Full House

Yesterday, I went to bed feeling a bit overwhelmed. A lot of things will happen over the next two weeks:

- L-- starts school.
- We gain access to our new apartment.
- We lose access to our old apartment.
- We have our Home Study with our social worker for the adoption.
- L-- celebrates her 3rd birthday.

Amid this craziness,

- Dave will be in the states for a week, meaning jetlag for the days following his return.
- We lose our current ayi, and need to find another.

Most of this will happen in our new home. Because L-- starts school on Monday, the girls and I will begin sleeping at our new home on Sunday night. This is before we can arrange movers, so we'll be camping out for a few days.

I felt overwhelmed, and a bit apprehensive. I didn't know how I could make everything work in the set time frame. I was afraid that poor S-- would have to tag along on too many errands and to help with too much packing, spending too much time in the car and rightfully being grumpy about it.

This morning we got word about two visitors.

A friend-of-a-friend will be staying with us beginning next Friday. This is good news. She says she's happy to help both with the girls and with the move. She's happy to carry L--'s birthday present across the ocean for us. She'll be a great help.

But she arrives on Friday... that is the Friday that Dave arrives from the states. She misses the week of craziness where we juggle moving, starting school and living without friends or husband / Daddy.

So here's the great news.

My mom just bought a ticket to Shanghai. How more perfect than to have my mom to help us move, Nana to help with S--, grandma to maintain a semblance of stability and sanity. She'll help us to explore our new neighborhood. She'll help us to survive without an ayi - we'll figure out together how to work the washing machine (no dryer this time, and the washing machine is located outside).

A huge weight disappeared when I heard that news, and now I'm fully excited about this move. And the full house that we'll have for the first few weeks of our life there.