we're moving!

moving... it's so emotional

so, i've been very absent lately...  duh.  as i've mentioned before- we're moving.  in 10 short days we will be moving for the 3rd time in the almost 3 years that we have lived here.  now we're not moving far.... just a mere 15 miles, but it almost seems like a world away... 

here's the map.  feel free not to stalk me... 

dave will be closer to work, which is good for him... however, i will be farther away from both of my jobs.  i've been debating whether or not to put in a transfer to go to a store closer to me, but i already don't like my job enough as it is...  i'd hate starting over somewhere else, although there are 2 other stores within 4 miles of my home. 

work aside...  that has nothing to do with the emotions of moving.  we've been up here for almost 3 years, and there are still emotions from leaving atlanta to come here.  leaving the house we bought together, the house we came home to after our wedding.  the house that we made our home.  we were only there 18 months before we made the move to come up here.  we spent some time living with dave's parents before we moved into this house 2 years ago. 

when we moved in here i was almost 3 months from giving birth to ian.  it was the house we chose to live in as a new family.  this is where we painted his room, put together his crib, washed his itty bitty clothes.  it's where we chose his name, it's the room i would sneak into at night, long before he was born, and the room we still sneak into at night to check & see if he's still breathing to see how adorable he is when he sleeps.  this is the "home" that we brought him home to, where we saw his first smile, watched him crawl, where he took his first steps.  it's where we drank through a blizzard, and where my dad burned 40 lbs of ribs.  laughed until we cried, and cried until we laughed.  who knew there could be so many memories in one little place in such a short time. 

so again, we move.  and although we would have liked to have stayed- we asked to stay.  our rent is increasing, and the value is not.  we will move into another place, and it will be home for a while, but my question is this- when will our son, our family have a real place to call home.  one that isn't renewed by contract, one that we can fully make our own.  i have wiped the tears from my eyes walking into his room realizing that it won't be his room much longer... and that we still have to repaint!  but i realize this- maybe home for us isn't a physical place- at least not right now.  i guarantee it will come one day- where we own our own place again, the place that ian can say is "the house i grew up in."  just not right now.  for us...  home is wherever i’m with you.

so i remind myself that we haven't found our home, not just yet.  and these temporary places will have to do.  they may be where the memories happened, but i'm taking the memories with me.

i'll miss a few things about this place:  proximity to work.  proximity to everything (we're kinda moving to "the middle of nowhere"- not really, but compared to where we are now, yes).  giant closet in our room & in ian's room.  ian having his own bathroom in his room.  my garden.  no steps to get into the house.  attic space.  my lazy susan cabinet.  my shower curtain (again... really?!).  stairs... maybe.  finally being w\in 5 miles of chick fil a. 

what i won't miss:  lack of carpets.  having to vacuum/mop the white tile multiple times a day.  20 y/o heating system.  20 y/o washing machine.  all the mirrors.  vertical blinds.  garage door that doesn't open when the temp gets below 15.  my microwave.  my assy neighbors.  motorcycles racing down wise rd.  the skunks (oh, please don't tell me it smells like skunk in c-ville every night too).  white tile.  no carpet (it was worth saying again). 

so ready to make some new memories in our new place.  and can't wait to share it with you!!

to move or not to move

i hate moving.  HATE it.  there is nothing worse than packing all your junk in boxes, loading them on a truck and driving them across town, or the country.  whatev.  i've moved many times.  we moved when i was a baby, we moved when i was in middle school, i moved in and out of a dorm 4 times, i moved into my own apartment in atlanta, i moved back home, i got married and moved out, i moved to illinois, and into my in-laws, i moved the rest of my stuff into a storage unit, i moved our stuff into a different storage unit, i moved out of the storage unit and out of the in-laws and here we are today.  grr. 

so moving stinks, and moving into somewhere else stinks b\c since we will be renting forever for a while, the fact is that we'll have to move yet again until we actually own another place. 

here's the current situation.  we like the neighborhood- it's quiet, and i haven't had to call 911 yet.  we like the area.  the house is decent.  it was built in the 90's and definitely needs some updates.  but that's where the problems come in...

