An update from New Berlin

Oh dear...
I haven't written in awhile. 
Life.
You know?
It just gets in the way sometimes.

I think...Eleanor and I are just about moved in. 
We have transitioned from unpacking to rearranging. 
Turning chaos into a house....into a home. 
Every day.  Every minute.  We feel more at home.

At first, it was just like we were going to spend some time at Andy's.
Honestly.  It wasn't all easy. 
It wasn't easy to pack it all up and move away. 
To move to a new place and to feel like I was taking my daughter away from my parents.
And poor Andy. 
Some crazy girl moves into his house, brings a bunch of junk and sits in bed and cries.
Every night.
Oh...just another reason why I love that man.  Sometimes he laughed at me.
Sometimes he just held me and let me cry.
Sometimes he bought me flowers and said really nice things.

Eleanor has adjusted incredibly well to preschool.  I think it was a harder transition for mom.  At first she didn't know anyone's name.  She didn't know her teacher's name.  She couldn't tell us what she did during the day.

Now each day she comes home she tells us a new friend's name.  She tells us stories about her teachers and she calls them by name.  She tells us things her teacher says to her and about hugs she gets.  AND she told me her name starts with the letter "E" and can show me an E in words (like when we were pulling into the TargEt parking lot).  She can tell me there are 7 days in a week and is always asking what a day means.  What does "Monday" mean, mom?  Every day, a million stories.  A million adventures.  And she is loving it.
Once again...time prevails and patience is key. 

I'm learning my way around the grocery store.  I'm choosing which grocery store I like better.  I'm learning that streets like "National Ave" and "Sunny Slope" really aren't as big as I thought they were and they are all just streets in my neighborhood.  Things are becoming familiar.  Comfortable. 

And every night I go downstairs, I kiss my sweet baby girl good night.  I tuck her in.  Under her new comforter, in her new room, in her new bed.  I thank God for the most amazing blessing in my life. 
And then I head back upstairs, careful not to trip over a box or one of our baskets that haven't found a home and I crawl into my own bed.  And I kiss Andy good night.  And I feel myself start to relax...listening to the deep breaths of Eleanor in the monitor (that I resurrected during the move...just until we get settled), Karl at the end of the bed, and Andy laying next to me.  And I thank God for the fact that I have many, many amazing blessings in my life.