It feels like I’ve been collecting random photos of our life in Poland lately. Every now and again I just stop and take a photo to remember that one day I’m going to remember that time we lived in Poland and have all these photos as memories.
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The biggest souvenir will be our cute Asher born here in Poland, but all the little things that made up our everyday will be things I look back on from our endless walks, to the dramatic season changes of Poland or living in forest or close to forest. The fruit stands open during spring and summer, the smell of sauerkraut in the air and wondering why it smells like sauerkraut so often, the broken down building and the newly constructed buildings. Poland is not our forever home, but it’s home right now.
and just like that we are in the double digits, 2 more months and I have a 1 year old.
Asher at 10 months is a handful, I sometimes can’t believe the sweet content newborn baby that was so chilled and calm is the little guy he is today.
ASHER IS A LOT! I sometimes just look at Carl and tell him Arren wasn’t this busy, he would at least take breaks. Asher on the other hand is desperate to move around and explore everything, he crawls around throwing everything out or down he can find, everywhere you go you can find Asher destruction piles. Homeschooling with him around is tough he demands to be a part of it and likes to throw all the markers out and rip up any paper that looks important.
but he gives the cutest smiles and is just the happiest little guy around.
ASHER AT 10 MONTHS
Stands everywhere he can. Thinking about picking something up from under the couch, you better watch your back, because Asher is near. He will use what ever he can to pull himself up, that includes hair, skin, eyeballs or anything that he finds pull-upable.
He can stand unassisted.
claps for everything, sometimes he just stops crawling gets on his knees and starts clapping for himself, I get it, if you’re not going to praise yourself first how will other people admire you.
Calls mama every time he needs me, which feels like all the time.
Is Arren’s alarm clock, he likes crawling into Arren’s room and giving him a couple of slaps in the face for no particular reason. They have a love hate relationship going on at the moment.
loves to eat. He still prefers broccoli over everything else, and will often share with Arren which revolves around Asher slapping Arren in the face with broccoli while Arren cries and pretend vomits.
loves all teddies, but really loves a hello kitty teddy.
Throws a ball like an athlete.
Lovingly known as Ashie
10 months has flown buy, but life with Asher just feels right. He’s so special and brings so much light and warmth into our lives.
I don’t know what it is about this pandemic, but it really feels like I’ve lost 2 years of my life. I know I’ve lived it, but I’m just not sure where those 2 years have gone? It’s like I blinked and it’s been 2 years, so much has happened, but at the same time it feels like nothing has happened.
It just all went by so quickly and it doesn’t really feel like things have progressed. Yes, I had a baby, but somehow my baby is already 10 months?!
I’m hoping things will get back to normal sooner rather than later, all these variants make things just feel like it’s going backwards.
With all the time we’ve been having at home you think my windows would be clean and the apartment would be spotless, but the truth is I’m drowning in all the chores. haha, having two kids and husband around the whole time means, the apartment is a constant state of a mess. The more I clean the messier it gets. Some nights I clean until midnight. The laundry is never ending, the dirty fingers on the windows never disappear, but I have a full heart and the cutest little boys around.
Last year this time I was in a complete panic worrying about everything, wondering why nothing was looking up, we were struggling financially, had a baby on the way and birth at a Polish hospital seemed daunting, but now it’s just a bad memory, life has seasons of change that help you grow and flourish. Today I’m grateful for my family and our life together, I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
4 year olds are fun, 4 year old Arren is the best. Arren has come a long way from being the quiet boy he use to be, this boy can talk! and he’s getting better by the day, he no longer tantrums around every corner he’s more understanding, and willing to compromise or make deals that he begrudgingly accepts.
Hearing his little loud voice in the house makes me so happy, even though sometimes I get demanding of quiet time and tell everyone I need my fortress of solitude for a couple of minutes, I still somehow love the chaos;
the little footsteps, endless amount of laundry, learning and all the fun that this boy brings me is worth all the worry we had. He’s perfect in every way.
ARREN AT 4 YEARS OLD
He loves to build and makes little constructions out of everything.
Train obsessed, he must know everything about trains and even constructed a train out of blocks
can count to 100
loves to swing at the park and explore the train station.
loves pileups on the slide.
Loves all the cars movie, does not like it when lightning becomes a trainer.
These updates keep coming up and I always struggle to keep up. Being a mom of two little boys is busy, sometimes it feels like I get no sleep at all, but it’s worth it to have such a lively apartment.
Seeing as 9 months came rolling around, while I was still buys typing 8 months, I decided to combine them.
Asher is busy, busy, busy. He’s always ready to go from the moment he wakes up and since he could win the Olympics with his crawl speed it’s hard to keep up, you can’t give him a headstart otherwise he’s trying to get in the recycling. Trying to eat a shoe or pulled himself up by Arren’s face just to pull his hair;
but he is just the cuddliest little boy he loves to laugh, shares everything and is always looking for me, it’s the cutest thing.
ASHER AT 8 – 9 MONTHS
loves books…but not in your typical reading a book to him way, he loves throwing all the books out and seeing how far he can fling it across the room. A current favorite is That’s not my owl.
He’s got the cutest little wave around.
Crawls fast.
When he’s doing something he’s not suppose to he starts panting and crawling faster, completely giving himself away.
Pulls himself up and walks along the couch.
He’s turned into Arren’s little alarm clock, his morning routine starts with him crawling into Arrens room to go drool on Arren’s face.
Has a little headshake dance when music plays.
Loves to eat. Broccoli is still his favorite food. Really soaking up this time when he’s not picky.
Everyone loves having little Asher around. Arren loves the hugs and attention, but he’s not a fan of the drooling and all he toy stealing. I hope their relationship blossoms more as they grow.
