We're Here!

We arrived at our new place in Edina, MN last Wednesday. We pretty much unpacked the truck and crashed, so tired of having this deadline looming over us. Moving is the WORST. But we had a ton of help, and we are glad to finally be here. We didn't get to see the place before we moved--my awesome sister in law scoped it out for us. I was relieved to see that it is in a safe neighborhood, and it's really nice too. I mean, the apartment is relatively basic, but we are loving the indoor pool we splurged on. We figured as long as we are going to spend over $900/mo on rent, we might as well spend a little more and get a pool and a fitness center, etc.

Today is Pete's first day of work, and I think we're all happy to have some "normalcy" around here. In fact, I had a great time grocery shopping at Aldi the other day, because that's where we shop at home and it felt kind of familiar. I took the girls to a park today and that felt good too.

I never thought I'd live in a place where my corner grocery store was a Whole Foods. We live near a major retail area and it. is. fancy. Restoration Hardware (where, by the way, you can buy a sofa for five figures), West Elm, Pottery Barn, and the Container Store are all within walking distance, just to name a few. So much temptation! I thought Ikea would be my only problem. It's a very strange place to live. Pete went to Whole Foods in search of Pepsi the other day. He came home with a two liter of natural sugar cane root beer that he paid over 2 dollars for.

My other first impression is that it's really good to live in a building where I'm pretty sure we are an ethnic minority. I love hearing all sorts of different languages on a daily basis. It'll be great for the girls too.

 Speaking of which, they are doing pretty well. Growing used to sharing a room. Claire is getting a couple of teeth that are really giving her trouble, and all of a sudden she is blowing out of her diapers left and right. Also, I am monitoring her wet diapers because I'm not totally convinced that she is getting enough milk and I'm considering supplementing with formula. And if you know me well, that's a huge decision. She didn't gain weight between her 6 mo. and 9 mo. appointment, and I feed her every 1-3 hours (3-5 hours at night). The same thing happened with Ava, and Ava ended up losing weight between 9 and 12 mo.

Ava has been asking to go home periodically, but seems to be coming around to this being our new home. Actually she refers to our Wausau house as "the blue house" (it's yellow). But she loves pushing the button for the elevator and she loves the pool.

There. Update.

The Whole Moving Thing

We have about 2.5 weeks until the big move. I think. Because we don't have anywhere to live yet! (mild freak out). We are planning to rent for a year so we can get settled, figure out if this is what we want, find a great house, and save up for a down payment. And sell our current house. I think God has definitely used this house to prepare me for apartment living. Actually almost all the apartments I've seen has higher square footage than our house, has a dishwasher *swoon* and a bathtub. Did I mention that my 3 year old still takes baths in an infant bathtub? Good thing she is in the 3rd percentile, no? And since having Claire, my desire to be crafty and diy-y has really diminished. I have time for that later, but right now I have 2 precious little girls to concentrate on. I am not crafty by nature, so it takes a lot of effort and time and I'd rather spend it on them. And not having to do maintenance on an old house for a year? Sign me up (and by that I mean sign US up. Mr. Wonderful is not crazy about home maintenance.) Especially after all the projects we're doing getting our house on the market. Not to mention all the money we've spent.

But we're making good progress. Our realtor comes today to list it as well as the carpet installer. Roofing this weekend. My sweet friend is watching the girls today so I can work. We have so much support.

It all kinda hit me a couple of days after Mr. Wonderful got the job offer. We were actually at my parent's house for a family wedding. My parents are kind of in the same boat right now, except they sold their house already and are closing on the 31st. I had to say goodbye to their house for the last time when we left--so many changes all at once. An uncertain future. But I'm so thankful I have a God who holds it!

Anywhooo, Ava is up. It's showtime!