3BT: Random Days

1. My SIL's baby's heartbeats have been confirmed to be stable. So hopefully there will be a healthy baby in August or September this year. Another grandchild for my Mom! :-D

2. After being told that he'd be a big brother, 4 y.o. Ken told his Mom, "You know, I'd love to have a big sister, too." LOL LOL!!! GOOD LUCK with that!!! :-D

3. Seeing perfectly lovely ice flakes forming around my bike saddle. Here are a few pics that I took. 

I took the first pic with an anti-shake mode and the result was blurry, so I took the second one with a regular mode and a flash. The third one is the cropped-up pic of the second one. 

4. Seeing my friend's VERY cute baby pics (after two miscarriages, finally she could get this healthy baby) and I was among the first to receive the pics via email. :-D

5. Spending time with my friend in Rovaniemi after shopping there for a bit he he he he...

6. An uninterrupted long sleep after having a rough night the other day.

The Beauty of Technology

Have so many stories to tell, but haven't been in the mood to blog or blog-hop. Yesterday my brother was online at night in Indo and then we tried using the "call" feature in Yahoo Messenger. He was using his laptop without any headset, whereas I had to use my headset to speak. We also both used our webcams. Fortunately I could hear their voices even though their internet connection wasn't that great - the voice quality wasn't that great, but it was OK enough for me to hear as long as I wasn't talking at the same time as they were saying something to me.

At that time, Ken was still awake, so I could hear him sing and count from one to 10 - I was AMAZED 'coz he said the numbers VERY quickly (as though he knew them by heart already). He'll be 2 years old in two months and he knows his ABCs already and he can sing many songs from start to end. Of course his pronunciation is still cutish in some parts (for example he calls me Aunty Ameh instead of Amel), but I could still understand many things he said he he he...

One time my bro and wife asked him to sing a song and then Ken sang it and after that he clapped his hands HA HA HA HA HA...It's just AMAZING to be able to see his progress in learning many things. I was SO happy 'coz I could hear his voice AND see him in action through the webcam (though the webcam picture streaming wasn't too smooth and there was a delay but it was OK). I realized even more how precious it was to be able to communicate this way with my family in Bandung. THANK GOD for technology!!!

Yesterday's phone and chat conference made me want to go back to Indo again so badly. Can't wait for next year - hope next year there won't be any obstacle for BOTH of us to go back to Indo. I want to play with Ken and I bet next year he'll be even MORE chattier than now he he he he he...

Anyway, here's a pic of Ken with my Mom taken at least a few months ago...

Ken in Real Life

Yep, I haven't had time to write about my Indo Trip. I've been busy cooking, baking, and doing other things he he he...

Anyway, Ken in real life is just like what my Mom described him. He's SO active. When I arrived there in the beginning of November, he could walk a few steps without help already, but 'coz he was such in a rush (he always wants to walk SO fast), he still grabbed our fingers whenever he wanted to go around the house. However, about a week before I flew back to Finland, he started walking on his own.

First he started walking with his hands high up (to keep his balance), then every passing day he lowered his hands bit by bit until he could walk pretty normally, though he was still making our hearts skip a beat whenever he tried turning around and round and round after walking (thus making him lose his balance). He also still didn't know how to pace himself yet - his legs went that way whereas his eyes looked the other way...making us have to be WARY of things that might be in his way that could harm him.

So as you can imagine, it's still SO tiring to take care of him 'coz of this phase. I have to admit that I'm amazed at the rate of how a little child learns, though. He can't talk well yet, but he understands so much already. For example if people tell him, "Where's Auntie Amel?" he'd turn to me. He started doing that the day I came to Bandung - it means he recognized me though he had never seen me in real life (but my family had always been pointing to my photo and telling him who I was). And whenever I ask him something (for example "Where's the bear?") he'd point to the right object. Amazing!!! Amazing how the brain thinks...it makes me a bit envious, too...wish I could absorb Finnish THAT fast HA HA HA HA HA HA...

Anyway, it was HARD to take good pics of Ken 'coz he wanted to grab my camera and see himself there, so let me just share the link to Ken's videos. Note that the first 5 videos in the album is my friend's son's videos. I've written down the titles of the videos there.

Ken's Videos

Here are a couple of pics of Ken:

1st pic: He just LOVES umbrellas for some reason. He'd look up at the opened umbrella and just be amazed at it. Funny thing is that my cousin's and friend's sons were also like that at that age.


2nd pic: We were at a a mall and Ken got a balloon. In this pic he kept on waving the balloon around so it was hard to take a good pic of him with us hi hi...


3rd pic: Look at his new hat! HA HA HA...


4th pic: He pretended to cry 'coz he wanted to grab the camera and my bro wouldn't let him hi hi hi...


