Our new normal

A phrase that my neuropsychologist threw around a lot after my traumatic brain injury (TBI), was "the new normal." The idea is that life will never be the same as it was, but it will settle into it's own new routine. In a much happier way, we are settling into our new normal in our new house as we figure out how things work, or, in a few cases, don't

The unpacking process has slowed down considerably now that Niels is back to work and I am spending my days building train tracks, making Lego towers and snuggling a cute little boy, in addition to the regular home business.

On Friday, I had another treatment for my chronic headaches. It involved about 20 injections around my head. Unfortunately, a couple of the needles hit nerves and bruised me up a bit, and caused a pretty bad headache over the weekend. Today I started to feel better, but had a dentist appointment to get a few cavities filled. For someone with light and noise sensitivity, this is a pretty miserable thing.

So, unpacking is slow. But here's a little snapshot of what's been going on the last few days.

We bought this bamboo dog dish...

...because this little cutie will be joining our family. Our son has named him Toby Thomas de Jong, after two of his favorite trains.

It has been nearly a year since we lost our sweet Bailey (March 4). A friend from Michigan who knew Bailey and how much I loved her was looking for homes for her dog's last litter. She asked me if I was ready for a new dog to love, and suddenly, I was.

D is adjusting well to the second move in two months. What a relief. He LOVES having lots of room to build his tracks.

He has also enjoyed three playdates (so far) with The Friends. Our neighborhood has a weekly playdate with the other kids on the street. We're hosting next week! I LOVE our street!

Another thing I love about our neighbor is the sidewalks. D and I have been taking daily "treasure walks." Since I am feeling better (generally speaking), I'm slowing starting to work on my fitness goals again. I am so happy to be back in a neighborhood with sidewalks. D loves to push his stroller and watch for airplanes.

It's pretty awesome to start your day with sites like this:

I've REALLY enjoyed cooking in my new dream kitchen. The cooktop is particularly awesome. The microwave will hopefully be fixed later this week. We bought a dent and scratch and it doesn't close properly, so it won't start. The repairman had to order a few new parts to fix it. We don't use the microwave a lot, so it hasn't cramped our meals at all.

In fact, I'm finally able to join the cooking club some friends started several months ago. I offered to host on Wednesday. How's that for motivation to unpack?! Fortunately, I've recruited some help. D loves the central vacuum.

I've got almost everything where I want it in the kitchen. I still have to work on the command center, so there are no pictures of that part of the kitchen below!

In general, even with boxes strewn all around, we are too busy feeling at home to get our home unpacked. However, sometimes we simply marvel at it. Especially how the light hits the south-side of the house. It creates works of art like this...