1.  old a/c system.  the hvac system here stinks.  in atlanta, we kept the air on 78 in the summer and survived quite nicely.  here, we sometimes have it as low as 75 and the upstairs is still over 85 degrees.  not cool- literally...  in the winter we usually keep things on 68- but we have to keep it even lower b\c it gets really hot upstairs in the winter too- and the downstairs is freezing. 

2.  all hardwood/tile floors.  if you've ever lived in the midwest, you know that winter is not the pretty picture you see in paintings and photographs.  it's cold and it's ugly.  think of your car covered in rust, salt and sludge.  then imagine that sludge being dragged into your house every time you walk into the door.  then imagine your landlord thought white tile in the entry way was a good idea.   plus, ian is going to be crawling soon- not only is the floor hard, but we have 2 annoying dogs that shed tiny hairs everywhere, and my child feels the need to put everything in his mouth- especially after he throws it on the floor. 

3.  garage situation.  as i mentioned a few weeks ago, our garage went kaput, and we were locked out of our house for an evening without the dogs and only the clothes (and diapers) on our backs (and baby butts).  no fun.  the landlord came and let us in on sunday, and the garage repairman came on monday.  he fixed the problem, and discovered another- and that is that the top panel of the garage is pulling away from the arm that holds the garage door up.  awesome.  repairman's advice, "if i were you, i'd just try not to use the garage door at all."  awesomer.  the repairman contacted the landlord, and he decided against the repair.  so i've parked my car outside the last few weeks, and we rarely use the door except on garbage day and those days when we're taking lots of stuff in the house and it's not convenient to go through the front.  remember what i said about winter?  if i can't park my car in the garage over winter- that will be the ultimate deal breaker for this house.  1.  i hate cold.  2.  i don't want to have to worry about ian being outside- having to fumble with the keys to get in the house while holding a sleeping baby- that i had to get out of the car and carry up the walk, all while trying not to bust my ass on the ice. 

4.  there are only 2 bedrooms.  we have a 3 week house guest and ian is sleeping in our room.  all has gone really well so far, but for future guests, we'd like them to really have their own room- and we have the furniture for it too. 

so those are the issues, with the big one being dependent on whether or not the garage door gets fixed.  i don't know what would happen if the panel broke from the arm- but i'm guessing it would not be good, and i don't really want to find out.  i wish our landlord would understand how important fixing this stuff was.  i know he's had to put a lot into the house since we've moved in (heating panel went out, garbage disposal, and garage), but this is what happens when you're a landlord- and he's lucky he is.  we tried to rent our house in atlanta for months with no luck, and i would've killed to have had a tenant.  we didn't find a tenant, and now we're in the situation we're in.  which, btw, our house in atlanta allegedly has a closing date of on/before september 26th.  ::fingers crossed::

so what to do- pack it up and move again, or stay put and deal with it.  thoughts?

the one where i win wife of the year and possibly go mia for a while...

we have been busy.  this past weekend started a month-long stretch of weekends totally packed full of junk!  this past weekend dave's gma was in town, so we had the entire mcfamily get together.  there are 15 of us- and one on the way.  you think that's insane, you should be @ dave's gma's house @ christmas.  there are 40 of us total (and 2 on the way).  it's a bit much, especially considering my entire extended family totals 12 on one side and 14 on the other.  this weekend we have the summer picnic for my office- i'm pretty excited about swimming, i am not exciting about buying my first post-baby swimsuit, and then wearing it.  boo.  the next few weekends i will detail more below, and then we hope to wrap things up with a visit to the beach in michigan.  we decide to forgo a vacation this year because 1.  we are poor, and 2.  we are broke.  dave's parents however are going to stay @ family friend doc's lake house, and we are all invited to stay a few days!!  yippppeeeeee!

