Blog

Life Changes

Wow - to think how things have changed since my last blog post.  Rupert was only 5 weeks old, it was the middle of Summer in Vancouver and I was preparing to head back to work from parental leave.

Fast forward almost a year later - as we approach summer in the lower mainland (after one of the worst winters that I can recall), life is quite different than what it was a year ago.  What they say is true: time moves so quickly once you are a parent, it's hard to keep track!

Parenthood

This kid is quite the character. After countless months of rolling and butt-dragging, this crawler is all over the house. And not much longer until he will be walking.  It feels like he's developing exponentially as he gets older which is making keeping-up challenging!

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Our days are extremely enjoyable watching our little guy turn into a toddler. Can't get enough of his giggling, funny faces and dancing that brightens up my day.

As he's gotten older, many of the tips that I provided in my initial post still apply. We are still huge fans of Amazon Prime (although we lost our same day shipping, see below as to why).  Scary to think that he'll soon be off to daycare - stop growing so quickly please! 

A New Home

Like many young families, we packed our gear and headed East.  Not too far east- just enough to escape the crazy housing market of downtown Vancouver. 

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Our fist home is located in Port Moody and we absolutely love it. Port Moody is the perfect little city that's on the verge of tremendous growth. With the many parks, shops, restaurants and breweries within walking distance, the neighbourhood is one that I can see ourselves living in for a long time. Proximity to the Skytrain and West Coast Express means that we are not far from our old home. And the plethora of families in our area means we aren't alone in our decision to raise our family here. 

A New Career

With all the changes above, no need to make a significant career move, right?  Think again!  

After 4 years at Salesforce.com it was time for a change.  Thankfully I didn't have to go to far - I've been lucky to join Salesforce.org and help build products on the Salesforce platform for nonprofits and higher education institutions around the world.  It's a fantastic mission-driven organization that is using the power of Salesforce to help those out there who are looking to change the world.  I couldn't be more excited for the opportunity.

Curious?   Check out the video for more info about what we do.  On - and we're hiring!  Check out our job listings.

Let's see if I can post again before another year passes...

Dylan Hansen
Five Weeks of Fatherhood

The last 5 have certainly been different than life's normal pace.  On June 28th, we welcomed our son, Rupert Jermaine Hansen, to the world!  

Alyssa has posted about her birthing experience and given her very, very in-depth perspective.  We were truly lucky to have everything go relatively smoothly.  As a husband and to-be father, the most important thing I could do was offer support leading up to and during birth.  Hand holding, getting water, helping decide which music our son would be born to (Incubus, for those who are curious!).

Since Rupert's birth, it's been much of the same support around the house.  I've been available to take a number of weeks off work (thanks Salesforce for your great parental leave benefits) which has made the transition to parenthood a bit easier on all three of us.  Never in my life have I cooked so much, however, it's been a great experience and definitely saves cash vs. eating out all the time.

Alas, this is the last week of my (current) parental leave and I'm going to have to face my next challenge: balancing being a new father with the demands of working in the tech industry.  Many of my co-workers have done this successfully and I'm looking forward to learning from them on managing an already stretched work-life balance.

Five weeks of being a father doesn't make me an expert by any means, however, I did want to share a few resources and tips that have helped us in the short amount of time we've been parents:

  • Get an Amazon Prime account - We've made a ton of baby-related purchases on Amazon and the free two-day shipping justifies the yearly fee.  Some items also qualify for $3.99 CAD overnight shipping which is a steal if you need an item in a hurry.
  • Invest in a baby swing - We got a deal on this swing on Amazon ($120 CAD) and even though it took a week to ship, it has been a life saver for us to have Rupert take a "hands-off nap".  It's not 100% but has already been worth it's price.
  • Reddit - Lots of great info on Reddit for new parents, shared stories from other Redditors, tips, etc.  The /r/Parenting and /r/daddit subreddits are great resources for us as we review Reddit regularly.
  • Get outside! - You'll read that many folks frown upon taking a newborn out of the house until at least 6 weeks after their birth.  Nonsense!  If you're lucky enough to have a newborn in the summer, be sure to get them out for a quick walk / drive here and there.  Just be sure to keep them in the shade!

For now, off to enjoy the last few days of precious time off with this little guy!

Dylan Hansen
Overdue Blog Update

Well, well overdue!  It's been almost 4 years since my last post to this blog.  Life's been busy, hence why I haven't been updating much.  Got married, went on a kick ass honeymoon, started work for a great company, seen many, many concerts and enjoyed our relocation to Vancouver.  And with a new member of our family on the way, I don't expect things to slow down.

I've also done a major re-haul of my website and moved over to Squarespace.  If you're looking to keep up with happenings on a more regular basis, best worth checking out the Feed or Photos sections.  These pull directly from my Twitter and Instagram feeds.

Alyssa is also posting over on thehansens.ca, a website that we'll be posting more family-related stuff to once our new guy comes.

Dylan Hansen