Getting Settled

We are finally out of the condo and into the new house! I have to say that the move was as painless as possible because we had a great company doing the work and we slept in a hotel for three nights. I wasn't sure how Ben would react to seeing his room this way, but he had no trouble accepting that his bed and toys were packed up because he was having a great time living in the hotel.

It always amazes me that everything you work so hard to put into your home can be packaged up in just a few boxes! Well, 201 to be exact.

The movers got delayed by heavy rains on Tuesday so they were only able to get half of the furniture loaded and moved that afternoon. Alex and our maid Lea were managing really well with the chaos. Lea was invaluable through the whole process because she was terrific at keeping the kids busy and fed while I was pointing the boxes in the right directions and organizing everything.

Here is the second floor playroom...it still needs the most work because it was a dumping ground for all the things I didn't know where to place. It's coming around and will be great fun for the kids once they can walk around in it.

Our first excursion outside in our own yard! Alex was loving his walker outside because he can't use it much inside. The first time he tried to follow me up the steps from the living room and got stuck I got a glimpse of the real temper hiding in this little boy! He was NOT happy. I think it's probably a good thing because without his walker he's crawling much more. He's getting a lot faster but still doing it the hard way on his tummy.

"Wow, look...it's GRASS!"
It's a bit of a jungle at the moment because the grass is still too new to cut. Hopefully this week we can trim it down a little and see what the yard will really look like.

I have a lot to learn about being in a house in a tropical climate. The kitchen is not air-conditioned (as are most kitchens in Singapore) so we leave the door open most of the day to let the breeze in. Plus, the utility room is outside with the washer, dryer, and dishwasher so Lea is in and out all day. I got the shock of my life when I picked up Ben's snack trap yesterday morning and found that someone had gone looking for goldfish overnight and gotten trapped himself! YUCK!! I'm an animal lover but the geckos here are so ugly. And we have several that share our house already.

Now that the hardest part is over I will get back to taking pictures of the boys. They've both handled the move well - Alex didn't really care as long as he was getting fed somewhere and Ben was happy as long as he had a bed with some of his friends on it. We're looking forward to making lots of happy memories here over the next two years.

On an interesting note, I graduated from college almost exactly 9 years ago and this is my 9th move since then! Tomorrow is our 7th wedding anniversary and this will be our 4th home together. Maybe when we move back to Texas we can put down some roots :)