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2 years in Edinburgh today!

Congratulations us! Today is our 2 year anniversary here in Edinburgh! Lots of good things have happened and we’ve met tons of nice people. Today we have been outside all day. We started off by taking my new Mexican trousers to the tailor, then we took off on a picnic with Mike and Jen as it was such a nice day out... or so we thought. Once we were ready to picnic it up and got to the park it was cloudy and windy, so the picnic continued inside at their place in front of the TV watching How I Met Your Mother. Can’t go wrong with that show!

When the picnic was over we walked over to Anna and Jono’s place to pick up a car seat for Bump and Anna also gave us a whole bunch of nice baby clothes and other useful stuff that their little Max has grown out of. Thank you very much for that Anna!

This evening we have moved our bedroom around a little bit to create an even better nursery for baby. Turned out really nice if I may say so myself. We talked about going to the movies, but after all that, we are spent.

Reminiscing about the past

Tonight I was Googling pictures from Norrbotten, the county in Sweden where I am from, and came across what I think is a rather rare, but also very nice shot of Folkets Hus (meaning: The people's house) in Båtskärsnäs. So I stole it and uploaded it here of course. Ha! No, but all kidding aside; this of course sparked my interest to keep digging and I then found articles featuring some of my relatives but most of all it gave me a bit of a flashback to my childhood and I think I am going to keep poking around and tell you more about where I’m from later on. Obviously, some of you faithful readers already know this, but for the rest of you – A history lesson á la Peter!

A Folkets Hus is a community hall usually found in working class communities in Sweden and Båtskärsnäs is the name of the community where my dad and my grandparents and most of my family on the Helin-side grew up. The Folkets Hus era in Sweden is long gone, but the halls are still there, and they are still telling a story about older days.

Båtskärsnäs as a community was quite well known in the days when sawmills were still small and family-owned before the industrialization and was known to be a socialist community, and Folkets Hus was the central meeting point for both political meetings and union meetings as well as for dances and the hall was even the local cinema, and my granddad was the cinematographer in the evenings, as well as a sawmill-worker during the day.

My most vivid memory from this particular Folkets Hus were the paintings on the wall, and I believe they are still there. The old socialist leaders were all honoured: Hjalmar Branting, Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin.

It is funny how a simple thing like that can spark so many memories. I remember the summers on my grandfather’s boat and our daytrips out to Halsön, an island out in the archipelago and how he would take us hiking across the island, but never all the way across because half the island was inhabited by snakes, or at least so we were told. The island had a gorgeous beach where we played in the water and had picnic. Sometimes we also got to drive the boat, and I can still remember that special feeling when holding the wooden polished helm believing I actually were in control of the boat, when in fact he was standing right there holding a hand on the helm as well.

Another thing I remember is the traditional midsummer-celebrations that used to take place across the street from Folkets Hus and how it was always the exactly the same procedure every year. The band, Thores Trio, was playing traditional summer-songs, and people used to dance around the may-pole, just like it should be. Worth mentioning is also that I am actually related to members of Thores Trio, and the band was a bit of a cult institution in Norrbotten for over 60 years. They travelled around Norrbotten in their red and white Volvo Duett for decades, arranging dances and sang and entertained.

One particular detail I remember about that car, besides the fact that it was in mint condition, was that it still had the plastic covers on the seats even though it was probably 40 years old at that point. Us kids were of course not allowed to touch the car without supervision.

One year at the midsummer-celebrations I also won a very nice gift basket in a raffle, but of course I was much too young to appreciate the contents of it!

There is now only one member of the band still with us, but before the other members passed, they set up a fund for emerging local artists. On the Thores-fund website you can listen to a few sound bytes from when the band was active: Click here.

Hope you enjoyed the history lesson people! More to follow!

Long before Dolly the sheep

Grandpa Jean Noel has had an interesting life! He traveled the world with the Canadian navy, he has been to the coronation of the Queen of England, he worked for IBM when the computer was still a massive noisy piece of equipment, he shook hands with Bill Gates before he was filthy rich, he has been involved in politics, and he also worked in a medical research facility!

If you click on the image below, you’ll be able to read an article from Life magazine from the sixties about a project they called the "John Glenn project" that he was involved in. He helped develop an artificial placenta that they tested on lambs in order to help save babies lives back in the days. It is very interesting reading, so take your time, sit back, kick off your shoes, and be amazed.

