Grandpa Keith and Uncle Josh have arrived

After a long day of travelling, Keith and Josh arrived safely at the B&B. They were mighty excited to meet the little one, but also very tired from travelling. Who can blame them? It did not take long until Grandpa Keith whipped out the gift bag and he had gone all in on Edmonton Oilers merchandise! Keith is dead set on making Ethan a fan of The Oilers, so he had bought everything under the sun with an Oilers logo on it. To top it off and to even out the balance between Canada and Sweden he also bought a Toronto Maple Leafs Mats Sundin bobbing head hockey player! (That's a mouth full!)

I am very much looking forward to when Ethan is a little bit older and understands the game of ice hockey. I will do my best to make sure he is rooting for Sweden in those gnarly matches where Sweden is always sweeping the floor with the Canadians. :) Keith also bought Ethan a ton of toys for when he is a bit older, which I am sure he will enjoy. I sure will.

Keith had also ordered some fantastic pieces of custom made jewelry, rings and a pendant, for Josh, Shaena and Ethan (and I will take care of Ethan's ring until he is 16 years old) made out of old family gold and jewels with a great sentimental value and all of their birthstones were incorporated in the jewelry. A wonderful thought and definitely a heirloom for the future! Keith also showed us his newly made tattoo with ‘the fighting Irish’ and Shaena’s, Ethan’s Josh’s and Ryan’s names around it. Very nice!

The last couple of things in Grandpa's suitcase were photo albums and pictures from when Shaena and Josh were babies so that we can see who Ethan looks like the most. Will definitely have to study those carefully.

Thank you for everything Keith!

After dinner Shaena and I took the guys out for a quick walk to our place and for a quick pint in the local waterhole before tucking them in so that they could sleep off the jetlag.

Also: A quick plug for Keith's new blog! Check it out: http://harri4.blogspot.com/

Open house at Grandma’s – Ethan’s 2 week birthday

Another amazing day! Took us awhile to get out of the house this morning because we had to find all the required documents for Ethan’s registration (and of course we never even made it to the registrar’s office, we rescheduled for tomorrow.) Poor Sarah had to sit and wait for us while we were running around like headless chickens. Sarah also surprised us with some really cool clothes for Ethan that she had bought back in Canada, and I've said it before and I will probably get to say it again shortly; this kid will be the best dressed little boy on the block!

Instead, we walked straight over to Grandma’s house to hang out and help with the prepping of the food for the evening. I sautéed for the first time in my life, and in my opinion it went well. The dip that the sautéed onions went in tasted delicious! Sarah had promised someone back home that she would bring back a photo of Fettes College, the school that Hogwarts in the Potter-movies is modelled after, so she ran out and got a few pictures of the building before the guests arrived.

Tracie and Bruce were the first ones to arrive and they brought pressies for Ethan and met with all the guys. Ethan of course was passed around, but as usual, did not say a word. (Well, you know what I mean.)

A little bit later, Maeghan, Orlaith and Nicky arrived and we dug into the food, and let me tell you; it was fantastic! A+! Nini and the guys had prepared a pasta dish with Shitake mushrooms, figs and cheese wrapped in Parma ham, grilled chicken, crisps & kidney bean dip, and cheese cake, banana bread and pumpkin pie for dessert. My oh my that was good stuff!

After the party, we headed back to ours and said goodbye to Sarah who is heading back to Dublin early tomorrow morning.

Thank you Nini, Grandma, Michelle and Julia for organizing this feast!

Also worth mentioning from today’s adventures: Nini, Grandma and Julia spotted Princess Anne on the street outside the Royal Scots club! Not every day you see British royalty running about.

Pictures to follow… (not of Princess Anne though, because the guys had left their cameras at home for once. Lesson is: Never leave home without at least one camera when you are on holiday!)

Parental advice from Bruce @ Work

An eventful day at Walker Street Manor

Monday morning started with a visit from Michelle who came by for a cup of tea and a cuddle with her grandson and I also managed to do a fair bit of tidying of the flat so that it would look presentable for the rest of the day. We are getting pretty good at juggling the various things that needs to be done in a day in addition to taking care of the little one. We just need to learn how to do the same things at the same pace with just one hand. We’ll get there...

