Settling in

Well, after three weeks, I feel like we're finally settling in. Sure, the house is still a wreck in many ways and there is furniture in places that I'm not sure I like still. BUT we're getting closer. Mark and Bjorn put a bunch of boxes in the attic and now the garage is more or less thinned out with stuff that should actually be in the garage. I still have a lot to do, like taking a good look at the yard and doing some wedding and grooming, but every day we get a little more settled in and are understanding the quirks of the place. I'm happy with it. I am also loving being so near my family. We've seen my parents and/or sister and nieces in various combinations and it's so great just to be able to do that so easily. I know the kids love it, too, especially seeing Megan and Emma. It's pretty adorable.

Meg has also been sleeping a little better and generally this weekend was less clingy. Course, I thought that last night as I went to bed, marveling that she finally went to bed by herself without someone in there rubbing her back. Then she went and screwed it up by waking up at 3 a.m. and having a little party in bed until 5 a.m. Bjorn and I were not happy with that development.

Mark starts community college today and I must say I'm impressed with him for getting his stuff together to get himself registered and figuring out the money to pay for it. I think he's in a good place to do well this semester.

Some things we still have to figure out, like finding a pediatrician, but we're on our way.

Hugs not slugs

The first day of school was yesterday. I was definitely more nervous than Andy, I think. This marks the first time that he HAS to be at school by a certain time, not the laissez faire complicated math formula we've done it in the past which is the kids get dropped off relative to when we have to be at the office relative to when we woke up in correlation to how many times the kids woke up in the night inverse to when what time I went to bed. Plus, drop off is a solid 45 minutes to an hour earlier than we normally dropped off.

But we made it. I dropped him off and he was happy about it. No tears from either of us. I was nervous about looking the part. I did shower in the morning, but in between discussions of whether Andy had to wear socks and whether Meg really intended to stand outside my shower and cry the whole time I was in there (seriously), I ran out of time to put on makeup and blow dry my hair. I could just hear my mother in the back of my head saying something about not drying my hair. My answer was to put it up in a ponytail. It was fine.

Meanwhile, I shouldn't have even worried about it. I took this picture of Andy sitting at his table (his teacher is in the foreground). Check out the woman wearing a hat and a racer back sports bra. Seriously? Who wears that indoors? Of course, people who can rock the outfit wear it, but I didn't feel self conscious once I realized I was at least wearing a top. Overall, Andy did fine. It's hard to believe he's actually in school!

Meanwhile, speaking of tops, Meg is rocking a new look these days. This kid refuses to wear her clothes a lot of the time. We're having struggles where I turn around and she's removed her diaper and is wandering around al fresco. See the look she's rocking here? Crocs (thanks Frances!), a pajama shirt on her head, and Fancy Nancy underpants over her shorts. I really need to frame this one for later.

Hits a little too close to home

I suppose it's official

Andy got a letter today from his kindergarten teacher. I guess it's official, my boy is going to school next Monday.

Meanwhile, Andy and I got into a bit of an argument about whether he's going to first grade or kindergarten. Well, argument is too strong. He insists he's going to first grade, "First grade is kindergarten, Mommy." I insist he's wrong, but realize there is very little I can do to make him realize he's wrong so for perhaps the first time in my life, you know, ever, I'm holding my tongue.

The great sleep battle of 2010

Meg has turned from being my champion sleeper to being my champion refuse-to-sleeper. Seriously. It started in the spring. She was probably ready for a big girl bed, but she refused and wanted to sleep in her crib. So when we listed the house, the toddler bed went up into the attic. Naturally, with Bjorn out of the picture and me pressed to keep the house clean, she decided it was time to screw with me. She started throwing herself out of the bed and it was anything I could do to get her to sleep.

Then we went on vacation for two weeks and it just got more complicated. She and Andy would share twin beds next to each other and she did fine, assuming you could get her to go to sleep. It was often lots of bringing her back to her bed, practically begging/threatening/bribing to get her to finally knock off. After the trip, we were at my folks for a few weeks sharing a room with Andy. She was refusing to go to bed and instead would immediately pop out to find us. Even after she finally went to sleep, she'd occasionally wake up and trot through the Jack and Jill bathroom to get to us. Lack of sleep on my part combined with sheer frustration of the situation were making me seriously batty.

Now that we're in the new house, we got a baby gate to keep her in her room. Our bedroom is downstairs and her's is up so I worry about her roaming the halls at night and falling down the stairs. Plus, she really needs to get back to going to bed at a decent time/pace. After a little over a week in the new regimen, the results are mixed. She does eventually go to sleep in her own bed, sometimes with one of us rubbing her back, other times not. Bjorn's apoplectic about it (I'm only marginally less so) as she screams and cries so loud, she also made herself throw up, until she just wears herself down and finally nods off.

