Happy New Year!

We have started the new year right at Chez Schroe; on December 30 we officially moved into our new home.  While the neighborhood lacks the picturesque qualities that drew us to the old house (the lead- and mold-infested drafty death trap was adjacent to a beautiful nature preserve and protected lands) the house itself is tight and comfortable and sound.  No chipping paint here... and at last check The Boy's lead level was a 3-- down from a 5 in November, which either means that the bulk of his exposure happened at his nanny share (I asked the host mother to have her child tested and he came back a 5, too) or that our efforts are reducing his exposure in the crusty house paid off.  In any case, we are breathing huge sighs of relief.
In the last three months, we trudged through our days just hanging onto the belief that somehow, some day, we would find a way out.  Okay, maybe that's a little melodramatic, but the old house was so disgusting that our morale, as individuals, as a couple, and as a family, was perilously low.  Speedy coped by watching hours on end of Glee on Netflix, and I killed time with a similar determination by powering through every episode in existence of Private Practice, even though I started to hate it (and every character in it) by the end of the first season. The point is, our days of misery were marked by grim escapism-- the reality of the towering boxes cramping every space, the moldy smells emanating from the basement, the heating system blowing untold filth into the air, the drafty windows and cracking lead paint was just too unpleasant to face.
Now we face a new year, a new world.  We have a new house, a new car and a boy who-- unbelievably-- has turned one (an occasion celebrated with some small fanfare, a homemade lemon bundt cake, and lots and lots of presents courtesy of my side of the family, which has a crazy low baby-to-adult ratio.)
I owe you pictures-- lots f them-- and catching up on your blogs, too.  I have to tell you about the new house and the ne'er-do-well neighbors of mysterious means, the nearby Coca Cola factory that flavors the air with childhood memories, Hi-C one day, Fanta the next, the renovations (OK, I promise to keep that part brief, just as we hope to keep the renovations themselves quick and to the point) and the many things that are beginning to flow again after the Dark Period is finally past.
I feel like we have finally come home after beginning our move last April.