Settling in again

First of all, we found a place to live! We looked high and low (mostly high though... have you seen west side real estate lately?) and from Hermosa beach to the Palisades. We viewed tiny places in corporate plasticy condo buildings and some total dives. The process was pretty frustrating and unfortunately we had quite a list of must-haves to try to satisfy. In the end we got location and character and took a hit on in-suite laundry and 18 stairs. I know... as a new Mom I'm probably blissfully unaware of what a pain in the ass it's going to be to haul Austen upstairs and haul laundry downstairs but I'm pretty excited about the rest of the perks. We have a little ocean view, our windows let in fresh cool salt air and every room gets sunlight. We're a few blocks from the beach, Main St (Joel's office) and all the shops and restaurants of the shopping district in Santa Monica. We're also by a library and a short walk from Whole Foods. There's no reason to drive anywhere at all. Lots of things are going into storage as our place is a little smaller than the last two places we've had but there's something kinda fun about curating your collection of crap and putting some of it away for some other time.

At 11 weeks Austen's almost rolling over. Every day I'm packing away another outfit he's grown out of. That makes me sad but I'm equally happy to see the bright chirpy boy who appears a little more each day from this tiny infant.

We've had great company in our transition. My mother arrived with us and her departure was chased with the arrival of Auntie Nan and then there was a short overlap as she departed and Joel's parents arrived.

We have yet to actually move into our place as our stuff has not yet reached the port here and then we have customs to clear. I'm hoping we'll finally be in on the weekend of the 8th. After that move-on we can begin to plan a road trip up to SF and Marin. We are aching for that but it has to wait just a little longer. If anyone needs the new address, send me a message or fill on the contact form on this blog here.