Long time, no see - from a dad-to-be.

Greetings from the other side.

It's the height of summer, the warmth is melting everything away, especially my pregnant wife. A bit of rain wouldn't hurt, and perhaps a cooler day or two, in this heat-wave we are currently experiencing. Now, don't get me wrong, I love a warm, sunny, day as much as the next person. But at least for my wife's, and the trees and plants around, a bit of cooling rain would be nice.

Oh well, we'll take it as it comes. One day at a time. Which, incidentally, is how we are dealing with the pregnancy as well.  We are now one week into that magical 4-week period, centered around the expected delivery date, during which the baby can arrive any day really. For both of us, this is our first child, and it's both nervous and exciting all at the same time! :) I will admit though, that it is mostly exciting. We both can't wait for this new member of our family to arrive!

Becoming a dad for the first time in my life, is a somewhat surreal experience. I have never met this new little person that will soon come into my life, yet I have known for a very long time that I love it dearly. To feel such love for, and connection to, someone you have never met before, feels a bit strange. At the same time, it is also a source of worrying. Thoughts such as "will I be a good dad", "have we forgotten anything ahead of the birth", and even things like "how do I change a diaper again??" some times races through my head. Now, to some of you, that last bit might make you smile a little, but the cold, hard, truth is that I have never changed a diaper on a baby before. I've never had to. I am sure it is very easy, and that all will go smoothly, but if you haven't done something before, it might make you a bit nervous until you have tried. As an added note, I should probably say that it is not like it is keeping me awake at night, or anything like that. None of the above things are. Though it can pop into my head on occasion.

In the end, all I can hope for is that we have prepared enough, and wait for the baby to arrive. I know they say that you can never fully prepare for what's to come - the sleepless nights, the stress, etc - but as long as we have everything we need for the baby's arrival, we'll deal with everything else as it comes.

I am hoping I can start writing more regularly in the blog again now. It felt good to sit down to write on it again, so here's hoping I can keep it up! :)

So until we meet again my friends.

See you all on the other side!

A small update from the other side

Greetings from the other side.

I realize that I have been absent from blogging for quite some time now. Well, over the summer to be precise. This is due to many things. Examples include, but are not limited to: work, getting married, working on a side-project, and other IRL things.

I'm still not sure how regularly I will be able to write here - it will really depend on IRL things - but I want to say that the 'Life on the Other Side' blog isn't dead or forgotten by me. I still want to keep this going, although for now at least it will have to be on a whenever-I-have-time basis.

I hope everyone has had a great summer! :)

My own summer has been an eventful one, at least to me. I only had about 2½ weeks worth of time off from work, though that is because I started working there in August last year. Next summer I should have more than that. Anyway, in those 2½ weeks I got myself married! Which honestly was one of the best things I have done in my entire life. :) Which is good, because I am not planning on doing it again. ^__^

After the wedding we had about a week off, just taking it easy at home and sort of 'landing' again after the whole experience. After that we went over to Sweden and spent some time with my family there, which was nice.

Unfortunately we didn't get a honeymoon, but that's more down to financial reasons than anything else, and we are happy anyway. :)

Now it is time for me to go and get some work done on my side-project. Until next time, my friends.

See you all on the other side!

Finding the rhythm

Greetings from the other side.

Getting back into the regular blogging thing has been a bit more difficult than I envisioned when I decided to slow down my blogging output over the holiday season. There are many times when I have thought I should write something, but then something else comes up and I end up postponing writing a new blog entry for another time. Oh well, such is the way of life I guess, and I will have to see where it takes me. The blog is still there though, so maybe I can get into a better writing rhythm with it again, eventually.

Last weekend we had a visit from two good friends from Sweden. It was the first time they were here since my move, and it was a real pleasure to have them here for a visit over the weekend. Having friends or family over to visit is always a good feeling. Even though I like it here in Finland, and I am very happy here, there is always that part of me that misses my friends and family back in Sweden. So whenever people have a chance to come over here for a visit, or I get a chance to go over there to visit, it is always a good feeling.

Tomorrow we are going to celebrate my fiancee's father's 70th birthday. His actual birthday is on Monday, but for convenience sake the celebrations are being held on Sunday instead. It should be a good time, and my future father-in-law has made the food and cakes himself, so you know it will be really good. Being that he is a chef and all.

In a couple of weeks time my fiancee and I are also going away for a few days together with her sister and her husband. It will be nice to get away for a little bit and see something else. There might be some skiing involved as well, if there is enough snow. Either way, I am really looking forward to it. It will be nice to get away and see a different part of Finland as well. :) Hopefully I can remember to take some pictures while I am there and possibly post some of them on the blog.

That will have to round off a relatively short blog. Before I sat down to write it I thought I had a ton to write about, but when I actually started writing most of those things just disappeared. Oh well, maybe for the next blog post. :)

See you all on the other side!