Groovin' on a Tuesday Afternoon

Isabella really likes dancing. I don't know if all kids are like this, but any music played anywhere will start her grooving. Even a commercial on TV or a phone ringing. It is so funny. It happens many times a day and luckily I caught this one on my phone. What a cutiepie!

DVDs, Pumpkins and Fun in the Bath

I have to say that I have been a little lazy these past two weeks when it comes to the blog. The problem has been that I have been addicted to watching the first three seasons of Grey's Anatomy and picking up the DVDs that Isabella takes off the shelves many times per day. She seems to like to take them off but doesn't seem to put them back. We will have to work on that! I think that we go through this process about 5-6 times per day. But I guess since it keeps her entertained, I can handle it. You may be thinking "Wow, you mean she doesn't get into those other cupboards?" And the answer to that is that they are all taped shut except for that one with the DVDs.

























We also carved a pumpkin here. And not only was that the first time for Isabella, but Katriina had never done it before either! So I gave some pointers and we had a good time scooping and cutting. We decided to make it a scary pumpkin...just to scare the people outside who are not used to having a jack o'lantern staring at them.














Isabella also got a new set of bibs that cover more than the average. Which is good when she we let her feed herself. These photo don't do justice to the destruction that Isabella wreaked on the table.




We also caught up with Isabella's youngest cousin (who, if you can't tell from the photo, is 6 months younger). He is almost the same size and weight as Isabella despite her being twice his age! When Samppa weighed the two of them, there seemed to only be about 400g difference...or about 14oz. It was strange to see such a big baby that can't hold up its own head or sit up. He is a lovely quiet baby who drools a lot...he is also quite smiley.

And finally, oooh the fun we have had, Isabella decided to christen the bath for the first time (took her long enough) and she pooped in the bath! Luckily it was Taneli's turn to bath her...hee hee.

Enjoying Autumn

Now that most of the leaves are on the ground and the weather has been pretty good, Isabella and I have been able to enjoy a little time outside. On Sunday we went for a walk to where there is a little 'village' of little summer houses. It is an enchanting place that we stumbled upon in the summer. It looks like a place where hobbits live since all the houses are so tiny (I think that they average is about 20 sqm (about 200 sqft)! These places are only about 500 hundred metres from our place and I would love to own one. It would be great to have a place in the 'country' so close to home! I guess that it is kinda like an allotment but you can stay there in a nice little house and you have a good-sized yard rather than just a place to grow veggies.



Isabella has been lucky enough to play in the fallen leaves. The caretaker of the building had kindly (and unbeknownst to him) blown the leaves into a nice pile for us to frolic in. Her reluctance at first was quite cute and she did a very good job of not putting all the leaves in her mouth.



I did try to get her to crawl in the leaves...and got down into them myself... but she didn't really go for that. It would have been nice to go back to play more but it has been raining.





















I just wanted to share these photos with you. Katriina and I took them near a cafe we visited. It is funny because she is sitting on a small cliff...all alone. Exactly where all babies should be. hahaha

A couple of videos

Here is one video we made yesterday evening and one that was made a while ago:

Isabella's Words

This morning while having breakfast I will swear Isabella said "cheese". Although there was no actual cheese in sight, she had given a cheesy grin and I said "cheese" and then she copied me. I swear! So I tried again and nothing...just smiles then. But on a more regular basis she seems to be saying other words...like mama and dada...sometimes papa...but I think that is just a sound. She tends to copy many sounds now. Katriina was trying to get her to say "napa" but no luck...she can say "na" and "pa" but prefers to just repeat them together rather than mixing and matching sounds. For quite a while she has been able to say "vauva" which means baby in Finish...not sure if she has meant it but she has said that for months now. Same with "hyvä". I will try to find/make some footage and I will let you make up your own minds! That may take a day or two though. And in lieu of that for the moment, I will just add a few recent photos that represent the past week...

first we have:




"the great diaper escape"




then there is the



"Haha, I got away...oh, I better smile, the camera's on me"








we have the



"no, I didn't do anything"








and the last one from when we went to the park on the weekend...



"hey Dad, is that you up there?"

"Professional" Photos

On Sept 10th Isabella and I went over to my friend Irene's house and took some photos of Isabella. I had admired the photos of her children on her Facebook page and when she told me that she had done them and offered to take some of Isabella, I was very excited. The professional photos we had done of Isabella (and us) when she was 6 months old were, for me anyway, a complete disappointment. Not only that, the photographer put her on one of those sheep wool rugs and caused her eczema to flare up! So let's just say that I was excited that we may get some quality photos from Irene! And as you can see, I have not been disappointed! These are great photos. I even managed to get into a couple of them...heehee.