so, as i've said already our next few weeks are going to be jam-packed and it all started several months ago- and it's almost here!  background story:  my husband studied international business and german in college- he's made a few trips to deutschland over the years, his last trip in 2004 for his internship.  while there, he made some good friends, and he has kept in touch w\ those friends since said trip.  the aforementioned friends were a couple while dave was over there, but split up while i was pregnant, much to the heartbreak of one of the friends.  we have both tried really hard to cheer up friend, but it seems they've fallen into a bit of a funk.  friend was looking for a place to vacation, and husband told him that he should come visit us here in the good ol' u.s. of a. 

he thought about it, and said, yes, i think i will come visit your family.  how long can i stay?

husband says, as long as you'd like.

friend replies via email- here is my flight itinerary. 

husband forwards flight itinerary to me- am i reading this right, he asks.

i reply, yes, husband, friend is staying with us for 3 weeks.  3 WEEKS?!

first of all, i am jealous that americans don't get 3 weeks of vacation- we're too overworked as it is.  don't even get me started on european maternity leave vs. american.  second, stay as long as you'd like in american means different to an american... BUT..

we're pretty excited.  i don't think he reads my blog, but if you do- don't get us wrong, we are soooo thrilled for you to be here.  we are now over our initial shock.  we have been hard at work on an end all be all list of things to do while he is visiting- places to go, things to see, food to eat (i'm most excited about that, as you and my scale surely know).  i have great plans to become fluent in german, and to have ian, who can't even talk yet, to be fluent in german...  i'm excited to meet someone new, and dave is excited to see a friend that he hasn't seen in years. 

i win wife of the year because i think most women would laugh in their husband's faces if they said someone was taking up residence in their home for 3 weeks, so here is my issue- where do we put our friend?  here's our situation...

2 bedrooms, 2.5 baths (our atlanta house had 3 bedrooms, but that is neither here nor there, and going on about it, won't take me back there).  we obviously occupy 1 room, and ian occupies the other.  both bedrooms have the full bath IN the room.  we obviously want our friend to feel at home, and have some privacy, but we have no extra bed- so he would have to sleep on either the couch or a blow up mattress.  and there's the issue with ian.  do we move him back into our room for 3 weeks (sleeping in his pack n play)- disrupting his sleep space, and giving us no privacy (he naps throughout the day, and goes to bed early, so we would have no where to go).  this is a tricky situation, but i think it can be worked out to where everyone benefits... help...

polishing my award until sunday....

elephant parade

i had a hard time deciding what kind of room to do for the baby. i didn't want a cartoon character, i didn't want sports if it was a boy, and i really didn't want a mess of flowers if it was a girl. in the end we (i) decided it would be birds if it was a girl, and elephants for a boy because i had found some bedding i really liked.

why elephants? well, besides being so darn cute, they're known for their intelligence and memory- i just liked the whole theme. maybe we "overdid" it with the room, but this is probably the only time i'll have a major say in the decor in his room. i thought we did a pretty good job with everything.



here is the dresser/changing area. i opted against a changing table because it's just a waste of money if you have a really good dresser. this dresser was mine when i was living on my own in atlanta. dave and i sanded the finish off a bit, then painted it brown. then i went back and painted the knobs to match the wall. i like the way it turned out because the brown isn't perfect. we have the changing pad and diaper station on top and then his humidifier and monitor as well. the lamp is the lighting for the room because there's no light fixture (boo). we have the diaper genie on one side and dirty clothes hamper on the other.




here are some shelves we put up. we got a lot of stuffed animals, etc. we needed a place to put that stuff and something to break up the empty wall. below is our play gym. he is really loving that thing these days.



