Pushing Pause

Do you ever wish you could slow time down? Just a little bit?

I do! Some days, I wish that I could push pause and enjoy this moment and this place just a little bit more before moving on to the next one. 

But change and transition are again ahead for our little family! Next month, we will pack up (again) and move to a new city (again). As excited as we are to finally be in a place where we can hopefully stay for a few years, there are many sweet friends here who we will really miss. We'll also be starting all over in a new city and neighborhood. We won't know which bakery has the best bread, which veggie walla has the fairest prices, or which chicken seller is the most sanitary. But... who knows what new discoveries we will find near our new home?

Before our big move next month, we have two major items on our agenda:

#1: Finding our new home: We spent a couple of days in our new city, looking at tons of flats (apartments) in many different societies (complexes). We made an offer to rent one flat, but later we learned that the owner had already rented it out to someone else. So, we're back to the drawing board for now! 

I am thankful that the kids and I were able to come during the first couple of days of searching, but I really hope K can find a place without us dragging the kids around from flat to flat again. They were both exhausted!

#2: Enjoying time with visitors: K's parents, sister, and brother-in-law will be arriving in a few short days and staying with us for about two weeks. We are so, so, SO excited! I can't wait for them to meet sweet baby S and play with little M. We are also really looking forward to introducing them to South Asia... the food, the history, the culture and definitely the craziness. :) 

I don't know if S is actually growing faster than M did as a baby, or if I just have less time to notice, but she is literally changing every day. Daily, she faithfully rolls over and does her "push ups", just as though she was training for the Olympics. Just two weeks ago, she started getting up on all fours for just a moment. Just last week, she started pulling herself a few inches army-crawl style to grab a toy. And now, she is getting up on her hands and knees and rocking. We don't think it will be long before this sweet girl will be off to the races! She loves watching her brother play and will lay contentedly on her belly for the longest time if he is nearby. Of course, depending on his mood, he sometimes moves his playing elsewhere once he realizes that it is helpful... :/

{The wrestling matches have already begun!}

{Sweet girl fell asleep in Daddy's arms.}

{M helping me snap green beans for dinner. Abundant, inexpensive, and year-round fresh veggies are one of my favorite things about living here!}

{He loves holding her.... for two minutes at a time only! "Mommy, you want her back?" he'll say.}

{S still doesn't really enjoy bath time (actually she normally screams from start to finish), but I did get a smile out of her one day last week!}

{My daughter and I. I wonder if she and her big brother will ever realize how they bless my heart!}

M and I enjoyed some bubble fun on our balcony this week... This boy can drive me crazy, but he sure is cute!

And this little one is pretty sweet herself.

I can barely believe that Pa, Nana, Uncle Houston, and Aunt Jackie will be cuddling and playing with these two in just a few days! Those will be moments we'll all want to "push pause" on for sure. :)