Leaving, And Then Arriving

Well hello.

Um.

I don't know where to start really.

We did it. We moved. It was hard leaving England. Really hard. There were goodbyes to be said. Difficult, heartwrenching goodbyes. There were tears (many tears), long embraces and promises made.

The packers turned my perfectly organised life upside down. They combined things in boxes that should never have been put together. More tears. They packed Emily's dummy. Lord only knows where that ended up. I am not looking forward to unpacking. When our things arrive, I may just bury my head in the sand.

Then the house was empty. It was hollow and sad. Emily was confused, she hated the boxes and especially hated the fact that her toys kept disappearing. I couldn't walk into the living room without tears threatening again. I guess that's where we really did all our "living" - memories of us moving in, building furniture on that first Christmas Eve in the house, preparing for our wedding, opening wedding gifts, Emily as a newborn, Emily growing up, it all happened in there. Everyone says the memories stay with you, which is true - they do, but saying goodbye to those walls still slightly killed me.

We lasted for a day with nothing much in the house. Emily slept in a borrowed travel cot in our old room, we slept on the futon in the spare room.

And then it was time to leave. Ouch.

This was our final glimpse of the house as we closed the door. More tears.

The further away from Rochester the taxi got, the easier it became to breathe. That evening, the British sun bid us a beautiful sunset farewell and every minute that passed, it all got a little bit easier.

Arriving in Malta wasn't without it's potential disasters. A suitcase missing upon arrival - especially when you're moving country and have therefore packed all your essentials (in this case, David's suits, shirts, shoes for work on Monday) - is not a welcome anyone wants. Luckily however, it was returned a few hours later (someone had picked it up by mistake) and disaster was averted. We could finally relax and that was when it truly felt like we had arrived.

So, you ask, how are we settling in? It's going well - very, very well. I'd say we've settled far quicker than we could ever have imagined. Emily, despite initially being a bit confused as to why Daddy would go to work when we're in Malta, has adapted amazingly. She loves having so many people around her, loves the attention, loves being able to have Daddy read her stories and put her to bed at night. We are all happier, more relaxed, and generally I think we already know we made the right decision in moving back.

Pregnancy-wise, Baby Boy has a new name (which I'm not divulging until he's born this time), he is head down and looking like he may be a big bundle. We have a scan booked to finally find out whether my placenta has moved out of the way or not, have registered with the hospital and are beginning to feel like we understand the Maltese health system a little bit more! Time will tell.

(30+3 bump!)

So there you have it - a very quick recap of what's been keeping me away from you lovely people. I will update again tomorrow with some more pictures to make you all jealous of the weather we've been greeted with (I've never been so glad to have avoided English snow in my life!!!) xx