Getting Settled

Wow...we made it! Last week was absolute chaos in my opinion, although we got moved successfully and I think brought everything we needed. Two kids, five suitcases, two carseats, two strollers, two surfboards, and four bags, plus five boxes that were sent by DHL and met us here in Perth. Sounds like a ton of stuff but it's actually not a ridiculous amount when you consider it's all we have to live off for the next several weeks. We are in a nice, completely furnished house at the moment so we are living very comfortably until we can move into our rental in a few weeks. We got word yesterday that our visas were approved and also that our lease offer was accepted at the rental house so things are moving along very well. Our sea shipment should be en route at the moment and arrive in Fremantle sometime next weekend. We expect it to take at least two weeks to clear customs and quarantine, then hopefully be ready to unpack right when our lease house is available for move in. That would be ideal so we don't have to move and then rent temporary furniture in the new place...the less we have to disrupt these kids the better! Our new house will be in Cottesloe facing a small golf course and just a few houses away from the beach. It's a bit smaller and older than some of the others viewed but the location is absolutely fantastic. Matt and I both agreed it would be worth living on a beautiful beach once in our lives while the opportunity was available!

Our local move in Singapore was actually terrific practice for this move because I was much better prepared for how to organize the house before the movers arrived and what to pack in our luggage that would be critical for the kids (things like night-lights that nearly caused a meltdown after our last move). But an international move is so much more complicated because you have to deal with things like new currency, new outlets (thank goodness Matt thought to buy plug adapters in Singapore before we got here), visas, and cars. Even things like rounding up all the loose change around the house to cash it in don't seem like big deals but end up eating away the precious moving time. Our move-out to do list seemed endless but we managed to take care of everything and hopefully completely wrapped up our lives in Singapore and didn't forget anything. We also had to consider our maid Lea because she was moving as well so we had to pack her things and move her on our last day. Even though she was only with us 5 months we were all very attached and it was a tearful goodbye, but I trust she is happy with her new family.

The kids have been terrific during this entire process. Sharing one hotel room was pretty stressful for all of us and bedtime was a disaster every night because Alex absolutely hated the rollaway crib and would scream for an hour, which of course kept Ben awake, then the two of them would talk and play. Then we discovered that they both snore, but at least cute little boy snores and not big old man snores. Needless to say, we were all pretty exhausted between the stress and sleep deprivation.

Friday morning we finally bid farewell to Singapore (very sadly, in my case) and flew away to Perth. Ben had been looking forward to riding in an airplane all week and had a terrific time on the flight watching movies. Alex was very well-behaved, too, but he had to get up and walk around and try to grab every single person as he toddled down the aisles. Lucky for me he already likes TV so he watched a little bit of Charlotte's Web, too. It's only a 5-hour flight which is pretty short by our standards, considering we'll be looking at 24 hours or more flying home for Christmas...haven't exactly sorted out how we'll be getting there yet but I do know you can't fly much farther away from Houston.

We came straight to this 4-bedroom furnished house and have been settling in ever since. The kids are so happy to have their own bedrooms and space to explore and play. It's winter in the southern hemisphere so it's been cold and rained a bit, but actually the weather has been much nicer than I anticipated. After more than two years of constant summer we seem to have shed much of our winter wardrobes and have had to buy quite a few things but we seem pretty well prepared. Western Australia seems much more "normal" to me than Singapore because it's more spread out, stores have parking lots with free parking, and the fast food places have drive-thrus, but the pace of life is SO different. Things close at 5pm. The Big W (the Australian Wal-mart which I was thrilled to shop at today because it's just like home) is closed on Sunday. The late grocery store closes at 8pm. That will take some getting used to coming from a country where you can buy a TV at 10pm or get prata at 2am. But I'm beginning to think we're really going to be happy living here. I was not excited to be leaving such a happy life and terrific friends in Singapore so I haven't been looking forward to this move very much. I of course miss having a maid and just having the company around during the day, but it's really nice to run the house the way I want again. It's fun to be in the kitchen cooking again, especially in a nice kitchen with brand-new appliances! Grocery shopping is fun for me and for the kids because we rarely did it and definitely didn't but an entire cart of food at once. Right now Matt and I are trying to figure out how to share a car until we can buy a second one so we're trying to work out a carpool for him or I'll take him to work, but that means I have to drag the kids along. So, we're settling into our new lives here even though we'll be moving again in a few weeks.

