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Dear Luthien,

We are finally home. We left just over a month ago but I feel only now that we are finally here. The last weeks have been difficult, tiresome, and tearful (with a little bit of cheer in between), but now I can safely say we are at a place that is very happy. Dad is still very busy, which leaves a lot of bonding time for you and I and Bastian; money is still very tight; we are still thousands of miles away from much of our family, but we are happy, and we LOVE our new home. Last week you started calling it just that, and I knew we had finally arrived.

Mom was originally planning on flying out with both you and Bastian all by herself, but at the last minute your Nana was able to come with us! She was a big help, but you guys actually were really well behaved...I think next time I may be able to do it myself if I needed to. You loved looking out the window and standing up all of your toys on the tables. The plane was pretty empty so the flight attendant actually gave us the entire row next to us, so we could lay you and Bastian down for naps at various points!

Here you are with Nana, who looks very tired because she had kidney stone surgery ONE DAY before- what a trooper! You are happily setting up all your dinosaurs.

Our first stop was to a very nice lady's house, Ruthanna, where we stayed for about a week, and where Dad had been staying for the month we were away from him. She has a beautiful house in a small town with over 90 acres. We stayed in the apartment above her home that was nice, but a little cramped for a family of 4. We tried to get outside as much as possible, which was fine for you because you LOVED her swingset. Bastian however, would need to go inside at times and it was hard to get you off of the swings. I can't get over how old you look in this picture!

There was no bathtub in the apartment and you refuse to take showers, so Mom made a few adjustments...

Although we were sad to leave the small-town atmosphere, we were happy to get our own, larger space. At first Mom had a hard time with our new apartment because she wasn't used to lugging 2 kids, a dog, and all of our stuff up the elevator/stairs every time we wanted to go somewhere, and no real outside area to play within walking distance. However, our building is enormous- an 1800's mill restored into loft-style apartments. You love to walk up and down the hallways and there is a grassy courtyard to play in when you want to go out. Plus, by now we have gotten into a routine of taking Dad to school a few days a week and then going out, which I will tell you more about soon.

So, here you are in the parking lot:

Just one of the many cool old areas of our building- the top is cut off but it was an old men's restroom!

Here, looking out the window of our apartment onto the courtyard. There is an enormous clock on the top of one of the pillars of the building which I didn't capture, but you point it out all the time.

And one of those tiresome days I spoke of above...I debated on whether or not to include the first picture- Dad likes to play around with the colors, which brings out the yellow in your hair, but unfortunately also in my teeth!
And one more with your favorite swing- look how you're already wearing your winter coat in September! I can't imagine what you will wear come January, but it will be an adventure!
Love you,

Mama