Even with that, she's crying out sometime in the early morning (say between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m.) and ending up in our bed. Thoughts on how to fix this, short of simply drinking more?

Kindergarten

Andy starts school next week. REAL school. I am psyched, and not just because I won't have to pay $200 a week in daycare. I am psyched for him to be going to a real school and starting to read and all the fun stuff that comes from elementary school. The whole thing seems a little surreal. I went by to register him and I swear it even smelled like an elementary school. Good thing I have good memories of elementary school. Middle school, well, not so much, but I really did love elementary school. When I wasn't crying and wailing about being forced to go, that is.

The downside of this will be now school is mandatory. Before, we could just blow off a week for vacation or skip a day because I was off and wanted to play. Now it will be harder, plus I'll need to set the example that school isn't optional, it's really important. It's also going to be different because unlike daycare where you can quit if you don't like it, public school isn't really like that. Plus, he'll have to be at school at an exact time every day. Punctuality isn't especially my strong suit.

Any tips on helping make the transition easier for all of us?

Settling in

Oomph. After the initial thrill and excitement of getting moved in, my interest in further unpacking and sorting is definitely on the wane. So much has been done and so much is still left to be done, like putting books away, sorting through linens and putting the kitchen stuff to use in a way that makes sense to our lifestyle. I was so used to where everything went in my old kitchen that's it's going to take some time to assess it and figure out what makes sense where.

A nice problem to have is that we have a three-car garage now. It's the natural entry point into the house from the garage into the laundry room that leads to the kitchen. Unfortunately, there are lots of empty boxes out there now so it's less useful than it could be. Plus, the movers somehow misplaced the screws to put Andy's bed back together. If you recall, he's got a cool loft bed from Ikea. I love it and, it would be perfect for his new room. Sadly the movers broke it into it's original parts and the bolts to put it back together are missing. I am holding out hope that they're somewhere in the mess in the garage and that once Mark breaks down the boxes, I'll find them. Otherwise, I'm going to have to see if  Ikea will see me 50 replacement pieces.

Both kids started a new daycare/preschool this week. Meg did great the first day, not so much the other two days, which makes me sad. Although Andy won't need aftercare (yet) due to my current work schedule, I wanted him to get familiar with it should he need to go on occasion. Also, I wanted him to meet a couple of kids that will be going to his elementary school. Getting back to some schedule is going to be a good thing. Meg especially is staying up too late (mostly because she won't go to bed). She transitioned out of her crib while we were on vacation so I got a baby gate to keep her in her room. I worried about locking her in, but her room is on the second floor and I fear her roaming around half awake looking for me. I did ask the doctor about it first who said it was fine. Of course, she now goes in her room and wails loudly about wanting to get out, but that'll settle down eventually, right? Right?

Andy starts kindergarten a week from Monday. Wow.

And we're moved in

The second set of move came on Thursday and took all our stuff from Public Storage to the new house. Naturally it was 103 that day so it was nice and roasty. The packers had stuff labeled but it was confusing what was "bedroom 1" and what was "bedroom 2." Was that counting from the top of the stairs at the old house or from the master down? As a result, stuff somewhat ended up all over. The trickiest was thinking about the old basement -- half that stuff went into the new office and the other half was toys, games and Wii  accessories that are going into the game room (or "Texas basement" as I heard someone call it."

Although it was still a wreck, we managed to unpack enough sheets and clothes to sleep here the first night. I had intended to go back to my folks' place, but once we were here, I didn't want to leave!


Mark and Jennifer arrived late last night from Virginia, Mark permanently and Jennifer just for a visit. They have been amazing to help entertain the kids and unpack. As a result, we're probably 75 percent done with the boxes. Stunning actually how far along we are. Verizon came today and we now have TV, phone and Internet. Without a radio, I was listening to the intercom radio on the top 40 (or top 12 station). As a result, I know the words to all the latest Lady Gaga, Eminem and Katy Perry songs.

I will post pictures, once I find my camera and the cords that attach them to the computer.

We did it!

After years of talking about it and months of planning, we are finally moving into our new house. I know, I can't really believe it either. We went over tonight to check it out (the previously owner technically had until 10 p.m. tonight, but Bjorn stopped by during the day to see that it was totally empty. Score!) Bjorn picked up dinner and we ate before taking a swim. Considering it was 104 today and it was our new house, it was pretty darn perfect. Sure, I'm terrified of the kids being near the pool without me and I'm plotting how I'm going to better secure it, but after years of schlepping to the pool with all our gear, it was so incredibly nice to just go in the back yard and go swimming.

Right now, the house doesn't seem like it's twice as big as our old house, but once the furniture comes tomorrow, I have a feeling we'll see how big it is. Yippee!

So who is coming to visit?


Commonwealth Swim Club, I won't miss schlepping our noodles over to you. You may have been across the street, but that can be a long way with two cranky kids.