What's new?

The latest news from since my post last Wednesday is that we now have a live in maid. They are called maids here vs domestic helper or helper. I like helper better, but maid is the correct terminology in KL. Her name is Beth. She is from the Philipines and is 33. Bill and I both think she looks much younger than 33 and has two kids back in her home country. She arrived on Tuesday and it was a little awkward at first. I gave her a long list of rules of the house/contract (thanks to Mollee) and a daily, weekly and monthly chore list. She seems to be doing a great job. A few tweaks here and there are needed, but I hope it will all come together soon. It was odd seeing her this morning when I came downstairs with Gigi. I already bought a cute asian-ish robe here so at least I was covered. I had crazy hair and I'm sure crazy breathe. I don't brush until I leave for school. :) She was busy sweeping and opening the curtains, etc. When I went back upstairs (to brush teeth and get dressed) before taking Reid to school she had already made our bed and cleaned the bathroom. I think she swept too. I made dinner tonight and she is in the kitchen right now doing the dishes. I just kind of pick them up a little, like scrape the food in the trash and take the plates to the sink. That's one area I'll have to adjust a little. She disappears while we are eating dinner. The first thought is that she isn't helping, but she is probably trying to give us our privacy and her previous employer probably didn't want her around. We have young kids though so having someone clean the kids up or at least help will work out better for me. I'll talk to her about that tomorrow. She is eating our food...at least I think. She eats at different times so I've never seen her eat or drink around me. She asked what cups to use and I told her she can use ours. I think some people do have different things for the maids to use. She said she liked the mexican rice I made, but she didn't think it was done. I did. I made rice tonight as well and I actually ate this rice and thought it was delicious so we'll see what she says about it. Maybe she just likes it really mushy. I didn'tlook to see if she ate any meatloaf from the other night which was sooo good, but you know meatloaf. It doesn't look too appetizing left over. So tonight I made a salad with the japanese ginger dressing like at the cooking tbale restaurants, baked chicken and basmati rice. It was yummy! Tomorrow is a busy day, but I really want to get a cake made. The chocolate almond fudge cake is top of the list. Today a new friend (Trang - we had dinner at their house last Thurs - the bbq) took me to TTDI which is a another wet market. She showed me where she buys her pork, seafood, fruits and veggies and spices. It was really neat and much less crowded than the last one we went to. My absolute favorite part about the market was what I have deemed THE BAKE SHOP. THey have everything baking. all kinds of nuts...ground, slivered, sliced, whole, chopped. They have all kinds of flour, sugar, vanillas, extracts, sprinkles, cake pans, cake cardboard things, cake boxes! I was in heaven! I'm so excited. THey also have all of the mini and regular sized muffin papers! Now I know why the grocery stores don't have any - THE BAKE SHOP has them all! So that was really fun. I bought almonds for the cake. I think and I hope that is all I was missing. Let's see what else. Tomorrow I'm going to a house which is actually a store on Thurs an Sat to look at Chinese furniture. Heather (sugarland friend) invited me. Then we have a parent teacher conference and then another haircut for me. Trying a new place for the haircut. Hopefully they will do a little better job. I alreayd like them better. THe last place I went offered me the middle of the line stylist (here they have junior stylist, senior stylist, and then an art director) and this last palce said well assign you to a top stylist which turns out to be an art director...I think. I miss Juan Carlos! Well busy day tomorrow and I think I'm coming down with the crap everyone else has here. Some mix between cold and allergy sypmtoms. As long as it stays just that I will survive!

