The New House

I began writing a post about how we might be moving back in December, but I never published it because I didn’t really think it would happen.

It happened.

Here’s a bit of what I wrote back then:

We weren't looking to move. I absolutely LOVE our house. This is where we brought our babies home to. This is where we lost our Axl. This is where the majority of our marriage has happened. This is where our kids play in the backyard and with the neighbor kids across the street. This is where I have my studio and have photographed countless newborns. This is where we've had birthday parties and Christmases and made all of our memories. This is where I fold laundry and make coffee and watch Netflix. I love it here.

Adam's dream has always been to move to the country. He grew up out there and has wanted our boys to have that same experience. He has brought me over to his side. I can just picture the boys playing in the dirt and running around the open space. Riding their bikes up and down a gravel driveway. Views of countryside out my window while I'm washing dishes. Sounds idyllic.

But I never thought it would happen. All the things we need/want in a home in the country? At a price we can afford? Not gonna happen.

But then it did. We found a house. THE house. There are pros and cons. Good things and bad. But ultimately, it's a home in the country that's not too far from Adam's work, that has room for our family AND my business, and that I can see us making new memories in. We weren't looking for a house, but we stumbled upon this amazingness.

But (do you see all the 'buts'?) I LOVE our house. We felt we couldn't pass up this opportunity, as something so perfect may not exist elsewhere. So we started scrambling to ready our house to sell. We painted trim, we cleaned, we purged, we painted walls, we cleaned, we tore up flooring, we laid down new flooring, we cleaned, we rearranged, we stressed over colors and textures...did I say we cleaned? :)

That’s where I stopped writing. J I think I was overwhelmed, haha. Anyway…the rest of the story is that we put an offer on the country home, contingent on ours selling. We offered way below asking…we really didn’t think they’d accept. But they did. We put our house on the market just before Christmas and it sold in mid-January. Inspections went through. Appraisals went through (not nearly as easily as we hoped, but it got done).

Monday, February 29 - we were supposed to close on both houses. We spent the Saturday before packing up our house into a U-haul and some trailers. The only things left in our house were our mattress (Sutton's was packed so he slept with us on the floor), Ren’s pack n' play, and a box of food and toiletries. We spent Sunday cleaning. Monday morning we packed up the last few things and did the final walk through while reminiscing and crying. Mostly I was the only one crying.

We left, and went over to Adam’s parents house which is where the boys were going to stay while we closed on the houses. Then we got word that paperwork hadn’t gone through on time and we couldn’t close on the new house.

We went to closing for our old house and met the buyers. They were very sweet and very excited about the house, which made us happy. I told them how much I was going to miss it and they told us they’d take good care of it. We stayed in a hotel Monday night. Adam had to work Tuesday (he couldn’t take any more time off of work), so I tried to entertain the boys at the hotel which was hard since we had no toys or clothes since we hadn’t planned on this hotel stay and everything was packed away. We took a bath, watched some hotel cable, and drove to QuikTrip for a snack before heading to Grandma’s so Ren could nap.

After work, I met Adam at the title company and we finally closed on our new home. It felt so good. That 24+ hours of limbo, of not having a home, was a weird and unsettling feeling. We met up with our wonderful friends and family AKA our moving crew at the new place, and unpacked everything from the truck and trailers into the basement and garage of the new house. We have spent the last 5 days trying to put things away, arrange the rooms, and figure some temporary set-ups while things get settled.

I will post more soon!!