A while back we went to our old neighborhood for a little playground hop.
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One of the things I really miss about our old place is the nature, and living basically in a forest. Yes, it was tiring most of the time, walking through the entire park to get to a shop, but boy was it beautiful and so fun for little Arren, but I’m still happy we moved, our Neptun Park apartment was just too small for us and made everyone way too grumpy. Having a bigger apartment has given us more space to grow and be happier.
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But going back to our old stomping ground really brought back memories, most of Arren’s life was playing in the park, but as we arrived at the playground we were all sad to see that Arren’s favourite slide was gone. Making for a little grumpy Arren trying to figure out why they would move it.
We decided to walk around the other playground’s in the park, only to be disappointed some more, a lot of the fun things have been removed, but we still made the best of our trip and enjoyed being outside in the open air.
We all left knowing that now the best playgrounds are in our new area, which made us feel a little better about the move.
Arren has become train obsessed, this boy can’t get enough. Every time we ask him what he wants to do today he always replies with train. He doesn’t care how short the train trip or where we go as long as he can get his ticket and get on the train.
Living in Europe taking train trips is like second nature. Anywhere we need to go we either take the bus, the train or our good old fashioned feet.
Out of all of those Arren prefers the train, and I’m still too upset with the bus for starting my labour with Asher for me to step foot in a bus again.
We all prefer when the new SKM train rolls up looking all shiny, with AC and new clean seats, well maybe that’s just the parents Arren doesn’t mind the stinky old hot train. As long as he get’s to be on the train.
He really wants to go on the faster train, but Carl and I are saving that trip for a train to Warsaw, when Asher’s birth certificate finally arrives. Hopefully soon, its already been 6 months, but who’s counting. After that we get to wait equally as long for his passport.
It feels like our entire stay in Poland has been a wait, and mostly being stuck in Poland. The pandemic made it really stuck. Small space living and a lockdown really makes you rethink your life decisions, but back to trains.
Hopefully Arren will be able to take the fast train soon an all his little boy dreams will come true.
You can tell a day out was good when no one wanted to leave.
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A while back we went to Experyment science centre in Gdynia, it’s been one of those places that’s been on our to do list since we got here, but it was one of the last places we went to visit. What a mistake! The science centre is a delight for any age. Fun activities for children and even a little soft play area for babies, turned out the last place was the best place we went to visit.
Around ever corner you get to try an experiment, and everything is in Polish and English, which was a shocking, but wonderful surprise for us.
From how the body works, to making a damn wall with water, and even an earthquake room this place has it all. You just want to continue exploring and learn as much as possible.
Another highlight for this Mama, was the baby changing room. It’s always nice having a nice place to feed and change your baby on a full day outing and this centre delivered even that.
Science centres are always a valuable learning experience for kids, no matter how small they are, just experiencing how things work, can create a love for learning and a curiosity that makes them curious about the world around them.
We are finally getting back into the groove of things, since Asher arrived and boy does it feel good. Having that special time with Arren to teach him and make fun things is always the best part of the day even when we have to do scavenger hunts for numbers and he wants me to fly him around.
Arren is a tactile learner and prefers to move around and learn things in a fun way. He is wild, stubborn and usually does everything perfectly the first time. It’s one of the reason I think speech was so hard for him, it is something he’s not immediately perfect at, that he has to continually try over and over again, which frustrates him, but everyday he gets better.
Arren is so smart and can put words together and read some words already, we’re always shocked when we are scrolling through some printables that has no pictures, and he points, says the word and that he wants that one.
I’m hoping he keeps this love of learning he has, and continually stimulates his creative mind so he doesn’t get bored. Every time we hit a roadblock we move on to something else.
A key thing for us is that when he doesn’t want to do something we move to a different location first, more often than not he will be willing to do some writing practice if we are sitting on the balcony or on the steps outside our apartment, sometimes something as simple as a change of scenery can change the feeling of boredom.
A laminator and velcro dots is also a fun way to make little busy binders. Hours of entertainment and learning from such a small thing is something I’m all for. Especially when I have a crawling baby dedicated at destroying all our worksheets.
Asher’s nap time is our main learning time, but we still do other things when Asher is awake, but I help Arren with things he’s struggling with when Asher sleeps like writing, and word building.
Teaching Arren is so rewarding and frustrating, he struggles to sit still, but he’s taught me how to teach him in a creative way that’s sometimes out of the box, and it’s worked. Seeing him thrive fills my heart with pride.
It feels like covid has sped up life, but at the same time slowed it down to a stand still. Everything is just rushing by and somehow Ashie has been here for 7 months, its even crazier to think we’ve been in Poland for 3 years.
Life with two kids is crazy, but boy do I love it, its nice to have a lively living space even when it’s two kids crying at the same time. They seem to egg each other on when it comes to crying, but when they laugh it’s a beautiful belly laugh all through the house.
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Asher is our crazy little guy, he’s so sweet and intense all at the same time, he sleeps well in the evening takes his naps, eats everything, but he will try to rip your hair and face off while biting your nose with his 3 and a half teeth.
At 7 months Asher is :
crawling and getting into everything.
Pulling everyone’s hair in a ferocious way, so much that Arren is often crying.
Drooling on everything, making Arren get a towel to dry his belongings.
Pulling himself up to stand so he can really get into everything.
Perfecting his pincher technique just so he can zoom in on a tiny piece of paper from across the room, crawl to it and gently like a gentlemen pick it up to put in his mouth.
smiles and laughs at everything. except for the car seat
cries when he has to go in the car seat.
loves to share his food, but is unwilling to share his broccoli, broccoli is his favorite food.
makes every diaper change a pain because he crawls away.
