Baby H2!

We are thrilled, excited, proud and over the moon happy to officially be able to announce that Ethan is going to be a big brother! ‘Baby H2’ (which is our project name for our new addition to the family. Ethan’s project name was ‘Avocado’) is due on the 23rd of June next year and we cannot wait! Yesterday we passed the first big pregnancy-milestone: The 12 week scan! In mommy’s tummy there is now a 52mm tall, healthy little baby with a strong heartbeat.

We have of course already told Ethan that there is a baby in mommy’s tummy as we want him to get used to the idea as soon as possible and in Ethan’s head, with his very straightforward baby-logics, he now thinks that there is a baby in his tummy as well and is pointing at his tummy whilst saying: “Baby! Baby!”

Ethan Noel Harrison-Helin 17 months

For snowsake!

Like any other day in Edinburgh for the past week, it is snowing again. The only thing with today is the city has decided it can't cope and ALL bus services have been shut down and it is impossible to get a taxi as they are not taking any bookings. So my question is, what would have happened someone was in labour or had a non life threatening emergency? I mean, the ambulances are not a taxi service, or are they even capable to withstand the overflow that the rest of the city is pointing their way? Not to be so melodramatic but I am sure situations like this are happening right now!

Luckily for Peter, he caught the last bus out of work but the rest of the office might be stranded there. Ethan and I are happy to walk about town with him comfortably in his sling though 30 pounds is quite a bit to lug around town. I think we'll be making some hot chocolate and baking this afternoon to keep the cabin fever down. Not to mention that I scored the 1st season of Degrassi High! CLASSIC!

My only great fear right now is that this weather phenomenon continues for the next few weeks and we don't get to fly for Christmas. Then I'll be cursing a snow fearing city! Come on people, grow a pair! Get out there and shovel and sand!

Julbak at Antonia’s place

Yesterday afternoon, Ethan and I trekked over to Morningside where my Swedish work mate Antonia had organized a Swedish ‘Julbak’ (Christmas baking) and international turkey dinner. Ethan was of course excited to meet new people and he got to bake his first ever ‘pepparkaka’ (gingerbread cookie) and I helped myself to cup after cup of ‘glögg’ (mulled wine) and ‘Lussebullar’ (saffron buns). Very yummy and good fun!

Antonia is definitely a Martha Stewart in the making and Ethan of course loved all the attention he got and all the snacks he scored. When we went home, I managed to leave Ethan’s milk bottle, one of his slippers and our camera behind. Way to go dad!

Ethan has a dagmamma!

[dagmamma is Swedish for ’day mommy’ or childminder]
These past few weeks, Ethan has been going to childminder Anne a couple days a week for a few hours and he his having an absolute blast! Every morning when I drop him off, he is so excited to go play with the other 2 kids there and Anne’s kitty ‘Puss’, he doesn’t even have time to say his usual ‘Ba ba!’ and doesn't notice me leaving. This morning he did not even have time to take off his woolly Eskimo snowsuit and boots and instead crawled away into Anne’s living room half dressed to pet the cat. When picked up around lunch time, he is tired out from all the playing and ready for a nap! Perfect! :)

It is of course really good for him to get used to being away from mommy during the day and also good for Shaena to get a couple of hours in the day to herself.
The best thing about choosing Anne as our childminder (except for the fact that she lives pretty much around the corner from us) was that we knew that she came highly recommended as another mommy friend has had her son there and she is also registered on the Edinburgh council website for childminders, which makes us feel good and safe about our decision.

Wonder if she does magic tricks as well?

When trying to express oneself, it's frankly quite absurd,
To leaf through lengthy lexicons to find the perfect word.
A little spontaniaty keeps conversation keen,
You need to find a way to say, precisely what you mean...

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
Even though the sound of it is something quite atrosicous!
If you say it loud enough, you'll always sound precocious,

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
Um-diddle-diddle-um-diddleye
Um-diddle-diddle-um-diddleye

Ever seen the movie 'Day after tomorrow'?

Once again, winter has come to Edinburgh and once again, chaos is upon us. Remember early this year when we told Britain to get a grip? It's that time again.

Yesterday we had about 3 inches of snow and Edinburgh city centre was complete mayhem. Buses stopped running, food deliveries not getting delivered, schools shutting down, Ethan's playgroup cancelled and funny-looking snowmen scattered throughout the Burgh and this sudden drop in temperature also meant that a bunch of people from my office got stranded at home. This would obviously never happen back home in Sweden and Canada...except for Toronto!

Ethan seized this opportunity to try out his winter wardrobe made up of an eskimo-suit, a leather pants and jacket outfit, winter boots and a cute little toque:

Snow and mischief in The Burgh

Snow on Castle Rock

Snow on a Mini

Ethan has been introduced to crayons. Behold! His first wall mural!

Ethan has also found a light switch he can operate himself. "Lights on! Lights off!"

Warming up at Starbucks


"High five!"

Thank you Ethan...

King Ethan by Isabel

Ethan-mania

Bundled up in his awesome raincoat and cool hat

On fire, as per usual

Proud to be standing

Ethan in his Christmas jumper and red winter boots

Mommy and Ethan

Remember this guy?

My laptop, which is also my work computer, is getting very very old and is about ready to kick the bucket. The screen quality has steadily decreased over the past few weeks and today, out of the blue, it started 'blue screening' and restarting on me in the middle of typing or emailing so I thought it would be best to back up all my stuff before the laptop goes completely bust. So I did and also took the opportunity to clean out my closet and delete a whole bunch of stuff that I had stored since about 3 years ago.

Anyway, while I was going through what seemed like millions of old Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations and other businessy stuff, I also stumbled on a few family photos and just had to stop for a moment and reminisce about the first few weeks and months with Ethan and how he has changed so much over these 16 months! This anxious wrapped up little thing in the photo has now grown into a real little person with his own personality and a very strong will, his own favorite dish, his own favorite TV shows and his own way of doing things... and even his own way of doing things he is not supposed to!

Just thought I'd share this one with you:

Wisconsin, here we come!

Peter here. I just did my usual read-up on my list of blogs that I like following and when I got to Erin's blog, she had written this long and awesome post about their Christmas trip to Vietnam and how they finally got around to booking it after months of research and I thought: "Hang on... wait a minute... we have booked Christmas trip too!"

Yep, you heard me! We are now all booked up and ready to be Wisconsin-bound for Christmas and New years and are of course super-excited to go across the water, hang out with our lovely family and get stuffed full of really awesome food for a couple of weeks!

Rumor has it that the whole basement in the house is getting redecorated just for us and that it is purposely designed to look so awesome when it's done that we'll have a hard time justifying leaving the basement and ever coming back home to Scotland. This is of course just a rumor at this stage but given the fact that we've had so many avenues and potential opportunities open up lately, maybe a prolonged stay in a basement in the cheese state would not be the worst option out there! ;)

So, again, inspired by Erin's blog entry; here's my list of things to must-see's and must-do's in Wisconsin:

No visit to Wisconsin is complete without a visit to 'Jeeptoberfest'...

...or a stay at the Pink Flamingo Motel...

...or posing under a humongous cheese sign!

It must be genetic!

Rollin' with the Oldies!

If it's printed on a t-shirt, it must be true!