Small Break from the Madness

It's still pretty much chaos around the Barr household these days, but it's beginning to dwindle down. All the necessities are put away. I no longer run around during the evenings like a chicken with its head cut off because it can't find the box containing its brown heels to match the dress that it wants to wear tomorrow, which needs to be ironed but the iron and ironing board are also missing - AND WHERE THE HELL IS ITS JEWELRY HIDING?! It's still a shambles around here, I still feel like a million things need to be done, all the pictures are not hung in their appropriate places on the walls, but the OH MY GOD IT NEEDS TO BE DONE NOW - RIGHT NOW - urgency is beginning to fade away. I think I may just be giving up. It's tempting now to keep what's still in boxes packed up because if I haven't needed it in the past three weeks, chances are I won't miss it for the next year, or so.

Don't get your hopes up, Stephen; you know me better than that.

This past weekend I was forced to leave my mission for home order for a day and night in order to go to Dayton to attend Lydia's baptism. At first, I freaked out at the thought of leaving the house when so much was left to do, but now that I'm back home, I'm wishing to be gone again, snuggling with warm and squishy Lydia in Angela's painfully clean and organized home. Lydia is as cute and sweet in person as she could possibly be, in all her three-week old sleepy glory. It's funny how quickly you forget your own baby being that tiny and helpless...

Speaking of my own baby, as you can see, Asher is clearly moving out of babyhood and into manhood, looking quite dapper in his suit and red apple hat, courtesy of Marmie. He was a giant fan of Lydia and had an awesome time petting her like a kitty cat.

Thanks for having us over, Browns. It turned out to be a nice little mental vacation, complete with a much-needed newborn baby fix.

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Settling In...Eventually It Will Happen

I apologize for the lack of posts lately. I would much rather have been blogging than tackling the chaos of our move over the last couple of weeks. In fact, I'd rather have gouged out my eyes with rusty nails than gone through moving hell. I won't dwell on the fact that I was somehow stuck packing 95% of all of our bazillion boxes, and have primarily been the only one unpacking boxes now. Stephen and every other person I've come in contact with has heard me bitch about that enough, I'm sure. The main pain in the ass has been the sicknesses that have plagued us this month. A few weeks ago, Asher was sick with a stomach bug, then Stephen was so sick he had to go to the ER, and then I was sick. That set us back a good couple of weeks as far as packing went. Then, just a few days before moving day, Asher came down with another stomach virus - a much nastier one - that left us about three days behind on packing, cleaning, and hauling boxes over to the new place. The day after the movers came - the day before we had to be out of the house - Stephen got sick. Now, Asher has an awful cold which, in and of itself, isn't backing us up too much; however, the fact that I appear to be coming down with it now will likely hinder progress for the next several days. But, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and I think I can see it.

We've been in our new house for a week now, and it's beginning to feel like home. I really think we're going to be happy here. It's nothing fancy; it just gives me a good feeling being here. I honestly never felt that "at home" at our townhome. It was very nice, had some great features that I miss already (dual high vanities in the bathroom and our 2 1/2 car garage, for instance), but I never really liked the floorplan and the fact that our unit was attached to three other homes made me feel like we were in a glorified apartment. I love the floorplan here, I love the fact that it's an actual house, complete with a little yard and deck and playhouse for Asher. I love the fact that I can no longer hear my neighbor's dog barking to the right and my other neighbor's bass thumping to the left.

Asher and the kitties seem to be settling into the new house nicely, too. They are all enthusiastically exploring all of the new nooks and crannies and half-emptied moving boxes. Asher especially loves the new staircase, which has a landing half-way down with a window, so he can practice going downstairs on his tummy and stop mid-way for a peek out a window that's low enough he can actually see out.

My camera battery is at about 3% capacity, and the charger is lurking somewhere in the jungle that is our garage, so no pictures to post right now. I feel like I'm about five eons behind on everything...e-mails, blogging, thank you cards from Christmas and Asher's birthday...but hopefully in a couple of weeks, life will not only feel back to normal, but better than normal. I, personally, am really looking forward to getting back on the road to happiness.

Health, sanity, and time permitting, I'll try to make time for updates in the near future...

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