Happy Baby

Someone has got a seat by the dining table.

It is even better when you've got company!

Finnish Babies Do Sleep In Cardboard Boxes

A couple of days ago, there was a news article on the BBC website titled 'Why Finnish babies sleep in cardboard boxes'.

If you are a Finn, you won't find anything weird in this. But if you are from somewhere else, you might be intrigued to read the article.

To put this shortly, every Finnish* mother gets a free package from the state before their baby is born. The package includes for example a snow suit, other clothes, a bath towel, nail scissors, a book, a teething toy and some muslin squares.

A quiz: find three products that were included in the maternity package in 2010

And yes, there is a mattress that fits the box!

Many parents find a full sized crib to be too large for a newborn to sleep in. The box is smaller and thus like a cozy nest for the small baby. Mothers often make some paddings for the edges of the box, but you can also buy some.

It is not a matter of not having afford to buy a small bed for the baby, but rather it is seen unnecessary to buy one that will be used only for a couple of months.

I took the maternity package when I was pregnant with Fräulein. It was not that we wouldn't be able to find all necessary things ourselves, but it was just nice to receive the package with such a long history. When I was pregnant with Baby, we already had most of the things saved from the first package, so I chose the 140 euros instead.

Neither of our girls have slept in the box, as we had my old baby bed for them to sleep in. Baby is still sleeping her nights in it, but in a month or so, we are going to change to the bigger crib, in which Herr Welle has slept when he was a baby!

Fräulein's first day at home and she is sleeping in my old baby bed

But yes, it is a true story, many Finnish babies do sleep in cardboard boxes!

*) you need to be entitled to the Finnish social security 


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Suomalaisille tässä äitiyspakkauslaatikossa nukkumisessa ei ole mitään ihmeellistä, mutta BBC:llä se ylitti uutiskynnyksen aiemmin tällä viikolla!

I Like To Move It, Move It...

A friend of mine used this song in her Facebook status yesterday and I have been singing it since...

So, you're welcome! ;)

Baby is not yet turning or crawling, but she is definitely moving:

Three minutes on the play mat and she is out...

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Vaikka Baby ei vielä osaa kääntyä tai ryömiä, liikkeessä hän on kuitenkin! 

Getting To Know Sophie

It feels it was just yesterday when Fräulein was teething. But now it is happening with Baby.

It is time to go shopping for the anesthetic gel and let Baby meet Fräulein's former friend Sophie*.

*You can learn more about Sophie here: sophiethegiraffe.com 
This post has not been sponsored - we just happen to love Sophie 

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Babyllä alkavat jo ikenet kutista, joten nyt on taas aika hankkia "hammassalvaa" ja ottaa ystävämme Sophie esiin :)

What a Week! (Or One Third Of It...)

Last night, when I first started writing this post, I typed "What a week!". Then I realized it was only Tuesday evening...

Fräulein has been a bit ill since we got back from Finland. The sneezing and coughing started as soon as she was back in the Krippe. And last weekend she had some fever.

But early on Monday morning she started vomiting.

I was a bit worried. First of all, we had eaten brunch with friends on Sunday. One of them is 9 months pregnant and I really did not want her to have caught a stomach bug from Fräulein (I have first hand knowledge how it feels to be vomiting just a couple of weeks before the baby is due).

Secondly, Herr Welle was just leaving for a four day business trip, so I really didn't want Baby or myself to get sick.

I was certain it was a stomach bug, but luckily Herr Welle insisted on taking Fräulein to see a doctor, as it turned out to be an ear infection. That is not a nice diagnosis, but at least she could take antibiotics for it and she wasn't contagious.

The Monday evening alone with the girls was a bit demanding. Fräulein was whining about everything and it didn't help that I had to make her drink her antibiotics, wash her hair (because of the smell of vomit) and give her a suppository for sickness...

On Tuesday, the antibiotics were clearly working and Fräulein was full of energy. But because she hadn't really eaten anything since Saturday morning she was a bit cranky. Poor Baby, who had to tolerate Fräulein's whims...

Today we had another check-up with Fräulein's doctor. Her ear seems to be fine, although the virus causing the sneezing and coughing is still present. But we got the doctor's permission to go to the Krippe tomorrow.

These photos were taken at the doctor's office.
Today, I might add... :)

But now Baby is coughing... I hope we can still make it to her first play date tomorrow, because I would really appreciate some adult company!

