Establishing a new normal

We have been in Estonia for one month. Like most times of transition it feels like an eternity and a blink of an eye all at the same time. Our new normal is slowly being established, although it is so different from what normal looked like last year. 

* We are adjusting to Joy being at school every morning. She is still hesitant to go in the morning but there haven't been any tears or freak outs (which is huge for her). 

 Brad sneaking a peak at Joy while she plays outside at school. 

-Simon and I are really enjoying our time together. Doing most tasks with only one kid is so much easier (and Simon is so calm without joy around). 

-We spend our mornings cleaning,doing laundry,  grocery shopping (which was very weird for me and is getting more manageable!) checking out what is on sale at H&M (which is dangerously close!) and this week we have set up some play dates with other moms (which is helping life feel more normal). 

each set was only 1€! We are playing dress up with them now to get "used" to how they feel. 

-Joy and Simon have been playing so well together the last few days. Also Joy has been playing alone really well since starting school. It is fun to see the two of them become friends. 

*We are adjusting to changing seasons. I feel like a kid again (oh wait I grew up without any seasons) and am really enjoying the beginning of fall. I'm sill getting used to cold rain, but the cool crisp fall mornings are pretty amazing. 

-Joy is having a very hard time adjusting to not wearing short sleeves and shorts everyday. Don't even get me started on socks and jackets. Winter is going to be brutal. Getting her to wear long pants is a battle everyday.. Today was a win so that is all that matters! 

* We are adjusting to life without a car. All this full fat dairy we are eating won't get us fat with all the miles we walk! Most days it is fine however when it is rainy at 8:15am and I have to load two kids I. The stroller I have a bad attitude. It is getting more normal! 

And the weather...

....is changing! The weather has been great and the last few days it has been getting a bit cool and wet. The pros - it has been fun to see the leaves change and have cool breezes. The cons- walking in the rain is brutal but with my new coat (not the one pictured) I'm no longer wet so that is good! Also my kids won't wear long pants....hopefully this will change soon. 

Big bath tub

After our tiny baby tub in Hong Kong the kids are loving our huge tub. We get ample use out of it since all the parks are sandy and thus the kids are a dirty sandy mess each evening. No shower curtain= a very wet bathroom since I have two splashing water monsters ! 

Summer weather....

The weather is starting to change. We had a very warm beginning of the week but today it rained in the morning and some leaves are even starting to change.  We are trying to soak up the last summer days, playing outside as much as possible. Supposedly Estonian kids play outside all year long but this momma may not have the stamina for playing outside in the rain. :)

Simon is 2!

Simon we are so proud of the little boy you are becoming. It seems like you have transformed from a baby to a little boy overnight.  You are tender-hearted and loving. You are full of life, aren't afraid to try new things and love to run everywhere you go. It has been so much fun to see you learn new words and figure out how to express the thoughts going on in your head. You are a great kid and we love you so much.

What Simon is doing

• Simon is in constant motion. He loves to climb and jump.
• He has mastered scootering this summer and is fast!
• Has started asking constantly to use the toilet. He is highly motivated by candy and we bought him a potty seat. I haven't really started potty boot camp yet but I am letting him go when he wants. I need to get our house settled a bit more before I can get my mind around potty training.
• Gives the best hugs and kisses

What Simon is saying

Simon has been really slow in the speak department but this summer things have really taken off. He is at almost 50 words which is a lot of words for this little man! He has even started putting two words together. He tracks with everything we say and can follow directions well. The cutest thing he says is “wuv u” Love you. Melts my heart every time.

Teeth: waiting on 2 year old molars

Eats

Simon is a great eater. He loves vegetables, fruit and pasta most of all. For breakfast he still loves oatmeal (with applesauce and cinnamon) and a fruit/keifer smoothie. If I make him a sandwich for lunch he usually eats all the middle (cheese, meat or peanut butter) avoiding as much of the bread as possible. One of his favorite dinners is lentil soup.  He has he biggest sweet tooth and will do just about anything for candy or ice cream. 

Sleeps

I feel like this summer we have finally seen improvement on Simon's sleeping. It has been a long and hard road. For many months I felt like it would never get better. However, with Brad's help, cheer leading and optimism, we persevered through it. We stuck with a schedule and tackled sleep training hard. His body clock is much more firm than Joy's (jet lag with him is long and painful) and he needs less sleep overall than Joy. However, I am proud to say that he sleeps from 8pm-7am and takes a 1.5hr/2 hr nap each day around 12:30/1pm.

Weighs. He is still my long and lanky buddy, we don't have a scale here yet so I can't give a precise measurement. I think he is around 24lbs. 

Likes

• any and all balls + finding basket ball hoops
• motorcycles
• going outside (to walk, play, take Rudy out with daddy)
• reading books before bed
• playing rough games
• doing whatever Joy is doing (or messing up whatever she is trying to create)

Dislikes

Simon is very sensitive and punishments don't have to be that severe to elicit tears and a change of heart.

Favorite event this month

Being able to spend all summer with both sets of grandparents and extended family! We had so much outside playing time all summer. Simon is also enjoying his new home in Estonia.  

Estonia!

We are here in Estonia. We must be getting settled because I just made our first batch of cookies. It has been a bumpy start...moving internationally with two kids under 3 has been hard (and on top of it all Simon has had the stomach flu, fever, cough and runny nose all in a week). 

Brad is loving his new school and has started new teacher orientation this week. The kids and I had our first day at home without daddy and so far we are having fun (made cookies, skyped with friends and played in the playground behind our house). Change is hard on us all, for prayers that we keep our sanity until we develop a new normal would be appreciated! Here we go a short update on our transition and some pictures of our house (it is still a bit barren and a work in progress since our shipment isn't here).

The good

-Our apartment is huge with tons of storage (especially when compared to Hong Kong). We have three bedrooms and 1.5 bathrooms. I even have a real oven! The apartment was furnished and most of the all furnishings are great. The kids are loving the huge bathtub!

-We are only a 10 minute walk from school, which is fantastic since I'll be walking twice a day to take Joy to and from school. We are so glad that we bought a double stroller as we have been walking everywhere.

-The weather has been amazing. Beautiful blue skies, light breeze....long days of light. We are glad that we have been able to enjoy the last bit of summer before fall hits hard.

-So much cheap dairy and bread! We have loved all the food options here. We even bought a bunch of strawberries and blueberries (as they are in season now) to stock up for winter.

The bad

• The grocery store is all in Estonian. Which makes the whole grocery shopping in a new store (a task I find overwhelming in English) that much harder when you have to use Google translate for many items.
• Our washer is pretty small and no dryer yet (so I feel like I'm constantly doing laundry).
• No internet (have to just use the data on our phone) until our residency paperwork comes through in two weeks.

The ugly

-Simon being sick!

-Most of the toys/books are in the shipment so the kids are bouncing off the walls when we are home. Also after a long summer of having grandparents and aunties to play with NON-STOP Joy and Simon have forgotten how to entertain themselves (although I must stay Joy has never been very good at that skill!).

Packing up

Our shipment left over the weekend. I packed 11 boxes and then the movers packed the rest. Our total was 29 boxes which is a huge increase from the 11 we came to Hong Kong with five years ago. 

It has been an exhausting few weeks of packing and sorting and trying to keep life as normal as possible for two little people. 

I've packed one suitcase....I have a few more to pack before we move out of our house. We are trying to savor the last week with our friends. This whole moving from Hong Kong forever seems very surreal.