Where is Here?

I'm still here. We're still here. Here is now the Netherlands. We are mid-move at the moment, staying with the Dutch grandparents after a month with the American grandparents. We're learning and exploring what “family” means. Figuring out ways to adapt to lots of changes while keeping our family together and working, loving, enjoying life – the four of us.

Peanut is doing grand. He's transitioned amazingly well from English to Dutch as the main language. The English-isms in his Dutch are gradually being replaced with Dutch. No longer do we hear “Papa, kan jij dit fixen?” Yesterday, he started to ask “why?” in Dutch. It's a minor triumph, partly because someone else will have to start coming up with answers!

Pumpkin is growing into cheerful, engaging pumpkin-ness. This little girl is a smiler – wakes up smiling, smiles at strangers, enchants. She sits up well now and spends a lot of time banging toys on surfaces. Slowly but slowly, we are trying to introduce some solids. That would be pear and only pear because I haven't managed to organize much else yet. Luckily for us, she seems to like it.

Our days have been filled with the work of organizing a life in a new country. Not new that we've never been here before, but new to us this time around. We spent our first week looking for housing, the second week working on the lease contract, and are now organizing utilities move details, furniture, and so forth. All of this impossible, of course, without the support of grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins. Walks have helped. My favorite find has been the Asylum for Lost Stones (Opvangcentrum voor zwerfstenen).

We'll move in next week. Our dreams of a house in the woods were adjusted by the reality of the Dutch rental market (a whole long story there). We will be living in an apartment smack in the middle of the newest shopping area downtown. It will be the newest home we have ever lived in (only about 10 years old) and the oldest city we have ever lived in (2,000+). Adventures are sure to follow.

Filled to the brim

There has been an incredible fullness to our days lately. It's no surprise, with a new little sister, grandma visiting (again and thank goodness), friends to visit in Michigan, summer blossoming, and life happening faster than I ever imagined it could. We're trying to savor the moments. It is amazing to watch our family grow and grow and grow.

And as if there weren't all enough - we're moving at the end of July. Our year in Chicago is coming to a whirlwind end!

Adjustments and a Little Triumph

We've been in Chicago for two weeks now. This week was my first week of stay-at-home mama-hood. Not so easy, which comes as no surprise to me or anyone with experience in the field. When I get caught up in the new day-to-dayness of my life, it's easy to forget everything that has happened in the past couple months.

Sold our home.
Quit daycare.
Packed up or sold most of our belongings.
Left jobs.
Moved to "new" country.
Settled into new apartment.
Started new jobs.

Lots of people make this transition, but it's easy to forget how challenging it can be. The fact that I would forget is ironic since this is part of what I was teaching back in Amsterdam! We have to establish a new rhythm for our lives, from the smallest to the biggest things. What will we eat? Where will we buy groceries? Who will we meet? Where will we go? What will we do?

This is the part where I have to give myself space to learn, to be frustrated, to grow, to settle, and to be happy. And it will get better as we get to know the place, the space, the people, the possibilities. Already, the temperatures are down from searing hot to comfortable, so that's a plus one. It's tempting here to only share the good, the happy, the picturesque. But life isn't that way and I'm a bit of a grumbler by nature (many people not surprised at all to read that). Most importantly, this is also a chance to share and remember some of the little triumphs that add up to a new life in a new place.

Today's little triumph:
We found a breakfast spot just right for our family: Salonica. Salonica is a good old diner that is a four-block walk from our apartment. The interior probably hasn't changed in the 30 years since they opened, but it looks great to these diner-loving eyes. The service was prompt, the food decent, the prices reasonable, and all very kid-friendly, too. I had the french toast and my husband had an egg with sausage, hash browns, and toast. We were both satisfied with our meals. After breakfast we stopped at the playground on the way home and let Peanut have a romp in the sandbox while we chatted with each other and some local parents. We may have just created a Hyde Park Sunday breakfast ritual.

Live from the Windy City

We've moved to Chicago.

This project has been in the works for quite a while and has kept me far too busy to post regularly for a while now. However, seeing as how I recently encouraged friends and family to start paying attention to this blog, it seems only appropriate to start writing again.

We'll be here for at least one year while my husband works at the University of Chicago. I'll be busy trying to find a way to combine full-time mama-hood (for now) with PhD writing and all the crafting and other things I love to do. It is going to be an interesting year.

Getting here has already been good fun. We sold our house and car in Haarlem, sold or stored all our household goods, and packed suitcases to move. Our first stop was three weeks in North Carolina. We spent most of the time recovering from the shock of our move and not enough time at all seeing friends (sorry!).

Last week we packed up a car and U-Haul trailer to drive to Chicago by way of a visit with wonderful friends in Kentucky. We arrived in a huge thunderstorm and have been busy installing ourselves in our furnished apartment in Hyde Park. Things are starting to quiet down a bit here and we're quite happy with things so far.

Now, if I can find the cable for getting the pictures off our camera - pictures next time!