Back on the Grid

We moved twice when I was a kid. I was young and I don't remember it being that big of a deal. Except when we moved to Boston, I thought that everyone in my class was a nose picker. Oh and when we moved to Chicago, our washer/dryer wasn't installed right away, so on my first day of school, I evidently wore an old pair of underwear, whose waistband had long since given up, which proceeded to fall to my ankles ( I was wearing a dress) as I was being introduced to my new third grade class. Sorry, mom. I don't think that story will ever go away :)

But now, being one of the people in charge of the move, I know that it is harder than it looks.

For one thing, we have Cate and Timmy. We want them to feel at home in their new house which is taking time. Timmy, for a long time, told us every night that he wanted to go back to his white house. Cate keeps asking when new people are going to come and move into this house and where will we go then? I try to explain to her that people moved into our old house because that was what we wanted and that no one can move in here unless we decide not to live here anymore, but those questions give me insight to the insecurity that she feels.
We also have so much to do. All the time. We powered through a lot of unpacking and organizing in the first few weeks.My mom came for a few days and played with the kids and dragged my tired, overwhelmed

self off of the couch everyday at nap time to tackle a few more boxes.

We have been at a functional state for awhile now and because of that, the progress has come to a halt. All of the those tools that you see on the desk in the picture above are still there, we have nothing on our walls and our phone and internet are not set up. But we also had to get back to the business of regular life.

So, we take Cate and Timmy to the playground and try to convince them that sand on their feet and in their shoes is not the end of the world. And then I try to convince myself that it's not the end of the world when I forget to empty their shoes before we come in the house and Timmy dumps a pile of sand on the floor.

We have been going to a Rec Center with a great playground, splash pad, kids area and workout facility which has given these early weeks here some structure.

Then there's our main activity. Throwing parties. Seems odd for people who only have one other family for friends, doesn't it? Well, Cate is a serious party planner, so we party around here every day. Mostly, we throw birthday tea parties for her imaginary friends, Elizabeth, Bufana and Lizdee (she's new). They seem to last the whole day. Every day.

So, when Valentine's Day rolled around, we invited our (only) friends, Norah and Eli over for a party. Luckily, Cate and Timmy's expectations for a party are pretty low. We did a heart craft, ate heart shaped sandwiches, played with homemade pink play doh and opened treat bags filled with items from the Target dollar bin.

Then to make Cate's Valentine's day complete, she had to go to the dentist. She got a good report, even on Valentine's Day!
We are loving the warm Winter weather. We have been able to go outside every day which has helped so much during this transition. We are getting our pool ready for the Spring and Summer and we are so excited to get to use it.

On the other hand, it was not so exciting the other day when I had to haul myself and both kids to urgent care because I had a sinus infection. We shared a milkshake by the pool afterwards to make it better.
Aside from all of the jobs around the house, we are also doing the hard job of trying to meet people, find friends, settle on a church and figure out school for Cate and Timmy. I feel like a desperate information beggar all the time. Whenever we go to the library or the grocery store or church, I am always scanning the crowd for someone who might have kids the same age as ours, who might know something about preschools, grade schools and maybe more importantly, might know where in the world I can get my eyebrows done.

So, I am trying to work on being patient. Not one of my strengths. I am trying to just spend the week playing with Cate and Timmy, working on a little bit of a routine and getting a job or two done around the house. Hopefully there will be pictures of the inside of the house without piles of tools or cords or a card table for a kitchen table featured in an upcoming post. It could be close to Christmas before that happens, though.