Love/Hate

That's how I feel right now. Not about Eli. (I could never use that word about him. Maybe his behavior at times, but not him.) About moving. I am extremely excited about having a bigger house and an actual yard, and getting to 'start over' with decorating is kinda cool. What is NOT cool is the actual act of moving. You may be thinking, "you're pregnant though, so you have a good excuse not to move any boxes or furniture". This is true, but I still have to pack (countless) boxes, and then unpack said boxes. And make decision about paint. And clean. Yes clean. We've only owned one house before, and it was brand new, so the idea of deep cleaning someone else's dirt was somewhat foreign to me. This time around it's a very familiar concept. After Lehr and some friends graciously moved the majority of our boxes to the house today I took some supplies and went over to work on paint selection and the kitchen. Had I realized what I was getting myself into, I'd have thought twice before offering to do this so willingly. When we went to the closing last week, the previous owner told us she had hired a cleaning service to come in on Friday, which prompted me to cancel the service I'd already set up. I really hope she didn't pay too much. And by too much I mean I hope she didn't pay anything. Either that or I wish I had the name of the service so I could 'rate' them on kudzu. Half of the cabinets I opened had spiderwebs somewhere in them (These are 30-year old DEEP cabinets...no way anyone stored anything at the very back.), every cabinet door had dirt or stains on them, and when you turn on the lights, cobwebs are in most corners. Every time I'd open up a cabinet in the kitchen I'd see a spot and think it was another stain. But low and behold, after a few swiped with my sponge it would come off. Everything from last week's coffee drips to last year's spaghetti sauce. No respectable cleaning service could claim to have even attempted a clean. This means I was only able to unpack about eight boxes in the kitchen and I'll have to go back each night this week to tackle a few other rooms (all bedroom closets have plastic closet 'systems' which have drawers that need to be wiped out at the very least).

On an Eli note, he is so confused (though you'd never guess from the photo). He likes the new house, but his world is turned upside down right now and he's not sure how to make sense of it all. In fact, Saturday after his nap he and I stayed upstairs (in the house he knows) because every ten minutes or so he would go back to his crib and cry/request his blanket. He was happiest in his safety zone. This confirms our choice to leave his room as much in-place as possible until we have to move it. Even though I could use some time at the house this week unpacking and cleaning, I think I'll spend the time loving on Eli and doing non-house things, to help balance out the chaos.