Thursday, July 31, 2008

Home At Last

I am happy to say that we are in our new house! It's HUGE, and gorgeous, and empty. Going from such a small house to such a large one means that we have very little to put in it! We ordered an enormous sofa and ottoman for our great room, and are looking at tables, chairs, media cabinets, and other pieces for our main living space.

On to my impressions of ABQ- it is beautiful here, in a rugged way. It is definitely the desert, with all of the land surrounding the city covered by sagebrush and wild grasses. The city itself is sprawling (which is what happens when you have so much land to spread out on!) and full of interesting variation, from craftsman style neighborhoods to a back-east feeling downtown to Spanish hacienda areas. Spread amongst all of those is the usual assortment of generic American architecture.

The sky here is huge, and goes on for ever it seems. In the morning it is cloudless and bright blue, and often dotted with a dozen or so hot air balloons to the north. By afternoon, the clouds have started to sail in like giant puffy ships in a sea of deep blue sky. A few afternoons we have had storms (like the day we arrived, which was a storm to write home about!), but mostly it is just clouds, clearing up by nightfall. There are mountains across the valley and glyphs behind us, and not much else.

The kids are settling in well, enjoying their rooms and the space in the house. Much as I suspected, we still spend most of our time lumped together. G has come down with a bug of some sort and has not been sleeping well. Add in the fact that I am working hard all day and I am a bit worn out! But I am loving painting and organizing and using my kitchen with all of the new appliances. However, the dishwasher is not as exciting as I suspected it would be. I am glad that I am no longer washing four batches of dishes each day, but I am less than pleased with the broken glass, bent forks, and not quite perfect job that it does. Hubby says that we'll figure it out, so for now I have washed my hands of dish duty and let the kids and Nate load the dishwasher. If I have to do it, I will end up washing the dishes by hand. Who would have thought!

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Happy Birthday!!

Today is Nate's birthday, and since I am not in the best of positions to do something fun and creative for him, my birthday present to him was time without M and G. I took them with me to the laundromat and he took the older two kids to the pool. Hopefully he has spent the past couple of hours marinating in the hot tub and relaxing, because as soon as he gets back I am locking myself in the adjoining bedroom and hiding for an hour or two.

M and G are really struggling with our living situation. As comfortable as the Hyatt is, it is still hard for little kids to stay here. They miss their toys, they miss their beds, they miss their routines. I miss those things of theirs as well! I can not wait until I can get them in our new house and put up a couple of security gates, and then we can all relax. I know, this is probably a pipe dream since they will not be used to our new place for a while and will still be cranky and difficult. But to maintain my current level of fragile sanity I need to believe this will all be better on Friday.

In a funny side note, the water store next to the laundromat had two signs up that said, "Parking is for Water Store Costumers Only." I watched and watched, but I saw no one dressed up enter or leave the store. And no one went in holding garment bags either. Darn.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Welcome to Albuquerque

I am pleased to report that we made it to ABQ with no trouble! The drive here was long but uneventful and we were all thrilled to pull into our hotel after a long day in the van. We are currently staying at the Hyatt Regency in Downtown ABQ , which is a super-comfy hotel. And yet, it isn't a home, which makes it tough to settle into with all of our kids.

Speaking of home, we saw our new house today for the first time! Sure, we've seen pictures almost weekly of it, but pictures are not the same as seeing it in person. Wow- it's huge! I am already overwhelmed at the idea of painting the interior and taking care of the odds and ends we want to as soon as we move in. At the same time, I am so excited to make this house ours. We did the pre-closing orientation on our house today and the kids (by kids I mean the little ones, M and G) were rather naughty. Nate and I had to pay attention to Cindy, the community rep, while she explained various aspects of our house to us, and all M and G wanted to do was run around like monkeys and scream at the top of their lungs. Luckily for us we were able to put them in the van with the bigger kids and turn on the DVD players to keep them happy while we listened to Cindy give her spiel.

We won't close on the house and get the keys until Thursday, so until then we are amusing ourselves as best we can in our new city.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Calm Before the Storm

Our movers were scheduled to come for three days, two for packing and one for loading the truck. Yesterday at 9am two guys rolled in with stacks of boxes, sheets of papers, and more tape then you can find at Staples. Less than six hours later, our entire belongings were wrapped, boxed, labeled, and stacked. Things went so well that they do not need to return until tomorrow to load the truck, and now I find myself at loose ends with my baby G and very little to do. This sounds like a trip to the mall is in order- nothing like a new lip liner to commemorate our moving!

And I can't forget to mention that today is the anniversary of when my fabulous husband, Nate, and I got married, 11 years ago. It was a courthouse ceremony, complete with me in shortalls and finished right before Nate had to leave for work. An inauspicious start to our marriage, certainly, but somehow fitting- we never do things the classic way but in a way that works for us. And it has been working well for over a decade and a half! Happy Anniversary, baby, I love you!

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Saying Goodbye

It's only 6 days away from the move, and we have already had to say goodbye to our friends. No matter that our reasons for moving are all positive ones, it still hurts to leave the people we love behind. The kids have been saying goodbye to their friends through various activities- a trip to Splash, sleepovers, swimming, and letters. Due to their young ages, though, the goodbyes are less painful and more casual than that of their parents. Or should I say, their mother.

It's been hard for me to say goodbye to my friends. I have been extraordinarily blessed with a large group of friends that I have met through La Leche League, and the empty spaces in my life and heart will be hard to fill in ABQ. My good friend M took me out to dinner on Sunday, only to surprise me with a gathering of amazing women that I have had the good fortune to call my friends. It was bittersweet, and as I left the restaurant a hollowness crept in while I contemplated leaving them all.

Then yesterday the kids and I visited my heart-sister N and her adorable children, and spent the day enjoying swimming and each other's company. When it was time to say goodbye the tears started flowing, and they are still here, shimmering behind my eyes and waiting for a calm moment to slip out. But with the move so close, calm moments are no where to be found.