Never fly internationally with a toddler...

Welcome to Helsinki.

We live here now. 

We had to get here on a plane with two littles. We left Luke's parents house at about 4:30 AM.  We arrived in Helsinki at 8:30 AM the next day, with 9 hour time difference.  Yes. Really. 

First, never plan to fly internationally with a baby that is exactly 4 weeks old.  Nope, he doesn't misbehave one bit.  He was an angel in the travelling, just sleeping most the time (as new babies do), breastfeeding as needed.  But, getting the paperwork for him to fly in time is a trick.  Here's how:
-Birth Certificate:  Have your baby in a birth center and have your midwife submit the info for the birth certificate the morning he was born.  Go home that day and rest.  Next morning, go to pick up said birth certificate at the county office of vital records.  Have them laugh at you and tell you to go back to bed.  Then have them "just check" for you and retrieve said birth certificate. 
-Social Security Number:  Go to social security office to find out it takes at least 30 days to get a SS#.   Have them look confused and offer no options of expediting it.  Cry a little, panic a lot. 
-Passport:  Go get a passport photo of sleeping, 2-day old infant.  Be assured it will work.   Go to passport office.  Good news:  No SS# needed, because he doesn't have one, just enter 0's.  Bad news, 2-day old infant has to have his eyes OPEN with a NEUTRAL expression for the photo.  You made up his eye color on the form because you haven't seen his eyes open.  Over 30 minutes later, and a split-second of luck, put the new passport photo with all his paperwork, pay a lot to expedite everything, then run to put it in overnight mail.
-Passport delivery:  Wait a couple weeks.  Track the package with Patrick's passport. Realize it says it's delivered when it's not delivered.  Remember there is a new postal worker doing your area. Cry a little, panic a lot, then pray.  Send Luke on his bike to the post office.  He catches a mailman in the area (not ours) who happens to have heard about a "lost express mail envelope" and knows where it is.  He calls the post office to tell them Luke is on the way to pick it up. 
-Residency:  Apply for residency from Finland with about 3 weeks left with the assurance from the consulate it takes 2 weeks, probably less.  You have been told by the consulate that you cannot apply in Finland for residency, and you should "await the decision abroad."  The whole families' passports are now at the consulates office.  We call, email, bug them.  No decision made.  Finally we have plane flight on Monday.  They overnight the unstamped passports to us on Saturday.  They tell us the airport may not allow us to enter the country without stamps or a return flight.  Nice.  Fly anyway.  No problem at the airport.  Continue to bug the office of immigration the first 2 weeks of living in Finland, fearing deportation.  They say there is a problem with our application, oh yes, they lost it.  What? It's okay, we'll call you when we find it.   Finally get a hold of them though email.  Yes, just bring passports down to our office and we'll stamp them for you.   Thank goodness...

Second, never fly with a two-year-old if you like rest and sanity.  She did well on the domestic flight to Chicago, but was "all done with the airplane" by the end of that flight.  It had lost it's charm.  Try to get her to eat lunch at the airport instead of dancing to the music in the terminal, watching all the people, and looking out the windows to see the big airplanes taking off and landing.  Once we were on our big airplane to Helsinki, Jane fell asleep as it was on the runway.  She needed a nap, so she slept only a couple of hours, but was woken up by the dinner cart bumping her in the head as it went by.  She did not sleep a wink more. Benedryl does not work, at least not for her.   The airlines was very mindful of us and our children.  Even though we had only paid for 3 seats, they gave us 5 seats to use.  It was good because Luke and I could sit across the isle and trade off time with Jane, while the other one of us tried to get some sleep.   We had toys and books and snacks and movies on the laptop, but nothing held her attention.  She just wanted to run the isles eventually and use the toilet constantly. 

Third, never max out your baggage allowance with kids.  We sold/gave away/got rid of almost everything we own, but we moved our clothes and a few personal belongings. We realized the cheapest way to move our stuff was to use all of our baggage allowance.  But getting through the airport is a different story.  With 2 adults and 2 kids that means we had: 6 checked bags, 2 checked carseats, a stroller for the airport, 3 carry-ons, 3 personal items, 2 diaper bags, 2 pillows, and 2 kids. We had Jane in the stroller and Patrick in a sling.  We did make it through the airport, but it was HARD.  I felt like a pack mule.  I think the main struggle was managing Jane while we waited for our layover (only 2.5 hours) and all of the baggage.

Fourth, have friends in Helsinki you have never met. We arrived in Helsinki and surprisingly made it through the immigration service without a hitch.  The guy at baggage allowed us to use the cart to bring our massive amount of bags through customs to the curb.  Our new friends Kaija, Paula, and Larry were there with two cars waiting.   They were so kind to have toys for Jane, help us load up everything to the cars, and drive us to their spare apartment with food in the fridge.  The people here from our church really have been so generous and helpful.  We only knew them through friends of my sister's husband that were from/have lived in Helsinki.  We had been given contact information and had emailed and these Finnish members have taken care of the rest.  They have continued to give us items we need to start our apartment and our life here.  They have just thought of what we needed and have donated them without even knowing us.  I hope we can learn to be as kind.