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Fräulein on ollut Saksaan paluumme jälkeen nuhassa ja yskässä ja maanantaiaamuna hän alkoi oksentaa. Pahoinvoinnin syyksi paljastui korvatulehdus, johon saimme antibiootteja. Tulehdus alkaa nyt hellittää ja Fräulein on taas oma itsensä, tosin ehkä vähän kiukuttelevana versiona. Mutta nyt sitten on Babyn vuoro yskiä...

Baby with Strawberries

Baby had her U3* checkup with her doctor a couple of weeks ago. Everything was fine - she is one perfectly healthy baby.

When baby was a couple of weeks old, she got a couple of hemangiomas. Those are like big, red moles - in Finnish they are often called 'strawberry moles'. They usually appear soon after birth. During the first year of a baby's life they might grow, but after that they will get smaller and eventually disappear.

These strawberries appear most often in the face area, but Baby has one on her chest and another below her armpit.

Although hemangiomas are not dangerous, there is a small risk that they are formed inside the baby, too. And if those grew bigger, they could cause some problems.

Therefore Baby's doctor wanted to make an ultrasound scan for babies hearth and other inner organs. He could not find any other hemangiomas and at the same time we got to know that everything was perfectly normal with her hearts, kidneys and liver. Great!

One relaxed Baby

As I told you yesterday, Baby likes to sleep, so she didn't really mind being examined. Overall, I think it is nice to have all these non-invasive examinations done just to be on the safe side. There is no harm done to the baby, but in case something is wrong, it is good to be prepared.

Fräulein having a picnic while little sister is being examined.

*) Here in Germany, all children should have planned checkups (Untersuchung) with their doctors. These checkups are called U+number, so that U1 is done directly after birth and U10, when the child is 8 years old. 
You can read more about the healthcare of babies in Germany from my older post 'About Baby's Healthcare in Germany'

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Babyllä on pari mansikkaluomea ja U3-lääkärintarkastuksessa lääkäri halusi varmistaa, ettei niitä löydy sisäelimistä. Jos sisäiset hemangioomat kasvaisivat, ne voisivat aiheuttaa ongelmia. Ultraäänitutkimuksessa ei löytynyt mitään ja muutenkin varmistui, että sydän, munuaiset ja maksa ovat kunnossa. Hieno juttu!

Mielestäni on hyvä, että tällaiset asiat tutkitaan perusteellisesti. Itse tutkimus ei vahingoita lasta mitenkään (itse asiassa Baby nukkui koko tutkimuksen ajan...), mutta mikäli jotain on vialla, on hyvä, että siihen voidaan puuttua ajoissa.

Sleeping Beauty

When Fräulein was baby, she cried a lot because of colics. As I tried to talk to people (including her doctor) about this, I heard the comment "all babies cry, it is perfectly normal" ever so often. Even though the crying felt overwhelming, I thought that I was overreacting.

During her first weeks, Fräulein cried for a few hours every night between 5pm and 1am. The record was the night when she cried six hours straight. And it wasn't just some whining, but she was crying so hard that her face turned purple and at times there wasn't even a sound, as she was short of breath.

She was also a bit restless during the day time. It was very difficult to get her take her nap. And whenever we went out for shopping, I was constantly fearing for the moment she would start to cry, because it was not easy to calm her down.

Two weeks old Fräulein

All text books about babies tell you that the colics end by the time the baby is three months old. When you fear for the clock to turn 5pm every day, three months feels like ages! Fortunately, one mother of three children heard Fräulein crying in the baby room of Galerie Kaufhof and told me that it will get better, when the baby is nine weeks old. Nine weeks! It is significantly shorter time than three months.

And that was what happened. After turning nine weeks old, Fräulein did not have those evening cries anymore!

Baby is now nine weeks old and I can tell you: the crying of Fräulein was not normal. Baby does cry, of course, but she will also calm down when she is fed, burped or her nappy is changed. And then she will fall asleep, just like that.

Amazing!

As soon as Baby is placed in her pushchair or baby carrier,
she will fall asleep and sleep easily four hours straight.

Baby has now spent most of her life in the corner of our sofa. Mostly she has been sleeping, but now she is starting to observe the world more and more. She has her own throne built with a Doomoo feeding pillow. The pillow forms a cozy and safe nest for Baby. And she is in a slightly upright position, which makes it easier for her to burp and to look around, when she is awake.

