Tunnel of fun

So we have changed her play mat into its final phase...a tunnel. At first Isabella was very wary of it and refused to go in it. But now she has discovered it, she loves it! It is even light enough for her to drag around...or get her leg caught on it.










Last Wednesday Isabella had a pre-arranged Dr appointment. A Dr we had never seen before. And after about 10 minutes of us sitting there and him asking me some questions, he made the grand declaration that Isabella was "kind of lazy"!! I couldn't believe it. She gets around everywhere! You leave her for a few moments and you never know where you will find her. But because she wasn't doing a couple of things like trying to stand yet, he declared that she was lazy. The cheek! What makes it even more difficult to take is that we went to the midwife just the week before (the same woman since Isabella was born) and she was saying how active she was...probably because she lets Isabella play on her floor when we talk unlike the Dr who had me hold her on my lap.


We all went to Aunty Lotta's Graduation party yesterday. These first two photos are before we left for the party. That is Isabella's new party dress that we got from Monsoon (only affordable because of the sales!!). We were the red family.















There was lots of family there and Isabella was finally able to meet her last Lallukka aunt, Marjut. Yet again, Isabella was happy to be held by a new person that she has never seen before! Hope that she isn't so easy to go to strangers in the future...that could be problematic!



We had lots of fun even in the face of the hottest day of the year. We were all sweating inside the building but there was lots of yummy food. So the women were all sat inside with the food and the men were outside with the kids...good and bad in both those situations. You can see from our rosy cheeks, that this is just before we were leaving!

A moment of quiet

One has to take advantage of a moment of quiet in a house with an 8 month old baby...and that is what I am going to do now. Isabella seems to be enjoying her voice these days. She is yelling and screaming her little heart out...mostly in fun. Although I think the fun stops with her. I can only imagine what the neighbours are thinking! So far July has been quiet full of fun we have been enjoying the good weather. Although it has not been the usual warmth Finns expect for July, I think that it has been just fine. It has been between 18 and 25...with very few days of rain. I have a suitable farmer tan...what more could a girl ask for???











We all attended the first opening of Cafe Assa (both of the A's have dots on top). This was a kind of Finnish version of the Lemonade stand...Sampo and Siiri (both 8 years old) needed some money to buy a computer game so they opened a small cafe in their play house. Well actually the house was more like the kitchen...we sat at a table in the garden. The weather looked a little iffy but the rain held off and it was lovely.



Isabella has been whizzing along in her food tasting...here you can see how much she enjoys prunes. A little after this was taken, I let her take the spoon...what fun she had! The food around her mouth was only a precursor to what she looked like afterwards! Too bad there is no photo of that...but it was just too bad to take the time for a photo.














Isabella has also been motoring around like a new army cadet crawling under netting...minus the gun of course...that would just be dangerous! But she has now worked out how to get over the hump onto the balcony...gonna have to keep an eye on her.




She has been eating her books for a while...she really likes to use those two teeth she has and she really likes to eat "Whose Bottom?"





Yesterday Isabella and I had a girl's road trip when we went to go visit Eija (in the photo) at her summer house (not the white tent in the background...hahaha). We went first thing in the morning (well, most normal people's first thing...not Isabella's! That would have been waaay to early for anyone) and we had breakfast there. The weather was great and we just relaxed and chatted...and screamed. Isabella had so much fun ripping up the grass and surprisingly didn't put it in her mouth as much as I would have expected!


You can also see how she tackles obstacles...no problem at all. and straight onto the interesting grass.

First week of July

So this first week has been full of fun. She got to go to visit with lots of family during the 90th birthday party that was had for her great-grandmother. She also went "swimming" in the lake near the Lallukka summer house. She looks seriously buff in her fancy suit that we bought in Canada. At the party Isabella was able see some other relatives...you can see her with her Uncle (and Godfather) Tuomas and Aunt Katriina...and cousin Aarne. Can you believe that he is only about 8 weeks old?! He is almost as big as Isabella! The black and white photo is of Isabella and her cousin Aletta.




















Isabella also got her very own seat so that she can eat dinner with us. We got one of those that attaches to the table...easy to travel with and doesn't take up too much room in the kitchen! And you can tell that she is Finnish because she is already reading at the dinner table! Seriously bad habit of the Finns...no one bothers with polite dinner conversation!






We also made a trip to Toys r'us...I think that we had more fun than Isabella...















Then we had more fun with Isabella at the grocery store...

And this last photo is just a cute one where you can see her teeth!