Getting Settled

The month of October has been a busy one, as you can imagine.

The movers unloaded and drove away. I pulled on my deep water waders and started in. First, was finding the boys bedding so I could put them down for naps on that first day. Then I started in on the kitchen. I also knew I needed to find my bedding so I could fall into bed at the end of the day!

By the time Chris had come home I knew I had made some headway but it didn't really feel like it and it didn't really look like it. I was totally overwhelmed with the prospect of getting up and doing it all again the next day. I actually felt a little defeated as I lay in bed that night.

But I have a perfectly lovely husband who stayed up late and unpacked many, many boxes. The sun was shining brighter the next day.

We went to church that first weekend. We arrived late and found out we were early! It was a complete reversal from our previous experience. The Bishop came up introduced himself and called over the ward clerk to transfer records. A few others also came up quickly and introduced themselves.

It was Fast and Testimony meeting and the Bishop was conducting. He spoke about how he had been fasting, and hoped the ward was to, for the ward to grow through missionary efforts but also especially from new families with youth and primary children to move in. And there we were! We had been prayed there! How fun to see how the Lord had answered our prayers and those of the ward at the same time!

Noah loves his new room (and even loves sharing it with Ian!) and shelves for all his stuff. His bunkbed wouldn't fit into the room given the hall and the size of the doorway and the placement of the closet so for now it a mattress on the floor.
Our second night in the house Ian really, really wanted to sleep on Noah's bed. We figured, what the hay, we were going to move him out the crib soon anyway. (I had been postponing it since I was pretty sure that staying in bed would be an issue for him and with the whole moving thing it would just be a stressor for him and me!)

So we laid out the other mattress and set him up in a big boy bed. We also laid down the law.

Get out of bed and back in the crib you go. We had to put him in once but that was it. The crib came down about a week or so later.
Sage stayed in the basket for about a week more (there were so many little projects that needed to be done when Chris got home that always seemed to come before her crib-not to be confused with Ian's crib that doesn't fit through doorways without coming apart first). She acquired a new favorite position before moving to her big girl bed.
The toys were mostly unpacked pretty quickly too. The pile was driving me nuts so instead of going back to IN like we had planned we went to Ikea. We went from this:
To this:
I love it!! Makes my soul sing!

And after a lot of phone calls (curse not having the internet!) and asking everyone I talked to about other possibilities, I finally found a preschool for Noah. (Another blessing really. I needed an morning session and they were all full. Everyone I called. I finally found one in the next village over that had openings in the morning but had a hard time reaching the woman that I needed to speak to about it. In the meantime an opening came up at the one closest and cheapest to me. They had to offer the spots to the people on the waiting list first. They all declined to move from the afternoon spots they had. I had my pick of either a 3 or 2 day morning session. I got exactly what I wanted! It was yet another thing that the Lord has prepared for us here!)

I was also pretty proud of myself for remembering to take a picture of Noah on his first day going to Greendale Playschool. He loves it.
I asked him, that first day, if he had made some new friends. He earnestly told me yes. I asked what their names were and he said "I don't know." Did that mean that he didn't really make friends or that I really couldn't remember?

I was a little comforted after one of the other mothers paused after dropping off her daughter to relate two conversations she had with her daughter:
D: Guess what, mommy?
M: What?
D: We have a new friend at school. His name is Noah. He is nice.

The next preschool day:
D: Guess what, mommy?
M: What?
D: Today is preschool day. I get to see Noah. I like Noah.

PS We went to the doctor yesterday and found out that Noah, at 4 1/2 years old, is 45 inches tall-the median height for a 6 year old.