The waiting game

HG and K Bear enjoying the fountain

Obviously it's been quite a while since I gave any kind of update about what has been going on with us...as in since late May. Yikes. Just a little has happened since I posted last. I think we were about to leave for Florida with BK's family. We had a great time at Rosemary Beach with everyone. It was a nice getaway and provided us some great quality time to catch up and spend with BK's family as soon as we moved back.

K Bear has been busy with lots of other activities this summer

Ah yes, then came the moving. I really don't even know how to start to explain the process we've been through- let's just say it hasn't exactly been easy. After we returned from Florida, we moved into our temporary apartment and the work really started on both our new house and our old house that we were hoping to get on the market soon.

In reality, our new house was totally move-in ready, as a family of five was previously living here. But when we bought our house we knew this would be our house that we raised our family in, and we wanted to really make it ours and make it feel like home to us. So we've pretty much painted every surface in the house, have redone the master bathroom, added some things to the kitchen...and then there's the furniture- a story in itself.

As you may or may not know, we got an air shipment and sea shipment when moving from Switzerland. Our air shipment arrived shortly after we did with no problem. Unfortunately I cannot say the same about the sea shipment. Somehow water got into our sea shipment container and nearly everything had mold or some kind of water damage to it. They immediately threw away our couches, mattresses, and a number of kid things. Then we were left with a huge pile that needed to be assessed as to whether or not they could be cleaned or not- in the end, most could not be cleaned and were thrown away.

Not what you want to see when they unwrap your stuff

It was really unfortunate, but ultimately you quickly realize that there's really not much that is irreplaceable. Somehow only two of the paintings we'd been collecting were not salvageable, and all the others made it. Additionally, Kate's baby book and all of our wedding pictures somehow made it as well.  There were some things they marked for disposal that I could not bring myself to part with, and others they attempted to clean that I can't bring myself to use, so have been thrown away. Obviously we made it through, but it was a process to say the least! And to get back to the furniture, needless to say, we have pretty much gotten all new furniture for the house, as nearly all of ours was ruined.

Abbs, Lala and K Bear with Mimi and PopPop for the 4th of July

K bear has been a trooper to say the least, pretty much rolling with the punches and adjusting really well. I'm not quite sure what she would do if we had to go back, as she' so used to seeing Cookie, Mimi, PopPop, Abbs, Lala, Nani, Aunt Linds, Mawmaw and everyone else, we would have serious withdrawals if we weren't so close. BK and I love it though, and it's exactly why we wanted to move back. I have a little guilt that we haven't gotten out and been social with all of the neighbors, but we have had a lot going on to say the least, so the time will come, and we'll be friendlier neighbors.

Sometimes we miss things from Switzerland, like kid-sized grocery carts

Right this second we're pretty much just playing the waiting game for Baby H to make his appearance. If he doesn't come before, he'll be coming into the world sometime on Monday. So now I'm to the point where I'm crossing random stuff off my list, that in theory I wanted to get done, but I figured they'd eventually get done somewhere down the line. I never thought I'd actually get them done before Baby H arrived. For example, updating my resume and cover letter for when I would like to start looking for work at the end of the year and picking out a bridal portrait for BK's parents' house (11 years later, but that's beside the point).

It's been quite a whirlwind to say the least. And now that we're settled Baby H is going to come along and do his thing. I hope to post again soon, but we'll see how that goes. I'm sure the next time I post we'll be a family of four!