House Hunters International: ROUND #2

Well I would like to say that we have a house by now, but we don't.

We found the perfect place (Option #3 from our first house hunting post here) but it fell through because they couldn't find the landlord to make an offer.  So many of these landlords are the jet-setting type that spend their time between Dubai, London etc.  They often just sit on their property, leaving it empty with no rush to fill it.

So since our ideal place fell through, we are back house hunting.  We have narrowed our search to two final buildings.

O P T I O N   A . . .   t h e    c i t y    h a v e n   w i t h    a    g a r d e n    v i e w 

We already had our favorite building from our first post (the one that fell through), so we asked to see other units in that building.  The only floors left were floors three and five (as opposed to floor 18 before!) so the view is not as cool.  Below are pics of the view.  For pics of what the unit looks like inside, go here.

Upsides:

Location:  It is smack in the middle of the city, close to KLCC park and just a skip away from the Petronas Towers and the glorious mall that accompanies it.
Amenities: We love the building's grounds.  Comparing all the buildings downtown, we feel like this one is the best.

Downsides:

Location: Since it is downtown, there will always be traffic.  I have started thinking more about this since we have started therapy for Andrew.  Almost every morning I leave in the car to take Andrew somewhere or to run some errands, etc.  I feel like it will take me much longer every morning to get places if I have to fight downtown traffic.

View: Now that we are looking at the third floor unit, a lot of the appeal is gone because we don't have the grand city views.  It is still a nice view because it has more greenery, but it is still not the same.  Plus they are asking the same price for the low floor as we were going to pay for the high floor originally.

This is the 18th floor (the one that fell through):

 
Verses the third floor view:

Not bad, but not to die for either.



O P T I O N  B . . .   t h e   e x p a t   h i d e a w a y   w i t h    p o o l   v i e w

So we have been staying in temp housing a bit outside the city in an area called Mont' Kiara.  Mont' Kiara is the closest Malaysia gets to "master planned."  Now keep in mind, it is not master planned at all (sidewalks are still a mess, no crosswalks, etc), but at least all the complexes, shopping centers, and malls are new, beautiful and gleaming, and the infrastructure is a bit better than KL downtown.  There is less traffic, and its building projects are filled with expats.

Since living here I have become a bit more enamored with the idea of living somewhere where I actually enjoy driving Andrew to his therapy appointments.  I also really want to find a place with lots of little kids so Andrew will have lots of friends to run around with.  Hence, I asked our real estate agent to show us some four bedroom units in the complex across the street from us because they have a great community of families with little kids (that's where I take Andrew to nursery school).

Here is our favorite unit from this neighborhood.  The landlord is living in the unit so you will see furniture.  They said we can either take the furniture or ask them to move it out.

Front foyer room



Hallway leading into the main living area (I call this the art gallery)

   

Main living area

The balcony--you can sit and watch your kids playing at the pool

Kitchen

Bedroom #1 with view of pool

Master bedroom

This is what the unit looks like without furniture (we saw another unit with the same layout but it had a different view so we didn't like it as much):

Facilities area

Upsides:
Amenities--(pool and playground area) better than anything we can afford in the city.
Community seems great--little kids everywhere which is what we want.
Gorgeous--we really feel at home here and that is really important

Main pool

Baby pool

Adult pool

Playground

All the little kids ran up to Andrew and followed him around (a good sign)

Downsides:

• Further from the city (maybe 15 minutes?).  It's really not that far, but it is definitely not city center.

• No grand city view.  The view is of the greenery and pool area, so it kind of feels like you live at a resort all the time.  But it isn't a high floor and a view of the city like we thought we wanted.

• Let's be honest, it's a little like a scene from "Rear Window."  See below.

Well, there you have it.  Our final two.  Any and all of your advice on picking out housing is appreciated.  

Regardless of which one we choose, this is exciting because we finally will have a real home (after over five months)!

A day in the life of Andrew

A day in the life of Andrew (2 years 4 months).

7am: Wake up and eat breakfast.
Cold cereal and raisins. He sits for maybe one minute before whining for "geek gock!" which means "Drink Milk." He loves his milk.
8am: Play with dad before he gets ready for work.

9am: Daily sensory play routine outside with mom.
We do this every day because of Andrew's sensory processing disorder.

