Our First Month in the Burbs

Today marks one month since we moved to the burbs. Hard to believe. It’s been an exciting, challenging and eye opening time. We LOVE our home and each day get more and more settled but, after four years, forgot what a pain it is to move and have never done it with a child in tow. Granted, she was at my parents’ house so, for the packing and actual first few days, wasn’t part of the equation but we had all of her stuff too and then, once she got here, progress slowed significantly. And her being in a new home, town and without school and structure has proved tough at times- for all of us. Plus, construction on our living room and basement wasn’t/isn’t finished and problems arose with both so we’ve been living with workmen, noise, increasing budgets and delayed timelines as well. And then there’s the normal growing pains of living out of boxes for a bit and getting used to a new place, not to mention a new commute for Zach. But, overall, they’re good problems to have and we’re so relieved to finally be here and start to put down some roots for once in our lives.

The first few weeks, there was a lot of confusion on Lilly’s part talking about her toys still being in “8C” (our old apartment), wondering why they don’t have school in our new town and saying she missed certain things but just yesterday she informed my mom that she never wants to go to her house again, a place she used to ask for monthly, saying, “I love my new home and never want to leave!” So, I’d call that progress. What more can you ask for?

Here’s a look back at the move and our first month in our “forever” home…

Granted things got more cluttered in the last few weeks with boxes and bags for the new house and our overall sense of “why bother?” tidying and organizing when we’re leaving but, still, looking at these photos of the way we were gives me a slight panic attack now. HOW did we live this way for so long?

Our bedroom became the breeding ground for clutter.

And then there’s the living room which doubled as my office, our kitchen, Lilly’s playroom…

We took many a trip like this out to the burbs the last few months.

Joking (kind of!) that he’s out of money.

So excited about stairs!

Living room under construction.

There were many remote office days.

Master bedroom in progress.

Basement work from the outside.

Old living room mantle out…

New nursery rug going in…

Contents of our old, unfinished basement on the patio.

The fun part for me- decor!

Checking out the living room rug.

All boxed up.

The lone picture left on what-used-to-be Lilly’s art wall.

If you saw my Stories that day, you know they brought too small of a truck and had trouble fitting everything. Does moving day ever go smoothly for anyone else?

We picked up lunch from our favorite new deli that rivals any in the city and waited for the movers to show up. It was really nice for an hour or so, just the two of us, being in our new home. The calm before the suburban homeowners storm.

And then it was time to get to work…

… and work

… and work

Shout out to our moms. Zach’s flew in to help us unpack and spent 15 hour days in our kitchen. Mine took Lilly so we could actually get things done and has been here every week with her so I can continue to.

Head to the next page for life with Lilly in the burbs.