Where in the world did I leave my mobile Nate?

Nate's crawling. That's pretty old news, really. I utterly failed to announce this major milestone here on Trouble's Tribune. Mostly that is because Nate decided to start crawling about 2 days before we moved to Houston. So to recap, to reward Nate's life changing step of freedom, we bound him tightly and securely in his car seat and drove for 4 days. Nate went along quite begrudgingly, if not indignantly, with moments of complete outrage. However, between his dramatic displays of displeasure, he was spending large portions of our car ride contemplating ways to improve his technique, speed, and balance. Or at least that is what I believe. Because when we set him loose after we finally arrived in Houston, he was like a caged animal set free. Crawling this way and that, grabbing things, hiding under chairs, back and forth. We were sort of hoping that 4 days of confinement would set him back a bit. You know, back to just a few weeks prior when we could set him on the floor just out of reach from, say, a large glass of red wine or freshly folded laundry and know that disaster was not eminent. Alas, once he had a taste of independence and the joy of dragging our belongings to the tiniest corners of the house, he could never go back. You can imagine that this made our moving and unpacking so much more challenging. I have never in my life been more grateful to the inventor of the bouncy chair. So that is our life with Nate these days. Along with looking for my misplaced keys and cell phone, I have to spend large amounts of time searching for my mobile Nate. Is he under the bed? Behind the couch? Around this corner? Usually if you call his name, he'll pull up on the nearest piece of furniture and give a smile so big it melts my heart every time. Which is good since often the remnants of my purse are strewn on the floor behind him. That being said, it is a milestone we celebrate and cheer him on for and are proud to share on this medium. Good job, Nate! And from the looks of it, walking is not too far in the future, buddy.  

In an effort to get some recent photos of Nate, I pulled out the camera and finally found him up to some sort of mischief in the bathroom. I was going to get photographic evidence of his cuteness without his knowing but, as you can see from the (blurry) pictures, I totally got busted. But I do love to see this determined ball of Nate hurdling at me!     

The Plus Side of Storms

In my last post, I mentioned that it has been raining a lot. People tell us it has been exceptionally rainy this year. I love it. I love the storms, especially since they seem to roll in at naptime, when everything is quiet anyway, and cool things off. First I started drinking afternoon lattes on the porch and watching the rain. Soon Regis joined in. If the kids woke up, they were right there with us. It has been a nice respite. Time to sit, hang out, chat, think, relax. We have been grateful for this time to resettle together, hectic and crazy as some days have been. Because it has also been a time to enjoy each other and our new adventure.

As much Adrienne dislikes the thunder, it is begrudgingly tolerated because of the resulting muddy puddles. There is much anxious waiting until the rain subsides enough to get out. Then there is joy!

She was a bit too enthusiastic here, the upshot of it being a head long dive into this muddy puddle. But after some kisses on the skinned knees and an outfit change, she was cautiously back at it.

But it didn't take long to regain confidence.

Nate wanted in on the action too. Now we just need a pair of rubber boots in his size, too!

On a completely unrelated note, you may have guessed from the number of pictures I just posted: we have wireless internet! Finally. Just a mere 27 days to get it hooked up. That was practically a lenten penance. In fact, remind me I have a 27 day credit next lent. Hope you are staying cool where ever you are!

Hello Again!

Hello Again, and Hello from Houston! That's right, I'm sure you have been anxiously awaiting news of our arrival in Texas and I am sorry to have kept you waiting for so long. I have a laundry list of excuses that I can give upon request. The most valid is that we have yet to get our wireless internet in place and I hate using my iPhone for doing anything other than checking my emails. And that means checking, not responding to, so again I am sorry if I haven't responded to your emails. 

I left off here as we were beginning our 'road trip' to Texas. This amounted to 24 hour drive with 2 babies, of which we prolonged so the pain stretched over 4 excruciating days. It can be summed up like this:

It was, however, made more enjoyable by catching up with friends on each end of the trip and we were grateful for the hospitality!

Once we arrived in Houston, we settled into an extended-stay hotel while we looked for a place to live. While this chore was stressful, it was done with relative ease as we signed a lease and moved into our new house by the end of the week. To boot, its a great little house less than a mile from my work, which I consider good karma after having a 50-minute commute each way in Singapore. Once we moved into our house, we realized how little 'stuffs' (as Adrienne likes to say) we actually have. Just in case you were considering it, selling all your stuff and moving half way around the world is not advisable, particularly if you have two small kiddos. The first night we stayed at the house, we only had a port-a-crib for Nate and nothing else. 

As luck would have it, we moved in next door to the NICEST people in all of Houston. Maybe in the whole state of Texas, actually. Which is saying a lot since, as far as I can tell, Texans are pretty much the nicest and friendliest people in the world. They lent us an air-mattress, sheets, pillows, baby blankets, a portable DVD player, etc... This first batch of stuff was later followed with books and toys for Adrienne and Nate, all of which helped keep the small sliver of sanity from disappearing in a puff of crazy on California St. To add to it, they even took Adrienne to play with their adorable kids so we could have a chance to shop for....well, basically everything in the house. It might sound kind of fun to buy things to fill a house. I admit that I thought it would be. You know, a chance to remodel and pick out things that you really like. That would probably be the case if you had an endless supply of cash and kid-free time to do so. By the end, we were walking into stores, pointing at the nearest (fill-in-whatever-piece-of-furniture), and saying "I'll take it if you can deliver it and assemble it today" simply to avoid meltdowns at the store. That being said, things are finally coming together and I would venture to say that we have almost, almost achieved somewhat of a homey feel in here. 

In the midst of all this craziness, we have had some time to drive around Houston and get to know our area a bit. So far, we really like it. There are beautiful oak-tunneled streets, southern-style covered patios, fabulous grocery stores, and kid-friendly parks. Oh, and it has been exceptionally rainy here and abnormally cool, fooling us into thinking that Houston summers aren't really that bad. My biggest complaint is that Houston seems to be REALLY slow for wiring houses with internet. You will know when we get wired because I can update you with all the stories I am mentally writing in my head. Or because, more likely, I will just tell you. I hope that you are enjoying your summer and your wireless internet. And please forgive any auto-corrected sentences that don't make any sense. 

I leave you with a gratuitous picture of my cuties from their first American 4th of July. Cheers!