Aspen: Two Months and Growing Like a Tree...

We are finally settling into life with Aspen; at the end of the two month mark life does not feel as overwhelming as the first month. The big news this months is that we made some progress on the colic adventure. We hired the local "zone therapist" to pay us a visit, who had come highly recommended by our midwife and a few Finnish friends. Zone therapy is otherwise known as foot reflexology. She visited us August 1 and again on August 5. The first session was grueling...as the therapist massaged the stomach and neck areas in her feet, Aspen screamed at the top of her lungs. It was rough to watch. But, the therapist assured us that her response was a good indication of what was to come. The second session we had a totally different baby, Aspen laid calmly throughout the session with the exception of a few cries for milk. After the second session the 3-4 hour colicky sessions slowly decreased to maybe 30 minutes every so often. Who knows if the zone therapy was the cause of colic reduction and/or if her digestive system matured...but, we are convinced that the zone therapist helped. 

Here are a few other thoughts about the second month:

1.) Charlie went back to work and it has been a major adjustment for me. Now I have to master the art of baby juggling solo...how to go to the bathroom, take a shower, make breakfast and lunch, clean the house, etc. with a baby who does not sleep much during the day. I decided very early in the second month I am not cut out to be a stay-at-home mom, but will attempt to enjoy nine months of maternity leave.
2.) Aspen's birth certificate and passport arrived this month. Time to prepare for her FIRST trip abroad (to meet the grandparents) at the end of August.
3.) Baby acne and cradle cap (on the eyebrows) made an appearance (and luckily a disappearance) this month. Nothing like a beautiful baby with a few blemishes...poor thing! I kept calling her "lizard" as the skin on her eyebrows continued to layer up and flake off.
4.) A close friend of ours had her baby baptized and now we are discussing whether we should do the same. The problem is that I am more spiritual than religious and do not belong to a church. Charlie belongs to a church, but has not attended in numerous years.
5.) We took our first walk (outside) with Aspen "baby dangling" from the Baby Bjorn sling. She actually enjoyed it (and fell asleep) and did not scream from the top of her lungs. Woohoo...good practice for our big trip abroad.
6.) Our doula came over and again we discussed the birth in more detail. She did tell us that during the pushing session Aspen's heartbeat took two very large dips (neither Charlie or I knew this). Now, we understand why the head midwife busted into the room all frantic.
7.) I had my six week check-up and all was good although that deep pain in my derriere region is likely to be a bruised tailbone from the birth. It is supposed to slowly heal on it's own time. In the meantime, I look like I am 90 years old when I slowly get up from sitting.
8.) Aspen is smiling and cooing and giggling in her sleep: precious!
9.) At the end of the second month Aspen has officially grown out of her newborn clothes.
10.) Now, time to begin packing for her FIRST international trip and airplane ride. Woohoo! Bring on month three!

A Greek Blessing

Our favorite Greek family came over to visit and brought with them a Greek blessing for Aspen.

They asked to use a blanket of Aspen's for the blessing. 

First, they spread cotton on the blanket symbolizing longevity.

Next, they placed an egg on the cotton symbolizing fertility.

Finally, they poured sugar on it wishing Aspen a sweet life and happiness.

Then, they placed the blanket in Aspen's bed (the Finnish box).

The next day when Charlie was frantically looking for a towel to wipe up Aspen's spit-up, he grabbed the blanket and sugar, cotton, and the egg flew all over the bed and the floor. I am not sure the blessing was intended to literally go all over the place, but we think that spilling it brought out the strength of the blessing.

This is Where We Live (Video)!

A better view of where we live...

Lakeside Livin'

The large balcony.

In June we moved to the lakeside neighborhood, called Lutakko, in Jyväskylä. At first I was a little reluctant to move to the other side of the railroad tracks because it was a little further away from the city center. But actually I have become very fond of our new neighborhood and I LOVE our apartment. 

The living room.