1. Run from the apt to the first stop!
2. SMALL RAMP:
Walk up the wood ramp to get the ball, then roll ball down. (this is good propriosceptive input)
3. BIG RAMP: We go up the half pipe (yes our temp apt has a half pipe) to get a little toy car, "push" the car down (well with Andrew it's more like "throw"), then slide back down and put the car away. I place five cars up top, which means we do this five times.
4. SLIDE: I put seven nesting cups at the bottom of this covered slide. Andrew walks up the stairs, slides down the slide, and puts the smallest cup into the next biggest cup. We do this seven times until all the cups are nested.

5. ROCK TOSS
We throw about 30 rocks into the fountain (we count each throw, and yes, he counts to 30). I have to drag him away from this one since he likes it so much.


6. ROCK WALK
We take shoes off and walk on the rocks in bare feet. (the rough, uneven rocks make for great tactile input)
7. STAIRS:
We take the elevator down to the ground level, then walk back up all the stairs. (the pool and playground area is built on a higher level than the street)

8. KICKING the water:
We kick and splash in the water (more tactile input).
9. BACK HOME
I used to finish our routine by having Andrew go up and down on the elliptical machine with me in the gym (good vestibular input), but they kicked us out because he didn't make the gym's rules on age limit. So now we just go back upstairs to floor number "tenty naa" (twenty nine). Andrew always pushes the button.

10am: Play date with new friends
We don't do this every day, but this day we were invited over to a play group for some new friends we met in the neighborhood.

12pm: Lunch made by Helen

Yum!
I couldn't resist putting these pics of Joseph. He is now eating soft finger foods (and has been crawling for a week, and is now pulling himself up on things! he is now 7 months).
12:30pm: Books and nap time

Helen now reads Andrew his nap time story. She's learning how to read, and she is getting pretty good at reading "Green Eggs and Ham," and "Nightime on the Farm." We are so proud of her!

1-3pm: Nap time
Yes, I know the rule never to your child to bed with milk. Andrew is pretty much addicted to his milk. With the huge transition of moving abroad we have let it slide but now that we have settled we are working on breaking the habit.

3pm: Andrew "drive"
Andrew loves to "buv" (drive) the car. He'll say "Andoo buvvv!" (Andrew drive) over and over when he wants me to put him in the driver's seat. I ran an errand this day and let him drive once we got back home. He gets so happy.

4pm: Pool time
This is actually not our pool. We are looking at moving into a complex across the street for our permanent housing, so we thought we'd walk over and check out the grounds. Most importantly, I wanted to go over to see how many kids were around because I want a strong community feeling with lots of kids around.

We also played on the play area.


6:30pm: dinner, bath, bed
The boys are funny in the bath now. Andrew wants to play with the water and ignores Joseph. Joseph wants to be doing anything his big brother is doing, so here he is trying to play with the water just like Andrew. It is so funny.

Goodnight Andrew!
The End.

Our advice for air travel with kids

Since we've had to do a lot of traveling lately (I think our little 7 month Joseph has been on about 14 flights by now) we have learned a lot of lessons of what NOT to do when traveling with kids. Here is our advice so you can learn from--or laugh at--our mistakes.

Here is our advice for air travel with kids:

P A C K I N G

1. Use a master packing list
If you haven't heard of this concept before, it will change your life. Basically you make a list of everything you need for any type of trip, and save it on your computer (you can find a basic template here). Then when it comes time to pack for the trip, you print off the master list and customize it for your current trip by crossing off anything you do not need. It saves so much time. We have a master packing list for each person.

2. Pack the day BEFORE
With kids it takes forever to pack. If we don't pack the day we usually end up showing up late for our flight so we have learned to pack the day before. Do all shopping needed the day before. Also tell your airport ride that you are going to leave 30 minutes before you actually need to leave so they are there and ready to help you get the gear in the car.
Since you are packing the day before you need to set out two sets of clothes the day before: one for the next day and another set for the flight (we have a specific plane tracksuit for Andrew).

This is why we have to pack the day BEFORE.


3. Pack the diaper bag first
The diaper bag is the most important so it needs to be packed first. Think through your trip and put all the toys, DVDs, snacks, milk, diapers, etc that you need in first, so you don't end up accidentally packing them in the checked luggage.

We have two kids, so we pack two diaper bags. Mike takes care of Andrew on the flight so he has all of Andrew's stuff (including the Wall-e DVD & size 5 diapers), and I take care of Joseph on the flight so I have all of Joseph's stuff (including the nursing cover & size 4 diapers). Include a change of clothes for each kid packed in a small packing cube (more on packing cubes later).
We got a backpack for my travel diaper bag which is much better, especially because it frees up your hands to hold your baby, and when walking down the aisle you don't smash into everyone on the aisles with a hanging bag.

