Washington, DC

We decided to drive over to DC for a few days. Got a great deal on a nice hotel about 4 blocks from the White House. It's a great city to walk around and we probably walked about 8 miles each day- definitely earning those beers. LBC slept for most of it, but he was very patriotic and always kept his flag close. We thought he might start walking at one of the monuments, but not yet. 

belly shot. 

Dear Mr. President, 

We had great weather the entire time. 

Sitting at Lincoln Memorial facing the Washington Monument. 

Found an awesome brewery and instead of a bread basket, they served this. HA! America. 

Get to work, you crazy politicians. I'm pretty sure we saw Amy, Dan and Jonah types from Veep. (this will only make sense if you watch the show)

USA!

flirting.

Waving the flag and then immediately throwing it. 

We went to the Zoo one day. For the pandas, obviously. 

We should have videoed this, because he was sooo excited to see the panda. 

At the petting zoo. 

texas with a dollar sign.

We flew to Texas to visit the great-grandparents. Regular airplanes seem so small in comparison to the large ones we've been flying overseas. VERY cramped for a lap baby, but we made it work. Had a few relaxing days out at the ranch. We drove to College Station one day to see Aggieland and stock up on some Aggie gear and met up with Kim at Freebirds. Had to have one of their burritos and a nice cold Shiner Bock. 

Fascinated by the cows.

 Moo.

Went to get Auntie Reba from the airport and had to stop for some good Tex Mex. LBC was loving the handmade tortillas. 

 Great-grandma

Front porch swing with great-grandpa.

 He loved his big ball. Thanks, Great-grandma!

 Large and in-charge. 

The old barn. 

 more fun on the front lawn. 

The last time I went up those ramps for a home game, I NEVER thought I would one day bring my baby here. 

Couldn't get on the field this time since they are doing construction to add 20,000 more seats. Everything is bigger in Texas. 

lil aggie.

Vancouver

In Vancouver, we had so much fun playing in the parks and exploring the city. We were in an awesome location right next to Kits Beach and Uncle Matty. LBC wasn't too keen on the long sleeves and pants at first, but he got over it. He did great on the flights over and has been sleeping really well at night. The highlight for him seems to be the baby swing at any playground. 

 We saw lots of family- even great-grandma Mary! 

 At Kits Beach, playing with dad on Father's Day. 

We watched Uncle Matty play some ball on the beach. 

We walked over to Granville Island and tried out the brewery and farmer's market. 

LBC had a ton of fun with Uncle Matty. 

Such a big boy! Soooo close to walking, but we've been saying that for months now.... 

10 months

10 Month update: He's been very active lately. Likes to walk along the furniture and reach out for the next piece of furniture. He's got the strength to walk on his own, but not quite the balance or confidence. Some of his latest tricks include holding his own bottle, clapping, pointing, standing on one foot- while holding on to something with one hand. He dances to certain beats. He loves to empty anything- cabinets, boxes, bags, etc. Still struggles to wave, just doesn't really understand what we are doing. He continues to shake his head no at things, but not as much. No sign of any baby sign language. We can read what he wants, but he doesn't actually use any of the signs we've tried to teach him. He continues to steal other babies' toys and even hit a girl's hand the other day! Something tells me that, unfortunately, we will have more of that.

Waving! 

We tried on some jeans just in case it's colder in Canada and he hated them. He also really did not like the sleeves on his shirt, he kept trying to grab them and eat them. 

We've been trying to prepare ourselves and him for a 20 hour trip to North America. I've found a few good apps that he likes on the Ipad- Peek a boo Zoo- loves this one. And The Giggle Gang which is just as frightening as it sounds. We've been watching some Postman Pat- he loves the little cat. Not sure what traveling will be like with an active little man, but very excited for the summer! 

why are you eating that?

We all know how much he likes to eat. But I catch myself asking the same question every day. Why are you eating THAT?!

Tissue box. 

Squash racket. 

Daddy's wallet. 

Cd case. 

baby proof.

So we have a little guy on the move now. It's shocking how quickly it happens. He went from not crawling, just dragging himself to full on tearing the condo up! Just when you think you have everything baby-proofed, you find very quickly that it's impossible to baby-proof everything. You just have to constantly watch him. He's now walking along the walls, opening cabinets, emptying baskets, etc. He actually can stand on his own, but he hasn't quite realized that yet. Don't think it's too long before he starts walking on his own. Yikes!

quick update.

I realized I haven't posted anything in almost a month, so here's why. Things have been pretty busy lately. We've made quite a few life-changing choices.

1. We've signed another 2 year contract after weighing many possibilities. I say contract, singular, because I'm going to be subbing next year and not full-time.

2. We've both decided to start our Master's degrees in International Education in the Fall from 2 different universities.

3.We have booked all of our tickets/apartments/cars for the grand adventure across North America this summer. What does this look like?
Singapore- Japan- Vancouver- Austin- Va Beach- Calgary, Invermere- Vancouver- Japan- Singapore
(Might even have a few spontaneous trips.)

4. We are moving apartments to the other side of the island- yes, a whole 15 minutes away. (Which actually seems very far.) Very excited about it though. We will be a block from the beach where there's lots of bike paths which should be fun. Can't wait to explore another part of the city.

Here is LBC checking out the new apt while the agents negotiate price.

5. And we are in the process of hiring a Helper or Foreign Domestic Worker. For everyone outside of Asia, this is a very foreign idea. She will help out with the cooking, cleaning and babysit Caiden when I'm at work. Think of it like a nanny who also cleans. Or a maid who also babysits. So the weird part is that she will live with us. We are still getting used to the idea and I think it will take some time to figure out what this relationship will look like. BUT very excited to have someone do ALL of the housework for us.

6. Oh, and we've decided to get a car. This might not seem like a big deal, but here's a little example of what cars cost here. This is a lady in one of my facebook groups who is selling her used car. Yes, that is the price in dollars- for a 2009 CHEVY. And yes, there is a yearly road tax on top of that! AND you can't own a car that's older than 10 years. Lots of rules to prevent people from having too many cars on the road.

We've gone 6 years without a car, but it's time to get one. It's a huge expense so it wasn't an easy decision.

Right in the middle of all of this, Caiden has learned to wave bye-bye. While doing this for the first time, he scratched my eye. It was so painful, I had to go to the eye doctor and sure enough, there was a huge corneal abrasion. I had to get a bandage lens put in for a few days. I was pretty disappointed that I didn't need a pirate patch, but it's 2014. Technology, people. It's all good now, but quite painful for awhile. 

The yellow part is the scratch. 

One of the best parts about moving every 2 years is that you are always cleaning out your closets and getting rid of stuff you don't really need. You can't keep a lot of junk around which I really like. So this week, I've begun the process of cleaning out the closets and even getting rid of some bigger baby stuff that we aren't using. Busy time of year and can't wait to relax in North America for June/July!