There were some great things about today.
Our dear friends Mikki & Claire came into town yesterday, and spent the whole day helping us work on the house. They transformed the yard, and were fabulous with Noah “helping.” I wish I had a picture of Noah trying to use his foot to dig the trowel into the hard red clay the way Mikki was pushing on the shovel.
The exterior of the house now looks amazing. And they were so reassuring about the things we’ve done and the things we haven’t done — which was especially nice coming from people with their real estate experience.
And.
Josie was fussy and exhausting and draining.
And.
Mikki & Claire brought with them a gargantuan duffle bag full of Clothes Swap Part One from Jen & Cait. It was like a huge baby shopping spree for no money. They have a beautiful daughter, Natalie, who is a couple of months younger than Noah, and a newborn son, Teddy, who is a week younger than Josie.
After unpacking the awesome windfall of adorable baby girl clothes, I repacked it with a similar volume and size range of Noah’s outgrown baby boy clothes.
At some point in the future, we’ll be doing round two, where we swap the 12 month + sized clothing.
And.
It kind of hit me today how different my time at home with Josie is going to be from how I imagined it.
My official layoff date was Friday.
When I was first pregnant, my plan was to spend 12 weeks home. Eight of them were going to be covered by short term disability, and the last 4 were going to be covered by saved up vacation time. (I would have been ~3 hours short.)
And.
My car was going to work.
And.
I was going to deal with those middle of the night feedings on the ugly sofabed in the baby’s room. The ugly sofabed that should really be removed sold to stage the house for sale.
We certainly weren’t going to be dealing with selling the house, long-distance job hunting, or moving. Or assessing whether or not it is worth fixing my car, and if not, how to manage our transportation needs.
I thought the biggest stressors would be helping Noah adjust to having a new baby in the house, and sleep deprivation. Instead, those are the challenges that we’re having the easist time managing.
Oh yeah, and I guess I did think “baby blues”/post-partum depression might be a problem. It obviously is right at the moment, although on the whole, I’d have to describe it as one of smaller problems on the plate.
On the positive side, I have this snuggly girl by my side 20+ hours per day:
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Send pics of the new and improved yard, please. We will all imagine the “help” Noah provided.
Look at those cheeks! Smooch city!
Hang in there, kiddoes. At the end of this path lies “cooler by the lake.” And better cheese.
Your house really does look amazing – both outside, and great inside as well! I don’t think I made that clear when the little guy and I visited. And what adorable pictures of Miss J! Thank you for letting me hold her for so long today, it was wonderful.
I am really sorry to hear about the PPD; you have enough stress without those kind of raging hormones. Please let me know if I can do anything. I guess you have heard about the ?
Lastly, T and I had a great time, and I really do hope we can get the guys together before you all leave. T said, unprompted, that he wanted to have another play date with Noah.
Like Carrie said, lots to look forward to! Cooler by the lake, better cheese, AND – my personal favorite WI institution – Kopp’s. In the meantime, be nice to yourself and keep surrounding yourself with others who will do same. That’s a secret weapon in the PPD fight. Please let us know how we can help.
For your car, have you thought about a short term contract with Zip Car? it is usually cheaper than renting. This is particularly helpful if you do not need a car every day. Also, some car rental agencies do long term rentals, like for 3 months. This can be helpful because you don’t have to worry about maintanence.
i sigh with you.
call me if you need to. 2 in the morning, whatever. i’m here. also, you know i’ll be awake, too.