In the beginning I didn’t think having our house renovated would take over everything.
I knew having our house turned upside down and inside out for an unknown amount of time, with contractors (the best contractors ever, but still, worker guys) showing up at 7:30 AM Monday through Friday since June, would be life changing. But I knew I could live with it just fine, keeping my mind on the end result.
Last week however, just about did me in.
I am thrilled to have the upstairs space finished and to move the girls up there. I am incredibly thankful we are able to have these fabulously talented and polite worker guys making my old house dreams come true. But getting everything – and everyone – settled over the past week was a A LOT of work!
I had the task of changing out the summer-to-fall wardrobes for three kids (it’s 44 degrees here this morning) and putting them all away in new spaces. We moved out of our kitchen so it would be ready for demo Monday morning and are adapting to cooking out of a toaster oven, as well adjusting to having the girls sleeping SO FAR AWAY FROM ME.
Okay it’s not THAT far. But for nearly eight years we have either had a baby or a toddler sunggled in bed with us. Or I was pregnant and waiting for the next little bundle in line to do the same.
The first two nights the girls were upstairs I slept on the trundle bed in my oldest daughter’s room, to be sure to hear my toddler when she woke up and catch her before she went tumbling down the stairs in a sleepy slumber looking for mom. Since then my husband and I have been taking turns soothing her at night every time she wakes up. We have both spent time sleeping on a crib mattress that we store under her bed as floor protection in the case that she did roll off her bed.
I know, some kind of baby proofing plan we have huh? But it works. We did find a baby monitor from a friend to borrow. Which seems a little funny right? A baby monitor now, when she’ll be 3 (gasp) in 20 days!!!
So this is where we’ve been the last week. Moving, adjusting, reorganizing, tolerating the noise, and being very very tired.
On one hand it is really awesome to get the girls moved upstairs. On the other hand it seems like we are saying goodbye to baby days, moving on to big kid days. And that makes my husband and I both a little sad.
During our shuffling of stuff, I found an awesome local charity that runs a thrift store to fund a food bank for needy families. It’s called Ladies of Charity and my friend’s mom is a regular volunteer there.
I asked if they could send a truck to my house. And they did – the next day. The biggest thing to go was my beloved “blue nursing chair.” The chair I never thought I would get rid of.
The nursery glider chair that I was so thrilled to find in just the perfect shade of blue. It was a semi-girly blue but a safe enough blue to use in the case of a boy, down the road. I still remember the day like yesterday, driving with my husband to pick it up in our tan Jeep Cherokee at New Baby Supplies in Midtown Atlanta. With my big belly, counting down the days to meet our baby girl and officially become parents. In 14 days that baby girl will be 8!!!
The chair sat here in the nursery. Where I thought I would be up at night rocking and nursing, and then putting baby girl back into her crib to sleep the night away. Ha! 
I never really needed that nursing chair. I learned to nurse anywhere and everywhere and that nursery became a fancy storage room. And I never had a boy!
I know it will find a good new home. And the money someone pays for it will go to feeding poor people in need.
Now, if I could just find something to do with this fancy round crib from the nursery…the one I had to have. It was a special order deal that never met the safety requirements of railing hight, which I discovered when my babies looked like they would fall out of it at 18 months old. I think there is some potential for building a reading fort out of it – but who knows???
That fancy Bugaboo stroller, however, was HANDS DOWN the best baby purchase and is still going strong (not the basinet obviously, but the stroller) three kids later. The changing table my dad made beside it still rocks too! It HAS SEEN some diaper changing days. It now serves on as a night stand between my two youngest daughters matching twin beds, that he made as well.
So basically lately we are feeling like we are moving on, with life, with our house, but also still very disheveled about it all.
I mean….this was our kitchen late last Sunday night, taken in the dark after it was all packed up and ready for demo morning. 
This was the cabinets the next day being hauled off by a friend who is going to repurpose them in his laundry room and workshop. Really cool truck, huh?
This was the kitchen on Wednesday afternoon, as the wall was getting knocked out, dividing it from the new mudroom. 
And this is what the girls are calling the “fake kitchen” that was set up in their old bedroom, minus the new Kitchen Aid toaster oven big enough to cook a pizza. This is another late night dark photo. Which I hate! But my toddler dropped my camera and my wide lens is no longer (big bummer). So a few of these are crumby iPhone shots taken with no sunlight.
This morning the renovation excitement continues. And so does the settling, among all the unsettling. And the birthday planning – oh my! There will be two birthday parties held here next month.
Soon, very soon, I hope to show you some finished rooms with some freshly sewn curtains. I have been very busy working on getting to that place. And painting and sanding furniture along the way.
This is what we did last week when the girls had a day off of school. 
And pretty much, that’s where we’ve been. And this little blog here has sat quiet. Waiting for me to return. Slowly, one post at a time, I’ll keep you updated with our creative happenings and life cooking in a toaster oven.