Today’s lunch consisted of the Chinese leftovers from a previous night, could be older than the night before as I am slowly loosing track of what day it is, but still good though. One can never go wrong with boxed up Chinese food straight from the fridge to the microwave!

After that, Ron, Christine and little Ronnie came by to meet Ethan and Ron had promised he would bring his professional camera so that we could snap a few pictures of Ethan, and so he did. Actually both Ron and Christine did. Those two are so talented! Ethan was a brave little boy when that huge flash got going and we got a whole bunch of really nice photos. Among other things, we used Aunty Nini’s amazing Muppet Show quilt as a background with Ethan on it, and we also used the Rock Star blanket that Nini sent us a while back. Do you see a theme here? Blanket, blanket, blanket... :)

We also got a few really nice close-ups of Ethan’s hands and feet and a couple of cute pictures where he is dressed in a Sweden-onesie that our friends Tobbe & Linn sent us, and as it happened, we received their parcel today, just before the shoot! The luck! (They had also sent us a really cool Adidas jogging outfit in black with gold stripes. Thank you very much guys, we love it!) In another picture Ethan is dressed in a knitted Canada wool jumper. The owner of that jumper is Ethan’s cuddly stuffed animal ‘Morris the Moose’. We'll make sure that Morris will get it back.

I am really looking forward to the final result once Ron has finished editing the photos! Ron and Christine also brought us a whole bunch of really cute onesies for Ethan with Tigger on them. For some reason, many of his clothes so far bear some kind of reference to Winnie the Pooh, so it's nice to add another character of the Pooh-story to his wardrobe, not that Winnie ever gets old. Thank you very much for both the pressies and the photos!

After the photo shoot we had a webcam Skype call with Grandpa Stefan and then with Cousin Emily, and then we ordered pizza. We figured we’d deserved it. Right on time for pizza, our friend Sarah Beyea from Canada knocked on our door. She did not show up completely unannounced though, we knew she was coming. Sarah flew over to Ireland to attend our friend Steve’s wedding and wanted to come and see us for a few days, and after a bit of Ryanair-hassle, she made it in. Really nice to catch up with her! The last time she came to see us was about 2,5 years ago when we first moved to Edinburgh. Sarah is also checking out the universities here in Edinburgh, and hopefully she’ll move here to get her masters in a near future.

On the agenda for tomorrow is to get Ethan officially registered in Scotland, hang out with Sarah and later in the evening there will be an open house type bash over at Michelle’s house, and our friends are coming over for some mingle, food and drinks. Looking forward to that as well!

While writing this, Monday turned into Tuesday, but it is amazing how much can be squeezed into a day!

Clan-fun and golf-bonanza

It has been a whirlwind of a summer already, and the fun has only started! In the next couple of weeks lots of things will be going on. We have already booked tickets for everyone to go to The Gathering 2009 in Holyrood Park here in Edinburgh. The Gathering is two (one for us) fun filled days with traditional Scottish Highland Games (i.e. strongman games like throwing of sledge hammers across a lawn, tossing telephone poles as far as you can, and lifting huge boulders, all whilst wearing your clan kilt and other accessories), Scottish dancing, a clan heritage village, live music and pipe bands from around the world and lots more. Should be fun! Shaena and I have never been to a Highland Games event before and I am looking forward to inducing a bit of 'our' culture into our visitors as well.

Check out this page for more: http://www.clangathering.org/

I have also been invited by Grandpa Keith to go with him to the British Open in Ayrshire where all his golfing idols will be playing, so we are heading over there next Saturday to get a glimpse of Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, Mike Weir, Nick Faldo and John Daly among others. Even the retired legend Jack Nicklaus will be there, so hopefully we can elbow our way through the autograph-area and get a few signatures. Keith has also promised me to teach me all about golf and supposedly 'when I am done with you, you will love golf!'

Check out this page for more: http://www.opengolf.com/

We are sure lucky that these events are happening just when family is visiting, as especially the British Open will be a once in a lifetime happening for Keith.

