Sitting at the kitchen table in our new house. The past few weeks have been a whirlwind, and hopefully we’ll be able to get settled soon. Lila needs it desperately! She’s been having such a hard time with all the changes and commotion, and it’s harder because of the teething she’s going through.
Yesterday was pretty good. We woke up earlier than we wanted to (because of sweet Lila), but we got a lot of cleaning done before we had to get ready for church. Cleaning has never felt so good, or so necessary. We all took showers and left for church around 11:10. We had a special sacrament meeting with all three Kalamazoo wards at noon. Lila fell asleep on the way there, so I sat with her in the car until close to noon. Jake came to get us and told me that President Witt asked him to sit on the stand so I’d have Lila all by myself, which I was nervous about.
The chapel was packed and the overflow was too. Jake and I have known about this change for quite some time so we weren’t excited or apprehensive about it like most of our friends were. All day Saturday, during the move and the spaghetti dinner, they tried to pry more information out of Jake, who didn’t budge at all, of course. Lila didn’t even make it to the Sacrament without needing to go out to the hall. I tried sitting with Rand and Lynn Johnson, hoping they’d be a good distraction/source of entertainment for her, but she was just interested in walking around. I forgot to bring toys/books for her, though I’m not sure they would’ve helped very much. So, I spent the entire meeting out in the foyer, basically. Lila just wanted to walk around. And then she re-discovered the water fountain, and boy, did she love that thing. She’d press it over and over and giggling with glee. Brig and Lucas and several other babies joined her. She would cry and scream when I’d carry her away from it and wander back over there. Towards the end of the meeting, there were a ton of kids her age in the foyer with their parents. Jessica Wesel (parent of a baby Lila’s age) said that from the time they can walk to when they’re old enough for nursery is the toughest. Amen.
The meeting went until 12:30. Jake had previously told me that we should be able to head home after the meeting was over, but, of course, that wasn’t the case. We didn’t leave until 3:00. Jake had things he needed to do, so Lila and I wandered around the chapel some more. We ended up playing outside for a while and she loved that. And then we played in the gym with the Wesels and Lillroses. I was having a hard time, I was so hungry and was getting shaky. I was so glad when Jake was ready to leave.
About the new boundaries: the third ward was dissolved because the membership there has dropped dramatically. The first ward is everything west of Westnedge—we will remain in the first ward because we just moved into the boundaries on Saturday. The second ward is everything east of Westnedge. We’ll be “losing” a lot of families but gaining a lot too. Some people are having a hard time with the change—crying about it—but I don’t get that… it’s exciting to me and I have faith that we are being led by the Spirit.
When we got home, we tried putting Lila down for a nap, but that didn’t happen. Jessica Wesel dropped off the fixings for chicken noodle soup (a bunch of stuff she’d canned herself). I thought that was incredibly thoughtful. Saturday evening, Pat Anderson dropped off some cake and Jen Randall (Jake’s boss and a member of our ward) dropped of cinnamon rolls. This is our fifth place in Kalamazoo, and consequently our fifth move, and it was without a doubt the hardest. Because of Lila. I had no idea moving could be and feel so strenuous and draining. But it would have been so much more difficult without the help of our friends and family. We are so blessed to have them.
We were happy to have a hot, home-cooked meal (we’ve been eating out a lot the past few weeks, blech) and Lila really enjoyed the soup! She sat in her high-chair for much longer than usual and tried to eat it. Jake put out a little bowl for her (he taped it to the tray with double-sided tape… totally a Jake thing to do) and she liked dipping her spoon in it. She’s getting a little better at actually putting food in her mouth and chewing/gumming and swallowing it. I think the whole chewing/swallowing thing for her is very difficult. I was so surprised on Saturday when she actually ate an entire French fry—she bit off pieces, chewed, and swallowed. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen her do that before. So, maybe we’re making slow progress here. I sure hope so.
She was so exhausted by 6 and fell asleep shortly after that. I was hoping that it would be for the night, but she got up an hour later and didn’t want to go back to sleep. So we took her for a short walk, hoping that she’d go to bed after it. She loved seeing doggies on our walk. We didn’t go very far, but we saw four dogs—our neighborhood has tons of them!
Lila didn’t get to bed until 10:30. It was crazy. Lots of crying and she just couldn’t relax. I walked around with her until she relaxed a bit, but she started crying when we got back into bed. Finally, I said sternly and loudly, “Lila, it’s time for bed.” She immediately laid her head on my chest, stopped crying, and fell asleep, lol. Sometimes my stern voice helps.
I drifted off to sleep whilst spooning her, it was cozy and comfortable. Got up shortly at 11 to get ready for bed; Jake wrote in his journal and came to bed some time after I did.
This morning, Lila got up as Jake was getting ready to leave. She was pretty cranky. We had breakfast in our new kitchen, the sun was pouring in through the windows which was so nice. After that, she fell back asleep for another half hour, and I did too. When we got up for good (at around 9:00), I started unpacking our clothes. Lila did well for a while. I had music on and she was dancing and exploring. But then she got really cranky, so I took her to the basement to cuddle and play. She’s starting to be really cuddly, giving me great big hugs, wrapping her legs tightly around me when I’m carrying her and resting her head on my shoulder. We rocked in the rocking chair for quite some time with her head on my chest. When she wasn’t cranky anymore, I “chased” her around the basement and she loved that.
She finally went down for a nap at around 12:30, just as Emily arrived. Em and I had some lunch and then got to work unpacking and cleaning. It was really nice having her here! She was a big help. Lila got up at 1:50 and was in a good mood. Em took her outside for a while; Lila just loves being outside, she smiles a lot as she walks around in the grass. She loves going from cement to grass and vice-versa. We got a lot accomplished! Most of our clothes are unpacked and where they should be. The bathrooms are almost completely cleaned. I did some cleaning in the kitchen today too. I feel good about what we got done, and I’m happy that we were able to do so much, even with a cranky baby.
After Emily left, Lila and I played in the front yard a while. She happily walked around. When we went inside to make dinner, she freaked out, of course. I chopped and got things ready as fast as I can and then Lila went down for another (late) nap.
After dinner, we went to Meijer to pick up some groceries and return a baby gate we’d bought. On the way home, Lila happily drank from her sippy cup of water. Chatted with Mike on the phone for a while. He and Cassandra met up in Port Huron tonight. Things are going well with them; they’ve started having “deeper” conversations.
Lila had a really rough time getting to sleep again tonight. Lots of crying and screaming. I finally remembered that she now has a favorite blanket (she never used to), so I got that and she snuggled with it as Jake walked around the room with her. She was grinding her teeth a lot, so I’m guessing it’s her teeth that are hurting a lot right now. It was very sweet though to see her snuggling so much with this blanket and just melting in Jake’s arms. She’s still been nursing a lot lately and now knows to lift up my shirt when she wants to. Uh oh. She also whispers, “Tah-ka, tah-ka, tah-ka…” no idea what that means. It was 9:30 by the time she fell asleep.
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