"Can we not just sleep on the floor? Like Crocodile Dundee"

It really is amazing how much stuff you collect over the years! We have had the opportunity to move from country to country and from apartment to apartment in the last few years, which means we have had lots of opportunity to throw away things we don’t need/use anymore. Still, when we started going through our closet the other day, we could fill bag after bag with clothes, blankets, bedding and just stuff in general. And we have only just started scratching the surface of this moving project. But hey, turn that frown upside down! Moving to a new apartment is of course super-exciting, so it is all good!

Another luxury problem we are facing at the moment is the purchasing of a new bed, as the new apartment is unfurnished. There are millions of different options and combinations to go for. Let me illustrate:

Size (does size matter?):
For a couple, it makes sense to buy either a king size bed or a super king size bed. So, which one will it be?

Type of bed:
Are we going for a bed base and a king size mattress or are we going for a divan? Or maybe a bed base and individual mattresses? Or maybe a divan mattress in a wooden bed base?

Bed base:
If a bed base, are we going for metal or wood? What color? If a divan; are we going for 2 drawers or 4 underneath? Does color matter? Do we care?

Mattress:
Memory foam or spring mattress? If memory foam; what kind of memory foam? Does memory foam have different levels of firmness? If spring mattress; are we going for open spring, pocket spring, coil, or continuous coil?

Naming of the products:
Now to the stupid/funny naming of the assortment on beds on offer: ‘Thermaluxe 600 pocket spring king 4drw divan set’, or is it maybe better to go for a ‘Silentnight Miracoil 7-Zone Colorado Super King 4 Drawer Divan Bed Set’ or the cheaper option ‘Silentnight Miracoil 3-Zone Maine Ortho Super King 4 Drawer Divan Set’… or if you want to go really cheap, you can either go for the cheapo Layezee-series or the extreme-cheapo but still surprisingly high spec’ed ‘Supaluxe 700 Super king 4drw divan set’

The reviews:
This one definitely stood out from the crowd:

“As newly Weds we had many vouchers and were in desperate need of a new bed after many arguments The wife always wins! I decided that i needed a BIG bed so i could have a good nites sleep as my lovey husband snores and has a large butt! and hogs all the room in the bed i belive the threat of single beds scared him. The size is amazing it doesnt look huge but when your in it its like heaven its so soft and light its like your on a clould its big enough if your both on the larger size without invading ones space and if you like to stretch out perfect. Like to curl up perfect too with the memory foam supports you perfectly and even if you like to sleep on the egde its great. If like my husband you are a fidget bum and cant sleep in the same spot all nite then this is the bed for you plenty of room for him to fling his arms about and toss and turn i no longer feel a thing and finely i can sleep and he is so far away over the other side i cant hear him snore yeah! Result!”

Before these questions above are answered, thousands and thousands of different potential beds and mattresses are available for purchase online. These options must then be cautiously weighted against whatever budget there is for the purchase and even after some of these questions are answered and you have a clearer image of what type of bed you want and need, there is still a myriad of options and configurations available. But we have made our decision:

You'll be happy to know that in the end, we went for the Supaluxe 700! Why the Supaluxe then? Well, we figured that all things considered it was the best value for money and all that, but mostly our final decision was based on the fact that we would be able to shout from the other room and say: "Hey baby, come hang out over here, I am in the Supaluxe!"

Coffee date with little Ben from Germany

Today, on his ½ year birthday, Ethan got to go on a coffee date with little Ben from Germany. Ben turned 9 months today as well and is Denis and Jess' baby boy. Denis and Jess are our friends through CareerBuilder that moved from Scotland to Germany a while back, when the opportunity arose. Funny enough, Ben is about the same height as Ethan and a tad lighter but 3 months older! Oh, and they also have the same number of teeth (2) in common. Obviously, it was nice to catch up with Ben's parents as well, of course! :)

Ethan 6 months - "What a wee baby! Where's yer mammy?"

The year is almost over

After 4 fun filled days, our wonderful guests bid goodbye and hit the pavement to catch their Ryanair flight (good luck guys! Hope all goes well with your flight home and come again soon!!)

So now it's just the 3 of us again. How strange it is to say 3 of us. Ethan is 6 months old now and keeps amazing us everyday with the milestones he's passing! He has figured out how to get his bum up in the air while keeping his head up which means he'll be crawling in no time!! We're really looking forward to our new flat now as it is way more baby proof!!

