It's finally coming together!

Since last week, when everything was going horribly wrong and we were both finding life here rather stressful, bit by bit our lives seem to be coming together.

Fearne has started at her new school and loves it, we've had very little, if any settling issues in the morning with her, today she just walked in without saying goodbye and that was that! I went to meet with the principle after dropping her off, just to make sure they all understand that Fearne has never been to school before.....but I'm not in the slightest bit worried about her or the school so thats great.

Martha will start in August too, she will be going for two mornings but staying for lunch and 'afternoon enrichment', which as far as I can tell is just playing, singing and sport....sounds lovely. The plan is that Chris will drop them both off at 8am, and I will pick them up at 2.30 when school finishes....so for 2 whole days, I only have a Henry to keep amused, but best of all I don't have to get 3 children ready and dressed and out the house at 7.30 in the morning!!!! Now if I could just convince Henry to have lie ins I might actually get them too :-)

We spent all of last Friday afternoon viewing houses to rent in the general area that we want to live, eventually deciding on the last house we visited. It came down to deciding whether we wanted more indoor or outdoor space, and given the heat and humidity we have opted for the bigger house but smaller garden, as its likely we will spend more time indoors than outdoors. There is an area pool and kids playground within walking distance, and surprisingly we really could walk there along the pavements. Houston has ALOT of random pavements that don't lead anywhere. The house is also within easy access of the main highway in towards Houston, so the drive to school and Chris' office shouldn't be to horrendous in the traffic. Hopefully we'll be moved in by the end of the week, we are all desperate for some space!

On Sunday we took the girls to a Splash Pad which is basically a child friendly fountain, to cool off in. Fearne and Martha loved it and there was also a park attached to it so it kept them both amused for quite a while. We stopped off for frozen yogurt on the way home as an extra treat, Chris and I had fresh fruit as a topping, Fearne and Martha had a combination of chocolate sprinkles and jelly snakes....I've come to the conclusion that being healthy here is near impossible, but thats a whole different post for another day! (or maybe a rant!)

So, in the space of 5 days we have found a house to rent within budget and in the exact area we wanted to be, got Fearne settled in a new school, and found some new places to take the children to have some fun. All in all I think thats pretty successful, and for the first time in 4 weeks I actually feel relatively calm. Off to the gym/swimming pool tomorrow morning while Fearne is at school and Martha and Henry are in the creche. A little bit of me time, yay, and because I miraculously need to shrink a dress size or two in the space of a week so i fit in all my pre-Henry clothes that have come via the ship!

Henry clearly exhausted by the weeks activities, he fell asleep midway through playtime!

Hopefully the next post will include pictures of the new house and all our belongings settled and unpacked in their new home. (Ok, the unpacking bit maybe unrealistic but I can try!)

xxxxx