A few changes to Live, Love and Lou

I am reviving this blog, but we’re changing directions. I’ve been thinking about this for a few months now. I want to make it closer to my heart to give me motivation to write again. So with that, I’m taking the direction of what keeps me on my toes these days, motherhood! I’m making it more family oriented and leaning towards what I do most of the time. I’m not a stay-at-home mom (well, I wish I was), I have a career, so that’s also going to be something you can expect here. A few rants, maybe, Ha!

So start off, here are some updates:

As you may have known through my social media accounts, I now have a toddler. Yes, a toddler! That’s how long I’ve been MIA. The little one is now 14 months old. She is the sweetest little bug and we love her to bits. It’s been a whirlwind couple of years with my pregnancy and the birth of our daughter. There was also her first birthday, which I was very hands-on about.

People who know us know that we’ve been praying for a child for years and God has graciously answered our petition. 

With a little tot in tow, it’s been really hard to keep up with the household. We can’t seem to make things work, we end up having arguments most of the time about who gets to do what. I know it’s normal and constructive and we try to take it one day at a time. Like, for now, I’ve raised the white flag on wanting home-cooked meals. I still cook, at least once or twice week. But doing it on a daily basis is dragging me to the edge of craziness.

In the past year, we’ve lost my father-in-law. I don’t know how to explain it but it felt like walking on egg shells around the house. My husband has always been my constant through everything but during those times, I saw him at his lowest. He was very vulnerable and I don’t ever want to see him that way again. We had to take 2 weeks off work and travel home. The little one’s first time on a long-haul flight. It was a milestone for her but I wished it were a different circumstance.

Also there was Dexi, she is now in dog heaven. This loss was very heartbreaking, we took her to vet but she still didn’t make it through the night. We tried to make it as comfortable as possible but when morning came, she was gone.

Well, it wasn’t really that big. From a 3 bedroom flat, we have moved to a smaller home. Letting go and selling some stuff. What a way to de-clutter, right? We still have more stuff to sort through but the move was definitely a good first step. I know it’s a rental and it’s temporary but I try to make it as homey as possible. Being an expat, you can’t expect too much on something that’s temporary so we do our best with what we’re dealt with.

Well, more like a “condo” of our own. Yes, it’s our very first real estate investment. It’s a tiny 1-bedroom unit. Don’t judge us, we started making payments when didn’t have a child yet. I know that it may seem unconventional for a family of 3 but we are architects for this very reason. We are now studying on how to make it work. We are still thinking about what to do with it, whether to rent it out or if we will live on it. But right now, the plan is to design something that we can live on. Who knows, eventually, when we have a lot of our own, we can make a bigger house and rent this one out.

So with that, let’s begin this journey together.