We arrived home last night from our holiday trip North. It was a nice few days with my family, especially my Nana who we hadn’t see in a while.
I surprised C with a gift even though we said our house was our joint gift this year. Luckily, she liked it enough to to not be upset with me and is already enjoying it (in our new home, so that makes it even more okay).

We had some lovely meals and movie watching. One of our tasks while we were there was for me to discuss our curtain making plans with Nana and get the rest of the materials. The night we left I picked out the fabric for the basement curtains. There are five windows and the curtains down there will all be a nice dark, but not quite navy, shade of blue cotton. So, we went to a fabric store up there picked out fabric for our room. I was really excited because it was on sale, but unfortunately, they only had about a third of the amount we needed and recommended we go to another bigger store to try to get the rest. While we were up there I was also able to prep the material for the basement curtains. One our way back, we stopped at two more stores and the second one was huge and had just the fabric we wanted. We also found some for the guest room (/future nursery) –also in the bargain section–that we both really like, and we purchased the blackout lining that will go in all the bedroom curtains. So the plan is basement, guest room, our room, and then once we get those made, we can move onto the kitchen. I’m looking forward to the projects, even if it’s just a panel or two made each weekend. Nana may also be coming down soon to visit us and help me make some of them! If not, I’ll bring my machine up next time we go and we can bust some out.

Today my BGF D came and visited us. He lives in Hawaii now, but was in the state visiting his family–in my hometown–for the holidays. It was fun to show him the new place and all the updates. It was especially nice because he had seen the listing photos and could see all the progress we’ve made. He and I went out to pho for lunch, walked around Capitol Hill, sat outside and had coffee and chatted and then went and got some fresh produce before picking up C downtown. We then headed home and made a yummy dinner and some cookies. Based on either our new home or how I am with Kai, or both, he pointed out that I really need to have kids soon. It was a nice day and then he headed back North.

Back to work tomorrow, but this week  only has three hopefully two–if I can make it back down to IK.EA on Thursday instead of the office–before the next three-day holiday weekend.

Last night as C and I were falling asleep she mentioned that she doesn’t want to leave the house for the long holiday weekend. I’m pretty sure this has more to do with security than love of our new home, but either way we agreed to come home Saturday instead of Sunday. I’m really looking forward to seeing my family–especially my nana who we haven’t seen in a while–and even though I’m not a big Christmas person, I always enjoy holidays with my family. That’s not to say that if C had asked to stay home all together I wouldn’t have been tempted to agree. As it is though, I’m glad we’re going, I know we’ll enjoy ourselves and I have secret reason for wanting to be up there tomorrow morning.

***

Today I’m working from 9am-2pm in a very quite building on a very quiet campus. There’s only one other person in the office and hardly anyone else in the building. I’m looking forward to getting home and packing and tidying before C gets home. I had the notion to go to the fabric store to use a coupon that expires today, but I don’t want to delay getting on the freeway as I’m already anticipating sitting in some traffic on the way North.

***

The quiet is conducive to allowing my mind to wander…to years past and loved ones. I’ve been thinking about those who cannot be with us this holiday season–those who have passed on and those who are far away. It makes me want to hold tight those who are close.
To those that celebrate, Merry Christmas.

I’m still catching up on the back log in my reader, but had to take a moment to post some exciting news:

Congratulations to my lovely local ladies over at eeney meeney miney mommy on their Christmas IFV BFP!

Belated congrats also on the bfp for the ladies at Baby Blueprint, whose blog I fell behind on and got to find out their news after a blog reading marathon. Fun times!

And best wishes for a rising beta number and sticky baby to a blog that’s newer on my reader, Love Invents Us.

A warm welcome to Connor over at Adventures of Jen, Tiff and Mr. Munchkin, Ryan over at Creating a Miracle and Sprout and Rosebud over at Our growing family!

And while I know they all have a bit of time left to grow inside, the next blogger births I’m looking forward to include Bit from Amy and Melissa’s Baby Blog, N& J’s Figment over at Two Hot Mamas and Moon5 to Bree over at Project Kjetil.

For those of you still getting ready to start, taking a break, waiting for for your bfp and contemplating next steps, I feel for you all and hope 2010 brings good news!

P.S.  If I missed something big, please let me know!

The days are getting longer which, especially for those of us in the PNW, is a big deal.

