Our first week in Vancouver is wrapping up, and here’s a quick report of how things have been going so far.

My mom has been with us, and will be for two more weeks. She’s been watching Graham, taking him out on adventures in our new home city, and helping with household chores. It’s been really lovely watching her and Graham together, and on top of everything else I’m so grateful for that.

I’m also so grateful for the extra help because I’ve been sick all week, and even though I’ve had the week off from work, there’s no way I would have been able to keep up with Graham’s energy. I think I’m on the mend now, but I also thought that on Wednesday, until on Thursday morning I was proven very wrong. So I’m trying to take it easy and not push it, no matter how much I want to play train with Graham in circles around the apartment.

Danielle has been at work this week, which is only a few minutes on foot from our temporary housing. Word is that the new office has a lot of stairs, but otherwise it sounds like she’s getting straight into it!

We got our Social Insurance Numbers (a lot like Social Security Numbers for Canada) today, and also opened Canadian bank accounts and credit cards. Now we can start building credit in Canada and get paid by our employers, both of which are pretty important, you know? The Service Canada office we went to was anomalously empty this morning, and the people there were very nice. Probably the most pleasant experience I’ve ever had in a government office.

We haven’t been able to look at any housing yet, mostly because there’s just not much out there right now. In the meantime, we’re staying in Yaletown in a two-bedroom apartment way up on the 29th floor. It’s small, less than 900 square feet, which we’ve been told is actually fairly typical for two-bedroom apartments here, at least in downtown and some other neighborhoods.

We’re also starting to interview nannies, which will be important because day cares are very hard to get into here. In fact, I’m going to get out of here and head to one such interview now!

Hoping y’all are good back in LA and wherever else you’re reading this from. ✌️