Paris and London, here we come!!!

Leaving tomorrow morning. SUPER excited!!!!!!!!! Will blog all about it when we get back. Take care, everybody.

Paper Facts

Two interesting things about Finland that I have learned in the past week:

- instead of a three-hole punch, they have two-hole punches

- instead of 8 1/2 x 11 sheets of paper, they have 8 1/2 x 12-ish size paper. It's a little bit longer.

Things I thought were standard around the world. Huh.

What The....?

Some pregnant women crave chocolate. Others crave peanut butter mixed with pickles. You know, the regular yummy stuff.

I am craving tomatoes.

I don't even like tomatoes!!! What the ...... ????

Paying too much in rent???

Yesterday we were invited to our landlords' farm in Parola, which is about an hour and a half away. They are a very sweet couple and have treated us very nicely since we moved here. We knew they were pretty well-off but had no idea how "well" they are doing.

He is a retired radiologist and they now own the largest Hereford cattle farm in all of Finland. Andrew said they have like 600 cattle. Their house is on a huge plot of waterfront, they grow tons of their own vegetables (Alexia, you would have been so jealous!) and they also have their own vineyard. They converted their barn into a countryside reception hall, basically, for all of their "dinner parties" they have. They also invite the entire village to their home several times a year for celebrations. And he has an African room in the barn, complete with his own bar and a giraffe skin.

They have three horses, which Maddy absolutely adored, particularly their little pony, and loved watching Daddy feed them apples. The farmer took Andrew and Maddy in their Gator through the farmland and Maddy loved to yell at the cows to "watch out" as they were driving through the pasture.

Great lunch, even better dessert, great company, and a wonderful visit. And it never hurts to get on the good side of your landlords, especially when they are loaded...

Am I A Baby?

32 weeks pregnant and I am just starting to feel myself slow down a bit. I am hoping that I can keep up my energy at least for the next two weeks while we are away on our trip but it's out of my control for the most part. I am proud to say that my rings still fit on my fingers, a big accomplishment compared to my pregnancy with Maddy!!!

Big clinic appointment on Wednesday - the doctor needs to check me out and make sure that I am okay before writing me a note saying that I am fit to fly. EasyJet will not let me board the plane after 27 weeks of pregnancy without this document.

Highlight of my day yesterday: Madison grabs her belly and yells "Ouch, the baby hurt me!!!". It was hilarious. Andrew says that she is mocking me for being a baby, I just say that she's imaginative.

In my defence, the little rascal does catch me by surprise sometimes and gets me in one of my vital organs. Or maybe I am just a baby....

Getting excited...

One week from today, I will be touring the streets of London, England for 4 days before spending another 5 days in Paris, France. The flights and hotels are booked, the high-speed train from London to Paris through the Chunnel is booked, and we've done all the research on how to get to/from airports, train stations, subways, etc.

Only thing to figure out is what the heck we're going to do while we're there. I am trying to stay positive but it will be interesting to see how well a 33-week pregnant woman and a two year old girl fare as travel companions. Perhaps we'll leave this up to Andrew to decide. :)

Or maybe some things are better left unsaid?

It's a beautiful day.
Kim

My Big Fat Finnish Wedding

Do you remember the father in My Big Fat Greek Wedding who put Windex on any cut or bruise to cure himself?

My daughter, little miss Dr. Conley Jr., has found her own remedy. Chapstick.

Andrew's lips hurt the other day and he asked Maddy to put chapstick on his lips to make them feel better. Of course, she interprets this as chapstick being the cure of all boo-boos.

It is much more fun watching her rub chapstick on her elbows and knees than telling her the truth :)

To Do List

Most women of the household have a continuing list of things to do - a pile of bills to pay, dusting, washing windows, craft projects they'd like to get done, etc.

Added to my list since we've moved to Finland: a "to be translated" pile of mail. Thank goodness for Google Translate!

Better Days

Okay, so I'm calming down now. Had a few stressful days but attempting to let some things slide around here so that my blood pressure doesn't get too high.

My wonderful husband came home early today, entertained Maddy so I could cook dinner in peace, and then took her to the beach for a couple hours. I am in heaven right now! Quickly posting on my blog before I sweep the floors, mop, do dishes, finish laundry, iron, and scrub marker off my walls. It will be so nice to get caught up on some housework!!!!

Two things that I'd like to mention:

- when Canada Post ships packages surface mail, it really goes surface. It's not like you pay cheaper rates and they fly it over anyways. Oh no, it's going on a boat. A very slow boat. Two packages received via surface mail have taken between 6 and 8 weeks. Today I received one that was sent June 25th. (thank you Kristyn!!!!)

- it's starting to get darker earlier now, and I'm really starting to notice it. It was enjoyable to take the dog for his last walk of the day at 11pm and it still be light out. It is now dark by 9pm. It's going to be difficult in a few months when it's dark by 4pm. Gulp!

Now back to work. It's a beautiful day.
Kim

Testing my Patience...

This past week has been a difficult one. Maybe I will blame it on the pregnancy, or maybe my patience has finally decided to pack its suitcase and get outta here.

Madison's listening skills have diminished severely and it feels like I have spent the entire last week nagging and yelling. The only way I am getting results out of her is if I use some form of threats ("if you don't come here, we're not going to the park today", for example).

Feeling like a bad mommy and a nagging wife.

Maybe I'll do a better job next week?