I feel like I’m between waves. You know when you’re swimming in the ocean and one wave passes and the next has yet to build. I’m on break from school which always gives me a taste of what post-graduation life will be like. This makes the winter into spring temporal distance feel all the more drawn out into the future. I have moments of intense desire to be done, d.o.n.e., with school and onto the next phase in my life. These are counter-balanced by the moments where I am able to revel in the fact that I almost at the point where I can just do research for 6 months and that and my school related job my two big priorities from now until June.

The house also  keeps me grounded. The sheer space and the responsibilities I now feel toward our home and the life we’re living and building in it keep me attuned to this new reality. I don’t think it’s completely sunk in yet, but then I remember it all when I have momentary glimpses of possible futures–baby stuff in the green room, children playing in the backyard, cooking big meals and eating in the dining room. My time with C also feels more valuable than ever. Lately, I’ve been feeling this need to be with her, to be near her, to talk to her in a way that re-solidifies our connection on a daily level. The preciousness of our relationship is palpable.

In this in-between swells-ness that is my life until the new quarter starts on January 4th, my mind is wandering more, and I’m letting it. I know I need to finish my quarterly academic reflection and get my i.r.b application turned in asap or I’ll lose the end of the last quarter momentum. Maybe I should be bracing for the crash of the new year, but for now I’m just trying to enjoy this brief–and perhaps delusional–lull.

I love the feeling of look at a document that hours ago did not exist and now, by the sheer determination sometimes necessary to complete an academic assignment, it is full or words–nay, actual ideas–that came from my own brain. Sometimes this still astonishes me. Even more so when years later I re-read something I myself wrote and it doesn’t convey that it was most likely written at one in the morning–as evidenced by the fact that it’s happening now.

This is to say that I had a brief moment of reflection in which I realized that this moment right now, sitting in a room cuddled up with Kai while my wife plays music and edits photos, as I type a paper about spatial politics and practices and the concept of history as an active archive in my research…this, this is good.

Now I just need to find time to write both academically and personally.

P.S. Some major (and many cased belated), public congratulations to are in order for the adoptions that took place over at the BoombaBaby family, the birth of baby Brighton, the personally very special birth of baby Stella Ruth, and the transfer of two beautiful blastocysts for Poppy and Cat. I’ve followed all four of these blogs for quite some time and am so happy for these four families.

In the past twenty days we* have:

• picked up N and my dad from the airport
• cleaned the old place
• moved into our new home
• invested a small fortune into a local home improvement store (or two) over the course of no less than 10 trips
• felt what it’s like to own more tools than ever before
• met our wonderful neighbor, NUJ, who’s like a character out of a story
• painted nearly every interior wall–covering a myriad of colors with warm vanilla and the drab bedroom walls with a lovely blue (our room) and a soft, bright green (the guest/future kids’ room)
• picked up flooring
• two trips to IK.EA, including two restaurant visits
• removed carpet, padding, carpet strips and staples in the living and dining room floors to reveal hardwoods underneath
• found what appears to be the remnants of a grow operation in the basement
• had the sewer company come out and clear the mainline drain of gravel
• cleaned the gutters
• removed moss from the roofs
• bought our beautiful dining table (from CL) and brought it home
• assembled 8 chairs
• hosted Thanksgiving dinner
• had our new bed delivered
• spent a day with just my dad
• Ni left
• new flooring in the kitchen, both bathrooms and the area leading to/into the laundry room
• replaced the sink in the downstairs bathroom
• rebuilt, resealed and reinstalled both toilets
• replaced the mailbox and fixed the stand
• replaced light fixtures in both bathrooms and both kitchen lights with lovely new fixtures
• moved everything from storage to the house (mainly the garage)
• installed new locks on both doors
• put a lock on the garage door
• put a pull cord on the back gate
• free.cycled a bunch of the stuff we took out, including the carpet
• hosted another family dinner
• got Kai back from my family
• enjoyed Kai enjoying the huge yard – daily!
• my dad left
• new flooring in the basement media room and family room (5/6th complete due to shortage of flooring materials)
• picked up the rest of the flooring
• Na left
• painted our bedroom closet
• set-up the “big computer”

Non-house/family related:

• Changed roles on the ppd bod, from membership to cont. ed
• Attended an amazing (and short!) homebirth
• Attended a great dou.la holiday party
• Wrote a collaborative paper for my History.of.Feminisms class
• Attended my last classes of the quarter
• Wrote a paper/play based on a discussion of my work with three theorists**
• Publicized a burles.que fundraiser

(More details, pictures and coherent post to come, once the quarter ends…)

*”we” refers to a combination of my dad, C, Na, Ni and various other family and friends

**Hall, Anzadula and Butler

We’re moving today! I can’t believe we’re at this point.

