Hello again everyone, Daddy Bear here. Mommy Bear has not been able to keep up with her blog project here so I am going to lend a hand and catch her up to date so she can have a fresh start. Go ahead and check out all of our pictures at www.flickr.com/photos/slobears as well, we are way better at keeping all the pictures flowing there than updates appearing here.
We got a great start here while we were in our temporary accommodations between our local ward and our new friends that I work with. Baby Bear adjusted really well to the new ward and has been doing lots big boy things. He prefers feeding himself with his spoon and fork, is very proud of himself using booster seats instead of high chairs when we eat out, walks when he thinks we aren't looking, and has picked up a few signs (more, up, all done/no more) and loves clapping and laughing. He is getting along well and is getting bored with his pacifier which is doing great things for his vocalization.
In mid November we finally found a rental that would work for us and moved in. Unfortunately all of our things had been held up on the east coast during the storms there and we would be on loaner furniture for a while. It was bad enough that we started sleeping on the air mattress we had shipped over because it was more comfortable. We weren't working with much through the holidays but did not count ourselves anything less than blessed.
The first big event was Baby Bears' birthday! We had a big group birthday party with the ward and four little girls that all turned 1 within a week of Baby Bear. It was really sweet and they all played and ate pretty well together. On his actual birthday we took him to an indoor play center in the afternoon. It had large padded play areas with slides and ball pits and was broken up by age group. He loved the ball pit so much that we are going to set a mini ball pit up in the rental. We finished the day with a nice family dinner and presents.
Next came Christmas! Our home was filled with love and happiness throughout the season and we worked out a grand Christmas Eve feast, a fun morning teaching Baby Bear how to rip open presents, and a huge Christmas gathering of essentially EVERYONE I work with and all their families that we are still very grateful for!
New Years went the way of the dodo as were were in bed by 9 (thank you Baby Bears' sleeping issues) although I was close to going vigilante when the neighborhood youths almost firecracker-ed Baby Bear awake. If I had a lawn I would have shoo-ed them off of it.
After a little holiday recovery time we finally got our stuff in (only 3 months in transit) and couldn't have been happier to see our bed. Our furniture is roughly in its place but will probably take a month to get every last thing unpacked and organized. We do not have that many things but Mommy Bear has her schedule filled with Baby and Daddy is working half the time. We seem to have this problem where once we all get together the boxes become invisible and we just want to play and take trips. For example our things got in on the 2nd and then I ended up having the 9th-13th off. You would think that I would have everything unpacked and perfectly organized with that kind of time. Instead I packed the family up and traipsed around Scotland for 3 days! Irresponsible? Yes! GREAT IDEA? ALSO YES!
So now we are just returned from Scotland, with half a house to unpack, a baby whose sleep issues we are slowly working through, and a Mommy Bear learning the ropes of stay-at-home-mom for the first time. She really wants to get the hang of blogging but is a little swamped at the moment, go easy on her :)
In mid November we finally found a rental that would work for us and moved in. Unfortunately all of our things had been held up on the east coast during the storms there and we would be on loaner furniture for a while. It was bad enough that we started sleeping on the air mattress we had shipped over because it was more comfortable. We weren't working with much through the holidays but did not count ourselves anything less than blessed.
The first big event was Baby Bears' birthday! We had a big group birthday party with the ward and four little girls that all turned 1 within a week of Baby Bear. It was really sweet and they all played and ate pretty well together. On his actual birthday we took him to an indoor play center in the afternoon. It had large padded play areas with slides and ball pits and was broken up by age group. He loved the ball pit so much that we are going to set a mini ball pit up in the rental. We finished the day with a nice family dinner and presents.
Next came Christmas! Our home was filled with love and happiness throughout the season and we worked out a grand Christmas Eve feast, a fun morning teaching Baby Bear how to rip open presents, and a huge Christmas gathering of essentially EVERYONE I work with and all their families that we are still very grateful for!
New Years went the way of the dodo as were were in bed by 9 (thank you Baby Bears' sleeping issues) although I was close to going vigilante when the neighborhood youths almost firecracker-ed Baby Bear awake. If I had a lawn I would have shoo-ed them off of it.
After a little holiday recovery time we finally got our stuff in (only 3 months in transit) and couldn't have been happier to see our bed. Our furniture is roughly in its place but will probably take a month to get every last thing unpacked and organized. We do not have that many things but Mommy Bear has her schedule filled with Baby and Daddy is working half the time. We seem to have this problem where once we all get together the boxes become invisible and we just want to play and take trips. For example our things got in on the 2nd and then I ended up having the 9th-13th off. You would think that I would have everything unpacked and perfectly organized with that kind of time. Instead I packed the family up and traipsed around Scotland for 3 days! Irresponsible? Yes! GREAT IDEA? ALSO YES!
So now we are just returned from Scotland, with half a house to unpack, a baby whose sleep issues we are slowly working through, and a Mommy Bear learning the ropes of stay-at-home-mom for the first time. She really wants to get the hang of blogging but is a little swamped at the moment, go easy on her :)
