It's bloooody cold here

It's bloody cold here...or as my near 2 1/2 year old says all the time....Very Very Cold Outside. Brrr. Very Cold Outside. She hasn't shed her Australian skin yet, in almost all of our outdoor adventures that have been near the 0 degree Celsius mark she refuses to leave her pram and warmth of the blanket that is tucked in up to her chin. She removed one mitted hand at the tree lighting ceremony the other day to eat the chocolate chip cookie that was offered to her. What she wouldn't do for a cookie.

Things have mighty changed for our family in the last 6 months. After a chaotic and near rash decision in March, we decided to uproot our lives completely and move to the U.S. of A. Hard to believe it was only 6 months ago that Nico and I sat debating our pros and cons list at a cute vego restaurant in Windsor while we paid our awesome babysitter to put Amelia to sleep. We both had jobs we loved, friends we adored, an apartment in an awesome location one block from the beach....and lived in the World's Most Livable City. Not to mention free health care and paid maternity leave.  That was on the pro side...cons....well we were X number of lots of miles from either of our families. We had both said before Amelia was born that we wanted her to grow up with grandparents and cousins and given all of our families situations, it would be difficult to maintain that in Australia. The other con was the current and horrible administration in the US making many (foreign) lives miserable and we were worried that the visa we had worked hard for Nico to obtain would be lost forever.

SO in a matter of months we packed up our 2 bedroom home into 9 suitcases and sold/gave away everything else we owned. It was definitely a lot of work. We said goodbye to many many great friends who had become like family and we (insanely) carried 9 said suitcases and an almost 2 year old through the airport to NYC. We spent the next three months living with family and enjoying summer and traveling and having somewhat extended holidays. While enjoying our free time together there was a constant undercurrent of stress and anxiety about what does life hold now and where to next? I went from highs of yay I live in NY again to low lows of what the hell did we do, can we go back next week? (yes I looked at flights).

In September we went on an awesome near three week vacation to Santiago, Chile to visit family and attend Punchi's wedding. It was a truly great time and I was envious of a family all living within a 90 mile radius of each other. I worked a bit on my broken Spanish and during that time Nico accepted a job outside of Boston in a Robotics Company that he was very excited about. I was happy/sad/anxious/excited/you name it. After that things moved quickly, we returned from Chile and Nico left 5 days later to start work, I packed up our belongings...which included going through 20 large plastic bins and boxes of things I had packed up a decade ago when I left for my 6 month adventure in South America. It was like opening a time capsule. After donating and throwing away A LOT of those saved boxes, sorry Mom and Dad, at least your attack is cleaner now....we found a few salvageable things like an unused electric drill, an iron and lots of bed sheets. Oh and lots of assorted wine and martini glasses. Its funny to open up boxes that you packed when you were 25. I realize I used to hoard before I went away. It's hard not to learn some lessons in a decade but it was very obvious to me how my time abroad has made me into a minimalist.

We've been in our new home now for 6 weeks and I'd like to say it's all going great but in reality its been hard work! We haven't experienced anything easy since we arrived, from me trying to work as a social worker to Nico getting a driver's license, to figuring out health insurance, to well parking tickets and fees for everything. Literally everything. Nico feels like the world is against us most days and when we compare that to our arrival in Australia where everything just flowed it feels like an uphill battle. Now at the same time it has definitely not been all struggle. We have many things to be grateful for. Overall its still an experiment in life, which I mean what isn't? Well I guess kids, you can't really experiment with having a child, that's sort of permanent. ;)

I have been home full time with my near 2 1/2 year old for the last 6 weeks while still working on getting a license to work and applying for work, oh and finding childcare (another struggle!)....and its been a roller coaster as well. She's adorable and I love her to death and then I'm literally trying not to pull my hair out (or hers), JK. It's all a lesson and I do remind myself everyday (whether happy or sad) that this too shall pass. There will be a time in my life where I am full again with friends, there will be a time in my life where I am working (and happy in work), Amelia will keep growing up and I'll probably long for these long days with her of library, park, cafe, music, potty train, cook, wash dishes, repeat. I know that life is constant and nothing stays the same forever. I know where my focus needs to be. This still allows me to feel longing for my old home and miss friends while trying to stay grounded and explore this new life around me. I'm not sure where we'll be exactly in 6 months but I guess stay tuned to find out more. I've learned I don't really have all the answers, but I definitely have a lot of questions.

PS I really forgot what the cold feels like!