Settled

We made it! It was a crazy weekend but we are in the new place and I am IN LOVE. It's not much bigger than our apartment in square footage, and the place definitely has it's flaws, but it feels like home. Just the fact that their are three different floors - bedroom upstairs, living room/kitchen/half-bath main floor, and a finished basement/laundry and storage downstairs makes it feel just a teensy bit closer to having a house! John and I have had a lot of people question us as to why we aren't looking for a house (apparently it's the best time to buy a house right now?) It's hard not to get caught up in the - "we are married, we have a baby, it's time to get a house!" stereotype. But here's the thing, we could put ourselves into lots and lots of debt, buy a house, and pay a mortgage that's pretty equivalent to the amount of rent we pay. But we are still young, we are new to the area, new to John's job, who knows where we will be in 1, 2, or 3 years. We are NOT ready to commit to a house.. even though I dream of the day that we are! 

ANYWAYS (Excuse my house tangent) I am so happy with this new place. I am so happy that once it gets warm we can walk to our cute little downtown, or to church just up the street. I love the hardwood floors in the living room and the way our furniture looks inside of it. I love that I have my own bathroom to get ready in downstairs, and most of all, I am IN LOVE with my new kitchen! It's not perfect by any means. It doesn't have granite countertops or a gas stove. There's some quirks with the alignment of the cupboards to the countertops and there is a TON of space between the two sides. BUT it feels like MY kitchen. All of my stuff fits in it! I am already being obsessive about keeping it neat and tidy, and cannot wait to finish decorating. 

Jack's room all packed up :( 

Now it took us quite a bit of time to get to this point of happiness. John and I spent 6 hours finishing up all the packing on Friday night. We went to bed exhausted - not really noting the fact that it was the last night in our first home together. I got extremely nostalgic packing up Jack's room and couldn't believe all the emotion I had tied up in that stupid little garden-level cave-like apartment. Jack has been sleeping through the night consistently since Friday night and it is amazing. He seems to really be getting on a schedule, and he didn't let the madness of moving screw him up. After packing up his crib on Saturday morning he hung out in his little Nap Nanny watching Mom and Dad and snoozing here and there. I left for the condo before the boys came and packed everything into the GIANT moving van my dad rented from U-HAUL.. he really wanted to get it in one trip. I am sort of thankful I didn't have to see the place completely empty. I think it would have made me really sad.

I was so thankful for all of the help we had on Saturday. My mom stayed at the condo with Jack and I. We pretty much unpacked all of the boxes John and I had brought during the week and waited around for my dad, John, my brother, and John's best friend to come back with EVERYTHING. My sister Megan showed up to help too. Our moving day became a family affair, which makes even the most horrible tasks seem more bearable! Once all of our stuff arrived, it became madness. My brother and John's best friend were anxious to get back to school, because college students have much more fun activities to attend to. This resulted in boxes simply being piled up into a cramped space instead of being sent to their designated areas. They left us a DISASTER zone. 

My poor kitchen after the boys unloaded the moving van..

Once we had the furniture set up and clear pathways to work with, we abandoned getting any more work done for the day and went out to eat. My parents are leaving for Hawaii later this week so they needed to go shopping at a nearby mall and decided to just get a hotel and stay the night, Megan didn't want to leave the party so she stayed with them as well. It made for an awesome night, where no one felt rushed to leave the restaurant. Jack ate and fell asleep pretty much instantly after we arrived so we enjoyed delicious cold Smithwick's  (Did I mention I'm 100% Irish) and the world's best fish & chips, wonderful live music, and time well-spent with family. The more we get together with our family partially together, the more apparent it becomes how much we miss our family members so far away in D.C. - When are you guys just going to give up your big city lives and move to Michigan?!

Jack bellied up to the bar as we waited for a table on Sat. night

On Sunday there was no rest for the weary. My parents picked up Mr. Jack to take him along shopping and John and I set to work. We got the kitchen, living room, bathrooms, and master bedroom completely  unpacked (only leaving Bubba's room and the basement to finish). It felt amazing to see our new home come together.. Even though we were being sent distractingly adorable pictures of Jack.

