Settling In

Today is day three in the new house. The number of boxes are starting to dwindle and everyone is feeling a little more settled. I think even the dog has come to accept that this is his new home (after three homes in the last week). He's really quite the guard dog, which is funny, considering that he is 17 lbs. If no one saw him and just heard the barking it might do the trick.

Our move went really smoothly and I am so incredibly grateful for all of our friends and family who helped to move us in. The move took about an hour and we had everyone hang out for some bbq after the move. It was so nice to look around and feel so supported by our amazing friends and family. It just made me that much more excited to be in the new house and be able to share it with all those close to us.

New House- It's Official!

I'm happy to report that all went great during the closing today and we have both sold and purchased a home. I'm so excited that everything went so smoothly.

The sellers were great and told us about a block party that was coming up in the neighborhood. They said that they were hoping to attend as well as they really love the neighborhood. That was really encouraging to us. We asked them if there were many kids on the block. They began ticking off names of kids and told us all about the Easter egg hunt that usually takes place in front of our house each year. Strangely, the entire west side of the street is only male children and the east side (where we are moving) is all female. It will be interesting to see if that holds true for us too.

It was so great to hear how much they love the neighborhood and their neighbors. We already loved the house so this just made us feel that much better. I can't wait to move in on Sunday!

Closing a Chapter

I really feel as if I'm closing a chapter of my life over the next couple of days as I prepare to move out of our condo. We bought this place just months after getting married. It's in a really young, hip neighborhood close to downtown, restaurants and bars. We took advantage of it all and really loved living the lifestyle that this place afforded us. After a few years living that lifestyle we slowly started talking about kids. Eventually that gave way to trying to start a family. Our plan was to see how things went and then move to a house when the time came.

Well, as we all know, the starting the family part didn't go as swimmingly as we had hoped and then started the years of trying and fertility treatments. Medical procedures, acupuncture, massage and medications are not inexpensive so we decided to stay put. Fertility treatments evolved into adoption and we decided that we really needed to stay put and save up for awhile.

I loved the beginning years of living in our place and being newly married and carefree. The last few years of living here don't have the same happy memories for me. It really reminds me of the waiting and the uncertainty of our situation. The setting up of a baby room only to have it dismantled. This place is beginning to make me feel as if I'm in a permanent holding pattern, forever stagnating in the lifestyle of my late 20s.

On Saturday I'll be packing up and moving out of our condo. It's bitter-sweet but I'm really looking forward to closing this chapter in our lives. I know that the next place we move to will see a baby in it and I'm ready to start that chapter of my life. I'll miss the great lifestyle this place afforded me but I'm even more looking forward to the new chapter that lies ahead.

New House

I'm so excited to report that we are under contract on a house. It's about 15 blocks from our current house and in the neighborhood in which we were hoping to move. It's a few blocks north of our cut-off but the neighborhood is great. There are so many families on the blocks around our house. It seems like every porch has a jogging stroller on it. The neighborhood is very diverse and historic. I also learned that the neighborhood was historically the only integrated neighborhood in Denver. Very cool! The house was built in 1902 and has been completely updated and is ready for us to just move in. I am so excited to know that we are going to have a home to bring bambino home to (whenever that happens). The house just feels so great and I'm so ecstatic to actually have a backyard. I'm praying that nothing unexpected arises. If nothing crazy happens we have a house!!!

Managing Expectations

If my adoption journey has taught me anything it is don't count your chickens before they hatch. So, the house that I LOVED went under contract before we could get a bid in on it. We were planning on writing the bid this evening. Fortunately, we went out looking again and we found a house that could work yesterday and one that we really like and actually will be making an offer on first thing in the morning. I'm trying to be more zen about this whole thing. The universe keeps trying to teach me patience but I'm a really slow learner.

House Search

Yesterday we went out looking for houses and I found a house that I love. It went under contract and I was heart broken and it has come back on the market again. It's in my ideal neighborhood and is an amazing house built in 1905. It's one block from a beautiful huge park and a few blocks from the zoo. I vowed to myself that I wouldn't fall in love with anything so that we were actually getting a good deal. This house has a lot of interest and I'm really nervous about getting in a bidding war. I'm notoriously good at picking a great location and a hot neighborhood but notoriously bad for getting emotionally involved and not getting a good deal.

