Reminiscing

Well, we have officially moved out of our first house. While I am extremely excited to have more space and to be in a nicer neighborhood, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little sad to be leaving our spot on Andre Drive. I went over there this morning to do some last minute spot cleaning and to leave our keys and garage door openers for the new owners, and was quite sad reminiscing about everything that happened in that house.

It was Scott and my first house together, bought 4 months after we were married. It's the house we had Chunky in, got Bud in, and lost Chunky in. I can still see him greeting us at the back door, wagging his entire body with excitement over the simple fact that we were home, whether we had been gone 5 min or all day. It's the house who's A/C went out every summer, where we learned to deal with endless home repairs and those annoyances. It's the house where we had pool parties and BBQ's and late nights up drinking with friends, before we had any real responsibility. It's the bathroom where I took a pregnancy test in December 2006 that changed our world. It's the nursery that we spent so much time agonizing over the right color, the right decorations, the right lighting. It's the kitchen I rearranged one night during busy season when Scott was working late and I couldn't sleep and was nesting before Kaitlin's arrival. It's the house Kaitlin came home to for the first time. It's the dining room that I paced around at 3am countless nights, singing a made up song to a brand new baby. It's the kitchen where I made that baby's food for the first 2 years of her life, with her watching from her Bumbo, high chair, and Learning Tower. It's the pool she fell in love with and learned to "splash piggies" in. It's the streetlamp we would walk underneath and knock to hear the cool noise it made. It's the tree her first swing was hung in. It's the driveway her and her Dad played "soccer" in. It's the kitchen I remodeled myself (well, no contractor that is, I didn't actually do the work but I found all the workers and picked all the stuff). It's the "payroom" (playroom) that was dedicated solely to her and her ridiculous amounts of toys. It's the living room I kicked Scott's butt in Wii Bowling in. It's the park that we walked to every afternoon in the fall and spring. It's the kind neighbors we got to know, who all somehow seemed to have kids right at the same time we did. It's the house that we found out in November 2008 would be too small come July 2009.

I have a lot of good memories of that place, and am so thankful that we had such a wonderful "starter" home. I'm excited for the new couple that is moving in, who are basically us 5 years ago. Kaitlin has handled the move well, although she's broken my heart several times at bedtime and naptime when she's looked at me with big sad eyes and said "Wanna go home." I've explained to her that this is her new home - all her things are here, and Bud and Mommy and Daddy. She seems to do well with that explanation, but it doesn't stop her from asking in her vulnerable moments. So while I am excited to enter this new phase of our life as we become a family of 4 (5 says Bud), I will always remember fondly and with a somewhat heavy heart, where we started.