Wednesday night we went and signed the papers. After driving all the way from campus to downtown (over an hour due to  Our agent and our mortgage office (who are friends) were both there for it. It went well and we had Indian food for dinner at then went on a crazy hunt for the perfect baby layette set for our REA’s twins. (She had them during  the time she was our agent and worked with us on buying the new place while she was on leave). We found two adorable outfits that go together without completely matching.

The past two days have been a crazy whirlwind of packing, cleaning and barely sleeping (not what my recovering-from-a-cold body needs right now, but c’est la vie). Now we have a house full of boxes, empty furniture and misc stuff to be packed or taped up. I have the day off so I’m going to run a few errands before heading to SEATAC to get my dad and then C’s friend N who arrive at 1 and 1:45pm today.

When we come home we’ll get OFD and Friend F. Then I’ll head over to get the truck and we’re all start loading stuff. Luckily the only furniture is our bed frame, mattress, a small dress, small couch and small desk. Everything else is boxes.

Hopefully we’ll get it all done quickly–there will be 5 of us–and when C gets home we can just vacuum, do a last run though and go get dinner.

We meet our REA at 8:45pm at the new place. I can’t wait to give her the outfits and bottle of wine! But even more so, I can’t wait to be in our new home.

P.S. No reliable internet until it’s connected on Wednesday, at which point I hope to post about our home improvement adventures–and maybe I’ll even have some pics!

Still sick.
I had my throat cultured. It’s not strep.
Bundled up on the couch eating hot and sour soup, from here. Delivery.
My amazing wife–who did the bundling–is out getting me the rest of my “get well soon” kit.
Her jokes are even funnier when I’m sick. Unfortunately, laughing hurts my throat.

More about the exciting non-illness related life stuff (like moving!) soon…

I’m sick. I woke up yesterday with a scratchy throat and by evening it was a full-blown husky voice, uncomfortable to breathe/swallow, congested mess of a sore throat/head cold. C was cute in her offers to help and cheek kisses while obviously not wanting to catch it. While she needs space when she’s sick, I miss my cuddles. Usually, when one of us is sick we sleep apart; but the living room (current-but-not-for-long “guest room”) is full of boxes waiting to be loaded up on Friday. So we slept in the same bed and I did my best to give her space–knowing that 3 feet vs the usual one is most likely not going to stop germs from spreading. Actually though, she slept and I tossed and turned, re-propped my pillows and was unable to sleep deeply thanks to needing to burp every few minutes after swallowing air when I tried to clear the perpetual lump in my throat. Lovely.

I woke up to a call from the escrow office assistant to schedule signing our real estate documents prior to closing on Friday.
Then I called LNL to reschedule our noon session. No need to get my pregnant acupuncturist sick.
I spent most of the morning resting in bed, watching tv shows online and drinking hot water.

Kai cooperated (for the most part) in my giving him a bath and soon I’ll be doing last-minute prep before heading up North for the night. This is another personal trip with a work-related bonus. There’s a grad fair in the same town my family lives in and I’ll be representing my program’s office as a recruiter. This fits well with my need to take Kai up there before Thursday night/Friday moving day. So Kai and I will head up this afternoon, spend the evening with family and then I’ll put in my four hours at the fair tomorrow. I get to count drive time as work time and get mileage reimbursement. Win-win.

When I get home tomorrow evening I’ll head to a public lecture that my core class is attending and then home to finish as much packing as possible before bed.
Wednesday we’ll both get off work early to go to the signing and then home to finish up packing and cleaning.
Thursday afternoon C’s best friend N arrives. I’ll pick him up from the airport and drop him off at home before heading up to work for the monthly evening info session. They’ll spend the evening together and on Friday morning we’ll move out.

I just need to take care of myself and push through. Four more days and we’ll be in our new place.

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