I've posted on this board on and off since Hellobee started and have recently been MIA here and there due to travelling overseas for 5 weeks and just being really busy after returning from our trip. I wrote about our crazy but successful 24-hour trip with my two boys alone if you remember. During our trip we found out my husband got a job in Asia (Taiwan). It's been months and I still can't believe we will be moving sometime this Summer. Since working overseas requires a lot of paperwork and other things it will take about 5 months for my husband to start his new job (he's 1.5 months away from leaving!).

I'm excited yet stressed b/c we're not moving permanently which means I (yes, "I" b/c my husband has no idea what we have) have to go through a huge house full of things we've acquired in the last 9 years living in this area. I have to sort through what to bring with us, what to store, and what to throw away. I barely scratched the surface by only going through my clothes. Also, since my husband will be going first I will have to take care of our two boys and our 12-year-old dog for a couple of months until our dog is ready to leave with us. She is currently doing her 180-day "quarantine." There's a whole process to taking a dog from the U.S. to Taiwan since the U.S. isn't a rabies free country. She'll also have to be quarantined for 21 days after we get there. I'm really worried for her. She's 12 but acts like a young dog but, still, she does get stressed out over new environments. I mean, what dog won't? I also worry about my oldest b/c during our last trip to there he misbehaved A LOT. My guess is that it was mostly due to being in a new environment and all these new faces as well. I hope once we move he will be better since he's already been there and is looking forward to playing with his cousin again, despite all the fighting they were doing.

So the upside to our move is that our kids will be able to learn how to speak Chinese. I've been trying to speak to both of them more since finding out about our move and my oldest is finally more curious about what certain things are called and will ask me. He'll also speak to his little brother in Chinese randomly which is super adorable. I'm really excited for them and hope they will be too once we get settled. Also, my parents visit often there and my brother lives there so we will be seeing them a lot more than we do now (which is once a year or two or three!).

The great thing about where we will be living is that there are a lot of expatriate families nearby and they have already provided us a social/family sponsor and a work sponsor for my husband. So we've been asking them a ton of questions about the move. I'm so happy there's a Costco nearby, even if everything is 20% more. I can buy the same Kirkland baby wipes there and that makes me really happy! Everyone tells me that I will really appreciate those little American things over there as it's either really pricey or hard to find and pricey. I mean, things like mayonnaise (which I hardly use now) is something they say I'll miss even if I hardly eat it out here.

Anyone make a move overseas with kids and didn't go the same time as your SO/husband/partner? Is there anyone on this board who currently lives in Taiwan?