We looked at five houses yesterday but hated all of them but one (the one I LOVE). We only have 7 more to see today. I really hope that we find at least one other house that we even remotely like. The homes that we saw yesterday were horrible remodels and extremely over priced or they were on blocks where I didn't feel safe. This is why the housing market in Denver is ridiculous. There is no inventory of decent homes. Wish us luck - exactly one month to find a house - yikes!!!

Offer Accepted

We have accepted an offer on our house and we will be closing in five short weeks! I'm so glad that things went so quickly! I am a complete wimp when it comes to the inconvenience of showings and I am glad that they are over (hopefully). It's been a marathon - 15 showings in less than two weeks. The dog is going to miss his fun hour-long outings but he'll be excited to have a back yard!

This is the perfect way to start my vacation. I'm off to the airport for a celebratory glass of wine (which will double as a pre-flight nerve calmer).

Updates

It's so funny to be on the wait list for adoption and selling our home at the same time. I used to always jump when the phone rang in case it was "the call". Now "the call" has become the showing call that I'm anxiously awaiting or better yet, the offer call. Too funny!

Today will mark 12 showings in one week but no offers. We continue to receive the craziest comments from people. The one yesterday was that we don't have a porch. This should not have been surprising when they had to take an elevator to the 8th floor. Does the balcony qualify as a porch? So crazy! Anyway, I'm enjoying (hopefully) some of my last time on my balcony/porch updating my blog and enjoying the first clear view I've seen in awhile of Long's Peak and the Flatirons. Nothing to complain about today.

The baby front is stalled out which is fine with me. I'd love for baby to hold out until we're all settled. We're still at #12 this month but some families below us on the list have been placed. (This has been the case all along and does not bother me at all). So, still waiting for bambino but more impatiently waiting for a buyer.

A Good Showing

We've had three people through our place in the last couple of days and have one more today (but hopefully more). Things are off to an encouraging start! We've even seen a few houses in the neighborhood that we can afford and that are in a good location. Things might come together.

The best part is hearing the feedback from the other Realtors. Most of the feedback has been what we expected. But, we got a really funny comment last night. Our place is in a great location. You can walk downtown and to one of the cities nicest parks. The inside of our place is nothing to write home about. It's updated and clean and adequate but the real selling point is our view of downtown and the front range from our balcony and bedroom. We had one realtor come back that said that her client liked the place but didn't think the view was all that great. This made us laugh. The only good thing about our place is the view. (Hopefully no prospective buyers are reading this).

On the Market

We had our first showing today and the house officially hits the market tomorrow. I'm feeling optimistic. The inventory of places at our price point and in our location is a whopping 2 properties. Hooray! The bad news is it's a crazy seller's market when it comes to houses in our neighborhood and they're getting snatched up quickly. Somehow this will all work out. I'm thinking very positive thoughts about buying and selling coinciding seamlessly. I'm sure there will be more drama to come....

The Ever Changing Second Bedroom

We are just about to put the last load of items into our movable storage unit. The last load is the crib and the few baby items that we have purchased. This is a precaution just in case we get "the call" and have to dig through a 16 foot trailer.

I think the funny part of adoption is how you must always be prepared without having any idea of the timing. I was bitterly laughing that we've been living in a one bedroom condo for the last eight months because we turned the office into a baby room. We're now moving out of our two bedroom condo and turning the baby room back into an office. How great would it have been to have had all that extra space for eight months!

I don't regret having the baby room assembled. I think it was important emotionally and psychologically for me to feel like I was actually going to have a baby. Seeing baby things and a crib and changing table made everything more real. You'd think that seeing this every day would actually be depressing, but, I think most days it just made me hopeful and excited for what was to come.

However, now that we're at moving/staging day, it feels so silly to have had a baby room that was never used that we are disassembling to move to our new place. The hopeful and exciting part of this is that when we do assemble the new baby room we know that there will definitely be a baby in it!