Moving, and then Moving Again

We started looking for a new house in October. We had maxed out the space of our stylish 3-story, 2 bedroom row house in downtown Elgin. WV would ask, “Why are we moving to a new house?” We would reply, “Because we need a bigger house.” WV would reply with the inevitable 3 year old follow up question, “Oh, because this one is getting smaller?”

And it was, somehow, getting smaller. The kids love sharing a room—they are used to each other. When they wake up in the morning, WV stays very quiet and still until Vivvi awakes. She does not extend the same courtesy. She is so excited to see her big brother, she stands up, looks between the bars of her crib, and yells, “Boo” in her tiny odd accent that makes all “OO” words sound like “ow”. I hear, “Bow”, then shuffling and stomping, her doing a little dance on the bed. Then I here him return the gesture. The fun lasts about 10 minutes, giving me a chance to work my eyes open at the unnatural, pre-7am hour. Although they love sharing a room now, I imagine the novelty would wear by the time they are teenagers.

After months of searching and competing with other offers on 3 homes, we found the perfect home for us, one mile from the downtown of one of the cutest towns in the suburbs. It is equidistant from our parents, in a great school district (and 2 blocks from the elementary school!), and best of all, it has space. A bedroom for each kid, a big partially finished basement, and a backyard.

Once our offer was accepted we packed. We packed and we packed and we packed. I saved the toys for last, to minimize WV trauma drama. The day after I packed up his living room toy box, they asked him at preschool to draw something kids love for the church bulletin. He drew “a bin you put toys in.” How’s that for a lesson in psychology?

It didn’t sink in that this would be our house until our final walk-through. We had made it through the grueling offer, attorney review, mortgage approval process, and we were checking out the home the final time before purchase. We were in the backyard, and WV, who was being shy in front of our realtor, grabbed WV’s leg and whispered, “Will you run the yard with me?” Then the Wally’s took off running, and it was a real moment, watching them run that yard for the first time. Our first moment of many at our new house, since we love it so much that we plan to live there for the rest of forever.

One slight hitch in our move, though—like many people, we are accidental landlords, stuck with the row house, which has lost half its value because of foreclosures all around. So we had to find renters there to secure a mortgage, which meant moving out a month and a half before we are able to move into our new house. On top of that, the sellers at the new house wanted to rent back from us for a month so their kid could finish school. Which means we are the current owners of two properties with no where to live (hence, the kids in the box pictures).

But of course we have somewhere to live—you cannot be homeless when your parents are the keepers of Denman Abbey! I rang my mom, told her to ready the servants, and here we are. Lady DeeDee and Lord Gramps have been accommodating, even leaving us for a few weeks to take a road trip (which I imagine, since Lord Gramps is retired and every page of his book reading is interrupted by WV inquiring, “What are you doing, Gramps?” might have been for their sanity). And we only have a few more weeks left until the big move day!