Just a lot of words

I need a laptop, then I could do my whining from its rightful place, my bed.  But I don't have one, and I'm not sure a lot of whining is really what I need to be doing right now.  Just know that I could.  That I could fill up an entire page with how sick I feel and how tired I am of it. But I won't.
 

Instead, that thought can be the baseline from which I share the rest of things.

Overall, we are adjusting well.  The kids are doing pretty well with school.  Ava may have reached the end of the honeymoon, realizing that school is still school.  But her teacher and class remain a good spot for her.

Luke is doing fine in kindergarten and doesn't seem to mind that it's only 3 hours.

Max started three day a week preschool.  After a weekend, he's always less than thrilled about going back, but after I pick him up he's singing its praises.  I had planned for him to do four day a week junior kindergarten next year because he just misses the deadline for actual kindergarten.  But on account of the new baby and the ridiculous amount of shuttling I'm doing now, I think I am going to put him back in pre-k and delight in the idea that I will only drive him 3 days a week again.

You see, right now, I am taking Ava to school at 8:45am (9am school is glorious by the way!! No rushing!) And then Tues/Wed/Thurs I take Max to school at 12.  Of course, I can't just drop him off, I must get the baby out and bring Luke and Max inside as well.  Then everyday at 12:30 I take Luke to kindergarten.  I am supposed to drag the kids out of the car again and walk him up to the door, but I've become complacent with cheating and I send Luke up to the door by himself and watch him from my car and I will continue to do that until I get called out for it.  Then I pick Max back up at 3pm (back inside with the baby) and then pick up Ava and Luke at 3:30.  Phew! Just typing that out makes me feel yucky.  I've never fought daily thoughts to just keep the kids home from school because I don't want to take them.  The boys play together pretty well each morning anyway.

They don't know it yet, but next year Ava and Luke will ride the bus together, both directions. I didn't have the heart to make them do it this year, with all the changes and stress of moving.  And if Max does pre-k again, I think I can carpool with a friend, possibly requiring only one trip each of the three days.

When I had Finn last march, my carpool compadres stepped up big time and just took me out of the rotation, meaning I never had to take or pick up any of my kids either direction, the last 3 months of school. It was fabulous.

I've come to realize that I might be, in fact, one of those obnoxious people that think Texas is the best.  From the stop lights and street names, to the efficiency of church meetings and book club.  It's not really true of course, I could make a list of things that I don't love about Texas.  But lately, when I just crave the familiar, it's hard not to look back with rose colored glasses.  The street names though, I haven't come across any so confusing in all of my moves.  There are a million different streets with the same name.  The only difference is in the tiny little suffix at the end--Ave, Lane, Circle, Way, Road, Street. I don't know who the city street namer was but I can be sure his elementary report card said, "lacks creative thought". It's never enough to know the name of the road you want, you must know the whole thing. Every street in our neighborhood is basically one of three different names, the only differentiation being the little, tiny suffix in 2 point font, on the street sign.

We are getting used to the weather.  Everything we'd been told is true! It snows, and then the next day it melts and is gone.  It can be 65 in February.  And the next day it can be 10.  It is usually always sunny.  I learned my lesson, at the park last week, when Finn and I came home with very sunburned cheeks. And it took a few mornings of waking to snow for Ava not to ask if school was cancelled.

Dan's work is very busy and very stressful right now.  We had hoped that when he escaped the office closure in Dallas that things would slow down and perk up.  Unfortunately that has not been the case.

We've made our way out of most of the boxes, which feels great, though the house feels miles from being "done".  I usually really enjoy the decorating process but I find myself without vision or the ability to make choices at the moment.

I learned that I can have my groceries delivered! It has changed my life! In a tiny way, this makes up for the ridiculous amount of school pick ups and drop offs.

I miss my mom.  I miss my friends.  I miss my house.  I miss my stores and our schools.  I miss the arboretum and the parks and zoos we used to go to.  I miss a lot of little things that I didn't anticipate that I would. But life is good.

I was just telling Dan a few days ago, that even though things still seem unsettled for us and work is crazy and there's this surprise baby on its way, and I feel like complete crap 94% of every day, and nothing feels quite "right", despite all of that, it still feels "right".  Does that make any sense?  As much as I feel totally without control over so much of my life, I feel like it's going where it's supposed to.

And when everything else seems all upside down, that is a good feeling.