Hi Everyone – I’m Mrs. Gumdrop and I’m one month into this crazy adventure of birth and life and parenting!
Our new little family at our house in Chiang Mai.
I’m excited to join HelloBee at this moment in time to capture the fiercely beautiful and challenging process of embracing my new role as a mother. It has already been an intense learning experience and I only hope to grow more as a person as I share my journey into motherhood from the very beginning.
Before the birth of our daughter, Baby Jujube, I’d already been in a time of growth – living as an expat in Thailand shook me out of my comfort zone more than I expected, and Mr. Gumdrop and I have both been using the last year here to reset and rediscover our values. We got married after I graduated from college, bought a house and were living the American Dream complete with an American-sized portion of debt. It was a challenging way to start a life together but it unified us – we made a plan and some sacrifices and paid it off in our first five years of marriage so we could have the freedom and flexibility to move to Thailand.
So here we are! I still love dreaming and making plans and lists even though I’m definitely a type B personality. I also like making films, balancing budgets, sewing, eating candy and sweets, and figuring out how I can DIY everything.
Little Jujube – 1 month old
Since I so recently passed the initiation into motherhood I have a new and fervent respect for all women, and am incredibly grateful to be on this journey with you all!
xoxo,
Mrs. Gumdr()p
pomegranate / 3225 posts
Welcome! Can’t wait to hear more about life in Thailand!
blogger / apricot / 482 posts
Welcome! Love your intro post and your daughter is gorgeous Mr. Dolphin and I would love to move abroad ourselves, but have our own American-sized debt (and then some…thanks, graduate school debt). So looking forward to reading your posts going forward!
cherry / 231 posts
Welcome! I’d LOVE to hear more about moving to and living in Thailand. DH and I have discussed living abroad so I’d be super interested in anything you have to say about it!
grapefruit / 4923 posts
welcome! what a cutie you have.
nectarine / 2047 posts
Welcome! What an adventure
I’d love to hear more about how you paid off your debts, we have a huge amount thanks to grad school for both of us
pomegranate / 3393 posts
Welcome and congratulations on your new baby! I love Chiang Mai, my husband and I would love to live there, or at least visit again! I look forward to hearing more about your life there, and what took you guys there to begin with.
blogger / cherry / 179 posts
Welcome! Congrats on joining the Mom Club! Love the nickname you chose for your baby!
Can’t wait to read your posts! 
pomelo / 5621 posts
Welcome!
blogger / apricot / 275 posts
@Somebunny: oooh, very cool! I will probably write more about the challenges, just because there’s growth there and I find that interesting, but there are so many benefits to living abroad! Thailand especially is such a beautiful place, rich culture and natural resources.
blogger / apricot / 275 posts
@MoonMoon: Isn’t it a unique place? I think someday when we leave I will always have a Chiang Mai shaped hole…
kiwi / 705 posts
Excited to hear about your life in Thailand! We visited for the first time in March and completely fell in love with it. We have paid off our debt and are in the saving cash stage of preparing to move abroad. Our plan right now is to do just 1 year though and we haven’t 100% decided on a country- just Spanish or mandarin speaking!
guest
@jccovi: We had friends who lived and started a family in Syria just before the civil war broke out. They said that you need at least 3 years if you want to create an authentic sense of belonging wherever you decide to go. If you already have language skills and an understanding of the culture, you might be able to carve a year off that. Otherwise, we have found a year might feel more like a sabbatical or an extended vacation. 1 year into living abroad, I am just beginning to grow roots abroad. Keep up the planning, saving and dreaming whatever you decide!