here is the crib. it's where you really see the theme of the room. perhaps we overdid it? i think not for a baby room. we have the rug since the entire house is wood/tile. the bedding is elephants and circles. i really like the cute wall art and his name above the bed. i'm sure the letters are crooked, but we are the least artsy people around. beside the bed is an adorable hippo chair we received as a gift from pbkids! then there's the rocking and reading corner...



i love this! we got the chair off of craig's list for practically nothing. i hate that it's not the same color wood, but after the adventure of painting the dresser and room, dave wouldn't let me anywhere near that chair with paint. it's right by the windows so the light is wonderful during the day. we have blankets for covering up if it gets chilly over there, and our little table with a cute little elephant lamp.

i think we did a pretty darn good job. now i wanted to do some other kind of elephant something for our 4th wall (the longest, which has nothing on it).

i don't know if i want to do another elephant or something else. Chronicles of a Babywise Mom is doing a great giveaway from Lola Decor. there are so many cute vinyls on here, and they would be perfect for our sad empty wall (also perfect, a bookshelf with tons of kids books, but one step at a time)...

i can't decide what i would even pick if i won. if i had had a little girl and gone with the aforementioned bird theme, there would be lots of choose from, as i couldn't even pick which bird vinyl i liked best. but i have a few things i like for our little guy. (images below from Lola Decor)


i really love that verse. i also like the quote, "let him sleep, for when he wakes he will move mountains."

choices, choices.

anyway, i'm really proud of how the room came together! i think husband and i did a wonderful job on our little man's room!

insanity!

that would be a good word to describe the last week or so. we had a whirlwind 2 weeks of viewing rental properties (we decided it was time to make the move before too much goes down with our poor little Atlanta house). at the end of our 2nd week, we found a place we really liked that had lots of room and was in our price range. we decided on monday (last monday) that this was the house we were going with, and we were ready to move forward, we waited all week and then Friday got word that we could move in on Saturday. we spent Friday evening scurrying around (well, Dave did, i worked) trying to get boxes out of our storage unit (the unit had to be vacated by Saturday @ 5 to keep from paying the next month) and then get a rental truck set up. I worked Saturday morning, while Dave and his wonderful friends (thanks Chuck, Mike, Chris, Willie (our brother in law), & David & Debbie (Dave's parents)) loaded the storage unit contents into the truck, then took them to the house, and then took the furniture that wouldn't fit into our house (spare bedroom furniture, since we'll have a much smaller bed in there now) to my in-laws office to store in their basement space.

I went by the house Saturday and mainly just looked at how things were unpacked- it was so overwhelming, it IS so overwhelming. I think unpacking might be worse than packing- i just want it done NOW! Sunday we went back by the house- Dave put our bed together and I started unpacking a few things- mostly the kitchen. This is where we discovered that my dinner plates won't fit into our dishwasher- baffling. I also discovered that i will need a step stool to reach all our cabinets- very frustrating- but, it's probably not worth worrying about. Today, Dave took a personal day- we went to the Dr. then I went to physical therapy. After PT, we decided to go to Ikea and look at the sleeper sofa we had liked on their website. I keep hating Ikea more with each passing day- this sleeper sofa was tiny. Dave & I could just barely sit on there together. I guess if I had read the description a little more carefully, I would've discovered the sofa was less than 5' wide. We did find a couple rugs at Ikea, so I guess it's not all bad. We decided to look at an actual furniture store for either a sleeper sofa, or a sofa/love seat combination. I'm sorry to say, if you stay at our house, you're probably going to be sleeping on an air mattress. We got the living room cleared out a pretty good bit, dvds and books are unpacked and put on our bookshelves. Tonight I bought groceries while Dave attends traffic school (after 5+ months living with my in-laws, I can say that I have forgotten how to shop for groceries) and it looks like we might actually be sleeping in our new home tonight! I'm a little nervous because I'm moving out of where I've called "home" for the last 5 months, but I'm ready for it to be just Dave & I again, so we can enjoy these last 2 months before baby arrives!

Pictures to come!