Beginning the Chaos of Change = Our NEW Home is Ready

Oh hello change, I have NOT missed you.  I won't pretend that I enjoy change.  I guess I don't hate it, but it's hard.  Things get uncomfortable because of the unknowns involved, and now that kids are involved, they have a tough time adjusting too.  In this case, the changes should be way more exciting than difficult - but at least for me, no change comes without it's challenges.  Jason claims he likes change; however he seems to strongly dislike when there is a high degree of uncertainty involved.  Why am I speaking of change?  Well we closed on house number TWO yesterday!!  Super exciting about our new home being ready!  The sad news is that we are leaving our current home, neighborhood (we have some super awesome neighbors), church, DAYCARE, and our normal routine for the kids thus far.

Sad news aside, here is a picture my dad snapped a few weeks ago (pre-snow) of our nearly finished home.  Both kids will have their own room (current home we just didn't convert the office), the bedrooms are all nearby (we are hoping this helps Max sleep better), a fabulous open kitchen-living area, and Jason still has his own movie space downstairs.  It's not significantly bigger than our current home, though we think it will be laid out better for what we currently need.


Eleanor and I had a BUSY day yesterday - we got gas, stopped by my parents super quick, went over to the new daycare for a bit, stopped by the bank, went back to my parents for a diaper change/snack, then over to the new house, then back to my parents one more time (diaper/snack) before heading down to Bloomington for the closing.  What a trooper Eleanor!  She actually did fantastic until we had someone else hold her during the closing meeting.  She was ready to be done and go home.

Next up - moving!  A few pieces to that process:
1. We already got a TON of things out & they currently live in a storage facility near our new home.  This was so that we could make our house look more desirable to buyers.
2. Start packing up the kitchen, what's left downstairs, and things in my & Max's closets.
3. Thurs/Fri - my brother's going to help Jason move some of the bigger furniture items.
4. Saturday - big move day!  We will need to pack what's left and get it all up to the new house.

We played with the choo-choo train downstairs with Max after supper (tofu-mushroom stir fry and rice).

Then we had some family chill time before bed.


I am hoping to go for a quick run tonight again - which means I need running clothes on when I pickup Max & dinner pre-prepped at home.  I've got to get this consistency back in my day before work enters the picture again.  Next up: work on getting the kiddos on a good schedule where they are both asleep at 4/4:30 am so I can run then (Jason is home).  I think we're close - but when we move, that could change.  And then maybe I should get to bed regularly a little earlier too..

Trial RUN! And we have SNOW!

Last night right after I picked up Max, I went for my first little trial run!  In the snow and in the dark.  I only went for a really short run - probably only about a mile - just to see how it went and make sure nothing felt off.  I take post-baby running pretty seriously, especially post-major-surgery(c-section) and that's why I waited an extra week even.  Gotta make sure things are healing properly.  Apparently some of my insides still won't be fully healed up quite yet, but it doesn't mean I can't start running - it does mean I need to be listening to my body at all times.

It felt so good to get out!  One of the toughest part of pregnancy for me, is not running or being active like I usually am.  I can do plenty of walks when pregnant & could actually run a little bit for the first half-or-so of this pregnancy (much longer than with Max!).  But I can't push myself; I can't do any long runs; I definitely can't skate... it is very different than my usual activity level.  It was a little surprising that my whole body felt totally perfect; it was my lungs that got a little angry (hello asthma..).  We'll have to work on that.

Earlier in the day, my sister-in-law stopped by for a little while.  We needed to borrow her immersion blender for the squash soup I made yesterday (totally forgot I packed ours!).  And she is super helpful with the challenging task of holding Eleanor so I can get some laundry folded.  Little Eleanor is growing so fast - she is 7 weeks now.

Eleanor and I stopped briefly at Jason's office at lunchtime, and then did a quick trip to Trader Joe's on the way home.  Eleanor helped me curb my spending because she decided we could not stay there very long.

We rounded out the day with squash soup for supper, plus a grainy bread, roasted green beans & apple slices.  Good stuff - though the squash soup was pretty thick & next time I think I would put a little less spice in it.  The leftovers will work well as a pasta sauce even.  Pancakes may be on the menu for tomorrow...?

New Home Countdown..it's almost HERE

Things are getting pretty exciting for our family.  We get to move into our new house in less than a week now! Jason and I drove up to do a walk-through of our new home yesterday - it is basically all ready for us to move in!  We have learned a few things about new-home purchasing along the way.  I should share those if I get a chance...

They are going to do some final touch-ups of paint & things like that, but other than that, it is move-in-ready.  So pumped!  I should probably start to think of last-minute things

Afterward we stopped by Ikea on the way to pickup Max from school.  I found many things I would love to add to the home - perhaps after we sell house #1? We also got a cloth diaper bin for our new daycare.  Here's a super fancy looking mirror that is actually totally not super fancy at all.


Here is what we woke up to at house #1 this morning... SNOW!  Cross country skiing is in the not so distant future.  I sent Max off to school with boots for the first time.  Playing outside just got a little more complicated.


Here is a picture of Max having a fun time wearing his 'future voter' sticker that Eleanor gave him from voting.