Baby's Doomoo throne

Now that I have first hand knowledge about calm babies, I would like to travel back in time and tell to the two years younger Frau Welle that yes, that is definitely a lot of crying. I know it would not make Fräulein cry any less, but at least I wouldn't have to question my feelings.

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Fräulein kärsi koliikista ensimmäisinä elinviikkoinaan. Joka ilta ohjelmassa oli muutaman tunnin itku- (tai oikeastaan huuto-) kohtaus. Onneksi yhdeksän viikon iässä koliikki helpotti.

Baby on nyt yhdeksänviikkoinen. Vaikka Fräuleinin ollessa vauva kuulin paljon kommentteja "kaikki vauvat itkee", voin nyt kokemuksesta sanoa, että rajansa kaikella. Totta kai Babykin itkee, mutta rauhottuu myös helposti. Ja uni maistuu!

Too Good To Be True

***Warning! This post might exceed the too-much-knowledge limit of the most sensitive readers***

I should have known.

Everything went so well with the pregnancy. The only thing bothering me was the extreme exhaustion. The first three months I just wanted to sleep. And then again at the end of the pregnancy, I was very tired. I didn't even have the energy take my friend out for jumbo drinks, when she visited us in November! But otherwise everything was fine.

Then there was the child birth. Well, I didn't get the epidural this time either. But on the other hand, I had to spend less than twenty minutes at the maternity ward before Baby was born, so I guess I cannot complain.

But then there was my post-natal check up. The doctor found out that there was a piece of the placenta still attached. There was no specific reason for this, I just had 'extremely bad luck', as two different doctors put it.

So, on Thursday I had to go through an operation which included general anesthesia.

The setting for my Valentine's Day

I must admit that the eight days before the operation, when I had time to imagine it all in my head, were actually worse than the operation itself.

But now everything is fine. And most importantly, the baby is fine.

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Olisihan se pitänyt arvata, että jotain vastoinkäymisiä tulee. Raskausaika meni mukavasti, vaikka olinkin sekä alku- että loppuaikana todella väsynyt. Ja synnytys meni nopeasti, tosin en taaskaan ehtinyt saada toivomaani epiduraalipuudutusta. 

Mutta sitten jälkitarkastuksessa todettiin, että istukasta olikin jäänyt palanen jäljelle. Ja se piti poistaa nukutuksessa. Mukava ystävänpäivä! Mutta nyt kaikki on hyvin.

Hi, My Name Is Frau Welle And I'm an Engineer

Comparison of the weights of Fräulein and Baby

And the Child Was Born

This little one decided to be born in time
to spend her first Christmas at home.

Merry Christmas to you all!

Oh Boy!

So, finally to the great news I have...

I must say, that this has really started to feel like old news, as at least three other bloggers, who I follow, have recently shared similar news in their blogs...

Anyway, we are having another baby!

It is already the 22nd week of the pregnancy. I have been waiting to share this with you for so long, but we wanted to let our family and friends know about this face to face, when we spent the summer in Finland.

And I now I can finally confess that the reason it has been so quiet in my blog in the last couple of months, has been due to the fact that I have been sooooo tired. Especially in May, I was just laying on the sofa not being able to lift a finger.

But now I am feeling better and more energetic. I had the latest ultrasound on Friday and the baby is growing and otherwise OK, too!

And oh boy, we are having another girl! :D
(sorry, I did that on purpose...)

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Ja vihdoin niihin uutisiin: meille tulee toinen vauva! Raskaus on jo aika pitkällä, mutta halusimme kertoa asiasta kasvokkain kesän aikana mahdollisimman monelle. Mutta nyt teille muillekin tiedoksi, että Fräulein saa pikkusiskon! :)

Toothmeat

First two teeth about one year ago

It is teething time again.

It was a bit over one year ago, when Fräulein got her first two teeth. The first eight surfaced quite easily. She didn't seem be bothered about them during day time, but she was awake whining for one to two hours in the early hours during one night for each tooth.

But when it was time for the first molars, the problems started. As one molar tooth is like four smaller ones, she was awake for four nights for each tooth.

In the beginning of December, a couple of friends were visiting us. One of them has had her first child while living in Switzerland, so she was able to share a tip, which I have been very grateful of!

In the pharmacies, they sell some anesthetic gel especially for teething pain!

If you are from central Europe or UK, you probably think "yeah, so what's new?". But this is something you cannot find in Finland!

