Well, here I sit, a month from the day we arrived in our new state. Our house is pretty much unpacked, Christmas decorations are up, I have cooked almost every day (and we are going it sans microwave so leftovers aren't as easy), my daughter is loving her new school, and I have a 2 month old!!! From this vantage point, this has probably been one of my best moves, in part because of the work I did prior and having a baby that actually sleeps and is happy in his babyswing. I am feeling pretty settled already, have even busted out the cloth napkins, diapers, and wipes. WAY farther than I ever thought I'd be, which is a huge blessing. The actual move itself with hotel stays, eating out, and lack of any normalcy whatsoever was immensely stressful, but here we are now! We have some boxes to unpack and go through in the basement and to sort our superfluous stuff, but that can all wait until after the holidays.
Like all mothers, my current struggle is maintaining the house while maintaining relationships with both my kids individually and my husband. Unfortunately, he often gets the short end of the stick. As does my daughter, who has almost seamlessly transitioned to school but has been challenged behaviorally here at home. And thus my patience is challenged, and well, you can see how this can turn into a vicious cycle. I am working hard to find our new normal here, and realistically it probably won't come until after the holidays. And even though I am with my daughter all the time when she isn't in school, I just miss the days of her and I being able to do fun things and run around. Oliver isn't as easygoing in that aspect. He hates the car and is not too sure about babywearing. Where Emily wouldn't sleep unless she was nursing or being worn or held, we were on the go all the time. I feel a bit trapped in the house with Oliver, but that is where he does well. We are trying to work through all this, but it is challenging. I am not one to just stay at home, especially in a new place where I have no friends or connections other than the people under my own roof. He doesn't make it easy to "get out there". I am worried as the winter progresses and the post holiday fun winds down that I may slip into a touch of depression, so I really need to make this a priority. We have the Polar Express and Santa on the Sea this weekend so I am hoping he will cooperate so I can participate with my little lovely. I am just as excited as she!
Anyways, we are working through all this. I am trying to get new tools for the old parenting toolbox and not react to the situation. When I can parent gently and mindfully, it all works so much better. I have some fun activities in mind for my girl and I during the winter break, and hopefully with some more life under his belt, my boy will be a bit more portable! My husband, well we do well communicating, and need to work more on some quality time together minus the littles. Which is a bit hard when I have a cluster nursing little chunker on my lap during the evening hours. But I guess he needs to feed his rolls, cheeks, and chin!
I love my new house and really like the area so far, although it is very different than any place I have ever lived. The farmer's markets and local options are wonderful, and we are slowly going broke in food over here, but we are eating well :) We will get there, just wanted to share where we are now that we have come through the other side... I can hardly believe it myself.
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