Let's recap

So much has happened in the last two months. I don't even know where to start. Let's go back to the beginning of March...

So we bought a house, you knew that. And two week later Miss Eliana turned the BIG ONE! We had a lot of fun celebrating her birthday. It was a fun filled weekend with tons of family and friends. On Friday Mommy took the day off from work to bake 80 cupcakes. Friday night, Tia Sarah came down to spend the weekend with us. Saturday morning, the parties began.

Grammy Linda hosted a party for the family. All her Grandparents were there, aunts and uncles, and family friends. We ate fajitas, opened presents, and ate cupcakes. All in all a great day.

On Sunday, we hosted all our friends for one last party in the townhouse. It was bittersweet. But we had a great time celebrating how big this little girl grew.

After that party, it was full steam ahead, in terms of packing. We had two more weeks until we officially had the new house and could start moving, but the townhouse felt empty. We were getting things ready for professional pictures and an open house.

Tuesday April 1. We settled on the house. We dropped Eliana off at daycare and walked through the new house for a last time (to see if they finished the work) and went to sign the papers. 45 minutes later - we were home owners of TWO HOMES. Oh crap. We spent the afternoon in the house. I painted Eliana's room and installed the closet systems. Matt & Ken spent the day unloading the mini storage unit.

We spent every afternoon of the next two weeks in the new house getting it ready for the big move. Matt... did whatever he was doing... lots of noise and dust. He moved tools and materials. I spent time unpacking the kitchen, unpacking fragile stuff, and making the beds.

Thursday April 4 - We spent our first night in the new house. We then got up Saturday morning for a very quick trip up to CT. My parents were being honored at their Temple fundraiser.

Wednesday April 8, we slept in the townhouse for the VERY LAST TIME.

Thursday April 9. We officially moved into the new house. Eliana slept in her crib in the new house and we loved every second of it.

Friday April 10. I took the day off from work and unpacked the house. Linda came over to help keep me on track and motivated. We made a Home Depot run. We finished packing the townhouse (it had almost nothing left in it at this point). And Linda was able to experience first hand how much clothing I owned as we put it away and hung it all up in the closet...

Saturday April 11. We have the best friends in the world. When we moved into the townhouse 6 years ago, Tim & Ken helped us move - and by us, I mean me. Matt rented a 24 foot truck. His stuff filled 4 feet, and my stuff filled 20 feet. Be aware I had all the furniture for the WHOLE HOUSE except for his bed. Fast forward to present day, we weren't sure they were going to be willing to help us again, but they did and this time it worked out in Tim's favor. Ken had helped us on the first move date, and little did any of us realize, he did the bulk of the moving. That Saturday morning, Tim & Sarah, Alicia, and Phil all showed up nice and early to help us move. All that was left was furniture and some random odds and ends. They all met up at 8am. I got there at 8:30, after Linda came to watch Eliana. By 9am we were done. By 10 am the furniture had all been placed and reassembled.

This was the easiest move I have ever seen. Every afternoon we unpacked and every evening we packed again for 10 days. It made the move so manageable. BEST MOVE EVER.

And in the last month we have done a ton. Matt has planted grass in the backyard; installed attic vents (read all about it on HIS BLOG), and spent a lot of time on the phone with comcast trying to keep our Internet working. I have hung lots of our artwork, the photos are still considered in progress. We had friends over for an impromptu BBQ - turns out the backyard is wonderful (if you don't need shade), we set up a water table for Eliana and co. We've had visitors, Beth, Grandpa, all sorts of closer friends. And most importantly, we've moved in. It feels like our house.

It's crazy to think of the last 6 years we spent in the townhouse as over. But they are. We have a lot of great memories from there - doing renovations with Gerry, painting every room at least 3 times, getting married, Thanksgiving, Ken's birthday celebrations, dancing in the dining room, adopting Bones, the first pregnancy, bringing home Eliana, Eliana's firsts: smiles, hugs, sitting up, words, crawling, steps, just to name a few. It was more than a house, it was our home.

I am really looking forward to making this new house into our new home. I hope you enjoy this new journey with us. Thanks for all your support through the last one.