For about 4 euros, you can buy such a great relief! You just apply a small amount to the baby's gums. With Fräulein, I only do this before her bedtime. And I have later noticed that they sell this gel also in our local grocery store, Rewe!

After Fräulein's four molars, there was four month break in teething. During the last couple of week, she has had her first two eyeteeth. So, two more eyeteeth and four molars left from this baby teething period!

But what was the subject of this post about?

Well, one of my favorite German words is Zahnfleisch, which means gums, but is literally 'toothmeat'.

This just makes me giggle...

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Fräuleinille on taas tulossa uusia hampaita. Reilu vuosi sitten hän sai ensimmäiset etuhampaansa ja jouluun mennessä hampaita oli 12. Nyt muutaman kuukauden tauon jälkeen vuorossa ovat kulmahampaat.


Vaikka hampaiden tulo on ollut suhteellisen kivutonta, etenkin poskihampaat valvottivat tyttöä. Onneksi sain ystävättäreltäni vinkin, että täällä myydään apteekissa puudutusgeeliä, joka on tarkoitettu avuksi juuri hampaiden puhkeamiseen! Itse asiassa geeliä myödään myös tavallisessa ruokakaupassa, hinta n. 4 euroa.


Ja mitä postauksen otsikkoon tulee, yksi saksan kielen lempisanojani on ikeniä tarkoittava Zahnfleisch (kirjaimellisesti "hammasliha").

Having a Baby In Germany: the Hospital Part

Now, don't get all excited - I'm not saying that we are having another baby! But I have been writing about all baby related things I have come across here in Germany, like the paper work required and how the healthcare of a newborn is arranged. So the two things missing are the pregnancy and the hospital parts.

We moved to Germany about a month before Fräulein was born, so I don't really have much experience about being pregnant in Germany. But she was born here, so I can tell you about choosing the hospital and what is to be expected there. I know that more and more women are giving birth at their own homes or these 'birth homes', which are not medical facilities. But when I was pregnant with Fräulein, I only considered different hospitals, so this post is really only about that choice.

Like all doctor's offices, also the hospitals are private here. In Finland, you must have your baby in the hospital, which happens to be 'your' hospital, based on the city you live in. But here in Germany, you are able to choose the hospital. Because of this, there is a bit of competition between the hospitals, as they want as many customers as possible. And I guess that is partly the cause why especially the smaller hospitals seem to be very cozy and friendly. That is something I'm not sure I could say about Finnish hospitals...

The hospitals have introduction events (Info-Abend) for future parents, usually 1-4 times per month. There you have a short lecture about the hospital and their services and afterwards you can have a look at the delivery rooms and the maternity ward. I think this is great, because then you can meet the staff and really feel the atmosphere of the hospital. Although some of the lectures might be a bit too praising...

When you have chosen your hospital, you should contact them to arrange a meeting, in which their collect your personal data and information about your pregnancy. Hospitals usually recommend to have this meeting about 8-6 before your due date.  You can also go to most of the hospitals without this pre-meeting, but when you have done this beforehand, you don't need to worry about the paper work when you are going to the hospital to have your baby.

When we moved to Wiesbaden, we were a bit in a hurry in choosing the hospital. There are three hospitals with maternity wards in Wiesbaden. One of the hospitals, HSK, is a big one and they also have a ward for sick children. The other two are smaller and cozier, but if there is something wrong with the baby, she/he will be moved to HSK for treatment.

We went to see all of the three hospitals. It was clear for me that, as there wasn't anything exceptional in my pregnancy, I would choose one of the smaller hospitals. A friend of mine had had her baby in Paulinen Klinik and had liked it a lot. So, I called them to make an appointment. Already on the phone I got a bit funny feeling, as the nurse did not speak any English and giggled a lot. I was able to make an appointment, but at the meeting the nurse, who was taking my notes (not the same one as on the phone), giggled in trying to find the right words. So much so that she had to leave the room at one point.

This experience made me think that I wouldn't like the nurses behaving like that while I was in labor. There is nothing wrong in trying to find the right words or being in a good mood, but I really didn't like to face that giggling in the delivery room!

There are a lot of Americans here in Wiesbaden, because the U.S. Army is based here. I thought that maybe these American families would prefer the other smaller hospital, catholic St. Josefs-Hospital. And I was proven right. I was able to make an appointment on a short notice and in the waiting room I talked with an American mother, who had given birth a couple of hours earlier (she was already leaving the hospital!). The nurse I talked with spoke perfect English and they even had many documents translated in English. So, my decision was made: Fräulein was to be born here!