I'm TOTALLY amazed that such a small child (12/13-month-old child) can PRETEND to cry just to get what he wants. Geez...Once he gets what he wants, he'd drop the act right away and smile.

Ken LOVES playing with us, too, especially hide-and-seek. He'd run to the back of his bedroom door and stand still for a minute or two until one of us tries to find him. He also loves another game of hide-and-seek where he'd jump into the arms of me or his helper or his Mom and then he'd want to be chased by somebody else. For example he's in his Mom's arms and I have to chase him from afar. He'd giggle and laugh and jumps around in his Mom's arms if I do that. And he'd want to repeat the fun over and over and over again he he he...so I have to hide first in the other room(s) and then shout out, "Where's Ken? Where's Ken?" and he'd start jumping in glee right away in his Mom's arms even before I start running towards him to catch him he he he...

One time he wanted to "switch places", so he jumped from the bed to my arms 'coz he wanted his Mom to chase him he he he...I had to hold him really tightly - otherwise he might fall down 'coz he was jumping around in my arms with all his might he he he...it was really fun to be childlike when a kid is around!!! :-D

Ken's Latest Pictures

A day before I was supposed to fly to Indo, my brother sent me these latest pics of Ken. Now I'm finally able to see his laughing faces he he he he...Can't believe he's a year already! WOW!!!

Second pic: Look at his first car!!! He got it as a birthday present from his grandpa he he...

This last pic is my FAVE one!!! I'm going to take many video clips of him later on HO HO HO HO...I wanna see him in action and hear his voice! :-D

Splish Splash Again

Well, first of all I'd love to state my deep sympathy for the loss of Magick, Arctic Rainbow's beloved cat. He died on the operating table. :-(((( I got a few chances to play with him, so HE WILL BE MISSED!!!


Sorry for the absence. Have been so tired lately and last night when I was going to blog here, I met one of my closest friends online. It has always been SO hard to be able to chat with her since she has a young son, so we made the best of the time we had. It was such a NICE LONG CHAT!!!

Work-wise, my second project is almost done. I still have to think about my third project (decorating the music books' area), but I'm not in a hurry. Besides, the manager doesn't force me to do anything if I don't want to, so let's see what I can come up with he he he...

I can't wait for the end of this month when we're going to get the keys for the new apartment and then we can start moving our things bit by bit there. We still have to pay this apartment's rent until the end of next month, so that means we still have one month to move our things to the new apartment. Plus we have to clean up this apartment before we leave it for good. So it'll take time now that I'm training almost full-time. But don't worry, friends, I'll take some pics later on to show you our new place he he he...I still haven't seen it myself!!! ;-D

GREAT news is that turns out there's a public sauna there, RIGHT beside our front door HA HA HA HA HA HA...And since there are only 2 other apartments next to ours, that means there would only be maximum 6-8 other people living there, so that means even though it's a public sauna, we'll get plenty of chance to use it if we want to. YIIIIIHHHHHAAAAAAAAA!!!!! ;-D

What else? Oh yeah, I've the honor to receive this award from Michelle Dawn and also a tag. THANK YOU SO MUCH for your kind words, Dawn!!!



Here are the rules:

1. Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer.

2. Select the 4th picture in the folder.

3. Explain the picture.

4. Tag 4 people to do the same.


So, as you can see, it's a picture of Ken, my bro's baby hi hi hi...with my Christmas tree. Yep, it was my Christmas tree, given on my birthday by my friend. :-))))

I called my Mom the other day. She's been taking care of Ken along with a helper (it's hard for my Mom to get up and down the stairs to hang clothes to dry) since my SIL has got back to work. Mom says that Ken seems to want to be a drummer or something, since he LOVES moving his body around or tapping his feet. Here's another pic of Ken hi hi hi...



I showed the pics to my MIL and she was cooing happily while looking at the pics HE HE HE HE HE HE HE...

OK, time for my very needed nap and then I'll blog-hop, OK? Hope everybody's fine!!!

Girls' Day + Ken

Soon enough after lunch I'm going to walk to my friend's house and stay there until R2 picks me up since it's pretty cold out there hi hi hi...And in the evening I'll go visit another friend HUA HA HA HA HA HA HA...

Since tomorrow as usual I'll go to Kelujärvi, I'm afraid I'll be MIA until Saturday night or Sunday morning. After all, this is my last weekend of freedom before my training starts. What are you doing this weekend, people?????? Have a BLESSED weekend, friends!!!

This morning when I checked my mailbox, found several pics of Ken from my brother. YIIIHAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!! Here are some of them...








I'm never good at deciding whether a baby looks more like the dad or the mom, so what do you think? Does Ken look more like my bro or Shen? Or is it too early to tell? HE HE HE HE HE...

