I never thought I'd be saying this, but I think--and I really hope I'm not jinxing it--that the renovations on our house will be done soon. It was late June when we were evacuated due to flooding, and for the past 7 months, we have been living off the hospitality of my wonderful in-laws. Q wasn't even crawling when we left home, and now she's running around and has an impressive vocabulary of about 30 words.
Moving back home will be a pretty big change for us; I admit that most of the time, I forget that we have an actual, empty home waiting for us down in the Flats. We have been technically allowed to live in our house for several months, but we decided it would be too inconvenient. We have no washer and dryer, workmen have access to the house and are in and out at various times, and the noise and dust of the renovations (which included jack-hammering the cement floor to put in a sewer backup valve, as well as drilling into the concrete foundation to enlarge the downstairs window) would have been enough to make naptime a thing of the past. Not to mention that since we've had to move many of our belongings upstairs, our house has become pretty cramped, and we would have either had to share a room with the baby, or sleep on a blow-up mattress in the living room. It certainly would have been doable, but, like I said, inconvenient.
The prospect of going home has gotten me to thinking of things I will look forward to with regards to living in our own house, as well as things I will really miss.
Things I Look Forward to:
Having one fridge for one family.
A beautiful basement that is better than new--with new floors, drywall, paint, toilet, vanity, window, water heater, and furnace.
Having our own bed back.
Not having to cycle cats in and out of the garage for their every-other-day "people time" (which also involves catching and shutting up the three cats who live inside because the five of them all hate each other with an unholy passion).
Not having to constantly run around re-shutting doors to off-limit areas or re-installing baby gates because there are four adults who need to be able to freely move around the house.
Not having a skinny little black cat who scratches at Q's door every single night because he doesn't understand why I've locked her in there, and doesn't she need to get out to eat and use the litterbox?
Introducing Q to toys, books, a room, and a house she didn't know she had.
Things I'll Miss:
Being able to put Q to bed and say, "All right, I'm heading off to do some errands/get a cheeseburger/drive around to clear my head!" Without the in-laws around and with S working evenings, I will be confined to the house once Q is asleep.
Q leaning through the slats of the staircase to give me or S kisses.
Having people to take turns with cooking dinner (I will really, REALLY miss this).
Having a room right next to Q's.
Being able to let Q wander into another room without always having to follow her--because someone else is usually in there.
Having someone who can watch Q for quick moments while I run her bath water, or run out to start the car so it can heat up, or bring in groceries, etc.
Cable TV.
Catching "Grumpers" sneaking treats to Q, with her standing patiently making little "ooh" noises and opening her mouth wide for another spoonful of ice cream.
Peaking my head around the door and seeing Q sitting up on the bed with her grandparents, drinking a bottle of milk or asking for the back massager to be put on top of her head or trying to knock on the bedside table hard enough to make the lamp turn on and off.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I couldn't ask for better in-laws. We lived with them for 6 months after S and I got married while my permanent residence was going through, and we have now lived with them a second time for 7 months while the work on our house is completed. We've raided their fridge, used their washer and dryer, filled their living room with toys and books (which spend most of the day littering the floor), covered their kitchen with crumbs, bibs, and toys that found their way in from the living room, and made them crawl over baby gates again and again, just to be able to get access to basic areas of their house. They have been more than generous and have showered Q with attention and affection--what a lucky baby she is. I know she will miss their constant presence when we move back, and we will have to redefine our life as a nuclear family again. But we will be over for lots of visits and will enjoy our beautiful, like-new house. As with so many things, this flood brought both good and bad with it--but I believe that the good will be far more permanent.
