Well hello... Remember me?

It's been a while, that much I can definitely remember.  Where I left off, I have no idea. 

After all of the craziness and stress of the move (which I don't even think I had time to inform anyone of here on the blog), all the box packing and unpacking, all of the screaming kids who wouldn't let me get anything done, all of the Ikea furniture that wouldn't assemble properly and was almost smashed into pieces with a hammer.... I am finally sitting on my back deck on what has to be the nicest night of the entire year (no bugs, no humidity, birds chirping, cool breezes, you get the picture) and can finally say it was all worth it.

I learned a lot from this move.  Some of those things, I wish I didn't have to learn the hard way-- buying furniture and pot racks and space saving equipment online before actually seeing where everything would fit in the house (free return shipping, anyone?  Please?)... assuming that we would be able to do most of our house work while Brendan was sleeping (I guess loud banging and moving furniture doesn't bode well for sleeping babies).

Others, were more amusing...

Lesson #1:

When I was packing everything up, I didn't realize how much stuff there was that we had never even used.  So, my advice for the soon-to-be bride:  When creating your wedding registry, don't let people convince you that you will need things like:

• 36 wine glasses (especially when your drink of choice is beer)
  
  
  

• Make your own sushi kits

•  More than a dozen serving platters (I'm guessing just 3 would suffice, since I entertain about once per year)
  
  
  
  
  
  Lesson # 2
  
  
  Sometimes, when you are really excited about moving to a new house, your mind becomes a little jaded about the reality and limitations of having 2 small children.  So, it's probably not a good idea to buy a hutch for your china until they are at least 18 years old.
  
  
  
  
  
  (But I am still secretly psyched out of my mind about this hutch and will never take it down).
  
  
  Lesson #3:
  
  
  Get a babysitter every day for a week until all the packing and unpacking AND CHILDPROOFING is completely finished.  Brendan has decided, in the 6 days we have lived here, that his new favorite games are: toilet splash fun time, attempt to guzzle the Lysol bottle, and bull in a china shop (literally). 
  
  
  Lesson #4: (the serious one)
  
  
  Don't let the stress of moving take away from the fun parts.  On moving day, we were so wrapped up in trying to get out of there as quickly as possible (friends/family were watching  the kids for us, boxes were piling up at the new place, arguing over priorities and how to get everything finished, and the clock seemed to be ticking away), that we didn't even stop to take a family photo in front of our very first house.  It seriously makes me want to cry, and I'm hoping the new owner won't be creeped out if we ask to take a quick pic on the front stoop some time in the next few weeks.  
  
  
  I never even let it all sink in because we were just so busy.  I am sure that if I had stopped to reflect for one second, I would have had some kind of emotion about leaving that adorable white house with the yellow door.  It was such a great first home!  But we are really excited to be where we are now-- not even 5 minutes down the road, which probably explains why I am not too emotional about it.  It's the start of a brand new story and I can wait to dive in.