Today the Masons went visiting, so Jack and I had a kind of normal day together. We did our breakfast routine. I swept and vacuumed for the first time. We got new library books. We got yogurt at the grocery store. We have lunch at home. We walked Jem down the street. We got mail for the first time. When Ben got home we tried out the new lawn equipment.
We have no idea what we are doing 😉
But isn’t this nice?
Here is our dark, narrow, small, dingy carpet shell of an old house. 
Quail street, you were good to us. But I think we outgrew you two years ago.
We filled the truck, plus a minivan, and at least 4 Pontiac Vibes.
Now onto some of my favorite things in the “New Big Orange House,” as Jack insists on calling it. (Excuse the mess. The decorating and arrangements are all improvised and temporary.
Laundry on the main floor! With nearby chairs to sit and sort fresh from the dryer.
A wood burning fireplace that isn’t tacky or dated or overtaking the room! Doesn’t it scream for Christmas stockings?
A shaded back patio with ample (but not too ample) back yard!
Jack’s larger room, with adorable and totally rad new bed! Which he sleeps deeper and longer in!
A master bedroom with room to walk around!
Attached master bathroom for private trips during the middle of the night when the boy in residence in my tummy decides to play the tom-tom on my bladder!
Walk in closer with triple the rod space, shelves to the ceiling!
A happy happy cat!
We are here in our new house! Thanks to helpful family and hired movers, we got our new house moved in on Sunday. Monday was a birthday party for Jack – now THREE! and a flurry a unpacking. Today is more settled in, the slower unboxing part of moving in. Ben is back at work. His folks are staying for the week to help with Jack while I continue unpacking. The cat and dog both seem to love the new house. When Ben and I catch our breaths between moments of exhaustion, we are over the moon about the new house.
Pictures to come of the party and house later. Too tired to dig out transfer cords.
Amanda pointed out that I haven’t posted in a while, so let me give you a quick run down of our May so far.
1. The house purchase is going extremely well. The offer, inspection, objections, appraisal, loan, and closing preparations are all going so remarkably well, the realtors are even amazed. At least half of our house is already in boxes. Jack spent the morning playing Transformers with Brian while Ben and did a packing spree. In addition, we’ve been doing a couple boxes a day for the last few weeks. I have met with carpet and paint people to prepare our townhouse for market. I feel like I have all my ducks in order.
2. I declare Jack potty-trained! He took to it really well. After a week I started leaving his diaper off during naps too, and he wakes up dry every time. We carry about our days normally and he’s able to use all public restrooms or hold it until we get home pretty much all the time. I’d say he had two minor accidents in the last two weeks – and I blame myself partly for putting him in a tough situation. He still wears a diaper at night. I’m told that part will come much later. It wasn’t exactly easy to train him. It took a lot of work. Diapers sure were easy. But hopefully we can enjoy a few months diaper-free before starting over again with the newborn.
3. We have a short list of names for the new little boy, with two that we really like. Not certain on the middle name yet, but we have a list for that too. We’re going to keep all our ideas under wraps again. We don’t get too much negative feedback on names we actually love, and so we might change our minds last minute if needed. But I will say that Elmer Lightning Mason is no longer on our lists 😉
4. Been doing lots of dishes, lots of laundry, lots of grocery shopping.
5. I took Jack to the zoo a couples times. We also go to the playground most days. And . . . here are some pictures to jog my memory.
Zoo trip on a Friday. Silly me, I didn’t realize it would be crawling with school groups and other moms, happy to finally have a nice weather day to take out our kids. I brought his stroller because he hurt his foot that week, and carrying him isn’t an option for me anymore when he gets tired. It had been at least a year since he rode in it. Maybe more. He didn’t recognize it. He was SUPER into the stroller. Then he went all old school with his hat, duck, and puppy. 
Making Mother’s Day cookies for Grandma Susan. (I had a fantastically relaxed Mother’s Day. Ben treats me very well. I’m only sad that I remembered several days too late to take a portrait of me and Jack. This one will have to stand in for this year.)
Ben taught him to use the big swings. 
He makes friends easily every time we go to the playground.
Cold weather day spent at CC mall. 
Completed hat and sweater (minus buttons) for the baby. I’m halfway through sweater #2. Yay for autumn babies! 
Snuck into Pre-opening night at Cafe Rio in our neighborhood and got a free dinner. It was so busy we ate it outside. 
Jack was cold, so we improvised. Ben declared this photo “Glorious.” 
Play time with Wolfie. These movie trades are great. They were seeing Iron Man 3. The Saturday before we got to see The Great Gatsby (at the Alamo, of course!). 
That brings us to this Saturday. The day was spent packing, more Cafe Rio for lunch, and nap time for all three of us. Then we went to H Burger with Brian and Amanda, and dessert at Sweet Action ice cream. It was 30 minutes past Jack’s bedtime and, again, too crowded inside. We ate on a sidewalk table. After asking “How about inside?” I went to the car to get his blankets again. This was met with “You have undies for my hat?” Not wanting to make another trip to the car, we got over our giggles and made a head wrap.
Amanda gave me a fiber class for my birthday many many weeks ago. We finally had the time to take the class yesterday. Even with both of us hacking and sneezing from colds caught in Chicago, it was so fun! It’s hosted by this strange little fiber studio in the middle of no where Colorado. We each made a beautiful gauzy silk scarf using the Nuno wet felting technique. It used quite a but of equipment and space, so I’m not sure how easily I could do more at home. But it was nice having the large studio with tons of supplies to choose from and space to work with. I adore my scarf. Here are pictures of the process.
The scarves are being rolled in that machine against the wall, wrapped up in blue bubble wrap.
The final product (I love Amanda’s and wish I had a better picture of it. Don’t trust farmers to take pictures for you!):
Thank you, dear sister!
Today we are potty training for reals. I don’t want to. Jack doesn’t want to. But he’s clearly ready. It’s snowing, so we can’t play outside. He has a cold, so we can’t go to indoor play areas (without irking other mothers). Might as well spend the day inside working on body functions.
3 hits, 2 misses so far. I’m glad I bought an extra pack of undies to make it through the day.
This feels wrong. Salty snacks, candy for success, TV, lots of juice, all while I sit back and knit and wait for the next potty alarm to go off. I feel so lazy, but I love it.
This cheers me up nicely. Over dinner we brainstormed baby names. No progress.
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