Less than 5 days into our new residence and we’re smitten.

This was our first move using a moving company and I’ll never go back. While they would have packed everything, Eric and I decided we could tackle that part. This left loading the furniture and boxes for the movers.

Early Saturday morning, I hopped in the car with Luke and Foxy, our cat. Luke quickly alleviated any fears I might have had about his transition by yelling “Home!” when we pulled into the driveway. Foxy didn’t adapt as quickly, taking the rest of the day before venturing out of her carrier.

The movers arrived at the apartment shortly after 8:30. By 10:30, they were en route to the house. Luke was fascinated from the moment they arrived. And my perpetual motion child was glued to the driveway watching the guys take our furniture inside. He kept saying “Watch, mommy, watch” and “Wow, fast!” In less than an hour, everything was in place and the truck was on its way.

We spent the remainder of the last few days digging out from a mountain of boxes and making new discoveries about the property.

Here are some funny things we didn’t know but have since discovered since getting some real time in the house:

• The guest bath has a cushioned rubber toilet seat. An easy fix but ick, I hate those.
• The master bath has a glass door. Even though Eric and I’ve been together for ages, we value our personal bathroom space. Looks like we’ll be buying a cover/blind before long as well.
• The shower in our master bath sprays bullets. I got in my first shower and laughed so hard at how strong the water pressure was that Eric came in to see what was wrong. Seriously, it was so comically intense, I had to cover up the ladies in order to take a shower.
• We have some giant rose bushes in our front yard. I’m at a complete loss for what to do with these. So, I’ve been doing some reading but if anyone has any expertise I’d totally welcome it.
• We have critters – and we expected too – but so far we’ve seen a possum, squirrels, a coyote (on our block, not our property) and evidence of a skunk.

Our list of to-dos is longer than I can even bring myself to consider.

Today, I went back to work. I’m so glad I took off extra time. Moving is more complex every time we do it and it always takes more out of me than I expect.

So far, Luke’s room and the kitchen are pretty settled. Our bedroom is full of random furniture and boxes. The guest room is a total trainwreck of sports equipment, empty suitcases and baby gear that Luke has outgrown. We have an extra table in our dining room, not enough furniture for the living room, and there is a mishmash of audio equipment and parts of a desk in the office.

The benefits of a quieter part of town are already making themselves clear. Luke watched the trash truck go up and down our street yesterday. We’ve gone for walks and played in the yard. We saw someone we know when we were out to dinner on Saturday night. Sunday we took Luke to the park and he had huge open spaces to run. I don’t have to validate my parking at the grocery store.

I don’t think that it has fully sunk in that we own this house. It feels like we’re in a vacation rental. (I’m sure that will change when we have to make our first repair.) But, I feel like this house is more of a blessing than I can wrap my mind around. There were a million opportunities for it all to fall through and I can’t believe it all actually lined up. I’m thanking every star in the universe for favors big and small right now because this type of set up seemed in the far distant future for our family and I think it will be a long time before we stop being baffled that it’s actually here.