Hiatus OVER

"To everything (turn, turn, turn), there is a season (turn, turn, turn)" ...and now that is going to be stuck in all our heads for the rest of the day. You're welcome.

It appears that this is the season to wait, at least for our family. Waiting to sell the house. Waiting to have a baby. Waiting to hear where our new home will be. Surprisingly, and very uncharacteristically, I'm not bothered by any of this. I'm sure that will change as time goes on, but for now I'm all Zen and Buddha-like, and not just because I'm rotund. I'm just not wasting a lot of mental or emotional energy on what is totally out of my control.

So I totally yanked these off the MLS site for our house, thinking there was no way the house will look as good again. This is our dear sweet house for about four months a year.

Of course this is what it actually looks like right now and for the other eight months of the year. Tim is going to quibble about this but so far I have experienced heavy snow in every single month except for June through September. I'm sticking to my numbers. 

More propaganda.

More reality

Let's just be real here for a minute. Putting a house on the market is really hard work. I feel like I've already given birth, in fact, to one ginormous and somewhat awkwardly shaped infant. Same elation, same exhaustion, same sense of "Well, now what does our normal life look like?" Less stitching involved though, glory hallelujah.

We started this process immediately after Christmas and yet somehow, we were still running around at 2 AM the night before the photographer and the realtor showed up to formally list the house, doing things like frantically scrubbing baseboards and shoving last piles of papers under the bed (which reminds me, I should get those out) and arranging flowers in vases because you know, of course we live with fresh flowers in bud vases atop the toilet all year round and so will you, should you buy this perfect and spotless home.

Our room

Miss Adelaide's room. Is she really this old?

The G Man's room

We also had many man and woman hours of labor dedicated by my in-laws, without whom we would never have gotten this done. Thank God for family, and for the END of endless "To Do" lists. Or at least a break from them.

The end result has been great and I love our newer, simplified version of life. How did we accumulate so much stuff anyway?

Living Room

The kitchen/living room. Just in case you were confused.

The sunroom. Snowroom. Whatever.

 Oh, and we sold our house since I started writing this post. That was fast, right? We had four showings in 24 hours and those showings yielded two offers. We accepted the "best" one naturally, and are very pleased with our end of the deal. Now we just cross our fingers for the inspection. If all goes well, we should close June 26th, which means no dreaded "double move" for us. 

As you can see from the pictures, winter continues to be an evil terrorist of a season here. Lately we've had a few warm days in the 40s, but I'm not buying it yet. Spring is approximately three days long in MN, and I just can't believe we're there. We were walking into the grocery store during our recent thaw, and we were actually, you know, walking...not scurrying with our shoulders hunched up around our ears in a desperate search for shelter...and Addie said "Oh Mom, thank goodness summer is finally here!" It was 36 degrees outside. I fear our children are permanently warped and will never be able to believe in Santa Claus, religion, or the existence of seasons ever again.

Tim out snow blowing after a winter storm. I see your "Winter Weather" NC, and raise you three feet.

A typical February snowfall.

Now that our house is actually sold, I find myself taking stock of our life here and our home itself and wondering what I'll miss. It's hard to know for sure because we have no idea where we're going. I'm not going to spend a lot of time mourning the sight of hoarfrost on the trees if we're moving to Alaska, if you know what I mean.

Speaking of where we're moving, no, we really still have no clue and we may not find out until as late as mid May, according to the latest rumors. When we do know we will shout it from the rooftops and there is no way you will  miss the information. Especially if you are an immediate family member. I can't tell you how many times people like our MOTHERS have asked us if we've heard and it's like "Oh yeah, Mom, I just totally forgot to tell you where we're moving, sorry, my bad". We sort of laugh and rip out our hair simultaneously because of course we will announce the news about 30 seconds after we have it.It's natural and I know we'll do the same thing to our children some day in the time honored tradition of parents driving their children nuts with their loving concern. Not that we're short tempered about it or anything.

Speaking of short tempered, holy smokes, E3 is amazing and wonderfully beautiful according to the ultrasound we saw today, and oh my heavens, I want to meet this baby. Said baby is also tormenting the fool out of me with painful (false) back labor that upsets my tummy and keeps me awake and causes me untold amounts of "Could this be it"?!!? exactly like his/her brother did. And we all know how pleasant I was at the end of my pregnancy with Graydon. :-) I actually went in to be checked today because I was contracting every five minutes with back pain, was unable to keep down food, and was spotting. Obviously I was NOT in active labor..given that I am blogging instead of eating a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit whilst marveling at our newest creation... but I am 3 cm dilated. So, yes, let's do this, E3. Any time you like, I'm ready.

So that's what has happened during the hiatus. A house was sold, our next destination remains mysterious, and our third baby is eminently imminent. And lest I sound cranky, we are actually really blissfully happy right now. I will expound more on that later. For now, I need some chocolate and a bath in no particular order.