move update: february and march

My family's word of the year is MOVE, and we're using it to frame our intentions for 2014.  Here is the year's declaration, and here is is the January update.

I'm overdue to share a move update.  To be honest, the wind kind of got knocked out of me in February when we realized that the keynote event of our word of the year- moving houses- was not going to happen.  Now, at the beginning of April, it feels like a million years ago that Ben and I had our epiphany and broke up with our realtor.  The saddest part was she already knew.  She was relieved.  

But I wasn't ready to let go of move, because it's important in so many ways around here.  If we're not going to pull up roots completely, then we need to rearrange.  We've spent the last month seriously evaluating the flow of our house and discussing what we need to be comfortable.  We're making the revolutionary decision to ADD carpet and COVER HARDWOODS.  Most people we know grow faint at this, but for our family, we truly believe it will be more comfortable.  My house isn't Pinterest, and this hard floor is tough on baby heads.  We also have plans to get rid of some furniture in the kitchen, add matching open shelving to make a "pantry," and paint.  Add a dishwasher.  Our biggest project will be turning the back porch into a den to hold Ben's movies, my books, and our craft supplies.  We're taking quotes.  We're moving forward.

I'm also using this as an excuse to move clutter.  We have a lot of stuff packed and piled in this little house.  I want to be a museum curator in my home, I like to save things, and we frequent flea markets, hoarding little trinkets we can get for under 20 dollars.  It's the best part of who we are and my favorite thing about the way we make our home. So choices have to be made.  Keep the old love letters that belonged to a couple in the 40s and throw out the old papers you wrote your first year of grad school.  Keep the three pieces of baby clothing that you splurged on from Etsy and pass all the cute tiny clothes on to other mamas trying to make it happen- that's how you got by with little ones.  Keep the family heirloom stuffed pheasant.  Always keep the family heirloom stuffed pheasant.

Physically, we're still not move experts.  We love books and movies and we're tired from a life that is busy but not necessarily active.  In the first three months of the year, I've never committed to a regular exercise routine, although I'm not giving up on myself yet.  It was a gross late winter, raw and windy, but the boys truly do beg to dance every night after dinner, ever since our first impromptu dance party that broke my heart.  Literally in the last week it has become nice enough for the snow to melt, and we've already walked to the library once and the park twice.  The afternoons are hit or miss, but we're getting outside more.  I have hopes to take swimming lessons with Elliott, just like I did with Milo, and I'm looking at gymnastics for my 2-year-old who loves to jump and do somersaults.

In my personal life, the tiniest piece of life that is for me and only me, I'm moving forward by really looking at my writing hobby.  My blog has always been a noisy online journal, unplanned and unfiltered, and it's been years since I shared any fiction with anyone.  But I think I may want to move forward here, as well.  Last month I created a LinkedIn profile (it still feels like a kids craft next to the impressive canvases of my peers careers, but I'm MOVING FORWARD okay?!) and I guest posted once.  There's more to come.  

I'm tremendously glad I committed to move updates.  I was feeling really low about the word of the year when it was freezing, I wasn't going to the gym, and we weren't even freaking MOVING anymore.  But writing it out, I can see that real, focused change has happened in my family since the beginning of the year.  Even if it isn't exactly what it looked like in January, it's still happening.  We're still learning.  We're still moving.  It's still looking to be a great year.