Little Brick Houses for You and Me: Saying Goodbye

So...we've got a lot going on and there is a lot going on in my head these days. The main thing is we traveled to my parents' farm this weekend (don't tell my doctor!) to watch the demolition of my childhood home on Saturday.

I have words about this that I want to say but I want the writing to be decent and not rushed because I am on pins and needles waiting for interruptions by kids (already happened once in the first five minutes of being on the computer) so I am just sharing a few pictures and a general summary of the day.

This has been planned for several years and the new house that is behind the old house has been finished for more than a year so there has been plenty of time to process and go through the emotions of it but it was still a very strange thing to behold. In the early morning hour before the demolition started the familiar morning light really impacted me and I hope I never forget it. My brother said it didn't sink in for him until he listened to the sound of the leaves rustling outside his window for the last time. But we took it in for the final time and walked out the door.

The demolition started kind of slow because, as you can see, there was a brick chimney that ran from the basement to the attic. The contractor was worried that the four story chimney could cause debris to tip back toward the new house and also it could have caused him injury so my dad and Justin helped him pull it down by putting a chain around it in the basement, which only collapsed the basement portion and then on the second floor, which involved pounding a hole in my bedroom wall (gulp) and finally collapsing it in the attic. There was a moment where my dad was in that third floor window after the pillar had been knocked away by the chain which was quite unsettling but the job was done and the chimney crumbled. Then the action really started.

First he took off the sun/mud room my dad added in 2001, which ripped away in seconds then he got to the main event, which, of course, had to start with my room. It wasn't bad. It was kind of fascinating. We had salvaged doors and woodwork and flooring and other oddities but it was still weird to see familiar things in a completely different context. By the end of the day the majority of the house was hauled away to a giant pile in a field and just the basement was exposed, including the old cistern which I never really understood. I always imagined a tank of some sort but it was just like a big empty concrete swimming pool on one side of the basement that had been behind a mysterious wall. I'm glad we never had to drink water that came from a big pool in that basement. On Sunday the excavator revealed a creepy old staircase which was, of course, the old exterior cellar entrance which my dad remembered from his childhood. Also, an old postcard from 1908 fluttered out in the debris. It was to one of the pre-1955 occupants from their cousin and it featured the Harvey, ND school building. Pretty crazy.

Now we are back at home and I am counting down the days until I am not pregnant anymore and the big question will be answered. Is it a boy or a girl?? I am still tired and irritated by daily annoyances and lack of time to do anything or clean anything. Last night we were outside talking to the neighbors and our next door neighbor offered me some sweet corn that her mom had brought from their farm. I was still talking and Ben wanted to go in so I told him to just go in already! He was carrying corn with him that he had removed from the bag and when I went in I was greeted by this scene.

Wonderful. FYI, Tessa was with me the whole time. She was not inside unattended. He meant well and thought he was helping, but still it was a mess. Corn silk is a real pain to clean up. There is, as usual, crap everywhere which I have come to terms with but it is kind of stressing me out as I think about trying to fit a baby and all of it's crap around what is already here.

This morning I started feeling overwhelmed by what has to be figured out and organized and taken out of storage before the baby comes so I did one small thing and took out the newborn box from Tessa's closet. Disclaimer: This box contains girl newborn items but it does NOT mean it's a girl! It was just the most accessible box. The newborn boy things are in a different box and who knows where that is. It would almost be easier to just buy a new sleeper and one outfit and leave it at that! Ben was really cute. He held up all the tiny clothes and fussed over them just like I did.

Tessa wore that home from the hospital...awwwwwww!

This afternoon Ben was really bored so I entertained him by getting out the Halloween decorations.

I got these orange lights from the farm. There is a second string that we hung in Ben's window. He really enjoyed it. After everything was in place he kept saying, "now what should we decorate?" He will really love Christmas this year.

Here is a nice table vignette. Ben has already removed those miniature apples and pears from the vase and is carrying them around the house. I haven't displayed those for years because they are not kid friendly but he got to them in the box before I did.