Jetting off soon again

Later this week, on Wednesday morning to be exact, I am off to Sweden again for another business thing. I am going there to attend a workshop where our sales reps will learn how to utilize the company’s shared services better, such as technology and customer care, and I am going there as a resource and to give advice to the sales reps when they are putting their heads together to find solutions for a case study on one of our clients. I am sure it will be really interesting and I am glad I have been chosen to go, but at the same time it’s hard to be away from my growing little family even for a few days.

I am really not complaining, and I am lucky to be given these opportunities by my boss, and compared to his travel schedule, mine is a walk in the park! The whole workshop series is split up in four sessions in four different countries covered off in less than a month, and he is attending all of them on top of his usual travels and meetings.

Speaking of work, I must say the last couple of months in my office have been absolutely blissful and my Swedish team that I am in is just a dream team to work with. I am working with three girls, two Swedish and one Norwegian, and we have put a lot of effort in to finding ways to work smarter, more efficiently and with higher customer satisfaction. To sum it up in one really cool corporate buzzword: Leaner. We are working leaner than ever before, and it is paying off. Hopefully we’ll be able to spread our gospel to the rest of our centre soon, but we’ll see. One step at the time.

On another note, completely irrelevant to the above, our little boy is kicking like a madman in there! It is the coolest thing ever that there is a living being in there just waiting to come out and see the world, but of course I am just a tad nervous as well, not much though. I am sure nature will kick in once our little man arrives this summer and everything will be just fine. Another colleague of mine, whose daughter just turned four years old, put it like this:

”I am just amazed by myself; I have managed to keep another human being alive for four years!”

Funeral for a friend

My dear friend and I first met in Westport, Ireland a few years ago and it was love at first sight. Ever since that day, we have been together through rain and through sunshine, early mornings and late evenings. You have been a faithful companion and you have kept me warm those frosty winter nights. I am sad to say, that once again another good thing has to come to an end.

You will be dearly missed, and I will find it hard to replace you, but life goes on.

I have written you a little song to remember you by:

You were my slippers

My only slippers.

You made me toasty

When floors were cold.

You'll never know, dear,

How much I loved you.

Please don't take

my slippers away

Good bye dear slippers!

Mother’s Day

Today is Mother’s Day here in the UK, so by this time next year we’ll celebrate Mother’s Day with our little boy and are probably doing something fun with the whole family. This year we are obviously only halfway there with baby still in the oven, but we might just go out for date night anyway. Dinner and a movie is always nice no matter what the occasion is.

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you moms out there!

Peter and Sharkey

Like a Saturday should be

Today I woke up to the smell of our imported Canadian ”weekend coffee” and pancakes. My lovely wife had already been to the store to pick up supplies and was in the middle of cooking up a great breakfast including blood orange juice, sausages and those super-tasty savoury chocolate chip pancakes with maple syrup. I don’t think anyone could ever ask for a nicer way to start the day. After that, we did our normal nerd-routine with our laptops and now we just finished a movie, The Kite Runner, and are contemplating if we should go for a walk. It is a nice spring day here in Edinburgh.

When I grew up back home in Piteå, the weekends were not for relaxing and recharging batteries, on the contrary. We always had chores and things to take care of, so sleeping in was a big no-no. Just imagine having so much stuff and possessions meant for leisure at your hands so you’ll never have time to enjoy them. Think that might have been a military-family thing; or maybe it was just ours, who knows.

Split second change of plans: Our friend Martin just called and invited us to watch the rugby game with him at a pub. It is an important day for Irish rugby fans today. Ireland can win the grand slam for the first time in 61 years today, so lots of excitement and tension. Sláinte Ireland!

Off to the ballgame we are!

"For you, a thousand times over"

From Nanny Fine to Chicken Fat Lady

As parents to be there is a lot to think about and lots to consider. One of the many things that might not be super-urgent but still needs consideration is daycare. We have not put too much thought into it but we have spoken to friends with kids and I have also been to one daycare provider to find out about the cost of full-time daycare for our little one.

Brace yourselves because here it comes: about £800 pounds or £37 pounds/day for full time daycare including snacks, lunch and nappies! Absolute and utter, yes utter, extortion!

I am sure there are private options as well, but who do you trust with your child? You could be lucky and find a dream-type “Mary Poppins meets Nanny Fine-type” that will take great care of your baby and teach baby the ways of the world in a safe environment, OR you could be unlucky and meet the nightmare-type “Chicken Fat Lady from Erin Brockovich-type” that will stick the baby in front of the TV all day and hand out the occasional spanking. You just never know.