The next few days with us will be quiet ones as we wait to ring in the New Year with our friends Piers and Lesley. Peter isn't back to work till the 4th so we have plenty of time to relax and shop for a new bed!! And let me tell you, bed shopping over the internet is hard work! So many options and the negative is that you don't get to try them out. We were thinking we'll order 5 beds, get them delivered, try them out with the packaging still on and the 4 we don't like we'll send back with the delivery guy. he he he. That would be mean eh.

Tonight though, we're going to curl up on the couch and watch a good movie.

One heck of a Christmas partay! Boom!

Well, we sure had a great time at our Christmas partay/food palooza yesterday! The day started out later than planned (or so I thought at least), as the baking crew showed up a bit late, but it emerged later that 11am (the time Jen and Maeghan were instructed by Shaena to show up for) was just given to them as a strategic move to get the girls out of bed a bit earlier and they were not really supposed to show up that early at all, but they are notoriously late, so there you go. Bazinga!

Maeghan showed up first and got crackin’ on baking apple pies and preparing her pot roast. Jen arrived a bit later and contributed to the festivities by baking a pumpkin pie and by preparing tons and tons of mashed potatoes. I whipped up a couple of thousand pre-made Swedish meatballs with lingonberry jam as a 'dip sauce' and Shaena made her world famous deviled eggs. We had asked all our guests to bring a dish of their choice, so on the table we also had roast ham, sausages, vegetarian dishes and much more. These culinary creations tasted amazing and the fridge is now filled with leftovers, pies and champagne! Oh, and the champagne will be prefectly chilled tomorrow for our 2 year wedding anniversary.

We also prepared a game of ‘pass the parcel’ before the rest of the guests arrived. Under all those layers of wrapping paper, bubble wrap and packing tape, we had hidden the grand prize: A 2010 Simon Cowell calendar! Who wouldn't want to win one of those?

Later in the evening our guests arrived and all the food that everyone brought made up an awesome Christmas pot-luck feast. After ‘pass the parcel’, we also played a game of ‘Taboo’ and that definitely got everyone going! All in all we had lots of good food, cold drinks and great banter!

We hope everyone enjoyed themselves! Let’s do it again sometime! ;)

The Christmas copper strikes again!

"Crap, a police check-point! Have to hide the bottle in the glove compartment!"

"Oh no! There is no glove compartment!"

"Better down this puppy!"

"Santa? Is that you?" Part III

[Chuhb-ee]

We're outta here!

We are jump starting the new year with new digs! In the end of January, we are moving in to this nice new flat just a few minutes walking distance from us. We will of course miss our bohemian red walled, high ceiling flat, but will definitely not miss the heating costs and the cracks in the floors.

"This flat is part of a traditional Georgian Tenement and has just been completely refurbished benefiting from a brand new kitchen and bathroom. Feels like a brand new flat inside. The flat comprises entrance hall, large lounge with laminate flooring, fully fitted kitchen, bathroom with shower over bath and two good sized double bedrooms."

Hunting for hugs, flats and Christmas goodies

My oh my did we have an eventful day out yesterday! We had two flat viewings lined up for the afternoon so we headed out the door, all bundled up, with E-man strapped in the Baby Björn and took our good time outside as it was such a nice, snowy day outside, which is rare here in Edinburgh.

The first flat, just around the corner from us, was a bit of a dump to be honest, definitely needed quite a bit of work, so that was a no-go without the shadow of a doubt. The second one, a few blocks away from us, looked a lot more interesting (we had seen photos of that one before the viewing) and it actually looked like a it was of ‘Scandinavian standard’ if there is such a thing. It was bright modern, had a nice kitchen, wooden floors and Ethan would get his own room. This would be a step up for us, would be a lot easier to baby proof than our current flat and the floors would be a lot safer for Ethan when he starts crawling around. Needless to say, we liked what we saw. A couple of phone calls and a pow-wow later, we had almost decided that we wanted to accept and go for this new flat.

