The one kind of change that I actually LIKE

Keeping busy around here. Two weeks ago Tom had his wisdom tooth removed. That was lots of fun for everyone. Tom was in a lot of pain and pretty much had to stay in bed unconscious for about 3 days. I made him a awesome chicken soup from scratch with everything super soft and tiny bites. That kept him going till he could eat real food again.

Then the next weekend, last weekend, we moved our bedroom over to the larger room upstairs. Then this weekend we moved all three kids' beds up to the small upstairs room. It's only their beds and stuffed animals (stuffies). I used sticky-tack to hang up glowing stars above Nick's bed in the center of the room and then butterfly wall decals over the sloped ceilings over the girls' beds. It actually looks pretty good in there.

Last night the girls tortured Nicky for a while. I was in my room listening out for them and he was telling them to be quiet and they were yelling back at him. Basically revenge for him bugging them during the day. We ended up letting him fall asleep in our room and then moved him into their room after everyone was asleep. Tonight the girls fell asleep before dinner and were out. So we thought it would be easier getting Nicky to bed, but he had a hard time settling down and ended up going to sleep downstairs in his old room. Go figure. As of some time this week his old room won't exist anymore though, so he won't have that option for too much longer.

The idea between having the kids all in one room was to have them closer to us (I hated having them on a separate floor from us), have all of us upstairs so that it'll be warmer this winter and so I'd know the temperature in their room was akin to ours, and because Nick has wanted to sleep in a room with someone else for quite a while. He hates being alone at night. It probably isn't too fun considering everyone else in the family gets to sleep in a room with someone else. I'm sure he'll want his own space after a while, but while they're all little I think sharing a room will be fine.

Next is putting together a guestroom down in the girls' old room, including the treadmill. The kids' clothes are also going to all be down there too. I think it will just be a lot more convenient to have their clothes down there. Then next weekend we'll make Nick's old room the den with the computers, and the weekend after that we'll be turning the old den into the dining room.

Finally we'll be able to use our big dining table again! It was just getting too crowded around the round table in the kitchen. With the girls really uninterested in being in highchairs anymore we have been seating 5-6 people around this little 3ft diameter table in the kitchen. We can just about do it, but it is really crowded and there's not much room for the food! Now we'll have everyone in real chairs, or the bench, around the big table, and we'll also have the round table in there too (the room is huge) as a kids' table for big dinners, or as a homework/art table or something other times.

We're putting the big silver shelves back in the kitchen for storage of kitchen stuff, and then having a 2x4ft folding table in the kitchen against the window with just the girls' two metal chairs (without the highchairs anymore) for them to sit for breakfast/lunch time when it's usually just the two of them. They can watch the wildlife in the backyard. I think they'll enjoy that.

So we're pretty much moving around every piece of furniture in the house other than the living room. It'll mostly be done on weekends, so it's taking 3-4 weekends to get done. And there will be a lot of sorting and purging of stuff as well to go along with it. That'll take a bit of doing. But then we'll be in good shape for the holidays and visitors. We have Grandma coming up for Halloween, and hopefully Grammie coming up for Christmas. Not sure yet what's on the agenda for Thanksgiving. We'd thought about driving to GA, but I just think a 10 hr drive is too much for the kids (and me, with the kids). Maybe we'll get to talk them into coming here instead!

You know, it's funny. I typically don't like change. Moving is hard for me, I'm pretty easygoing and can find my niche and satisfaction in a lot of places, so it takes a lot for me to uproot myself. I always do fine and make friends and stuff, but getting going is hard. Heck, my mother and sister had to pack my bags for college because I was too in denial that I was leaving! But moving around everything in the house? Not a problem. I've been rearranging my living space since I was a kid moving around my room. LOVE IT. Tom...doesn't quite love it so much. Of course that might be because I let him do most of the heavy lifting. :)