Home

We've moved!

The weeks leading up to the move were really chaotic, and I'm sure the next few weeks will be, too, but we made it. Despite all three females in the house having a cough that made us sound like we had been flying to Europe with a carrier of a rare form of TB, and despite travels and work and the other details of life, we managed to pack up our old house, get it cleaned up enough to pass on to the new owners, and unpack enough in our new place that we can all eat, bathe, and clothe ourselves. I'd call it a raving success.

The picture to the left is LIttle Shmoo's new bedroom. In our old place, she had her crib in a corner of what was our guest room. Our plan before she was born was that she'd sleep in a basket in our room until she was sleeping through the night (*insert hysterical laughter here*), and then she'd move in with Doodlebug. Well, that never happpened, so she's never really had her own space. At less than two years old, I don't think she's minded, but I did. I felt like it was important that she had her own room in our new house, and that what we did with it take into consideration the reality of her life.

So, I put this room together to honor the real Shmoo, not the one I had imagined or the one that I expected. There is a heavy comforter and a huge stuffed dog in the corner (out of camera view here), for when we have to lie on the floor and comfort her all night when she's sick. There's a rocking chair, for long nursing sessions and book-reading. She has her own bookshelf, not a shelf of a bookcase in Doodlebug's room. She finally has a dresser, in her own room, instead of a plastic cart in the corner of our bedroom.

And then there's the wall.

Originally, I was going to wait to do any painting in the new house, but Doodlebug wanted a purple room, and I thought as long as we were painting her room, we should do Shmoo's too. The first color that came to me -- and the one we used -- was a peachy kind of color. Of course, once I decided that, I looked into what that intuition meant  -- what did the colors orange and pink, which make peach when they're mixed, offer to Shmoo?

According to this website, "Orange is a power color. It is one of the healing colors. It is said to increase the craving for food. It also stimulates enthusiasm and creativity. Orange means vitality with endurance." And as for pink, I've long known that is a love color, and that same web site says, "Pink is the color of universal love. Pink is a quiet color. Lovers of beauty favor pink." So, with this color, I suppose I am trying to give Shmoo what I want most for her: power tempered by calm, healing done with love, craving and enthusiasm and creativity with a quiet space, and vitality so she can enjoy the beauty around her.

Now, on to the rest of the house!