Meanwhile, our second mission of the day was to head out to IKEA to score some Swedish Christmas goodies. Off we went, and as we would be renting this new pad unfurnished, we had a look around for nice, cheap, flat packed, Scandinavian style furniture as well. Did we find anything? Oh yes! We scored two really nice ‘Hemnes’ dressers from the bargain corner (the damaged goods department) for 50% off! One of them was not damaged at all, and the other one had a tiny little dent in one of the corners, but that is definitely good enough for us. We also raided the IKEA food market for Swedishness, so we are pretty much ready for tomorrow’s Christmas pot-luck bonanza. By the time we were done with everything and had taken the bus home with our loot, it was way past bedtime, but Ethan really seemed to enjoy his day out!

Update on the new flat to follow…

"I'm Dreaming of a White Trash Christmas"

This year, we decided to be a little bit more creative with our Christmas decorations and decided to make our own Christmas tree our of cardboard and old wrapping paper. Ain't it pretty?

Closing the books on 2009

How do you summarize a whole year into one blog entry? Well, I thought I'd give it a go! We have had an absolutely fantastic year and lots of things have happened, so here is a quick (read: really long) summary before we close the books on 2009 in 11 days:

January
In the beginning of the year, the anticipation over the upcoming addition to our family was high and obviously grew and grew daily. The days and weeks literally flew by, we just got more and more excited and the notion became more and more real to us: Our lives were about to change forever. Other than that; January, traditionally is kick-off month for my company, and this year kick-off was held in a luxury hotel outside of Athens, Greece. So, off we went! Shaena went sightseeing by herself and I worked and spent most of my time schmoozing with work people, as you do. In January, we also found out that I had won the Diamond Club trip competition at work, so yay! Cabo San Lucas, Mexico!

February
By now we had started gearing up for baby for real by doing some serious purchasing and organizing. We did a trip to IKEA, and soon we had converted a corner of our bedroom to a cute little nursery, complete with Ethan’s cot, storage, a few toys, bedding, blankets and towels, and we also received gifts and care packages from Sweden and Canada. Speaking of Sweden; I also did another business trip to Stockholm during the second half of the month. While I was gone for work, Shaena and the girls had a nice, well deserved day at the spa. In the end of the month we were off to Mexico for the most amazing trip ever! Ever!

March
We spent a week in Cabo San Lucas with my company, and did we ever get spoilt! The Diamond Club trip to Mexico was completely out of this world and we have never been so looked after and pampered; the overabundance of luxury, gifts, activities and waiting staff was almost ridiculous and I think our perception of traveling may have gotten just a tad skewed for the next few weeks afterwards. It is very easy to get used to that standard of traveling and being waited on hand and foot, but don’t worry; we are back with our feet on solid ground now!

April
This was probably one of the slower months of this year; we didn’t do any crazy traveling and didn’t exhaust ourselves with any projects. The main focus of the month was probably my apartment in Stockholm which we put up for sale, so that was a bit of a nail biter. It did sell though, so in June we were no longer property owners in Sweden and that felt really good. Being landlords while abroad is a nervous venture.

May
T minus 1 month and we were bursting (no pun intended) with excitement over what was to come in June. My brother John came to visit and we had a really nice weekend with him. Other than that, we were planning and booking visitors for the summer and enjoyed the spring sun here in the Burgh.

June
As you can imagine, the whole month of June was just one long consecutive build-up towards the expected delivery date in the end of the month. We were super excited and also very ready for the pregnancy to be over so that we would get to meet our little son. Grandma Michelle arrived mid-month with Great grandpa Jean Noel in tow and set up shop in her rented flat that was going to be ground zero for all visiting family. On the evening of the 30th of June he finally arrived, our fantastic adorable little son, Ethan Noel. The wait was over and our new life as parents could begin!

July
Two words: family bonanza! July was crazy hectic and amazing at the same time. Lots of people coming and going, lots of entries in our guest book, and at the same time we had to adjust and learn how to best take care of our little one. I think we got the hang of it pretty quickly, but every day is a new learning experience with a baby. All the help and support we got was definitely appreciated though, and with all our visitors from near and far, there was never a lack of ready and willing babysitters, so Shaena and I could get away for a few hours and go see a movie or whatever just to recharge our batteries.

August
Besides from being a crazy festival-month here in Edinburgh, the month of August felt like a continuation of July, we still had visitors, lots of people who wanted to meet the little guy, and we received so many cards, messages and gifts so this blog turned into a ‘thank-you-blog’. It felt like every time we updated our page, we had a few more people to say thank you to and we are forever grateful for what everyone did for us; the help and support, the visits from people, the flowers, the cards and the gifts for Ethan meant so much to us! Grandma Michelle closed her B&B in the middle of the month and moved back to Canada, and after that we were on our own with Ethan and could slowly start to build on new everyday routines as a little family unit.