A Home Fit For Tucker

We have booked a 9 day trip to France and England at the end of this month!! As excited as I am for our upcoming adventure, I am once again knee deep in plans for flights, hotels, travelling arrangements to/from airports, how to get through the Chunnel, what fun things to do with Madison, etc. And as a dog owner, I also have to find a home for my pup.

The trick is finding a place that makes me feel as least guilty as possible for deserting him while I explore everything that Europe has to offer.

I visited a kennel today and I have to admit that I am very happy. I know he only really needs a place to sleep, a place to pee, and some food to eat, but this place is great and I feel comfortable leaving him there. Insert sigh of relief. Maybe he won't hate me after all...

Insult or Compliment???

I can't figure out if this is an insult or a compliment:

"Since we've moved to Finland, your cooking has improved immensely".

Thoughts??

30 Weeks Down, 10 To Go!!!

So I'm heading into my final stretch of my pregnancy and I'd like to say that I've handled myself quite well.

Unless you count the fact that I washed my hair last night and forgot to rinse out the conditioner.....and the fact that it took me three hours to notice. Hmm...I'm blaming it on pregnancy brain.

Maybe Kim had a good reason to worry?

Sad news, a Russian man just died during the world sauna championships held in Finland (see story below).

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100808/world/eu_finland_sauna_contest_death

At the world championship, the person to stay in the sauna the longest wins. The sauna is kept at 110 degrees celsius, with water added to the stove every 30 seconds. Although I have personally reached 128 degrees celsius, we did not dare to add water to the stove. However, we did thrash ourselves with birch branches in the sauna, but that's a story for another time and place.

Good news, a Finlander ended up winning the competition.

Peace, Andrew

Pesapallo

Kim, Madison and I went to our first Pesapallo game this week. Pesapallo is a Finnish form of baseball. Although, they use gloves, bats, bases, and balls like baseball, the rest of the rules are very different. Pesapallo is very fast-paced compared to baseball and there is more strategy involved. But, hitting seems fairly easy in Pesapallo, it is more about placement, then power. In fact, if you hit it too far in the air, it doesn't count as a hit. Some of the many strange rules include, i) you get to have 3 hits for every at bat and you get to choose when you want to keep your hit and run (but the runners on base can run with every hit), ii) if someone catches a fly ball, you are not out, simple "harmed" and have to miss the rest of your hitting turns, iii) everyone slides into the bases face first every time, iv) the distance between the different bases varies considerably, v) the pitcher stands beside the plate and also serves as the catcher, vi) the sausages you purchase in the bleachers come without buns, etc. Too many difference to list, but we enjoyed the game, it was very interesting and quite entertaining. Here are a couple links showing a few aspects of the game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_umyXoyXEkQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOySN9qT8cA&feature=related

Werdna, sreehc

To Snip or Not To Snip

During my recent visit to the hospital for an appointment, I posed the question about circumcision. And was surprised to find out that hospitals in Finland do not even offer the service. It is so rare in Finland that you have to go to a private clinic and find a doctor who will actually do it for you.

Andrew and I have yet to research the pros and cons and decide what we'd like to do for Baby Boy Conley, but it struck me as a surprise that in Finland, almost nobody does it, and in Canada, almost everybody does it. Hmm...

Canada Bound - Four Months!

Happy to announce that I have booked our flights home for Christmas. We'll be in Canada from December 11th to January 1st. Yes, we are travelling on Maddy's third birthday, but she's young enough that she won't know the difference.

Now I just have to win the lottery so that we can pay for the tickets...

Huh?

So I got a bill in the mail this week from the Internet company and it was too low. They were charging me about 60% of what my bill was supposed to be.

I called their customer service line and she informed me that they recently lowered the prices of their Internet service in Espoo. I'm getting the same speed, but for about 40% less.

Huh? Maybe Finland isn't so bad after all...

Canadian Visitors

Andrew's parents were just here for a week, it went by so fast it's all a blur! We had five full days with them, so we made the best of it. Andrew took the time off work so we decided to make it a fun visit instead of a work visit. One day at Linnanmaki Amusement Park, one day at the Helsinki Zoo, two days in Tallinn Estonia and then one day doing a Helsinki City Tour and visiting Suomenlinna Island. Although I'm almost 7 months pregnant, I think I managed to keep up with everybody and make it through the day (and hopefully keeping the waddling to a minimum...). Most importantly, Andrew's parents got to spend some well-deserved quality time with their granddaughter.

Picking them up from the airport, Madison was so excited! I wasn't even allowed to use the bathroom in the airport just in case they came through the gates, she didn't want to miss them. When she saw Grandma, she screamed in delight and ran to them - pretty sure the entire airport was watching. Wish I had videotaped it, it was adorable.

What is also wonderful is that they brought over a huge pile of stuff for us - like worse than Christmas. The usual things that we cannot buy in Finland (BioOil, Kraft Dinner, President's Choice white cheddar, good chapstick, rockets candy, chocolate chips, diaper genie refills, etc.). But we got spoiled rotten - tons of clothes from Grandma and Grandpa and Nic and Alexia for the new baby and for Maddy. And then all of my nephew Jack's clothes that he has outgrown - PERFECT! This baby is totally set. Cannot thank my dear family enough for everything.

Cutest gift - a nursery rhyme book for Maddy that is recordable - so Alexia programmed the book with her voice to read the nursery rhymes to Maddy so she can read her a story before bed. How adorable.

Loved having Andrew's family here - but it's hard to say goodbye. Seeing familiar faces makes homesickness even worse. Hard to accept the fact that the next time we see them, Maddy will be three and I will have a son!!!

It's a beautiful day.

Kim