Transitions

transitions

September 5, 2017 · by Soul Diver · in creations of a soul diver, stories of a soul diver. · Edit

According to the cool weather outside, the calendar, the full moon coming up tomorrow, and my Facebook feed full of first-day-of-school photos, we’re in a time of transition. A time of change and new beginnings. A time of adjustments.

Our family has been experiencing a lot of change lately too.

We are in the midst of wrapping up a pretty major renovation. We gutted both of our bathrooms and a wall in our guest room (now Ari’s room) to reconfigure and make the upstairs space a lot more functional for us. Having no bathtub in the main (aka kids’) bathroom was not working well for us, especially when the only alternative was the giant 1980’s triangle-shaped Jacuzzi in our ensuite bathroom, which he would use against us every bathtime to stay just out of our reach. And we figured with a new babe on the way, if we didn’t take care of these changes now, they would just not happen. Now or never.

So we moved out of our house and away from the dust, mess and noise, and into my parents’ house who (lucky for us) were living at the cottage for the summer. We had hoped to kick the renovation off earlier but couldn’t find anyone with availability so unfortunately, the scheduled completion date had to be just a few days before another big deadline… Baby #2’s due date.

Before & after our *almost* completed renovation

So with the renovation ramping down and almost complete, we’re counting down the days until our new little babe arrives. Living halfway between two houses made nesting a bit difficult, but I managed to can A LOT of peaches, make a bunch of meals for the freezer, and am almost wrapped up on some outstanding mosaic projects.

Because Baby #1 came so quickly once I was in labour, I didn’t want to venture far from home in this final month. So we’ve been squeezing in lots of little close-to-home adventures and having fun, making memories and enjoying spending time together.

With baby’s arrival approaching, we were also moving Ari to his “big boy” room, and with it, a “big boy” bed so the nursery and crib could be for Baby. I was worried about Ari feeling displaced but between picking out his “aminal” bedding, getting a brand new closet (part of the reno), big boy furniture and making his own décor, he has been nothing but excited. The transition out of the crib has been hard from the perspective that he’s learning how to go to sleep all over again, but every night is getting a bit better (the bribes/rewards definitely help), and I’m glad we were able to work on this transition before the baby arrived. It also gave me a good channel for my energy as I sewed curtains and a decorative pillow, bought storage bins and nightlights and prepared for this transition in my own way.

As if they weren’t enough, these weren’t the only major changes in little Ari’s life in the past few weeks, but he also graduated from the toddler room at his daycare and moved up to preschool – a transition that he has struggled with so far. But Day 1 of spending the full day with the preschoolers was a success and we’re all pretty happy about it!

It was hard for me to see him move up to the next classroom as I knew that with the renovation, and baby coming, he’d already be going through so much and he would need lots of support and snuggles from his teachers who have taken such good care of him for the past year. But despite my concerns and protests, I was assured that this was what was best for him. Better to be stimulated, and be around kids who can interact with him at his own level. Plus, we might as well get the change over with and let him settle into his new environment.

Naturally I had to thank the teachers who took such good care of my boy, who loved him and taught him and nurtured him, along with us, to shape him into the wonderful boy he is today.

And now, one week away from my due date, we wait. Ari was 11 days late, and I was induced, so I don’t know what it’s like to go into labour. Apparently it’s uncommon to go quite so late with #2, but not impossible. So at this point, we’re playing the waiting game, grasping onto any spare moments to get just one more thing done. Trying to rest when we get a chance. With #1, I was fine until my due date came along, and then I was just plain miserable for 11 days. This time, I am uncomfortable and very sore a lot earlier, but I also know how much easier and calmer life is pre-baby so am not quite so impatient.

So in these final weeks/days/hours before our next big change, we’re all preparing in our own way. We’re adapting to each transition the best that we can. Change is hard but it’s also exciting. The best part: at the end of all of this, we’ll have a brand new person in our family.

Just like when we were waiting for our 1st baby, Mitzi has adopted a puppy of her own

glad you waited until we were back in our own home and gave us a chance to accomplish a lot of things, but don’t make us wait too long. We’re all excited to meet you!