Fall is Finally Here

Hello everyone!

As you can imagine, we have been working hard to settle into our new home. It is very exciting, but also exhausting. We've swept countless dog hairs off the floor. We've found dog hair in the refrigerator. We would love to have a dog someday (a cat for me), but with all this hair we're not sure anymore. Many boxes have been moved from the garage and organized somehow in the house. We still have quite a few left to peruse. They are mostly book boxes that will be going downstairs when the downstairs is actually clean. We have painted four rooms: ours is a darker green, our son's is the dark green from our room and a complementary lighter green, the spare bedroom is the light green from our son's room and a pale lilac, the living room is a pale buttery yellow. We've cut down trees. We've cut down bushes. We've pulled out ground cover that is very persistent. It creeps up every now and then with little green leaves. We've stained the deck in the back. Finally, we have come to a point where we can live comfortably and work on projects as we have the energy and the time.

There is so much more space here than in our apartment. It felt like home the first night we slept there. Our son can run around. He has his own room for the first time. It is a designated place for his toys, books, clothes, etc. This has been a great help for us who would like to keep things organized every once and awhile. Our room, thus, is not as cluttered. Although, there is still that pile of half dirty/half clean clothes that I do have to sort some time. There is a spare bedroom that contains a bed and also my craft ideas. I didn't realize that I've had so many ideas that have not come into fruition. Well, there is never a dull moment. I always feel like there is something to do, which is nice and not nice at the same time. Gone are the days when I could just relax. We are home buyers now. There are leaves to be raked, grass to be mowed, and house repairs that I know are looming in the midst. We need to insulate the house for winter. We need to re-caulk the bath tub. All in all, we take pride in maintaining our little place in the middle of the town in which we live.

Ilia has had a tough time through all these transitions. It was hard for him to not share as much time with the both of us. He wanted to help so many times when we were painting, cleaning, raking, etc. So, one parent has had to work, while the other takes care of him. I hope that we don't put out his desire to help. I hope that he just gets better at it. :) If he was not allowed to help, then he wanted to be held. It's hard trying to do things one handed. If he was unsure, then he wanted to nurse. It was obvious that he wasn't receiving enough attention, so we have put the downstairs on the back burner. He is much more well adjusted now. He has really developed quickly over the last month. He can say more words. He is more expressive. He found a new activity that he really loves: jumping. He likes to sing, dance, and imitate expressions to music. It is unfortunate that we cannot go outside more often. We have a very very bad case of mosquitos on our property. We were out for about 10 minutes the other day and 7 of them decided he would taste good. Poor guy! He can't even play in his own backyard. We need to do something, but we're not sure what.

The neighbors have been very welcoming. We've enjoyed walking around the neighborhood like we used to before we moved into my mom's house a couple of months ago. We've had more people over in the past two weeks than in the past 3 years of living together. We feel comfortable with the space and the clutter. Our house is open, peaceful, and inviting. We look forward to happy memories to be made in the future. We have so many plans and dreams that finally can be grasped like landscaping, gardening, and berry bush planting. I see a lot of pies, jam, juice, and suace in our future. I also hear faintly, very faintly the pitter patter of more than one pair of little feet. Oh...we love life. We love the changing of the seasons. I look forward to more nature walks and carving pumpkins with our little one. This is a time of change for us and we're growing beautifully.