Kernovich Abroad: Progress, Progress, Progress!

Can you hear my British accent now pronouncing PRO-gress? Things are really moving along over here. We have all our pictures from home up on the walls, we have our February vacation in the Alps almost planned, and I have 6 interviews for babysitters/nannies this week! We spent the weekend getting this flat to feel more like our home. I also did a ton of research on vacations and babysitters. We confirmed our reservations for a little owner run chalet in France in the Morzine area of the Alps for JJ's birthday weekend! I'm SO excited! The best part is that it is very common to get daycare for your little ones while the parents ski all day. The owner of the chalet recommended a nanny service that will come to the chalet and watch over Tyler while we snowboard for 2 days. The service is run by British folks and they bring over toys, etc and they said that they try to get the kids out in the fresh mountain air for a while during the day. It all sounds amazing and we are going a month from today! So that is a nice little vacation to look forward to.

I also got a huge response from my inquiry on babysitters. I had to take down my ad from the website I posted on because the responses actually became overwhelming. We basically want to have a couple babysitting options so JJ can go out for a date night once in a while and then I would like some help once a week during the day so I can run errands and perhaps pick up a little project work from a company run in the UK that is owned by the same parent company as Rust-Oleum. So I'm flooded with babysitter interviews this week. I met with a nice woman from Brazil today, then I'm meeting one more tonight. Tomorrow I have an interview with an American girl looking to earn a little extra money. She is here because of her husband's job and we joked that she should probably work for a real British family and that I should probably get a real British super nanny just for the experience, but it sounds like we might be a really good fit for her. Then Wednesday I meet with another woman who is looking to nanny share with her 8 month old daughter 1 day a week. I love the idea of Tyler getting a little social interaction again like he used to back in Chicago with our nanny share and all of our friend's kids. Finally we are meeting with a couple girls from Australia that are interested in babysitting later in the week so we are bound to find someone that works out of that bunch I hope! Now my mind is wandering to what JJ and I will do on our first night out in London!

During the day Tyler and I are settling into a nice little routine. One of the things I was really looking forward to when we left Chicago was having the time to sit down and have breakfast with Tyler. I was rushing around so much in the morning back in Chicago trying to get to work and get on the road before traffic and I used to have breakfast in the car (if I had breakfast at all). So the morning time is precious to me now and this morning reminded me of how much I love it. Tyler and I sat down this morning and shared blueberry pancakes and watched the birds outside while I had a glass of tea :) Lovely! Then after his morning nap we usually go out for an activity before lunch. We go to the park, or we go to a class, or we just walk up and down the High Street. Right now Tyler's favorite activity is to stand up, grab your hand and lead you around while he walks like a big boy. Our flat is tiny and I got tired of walking around in circles so I decided to take him on the street and walk with him outside. He loves it! He toddles around, stopping to say hi to the city cats and say hi to just about everyone that walks by. It's pretty adorable, whenever someone passes he looks at them and starts shaking is little hand and shouting "Haaaa, haaaa" (he can't really say hi yet). Some people walk right by without noticing him but a lot of people stop and smile at him and say hi and wave back. The people that work in the outdoor cafes are starting to get to know us. He seems to be liking his surroundings here and is opening up a bit at the classes we go to. Yesterday we went to a little "open gym" for toddlers and he actually enjoyed the bounce house and some of the soft toys.

It's really snowing here today. It's not cold enough to stick to the ground but there is a nice little dusting on the trees and rooftops and it's just beautiful! Here are some pictures of our activities.