Return - Our First House

Last weekend we moved. It wasn't a huge, life changing move in any way. We are just 25 minutes or so from our old house but it was still hard, stressful and bittersweet. D and I loved our old house but had grown weary of the neighborhood and felt so far away from everything, as we were on the outskirts of Columbus. We put our house on the market in March and by August had basically given up on the idea of moving. Then one day I was over at my friend's house and was in the middle of telling her how we were bummed about our housing situation and my phone rang. It was our Realtor and we had an offer on our house. After that call everything happened very quickly. Within 5 days we were in contract on our old house and had put an offer in on another house. Crazy!

Even though I am so excited that it all worked out, I had a really hard time saying goodbye to our old house. I know it is just a house but I shed lots of tears on our way out the door. I stressed for several weeks leading up to the move about how LB would handle it. Needless to say, the first couple of days in the new house were hard. It was clear he was on high alert and was bothered by all the new noises. I had some moments when I wished we hadn't moved. LB and I spent most of the actual moving day at a friend's since LB is comfortable there and that kept him away from all the noises of moving and from seeing his stuff getting carried out of the house. I am so glad we did that! Once our stuff was at the new house D got right to work on setting up LB's room and he finished that afternoon. That man has a killer work ethic! Several people had suggested setting up LB's room first and I do think that helped. I was shocked when he slept through the night on our first night here.

I had read a few articles online about moving with a toddler and one of them suggested going through each room of the old house and having the child say goodbye. So after the movers left and most of our stuff was gone LB and I went over to the old house and said goodbye. LB doesn't like seeing other people cry so I had to dig deep and hold back tears. He waved goodbye to each room and we left. Then once we got in the car and I knew he couldn't see my face I let the tears flow. It was our first house. We were proud of it. I know pride is a tricky thing but we were proud. There is something about getting the keys to your first home. We moved in about 2 years after we got married. D and his friend built a deck on the back and D painted every inch of that house. It wasn't long until we started scouring websites for dogs and drove to Dayton to pick up Raney, a two year old Weimereiner. She then proceeded to ruin half the house but whatever. The joys of dog ownership. I have lots of great memories of cook outs with friends and watching Buckeye games. We brought LB home to that house and we became a family of three there. Even now, a week after the move, I am still a little sad.

However, I LOVE our new neighborhood and I think it suits us. The house is a cape cod style that was built in the 1950s. It has a lot of charm and I love being able to see all the mature trees out our windows. The school system is more diverse and D has a much shorter drive to work. We also have a lot of great friends that are close. Not to mention there is a Jeni's ice cream right down the road. In the end, I know this was the right decision and when more of the boxes make their way to the basement then I'm sure it will feel like home. We Skyped with my parents a few days ago and my dad asked LB if he liked his new house. I am not sure LB really understood, although we have been talking a lot of the new house, but he shook his head yes. I sure hope so.