Happy birthday, Hannes Today's the day. Hannes's age is no longer measured in months or weeks, but years. Our son, our baby, won't be "6 months" anymore, he'll be "a year," "a little over a year," "almost a year and a half," "almost two years now."
A year ago, Jessica and I were sitting at the hospital cafeteria, looking at a tiny, yellowish boy sleeping in a bed beside us. I was trying to learn to change the diapers, to hold him right, and I loved carrying him around.
Right now, Jessica and I sit by our kitchen table. Hannes is sleeping in his bed in our room. He was exhausted by the party he threw for his Finnish relatives and friends. It must be tough being the focus of everyone's attention. So many ideas, so few words.
It has been a long year. We have been through a lot, as some of you know after sticking with the blog this long. You'll remember how I stayed at home last December, Hannes's first Xmas, how Jessica got depressed and started to feel better again, how Hannes got his Finnish citizenship - and Swedish passport, Hannes's first smile, first teeth, first flu, first trip to Sweden, to Grandpa's. And little sleep.
Mostly, it has been a wonderful, long year. The three of us have become a (excuse my poor Austin Powers impersonation here) "toight" family unit.
2003 will go down in history as the Year of Hannes. And no sleep.
Oh boy! We took off on Thursday morning at six. I just got home, it's 6 a.m on Friday. In that 24-hour period I have witnessed courage, love, caring, guts, hunger, sleep deprivation and happiness. A lot of happiness.
I am proud to say that Jessica and I became parents tonight. Hannes, our son, was born on 22 November at 2.58 a.m.
I checked the time on my grandpa's old watch.
:: Risto Pakarinen, 07:24"
That's what I wrote close to a year ago. In fact, that was 363 days ago, and Hannes will have his first birthday party on Saturday. He will celebrate his first year on Earth among friends and relatives. Like he should. He will also celebrate it crawling around, driving his new Big Bobby car, probably eating some cake, blowing out the candle, and generally just having fun.
I honestly can't remember what Jessica and did before we had Hannes. I have seen photos of us visiting Graceland and Mexico, there's the family legend of us skating around Norrviken lake in Sweden. But as far as my memory's concerned, Hannes has always been there.
Hannes and Jessica are on their way home from Sweden now, so I'd better get to the airport right now. This must be something like 8th time Hannes flies over the Baltic Sea. The first time he did it, he was 3 weeks old. And I was SO PROUD when I carried him onboard.
Father's Day Yesterday, Sunday, was Father's Day in Finland (and Sweden). My first as a father.
It's funny, my family has never really celebrated Mother's Day or Father's Day in any special way. Sure, I would draw something at school, hide it around for a couple of days and then bring it out on the Special Day. But the rest of the Sunday we would just do what we always did: go for a drive, eat hamburgers at Carrols, go to a hockey game or watch TV together. That's what we did.
Two of my (father) friends called me today, and both actually asked me how Father's Day had been. And I told them that it had been cool and that I had got a drawing from Hannes.
I found it on my laptop in the morning. See, Hannes wakes up kinda early, at around 6.30 or something, and I usually go up with him, after he's got his morning bottle, so that Jessica can sleep in a litt´le bit. Hannes and I get up and check the NHL scores. It takes Hannes about 20 minutes to really wake up, so he thinks it's nice to sit on the sofa, in Dad's lap, but let me tell you, when I then put him down, he hits the ground running. Pretty much literally.
So, we got up, checked the scores and played a little in the living room. Then we came to the kitchen, and I found the drawing. "Have a good Father's Day, ät-täh," it said. I gave Hannes a kiss on the cheek and handed the "Piano Animal" to him. He started to play the piano and dance, I sat down at the table and watched him wiggle his diapers.
At 8, Jessica got up, as usual, and the three of us had breakfast, as usual. And inthe afternoon I went for a walk with Hannes, we played, went out to dinner together and ate hamburgers, and then watched some hockey on TV.
So, sorry if you misunderstood in the beginning when I said that we haven't celebrated Father's Day. I didn't mean that in a bad way, or that I would be unhappy. No, no, I am a very, very lucky man. I have Father's Day every day.
