The Last Days

Alternate title: A post to use up all the random pictures from the past week or two.

Packing Up
Tonight is the last night in the 'Burb Nest for the boys and I.  It's a little crazy around here.  Jon and I started packing up this past weekend.  Although the movers take care of most of the packing and heavy lifting, there are still many things that they won't touch - open food containers, garage fluids, chemicals, toiletries ... and things we don't want them to touch - tools, linens we need for the in-between time, jewelry (I've learned my lesson), thesis research, a few toys to get us through the weekend ... We also have to remove everything from the walls so they can wrap and pack them.  And we've rolled up and put away all our rugs.  Which means our house has a strange echo.  It also means there's plenty of open space for riding 4-wheelers around the house.



Recently, I've found myself issuing odd decrees, like "No one can wear anything that requires ironing until we move" because I've finally caught up on the ironing.  And Jude's not allowed to wear any white shirts because I've finally got through sunning out all the stains on them (who's idea was it anyway to create white shirts for babies?!).  I also only bought minimal groceries this week, which means either strange meal combinations or the all-too-easy meal out.

And there's the attempt to explain to Jack just what is going on.  We talk about the "new house" a lot and his "new park" and "new room."  On Wednesday night we had our final walk-thru, I told Jack we were going to the "new house" and he immediately grabbed his "Monka-binks" and was ready to move out right then and there.  Not so fast buddy, there's still a bit more work to do.



Making the most of it
This kind of "in-between" living is taking its toll though.  It reminds me of the last few weeks of my Jude-pregnancy.  The whole ready-but-not thing.  It's no secret that we're ready to go.  To start our new life in our new house.  But I also want to make sure we soak up these last few days in our current place.  It's been an odd year, and I'm still not sure how I feel about it.  But I do know that this house and this neighborhood and this town have been our home for the past 12 months.  Where we've melded together as a family.  Where we've laughed and cried, were both busy and bored, and have learned and grown.  And for that reason I believe it deserves a proper exit. 

There will be no last minute sunset beach walks, like in our Beach Nest.  Instead we have the playground.  Our new neighborhood doesn't have a park.  I can't say how disappointed I am over this!  The park has been our escape.  A place to let Jack run wild, an opportunity to shut the door on the house and whatever mess and drama it contains and get out in the open air (and perhaps keep us out there longer than planned after forgetting the key).  And a place to make new friends.  If it wasn't for the park,  I would probably still not know a soul here.

He just spotted "a kid!"  What follows:  "Hi, I Jack!"

On Plants and Vitamin D
While preparing for the move, we remember another thing the moving company won't take - plants.  We've actually cut our botanical inventory in half this past year.  Between Jack and Jude's jungle explorations and the decreased amount of sunlight in our current house, we've lost a few of our leafy friends.  But then we realized we have to move the empty pots anyway, why not put something in them for the time being?  Plus it gives Jack something to water ...

Check out Jack's "plant" at the end of the row.

I also put all the houseplants out on the patio to group all the things we'd be taking in a separate load together.  I thought I was doing them a favor giving them an opportunity to get a few bonus doses of Vitamin D before we hauled them away again.  They did not appreciate the gesture.  In fact,all but one appears to be teetering on the edge of death.  If things weren't so crazy here, if I had a moment to really think about it, I'd probably be extra upset.  Some of these are my very first plants ever, the ones that taught me my first lessons in responsibility and caretaking over 15 years ago (okay, okay I'll admit, green, leafy houseplants don't require a lot of supervision but hey it was a start!).  Instead I find myself just chalking it up as another moving casualty.  I'm expecting a few more.  It will happen.  Such is the military life.

In a last-ditch effort to save them, I moved them all back into the living room where Jude has been enjoying being in close proximity with his new friends.  He's managed to pluck off the few healthy leaves that are left, and I've caught him playing drums with the glass watering globes more than once (so far, one of those has been a casualty too).  He's such a little stinker.  He touches the plant, Mommy says, "No, no Jude.  No touching."

So he flashes Mommy a grin.  So much for Jude being my compliant child.

Gardening for Worms
I'm missing out on starting a garden.  I planted some herbs and a few potatoes in pots and they've really taken off.  Hopefully the new house has a nice spot for them.  And I weeded the whole garden for the new tenants, who are moving here from out west and very excited about the prospect of gardening.  Jack helped, and together we had fun hunting for worms.  At first there was just one, then two.  But when he saw the two of them "holding hands" he decided we needed more "worm friends."  We dig them out, throw them in his flourescent green bucket and soon they'd disappear to, according to Jack, "Get a tubby" or "Play with puzzles."  Fortunately, he's still a little worm timid and not in to sling-shotting or slicing any of the little crawlers.



Friends
Yes, Jack is very much into "friends" these days.  He wants the worms to have friends, he makes sure his toys have friends, and yesterday at lunch he insisted the lone grape on his plate needed some more "friends" so that they could "hold hands."  Really I think the kid just wanted more grapes.  My friend Jen threw us a little pizza luncheon today for our final playdate with all the little friends we've made here.  Little ones grow so fast, and we all reminisced about how much each of ours had changed since we first met up last summer. 

Jack thinks he's fully capable of picking out his own clothes now.

It's not always easy to move on, to leave behind friends in each place we've lived, to start over fresh in a new home, to meet new people and try to figure out who will have the patience to tolerate my wild boy ... I'm excited and nervous and stressed all at the same time.  But I'm sure Jack will take it all in stride.  He'll seek out a new face, run up to them with his hair bouncing and eyes sparkling and say, just like he did to the moving guy this morning when he opened the door, to the twice his age kid at the park, to the hostess at Friday's - "Hi, I Jack!"  I'm sure we'll do fine.  I'm sure God has big plans for us over the next three yeras.  And I'm sure we'll have lots of new stories to tell in the process.

Farewell 'Burb Nest!