Grandma, Nini and Julia also booked themselves a Highland bus tour for next week, so they are heading off to find that infamous monster once and for all. Those tours are always good fun and educational as well, and I can imagine that the snap-happy Jules and Nini will come back with tons of amazing photos!

Sleepy day at home

Last night was good fun at the pub with Nini and the crew! We went to Grand Cru for a few drinks and nibbles and met up with a whole bunch of peeps. Ethan stayed at home with grandma. Today we are just staying at home, and are being really lazy. Lazy days like today are definitely needed to recharge the batteries and it is also really nice to do nothing at all from time to time. Ethan slept through the night last night and only woke up for a feeding once, which is very impressive! Right now he is sleeping on his Boppy-pillow on the couch, and mommy is stretched out over the other couch. Cute as can be!

Here are a few recent pictures:

He's got eyes of the bluest skies
As if they thought of rain
I hate to look into those eyes
And see an ounce of pain
His hair reminds me of a warm safe place
Where as a child I'd hide
And pray for the thunder
And the rain
To quietly pass me by

Sweet child o' mine

Excursion to the Royal Botanic Garden

Today we ventured out to the Royal Botanic Garden here in Edinburgh. Great grandma, Nini and Julia headed out before us and we met up with them later for a walk in the garden and lunch at the garden café. Shaena and I also walked the whole way over there from our place, which was quite a hike, so we got our fair share of exercise as well. We only saw a portion of the garden, but from what we saw, it looks amazing and is well worth another (longer) visit.

After lunch, we decided to take a taxi back to Michelle’s, which was exciting in itself. Imagine squeezing 5 adults, a baby and a stroller into a London Taxi. The taxi driver, however, was kind enough to even let us in his car and we saved ourselves a walk, so no complaints there!

After a quick sit-down at Michelle’s, Great grandma took us out for dinner at Wannaburger, the best burgers in town! Yummy!

Ethan’s first savings account

Grandpa Stefan and Ritva surprised us the other day with a fantastic gift for Ethan. They had opened a savings account in his name and would start putting money away for him every month so that he’ll have a good foundation to start off on when the time comes for him to leave home and spread his wings. It may seem like a long time until then, but when that day comes he’ll be a little more equipped to take on the world, and that is very reassuring!

Thank you dad and Ritva for the very thoughtful gift!

Cut and pasted from the ol' inbox

Most people do not know this, but things have been cooking behind the scenes long before Ethan was born. There has been frantic activity in the girl camp here in Edinburgh, pledges and proposals have been made, the girls have been working their bums off lobbying for their cause, all because of the to-die-for title of ‘Ethan’s Godmother’.

After much consideration and deliberation we’ve decided that it would be best to have one representative per country, and our Irish rep is now officially Orlaith Brogan from Ballina, a very worthy representative for the green island. For Scotland we have decided on Jen Cantwell-Thomson and for the United States we have chosen Maeghan Ray. Canada is represented by Jessika Ellement, Ethan’s future lady friend’s mother.

Below is an email conversation that shows just how close to heart this matter has been to everyone involved:

Mommy's turn

Hello all! So we're on Ethan's 1 week birthday today and we're celebrating the occasion with Great Grandma's famous apple pie! Mmmmmmmmmm.

Peter and I are learning to take it easier since we've only been parents for this short amount of time. Funny though how instincts kick in and we're doing things just naturally. We're also getting the hang of tag teaming the sleepless nights. Ethan is a great baby though! He is quiet and likes to wiggle around and do his starfish move.

We're also enjoying the extra help tremendously! Thanks guys sooooo much!

Anyway, for now, Ethan and I are going to have a nice afternoon nanny nap and get ready to eat our share of pie!

x

Ethan's day out - coffee with the girls and a walk in the park

Yesterday started when Ethan woke Julia up. He figured she had snoozed long enough and he had places to go and people to see. On the agenda was coffee with the girls at Starbucks, so all the ladies and Ethan headed out for a drink and a chit-chat. I headed back to our apartment to tidy up and organize a bit. After that, we all met up at Michelle’s for brunch, and then we went out for a walk around town to get some fresh air and snap a few photos.

