Hello

Life since baby V's arrival has been a wild ride.  My mom was here for a month--from 3 days before V arrived.  Silly me, I forgot to ask the doctor how long my recovery would be, so at the end of her visit I asked if she could stay an extra two weeks but she couldn't (she's so old school, she still pays bills with checks and in person and thus was worried about paying them.  Even though I told her we could do it from here).  Though it was probably good she left when she did--little A figured out how to get sympathy from my mom, so there was lots of drama, with my mom convinced we were just these horribly emotionally abusive parents, especially since you can't tell when big A is joking!

Since our stuff was shipped out from our storage unit, our place now looks like we're planning to move.  We still have a box in the corner of our living room with random crap hanging out of it, and near the door we have 3 boxes of books stacked.  I have two big shopping bags full of stuff I am Freecycling.  I Freecycled some stuff a couple of months ago and was shocked at what people will take!!

Today Little A and I attended the 3rd birthday party of a little Swedish girl we met through a friend.  It was a small party--only 2 or 3 other families attended--but very nice.  The dad heated hot dogs in a pan on the stove.  The only part that was kind of annoying was hearing about Sweden's phenomenal parental leave (400 paid days off, plus optional unpaid year).  It got to the point where I wanted to put up my hand and say "YES I KNOW FOR A DEVELOPED COUNTRY OUR PARENTAL LEAVE LAWS SUCK, THANKS FOR REMINDING ME."  But I digress.

One Swedish custom we learned was the distribution of party favors.  Apparently the kids go "fishing", but since it was so cold, the dad hung a sheet between a bookcase and the wall, and the mom would help the kids fish for a prize.

And yes, the home was predominantly furnished by IKEA.  :)

So I still dream of moving home within the year, before little A starts kindergarten but then I start panicking: could we afford the rent? (I very much doubt we'll be able to afford to buy.) Logistically, how do we ensure we don't go through the same madness that we went through when we moved here? What if deep down little A thinks this is truly home, though she often asks for family and misses her cousins? And how on earth could we ensure that we find renters for this house, let alone decent ones??

I think too much sometimes.

Stay tuned for another post on my new relationship with little A...