Radio silence (well internet silence)

We're online! After a few days without the internet (or longer if you count the intermittent wifi signal in the hotel) we finally have access to the internet again. So here is our update of the last few days.

Church on Sunday. We're still trying to get used to the new church. Lydia is ok as she's too young to get the separation anxiety thing. Naomi screams the place down when we leave her but apparently she is calm within a couple of minutes. The worship is less animated than we've been used to so that is taking some adjusting but the teaching is good. It's difficult with the kids to consider trying different churches to see what a good home for us would be. The ministry for the children is so awesome where we've found so that may win us over. But we'll stick with where we are for now and just keep assessing.

Pete took Naomi swimming in the afternoon and they were there for ages. They had great fun. Good for both of them to use up some energy! Naomi had on a life vest type thing for kids so now she is throwing herself in the water without Pete catching her and she floats around on her own too. Sometimes she wants to feel Dad's reassuring hand but mostly she has so much confidence. Good to see. Pete and I then had a good evening watching Robin Hood in the hotel room. Was nice just to stop and not think about all the things going on and what we could/should be doing.

Monday was a nothing sort of day but felt busy. I bought Naomi some shoes in the morning which she is still trying to get used to putting on herself. We then went over to the house in the afternoon to see if the beds had been delivered and whether we would be ready to move in on Tuesday. Beds were there but the frame for Naomi's bed (goes underneath the mattress base here) was out of shape and the headboard put together incorrectly. But nothing significant enough to stop us moving in so we spent Monday evening packing a load of suitcases and I did a trip to the house so I could get some stuff organised before the kids were there too. I wish I had more time to arrange everything without the kids around. I'd love to get the house organised so that everything had a home. With such a beautiful house it's a shame to just have stuff dumped everywhere. Maybe when Mum and Dad arrive next week I can do some of that and really make our house a home.

So we moved in on Tuesday. The cable guy came and connected the TV but as you can tell from the silence, the internet didn't get connected properly. We've spent a few days trying to get it sorted and finally someone came out with a new modem for us today. Lydia's been having trouble adjusted to her new cot (crib here). She's been waking up at lunchtime and needing me to go in and resettle her and sometimes in the evening too. So far today she's been ok and has settled herself back to sleep. Hoping that soon she'll stop waking up and crying at all. When I don't get the break at lunchtime I tend to get a bit overwhelmed and this happened on Tuesday. Was feeling homesick and just wanted everything back to normal so I had a little cry which always helps.

Naomi got her "big girl's bed" and seems to love it. We bought a blow up mattress for the floor in case she rolls out but we haven't heard her fall down so I think she's been ok. She looks very cute in it. She doesn't really seem to know what to do with the pillow as she's not had one in her cot before. She either doesn't use it or has her whole top half of her body lying on it!

As I get more things unpacked the place is starting to feel more like home. Will be good to get our own furniture in here though.

I got my new mobile/cell phone too. I got an iPhone 4 which I'm very excited about – it's beautiful! I'll be sending out a contact details email in the coming days so let me know if you haven't received anything in about a week and I'll let you know the best way to contact us.

The rental furniture company is not proving very reliable so far. Finally got our bedroom set delivered but one piece had been damaged in shipping so they took it away and didn't deliver the next day when they said they would. Finally arrived after lots of phone calls to them. But we're still missing the remote control for the DVD player so we'll be waiting for another visit from them sometime soon.

I've been doing lots of cooking for Lydia. These early stages of solids are tough going. There's so much cooking to do to ensure she gets a variety of meals. And when I have no food stock in the house it's quite a chore to cook any new meal. Slowly building up a supply of things but it feels like I'm dragging the kids to the shops everyday at the moment which Naomi is getting very fed up with (hopefully she'll learn that shopping can be fun!).

Stayed inside on Wednesday afternoon and while Naomi was being difficult for most of that time we did have a fun moment when I happened to glance out the window and saw two moose in our neighbours garden. It's weird seeing such a large animal happily chomping on the plants and trees right in front of the house. I got a photo but haven't loaded it onto the computer yet. I'll put that and some of the house up next time.

Pete was able to pick up a self install kit for our home phone and we got that connected today. At least that's one thing that has gone reasonably well and quickly. Nearly all the boxes from our air freight are unpacked now (just some clothes and a few toys still to go). We did find three broken casserole dishes so we may make a claim on those. But nothing sentimental has been damaged so far. Hopefully the same will be true of our air freight.

Ok, you're probably all a bit fed up of reading our boring tales. Let's end it there. Next time some exciting photos I promise!