Even though sleeping or eating breakfast
might be a better use of my time right now, I thought I’d take a few moments to
reflect on the goings-on lately.
There are all kinds of emotions floating
around this household….some expected, some completely not. We are the proud
owners of a 2-bedroom bungalow in Winnipeg.
We moved in on the long weekend, with the generous help of relatives and
friends. As we began to unpack our boxes, homesickness for Prince Rupert came flooding back. We
remembered where we were, who we were with, and what we were feeling when we
packed those boxes. Ben came all the way to the basement to tell me that as he
was putting his vest on a hanger in the closet, he realized he would have hung
it on a hook in Prince Rupert.
Funny how a little thing like that can evoke such strong emotions.
I’m not sure how to describe this feeling
of “having arrived”. Four years ago we had a plan: Spend some time in Prince Rupert, come back to Winnipeg, buy a house, settle in, have a
baby. We didn’t completely stick to that order, but we have always had this end
goal of owning a house in Winnipeg
and “settling down”. Now we are where we wanted to be and we are happy, but yet
maybe not quite? I know that in reality we haven't "arrived" anywhere. Were just at another location on the journey of life. The past 4 years were awesome, and it's looking like the next four years will be, too. Just very different!
It’s not all sadness and melancholy around
here, though. We are so happy to finally have our own space. I know this is the
individualistic North American in me talking (where did she come from?), but when you are a grown up and have a child of
your own, you just don’t want to be living with anyone’s parents, you know? I don’t mean to sound in any way ungrateful
for the generous hospitality provided by my in-laws. There are many things we
miss about living with them, but when it comes right down to it, we prefer
being just the 3 of us.
Our house comes packed with potential,
which means lots and lots of projects. We were feeling pretty overwhelmed by
the responsibility of home ownership until we realized that we just need to
prioritize, tackle one thing at a time, and be happy with everything not being
perfect right away. One of the first projects is getting Adrian’s room ready. It is currently painted
pink and had wallpaper half-way up the wall. Most people get the nursery all
ready while they are still expecting and have all kinds of time on their hands,
but not us! Thankfully, we have willing helpers. My father-in-law has been over
several evenings to remove that stubborn wallpaper and get the room ready to
paint. Hopefully by the time Adrian
is 6 months old, he will have a cutely decorated room of his own and be
sleeping in a real crib! While I'm hoping for things, I might as well hope that he might sleep through the night in that crib.
On another note, I just have to mention that the best thing
happened yesterday! Our friends dropped by for a spontaneous ice cream outing.
Anyone reading this is hereby informed that we love the drop-by visit! Call-ahead
visits are fantastic, too.
I would love to post some photos, but I
have no idea where my camera is right now. Hopefully it will turn up soon. I
always feel a little bit ripped of when blog posts don’t come with photos, so I
apologize if you read all the way to the end of this only to be severely
disappointed.
