New year in full swing - Uusi vuosi jo hyvässä vauhdissa

New year has begun mostly without snow. The weather has been ok, though so it's been the the winter activities and the light that has been missing. The last couple of weeks are the darkest ones in the year, anyway.

Kerttu is learning new things in fast pace: Walking and the balance is now so good that she can concentrate on actually doing things and reaching places. New words appear to vocabulary and they are also used in the right context. We might be far far away from conversation but it is still a wonder for us parents. ;)

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Uusi vuosi on alkanut pääasiassa ilman lunta. Sää on ollut kuitenkin ihan ookoo, joten lähinnä olemme jääneet kaipaamaan lumitoimintaa ja valoa. Viime viikot kun ovat ne vuoden pimeimmät.

Kerttu oppii uusia asioita nopealla tahdilla: Kävely ja tasapaino alkavat olla jo niin hyvät että toiminta voi keskittyä varsinaiseen tekemiseen ja uusiin paikkoihin kurottamiseen. Uusia sanoja ilmestyy sanavarastoon ja niitä myös käytetään oikeassa yhteydessä. Vielä ollaan todella kaukana keskustelusta mutta silti se on ihmeellistä vanhemmille ;)

Christmas at Lieksa

Christmas time at Lieksa (my hometown) was fun and time passed quickly. My brother was also there with his SO. The thing we did missed a lot was snow, and better winter weather altogether. The weather was exceptionally warm and wet for the season. On the picture above you can see my home buildings at the background, as well as the miserable snow situation. On the pic below there's a nice sunrise view from the front yard.

Joulun aika kotopuolessa Lieksassa oli mukava ja aika vilahti nopeasti. Veljeni oli myös paikalla kihlattunsa kanssa. Kaipasimme kyllä kovasti lunta ja yleensäkin parempaa talvisäätä. Ilma oli erikoisen lämmin ja märkä vuodenaikaan nähden. Kuvassa näkyy kotitaloni sekä surkea lumitilanne. Alla puolestaan näkyy auringonnousu ko talon etupihalta.

Birthday girl - Synttärityttö

Kerttu turned one full year old a week ago. This is a photo of the candle blowing - the whole family is participating!
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Kerttu täytti täyden yhden vuoden viikko sitten. Tässä puhalletaan kynttilää sammuksiin - ainakin koko perhe osallistuu!

Back home - Perhe takaisin kotona

Phew! It has been quite a busy week. Pritta and Kerttu were at Raahe and I was on a work trip at Seattle. Both adjacent weekends were almost fully booked too which leaved no mercy to jet lag.. Oh well now back in normal routine, hopefully. By the way Kerttu took her first steps last weekend! Now the training continues slowly but surely!
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Huh, olipa viikko. Tytöt olivat Raahessa ja meikkis Seattlessa työmatkalla. Tämän lisäksi viikonloput molemmilla puolilla olivat toki melkein täyteen buukattuja - ei armoa jet lagille! Toivottavasti arkirutiinit pääsevät taas vauhtiin. Muuten, Kerttu otti viikko sitten ensimäiset askeleensa (ilman tukea)! Nyt kävelyn treenaus jatkuu hitaasti mutta varmasti!

Experimenting with layouts - Ulkoasukokeiluja

I'm experimenting a bit with different layouts of this blog in the next couple of days.

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Kokeilen erilaisia ulkonäkövaihtoehtoja tälle blogille lähipäivinä.

11 month update

Kerttu-update:
- ca. 9.5kg and 75cm.
- Walking with support of either adult, furniture or wall
- Standing without support for several seconds - when she's not herself concentrating on it.
- Samples of most recent understood words: Lamppu (lamp), Pupu (bunny), Kello (watch), Tähti (star), Vilkuttaa (to wave).


Kerttu-päivitys:
- n. 9.5 kg ja 75cm
- Kävelee joko aikuiseen, huonekaluun tai seinään tukien
- Seisoo ilman tukea useita sekunteja - silloin kun hän ei itse keskity asiaan
- Esimerkkejä viimeisimmistä ymmärretyistä sanoista: Lamppu, Pupu, Kello, Tähti, Vilkuttaa

Subzero - Alle nollan

Traditional "winter is coming" -picture:
Perineinen "talvi tulee" -kuva:



Kerttu is now 11 months old and is getting more and more an active member of the family. She is as adorable as ever! This week has been a bit sleepless as she caught a cold. It hasn't been very bad but the running nose affects the quality of sleep. Thank God is weekend now!

