Homeowners Again

We officially are no longer homeless. We got the keys to our new house this afternoon. What a great feeling that was.

Our "stuff" won't be delivered until Monday so we're still living at the dorm right now. Our plan for tonight was to get the carpets ripped out because the installation of the new carpet starts tomorrow morning. I couldn't wait to get it out of there for several reasons. The first is that it was a hideous green colour. Also, it was horribly stained in a lot of places. The final reason is that the previous owners had a cat and I am terribly allergic to cats. Getting rid of the carpets will help me breathe easier once we're living in the house.

So Nick and his friend spent this evening ripping out the horrible green carpet. I was very happy to see the end of that!

In true Wesley fashion, the house has already been christened. We had been there for a couple of hours when I figured it was time to change Wesley's diaper. I laid him down on the beautiful laminate floor of the living room and took off the old diaper. You can see where this is going, can't you? Of course I then realized that I hadn't taken a diaper out of the diaper bag and I had to dig for one. When I finally pulled one out, I turned to the diaper-less Wesley and saw the fountain hitting the floor. I asked Darcy to get me some paper towels but she was laughing so hard she had trouble doing that. Then of course she had to get Nick and tell him too. What a perfect start to our life in our new house!

The plan for the next few days mostly revolves around getting the carpets replaced. On Friday we are also expecting the delivery of our new washer and dryer. I am hoping to get the kitchen appliances ordered soon too. The dishwasher isn't bad but the fridge and stove are pretty junky. I'm hoping to sell the dishwasher and the dryer because they're in the best shape. I don't think the stove is worth selling, maybe I will donate it somewhere. I might keep the fridge in the garage. We'll see how that goes.

So that's where we are right now. I'll try to keep you posted as I can!

First Day of School

We all feel better now that Darcy has had her first day of school.

She was really nervous yesterday morning. On her first day of JK she didn't learn anyone's name and she came home crying because she didn't make any friends. She was really afraid that something like that was going to happen again. We tried all we could to reassure her, but she just needed to get there and see for herself that she would make friends easily.

She started crying on the drive to school because she was so nervous. Then the GPS led me astray and I had a bit of trouble finding the school. That stressed her out too, because then she thought she was going to miss it all! I eventually found the school and we went into the office. When we walked in, one of the secretaries who had been there when we registered Darcy saw me and said, "You must be here to drop off Darcy". Darcy was thrilled that they seemed to be waiting for her. They paged Darcy's teacher but she was on duty on the playground so she couldn't come. Another teacher walked us to the playground and brought out Darcy's teacher. Mme McGavin came right over and called her by name which made Darcy feel pretty great. Then she told Darcy how excited all her classmates were about meeting her. She took Darcy by the hand and took her inside the school.

After school Darcy told me that everyone was waiting for her and they all knew who she was already. She also had a cubby already made for her shoes and backpack. The fact that everyone already knew her name really set her at ease.

When I got to the school at the end of the day she was playing in the sand with another little girl. They looked like they had been friends for years. I stood and watched her for a few minutes and she had no idea I was there, she was having so much fun.

All of her nervousness is gone and now she's super-excited about going back to school today.

While Nick is at work and Darcy is at school, Wesley and I are having a hard time keeping ourselves entertained back in our dinky dorm room. I'm still going to try to get him to take a nap each afternoon, but we'll see how that goes. As I type this, Darcy and Wesley are playing Hide and Seek in the room, which is really hard because the room is so small there aren't a lot of places to hide.

Tonight we have our final walk through the house. At the same time we've arranged for the carpet installer to come and do the measurements he needs so he can be all set to install the new carpets once we get possession of the house next week.

Here We Are

Well, here's my first blog post as a resident of Ottawa.

Last Wednesday the moving company came and packed up our house. We spent Wednesday and Thursday nights in a hotel in Windsor while they were working. Wednesday was all packing and on Thursday they loaded the truck.

Things were a bit complicated for us when both kids developed pinkeye on Wednesday. It meant Darcy had to miss her last day at her much-loved school but her teacher let me take her in for a visit. They also both went on to develop ear infections and bad coughs as well. With both of them taking antibiotic eye drops and medicine they both seem to be on the mend now.

We had several sad goodbyes around Windsor and then on Friday at lunchtime we were ready to go. We spent the weekend in Cambridge and then were off to Ottawa on Sunday.

We are now residents of the Algonquin College residence until we get possession of our house on May 26th. We'll probably stay another night or two until we get the carpets replaced. We're going to play that a bit by ear. Our stuff won't be unpacked until June 1st though

Dorm life is a bit cramped for a family of 4. We have a two-bedroom suite but that's pretty much all that is in it. We've got two bedrooms, a small eating area and bathroom with shower only. I'm really glad we got the May 26th closing we wanted instead of the June 14th closing the sellers wanted. A month in here would have driven me crazy!

Nick started his new job yesterday and things went well for him. He's got an easy bus ride from the residence to downtown. Darcy starts her new school today. She goes back and forth between being really excited and really scared. We know that her teacher will be Mrs McGavin and that she is in the afternoon class. She is scared that she won't make any friends today and that there won't be a dollhouse in her classroom. I'm sure she'll do great but I know she'll feel a lot better when she's got a few days under her belt.

So that's our update in a nutshell. I'll try to keep you posted as things go on!