Moving Boxes

Sometimes, I find it so hard to believe how fast time goes. We have lived in the current house we are in now for 5 years. Some days it feels like we’ve been here forever and some days it feels like we just moved in. Nevertheless, we have certainly outgrown this house and are ready to move on to something else.

We’ve really been on this house hunting journey for around 3 years. Last year didn’t really count though, with the pandemic and all. 2019 was hard because I was heavily pregnant with AJ during the hot season of the housing market. We looked hard then but thankfully nothing worked out.

2021 was the year that we knew we were definitely ready to move. We needed and wanted more space (inside and out) and with some changes in our life recently, it became abundantly more and more clear that we needed to really find a new house to better accommodate our family.

Now that my husband is fully working from home and in tons of meetings all the time with his office in what should be our dining room (placed between our living room and kitchen) I probably don't need to elaborate much on the kind of hassle it is to keep our toddler quiet and from running in during meetings. Definitely another sign we needed somewhere where my husband could have an office away from us. Most days I feel like we are walking on eggshells for hours on end.

Also during the course of the last year with the pandemic and our ever-growing and energized almost-two-year-old, we have really felt the need for more outdoor space as well. We have a bit of a yard where we are now, but we do live in the middle of the city so it isn't much. We are lucky to have a pretty large field behind our home that can't be developed on. And the owners of it keep it nice and kept up and allow people to come and use it as they please, which is exceptionally fun during the winter when there is a good snow on. But, still, everything around here is very hilly and not as usable as is practical for an active family like ours.

So the 2021 season started and my goodness the market is hot. It's literally been so crazy and after we had been looking seriously for a bit, we were becoming a bit discouraged about finding a house. With this move, we plan to be in this house for a long time. We've agreed upon not making any more moves until the children are grown and moved out (unless something changes, of course, you never really know where life will take you). The house we are in now, we planned to live in for around 5 years given our plans in growing our family and in 5 years, we are moving out in just a few short weeks from when I'm writing this. Which honestly, just kind of blows my mind that what we had planned has actually stayed to plan. I always find that so strange and surprising when that kind of thing happens. I guess I'm just used to things not going to plan, ha!

As I said, we were starting to get discouraged. We had looked at a few houses. One, we learned, was getting an offer soon after we went to view it and we didn't really want to get into any bidding wars. One went pending that evening after we viewed it. And one went pending when we literally just drove past to look at it. Everything was just happening so fast and I had trouble with just looking at a house once and deciding within minutes if this was the right house to spend the next huge chunk of our lives in. We weren't necessarily very picky but we did have some things we needed to be checked on our list and things on our "we do not want this" list that we really didn't want.

One of the things on our "we do not want this" list was a pool. We honestly didn't want the hassle and expense of a pool. I personally don't care too much for swimming because unless it's like 90 degrees or hotter, I get cold swimming and I can not stand being cold. And with kids, of course, you're going to have to be in the pool so much so it was just a no for me and my husband. We had actually just written off houses we actually liked because they had a pool. Something we'd always said though was that if the house was perfect and it had a pool then we'd go for it.

Well... long story short, now we have a house with a pool. But, okay, a big seller for me, the pool is heated which means it won't be cold. so that helps a lot. The house is literally perfect. And I don't mean perfect in the sense that it's exactly the way I would like it to look inside cosmetically. I would certainly like to paint, maybe update the bathrooms, etc. Pretty minor things. But what is pretty much perfect is the layout of the house. It's actually beyond my wildest dreams with its layout. We have a separate family room that is hidden behind the kitchen which can also act as a playroom. I'm so grateful to be able to have a place to shut the toys in as right now our living room is toys (I've jokingly told company before that our decor style is "daycare"). My husband will have an office in the basement so he can have peace and quiet and we can also be loud and have fun upstairs. We also are going to be able to have a guest bedroom which is fantastic considering that where we are moving we will actually have family close by. And bathrooms... so many bathrooms, which is a bit daunting when I think of cleaning but I know I will fall into a routine soon enough.

The outdoor space we are getting is also really nice. It is not too much or too little, and most importantly it's flat. So finally we can easily have a playset for AJ and lots of space for soccer (AJ's favorite sport at the moment). And another part of the neighborhood that I find very appealing which gives it a very tranquil vibe is that there is a pond behind our house. It is beautiful and gives such a lovely view from the house. It all really feels like a dream and I know how extremely blessed we are. We have worked hard and I have trusted God with giving us a place that would suit us and boy, do I feel so undeserving but so so so grateful.

I'm truly so excited about this new adventure. Over the last months, God has really been working on me in my role as a homemaker. When I first left my job to stay at home with my son, I really didn't understand the meaning of homemaking or what exactly that looked like. But through prayer and learning through many different sources I've come across, I have found myself to be passionate about making my home a haven and really enjoying the process of doing so. I'm especially excited now, in the midst of packing, to just clean and tidy my home and make it feel cozy again. Quite a hard thing to do while moving boxes are scattered about.

I hope to document some of this new journey with a special focus on homemaking. I'd like to document especially decorating the new house and really making it our own style. That is, once I figure out what our style is. It's a lot to think about and figure out but I am just so excited! Of course, I'm sad to leave this house we are in but I know it has served its purpose. I know our new home will be filled with love and memories, just as this house is. I hope whoever has this place next makes just as many memories as we have.

And with that, I think I'll stop rambling for now before I start getting emotional.

Thank you so much for reading!

Until next time.