Changes...

Well, we've had a ton of changes in our life lately.  I've been dying to write a post about "changes" because I had been feeling like there have been far to few changes in our life thus far, however, it was a little bittersweet.

First, we found out back in November that we were expecting baby #4, and found out shortly after that it was also boy #4.  We knew there was no way we could fit another child in our 2 bedroom townhouse so a few months later, we contacted a realtor.

We met with a realtor in March and listed our house in April.  It sold in the beginning of May.  It was really a miracle because that was the first time the market has been high enough to be able to sell our house, and then to have it sell so fast was a blessing.  The new owner was really flexible so we rented it back from her for the month of June while we worked on getting a new house and moving into it.

Our townhouse actually sold while my mom was in town for Gregor's graduation in May.  It was another blessing to have her there because she came with me to look at new houses.  I was getting really nervous because at the point in which our house sold, we had not looked at any houses yet.  Once we started looking, I was really discouraged.  In our price range, each house had a major flaw (no garage, no air conditioning, on a busy street, in a bad neighborhood, etc.)  I just kept hoping that I would "know" when we found the right one.  I was praying for it.  I wanted to make sure our family ended up in the right place.  

On the day that my mom was leaving, we scheduled tours of a couple more houses.  When we met up with the realtor, he said that one more house had just come on the market in our price range and that we should swing by that one too.  We looked at the first few houses on our list and we were not impressed.  One smelled like dogs, one was handicap accessible which made for some weird quirks in the layout, so many had were multi-level which I just don't love, etc.  Finally, we pulled up to the last house (the new listing).  It was on a big wide street, on a corner lot, with tons of trees lining the street.  We walked into the house and just knew it was "the one".  The layout was perfect for us with small children, it has a basement with room to grow, and it didn't have any major drawbacks.  At least not any that were deal-breakers...

When Nate got home from work that night we brought him to see it and we put in an offer.  It turns out that the owners got 4 offers in the same day but accepted ours.  It was meant to be :)

We did a 45 day closing to give us extra time to figure everything out.  It was a good thing that I had felt so confident about it being "the one" because it was a long and difficult and stressful month until we could finally call it ours.

A week ago, we were able to finally move most of our stuff in and then say goodbye to our Pemberley home.  I was really sad to leave.  I loved my calling (yw), I loved my neighbors, the kids had so many friends and I was friends with all of their moms. We had the pool, the awesome location, and everything else.  I have been dying to move for years, but when the time actually came, I was really really sad.  Saxon was so upset that he cried himself to sleep.  He's only now getting used to the idea of a new house.  He misses his friends and his room and everything familiar.  

So far, we're really happy with our new house!  It's sort of surreal to walk around and think that it's mine.  I feel so blessed.

It's been a ton of work too though.  We're having a baby this week and the to-do list is endless!  I wouldn't be able to relax and just enjoy the new baby if I knew that the house I was coming home to looked like a bomb had gone off inside.  Nate and I have been working around the clock (literally) to get everything ready.  My mom was a HUGE help while she was here and so was Nate's Dad (taking care of the yard work and teaching us what to do) and Nate's sister Melinda.  Not only did she loan us her truck, she helped move furniture, picked up and assembled our new couch, painted 3 bedrooms and two bathrooms and a door that was green for some reason, helped me arrange things, and helped with the kids.  We would NEVER had finished it all without her.

We feel so blessed to finally have a house and enough room for our family.  Now we just have to get as much done in the next week (or less than a week) as possible so we can bring our new little one home to a clean house.  

Wish us luck! 

ps:  If anyone needs our new address, email me and I'll send it to you.  I'm hoping to send out "we've moved" cards but with so much to do, it might take me a while.