Two days ago I called Mom and Shen picked up the phone. After hearing stories about Ken from her and Mom, I think Ken's such a strong boy. I'm GLAD to hear that he's healthy. Funny thing is that the doctor says that he doesn't cry enough, so when they visited the doctor, he told them to let him cry for a minute HE HE HE HE HE HE...

Well, as is the tradition in Indonesia, both my bro and Ken are going to give some cake to all the people who've given them gifts for Ken. Guess how many cakes they are ordering? 260!!! Yes, you read it right!!!

I can't imagine how crazy it'll be for them. That's why they decide to separate the cake-sending-process into THREE days and they'll ask some cousins' help to do that. My bro even takes some days off from work due to this reason he he he he he...but the good news is that Shen says that probably they don't need to buy clothes for Ken until he's 4 or 5 years old HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...

Now you understand why they had 700 wedding guests, right? Each of them have MANY friends and both families are BIG families and they have MANY church friends, too. Tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk...I'm GLAD they're happy and healthy, though. ;-D

P.S. Upon seeing the pics, without realizing it, I started talking to Ken's pictures as if he were right in front of me HUA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...

Baby Ken

Baby Ken arrived at the PERFECT timing for many reasons. I'll explain them all to you in this post. First of all, Arttu and I got to see the little bundle of joy 1,5 days before we were about to fly back to Finland.

On October 22nd at around 5.30 pm, we got a phone call from my SIL's father, saying that my SIL was taken to the hospital earlier and they told her to stay there. We didn't know much more about what was happening. So my Mom decided to go there. Since I was worried of her having to take a public transit alone, I decided to go along with her and I took Arttu as well. I was torn between leaving R2 at home or taking him with me, but he said he'd come.

About half an hour later, we arrived at the hospital and we could pop in to see my SIL who had an IV already by then. The doctor put her on an IV since her water broke at around 5 pm, but still no signs of contractions. So they had to make her start having contractions right away. When we got there, my brother was feeding her in the labour room. They told her to eat so that she could get enough strength to push.

So we waited in the waiting room in front of the labour room she was in. There were already my SIL's parents and younger brother. Not long after that, her aunt and uncle came by to wait, as well. The contractions started becoming steady at around 7 pm (she was 2 cm dilated by then). So started the hellish hours!!! At one point, I could hear her crying softly for a little while from outside. My Mom was SO worried about her already that she also cried and she started praying right then and there.

We waited and waited...and at around 8.45 pm, the nurse said that she was already 7 cm dilated. So we were sure that it wouldn't take until midnight before the baby was born. At around 9.30 pm, the doctor came in to assist the labour. The baby was born at 9.45 pm and my SIL only needed to push twice. She half-screamed on the first push, but then I heard nothing else (I was standing right in front of the room to listen to the progress). Then I heard a baby's cry HE HE HE HE HE HE...and everybody who was sitting in the waiting room came out and praised the Lord! ;-D

A while later, the nurse came out with the bundle of joy and she asked if we wanted to look at him. He was SOOOOO CUTEEEEEEEEEEEEE, even though he was still "damp" he he he...However, he looked so small, too! He was born 3.1 kgs, 51 cm tall.

I saw him sneeze while we were looking at him hi hi hi...then he was taken to the baby's room. A while later, my brother came out and we congratulated him. My SIL was still "being taken care of" inside. Only after some time could we get in to congratulate her. Her legs were still shaking slightly, but she was smiling so widely. She said she was hungry he he he he he...

Almost forgot...the doctor came out afterward and said, "WOWWWWW...so many supporters!!!! Congratulations to all of you!" and then he shook hands with all of us he he he...

We were all SO glad that it went smoothly and fast!!! It's considered very fast, esp. for a first baby!!!

Anyway, another reason why the baby was born at perfect timing was that my brother had decided that the next day (October 23rd), before he found out that the baby was going to be born on October 22nd, he'd start taking his leave (he hadn't taken any leave this year). So that day, October 22nd, he went straight to the hospital from work and the next day he could stay by his wife's side without worrying about work he he he...

The other reason about the perfect timing is that the baby and the mother went back to my parents' house a day after Arttu and I went to Jakarta by bus to fly back to Finland. SO, my parents didn't have time to miss us too much since the baby would occupy so much of their time. Isn't that WONDERFUL????????

OK, now here are two pics of the baby. Unfortunately they're not too clear, esp. since he was put in that "warming box". He was feeling cold, so the doctor decided to put him in that warming box for a few days. (Note: My bro's promised to send more pics of Ken later on, so hopefully I'll get clear pics to share!)





Here's Ken's crib he he he...


And here's a short video clip R2 took of Ken. :-))))