The flat has two bedrooms (one that operates as our office/baby room), an enormous balcony, hardwood floors, and an abundance of natural lighting (in the summer that is). The sauna and heated floors will make the bathroom a favorite spot during the winter months. The lake is right outside our front door which makes taking Aspen on a walk so convenient. Luckily, this summer has given us a fair share of sunny and beautiful days, so moving here has certainly paid off...already!

The bathroom with a sauna (shiny doors) and a heated floor.

And, the 15 minute walk to the city center has been a good way to burn off those extra baby kg/lbs. 

Aspen: One Month...Sleep Deprivation, Smiles, and Colic!

Well, we celebrated our first month with Aspen this week. It is hard to believe that it has been a month since the birth...we have learned so much in such a short period of time.

10 things (raw and unfiltered) we have learned the first month:

1.) We quickly learned that neither of us function very well on a limited amount of sleep, but the hormones running through my body gave me an upper-hand in the sleep deprivation department.

2.) Breastfeeding is not always as easy or beautiful or joyful as everyone talks about it. Up until just a few days ago I would say it sucked (both literally and figuratively). Thank goodness we had a breastfeeding doula to help us through the challenging moments, because now we are exclusively breastfeeding her (no more formula--yeah!)

3.) We seem to believe that our daughter is "developmentally awesome" she began holding her head up at 2.5 weeks old and she began smiling around that time too. But, the best was when she giggled while sleeping at 3 weeks (so adorable!)

4.) While we both hoped for an angel baby...as karma will have it...we actually got somewhat of a colicky baby. Ugh! Aspen's little digestive system is still immature which means that most of our nights have been filled with bloody murder screaming and crying up to 3 hours in duration. Luckily, Charlie is able to cope with the crying, because my hormones simply send me into a crying mess too. You just feel helpless.

5.) Paternity leave is amazing! Charlie has been home the entire first month of Aspen's life which is such a blessing. During this time, we both experienced the ups and downs of bringing a newborn home and we grew even closer as a couple. This time together, as a new family, was a gift and we will cherish it forever! Now it's time for Aspen and I to experience the days together sans super-daddy/husband (Charlie goes back to work July 26).

6.) We have realized that friends (and family) are so very important during the first month (and probably months to come...) We are blessed to have a cadre of amazing international friends here who have helped us feel human in an otherwise chaotic existence. Of course, this first month has also made us miss our family like crazy!

7.) We never knew how much poop would become a topic of everyday conversation...really?! (My little kid bro is probably jumping up and down as he reads this, because until this moment of my life I refused to have these conversations!)

8.) Warm delicious meals...ha, what's that?! One love that Charlie and I have always shared is the love of cooking (together). Even though we attempt to cook almost every night (usually not together), cooking and eating has never been so unpleasant. The motto these days, "hurry up and cook/eat, before Aspen starts to cry."

9.)The best way to get over any germ-a-phobic tendencies: have a baby!

10.) Having a newborn is a major life transition filled with highs and lows, some days are better than other days...but in the end life is better with Aspen!

Our First Adventure Without Aspen

Aspen (on left) meets her new friend, Tove.

Our dear friends, Terhi & Oscar, have also experienced a new baby adventure.They gave birth to their daughter a two and a half weeks prior to Aspen's arrival. They kindly offered to take Aspen for a few hours today and babysit her. Oh my, what should we do?! We reluctantly took them up on their offer (reluctantly only because Aspen has been showing symptoms of colic lately and we were hesitant to give that problem to Terhi & Oscar). But, it all worked out...Charlie and I escaped to the Figaro Wine Bar for my first glass of wine (postpartum) and a lovely late lunch. Of course, my emotions were running high and so when Charlie very genuinely asked how was I doing...the next thing I knew I was crying in my glass of wine. After a quiet lunch we walked back, hand in hand, to pick up our lovely little daughter. The first thing Terhi said was, "Aspen has a set of lungs..." Oh no!

Colic & the Football Hold!

