Restaurant

The other day we visited a  all can eat pizza buffet restaurant called Rax that is sort of aimed at students and families. We will not be visiting any restaurant with the whole family soon again. Not that there were anything wrong with their family friendliness but some of our younger family members had a *grumpy throw all the food on the floor and scream like I'm possessed if I can't use my fork and plate as a drum set*-mood...

It's been a month

It's been a a month since I last updated this blog. A busy month in both good and bad ways. The twins are really keeping us busy. Fortunately  I only have to get up at 6 AM four mornings every third week because those nights before I get about four hours of sleep. And I really don' t get the sleep that I need after my night shifts but then again that's only four nights every third week too. That's the good way because in my mind children are the meaning of life. Whatever happens down the road they have profoundly changed your life in a positive manner forever.

But strange things happen in our world, call it karma or the will of (the) God(s) but sometimes when life is given to a family another life is taken. Four weeks and one day after the twins where born my mother passed away. We had the funeral last weekend and two weeks from now the twins are going to be baptized. I'm sorry for the fact that we really haven't had the time to mourn my mother. Her passing and funeral passed by in three weeks and now it's gone. We are now busy planning and arranging for our twins baptism. The birth-death phenomenon are quite common so people who have experienced that says that you will mourn when you have time to mourn, whether it's a year or three years from now.

In this gloomy mood it's only fitting to be in the beginning of the fall. The days are rainy and right now it's about 10 °C and it's in the middle of the day. But I like seasonal changes. The fall can be incredibly beathiful with all the red and yellow leaves and the brisk cold air always makes me feel so awake and alive.

Twins

I'm sorry for the lack of updates lately but I have a good excuse. Our twins(boy and girl) were born on July 5. Having twins are not easy and there were a few medical complications along the way. But everybody's home and doing fine right now.

This is my first day at work after my paternity leave so I finally ha time to write a blog post ;-)

Vacation is over

My four week vacation is over and I'm back at work. I'm doing my first morning shift out of four on Midsummer Day. In this part of the world Midsummer is as big as if not bigger than Christmas. So today, everything is shut down, except us who keep society running when everyone else is out partying in their summer cottages.

The weather is cold and I 'm pretty sure it will rain later today so partying outdoors today wouldn't be much fun. And my fiancée is expecting twins at any moment. Expected date of delivery is the 31st of July but the twin's estimated weights at this point are around 7-8 pounds EACH. If we where expecting just one child he/she would still be considered to be a BIG baby at that weight. We are awaiting c-section within the next two weeks but the doctors haven't set a date yet. Then of course the delivery could start at any moment so I feel slightly nervous sitting here at work, actually more nervous than when Mirelle was born.

During those four weeks of vacation I have also taken a partial vacation from the Internet. No blog writing, no Facebook updates (except mentioning that I'm on vacation). I've played some World of Warcraft, read the news and a few blogs, made a comment or two and logged on to Facebook every now and then to see what's going on. But that's it, no active social networking. It feels good to be offline for a while, to live in reality. But it's good to be back =).

This weekend Vasa is hosting a US Naval visit. The United States Navy guided missile frigate USS Simpson is open to the public between 13.00 and 17.00. I go off work at 15.00 so if it's not raining it should be an interesting ship to see.

It's official

Some of my regular readers are probably aware of this fact due to various reasons. But we have decided to make it official now. The fact is that my fiancée is pregnant and the expected date of birth is 30 July. And not only that, we are having twins =). Well it's really not official until I announce it on Facebook and I haven't yet ;-P. Nina did has but she did it in a cryptic way and then someone asked if she was pregnant and she had to answer yes.

You don't want to be overconfident in cases of pregnancy, especially in the case of a high risk pregnancy such a twin pregnancy. I can do that when we are a family of five.I've heard of people who have denied everything to everyone until they sent out the invitations to the baby shower, but that is just mean ;-P.

Back at work

My vacation is officially over. I'm back at work. It feels good and it will feel even better when they get the elevator working again, hopefully tomorrow. I like a soft start after my vacation and running up and down four stairs once an hour can be exhausting.

Well the vacation was great too. We saw a Madonna concert and spent a week camping in the Northern part of our country, complete with a visit to Santa Claus Office, a zoo and Ikea. There where also a few museums in arctic and Sámi style along the way. Other than that there have been some yard work and the yard is almost 100 % child safe, she's not far away from walking without support.

Short update

It's been a long and busy day but also a good day. I got only three hours of sleep this morning due to a baby appointment. Then we did some errands around town. I think I was sort of lost after my night shift and too little sleep today. Anyway I managed to get a few hours sleep after town before tonights big event, the barbecue party.

Well it was actually the people in Nina's baby group ( and the guys) so it was good food and I found out that baby karaoke can be really fun. Social life isn't more difficult when children become involved but it changes for good and for worse. It goes trough huge changes. Some of the people that always been there stays there but some just quietly disappear. And then you meet new people, people that are in the same situation as you and you make new friends among them.

This short update got a bit longer than intended but I sometimes get lost in my own words. Anyway it's 19 hours since my 4 week vacation started and I'm going to catch some sleep after my last night shifts and a fun night. A sleep well needed =).

