Birthday Celebrations

Everybody has a lifeplan. Mine was never very complicated; I wanted to travel a lot and have fun and make lots of friends while doing it. Then find a wonderful guy, get married and settle down somewhere nice. I had some timelines too, one was to have my first child at the age of 25. I was doing so well with my plan and then Melissa decided to be born two months prematurely, just few days before my 25th Birthday! So she was born 22nd of July and I celebrate my birthday on the 25th of July. Not that anything else mattered after seeing my perfect daughter for the first time.. You can plan all you like, but after having children everything will change and very little that mattered before even makes sense anymore!

We can't plan life. All we can do is be available for it.
-Lauryn Hill

We've been very busy celebrating for the last week or so. First my best friend Minna, who also is Melissa's godmother came to visit. She is such a wonderful person and really managed to lift our spirits with her awsomeness! A true real life fairy godmother, we are so lucky to have her in our lives. Then we had a very awesome My Neighbor Totoro themed party for Melissa's 3rd Birthday. The whole day was really lovely and she loved the cakes I made. My Neigbor Totoro is her absolutely favourite movie ever, it's a Japanese anime movie about two little girls who meet a forest spirit called Totoro. It's very absurd but totally cute!! :) Thanks so much for everyone who helped us to celebrate and made her special day even more memorable. She still thinks it's her Birthday, my brother Markus is visiting us  at the moment, and she got even more presents today from her Nanna and Pappa (my parents). Melissa calls Markus "Eno", thats uncle in Finnish. She is very fond of him and we are really enjoying spending some quality time with him.
Melissa's treatment is soon coming to an end, we have two more months to go!! Then we can go and travel the world together, first stop Finland! I miss home like grazy, good thing I got a massive bag of Salmiakki as a birthday present!

Totoro Cake

Sootsprite cupcakes

We got her a bike for her birthday

Melli and godmother Minna

Braids & plaits

Melissa's hair is getting so long now and I'm able to braid it again! She looks sooo pretty with her hair braided and I'm very surprised how still she will stay for me to do her hair.

 

Favourite hangout

Hanging out in Cambridge always makes me happy! It's a very bubbly and friendly city and I love how you are all the time surrounded with different accents and languages. It's such a lovely and pretty city and every time I go, I notice or experience something different.
One great thing about Cambridge is all its superb restaurants! My husband treated us to a lovely meal at Jamie Oliver's restaurant "Jamie's Italian" and the food, service and decor were just wonderful! I also loved how child friendly they were. We will definately go again!

After a recent hospital stay we all have been feeling a bit blue, so it was refreshing to have a change of scenery and enjoy the buzz of our favourite hangout!

Snack time!