Settling in

Where to begin…

The past few weeks have been really stressful. We expected some stress of course, mostly having to do with moving and ending our jobs, but it ended up being a lot more than just that. My grandmother, who lives in the state we moved to and whom I thought we could see more often, took a very sudden change for the worse. It was so awful that I flew down to see her while she lay dying, and that was indeed the last time I saw her alive. The following week, she passed away and I spent most of the day that the movers came to get our stuff driving and attending her funeral (which was much closer to where we used to live). When I arrived home, the movers had just arrived and took the rest of the day (5 hours) to get our stuff in the truck. Then we stayed over at the house next door since those neighbors don’t live there full time, closed on the sale of our house the following afternoon, got our cars packed up, and drove 900 miles to stay with my parents for the following two nights, until we were able to move into our current rental (about 25 minutes north of where we will end up living next month).

While that was happening…the death of my grandmother, the ending of both our jobs, the packing of our stuff, the imminent move from one place to another and another, we were negotiating first on one house which we lost, and then another which we did end up getting a signed contract on but not without its own share of headaches. But thank goodness it is set at this point and we will have a house next month.

Curly has been a pretty good trouper for the most part, but there have definitely been some harrowing times with him. Behavior regressions, a push for more control, and downright bratty “4-going-on-14” stuff happening….but it is understandable (although that doesn’t make it any easier). Today was the first day of starting a new routine…me going to my first day of work, and Curly going to his first day of school. His drop-off went seamlessly today as Nutella described it- the kids were sitting in a circle while a teacher read a book and he joined right in, no tears when she left. They had a special gymnastics bus visit today and a puppet show…all really exciting things for him, and he was in great spirits upon pick-up, while still running and hugging her. Couldn’t ask for better. My day…well, it was boring and discombobulated, but I think now that I’m all set up, it should be upwards from here.

Nutella is currently applying for part-time jobs, and doing all of the necessary household management and errand-type stuff…like dropping off mortgage paperwork, meeting with inspectors, doing the grocery shopping and lunch-making, etc. We did squeeze in a couple fun things, like a visit to the gorgeous beach one evening and a trip to Univer.sal…but we’re still finding our way and starting to appreciate more relaxing times ahead. Onwards and upwards.