WAITING FOR THE HOLIDAYS: SNOW AND GLÖGI

Last weekend life with children got easier because a little bit of snow fell down and the temperature fell below freezing point.

There is a huge difference between -1 degree  and +1 degree Celsius – if the temperature is +1 everything is wet. I have not found a single outfit for a child that would keep the moisture out when it’s pouring down with  rain and you are out playing with the kids. Every time my S sees a puddle of water somewhere he literally wants to go swimming . Jumping and splashing in the water is the best he knows. When you come home the amount of sand, mud and water that the child brings with inside is amazing.  When you go out with them three times a day your house turns into a sandbox in a day. Taking the clothes off outside would be a solution but with these temperatures it’s not really possible. You just have clean a lot.

If the temperature is -1 everything freezes – most important – no sand nor water comes in anymore with the shoes and the wheels of the pushchair. And when snow falls you can take the sled out – you can go to the woods again. Children are happy playing in the snow too – although it seems they are always happy.

Snow symbolizes Christmas which is getting closer day by day. Although Finland is in the north, there is not always snow in the Christmas in southern Finland. When I look out the Window at the moment the ground is white but the Snow will probably melt during this week – so – let’s keep the finger crossed for a white Christmas.    

My wife and I are both are born in December – my wife is actually born the day before Christmas and this year she will be turning 30. Because of that we organized a Little Christmas party with close friends and family last weekend. During the Christmas –time it’s very popular to serve Glögi – it’s heated juice or hot mulled wine with spices like Cinnamon, Kardemum, Ginger etc. So we were serving some of that Glögi with Gingerbread. Everybody seemed to have a good time. There were 8 children by most running around and playing. Kids always seem to have company from each other. Also the older ones take care of the younger.       

Christmas is getting closer and people seem to be more and more busy preparing for the biggest holiday of the year. Let’s see how busy I’m gonna be before the holidays and when I will have to to get back to the blog.

DECISION

I don’t know how I got to the idea of staying at home with my children for a while. Maybe this requires a little philosophical thinking…

The most important thing for me is to live in the moment. You can’t tell what tomorrow brings. Then one other important thing is to live your life according to some kind of values – for somebody it’s money, for somebody it’s work, for somebody it’s children, for somebody it’s animals. And people are different – you can’t judge people by living their lives the way they have chosen to. Also one has to remember that your background  defines very much who you are. Your genes, culture and upbringing gives you the fundament on which you build your own life the way you want to – I hope. I know that not all have chance to choose but that’s also a big reason for this blog. If I can encourage somebody to choose her or his own path, this writing will have some meaning.  

I have always tried to live according to my values. And by doing that I hope to find happiness and satisfaction. If that really works I’m not sure. There are things that you can’t do much about and life is not always easy. Lately I feel more that by living your life the way you want to, you learn to swim better – you survive better from the negative things that come ahead.

I love children and I have always wanted a lot of them. Unfortunately it took me quite a long time before I had my firstborn. I think it was for the best although I’m sure that ten years ago I would have had more energy to stay awake in the nights – I matured quite slowly and it took me a long time before I figured out what I want to do when I’m a grownup. After six years of intensive studying I finally graduated some years ago just before S was born.

My number one value is family and friends. I don’t like money very much – don't get me wrong - money is important but according to the studies when your income rate is more than 60 000 U$a year,  the value of happiness doesn't  increase anymore.  Let me give you an example. After graduation I worked a lot – approx. 80 hours a week. My income was double to what I make now but I wasn't very happy - I had to work alone and I was at work all the time. Because of that I saw S very little when he was a baby.  I changed my job when S was  eight months old. Now I have regular work hours and   colleagues that I can talk to during the day. I don't have that much money but I have enough to make a living.

Let's go back to the importance of living in the moment. I see people around me who dedicate their life to work. It's fine if they have chosen to do so but it's not fine if they regret it later. You might wake up in your 50's and realize that you don't know your children or you can get a cancer. Don't live for the future - live for the moment. I want to be at home when the kids are young because they are young only once and I might regret later that I didn't do it when I had the chance.     

INTRODUCTION

Hello all

This blog is about my everyday life at home with two children. I will also tell you about Finland - the pluses and minuses  of this cold and isolated country in northern Europe. The third point in this blog is to figure out life - and how children change it. That's about as much as I will tell you at this point.

After studying and working my whole life I have decided to give more time for my children now when I have the chance to do so. I also want to give my wife the opportunity to go back to work after spending two years at home and she defenetly wants to go to work... ;) I will start my fathernity leave on the 23rd of December and I will be staying at home until the end of August 2014. At that time we are planing of putting the children to daycare.

I live in Finland and am born in 1975.  I will call my boys S and D in this blog. S was born in August 2011 and D in March 2013. We have a two-languaged home - I speak finnish and my wife talks swedish to the children. We speak finnish to each other. And I decided to blog in english for two reasons: Firstly I want my english to get better - I once spoke english at home for three years. Now I feel I'm loosing my "fluentness". Secondly I want people in other parts of the world to know about Finland and about our country and culture. Comments are welcome.

Anyway  - I will get back to you when I have started my fathernity leave at home. After that you will get a closer look into our everyday life.