The rest of our home!

Master bedroom

View from master bedroom - I'm loving the big windows and abundance of natural light in this room, even when the sun wakes me up very early!!!  It's a lovely way to wake up. 

Living room - very cozy!  We have found a slipcover for that ugly couch!!! 

Dining room

Kitchen - took a lot of work but it's all organized now!

My reading nook - my favorite place in the apartment - wonderful place to settle in with a good book and a drink - hot or cold ;)

Best view from the stairs - all you can see through the balcony is the water and it's gorgeous... 

Lots of people have been asking for photos of the new place - sorry it's been so delayed.  I hope you enjoy this little look at our new home.  We're completely settled and organized, and loving it!!! 

AK's new home

AK's bedroom / guest room

 This is the second bedroom upstairs.  Pretty much all AK does is sleep and bathe up here (full ensuite bathroom).  This is the guest room as the plan is for AK to sleep in her playroom when we have company.  not sure she'll willingly give up "her" bed...  may have to bribe her (future guests, take note!).  When we first brought AK to see this place, she fell in love with this bedspread, and claimed that bedroom as her own.  Unfortunately for her, that bedroom happened to be the master bedroom but a simple switch of bedspreads solved the problem and both Mom and Daughter ended up happy! 

AK's playroom

 This is, in my opinion, the best single reason we wanted a three-bedroom apartment.  This is the room where ALL of AK's toys live.  ALL OF THEM.  I have reclaimed the living room as a grown-up room and I love it!  Richard put a lot of work into organizing the room just so, finding a place for all the major items, and you can see how full this room is!  

AK's playroom, other side.

 Another thing that I really love about this room is that it's just off of the kitchen so while I'm getting supper together after work, AK has a safe place to play nearby me.  It is also great for when we have friends over...  the kids congregate in this room and the mess is somewhat contained.  This is all kinds of awesome.  There is a full bathroom attached to this room as well, it works as the downstairs bathroom. 

What every princess needs...  her own dressing room!

I was a bit stumped with where to put a few things, namely the makeup desk and costume bin.  Richard and I hemmed and hawed until I finally came upon the idea to create a dressing room of sorts in AK's playroom closet.  I wasn't right there when she first saw it but Richard said that she gasped and was absolutely delighted!  Wish I could have seen that reaction :)

So that's a look at the parts of the new home that are AK's...  there have been a few more nighttime wake-ups than usual but it's all a settling in process and I think she is feeling at home. 

In other news, we spent some time with Jenni and her family the other day.  AK dragged "Teddy" along for the ride.  When we were at Huys, AK called "Teddy" by name and Matthew laughed and said "that's not a teddy bear, that's a DOG!".  AK and I bantered with him for a few minutes, then I took a good look at "Teddy" and realized that Matthew was right...  what we had been calling Teddy all along is in fact a Doggy.  AK was gifted this stuffed animal when she was a baby so how did I not see this before?  Oops!

AK likes to hear stories about herself when she was a baby, and stresses that when she was a baby, she was "zero", as in less than one year old.  Super cute. 

AK told Richard early one morning that she had a secret.  She got up close to him and whispered in his ear "I want a treat".  Thankfully Richard was pretty sure that she wasn't allowed treats so early in the morning and was able to distract her with an apple!

AK had her first swim lessons with Coach Chester on Monday afternoon.  She went in the water several times with the Coach and showed him what she can do.  Unfortunately she is still resistant to putting her face in the water.  Coach Chester seems to be confident he can win her over and help her get her face wet!

When I dressed up for a black tie event last weekend, AK looked at me and said "Mommy, you're beautiful!  You don't even look like my mommy, you look like someone else's mommy!".  Guess that's a bit of a hint to spend more time on my appearance :P

Anyway...  hope you enjoyed this bit of AK's life...  xo  I'll fill you in on the remainder of the apartment next week some time! 

The View!

From the balcony - looking left.  You can see North Sound in the distance, and our boss Rob's house going up on the right. 

Same view, zoomed out.  Aren't the clouds amazing? 

Directly ahead of us - very beautiful residential area with lots of big houses

To the right - Grand Harbour Shopping Center is right there. 

More to the right - you can see South Sound!

 Finally a new blog post!!!  I thought I'd start you off with some photos of the view off of the bedroom balcony.  The bedroom is up on the third floor (second floor for the Brits!) and it's got an amazing view from there.  To the left we can see the North Sound and to the right we have South Sound, so that gives you an idea of how narrow this part of the island is!  Our area has quite a system of canals, and we live right on the edge of one.  

We are loving the view and loving the peaceful quiet atmosphere.  We are all settled in and it feels great.  I'll take some time over the next few days to give you a tour of the inside :)

Moving in, settling in!

Wow, it's been a busy last couple of weeks!!!

Unpacking and settling in has consumed most of my free time lately!  The apartment is near picture-perfect and once I unearth my camera, I'll be taking some pictures to show you around!  It has been a lot of time-consuming and hard work but we are nearly settled in and it feels great!  Artwork has even started going up on the walls, thanks to Richard, that is one thing that would stay on my "to do" list forever if it was up to me!

AK seems to be adjusting fairly well other than her sleep being a little bit off.  She is waking up earlier than usual in the morning, and even some blackout blinds haven't resolved that yet.  Fingers crossed she'll settle in - she did have an exciting week with going back to school as well, and a growth spurt crossed my mind too.  She is enjoying the new place otherwise, she seems particularly taken with her "dressing room", I've put her makeup table and dress-up chest into the playroom closet and she walked in and gasped with pleasure.  Can I say how great it is to have all the toys in one room, and and that room NOT being the living room? 

