We are now Peorians! Seven weeks have flown by and Henry is almost two years old. There is so much to take in and blogging has fallen off my radar.
I owe a post with a LOT of photos now, I realize. We have a new house, Henry has some new riding toys, we've had a few good visits from family and friends who are like family, we have a fantastic porch that we all love, and Henry is a ham and a half. All are reasons to post photos and I'm just too tired to get up and get my camera right now.
First, the move:
We officially moved on June 6. It was the hottest day of the year to date and the moving van took about 12 hours to load. This is much longer than we'd expected so the caravan of my car, Rob's car, and Rob's mom's car complete with 4 pets, 1 todder, all of Rob's guitars and as many valuables as we could stuff in between all that didn't head up to Peoria until after 7pm. We could not stop for food or bathrooms because we had too much stuff and also the pets could not be left for even a few minutes in the stifling heat.
I felt energized and excited and the GPS led us into our new neighborhood via the beautiful and historic Moss Avenue. I was ready to get something to eat and get H into bed for the long day of truck unloading that would follow. Instead, we walked into what seemed like hell. The house was filthy, reeked of smoke, and as my little spaz toddler got his sea legs and began racing around the his room and the hallway upstairs, I realized with horror that the railing over the foyer was dangerously short. H discovered this by wrapping his little arms over the top and pulling his torso up even with the top of the rail. Below him was a two story drop into the front entryway. I lost my cool then, I was done. I started sobbing, wondering what had we done?! We had chosen the least child friendly house possible, the place was disgusting, and we had no money left to divert our belongings to a move to somewhere else. The options were spinning in my head. Could we have them just deliver our stuff to a storage unit? Can we break our lease? How soon can we find another place? But the reality was that our money was spent, our lease was signed and we were stuck.
There was no food to be found at that hour so I choked down about 3 bites of Domino's Pizza (ugh) and helped my mother in law wipe the layer of grime from the bathtub so Henry could have a bath and get some sleep.
By the morning, Susan had a plan. She made a list at some point late the night before or early before the moving van arrived and she told us it was going to be all right. We decided to believe her.
The furniture arrived, all of our things delivered and we began the first of many trips that week to Lowes, Babies R Us, and Target. We stocked up on baby gates, childproofing materials, hooks for clotheslines, sponges and mops for cleaning and vinegar and baking soda to take a layer of smoky dirt off the house.
Susan ended up staying all week, and I doubt she's ever had a LESS restful vacation from work. She was busy improving our house from 6am until 9pm every single night, and as she worked she'd think of new things to fix, make, do, or buy.
By the end of the week, Henry could not come near the low railing and our house was looking up. We still had a list of concerns that we had the landlord deal with- ahhh, the beauty of renting!!!
And that was moving day/week.
I started my job the following Monday so we introduced Henry to his new babysitter a few hours at a time. At first he was very shy but the mom who takes care of him also has a toddler named Madison who Henry warmed to very quickly. He still talks abou his old daycare friends in St. Louis but first in his conversations these days is "Medicine", aka his buddy Madison. Maddie also has a cute baby brother named Mason and Henry loves him too.
Henry had some rough sleep patches in the last month or so, including a couple nights of newborn-like wakefulness. Those nights remind us how far we've come and make me feel like death warmed over. In a new job, with no vacation hours built up, I had no choice but to push through some really long days when all I wanted was to sleep. I had one morning where I actually felt so groggy that it seemed dangerous to drive, but Rob was out of town. This is the tough part about a new city and knowing no one. I had no options. I had to get Henry to his sitter and get to work.
We've survived! We're even making a few friends. Henry now loves "Sawa" and "Medicine" and he plays happily all day, swimming and sliding, listening to music and doing puzzles.
He's been showing off all sorts of new talents. Counting correctly up to 14 is his newest feat, he can also get through most of the alphabet and recognize a few letters individually. I can no longer come close to counting all his words, but there are probably 100 or more. He has a little sense of humor and also says things that neither Rob nor I taught him.
He is still nursing, usually 2 times a day and he will announce when it is "milkie time!" We take walks almost daily and most of them conclude with a visit to the playground near our house. Life is slower here because we don't know people or have much of a social life, but work is keeping me busy and Rob is prepping for his school year by working long hours on syllabi and articles. Henry is going to be 2 soon and I can hardly believe it!!
He and I are taking a road trip to Milwaukee this weekend to meet up with my ninja friends, a group of women I met online while we were pregnant with August (and September in my case) 2009 babies. One of them is a stylist and is going to give Henry his first haircut. I do promise to post photos of that and maybe even a video.
That is the latest from Peoria! We're adjusting to life here very well and despite the rough beginning; we really like our house and neighborhood. I think we're going to be really happy here.