September
September was another exciting month! The month started off with a quick business trip to Paris, and two weekends after, we were invited to attend Jen & Mike’s wedding up in St Andrews. Just before this, I also got a last minute invitation to attend a workshop/meeting week in Atlanta with my company which I couldn’t say no to, so off I went, and I had a great time over there, but in order to make it back in time for the wedding I had to fly overnight back home to Scotland. I think I had about an hour or two to spare after coming home before we were off again, driving up to St Andrews for the ceremony and the reception afterwards. Let me tell you; that was one long day and night!

October
The girl crew felt that a girl’s weekend away was long overdue, so they booked themselves a weekend in Orlaith’s hometown Balina, Ireland. Only about 50% of the crew actually made it to Balina though, the rest got refused at the airport, but for Shaena and Orlaith who made it, it was a fabulous time. What else? Well, I said bye-bye to my manager Ron who moved back to the US, Cara & Brad from Winnipeg came by to visit us as they were driving around Scotland on their honeymoon, poor Tanky had to have emergency surgery, and I managed to squeeze in another work trip to Sweden.

November
Canada baby! Ethan’s first ever time on an airplane was a long haul flight to Toronto followed by a whirlwind time in Trenton, Toronto, Niagara Falls, Winnipeg and Grand Forks. Amongst so many other things, we got to: Go up the CN Tower, have a nice dinner with friends in Toronto, see a KISS concert and an AHL ice hockey game, go for a date night with our favourite ever couple, host an open house, tour a prison, go for a road trip, and eat all of our favourite junk food. One thing is for sure; we do know how to cram a lot of activities into a relatively short period of time! Straight after Canada, I jetted off to Sweden for business again, so quite the hectic month.

December
As per usual, December is all about the build up for Christmas and all about shopping and being Christmassy, no exception for us there. The difference with us is just that we cannot keep Christmas under wraps until the actual day, so we have been giving each other Christmas gifts all through the month. We also had a really nice visit from Grandma Gertrud and Roland. Somehow we also got roped into hosting a massive Christmas pot-luck for 14 people on Christmas Eve, so will be interesting to see how that’ll pan out. I am sure we’ll have a jolly good time! The more the merrier, I guess! Last thing on the agenda for this year (for obvious reasons) will be a New Years Eve party at Piers and Lesley’s place. Really looking forward to that as well!

All in all 2009 was an amazing year and we would like to say a huge thank you to all our family and friends for being truly amazing people and for being so very supportive and helpful in and around the most important event of our lives!

From all of us to all of you:

Holiday! Celebrate!

Almost there! Today was my last full week at work for the year, and my last week in the office. I am working from home on Monday, and after that I am ready for carols, sleigh bells, Christmas spirit and excessive consumption of Swedish meatballs. Today was not only the last day; it was also a really good day! I had my annual review with my manager and felt really good afterwards. It really felt like my efforts throughout the year have not gone unnoticed and she recognized that the work that I do in our team is both valued and important.

What I liked the most about the review was that she largely had the same view on my achievements as me, she had graded me pretty much the same as I had already graded myself in a self assessment, and we had also identified the same areas of development. The company is also ready to invest in my development, so I think 2010 is going to be a great year for me professionally (and personally as well of course, but that goes without saying). All in all, I feel really good about going on Christmas leave with that review under my hat.

Now, let's get that baby Jesus' birthday party started!

Christmas comes early if you are a Harrison-Helin

You may call it unconventional; some may even call it anti-traditional. We just call it ‘making our own traditions’. Ever since Shaena and I met way back in the day, we’ve rarely given each other gifts on the actual day, whether it’s a birthday, an anniversary or Christmas.

After the right gift has been tracked down and purchased, it is just too exciting to wait days or even weeks before being able to give it. So, we do it straight away instead. This year, Shaena lasted 1-2 days before she caved in and gave me my awesome new iPod Touch. The other day, I gave Shaena her first Christmas pressie, a shiny printer/scanner/copier, and today, her second gift arrived to my work with a messenger. It has already been opened by the recipient. It was a yellow ducky shower radio.

