All's Quiet

It's 6 am and I'm sitting in a dark, quiet house with only the kitties awake to keep me company. About an hour ago I was awakened by Oliver tripping over the monitor cord and knocking it loudly to the ground. I got up and checked on him. He's not doing well. It makes me very sad. After picking him up and snuggling with him a while, I realized that sleep wasn't going to happen again. Between thinking the worst about what might happen to Oliver soon and the logistics of today running through my head, I realized sleep wasn't happening anymore and I should get up and do something productive.

See, today we leave for Dallas. It will be the first flight our family of 4 will take together. Travel solo is somewhat stress inducing with the packing and preparing that needs to be done to be away from your life for a week and remembering all the things you need to take with you to be comfortable and appropriately dressed. Add in 2 kids and the details multiply like mad. I have a long list sitting beside me of all the last minute things that need to be done and things that need to go with us. I have no idea how I'll possibly get all this done before we leave. I know somehow though, it will happen.

In any case, in trying to not think about Oliver and his health while I laid in bed for the last hour, I realized that it's been 1 year since we moved. Wow. A year ago, I was huge bellied pregnant and unpacking boxes upon boxes trying to get us settled in our new home. Of course, we were also dealing with all the stuff that comes with selling a house and buying a new one. Let's just say it wasn't the least stressful few weeks, or months rather, of our lives. But, with all the headache that went along with it, there was also a new exciting beginning for us. With a baby on the way and a completely new town and environment, our lives were going to have a bit change.

And, here we are a year later. Cade is here and a wonderful addition to our family. Our lives with 2 kids are more chaotic than I could have every imagined. So chaotic that me, someone that never voluntarily gets out of bed in the morning, is excited to be up before the sun to have a little time to blog. We are running non stop. But the busy also brings a lot of happiness. These kids make us laugh more than I thought possible. Sure there are times that the whole parenting thing is frustrating but the joy far surpasses any of that stuff.

As far as settling in to our new environment, we definitely have. We really struggled leaving the city and moving out to the true suburbs. I've always been a city girl and loved it. So it's with great surprise that I am loving the suburban lifestyle. It doesn't hurt that our house is absolutely perfect for our family and is so comfortable that I have a hard time leaving it. At some moments I feel as if we've done a great amount of work to the house and am extremely proud of all the projects we've been able to accomplish in a very busy year. And, just a moment later, I'm staring at the unfinished or projects not yet even started and am a wee bit frustrated with progress. I try to focus on the "done" and not stress over the "to be completed" list.

With Dylan starting school, I also feel very much a part of this community. In the last couple of weeks, we've met tons of parents and have seen them around town. We also feel more in the know about community events and happenings and participate in them as much as we can. It's a sense of family belonging that I haven't experienced ever. I mean, I've felt it from the childhood end of it but haven't really been part of a smaller tight knit community like this in my adult life. Certainly not at college where I went to one of the largest universities in the country, nor when I moved to Boston and entered the city lifestyle. But now in the burbs, we are part of a real community. It's cool.

Ok, Cade's awake. Off I got to a hectic day. Wish us luck on our travel today and I'll check back in here with tales of fun from the great state of Texas. (Note, I'm not even having time to proof this so please pardon any errors.)