what i may have forgotten to mention

I received a text from my cousin Katie asking about my babysitting job and realized just how little I've shared with my blog friends lately. I thought I would give a little update on our life.

In the biggest news, we moved. I've already mentioned this a few times, but I guess I didn't describe the house. The layout is actually called a quad-level. The top floor has the master bedroom and two other bedrooms and a bathroom. In the bedrooms and bathroom upstairs alone there is more storage than we had in the entire house on 27th. Then main level of the home has a small front living room, a kitchen, an eating area and a mudroom. Right now the living room has one chair in it. Hopefully soon we will be able to put a couch in there and the kids and I have talked about making that our "reading room" where we keep our library. The lower level of the home has a family room, a bathroom with laundry and Lily's bedroom. It's the perfect room for Lily and has plenty of display space for all of her treasures. Below the lower level with have a finished basement that will be our playroom/art area...plus we have another storage room down there. The other two features that probably sold us this home are the 4+ car garage and the lovely deck in the backyard. The neighborhood is quiet and the people are friendly. We're excited to get settled in this new house.

In other news, at the end of the summer my good friend Shanna is due to have a baby. After a lot of thought and consideration a few months ago, I offered to provide daycare for the baby. If you recall, Shanna was Lily's preschool teacher and now is Drew's. She is planning to work this next school year after her maternity leave. So next year during school we will have a sweet baby boy with us. I'm really looking forward to the task as I love babies and love the idea that the baby will be going home everyday at four o'clock. Miss Shanna has become one of my dearest friend and I love that I get to help her out is this way. I am thinking that Julianna will be excited to lend a hand whenever I need help with the baby. I hope that's the case and she doesn't spend too much time being jealous! :)

When Tom and I were first married, and several times since, Tom has worked out of town for long periods of time. It has been at least since Julianna was born since he has had to leave us for any length of time. It used to be that we never knew when Tom might get the call to go out on the road again. We have been spoiled these last two years as he goes to work everyday at 7 and is usually home by 6 and he hasn't had to work a Saturday in months and months. However, that is about to change. Tom has gotten another call to head out on the road for the next 4 to 6 weeks. He was supposed to leave tomorrow, but thankfully it was changed to next week. He will be gone, to the middle of nowhere, five to six days a week for the next several weeks....at least. I am hoping that we are feeling settled enough in our new house and that the kids and I can stay busy enough for this to not be too hard. I have spent a lot of time not letting myself remember how hard it once was when he would leave. I am keeping an optimistic view that because the kids are older and easier...that the time he is gone will be easier too. I am also staying optimistic that this job will not last the entire summer. *fingers crossed*

So that's the Stivers update. We are looking forward to a busy, healthy and fun summer. I love summertime, the lake, road trips, sunshine and even the 100 degree temperatures. It's too bad it's road construction season too.

when it's time to change you've got to rearrange

We've moved. And I'm never moving again.

I had no idea that I had such an aversion to change until something actually changed. I had an unexplained stress response in the days leading up to the move and then I think I made myself nearly sick with anxiety over the whole thing.

So far things are slowly falling into place. We're just a few more hours of work from finally having the other house ready to put on the market. The new house is large and has lots of storage so it's been easy to just put stuff without a home somewhere out of sight until I can get to it one at a time.

The kids have transitioned beautifully to the new house. They love the space outside with the giant garage and driveway to play on. Drew spends hours (no, seriously) riding his bike around and around and around. Lily has a classmate from school that lives just across the street. I wasn't sure how that was going to go, but the one afternoon that we spent outside at home this week the girls ran back and forth between the houses and had a lovely time.

I think Drew and Julianna have a little anxiety about the space of the house. At first they had to be in the same room with me at all times. Now, they are okay to just be on the same level as me, or even just close by to be able to play without me. I love nap times in this house because I do not have to spent the whole time staying as quiet as possible and I don't have to harp on Lily to stay quiet. I have even done laundry while the kids sleep.

I would say, based on the amount of cleaning I've had to do at the old house...I am not a very good housekeeper. I'm thinking with my wages from babysitting next year I might splurge on my very own hired housekeeper. I'm hoping that with the help of a professional my house will not get to be so dirty. I'm guessing if I couldn't manage 1000 square feet, 2000 is going to be out of the question.

I do not miss our old house. I don't even feel a little bit emotional about leaving it. Maybe it's because we have spent so much time over there cleaning...or maybe it's because we outgrew it so long ago. Either way I'm relieved that we've moved. However, I do not feel like the new house is home yet...I am waiting and ready to feel settled. The change has not been easy...but definitely worth it.

thoughts on moving

I've been away from the blog for so long I have no idea where to start. The last two months have been the fewest blog posts that I've done in that time period anytime since I started to blog. I don't know how to explain the lack of blogging besides to say that the stress and anxiety of moving coupled with the Internet access on my phone...make it really hard to sit down and write about my days.

Generally my days involve cleaning, packing, working out and trying to maintain a healthy happy relationship with my husband and children. This proves to be about as much as I can handle. As excited as I am to move, I am equally anxious about the whole thing. There is no reason for this anxiety. I completely understand that moving is stressful and that things are going to be up in the air for awhile, but it doesn't make it any easier. 

When I think about this move I think about what it means for my kids. Even though Lily has lived here since she was 14 months old and Drew and Julianna both came home from the hospital to this house...they will have very few childhood memories from this house. I suppose Lily will remember things. And Drew will remember some key points...such as having a lure stuck in his head. But mostly, he won't remember. Our next house will  be the house that they will think of when remembering the house they grew up in (as long as Tom's job doesn't move us somewhere someday). The little blue house, just off Main street will be a very vague and distant memory.

For me, this house is where I finally became a grown up. It's the house that started out seeming so big and quickly became so small. Tom and I...mostly Tom....have really put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into this house. We really worked hard to make this little house a home. I think we succeeded. Our home now holds five years of memories...some happy, a few sad. It has been the place that we have learned, loved and become a family. In a house this small it is hard not to feel close to your family on all levels. And as I look forward to having a little more space and storage to spread out, I hope that our little family remains as close as we did when we lived in the little blue house with 1066 square feet.