What about Ethan then? No exception there. His Christmas pressie arrived to the flat yesterday, and as soon as I got home from work and dinner was over and done with, he got to open it. What did he get then? An awesome baby walker police car! Now, he is patrolling the living room all day, honking at mom. He is doing a great job, and he seems to like his new toy!

"What seems to be the problem, officer?"

"I swear, I haven't been drinking, officer!"

"No, don't look in the boot!"

Señor Ethan

Ethan brushing his teeth for the first time

Ethan #1

Alright faithful blog readers, clickers and photo checkers! We have entered Ethan in his very first competition and we would love it if you nudge him into first place! He'll hopefully one day make his big debut on the X-Factor (UK's version of Idol BUT BETTER) and win over the judges panel!!

Come on friends and family, let's win this!! Just click on this link: http://www.hippbabyclub.co.uk/competition_search.php and enter ID 19015

You can also search by Ethan!

Saint Lucy's Day or the Feast of St. Lucy (Santa Lucia, Saint Lucia or sometimes Lucia for short) is the Church feast day dedicated to St. Lucy and is observed on December 13. It retains traditional forms of celebration mainly in Sweden, parts of the United States and southern Europe. It is celebrated in Sweden, Denmark, Latvia, Estonia, Norway, Finland, Malta, Italy, Bosnia, Iceland, Bavaria and Croatia. In the United States, people in areas of Minnesota, and other states with Scandinavian roots, continue to celebrate the holiday, often centered around church events. Before the reform of the Gregorian calendar in the 16th century, St. Lucy's Day fell close to the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere.

In Scandinavia this was also the date in the Gregorian calendar earlier celebrated by the heathen population that was afraid of Lucifer, a celebration that still somewhat lives today through the tradition of Lucevaka – to stay awake on the night between 12th till 13th and guard oneself against being taken by Lucifer lord of darkness by having an all night party. This is still carried out today mostly by the younger population having great parties. When the light then arrives with the morning you are safe again.

In traditional celebrations, Saint Lucy comes as a young woman with lights and sweets. It is one of the few saint days observed in Scandinavia. In some forms, a procession is headed by one girl wearing a crown of candles (or lights), while others in the procession hold only a single candle each.

Fog and fun in the Burgh

So, we have spent the weekend with Grandma Gertrud and Roland, and I have to say, we genuinely had a really good time!

On Friday afternoon we went down to the Christmas market and had the opportunity to catch a glimpse of what we believe could very well be the last street performer of the season (street performers usually migrate to warmer climate over the winter months). We also walked past the now famous gypsy cart where I proposed to Shaena 2 years ago, and we enjoyed a glühwein before our feet got really cold and we headed over to The Filling Station, hoping to find something to eat and possibly some central heating to warm us up. Nibbles – check! Central heating – broken! Thanks for telling us before we lugged the Bugaboo down all those stairs and before we sat down at our table in the very back of the restaurant!

Later in the evening we managed to coax Grandma and Roland to cook for us, as you do, and we got to enjoy some amazing pork chops and oven grilled potatoes and vegetables. Fantastic! After that, a visit to the old waterhole, Dirty Dick’s. Always a good time!

Today we headed up to Edinburgh Castle for a quick look around, and then we walked down The Royal Mile to battle the tourist shops. It was just a bit unfortunate that the weather was a bit funny. Actually, it has been so foggy this whole weekend so that as a visitor you couldn't even get an idea of how the city really looks like, and the whole castle rock was veiled in fog. Even when we walked up to the castle esplanade, it was hard to actually see the castle!

We also stumbled into a whiskey sampling in one of the specialist whiskey shops on the Mile. The staff in these whiskey shops around Edinburgh are quite amazing, they are really passionate about their whiskey and they are so knowledgeable about everything from different kinds of whiskeys to flavors, distilleries, highlands, lowlands, speyside, islay, malts, and with their experience they always seem to be right on the ball on what kind of whiskey you'd probably enjoy. We found a couple of really nice, rare ones for Roland's liqueur cabinet.

Last but not least, we were taken out for a nice dinner this evening, we had reserved a table at Zizzi’s in the Quays and we had a really good time and enjoyed a great meal!

Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go
So make the best of this test, and don't ask why
It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time

It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

Thank you for the visit guys!

Eating applesauce has never been so much fun (and never been so messy)