Speaking of AK...  I've signed her up for ballet lessons again and tap is being incorporated this year!  How exciting is that for her?  She was quite happy to head back to ballet classes and I'm pleased she enjoys it so much.

We are within walking distance now from Grand Harbour, a shopping center that has a grocery store and a favorite restaurant of ours - the Brickhouse / Doghouse, which has a playground outside.  It's a great place to go with kids as they can let off steam and adults can have a drink and a bite to eat!  AK rode her bike over there the other night, it was a bit far but she did a great job.  She was too tired to pedal home though!  She and I walked while Richard pushed the bike home.  Guess I'll have to take leg energy into consideration when deciding when to leave next time!  We have plans to meet Cindy and her family there next week for Pizza Tuesday so I'll see how well I can gauge that!

It has been wonderful to get back to yoga this week.  I hadn't been since returning from holidays as packing, moving and unpacking have consumed me lately.  I'm already sleeping better and feeling better for it. 

I've resolved to dig out the camera tonight and take some pictures soon!!!  xo

Blue Moon...

As we welcome a blue moon today, I am happy to stop and reminisce a little bit... when I started this blog just over two years ago, I was just about to move in Celestial Apartments.  This morning, I've already had my final walk-through and have said good bye to a wonderful apartment with many happy memories.  It's especially striking to think about the changes that AK has been through - the main tangible one that comes to mind is that she's gone from a toddler bed to a big girl bed, and of course so many leaps and bounds with her words, intelligence and abilities.  That apartment wasn't just a place to live, it was our home, and a very happy one.

It was a bit startling to look back into the apartment with all our stuff cleared out and realize how BIG it is!  Stuff sure takes up a lot of space!!!  It brought me right back to when I first viewed the apartment and saw so much potential and possibility.  I shed a few tears, and then promptly wiped them off my face and looked forward to the potential and possibilities at our new place.  The future holds so much promise and I can't wait to enjoy it day by day. 

After moving stuff in last night, Richard and I stepped out onto the balcony and marveled over the way the moonlight shone on the water in the canal.  I am really looking forward to checking out the same scene again tonight with a glass of champagne in my hand :) 

The past few weeks have been very busy with organizing, packing, moving and, oh yeah, a holiday to Canada in there!  Richard joined Annabelle and I on our annual summer vacation and we really enjoyed our first trip together.  It was fantastic to visit with family and friends, and to be able to show off MB in all it's glorious summer splendor.  Even the mosquitoes weren't too bad.

No pictures today, I'm afraid, no idea where the camera is at the moment!  Soon come...  vacation photos and new home photos...  am really looking forward to sharing adventures with you all!!!  xoxoxo

My daughter, the accountant!

When I picked up AK from daycare yesterday, I was half-heartedly listening when she said "Mommy, 1 + 1 = 2, and 2 + 2 = 4".  I figured she was reciting by rote so told her she was really smart but honestly, wasn't overly impressed. 

I decided to ask her what 3+3 and 4+4 and 5+5 were, and she pulled out those fingers on each hand, and figured it out...  now I was impressed!  I then changed it up and asked her different combinations, using numbers under 5, of course.  You ask her "what's 5+1?" and she holds up her hands and says "5 on this hand and 1 on this hand, 1 2 3 4 5 6".  She wasn't wrong once!

I have no idea what the age for starting to do simple addition is, but I'm so thrilled that AK is showing such an aptitude with numbers!

She also loves counting to 100, and will direct those who are playing hide and seek with her to count to 100 while she hides...  shame for her that she's not savvy enough to realize that most of us who play with her most often "forget" decades in the counting...  ha!  She's still learning that part of it. 

AK's imagination is also quite vivid these days and she very much enjoys playing pretend.  The other night, I was the little kid and she was the mommy.  She let me have a nap because I was tired, tucked a blanket around me and gave me a pillow, then when I woke up, she made me a snack (half a banana and an empty sippy cup), then she took me into my bedroom to pick what I was going to wear to "school".  She even gave me a bath!  She is an absolute chatterbox and it is really fun to hear what comes out of her mouth.

Weekend plans are minimal...  happy hour with Richard, Mike and Julie tonight and nothing else on the calendar so far.  We may do a bit of shopping and I believe I'll start to do a bit of packing.  After this weekend, AK won't be sleeping at Celestial Apartments again...  somewhat sad but we are onwards to new adventures. 

I will go through my pictures from the trip soon, there have been some amazing photos shared by the other yogis with fancy cameras, so I need to sort through them and put together a good album.  xo

My little yogi ♥

Namaste!

Tree pose!

Feels good to get back to blogging, if only for a week and a half before the next vacation!!!

I decided to put AK into a yoga camp one afternoon this week for something different as she seemed keen on the idea when I suggested it to her.  It was naptime when I picked her up at daycare and she popped right out of her nap-sack...  no way was she sleeping when she was so excited!!! 

When we got to the studio, she picked out her own mat and rolled it out all by herself, funny enough, in my favorite spot in the room!  I stayed with her until the camp started, and watched her through the window for a few minutes before I tore myself away to come back to work. 

She was happy to see me when I picked her up and proudly showed me her tree pose.  The teacher said she was one of the youngest kids in the camp and had a great time!  I tried to sign her up for another session next week but unfortunately they are all full already.  Shame!

Having AK enjoy this camp so much really warmed my heart.  I've just returned from a retreat in Honduras and Guatemala that really did me good.  Under loving guidance from two of my yoga teachers, I was able to let go of some stuff that was holding me back and open my heart to some good things that I've been resisting...  what an amazing experience it was to be able to channel my energies into that.  I am hopeful that AK will learn to enjoy and live a yogic life as well ♥