And the Dust Begins to Settle

Wow. What a two-week whirlwind we have had! And yet, somehow, we are all moved in, we are rid of the old rental, and life is beginning to slow back down.

That is, until the baby is born and it all speeds back up into that eerie form of slow-motion that is the endless stream of days and nights when nursing a newborn.

But I digress.

There are boxes, boxes everywhere, but we are unpacked enough to be able to live daily life without too much interruption. Even though this new house is about 100 square feet smaller than our previous house, it has so much of the space in the right places that I don’t think it matters. In the long run, I think it’ll work out better.

I learned a lot in this move. We started Moving Week fairly successfully. I was feeling very productive, even though I am very pregnant. {Emphasis on very.} Then, my brother-in-law arrived with his family. They started helping with the moving process. Even though I felt like I was doing well on my own, I really appreciated the help.

Then my ankles swelled up.

And then the swelling traveled to my knees.

Seriously, from the knees down you would think I weighed 300 pounds.

Ahem.

That is when the doctor told me I was swelling from being on my feet too much and needed to lay on my left side. I didn’t bother to tell him that we were in the process of moving. He already assumes I don’t sit down because I have three kids.

So I became quite in need of help. I cannot imagine what we would have done without our family visiting. My sister-in-law packed my entire kitchen for me the day before we moved. Thankfully, we think similarly about kitchens, so she did it just the way I would have done it, but better. My brother-in-law helped Si move his desk over so that the cable company could hook up our internet access.

I really have no idea how we would have pulled this off without them. They were God’s gift to us during these past couple weeks.

And they left last night.

It was really strange. Because they moved with us, we had gotten used to them here in the house. We were like one big happy family. The girls even begged for their cousin at bedtime {Baby S., my only favorite niece, shared a room with them during the visit}. At dinner, we accidently set places for them. We will miss them.

But we really must move on, swollen feet and all. I find that everything takes longer here because I don’t have any rythym here yet. I have no routine. I don’t even know where everything is, at least not automatically.

Back in School

This morning, however, we managed to crank out a school day. I think it was good to jump back in. I had planned a light day for the first day. But really, with nothing to do other than unpack breakable objects whenever I turn my back, the children will do better with lessons to learn.

And by the way, A. is up to the letter D. The alphabet is coming along nicely.

Give Me a Backyard, and Make It Snappy

A. was also attacked by a yellow jacket on one of our first days here. So now she is terrified of going outside. However, E. is seeming very restless and loud. This is only a problem because they are used to going outside together and complain when they are separated. Add to this that temperatures are in the hundreds and there is nothing out there but what looks like a desert, and I don’t blame them for preferring the Great Indoors.

Which is why I would like to publicly encourage my husband to plan the backyard. Soon. Pronto. For the love of his wife’s sanity.

Back in the Saddle?

Other than all of the above mundane details, I can only say that I don’t know where I stand in relation to blogging. I didn’t expect the swelling-feet-contractions-lay-on-your-side issues to arise. So we will see how it goes.

I still have a great post swirling around in the back corner of my brain. I hope it isn’t mediocre by the time I set my hand to the keyboard.