I've been so busy getting the house in order and chasing after the kids that I haven't had time to get lonely yet, but I'm sure those days are coming. I met some wonderful, beautiful women in Singapore and will treasure their friendship and hopefully keep in touch forever. I was fortunate enough to get to enjoy one last girls' night out with most of them just before we left. My lovely friend Julia was thoughtful enough to organize the dinner at Villa Bali but unfortunately got sick and wasn't even able to attend herself. A few other girls were traveling or had other obligations and I missed seeing them, but it was a wonderful chance to enjoy my friends and say goodbye.
back row (L to R): Farah Armstrong, me, Jenn Harkless, Christina Dunlap
front row: Kim Stamper, Anne Duncan, Suasti Lye, Leslie Lancaster, Camille Denton


In the hotel it was almost impossible to keep things packed at all because Alex stayed there all day and would dig through our bags. He loved this picture of Ben that Suasti had printed just before we left.

The morning of our flight, Ben was so excited he got straight in his carseat and waited until it was time to go. We finally convinced him to get out long enough to get dressed and move the carseat into the taxi.

We will really miss Changi airport! Singapore has the most amazing and efficient airport I've ever seen...tons of shopping, of course, since that's the national sport, playgrounds, restaurants, lounges, showers, free foot massagers everywhere, I could go on and on. My favorite is the butterfly exhibit where we enjoyed our last few minutes of humid tropical air and Ben got to wear a few butterflies for a while until it was time to go.

Here's the crew outside the Perth airport...we attracted a bit of attention with all our stuff!

I heard some loud birds outside the house and realized they were wild lorikeets. Don't need to visit the bird park here!

Sunday morning was absolutely gorgeous. The temperature was in the 60's but really warm in the sun. I'm still trying to figure out how to dress the kids most of the time because it's cold in the shade but warm in the car or the sun but they don't seem to notice. That day all they cared about was the huge playground crawling with kids. We just happened to drive past it while we were checking out the house we'll be renting and realized it's a very short walk down the beach. I have the feeling we'll be spending a lot of time here in the future.

Alex is a total walker now...no more crawling for this guy unless he's trying to get over to something to pull himself up. He's managed to stand up on his own a few times but it's still quite a feat. He seems very coordinated and athletic already, or else by comparison Ben was pretty uncoordinated and I just didn't realize it!

The family in front of Cottesloe beach. This is the exact moment I started getting excited about living here! I've always been a beach lover and I could definitely get used to this view every day.

Around the house, the boys have been entertaining each other in so many ways. I heard lots of laughter and walked around the corner to find them like this giggling to one another on the floor.

Alex has climbed in, over, under, through, or behind every piece of furniture in the place.

This had me almost in tears today. Alex is getting more addicted to his blankie by the day but I've also been much more generous about letting him carry it around everywhere. I've always tried to limit the pacifier and blankie to the crib but with all the disruption I've let him have them pretty much any time lately and he's making the most of it. He also loves putting blankie in a cabinet or drawer or trash can and then getting it out, but that sometimes makes for a problem when he gets distracted and leaves then I can't figure out where he left it. Today he kept putting the blankie on his head and walking around patting it. He got it on like this completely by himself. Later when he couldn't find it he wandered around the living room crying and patting his head. He is hilarious!

Ben's new love here is his vacuum. He is still a litle clean freak and loves to wash dishes, clean the table, sweep, and wipe down pretty much anything, but today vacuuming was at the top of his list. It's apparently more fun when we do it together but since Alex is a walking trail of crumbs it was actually pretty handy to clean the floor three times. And somehow it still needs it again tonight. Have they always been this dirty or is it just easier to see without the granite floors camouflaging all the crumbs?