The Boy Scout Motto: Be Prepared

See that picture? It is from August 26, 2006. Almost exactly 5 years ago.
Today she is barely recognizable as my round little baby.

It's not just that she has adorable freckles sprinkled across her nose, or that she has more words than even she can count; LP is so much more of a wonderful, independent person than I could have ever imagined having a hand in creating.

She is sensitive and nurturing. A born caregiver she watches out for her friends, helping to settle disputes and negotiate happy outcomes. She loves and takes care of her little sister. She has an amazing ability to read people and know what they need - almost basking in making other people smile.

LP is so excited to go to kindergarten. When I ask her about riding the bus and making new friends, she has no fear. Just optimism and excitement at the prospect.

I am confident in her ability to interact and build relationships. Scared at the prospect of her building a life I have no control over. Sure I pack her lunch, help her pick out her clothes...but I don't walk her to the classroom door. Or talk to her teacher every day. Or gossip with her friends' parents to figure out exactly what happened in the classroom that day.

I feel like I am entering a whole new phase of motherhood. I feel as unprepared for this as LP says she is prepared.

Chugging

Life continues at its hectic pace in my world.

This is the girls' last week at their current day care. For the first time in five years I HAVE NO DAY CARE PAYMENT. Of course this won't last, and it is only thanks to my long-ago made and forgotten about deposits but I will enjoy the extra cash for the moment.

Okay, moment over because, of course, we have a new home. That we need to be buy things for.

Like:

• Our fabulous new sectional that arrived yesterday! Super, super excited. Our living room, which up until yesterday had a lone rug and no furniture, is now a usable space. With an uber-comfy new couch!
• Curtains for the girls' rooms! It only took me 5 trips to JC Penney (seriously, the only place you ever need to go for window treatments) but between trip 1 and trip 5 I actually ended up saving $80, thanks to random sale pricing.
  
• Wall decals! Because of the tight timeframe between closing on the new house and actually moving in, we did not have time to paint. At this point, we may never have time to paint, but I put wall decals up in both LP's and AK's rooms and they look fantastic. Between the curtains and the decorations? Their rooms look more "theirs" than they ever did in our old house. After 5 years.
• A wall! Well, we didn't really need a wall. We did need to get rid of the random little "closet" in the middle of the wall in our family room. While storage is cool and all, having a solid wall is way cooler. And now we get to pick out paint and make the family room ours too! We never actually painted any rooms in our old house, so this is also pretty cool.
• A new TV! We never realized how big and clunky our old tube TVs were until we put them into the new house (well, we put one into the new house, the other one didn't make it in because the movers destroyed it). The Hoos got a great deal at PC Richard and he has already decided that the old TV, which we moved to our bedroom, needs to be replaced ASAP.
• Artwork! Now that we have covered one hole in the wall, we need to cover another wall hole. This one actually provides access to our electric panel. Of course, the sizing is odd and so we are struggling to find the right tapestry or piece of art, but while searching we found an artist that we both really dug, and so we bought a framed print for a place TBD.
  

Of course, we do not need to spend money to make our new house a home. This weekend the Hoos took the girls out into our backyard to do some fishing. According to their report, LP caught a "big fish" and AK caught "a little teeny baby fish." They also might say they caught a beluga, but the creek isn't that big - and it is fresh water - so they really mean "a blue gill."

So, to sum it up: Feeling good. Busy, crazy, but good.

Throw in the Towel?

As Wenderina recently (as in about 10 minutes ago) pointed out - my blogging has totally slowed down. It reinforces:

1. I was totally underutilized at my old job, when I started this blog and apparently had the time to post at least once a day; and
   
2. Perhaps I am just not all that interesting.

I really truly am busy. But with monotonous stuff - like trying to find a tapestry to cover the electric box so oddly placed in the living room of my new home and trying to find a replacement screw on mop ahead (apparently only available at hardware stores). Oh, and work.

It doesn't help that because I am dropping the girls off at day care on my way into work I don't even arrive until close to 9. And I still leave at 5 to pick them up, because, well, that is what I do.

Fortunately, I have less than 2 weeks of this crazy morning schedule and then the Hoos is back to being in charge of drop off.

Unfortunately, then I have a week and a half of LP getting out of KINDERGARTEN at 1:10 for early dismissal. And then we start out new routine of her going to aftercare three days a week and taking the bus home - at 3:30 - two days a week. Meaning I start a NEW crazy work schedule where I run out of the office around 3:15 on Tuesdays and Thursdays to beat the bus home, meet her and work from home for a bit before having to go and pick up AK.

The good news is - I will no longer have two kids in full-time day care. Yay! Saving money. Or rather, reallocating it to my new mortgage!

See? A totally boring blog post. Do you think I should just give up? I swear I am better at keeping up on Facebook. One sentence I can be witty - a whole post...not so much.

Newbie

We are officially moved into our new home! Yay!

We are loving the house, the neighborhood and even the commute has not been so bad.

So far we have seen deer, bunnies, fish, snails and a coyote all in very close proximity to our house. While we aren't living in the country, we are certainly in a place more woodsy than our previous home.

The girls especially love that we can walk to a life-guarded lake with a small, but lovely, beach. We went both days last weekend and they are both awesome about jumping in with two feet - literally and figuratively.

For instance, the day we moved in, Saturday, happened to be 'Family Fun Day' at the lake for our neighborhood association. That meant that lots of families were hanging out. LP and AK quickly made friends and frolicked as if they had known them their whole lives. On Sunday, when we again visited the beach to take a break from unpacking, LP walked up to some boys about her age and asked if she could play with them, "Sure!" one of them responded, "You are hired to be our snail catcher."

The Hoos and I, on the other hand, are not quite as good about putting ourselves out there. We did meet a few people - and they all seem very nice. It was a little...ummm...uncomfortable?... when one dad at the beach asked what we did and looked shocked when I told him. Not by what I do but by the fact that I work at all.

Then, yesterday, the Hoos' Aunt, who lives nearby, asked if she could stop over around 11am today to drop off a housewarming gift. According to the Hoos she was a bit miffed when he told her that I work and don't get home until later in the day.

The Hoos is concerned we moved to Stepford (never mind that he grew up in this town!), but we both remain hopeful that once school starts we will meet other families with moms that work in offices. It isn't a big deal, but it would be nice to know that I am not the only mom that has to miss mid-day play dates and PTA meetings.