SMALLER and Smaller and smaller

Small; that is the size of our living quarters.  Over the past few years the size of our domain has gotten a bit smaller with each move.  We have learned that bigger is not necessarily better...it's more about location, location, location! ;)  We are loving our location on The Shore in Leith.

Our apartment is right beyond the last boat in-between the two buildings that come to a point that are white and off-white.  

This is the view from our bedroom window.   We love our 4th floor perch.

Through this move (as in any move), you have to establish new norms.  So far (in our week here that is) this is what I have come up with that has been new for us:

• Amelie pushing the elevator buttons.  She loves being in charge of opening all of the doors for us as well as opening the elevator and picking the correct floor.  She is a wonderful bellwoman. 
• Bobby is enjoying watching sports again.  His sport of choice as of late has been cricket.  He spent some time researching the rules and now enjoys trying to explain them to me as we watch matches. 
• Since we do not have a bathtub at the apartment, Amelie and Liam are showering.  Amelie has done an amazing job of bathing herself (mostly).  We have two shower heads: a rain shower head as well as a hand held head.  Amelie has graduated to using the rain shower head whereas Liam will hold the hand held head while I bath him.  We have a great system down and do not get any water on the floor, in case you were wondering.  Although this has been "fun" I will be happy for a bathtub again. 
  
• Amelie and Liam share a bedroom.  I am so glad that even though one might wake up, we have not had any issues with the other waking up too.  It is usually Liam that will cry out in the middle of the night because he can't find his pacifier, but Amelie has been a trouper and has not complained. 

  

  Amelie is brushing her hair after her shower.  Liam hasn't gotten his PJs on yet.
  You can also see our drying rack in the corner of the bedroom.

• Bobby and I like to eat popcorn again!  We have a microwave!!!  
• The window seat in the living room always seems to have someone occupying it.  The best seat in the house by far! 
  
• We bought Liam a high chair the second day in Edinburgh at a Jack & Jill's consignment event.  We only have 3 high bar chairs and I couldn't really eat while holding Liam on the chair.  He ate in a big person chair in Paris and we were constantly having to ask him to sit down.  It has been SO nice to have a high chair again! 

  

  The counter that turns into our table; very convenient!

  

  New contained highchair.

  

  Paris eating chair complete with towels to protect it.

Norms that have carried over from our time in Paris:

• Bobby cooks dinner every night and I clean up.
• No dryer available.  The apartment in Paris had a convenient drying rack on a pulley system that hung above the bathtub.  We do not have any such luxury at this apartment.  We have set up the large drying rack available in the corner of Amelie and Liam's bedroom.  I do laundry almost everyday so taking it down just to set it up again seems silly.  It is out of the way and it works.
• Bobby and I sleep on a double bed.  Who would have thought we could go from a king size down to a double bed and actually get some sleep.  Neither one of us has fallen out yet. Haha! 
  
• Our mornings are usually leisurely getting breakfast and drinking coffee before heading out for the day.
• Buying groceries for a day or two.  However, today we walked about half a mile away to a bigger grocery store than the one closest to our house.  We loaded up on diapers, cereal, and fruit among other things since it is more expensive at our nearby store.  We used Amelie's scooter on the back of the stroller to help us carry everything back home...you should have seen the looks.  Hilarious! I wish I had a picture.  The only other time we didn't fare too well bringing groceries home was the first or second day here.  Bobby had to walk about a mile in the rain without a stroller to help with 8-10 full bags of groceries and a jumbo box of diapers.  We try to plan ahead and spread out the bigger items like laundry detergent and diapers so that we do not have a big pile to carry home.  We usually do really well.

Amelie playing with blocks that we purchased at the consignment sale.
They have been hours of fun for the kids so far.

I hope this gives you a little picture of how we are living while we are in Edinburgh. Is it weird that we make ourselves at home so quickly and easily?  Adapt or die, right?  We have loved each apartment that we have found so far.  I hope the rest of our travels prove the same.