Being late, being disorganised, and living in a mess. The top three things that really raise my anxiety levels. Hence why moving house 3 times in 4 years has been so very fun! 

 But here we are, we made it. Truly praising the Lord for the two men who came and packed and moved the entire contents of our house and garage. Although I know they were being paid, I felt genuinely sorry for them. We have a lot of stuff. 

It dawned on me at some point during an incredibly long day-we’ve never moved house with a crawling/cruising 15 month old. He’s delicious, but he was very. hard. work. I toyed with the idea of packing him in a box, but resisted the temptation. 

The trouble is, everything in me is desperate to get in there, organise those boxes, hang curtains, fill the cupboards, paint the rooms, and display ornaments. The wannabe interior designer in me wants to be settled by the end of the second day, ideally. Three children under 3 don’t really allow for a lot of unpacking and sorting! And there’s the everyday things that still need doing too-I can’t argue ‘but we’ve just moved house’, and forget the uniform, the dinners, the baby’s feeds. 

As hard and exhausting as these last two weeks have been, once again I’m so incredibly grateful for God’s timing. We were frustrated when panel was delayed twice from December to January then to March, but the fact it was delayed meant Liam’s adoption leave timed perfectly with a house move and the Easter holidays. And although he may not consider this a ‘break’ exactly (!), I genuinely don’t know how we could have done it if he hadn’t been off work.

And although moving house again was not on my agenda for this year, it was more of a requirement than a choice, the fact this house showed up in my inbox on the very day we were asked to move doesn’t seem very ‘happy accident’ like. It is a lovely home, in beautiful surroundings, and I feel like I can breathe here. 

The social worker who visited this evening commented on the fact we’ve done most of the major life transitions in the space of months. Yes, that has not escaped our notice, the bags under the eyes and slightly dazed expressions might give that away! 

So we are in, and every day we do make progress in the box emptying process. I have to be patient, apparently Rome wasn’t built in a day. And now it’s the holidays and the children are off, we are trying to meet that balance of doing nice things with them, but also helping them understand that at times, life is boring and jobs must be done. I want to help them understand they can make their own fun without screens or constant intake of food. 

I find there’s always a wobbly few days at the beginning of the holidays, where the siblings re-establish their dynamics and pecking order, and gradually settle into mutual toleration. Sometimes even appreciation, but I try not to have expectations that are too high! I have to admit I wasn’t really looking forward to the holidays. The lazier mornings yes, the arguments and complaining-especially when we are all pretty tired already-not so much. So I decided to just take each day at a time, and enjoy the change in routine instead of chomping at the bit to get the house sorted. It’s been so lovely to have the sun shining, space for them to play, and time to observe who they are.  There is a real joy in seeing how the older ones interact with the younger ones, and that is what I’m enjoying the most about them being off so far.