Super-hubby has now become super-daddy! Our nights have been filled with colic screaming and crying...so, the football hold (that Charlie is displaying here) has become a favorite. Super-dad is amazing when it comes to calming Aspen during these intense crying episodes (I just feel helpless and I cry). Since it has been consistently happening almost every night (since bringing her home from the hospital) between the "witching hours" of 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. we have decided to schedule an appointment with a zone therapist (foot reflexology) next week. This zone therapist was actually suggested by our midwife and a few of our friends--she is known to work wonders with colicky babies. More on this later...

Working with a Newborn

And this is what you see when Aspen actually sleeps...mom attempting to get some work done and eating all at the same time (oh, and pumping too...although we will spare you the graphic image of that).

Aspen's Nationality and Passport Adventure!

When a child is born in Finland, they are not automatically granted Finnish nationality unless one of their biological parents are Finnish. This means that our little Aspen did not qualify for Finnish nationality and thus we had to apply for U.S. nationality. The application and paperwork was quite extensive and we decided to apply for a passport and social security number all at the same time which meant tripling the paperwork. The most challenging aspect of all of this: the passport photo! Imagine how difficult it is to get a photo of a newborn with both eyes open, mouth closed, both ears visible, and no arms/hands in the photo. Oh my! It took us three visits to the photo shop before we realized we would have better luck taking the photo on our own. After a few photo shoots, we managed to capture ONE good photo (that the guy at the photo shop had to photoshop!)

After sending in the paperwork, we received an email from the U.S. consulate with the date and time of an appointment in the Helsinki consulate, July 17 at 10:30 a.m. We decided to make a trip out of it and spent the night in Helsinki. Aspen's first train ride was a success as she slept most of the way there and back.

Our visit to the U.S. consulate went well. In less than one hour we met with a foreign service worker, they went through all of our paperwork, we paid 164 euro, and we signed off on all of the papers. Now to wait one month for the passport and nationality documents!

Aspen: Two Weeks Old

During tummy time, we discovered that Aspen is "developmentally awesome" (as we call it)...she can already lift her head.

Aspen: One Week Old

As we learn to live with a newborn, these quiet cuddle  moments are the best!

Our First Trip...Out of the House

We had to make our way back to the hospital for another blood draw to make sure that Aspen's bilirubin levels were stable. Good news...no more blue light, her bilirubin levels are normal!

Today was filled with a lot of firsts...

It was our first trip out of the house since coming home from the hospital yesterday.

It was the first time we tried out the pram/buggy/stroller (that we call the "SUV" because it is rather large and it is engineered to cut through snow, gravel, cobblestone, and anything else that gets in its way).

It was Aspen's first time on a public bus. 

It was the first time we went shopping to the grocery store with Aspen. 

And, it all went well...no major meltdowns. 

Aspen Sophia Makes Her Grand Appearance!

She's here and we are in love!

Aspen Sophia Weimer Mathies

June 24, 2013

10:15 p.m. 

3.66 kilos/8.07 pounds

20+ hours of labor (2.5 hours of pushing)

Midsummer: The Calm Before the Storm!

40 weeks with "Binsi Birth" gear!

Midnight sun...on the longest day of the year.

Midsummer is one of the biggest holidays in Finland. It marks the Summer Solstice and most Finns celebrate by going to their summer cottage or spending the weekend outside enjoying the midnight sun. For us, midsummer weekend was a "stay-cation" of total nesting (the calm before the storm). We kept talking to our baby in the belly and telling her that this weekend was not a good time to enter the world and she actually listened to her parents. It allowed us time to make one of our favorite and very time-intensive casseroles, Greek Moussaka, we took a few naps,

Thank you packages for hospital staff.

I made "thank you" packages for the hospital staff (see photo), we watched a movie, took a few walks along the lake (including a midnight walk on the longest day of the year) and we put the finishing touches on our new apartment.
Now I think we are officially ready for her to come into our world. 

It's Official...There are TWO Doctors in the House!

Nice! My parents sent this photo to my email inbox today. It's official...I have a PhD!