9 months

It's been 6 days since I last wrote something in this blog. I've been quite active in my Swedish blog in the last few so it's about time I turn my attention here. Anyways yesterday Mirelle turned 9 months old and she's too young to have a cake but she sort of solved that problem herself. Apparently one of the dogs had decided to take a dump inside when we where gone because we changed the dog food this week and some dogs have sensitive stomachs. I cleaned it up but I had missed some that was under the stairs. Guess who found it? Our 9 month old daughter and by the look on her face she thought it was yummy. We didn't think it was yummy.

After a quick clean up and change of clothes I googled on the subject and basically every kid out there have at some point eaten shit. Cat shit, dog shit, their own shit or all of them. I didn't find any testimony that any child ever had become sick or ill due to consumed shit. But I did find some advice that if her stomach becomes upset, probably in the form of a light diarrhea it would be a good idea the avoid wholegrain gruel and stick to corn gruel as long as her stomach is upset. So no visit to the emergency room this time.

Almost

Mirelle was in her best mood this morning and I thought it was a great moment to get a sunshine baby picture. It was, until I brought forth our camera and she decided to start chewing on her hand. But I managed to get a semi smiling picture before her own hand got more interesting. So the sunshine baby picture still do not exist.

Sunshine baby

Our Mirelle has her sunshine baby moments, yet to be captured on film but when we get it I will post it here, sooner or later. I know I'm a bit lazy with posting pictures so that's why I'm writing it here that I will. Otherwise it will be a lot later...

The calm before the storm

I'm back at work and the Finnish Meteorlogical Institute has issued an orange awareness level for this region and two neighboring regions for wind and snow/ice which means that: The orange awareness level means that the weather is dangerous. Unusual meteorological phenomena have been forecast. Damage and casualties are likely to happen. Be very vigilant and keep regularly informed about the detailed expected meteorological conditions. Be aware of the risks that might be unavoidable. Follow any advice given by your authorities.. It's a nice evening to be at work during this winter's first worst case scenario blizzard. But seriously, the peak of this storm should hit us sometime during the night and I go off at 22.00 and extra people are called in to deal with the storm.

Back at home in the real world (I call it the real world now) there is only one thing that matters, our daughter. I'm amazed how life has changed for the better although sleep is a relative thing nowadays and you often smell milk puke. I love it.

Father's Day

Tomorrow is Father's Day in Finland. It’s a weird and good feeling because I’m a father this time. It’s been a while since I’ve actually celebrated Father’s Day by being personally involved in it since my dad passed away 6 years ago.

Our daughter is only a month a old so she doesn’t grasp the concept of Fathers Day yet but I think Nina have arranged some kind of surprise, she wrote so in her blog =).

Anyway I’m working the morning shift tomorrow but after that ends we are going to Nina’s brother’s place, her parents are there too. It’s cake and coffee, it’s a nice way to celebrate Father’s day with family.

Back to reality

Well, I'm back at work after four weeks in baby world. I did find a "good" reason to call home and I might be overdoing the daddy thing =)

I'm a father

Long time, no blogging: Sorry for the lack of updates but I've been busy elsewhere. On the 8th of October at 3.28 AM our daughter was born. So I guess I've been busy being a parent since then =).

I got 4 weeks off from work. The birth of our daughter was born at the right time so besides my usual 6 days off in between shift tours I got two weeks off as autumn vacation and 8 days paternal leave and my last two night shifts off before all that when our daughter was born. I'll return back to work 3rd November.

Besides being a parent I'll also been busy going to the dentist and I got no more amalgam in my teeth anymore. After all it contains mainly mercury and it's dark grey in colour, not for nice looking teeth…

Last night

I got my last night shift tonight. It's these days my girlfriend can give birth at any moment so being here all alone at work is a bit nervy. My workplace can never be unmanned so before I can leave I have to call someone and wake them up and get them here. So the plan is, she calls a cab, then she calls me and I go to the hospital when I'm able to leave.

Children's room

Since we are finished with redecorating the house, well the stairs are still undone but it’s no hurry with them, we moved all the stuff where it’s supposed to be. The baby is coming in early October so we made a children’s room.

Unfortunately the children’s rooms is popular among the dogs especially the cradle from 1848. We have caught two of the dogs sleeping in it and a yellow stain on the covering, yes a dog has peed in the cradle.

We are buying another pet gate on Monday. We have a pet gate to the entry hall, another to our new bedroom (future extra bedroom) and two baby gates not yet installed at the top and bottom of the stairs. Anyone interested in a dog or two?

Evening shift and happy news

After my six days off I’m starting my first evening shift out of four later this afternoon. I’ve been busy with garden work today. Since most of the snow has melted away it was about time. Before the snow fell we raked some leaves and dog shit, but not our entire yard. So I gathered it and put it in our compost. I also straightened up our dog fence. It would have straightened up by it self when it dries up in the warm spring sun. But there’s nothing wrong with strengthening the supporting poles by putting stones around them.

We’re becoming parents in the fall =). Expected date of birth is the 6^th of October. I don’t think I have fully understood it yet. Or yes I have but I haven’t truly started to believe that everything will go well all the way. Life is moving forward in a good way =).