Finally Settled...

We are finally feeling somewhat settled in Amsterdam. We have been here just over a month. The first 10 days were spent in a hotel and that was enough with a toddler! :) We finally got Internet, TV, and phone set up in our house. Everything is a bit slower over here. It only took them 4 weeks! :) Our shipment arrived 2 weeks ago and it was nice to get all our stuff. We were even able to find spots for everything. Here is a picture of our new home:

And no, the car in front isn't ours. Luckily E&Y was a bit more gracious than that! Our place is the red brick. We even have a tiny balcony off of our bedroom. It's been too cold to even think about opening the doors! :)

I have figured out shopping to some degree with the help of a friend. Pretty much everything is in Dutch, but we're figuring it out. And we've had many successful meals at home. I still have to look in the owner's manual every time I want to cook something. We have a microwave/oven combination and I need to convert everything to Celsius. But so far, so good.

Rachel has adjusted wonderfully. We had Christmas a few weeks early when we received our shipment. Every time I pulled out one of her toys, she did a cute "oooo". She was excited to get her stuff! She's a great sleeper here. On average, she sleeps 13 hours a night and then takes a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon. There's no complaining here!

Work is the same for Andy. He is staying busy, but he's been home at pretty decent hours recently. Things will pick up soon, but such is the life of a CPA. He likes the people he works with and he has a decent commute - about a 15 minute drive. Rachel has certainly enjoyed having him around during the holidays. She is one happy girl when her daddy is around!

So, life is moving forward as usual. Rachel and I are getting used to walking everywhere. The shopping center is really close, so as long as the weather is decent, we do just fine. More pictures will be on their way...