This is why I use a backpack as a diaper bag (no hands available!). The nursing cover is on the outside pocket so I can whip it out at a moment's notice.


4. Put your name and address on each piece of luggage before you leave your house
Every item (including car seats and strollers) need your name and address. Believe me I have forgotten to do this and I had to write our address over and over again while Joseph and Andrew screamed for attention at the ticket counter. Learn from my mistake: do it beforehand.

5. Pack all of your clothes in packing cubes
Packing cubes are the solution to messy, full-to-the-brim bags that explode when you open them. We have at least one packing cube for each person, so all of Andrew's clothes go in one cube (see what packing cubes look like here). It keeps similar items together, and allows for a very organized bag. (Thanks E&C for opening our eyes to this concept!) They do cost money but they are worth it. I like the ones from Eagle Creek better than the ones I bought from Rick Steves. Mike uses the packing folder for his dress shirts so they stay perfectly pressed and compact. Worth the $.

6. Pick the right luggage
You may already have stuff that works for you, but when you travel as much as we do we have really thought about each luggage purchase. We have really thought through our luggage, and we use:

1. The Northface Recon backpack in black for my diaper bag (I put our diaper/wipes caddy in the outside netting so I can pull it out asap)
   
2. REI Wheely Beast 35": We have two large expandable REI bags that we use as our kid's bags. Compression straps cinch the load down tight (so we have more space if we pick up more things).
3. Car seat gate check bag: Reusable car seat bags (so our car seats don't get dirty and so we don't have to pay $5 for a flimsy plastic bag at the airline counter)

My mom is standing with our international luggage in the below picture. You can see we have the normal boxy luggage (in blue! always get a color OTHER THAN BLACK if possible), the expandable REI bag, and then we keep Andrew's bottles milk in a little cooler bag (bottom right in pic). Security has to open and test each bottle so we keep them out in a separate bag.



L O G I S T I C S

1. Talk through every minute of your trip with your spouse (esp. the security line)

• Label passports, flag the second page

Problem: On our first trip we fumbled around with our passports at the security desk and annoyed those in the long line behind us. First of all, we have four passports that have to match up to one of four tickets. They all look the same so we were always giving the wrong one at the wrong time. Second of all, the new passports have your picture now on the SECOND page, not the first page, so it takes longer to find the page to show the security person.

Solution: I put our names labeled on front, and added a tab so I can flip quickly to the photo page. It saves us.

• Keep all passports together in passport carrier:

When we're in the airport I am a total nerd and wear our passports hanging around our neck. It saves so much time from pulling them out of some random bag each time we have to show them.

• Try the drugs out beforehand

If you are planning on giving your kid Benadryl, check with your pediatrician to know how much to use, and try it out on your child a few days before. It actually makes some kids more hyper instead of sleepy.


O N T H E P L A N E

• Smile at everyone, make friends and eye contact. Then they won't be as mad if your baby is not perfect.
  
• Backpack works better as a diaper bag. Okay I mentioned that a few times already.
  
• Little toy bag: I make a small narrow bag full of little airplane toys and put it in the seatback pocket in front of me. It stays there the whole flight and I pull out toys when I need them--then I don't have to bend down, pull out the diaper bag from under the seat, pull out the toy, then push the diaper bag back. I use a clear bag from a Clinique free gift, but any see-through narrow bag will do.
  
• Flye Baby: If you have a small baby, this product works for small babies in economy class. See here. It keeps your baby off your lap so your hands are free. Figure out how to use it ahead of time.
• Make an airplane book with your kid's picture: Our speech therapist made us an "Andrew is going to Malaysia" book. Using pics I gave her of Andrew traveling, she made a step by step book of what Andrew was going to experience on the plane trip. Ex. page one: "Andrew is a big boy. He is going to Malaysia!" (pic of Andrew), page two: "Andrew is going to fly on a BIG plane" (pic of airplane), page three: "On the plane Andrew gets to watch Wall-e and color" (pic of Wall-e and some crayons). You get the idea. She printed it off on printer paper, laminated it, and put a ring around it so it was a book for us to read to Andrew before, during and after.
  

Enjoy the ride: My last bit of advice is have fun. Enjoy your travels. Airplanes are so exciting. If you smile a lot and have a good attitude, your kids will pick up on that and enjoy it so much more.

Bon voyage!