September 10, 2007 | Mama Smith

settling in

As the story goes, no matter how prepared you are, there will always be the unexpected setbacks.

Phone service arranged a week before the move. A faulty modem upon our arrival. Hours on the phone with our new phone company. A modem hanging out in a town just a little over an hour away for three days after the promised overnight shipping. Then finally, a UPS man standing on our doorway this afternoon with the long awaited brown package.

We have returned to the web world.

It’s sad how much more at home I now feel with my email, favorite design/crafting blog feeds and the immediate ability to google map my way around Greenville. 60 emails, 500+ blog feeds is my retribution for 5 days of being offline.

The past few days have been a whirlwind of unpacking, sorting, getting lost, multiple grocery store trips, visiting the doctor, and falling into bed dazed every evening. Brighton and I have been sniffling and hacking our way through these first few days in our new home, that will hopefully draw to a close soon after visiting the pediatrician today and stocking up on antibiotics for his sinus infection. Mine, thankfully, is still just a cold.

I don’t know how we would have done this without the extra help Callie has offered and now with my mom in town. I seriously think I would have passed out by now.

Callie has kept the humor alive in the tense moments. She’s brought music into the stress-filled unpacking sessions. And has won the adoring devotion of her half-pint nephew. Mom has done the same in just a days time, wooing Brighton with her park trips and her bag of presents from London and CA. Today we all danced in the kitchen, laughing and watching Brighton break-dancing on the hardwood floor. It was a much needed distraction from the long, wearing day that it was.

I promise pictures are to come. Only a handful have been captured amidst the unpacking flurry thus far. One including Brighton enjoying one of his favorite parts of the “new house”. This seriously entertained him for a good portion of our unpacking day #1. Who would have guessed laundering clothes would be such a thrill?

The other is the breakfast nook area accompanied by Mr. T, a going-away gift from the Lee’s, painted by Nate, who had recently enjoyed the story of my childhood, in which I whole-heartily believed I was a massive black dude as a scrawny 5-year-old white girl and would only respond if referred to as “Mr. T”. One of the many odd stories of my imaginative childhood. Someone stacked the picture on the counter upon our move in and now none of us can bear to take it down as his company has ushered us through these first few stressful days.