Last weekend, we moved nearly everything into the new house. And much as I loved our old place, I am already falling for this one.
It has quirks, of course. But they don't compete with the charm. And life here is taking on its own sort of quiet, happy, easy rhythm.
Jack wakes up between five and six in the morning, and I go into his sort-of unpacked nursery to say hello.
I bring him into our mostly empty bedroom to feed him, and pretty soon he's asleep again.
I lay him back in his crib and hop in the shower. The one in our master bathroom. You know, because we have one of those now. No big deal. (Except really, it is the greatest thing ever).
Then Kyle wakes up (lucky!) He gets in the shower and I head down the hallway to our kitchen.
I unload the clean dishwasher and sometimes get a few bottles prepared for the day. Then I pour a cup of coffee. I've even had a bowl of cereal for breakfast in this new house! My, am I becoming an adult or what?
If I'm feeling very ambitious, I let the dogs out. But usually at this point, Kyle is dressed and ready to tend to the puppies.
They thunder up from the lower level, past the empty china cupboard and my beloved crystal all over the dining room table, and out through the sliding glass doors onto the back patio.
And I have to tell you, they might love this place even more than we do. Because -- hark, a yard!
A big, leafy, tree-y one. With a fence and everything.
My mom arrives and Jack is usually still snoozing away in the nursery. If the TV isn't already on, we power it up in the (mostly bare) living room.
Kyle and I leave for work -- he goes downstairs out to the garage, but I like to walk out of the front door. It feels more civilized;)
When we come home, the dogs get more playtime.
I like to walk Jack around the backyard too -- it's very pretty at the end of the day.
Then we give him a bath, lay him down for the night, and head to the family room downstairs to watch TV, read, and catch up.
Right now, it's stuffed full of all our artwork and decor -- the only room in the house that we aren't planning (yet) to paint or redecorate in some way. It's nice and cozy, exactly like a family room should be.
And that, friends, is the tour of our new house.
.........................
At the end of the night, we head back upstairs. Kyle gets the dogs nestled down. I run the old dishwasher, which sounds like a jet engine taking off, and set the coffee pot to brew at 6:45 in the morning. I slide the pocket door to the kitchen closed and turn off all the lights. Sometimes one or both of us will get another shower, just because -- well, we have a master bathroom now, remember? The sheer luxury of it all!
Pretty soon, my days will be spent almost entirely in this house. There is really a lot to do -- we want blue on the walls and white on the kitchen cabinets. We want newer appliances and better furniture and pretty pictures on the walls. We want, we want, we want... but we already have everything we need. A nice neighborhood and a fenced backyard and all the love you could possibly stuff into a little brick split level house.
Really -- and I hope it isn't unfaithful to my first love on Kathleen Street to say so -- this place is already starting to feel a little bit like home.