It's been just over a month since we moved, and while all the boxes are unpacked, the "new home" feel lingers as we tweak furniture placement and realize just how childproofed our condo really was, simply due to its small size. I'm still figuring out which grocery stores are closest, where the nearest parks and ATMs are and which freeway exits and entrances work best for going different places. While I long for all of this to feel comfortable and familiar and like home, it's also exciting. The newness. I think, if I were not simultaneously a) parenting a toddler, and b) nearing the third trimester, I would be reveling in this newness--it feels kind of like playing house when I was a kid, just after my Dad finished building our treehouse, or when my cousin and I finally finished the playhouse I grandly determined to build in the pasture behind the garden. It is fun and exciting. However, taking naps, and having at least one room that actually feels finished, and a meal plan that is realistic and doable with a curious toddler--these are also on my list of "fun and exciting things." You can see my dilemma, I hope.
I am trying to savor these days, hard as that sometimes is, because I know that in addition to hard they are also fleeting and sweet and oh-so-brief. Right now is when I can rock Lainie to sleep and read her endless books and work life around her nap schedule...because she's my only baby. She only gets to be "the baby" for a few more months, and then she's the big sister. These are precious, precious days of just her and me. Right now I hold Jellybean safe and secure in my belly all day, feeling his thumps and stretching exercises and getting much longer stretches of sleep at night than I will after he's born. Right now may involve cooking dinner with an adventurous almost-16-month-old, but at least I don't have to juggle a newborn too. Right now is freedom to nap whenever Lainie does. Right now is dreaming and planning about paint colors and kitchen remodeling with Mike. Right now may be harder than a couple months ago, but it's also super sweet mixed in with all the change and newness and exhaustion.
One of our favorite features in our new home is the enormous fireplace. It has the biggest firebox I've ever seen, and opens on both sides. {I'm also in love with the painted white brick, but Mike thinks it is a horrifying travesty and wants to un-paint it. I am therefore grateful that altering the fireplace surround, as a purely cosmetic undertaking, is pretty far down our to-do list! I'm curious, though: What do you y'all think about painted brick? Is it a yea or nay here?} I keep finding myself surprised that there is no hearth; we had a large hearth on our tiny fireplace at the condo, and I'm used to decorating it. Here, there are just two small nooks fairly high up on each side...nothing under the fireplace. Last Friday my parents were in town for a brief visit, and I took advantage of a few spare minutes to thread some leaves Lainie and I picked up at a park and make a couple garlands. They are already curling up quite a bit as they dry, but I really like the simple, striking touch of autumn they bring indoors.
Here's the "living room" side...No, I am not at all sure that a zebra print rug is right for this spot, or that it will stay, but it works for now!...
...and here is the "other" side. Sort of dining room, sort of not--currently nearly empty.
That's all for now, though maybe someday soon I'll download the last month's worth of photos off my camera and give you a peek into Lainie's world. Because that's pretty much all I take pictures of! ;-P
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