Cute little fuzzy head on a shopping spree!

My kitchen made a beautiful transformation from the cramped, box explosion that it was on Saturday. Even though it is still a work in progress decoration wise, I could not be happier! 

1) I cannot wait to add shelves on that empty wall space to display our wine glasses/bar wear

2) John's dad refinished this table for us. I can't say I am in love with it. I do love that we have space for a kitchen table though! In my dream world I would paint this table white and display it's really cute antique-y features. Instead I am in search of a table cloth (as well as matching chairs) to pretty it up. We also have a BEAUTIFUL blue bowl (on the table) that I cannot wait to hang on the wall.

3) We displayed some of our beautiful wedding gifts above the cabinets :)

4) The other side of the kitchen.. There is room for everything!

Another new development since my last post is Jack's new found love for his highchair! He loves to be able to sit up and see everything that is going on. He happily eats his solid food, plays with toys, and even falls asleep in it! His grandma also brought his Christmas present (that we couldn't fit in our old place) to the new condo and he LOVES what I call his "flying saucer". New home + New toys = Happy, stimulated, and sleeping-through-the-night Bubba. 

Looking out the window with Aunt Megan at his new house!

He loves his high chair!

Playing in his new "Flying Saucer" and eating his mitten

Snuggling with Daddy for his nuh-night bottle before bed :)

The rest of this week is dedicated to finishing unpacking and getting organized. Today I have to go to the dreaded grocery store.. My favorite task to procrastinate doing. But it's a must! 

I am finally feeling at peace. We moved. I submitted ALL THREE of my grad school applications. I have Jack on a schedule. It finally feels like real life is going to start without a constant flow of things to be "waiting" for or "looking forward" to. I am relieved to feel like we are getting to that point of "settled".

Moving Sucks.

Cutest little sleeper-through-the-nighter EVER

We are moving on Saturday and I am living in the land of boxes. I am trying my best to get as much done during the day as I can, but Jack is so bored of all of his toys and not liking the cramped, non-rollable living space situation we have going on. He screams and screeches and just wants me to play with him! I can only fail to comply for so long before I am picking him up and covering him with kisses. He has been looking so out of this world cute lately.. I mean even cuter than normal! Maybe this is because he magically, RANDOMLY, started sleeping through the night. I awoke at 5:40 am on Wednesday morning and woke John up to ask him if he ever got up with the baby. When he groggily responded, "no" my response was a skeptical, "He slept through the night?". John didn't even respond, he pretty much just bolted out of bed to go check on Bubba - who was of course, soundly, happily asleep. I though it was most likely a fluke, but he did it again last night! Maybe he's figured it out? But I don't have my hopes up. It will just be a happy bonus when it happens. 

Ever since giving birth my core muscles are just gone. I'm hoping working out will help, but my back is constantly in pain if I try to do anything like stand for long periods, or you know, pack up our apartment. It doesn't help that I am constantly lifting a 20 some pound Bubba. I've just been trying to do little bits at a time. Take breaks, play with Jack, tackle some more. Today I had to organize all of the random bills, papers, folders, etc. absolutely PILED onto our desk. I attempted to organize it into piles but John and I MUST make a system so that we aren't left with a mess like this in the new place. 

Boxes, papers, folders, Bubba. Pure MADNESS

Last night we made the trip out to the new place to try and unpack the boxes John had brought the previous night. This resulted in John's parents coming over to check out the condo/take us out to dinner. We don't have much more time to get things done so I was feeling a little irritated over the interruption to our productivity, this led to me trying to rush around to get things done after dinner so we could get Jack home and into bed.. I ended up breaking one of the glass tops to a casserole dish and it SHATTERED all over the tile floor spilling out of the kitchen into the living room. UGH. With not so much as a broom at the new place we weren't really left with many options but to clean up the larger pieces and leave. John has kindly offered to go clean it up tonight with a newly purchased broom and our vacuum cleaner, but needless to say last night didn't end in feelings of marital bliss. 

