-wished for addition the family would have to wait.

And, so, I am happy to see that its February 1st.

Pulla time!

Grandma in Florida had made a special request for some 'rae' sugar from Finland last time Peanut's papa went there. 'Rae' sugar is in appearance the sweet equivalent of sea salt and is sprinkled on top of many Finnish sweet breads like 'pulla'. Last time I visited the IKEA food store in Frisco, I noticed that they stock it on their shelves, too.

Since Peanut & I brought the special delivery from Finland to Grandma and figured we should put it to use right away.

It was Peanut's first baking experience! She's been practicing at home with Playdough so I knew she'd be ready to handle making her own pulla rolls.

We pulled up a step-stool to the counter so Peanut could watch what all went into the mixer. She was also in charge of stirring the yeast, milk and eggs. After the requisite time for rising, Peanut was in the middle of the action with Grandma to begin rolling out the individual pullas. I could hardly get into the kitchen, she was so thoroughly in the zone!

Unfortunately for Peanut her bedtime came before the pullas were pulled from the oven. She must have had sweet bread filled dreams as she woke up and the first word from her mouth was 'pulla' (really!). After mama put on her slippers, we headed straight to the kitchen to give her a bite.

While I thought every crumb was delicious, Peanut clearly showed a preference for the 'rae' sugar and chopped almonds on top!

What stories do you remember?

My mom recently sent me a copy of a story I had told her when I was a child. She was really great in writing down our creations and saving them over the years. Somehow she knew we would one day appreciate her dragging these boxes around as she moved.

The tale was about two 'nakeros' (don't ask, I have no idea what they are) and how they finally met each other, got to play, eat cake and then eventually get married.

There is one storybook that was given to my mom by her parents that I now have on my bookshelf. Its called 'Satumaan Portinvartija', the Gatekeeper of Storyland, by Jorma Maenpaa (umlauts on the 'a's).

This is my all time favorite fairy tale book. As a child, I would only get to hear stories from it when we spent the summer at my mom's home in Ilomantsi, Finland. The book always stayed there on the shelf. In the evenings, my sister and I would snuggle into our mom as we all lay on her bed and she would read these fantastic fairy tales to us.

To this day, I can clearly imagine the story of the Hullumylly (The Crazy Mill) - there were no illustrations in the book so all the images are my own. The Crazy Mill would grind the hearts of people and fill their sacks with whatever secrets their hearts carried.

I've started on my own translation of the book so I can share the stories with Peanut. While I hope she learns Finnish, I know its an uphill battle and I don't want her to miss out on the magic of this book.

The classics are always fun

Whenever we go visit my mom, she has taken the time to dig up some of my old baby clothes and toys for Peanut. Its a nice way for us to recall my childhood - what I was doing when I wore the little woolen dress or poncho from Spain, how I used to carry the teddy bear around with me everywhere and other memories attached to the clothes & toys.

Here are some photos of what Peanut played with last time - anyone remember these?!

Skype IS the future

While way too many technologies overhype themselves and how they will make our lives 'easier, better, cheaper, faster...etc', Skype really really does.

I had one of those 'the future really is here' moments yesterday as we had a live video/audio call on the computer between our house and Peanut's grandparents in Florida. It was like we were living the commercial where the grandparents coo at the grandbaby miles and miles away.

We started using Skype back in Finland to keep in touch with family in the Netherlands and the US. The audio quality was always amazing - crisp and sometimes even clearer than on our real phones.

Now, they have rolled out the beta version of the video call. Both parties just need a simple $25 webcam on their ends and you're ready to roll. To get the grandparents set up, peanut's papa sent them a short email with instructions on how to download the latest version. They didn't run into any problems and using the program is so intuitive, we were looking at each other in our nightgowns and morning hair in no time :-)

It is just like they've been promising! Peanut's grandparents just loved it. Instead of keeping the webcam static on us sitting here, I let Peanut loose and followed her around the room with the cam that way they can see what all she's up to. I suspect we'll soon have to set up a regular broadcast schedule and some sort of Peanut show :-) I'll have to figure out if Skype supports conference video calls.

Oh! the cost of all of this -- $0! Skype is free!!

Breakin' ALL the rules

Yes, that's right, we broke all the rules of baby sleep over the Christmas/New Year's holidays. Guess what?! It didn't mess up Peanut's sleep program. She didn't turn into a n overly dependent baby who couldn't sleep alone. No, as a matter of fact, everything returned to normal very quickly.

Now, what was this extreme situation that we were in that drove us to abandon all the guidelines about babies and sleep. Grandma, Grandy, Nana and Oma & Opa - that's what.

Peanut was sooo overly excited about spending Christmas with her grandparents in Florida that she could hardly sleep. She was in a travel cot next to us in the same room. Peanut usually went to bed on time and without much fuss. Though I did often 'milk her down' to make it easier for her.

Then she would start waking up around midnight. We tried letting her cry a bit to settle down. Nothing doing. She was awake, standing and looking right at us.

That's when we went for the drastic move of bringing her into our bed/onto our air mattress. She loved it. Peanut snuggled in papa's armpit or on mama's chest, suctioned in her little thumb, let out a happy sign and was off to dreamland. We then moved her gently into the space between us for the night.

We'd never co-slept before so the first night I was very conscious of her little body next to mine. I awoke several times to make sure she was still on the bed and not stuck under the pillows, etc.

It was so nice to wake up in the morning next to the angelic face still deep in sleep...so warm, so peaceful.

After the last set of grandparents left after New Years, we thought we were going to be in for several nights of crying and struggling to get her back to sleeping on her on.

Nope.

The very first night she slept soundly in her own bed in her own room.