When we came back we had Michelle's awesome burgers and watched the Wimbledon final. Today we’ve just been chilling at our own place, just catching up on some sleep, and Great grandma, Nini and Julia came by to visit.

Here are a few more pictures:

(More) Family is here!

Today Shaena, Ethan, Grandma Michelle and I took our first walk outside since he was born. We walked from our place to Grandma's to meet up with Great grandma, Nini and Julia who arrived safely this morning. Apparently they had to travel with a group of missionaries who just could not stop talking about their upcoming crusade to Africa and how they would talk about God with every person they meet. Oy ve! :)

After we’d all had a little afternoon nap, for various reasons, the gift-opening started. We’ve said it before and it is obvious that we will have to keep saying it; this boy is spoilt silly, and he will definitely be the best dressed little kid on the block!

The guys brought presents from the family back in Canada, and among the things we got was a handmade personalized diaper bag, clothes of course, Ethan got his Christmas outfits, Ethan and I got matching camouflage hats for hunting, a manly-man camouflage diaper bag, and of course Canada-inspired items! He wouldn’t be a real Canadian without them! Another thing we got that was really cool was a pair of handmade Cree-moccasins made by Cree natives in Canada. I am sure my dad is going to love that!

As everyone was quite tired today, we decided to just have a quick dinner together and then Shaena, Ethan and I would head back to our place. Nini and Julia walked us back to give cousin Emily back in Grand Forks a quick webcam call, as there was one super-secret gift remaining…

Nini had spent the last 5 months working on a Muppet show themed quilt and had created every single little detail from scratch with personalized texts and details for Ethan! The quilt was absolutely fabulous and unbelievably beautiful, truly a labor of love.

Thank you so much for all the pressies guys!

I almost forgot; the midwife came to visit today again to check up on Ethan, and he is doing great. Today she did a prick test in his heel to draw blood, and he did not seem to mind at all. What a trooper!

Some pictures from today:

Surprise visitors and not-so-surprising visitors

In the UK, it is common practice that a midwife visits baby and parents in their home the day after birth, and then every day for a week+. Today was our first visit, as we left the hospital yesterday. Actually, two midwives came to see us. They checked Ethan to make sure is doing alright, talked to us about what to think about and what to do and what not to do and we also got a chance to ask them questions.

I also received a surprising call today; my aunt Annika and uncle Håkan from Sweden were in Edinburgh and wanted to meet up, they had heard through the grapevine that we’ve had a baby recently so they came by with a gift for Ethan this afternoon and we had a coffee and a great catch-up session! I had not spoken to Annika for many years, so the call came out of the blue, but definitely much appreciated!

Ethan is doing really well, he is such a lovely, calm little boy, and he is slowly but surely getting into an eat-play-sleep routine.

Speaking of visitors; tomorrow Ethan’s Great grandma, Auntie Nini and cousin Jules are arriving! What a life we lead! It will be good times for sure!

More Ethan

Today we have spent the day in the maternity ward at the hospital so that Ethan can figure out life outside the womb. He is such a treat to be around, and today he has actually been sleeping most of the day away, to the point where we had to wake him up to actually get some energy into him. Once he got that little energy-kick his little eyes were wide open and he just kept working away on eating his fists for lunch. He also had his first bath today, and contrary to many other newborns, he did not cry at all. He really seemed to enjoy getting pampered and taken care of! Must be getting that from his mom…

Tomorrow, Michelle and I are going to go see Shaena and Ethan first thing in the morning, and if all goes to plan, we’ll all leave the hospital together later in the day.

Also: A huge thank you to everyone for their congratulatory messages on this page, Facebook, email, phone, texts, etc. We really appreciate it! Love to you all!

He's got a smile that it seems to me
Reminds me of childhood memories
Where everything
Was as fresh as the bright blue sky
Now and then when I see his face
He takes me away to that special place
And if I'd stare too long
I'd probably break down and cry

Sweet child o' mine

Ethan Noel

The day is finally here! Our lovely little son Ethan Noel is born. At 8.39PM on Tuesday evening this adorable, perfect, little boy was born. Everything went well, but it has been a very long day and night for all of us.

Here are a few photos: