This whole week we have been moving loads of stuff from the rental to the new house. Jack and Owen have become quite skilled at packing and unpacking, loading and unloading, and I'm thankful for their willingness to help (candy corn goes a looong way in motivating little boys). We have been measuring everything in terms of moving. Like...only 3 more days of driving to school from this house and fighting this crazy traffic! and only 4 more nights until you can take a bath in your new bathtub... and only 3 more nights until we sleep at our new house. We are SO excited about starting this new chapter in our lives and getting settled into our new home that we have watched go up, brick by brick.
Along with a new house and a new baby, we are shifting around furniture and updating a few things that have long needed to be updated. Matt and I joke that we haven't been to Pier 1 since Jack was born...which was one of our favorite stores to browse at in our early days before kids. Pre-kids, we used to spend hours talking about, planning, and shopping for our house. It was our way of being grown up, I guess. And then kids came along, and our house took a backseat. So everything we have pretty much dates back to the period known as Before Kids.
With all this transition going on, we've tried to update a couple of things--like we now need a breakfast table that will seat FIVE instead of just four. And we're shifting around bedroom furniture so that the baby will have something to put all her pretty little girl things in. We also need a new bed because the one we have is 10+ years old and is basically plywood covered in fabric. I don't sleep really well these days...plywood plus a baby belly is not the best combination.
Matt and I went mattress shopping last night. Boy, was that a fun way to spend an evening without kids!! Ugh. Let's just say we almost got divorced in the mattress store. Because Matt actually likes to sleep on plywood. And I like something just a tad softer. They make these plush beds that are supposed to be like a compromise between a firm and a soft bed. But anything less than plywood is just too squishy for my sweet husband. And one too many nights on plywood has made me cranky and unwilling to compromise. And I know what you're thinking...they make those beds that you can adjust...only they are the price of a small car and not in the new house/new baby budget. So after doing the whole arguing in the hushed voices thing in the middle of the bed store, we realized we weren't going to be agreeing on anything, and the sales guy was, I'm sure, relieved to see us go.
Then we went over to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to pick out curtains for our bedroom to go with our new king-size bedding to go on the bed we don't actually have yet. We had dropped in Monday with the kids but realized that we had forgotten the sham from the bedding to match the curtains to, and there was a nice lady there. She saw us with the kids trying to pick curtains to go with bedding that we didn't actually have, and she offered to help. But we were doing the whole bickering like a 70 year old couple thing again--"I thought you got the sham." "No, why would I get it? You didn't tell me to get it!" "I left it on the counter but it wasn't there so I thought YOU got it!" "I didn't get it. YOU were supposed to get it." And after that quick little scene we made, we got out of there. Well, we went back last night without kids (thanks to Nana and Poppy) and wouldn't you know the same girl was there! She was all, You're back again! Did you bring the thing you needed this time?? You don't have your kids with you! Is there anything I can help you with? I. was. mortified. After debating which shade of off-white to go with, we finally made a choice that we agreed on, and got out of there.
Moving/building a house is supposed to be way up there on the list of things that can cause stress in life, and boy do I believe it! This is our third house together--third time to pick paint colors and flooring and window treatments--and each time it has been a challenge. We both know what we like and it's not always the same thing. We've learned to bend and compromise and give and take and somehow find a middle ground, but I gotta be honest. It's not always easy. Even when the decision seems SO inconsequential. It's just good practice for the bigger decisions in life...which thank goodness, we mostly agree on, anyway.
We are going mattress shopping again tomorrow. Wish us luck!
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