Feathering Our Nest

How does a house become a home? We've been settling in for just over 6 weeks now in our new digs, though it feels longer. Maybe that's because Mark's new job hasn't started yet. Sophie hasn't had therapies and school's out for summer for Alexander. Our days blur together with this reprieve from the tyrannical calendar. When a Wednesday doesn't feel any different than a Saturday it can be freeing, but I look forward to getting us on real schedule.

Even though we may move again in less than a year, I need to feel like I'm living in my home - now. Moving means that we bought a house, so cross your fingers that we find a place that meets all of our needs. We gave the girls the biggest bedroom. It is perfect for them as the vast majority of their toys are now contained thanks to a semi-permanent baby gate at the door. They love it and I love that we can have people over without having to wade through 2 feet of toys in the living room. Mark and I have the middle room with bay windows. They are so pretty and look almost like a giant decorative headboard. Alexander has the smallest room but it is big enough to hold his twin bed and lots of his toys. Since he had been sharing a room with Sophie, he loves having his own private space. We are still unpacking and decorating the kids' rooms (hence no pics yet), but are getting there.

Arranging the rooms was a major undertaking. Sometimes it meant meant hauling the same book case up to the attic, then down to Alexander's room - twice, and completely rearranging our room 3 times to get it right, (requiring Mark to do heavy lifting much to his frustration). Then we could start the unpacking (blech!). Only afterwards could we get to the fun part, feathering our nest.

Before hammering even one nail, I like to use packing paper or newspapers to make a template of all the stuff that will go on the walls. Then we can use tape and hang them up and move them around pretty easily. I kept all the templates and will reuse them again. Mark and I agreed on what was going where and then I hung them up. We know that this is one chore that I'm pretty good at and doing it together usually results in bickering, which isn't good for anyone. Some people wonder why we bothered when we may move again so soon. The thing is, when my stuff is on the walls I know I'm home. It had to be done.

I'm fascinated by the stuff that people choose to hang on their walls as it speaks volumes about their interests, style, and personalities. In looking around our home, I am reminded of our lack of family photos. I have so many really, really good ones (especially from two photo shoots with the great Donita). They are sadly stuck in digital form in my computer. I have had a hard time deciding which ones to print. Besides the printing expense, there's the matting and framing and I just haven't done it, yet. This will be remedied soon and is a new goal I've set for myself.

However, the best way to make your house a home is to have company over. Since our new friends Becca, Steve, and their gorgeous girl Sammi were in town for a quick trip, we finally had our first guests. Becca and Steve are not only interesting and a lot of fun to be around, but they know a lot of stuff about navigating the disability world. Savvy friends are good to have. They brought sweet treats (which I didn't even attempt to resist), an even sweeter girl, and a DS calendar that Becca made with their local group. Thanks again friends! I hope they come back again soon.

the top 2 photos are Becca's and the bottom 2 are mine

This is our new house, our new home and at least for now and it suits us quite well. I debated on whether or not to put up these pictures as it feels a bit, I don't know - intimate. It's just a house so who cares? This is for RK and because of this post . Besides, I had fun playing with the panoramic setting again.