Kerttu on nyt 11 kuukautta vanha ja on yhä aktiivisempi osa perhettämme. Kulunut viikko on ollut vaihteeksi hieman uneton koska Kerttu nappasi jostakin pienen flunssanpoikasen. Tukkoinen ja samalla juokseva nenä vaikuttaa kaikkien unen laatuun tasapuolisesti. Noh onneksi nyt on viikonloppu!

Construction work starting nearby - Rakennustöitä tiedossa lähistöllä

Just next door to our house is now a large empty field which was used to grow some wheat. It has been publicly planned for build houses but there has been no news on the development since yesterday. Now some information has emerged that the town starts to build roads and municipal engineering stuff on it already this year - this means the year 2008 will be heavy construction just next door to ours.

Rivitalomme vieressä näkyvälle entiselle pellolle on ollut suunnitteilla jo pitkään uusi asuinalue. Aikomuksia enenpää ei ole kuitenkaan kuulunut ennen kuin vasta nyt: Kaupunki alkaa rakentaa teitä ja kunnallistekniikkaa jo kuluvana vuonna. Ensi vuonna siis naapurissa on odotettavissa melkoinen rakennuksen melske.

Teknisen viraston esitykseen aiheesta


Näytä suurempi kartta

Autumn activities - Syyshommia

Swimsuit test, originally uploaded by shuopio.

This pic is from couple weeks back, when the days were a bit more suitable bathing outside. At the picture the swimsuit was being tested before really using it on baby swim "lessons".

The inevident approach of the end of summertime (it is September after all) brings all kinds of activities back to day-to-day life: Obviously the work has started. Also Piritta has started to attend couple of courses at university (really starting next week). As hinted above we have started to go to the "baby swim" lessons - which we all have enjoyed a lot.


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Tämä kuva on muutaman viikon takaa kun kokeilimme Kertun uimapukua. Silloin oli vielä kylpykeli takapihallakin..

Kesän loppu on väistämättä lähellä. Tämä tuo mukaan arkeen paljon aktiviteetteja. Työt alkoivat jo hetki sitten. Pirre aloittaa opintojaan yliopistolla parin kurssin muodossa. Uimapuku tuli käyttöön vauvauinneissa - toistaiseksi menneet kaksi kertaa ovat olleet koko perheelle hauskoja tapauksia.

Better connections - Yhteydet paranivat

Better connections - Yhteydet paranivat, originally uploaded by shuopio.

Now we have the pleasure of having at least four trains per hour to and from Helsinki (six at peak hours). Not bad at all compared to the twice a hour which we had before.

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Kun E-junat alkoivat kulkea Kauklahteen asti yhteydet Helsingin suuntaan paranivat roimasti. Neljästä kuuteen junaa tunnissa ei ole paha ollenkaan kun bussejakin kulkee vielä entiseen malliin.

Hvitträsk beach

Hvitträsk beach, originally uploaded by shuopio.

Back home!

Arrived back home late last night. The flight back went surprisingly well, as Kerttu slept 1.5 hours at the plane.
The whole trip was really a success: Most importantly it was so nice to be able to meet so many people in comparably short time. Secondly the travelling with Kerttu was (again) a positive surprise, only gripe is the car travel which does not seem to be her favourite. Of course the very good weather and efficient shopping Monday were also helping the nice atmosphere. More talk and photos later on, now good night!

BBQ meet at Wendy's

BBQ meet at Wendy's, originally uploaded by shuopio.

With Belen at Shere

With Belen at Shere, originally uploaded by shuopio.

Libei and Emily

Libei and Emily, originally uploaded by shuopio.

Sunny day at forest with Stu & Kirsi

Sunny day at forest with Stu & Kirsi, originally uploaded by shuopio.

At Farnborough visiting the Fink family

At Farnborough visiting the Fink family, originally uploaded by shuopio.

valmiina matkaan - ready for take off!

valmiina matkaan - ready for take off!, originally uploaded by shuopio.

We'll be at UK in two days!

This year I (Simo) have pretty OK holidays, total of six weeks - I cannot complain! Because of this we will be able to come to UK for about a week, starting this Thursday! We're wery excited but also a bit anxious, this is a first real trip abroad with Kerttu onboard. And boy it does change things a bit! ;) I bet it will be fine, but the thing just makes the preparations more hassle than normally.

So, we will arrive at Heathrow in Thursday (2nd) afternoon, and leaving the next Wednesday (8th). From Saturday onwards we will be staying at an B&B at Woking. If you wish to meet and greet, and we've not made any plans with you before give us a buzz. Because of Kerttu's early sleeptime (7 to 8pm at latest) we will be retreating to the B&B rather early each day, but its possible to meet also there.

CU soon!

sauna obscura @ töölönlahti

sauna obscura @ töölönlahti, originally uploaded by shuopio.