And so she did. I won't go into details of her birth here, but I must say that I was very happy with St. Josephs Hospital. Everyone was nice and professional. On the maternity ward they even arranged so that we were taken care of by the nurse who was the most experienced in speaking English.

Three-days-old Fräulein in her hospital bed.

Before Fräulein was born, I had some questions about the German system. There were also things I didn't even come to think of. I'll list some of them here, in case someone else in wondering the same things. And yes, some of these things might sound completely normal for some of you, but I'm from Finland and used to the ways things are handled there.

• There are anesthetics available for you while in labor, if you choose to have some. At the pre-meeting I was given a document about all the possible drugs so that I could read it in advance and just sign the consent when needed. Everything went so quickly that I didn't have time to get any drugs, but I wondered afterwards, why they didn't offer me any laughing gas, which is quite popular in Finland. 

• In Germany, you usually stay in the hospital for three nights, because then your baby can have her U2 check done at the hospital. You can leave the hospital as soon as a couple of hours after birth, if you feel like it, but then the hospital wants to make sure that you have booked the U2 check with the baby's doctor before you leave.

• Many hospitals have family rooms, but you cannot book one in advance. In our case, there was only one other mother with her baby in the ward when we arrived, so Herr Welle was able to stay with us in the room which was normally equipped for two mothers.

The view from our 'family room'

• In Germany, the hospital doesn't provide the towels or the clothes for you to wear while you stay there, so you must pack those in your hospital back. They do provide clothing for the baby.

For some reason, all the baby clothes at the hospital
were very big for a newborn (56 or 62cm)

• If you are not German, you should take your own birth-certificate to the hospital with you. And if you are married, take also your marriage-certificate and the husband's birth-certificate. I can say from experience that it makes things a whole lot easier...

• In Germany, you must give a name to your baby soon after the birth (in Finland you have two months to do this). They asked for the name as soon as Fräulein was born. We only had one name decided at that point. The two other names we filled in the form, in which all birth details were documented. This had to be filled before we left the hospital.

• They do not teach how to wash the baby's bottom under running water. I have been told that, in Finland, you cannot leave the hospital before you know how to do that safely. But here you just wipe the bottom with baby-wipes or wet towels.

• Many German hospitals have a certificate called 'Baby-Friendly Hospital'. The main points of the certificate are that the breastfeeding is encouraged in every way possible and the hospital practices rooming in, so that the baby shares the room with the mother. I would have taken these things as granted, but apparently they are relatively new practices.

• And something I did wonder a lot, although it now sounds a bit silly: You can go to a catholic hospital even if you are not catholic yourself. The nurses were not dressed as nuns, actually the only 'catholic' thing there were the crucifixes above the doors.

Poor Baby

I should have known.

When one starts in three new playgroups within a week, this was about to happen.

Fräulein has fallen ill.

I want to be honest with you. Fräulein is not always the easiest little girl to take care of. As newborn, she had colic. She is a very light sleeper (I have always thought that children sleep so deeply that you can carry a sleeping child from car to her bed without waking her...). And her appetite, especially for 'real' food, is not the best.

But we have been very lucky, because she has been so healthy.

Her first year went by with only few days with running nose and whining. When she turned 1 year old, she had three flu in a row. They weren't too bad. On day time, she was like her normal self, only the nights were a bit difficult.

But now, for the first time, she is really ill. Ill in a way that has changed her behavior.

Watching BabyTV

There were two things yesterday, that made me suspect that something was wrong, even though she didn't seem to be sick per se.

First, she didn't eat anything. It is not a surprise that she didn't eat her potatoes, but she didn't even want any cookies!

Second, she usually hurries to the hall when Herr Welle comes home, but yesterday she just sat on my lap smiling at him.

Last night she got fever. Today she has been resting, cuddling and watching BabyTV. Anyone who has met her would say that it is totally out of character for her to sit still for 15 minutes!

Hopefully, she will be dancing again soon.

At least Fräulein has managed to eat something today

Get well soon poor Fräulein!

A Peek Into Our Bedroom

When Fräulein was born, I had planned that she would sleep in her own little bed in our bedroom. And that is how it mostly was. Although I quite often fell a sleep while breastfeeding her during the night and she ended up sleeping in our bed.

