The Chaos Before the Baby

So, we have been back in the US for ten months now, and I would say mostly settled into our house and lives here in Idaho.  Matthew is all in to his new job, which is a great fit for him, and the kids and I are swinging into our roles at home and in the community.  We love where we live and are excited to be here.

Last week we began Phase 2 of a sort of remodel of our house.  Phase 1 was when we purchased the home five years ago next month – it had been a shabby rental with a lot of potential.  Our eleven months in Idaho for training in 2013-2014 before heading off to France and Congo were spent getting it up to speed to be a nice rental.  We succeeded and were pleased with the results, both when we left and how well everything held up when we returned.  Our last set of renters were not exactly ideal, but after hearing everyone’s horror stories, we certainly weren’t going to despair.

Our basement isn’t pretty and the heating system was never perfect (be we survived last winter without freezing).  Our goal is to hit both at the same time: remodel the basement and remove the old heating system while giving the house an efficient and modern upgrade: radiant floor heating.

The beginning steps of this monumental task was to, essentially, play musical bedrooms.  The three older kids have had reign of the top floor – a giant space that makes a perfect master suite, with its own bathroom and open space.  It has also made for a great playroom and bedroom for the kids.  However, Matthew and I were just counting down the time until it was ours.  Piper has been in one of the basement bedrooms.  Her sleeping schedule is an epic 6:30pm – 10am, plus a nap, and she’s not the soundest sleeper, so having her own space is essential both for her and for our sanity (we get all of our homeschooling done during her sleeping times – it works well).  Matthew and I, then, have been crammed into the tiny bedroom on the main floor, in a full size bed, which was fine at first, but as this baby has been filling out more and more space, it is less fine to be in a full-sized bed.  Plus, the whole room was just tiny and cramped and overall not going to be a good fit much longer.

So, how do we still get all of our sleep and, yet, clear out the basement?  Musical spaces!  We moved the kids into our tiny room, in a bunk bed, with the boys on a full-sized bottom and Millie on the top.  It’s not ideal, but it will work during the construction phase.  We moved to our glorious amount of space upstairs (and one of the queen sized beds from one of the two basement bedrooms moved with us) and will slowly make that space our little escape.  The dormer in the upstairs master suite was large enough before for Amelia’s bed and a dresser.  We decided to make that a future walk in closet (it even has a window), but for the next few years, it will serve as a nursery.  First, for Piper, who will get her space away from the bustle of the main floor, and we will all still get our sanity of knowing that girl is getting the rest she needs.  Then, when she moves out, the new baby will have his or her own space to learn to sleep on their own once they’re old enough.

Overall, it will be a win.  The major downside is that the kids don’t have a dedicated play space at the moment and we had to pack up most of their toys, but since it’s summer, I get to kick them outside guilt-free (I mean, it’s not raining).  This also makes it hard to have guests, especially families, over because life is now lived in just 1000 square feet on the main floor, but it is only temporary.

This clears out the basement in order to install the radiant floor heating in the floor and the ceiling, and remodel the space.  Since the giant furnace and hot water tank both get to be evicted, we will recapture a lot of square footage, both on the ground and by taking down the ducts in the ceiling.  Then, the two bedrooms will become a boys’ room and a girls’ room, there will be a large dedicated play/school space, we will remodel the bathroom down there that I think is particularly sketchy, and I may even get a Pinterest-worthy laundry room.  Not that I mind that my current laundry room is brick cement walls and floor, but…I can dream, right?

Matthew will be doing much of the work himself, minus a few details and permit-worthy requirements.  The materials are already on site and ready to begin.  And, after last week’s back-breaking moving around of bedrooms, packing boxes of unneeded items for the next few months, I have felt like we are moving…again.

You see, we have moved not only every calendar year since 2011, but for the last three pregnancies, we have moved in the last trimester!  Levi was born into stability in Alaska, but his siblings didn’t get such humble beginnings.

Amelia was born into the chaos of us leaving Alaska, and moving temporarily into my parents’ as we raised support for our first year in Congo.  Matthew (and his brother and now-boss, Andrew) had literally driven the truck with all of our earthly possessions down the Alaska-Canada highway, ten days before she was born – giving us ten whole days to dig through boxes, find baby supplies, and fit them into my parents’ house in Washington before she arrived!

Axel was born right here in this house, in that glorious upstairs master suite, only six weeks after moving in, in the middle of the house’s required renovations.  The day of his birth?  I had a functional toilet on one floor, a functional shower on another, and no bathtub!

Piper was born in Congo, which is note-worthy enough, but it was only two months after moving from one house around the corner to a new one (that was only recently renovated on the inside and bits and pieces were still being finished – meaning, I had workers I didn’t know all over the property at any given moment).

So, with less than 12 weeks remaining until my due date, I realize this is just the way Lind babies arrive into the world – and I am very grateful for that classic nesting instinct that gives me the energy I need to get the bare necessities ready.

Speaking of necessities, I did make a short registry list, almost entirely of large baby things we had to leave behind in Congo…because heaven knows I am swimming in clothes and blankets and baby things.  Is it weird to post it?  Maybe so…doing it anyway.

So, I will probably reenergize the blog with construction updates because I am so excited to make this house even more delightful.  The 1940’s construction and charm are still my favorite, but it is time for these upgrades.