I submitted another grad school app today. I think I said a five minute prayer before actually clicking the button. I wish I felt more relief but now the waiting game starts and I hate that just as much as the pressure to finish the applications. I just keep telling myself that all will be better in 2 months. I don't know why I have chosen the end of March as the goal period but it just seems like when everything will feel settled. We will be in the new place and it will feel like home. I will know what my plans are for next year. It will be getting warmer. John and I will have recovered from the financial costs of moving. Things will just be.. better. Not to say that things are "bad" right now - I'm just feeling like the craziness of the past year is sinking in and instead of going going going just to stay afloat I am able to reflect. I've gone through a lot. I don't give myself credit for that sometimes. I'm adjusting to a new life, one I didn't expect to have at this point. I'm adjusting all the plans and goals I had for myself. I'm someone's wife. I'm someone's MOTHER. 

Okay. Time to stop using blogging as an excuse not to pack. Here's hoping I can just get through these next couple of days! 

Weekend Recaps & Housewife Lessons

How is it already/only Tuesday? This weekend flew by but this week is CREEPING along. I'll recap with pictures. It was pretty uneventful, but Jack makes everything seems fun (in my opinion)

FRIDAY:

Jack ate cereal (and his feet) then screamed at me for wiping off his face..

SATURDAY:

We went to get John's car looked at in East Lansing. We were there for 2 hours. I drank lots of yucky coffee. Jack & dad watched the basketball game.

 We went out to lunch with Aunt Megan. We rolled around on countertops at the new condo.

Jack went to sleep cuddling blankey. Jack woke up with blankey over his face.

SUNDAY:

We hung out in our jammies all day and cuddled.

The weekend ended too soon (as always) ... and now it's time to get to work. We move in THREE days! I have so much to pack. My mom came down yesterday afternoon and we sort of got started. Mostly she just scolded me on the state of our apartment and gave me lessons on how to clean properly/keep my husband happy/be able to have proof when my husband makes the messes. The woman is a saint.. she took Jack last night (Wahoo night off for BOTH John & I) then deep cleaned my kitchen this morning (while swearing at me the entire time). I don't think our kitchen looked this good when we moved in.. it is sparkling!

Reading stories with Grandma

 We ventured to the new place to let in the cleaners. This was a gong show and a half. John didn't give me the right keys so we ended up having to wait outside while John took off for an early lunch and drove to us. It all ended up fine, but sometimes it seems as though John and I just can't do anything the easy way! 

Bubba being a cute boy waiting for Daddy to bring the keys

We also went to Target to get some moving supplies and out to lunch. Jack was such a trooper the entire time. He napped and smiled. He loves his grandma. We managed to pack up all of our pots and pans, kitchen appliances, and allllllll of Jack's many many clothes that no longer fit. My 5 month old is wearing 9-12 month clothing. Seriously?! I am going to tackle 1-2 areas a day until it is done. Hopefully the whole "divide and conquer" attitude will help me (The Procrastination Queen) along. I loved having my mom here, I did not want her to leave! She is so reassuring and is pretty much the only person in the world who can understand my thinking while pointing me in the right direction at the same time.

Tonight John took a giant load of boxes to the condo, so I decided to make him a delicious meal to be waiting upon his arrival home (I also needed to make something that would get rid of several food items in the fridge!) So I made a homemade pot pie. I found this recipe on my beloved Pinterest. It is easy, yummy, and improvise-able. Tonight I used more chicken, less veggies (it's what I had), Rice milk, and whole wheat flour. It was DELICIOUS. The Hubs was a happy man - who helped himself to seconds and thirds. 

We also discovered that we can no longer take our eyes off of the Bubba for more than 2 seconds. He is a rolling machine and will get himself into and UNDER everything. 

The whole "schedule" thing is going okay. We are definitely getting a more routine dose of solids in every day. I'm really looking forward to being done with moving so we can start settling into "normal" life. Right now I need to stop using blogging as a procrastination tool against finishing one of my grad school essays. Sigh.