Another holiday

Tomorrow is another holiday. There seem to be many Muslim holidays. I am thankful for them as it seems to be a nice break from the normal hectic schedule of carting the kids around. I prefer those that make it a long weekend, but I'm not complaining. I'll have Reid and Bill home tomorrow and we are going to a bbq. What's that I say? A bbq in KL? Yep! A couple has invited us and a few others for a family swim and Texas bbq. I'm curious about the bbq, but it will be a nice get together regardless. I'll be making a new dessert recipe...something like mini truffle bites. They look like mini chocolate pies and seem to be super easy...that is if you can find refrigerated pie dough. Come to think of it I should probably stick to the Texas theme and make mini pecan pies.
Today was a great day. Last night Reid learned to swim while pooling it with his daddy and today was a super day for him at swim lessons. He had so much fun he wasn't listening to what the teacher actually wanted him to do. He kept saying "I can do it all by myself". We had a tlak about that. But in any case, he did terrific! There is no fear any longer. We are very proud and "owe" him a toy.
Aside from Reid's super accomplishment today, I bought a new camera (and two new chairs for the living room!). I am so excited to finally have a "good" camera. I've been in awe and so envious of the beautiful pictures that Jen and ADP could take of their families. I told Bill when we moved here that I wanted to buy a new camera to capture all of the new places we would see and all of our experiences together. I've used it a little today taking pictures of G and of Reid swimming. I also got some good pics from the Kelly's apartment. They are on the 40th floor and have a great view of KL. It would be even better without the 2 buildings that are being constructed out their window, but that is KL. Tons of construction everywhere....mostly highrises. I can't wait to see the view at night.
Georgia is jabbering a ton. Always trying to tell us something. I think she is getting at least 4 teeth with 2 of them being molars. That's just on one side. I can't tell on the other. We've had a couple of rough nights with sleeping, but that is life. She is really good during the day and has really been an angel considering.
Our chairs for the living room get delivered tomorrow and they are green....very green. I'm hoping they look good. They don't do returns here and rarely do exchanges. It is such a pain. I'm still inteviewing maids and i think I've found one. The work permit/visa is a head ache and I 'm trying to figure out how that works. Hopefully soon we will have a live in to help us out. That's when we will really get to explore KL a bit more. Ashley and I are already dreaming of getting out more at night with our men. We need a little escape and a lot of adult time!

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A Few Moments

A sigh of relief? No, more like a sigh of relaxation...no pending deadlines or to do lists with urgent deadlines. I have a few moments now to catch up. I spent a couple of weeks finding mattresses and furniture and groceries for our new house. I spent a few days preparing for my parents arrival. I spent another few days preparing for the kids birthdays. The last few days I have been buying plants for yard, planning for our sea shipment, and finally putting away all of the things that arrived. I woke up today feeling somewhat cleansed and relaxed even though I did not sleep well last night. Bill just left for the airport. He is headed to Thailand this week. The kids are napping and the maid is cleaning. I have a few moments to do something and this is it. Sit here and type on my computer about the past three weeks. I doubt I will get very far, but it sure feels good knowing I can just sit here and type and have no urgent items to do. The upcoming weeks should be filled with much more relaxation and much less stress. I can work at my own pace. Talk to friends and catch up on my soap. Organize the office, decorate the house, maybe do some baking. It feels nice.
My parents left Wednesday to go home and I was very sad to see them go. It was so nice to have them here. I loved spending time with my mom shopping for plants and pots and figuring out where to put all of them. I loved having them here for the kids birthdays. We had a great time, but had a lot of things to do. We did lots of running. Mom and I got to go to Central Market and to Chinatown and we had so much fun. I can't wait to go back with her. I'm looking forward to their next trip here and of course our trip home this December. I'm so thankful they were able to come visit so soon in our adventure. It was so nice to have my mommy and daddy here :).
As I'm typing, I hear our "attached" neighbors drilling something. I think my few moments may be almost over. Little G may not like that noise.
We have met the Kelly's and have spent some time with them. I am very thankful to Kacy for connecting me with Ashley. We absolutely love them and it is so nice that their kids are almost the exact ages of ours. Charles turned 4 the end of July and Hatch will be one in October (I think). This is going to work out really nice! Charles attends MKIS with Reid, however, he is in a different class. The are both in swim class together and both are playing MKIS little league soccer. We are looking forward to spending more time with their family and also helping them to get settled in their new home.
The kids are doing great. They are very occupied with all of the toys we shipped and they have fun together. Today we had a couple of shelving units delivered so we will have some order to the chaos. Georgia got a PBK chair, like Reid's, for her birthday and she loves it. She climbs in and out. I see now how the 2nd child ends up on top of things all of the time (thinking of Sloan on the kitchen and Marlo on the activity table). I think the 2nd born are just nuts! No fear for sure. Our little princess is definitely the same way and very head strong. We tell her no and she'll either throw her hands to her sides and grunt at us or grunt and point at us. Occasionally we will even get the evil eye which of course just makes us laugh. Reid is having fun and saying the cutest things. I'm looking forward to watching him grow through soccer and swim lessons.
The house is coming together. Most things (excluding the office - ugh) are put away and I just need to do a little more organizing and decorating. We'll need to call someone to hang all of our things on the walls. They are made of brick and concrete here so it is a little more difficult to do it yourself.
I'm sure I'm leaving out somethings, but that's it for now. Here are some pictures from the past three weeks.