Nesting by Necessity

Do you have any idea what it feels like to come home in the middle of the day, only to realize (even upon entering your house) that something just isn't quite right. To hold onto your two-year olds hand ever so tight as you walk through the door only to see things strewn about and know within a split second that somebody has been in your house, looking through your things? Last Wednesday was the scene of a movie at our house. Not a good scene in a movie, either. We were burglarized. Thanks to a brother in law enforcement, I know it wasn't a robbery but a burglary.
It was pretty bad. They made off with our televisions, cameras, my prized bicycle, every piece of jewelry I ever owned, alcohol from our liquor cabinet and even the fresh strawberries, meat, cheese and flour tortillas from our refrigerator. The entire contents of our bedroom were tossed, dumped on the floor. Stuff was strewn everywhere. Clearly they were looking for more. But, alas, we have a great big house with not a whole lot of valuables. No cash in the panties drawer, no huge diamond rings from great-grandmother, no guns, nada. So the burglars made off with a bunch of "stuff" and we were left feeling completely broken hearted (with a shattered glass door, too).
Police suspect that they are your run-of-the-mill criminals... go around nice neighborhoods knocking on doors and when nobody is home they go around the back knocking then figure out a way in. Our house has a lot of doors, and a lot of glass, an open invitation I guess.
Our neighbor across the street realized after the fact (hindsight is 20-20) that the two men she saw with their truck in front of our house (parked on the street, not the driveway) who were straightening their "load" were actually strapping down our television before driving away. Perhaps when she came home they decided to split. They must have made multiple trips from the back of our house, down the driveway to their truck to drop off our possessions. WHO DOES THIS KIND OF THING? Clearly, they crossed the line from good to evil many many years and crimes ago.
Luckily I was able to reach Bob quickly in Los Angeles and he was at the airport and on his way home faster than I ever thought possible. Our sweet Charlotte was completely dumbfounded by the missing TV's. Her good friends Thomas, Dora, Elmo, Kipper... they all LIVE in that TV and without the TV where could her friends visit her in the evening. Her bottom lip quivered and she was scared. There is nothing worse than seeing your own two year old scared in her own house.
Bob took the subsequent days off work and we spent the past four days as a family doing some much needed spring cleaning. I hope nobody has to add ridding your house of fingerprint dust to the list of spring cleaning chores. Let me tell you, that stuff is a mess, and it gets everywhere, and it is awful and disgusting. We filled bags and bags of items for the goodwill, items for the trash, organized closets and I am still folding and washing over 20 loads of laundry (and we have an extra large capacity washer). But in spite of being forced to do this, it felt good. Cleansing. Necessary.
We also improved the security in our house. Turns out we had the Cadillac of alarm systems. Installed by a local company that has been in business forever and the owner came over and remembers our house, installing the system over 15 years ago. We turned that Cadillac back on and now it is functioning. We improved locks, are building a fence along one side of our house. All in all we are much more prepared now than we were before and it is a good feeling.
Did I mention that I’m 30 weeks pregnant? One more thing to add to the fun. However, one of the happiest things that happened in all this chaos was the crib for baby sister was delivered. We put the crib together, and began getting the room ready. It is going to be very girly compared to Charlotte's room which was initially "neutral" for the unknown boy-or-girl baby. Charlotte's room is now truly Charlotte's room in that it matches her personality and everything.
So I'm wondering... dear daughter #2, will you be a girly-girl simply by virtue of the fact that your mom decorated your room with a vintage rose buds? If so... we can deal with girly-girl so long as you don't mind splashing in a puddle or two on a rainy day.
We’re going to be okay, in fact we have never been stronger as a family. Pictures of the baby’s room will be posted soon.