We also have the option of one of us staying at home full- or part time, but that can get a bit tedious in the long run as well.

I have found a great source of information and answers to some of my most common dad-to-be-questions. It is called http://www.dad.info/, and I am sure it will continue to be a great well of facts and tips. Check it out!

Finding the right nursery is an important step for you and your family and it can be a pretty stressful process. Whether you are a first-time father or have just moved to a new area, you're faced with a range of options. So how do you know which provider to choose?

How long have the staff worked at the nursery?
If the staff change regularly at the nursery it's more difficult for you and your child to get to know them and build up a sense of trust. If most staff have been at the nursery for over three years then you can be more confident of a stable environment. However, there may well be a good reason for recent staff changes and it is well worth taking the time to find out
a bit of background.

Will they tell me how my child is doing?
A good nursery will find ways to involve you in your child's life at the nursery, for example by giving you updates at the end of each day and by organising regular meetings to discuss how they are getting on and any issues.

What food will they provide?
Food is an important part of nursery life. A good nursery will have a well-balanced menu and be able to provide for any special dietary requirements. It is quite normal for parents to ask to see an example of the menu. This is also a good chance to discuss any special dietary requirements or allergies your child has.

In case you were wondering...

...how our little baby boy will look like in a few years, this might be the answer. When Shaena and I first found out that we were having a baby, curious by nature as we are, we wanted to know what this wonderful little Swedish-Canadian mix would look like so we did our usual research and found a website online where you can upload photos of both parents and get an idea of how the baby will look like.

Funny enough, I seem to recall seeing a picture of a boy similar to the top one at some point in my grandma's house back in Sweden. Think it was a picture of my dad as a child, but will have to look in to it. For obvious reasons, the picture will have similarities but there will of course also be lots of differences. After all, this baby will get genes from Harrison / Fortin / Pentland / MacIntosh / Helin / Bergstrom / Andersson / Nilsson and so on, and so forth. However, if there is a 'match', it would confim that the website matching technology works, but it could of course also just be a fluke. Over-analyzing much? :)

Technology of today sure is impressive though! I spoke to my boss Ron a while back (Ron recently had a baby as well) and when they were where we are now, they did a 3D ultrasound and got to see how their baby would look like in detail before he was born, and it was eerily accurate.

We have decided not to do a 3D ultrasound mostly because the pictures kinda creep us out a bit and also, we don't want to spoil the surprise too much, but it is definitely impressive that technology has advanced so much that anyone can get a scan like this done!

Which one do you think it'll be? Will be interesting to see if this is accurate!

HAPPY ST. PADDY'S DAY!

Make sure you're wearing green, drinking Guinness and rooting for the Irish!

Los videos Mexicanos

This is a playlist with clips from Mexico:

Tired today, busy tomorrow

Man, that was a long week! If you have never been jetlagged before, you wouldn’t know how it feels, but it can probably be described as a dragged out tiredness that can hit you at any time, any place. Going back to work on Monday was fine, I guess we were a little bit tired, but Tuesday was probably the worst day and on Wednesday we were back to being human again.

They say that it hits you the worst on the second day when travelling west, probably not a documented fact as much experiences from people we’ve talked to and what we have experienced. For some reason the jetlag is easier when you travel east, probably has to do with the time difference and turning the clock backwards instead of forwards, but what do I know. Interesting phenomenon no matter what.

Tonight we are tired and sleepy and tomorrow will be a busy day for us. We are cleaning up the flat after the tradesmen that fixed our windows, I am getting my hair cut, we are taking my new nice Mexican business trousers to the tailor, that laundry basket isn’t getting any emptier and we have made plans to go out in the evening to meet up with Jess, Denis, their bump, Ron and Christine and a bunch of other people. Oh, and Tesco will bring us food as well. Sounds like a full day, doesn’t it?

Hope you are all having a fantastic weekend!

Looks good in leather

We mentioned earlier that Nini is preparing baby for a life in Rock ‘n’ Roll stardom with the Rock star blanket, but what would a rock star be without his leather outfit? Grandpa Stefan sent us this picture of a pair of leather pants and a leather jacket that he got for baby. Just add Metallica-patches, a bandana and vóila – instant rock star!

Lots of pressure on our little man to perform, eh? I am sure ‘eh’ will be baby’s first word as well. True Canadian! Thank you very much dad, we appreciate it!