On September 9th, Lisa, Kolby, Harley and I packed it up and moved out of our house so that our two-three week home renovation project could begin. Only a week ago, we moved back in. For those of you that have difficulty with math and calendars, we were homeless for nine weeks. Lisa’s parents were kind enough to take us in, but let’s face it – when you have two people living in a house and suddenly there’s three more people and a dog moving in…well, needless to say, we were a nuisance.
There were certain blessings to the whole experience. Kolby got to spend a HUGE amount of time with his Papi (or is it Poppy? Pappi? Poppi? It’s like Chanukkah, I guess. There are any number of ways to spell it.). Let’s just say, Kolby got lots of time with Lisa’s dad. They would spend part of everyday at the piano. Kolby sitting on Felix’s lap banging away at the keys and turning the pages of the music is an image that has burned into the memories of all forever. They were able to share a special bond over the piano, and I’m certain that Kolby’s music career has been formally launched because of it.
Harley was good too. He went from an environment where, with his dog door, he had full inside/outside access to a house where he had to be on a leash whenever he left the house (for the most part). He managed well with two little exceptions. (Thank goodness his poo is, as the vet says, “kickable.” No permanent damage was done to any carpets!)
Harley was just doing what I wanted to be doing – crapping on the situation. No, not the situation of being at the in-laws, but the situation of being out of our house for two weeks, then three, then five and so on. I would have very much liked to have just taken a dog-sized crap on the project. Sure, the house looks great now, but…
I don’t understand why EVERY contracting job takes two or three times as long and always costs twice as much. As anyone who has ever done any work and they all say the same thing? “So, doing some work on your house huh? Better plan on twice the budget and being out of your house for at least twice as long as they told you.” Why the eff is that okay? Is there any other business where that’s acceptable? Is there any other situation in life where that’s acceptable? Do all contractors have crappy parents that didn’t teach them anything about responsibility? Holy cow!
So, we’re back in our house, which is beautiful. It’s the house we dreamed of owning when we first moved in. Before the kid. We made all of these changes to the place so we can eventually sell it and move to a better kid-friendly neighborhood with better schools, blah, blah, blah. Amazing – the kid is 14 months old and he’s influencing million dollar decisions. They say that it costs $250K to raise a kid? Bullsh*t! That doesn’t factor in the new mortgage payments on the house you had to buy so he can get the best education and have silly things like friends.
Now we REALLY have to move. Like I said, we have this beautiful house with fresh paint, pristine hardwood floors and fabulous handles on every door. We also have a 14-month old kid who likes to throw his toys on the floor, drag keys on the wall and mimic everything mommy and daddy do. So, that means, in another inch, he’ll be able to open the doors. He’s already reaching for them and clearly understands how the doors open. He’s WAY too smart.
It’s one of those serious Catch-22’s of parenting. We know we need to move. We know we need to upgrade the house to sell it. We know that when we do upgrade it – that it’s not going to be all that kid friendly. So, until we do sell it – chasing K-Man around the new casa will constitute exercise. But these are the things that we do for our kids, I guess. (This is the cue for any/all grandparents or friends of the family in that demographic to ask, “So, gonna have another?” Not in THIS house, I can promise you THAT!)
It is damn good to be home, though.
(Thank you Felix and Susan. We know we stayed WAY too long. And, we know it was tough...)
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