Piper is doing fine - she's pretty much the only one out of the four of us, though, who can say as much (and she's not currently speaking).
Hazel is a mess. This move has been hard on her. When we first landed in my in-laws' basement, she continued to sleep in her play pen upstairs in the office. That's where she's been most familiar with sleeping. She was switched down to the basement (as was always our plan) about a week and a half into living here. That's been a tough one for her. Napping is coming easier these days, but we're having to work toward the "right" bedtime for her. She's been up until about nine the last few nights, but we're inching that bedtime closer and closer to her original and more appropriate 7:15 bedtime.
Miss B. turned two on November 22nd (I'll have to post separately about that - too many good pictures) and she's every bit the protest tantrum two-year-old. It's driving me insane. Love her to pieces, but some mornings I just want to put her back in bed and walk away. I think these major life changes have been a bit much for her so she's picked something to be mad at and that's the changing table. She hates it. She won't lie still and she kicks, hits, and pulls my hair when I have to change her diaper. Some of you might be wondering why I force it with her when it's such an issue: Even though we have moved, our expectations of her are the same. She will have her diaper changed on the changing table, not our bed; she will eat sitting in her high chair, not wandering around the room. She needs to feel the same sense of security within these boundaries as she did at our old house, but it's taking some time right now for her to realize that although our living situation has changed, nothing else has. I don't want to fight any more battles with her; I'm tired. Bone. Tired.
Nate is working working working. He was the incredible one-man-show during the move. He had the wonderful help of his brothers when it came to literally loading crap into various vehicles and depositing it wherever it needed to land, be that Goodwill, the storage unit, someone's house, or the "Great Room." He is so utterly tired also. I don't know how he's still functioning. He's my hero, truly. It took him two weeks to get us to a "done" point with the house. I helped when I could, but it was a bit tougher with the girls. Rick and Karen went above and beyond by watching them many, many evenings as Nate and I cleaned and organized the other house. I can't even begin a breakdown of everything he did in/on that house before we could be considered moved.
I miss that house every day. It hurts my heart that we're not living there anymore.
On December 1st, Nate turned our keys in to the landlord. He walked through the house and pointed out changes we made, things we brought with us that we're leaving there, etc. We're leaving the outdoor light fixtures that we bought for our Anderegg house and then brought to the 172nd house; we're leaving our stove and hood, the pendant light in the kitchen nook, the shower head and curtain rod, window shades in the bedrooms, and...Other stuff that I can't remember right now. Our landlord was thrilled. He loved how nice the inside looked, so he was able to look past the overgrown front garden and the piles of leaves in the yard. When Nate asked me for my key on Tuesday night in preparation for the walk-through the next morning, I cried.
I've really struggled with this move, and I know it's because I feel a lack of control. It kinda sucks that God wants to have me learn a whole bunch of tough lessons back-to-back. I'd like to just be done with this season, so I'm hoping and praying that I morph into a quick learner.
We're blessed to have the generosity of Nate's parents. We've filled up their basement with our disorganized crap and I know that it's stressful on everyone. I have boxes and boxes of stuff still to unpack. I think our family might just celebrate the holidays with Christmas decorations in January because at this point there's too much other clutter in our one room to even recognize the decorations apart from the boxes and piles of stuff I'm sorting. Do you want a peek? It hurts me to post this picture, just so you know.
It's bad lighting because I used the computer camera to snap the photo, but I think you get the gist. The stuff on the left is a pile I'm working on currently; it blocks the fireplace. Our bed you can see pretty easily - the red blanket/curtain helps to separate our part of the room from the girls. What you don't see here is Nate's office, my pantry, the chest freezer and fridge, the dressers, changing table, or closet. Good times, yes?
Even with all this blech-ness right now, our little family is still together and we're thriving. We have to get over this hump of change and acclimate (hopefully soon). I already feel that we're making true memories here, and that's a gift! Oh, and another super thing is that I have full access to Nate's super awesome computer, so hopefully blogging will happen much more often (very likely during my mandatory quiet hours between 1-4p.m.; naps, you know).
Tomorrow we'll head up to Estacada to find our Christmas tree, and Hazel is so stoked. All she can talk about right now is, "!*@^*#* [Decorate] the Christmas tree, MOMMY?"
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