Catch up.

It has been quite some time since I have blogged. I will spare the details of all that has gone on, but will try to sum it all up.

This past year has been stupendous!! We have had so many exciting things happen in our lives, but the thing that has made this last year so great is being parents. Anton and I both love this role! I can't get over how fast Paul grows! I know, I know something you hear every parent say, but it is so true. He learns so quickly and I am learning right there along with him!! Something new is going on all of the time, whether it is a new word or a new of skill that he has mastered. It amazes me all the time how much he understands and it is so fun to watch how he learns to communicate that he gets what I am saying or what he wants.

It's interesting how your prospective changes when you become a parent. The simple things or ordinary things are no longer presented in the same light. For instance. Having the recycle bin next to the kitchen counter use to mean convenience. Now...an annoyance that I have to dig through two or three times a day to retrieve the alphabet refrigerator magnets that Paul decided so sweetly to toss in there.

Sorry I will stop myself before I go on for days, which I probably could do. I am a doting mother!!

Our other family news and supper exciting at that!, is that Anton started his medical residency. We have moved from our oh so sheltered, wonderful little town to the thriving life of New York. Can you say town mouse meets country mouse? Except in this story the country mouse adjusts to the loud, crazy city and lives happily ever after. At least until the next big life decision comes along and the story continues.

My wonderful mother drove across the country with us to help entertain Paul, who by the way did awesome! He seems to be just fine with the adjustment. Happy as ever and growing smarter every day. :) Our apartment turned out really nice, which was a relief since we didn't come out to see it first.
We were here over a week before out stuff showed up (which is a whole crazy story in itself that I may never have the energy to blog about, stupid moving company!) so we bought an air mattress and after a few days of sitting on the floor, my mom purchased a few camping chairs to sit on. They were fabulous despite Anton thinking we looked like bums. Thankfully I came somewhat prepared, I brought a few pots and pans, a few towels, etc. and we brought Paul's pack and play.

Growing up in little Cedar City I have never been the minority, but I sure am here!!! I feel like I have immigrated to another country. Our area was originally founded by Italians and then the Russians moved in and from what I have learned the Chinese fallowed about five-ish years ago. I hear more Russian on the streets than I do any other language and I rarely hear English. There is a large Jewish population here as well. I guesstimate that our neighborhood is at least 50% Russian, something we weren't aware of before we moved here, but it's been fun.

We are in a supper busy area. A large shopping district is at the end of our street. You can find cuisine from pretty much any country/ethnicity and there are so many small shops around. So far we have visited Costco once a week to buy our milk and what not. Things are really expensive in our neighborhood most of the time, but we get great deals on fruit, veggies and fish. We are a ten minute walk to church and equally ten minute walk to the ocean (not the beach, that's about forty minutes by foot, which we have done more than once or three stops on the train. There are two nice parks close by. Paul and I have been to either one or the other pretty much every day so far. Manhattan is 30-40min. by subway, the Statue of Liberty is 15min by car and there are a million parks and museums we want to visit. Good thing Anton's residency is so long. I still feel like a tourist, but I think that once we get into a routine here things will go well for us. My biggest complaint so far is the parking. It's crazy. I plan on finding a good spot close to home and than using the car as little as possible so I won't have to worry about finding a parking spot.

Oy, I can't write anymore right now, but don't you worry I will be back on soon I am sure and I will add pictures next time as well.