Another quick update
I promise I will catch up once we're out of the hotel! This internet connection STINKS!
We have a place! We're waiting on confirmation of our move-in date, and wrestling with our Canadian bank account to get the deposit in. Hopefully we can move in soon, otherwise poor Margaux will have her first birthday in a hotel. We chose Petaluma! It's so cute!
We opened a bank account here, under my name rather than Rom's because he doesn't have his SSN yet. There's a hold on funds until the 30th since it's a new account. Bleah.
Margaux continues work on her first tooth. It's finally broken the skin, but it's still barely visible. It's her upper right second incisor. She loves to give us things, then when we take them she nods hard and smiles. She's also pointing at everything and everyone and saying what sounds like "Dat!" We took her to Stinson Beach and held her hands while she let the tide wash over her feet, she LOVED it and laughed and laughed.
I can't wait to get everything set up and move in, I am so tired of bleeding money.
Hello to everyone, and talk to you properly soon!
Re: Another quick update
I've been awol so long I didn't know you were moving.
I remember when I moved from Toronto to the US. Banking was such a struggle at times, as was getting credit. We had to pay extra to get credit checks done in Canada to rent an apt. I even got denied financing on a mattress! I can't remember - have you lived in the US before? If you have then you'll have that credit history.
Good luck with the move. Sounds like you've found a great place to live. Hope things get settled soon and you get moved in.
Petaluma is awesome, close to Pt. Reyes too! Glad you found a place. Living in hotels is so hard, especially with 3 cats and a baby!
I too moved from Canada to the U.S. but I don't remember having bank or credit hassles but then again I was in my 20s and had no money anyway!
It just saddens me how this country makes it so difficult for hard-working, educated Canadians to come here but they'll let anyone else in. 
I'm a dual citizen so I never had immigration issues but lots of my friends have.
The upper teeth were harder on Simon than his lower teeth so that's probably why it's taking so long for M's tooth to come in, poor thing! Congrats on her first word! Simon still doesn't say anything remotely resembling Dat nor does he say mama or dada discriminately.
Even if you have M's party in a hotel, she won't remember it, as long as you get to eat cake it doesn't matter where you are. And if you don't mind the 4 hour drive bring Margaux up here this Sunday for Simon's birthday, we're having Elmo cupcakes and there will be lots of 1-year olds to play with!
How's the weaning going? Or is your supply back up? I'm down to nursing morning and night only, and had severe food poisoning last week so I think my supply has tanked too! But he still nurses for comfort because of teething. Gotta cut him off soon so I can get my mammogram and not looking forward to the screaming that will ensue, I may head to the Bay Area one weekend and leave DH to deal with it.
Time to get the house cleaned for the party, I'm procrastinating and Simon's in daycare all day so I finally have the house to myself!
Yay! I'm glad things are moving forward, even if it is taking a while.
Hooray for Margaux loving the ocean!
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I've been mostly away from the board too, so glad I checked in just in time for your update. Yay for teeth! I didn't realize that M was a late teether like Keira, hopefully it won't also take her 6 or 7 months for the *next* teeth to show up, like it did with K! Although, there's something to be said for all of the teeth showing up back to back -- it's bad, but in exchange, you get all those months of relative peace.
Sorry it's been such a pain getting a place, but glad it's finally settled. Cool that M loves the beach, too. The beach is so much fun with the LOs!
Big - 1 year old
Bigger - 6 years old
Biggest - 13 years old
Sunday, eh? Lemme check with Rom, see if he's up for the drive. I'd love to go, but we'll see!
We have a mixed bag. I'm a US citizen, Rom is a French citizen, and Margaux is US, French and Canadian. We can use my SSN for now to get the basics set up, but I have no income, so it's tricky. Hopefully Rom'll have his card soon.
We've gone to mixing breast milk with cow milk, and she loves it! I figure I can stop pumping at a year without an issue. We were almost exclusive pumpers anyway, and her evening nursing stopped when her tooth started to break through. I guess it was too sore, and we just haven't restarted. My supply is total poop, even with drinking more water, so it's just as well.
ANYway.
I'll poink a PM with my email addy your way if we can make it!
Hurray! Petaluma is really cute, great choice! So glad M loved the ocean.
Oh and they don't just make it hard for Canadians to come here. When I moved to the US from Europe in 2000, I remember all the paperwork was a nightmare to get through. I didn't feel like I even existed until I had my SSN.