First day home.

Nowadays, she mostly sleeps through the night in her own bed, although she sometimes needs some help finding her pacifier. Her crib is placed so that I can easily reach to find the pacifier or, if that is not enough, try to settle her. Very often we both fall asleep so that my hand is inside her crib. And in the morning my back hurts...

Current arrangements

However, sometimes I'm not able to settle her in her own bed and must take her into ours. Then she will usually sleep well. But Herr Welle and I, we won't.

Why I'm telling you this? Yesterday I saw some great pictures in expatbabyadventures blog (the pictures are originally from How to be a dad blog). These describe so well the situation when Fräulein is sleeping in our bed, that I MUST share these. Especially the 'Jazz Hands' are soooooo familiar!

To Fly or Not to Fly?

I wrote earlier about our attempts to get our baby to fly to her own christening one year ago (see the post 'Fly, Baby, Fly'). Arranging the birth certificate, Finnish citizenship and passport really took some effort and quite a lot of paper work!

To our relief, the passport was granted fast. The Finnish consulate in Luxembourg received the passport on Monday, and we were going to fly to Finland on the following Friday. As Herr Welle was traveling (again...) and I didn't want to make another road trip with our baby, we asked to send us the passport. First, we asked if they could send it via courier, but for some reason that wasn't an option. The consulate promised to send it as a signed letter. Although a bit worried, we though it would be delivered in time. Even though the consulate is located in another country, Luxembourg is only 200 km from Wiesbaden. So how long could it take?

I had calculated that the passport should arrive on Wednesday. When it didn't, I asked about the number of the signed letter from the consulate. According to the tracking information, the letter had been processed at Frankfurt post hub earlier that day. Yes, the passport was so close!

To our horror, the snowstorm of the century hit Frankfurt just during that week. I tried not to worry when I saw some news about how post started to pile in the post offices due to the snow. Surely they would favor signed letters over Christmas cards?

Thursday passed. No postman. I even stood by the door phone while I was boiling water, so that I wouldn't miss the ring. But there was no one at the door.

The main character of all the fuss had no idea what was happening...

I found the number for customer service of Deutsche Post from internet and started to call around. As the letter was sent from Luxembourg Post, the tracking was not as easy as with letter send within Germany. But finally I had someone on the phone telling me that it was STILL in the Frankfurt post hub. It hadn't moved an inch closer Wiesbaden since the day before! But they assured me that it would be delivered the following day. Phew!

So it was Friday. Our flight was planned to depart in the evening, so we would still have time to get the passport with the afternoon post. Our post is usually delivered around noon. Around 1 pm. I finally started to panic. I called again to Deutsche Post and spoke with a lady, who had probably talked with thousands of unsatisfied customers during that week due to the delays caused by the snowstorms. So I don't blame her sounding bored, but I was desperate! She assured me, that there were no way we could get the letter. That there were millions of letters there in the post hub, so even if the hub was located by the airport, we couldn't just stop by and get the letter.

Fortunately, Herr Welle is able to think more rationally in these situations. He made a call to the consulate and things started to look brighter. The officer at the consulate called the airline, which we were about to use, and explained our situation. She even provided us with a scan of a very official looking document, in which all the information of our baby's passport were stated.

Thankfully, we were flying with Finnair (Finnish airline), both Herr Welle and me are Finnish citizens, we were flying to Finland and as a whole family. I appreciate the fact that the regulations of flying with children are so strict, but I'm happy that the crew at the airline recognized that the chances that we were kidnaping the baby were very low, and they accepted our baby to the aircraft without her passport!

But the excitement didn't end there. As it was still snowing a lot, many flights, for example all Lufthansa flights, were cancelled. Fortunately, our flight was only delayed for an hour. And we even got an empty seat booked between Herr Welle and me, so we were able to place our baby there in her car seat.

Thanks to the nice lady at the Luxembourg consulate and the flexibility of Finnair, we were able to have our baby christened in Finland on the following Sunday as planned!

If you are wondering, how we got back to Germany, we did not need to have such a fuss over it. Herr Welle wrote a proxy to his colleague, who picked the letter up from our local post office and brought it with him to their mutual meeting in Finland.

Flying back home

Tomorrow we will be flying to Finland for the holidays, so it might be a bit more quiet here in my blog. I hope there will be no snowstorm tonight, and our journey to Finland will be less exciting this year!