This House, Part 2

Shortly before Hannah's first birthday Andrew and I had been talking about finding a larger house for our family. Hannah was crawling all over and we were bursting at the seems with stuff. I am not a hoarder. I go through most of our belongings at least once or twice a year to purge things we don't use regularly or have little use of in the future. I donate clothes and household items fairly regularly. Even so we had closets filled top to bottom, things stored under beds, just everywhere. Hannah is a small person but she has a lot of stuff!! We (probably) want another child down the road so we can't get rid of all her baby gear, but it takes up a lot of space. After packing up her beloved jumperoo and realizing I had no where to put it away we decided it was time to find a larger house.

I spoke to Paula who decided she would sell the trailer instead of renting it out again. We started looking for rental houses and she started looking for a buyer. (We don't know if we will stay in Alabama long term, so we are not ready to commit to buying a house here. Hence the rental).

I mentioned to Jan, my dance teacher, friend and step-sisters' mother, that we were looking for a rental at this price point and wanted to move in at the end of October. She said she'd keep her eyes open for us. Literally the next day her neighbor and good friend, Jolynn, mentioned that they would be doing some traveling and wanted to rent out the main floor of their 2 level house. It happened to be exactly the budget we were looking for and open at the exact same time we wanted to move in. Fate brought us together with Rick & Jolynn and this house. 

We waited excitedly for 2 months when suddenly the trailer sold sooner than expected, the buyers wanted in and asked if we were able to move out 2 weeks before we'd planned! Our new landlords were fantastic and worked their butts off to finish their portion of the move faster than anticipated and worked up to the literal last hour. We're thankful to them and can already tell we've lucked out once again with awesome landlords!

We've been in this house 2 weeks as of today and it is awesome. We have gotten most everything unpacked and put away. We hung our art and pictures, put our clothes in the closet. This house is becoming our home. 

 Hannah has found a quick exit strategy from each room, learned the loop that goes around the kitchen, dining room and den. She knows the door stopper behind her bed room door makes a funny noise and wiggles every time she touches it. This house has already made us happy. 

We are filling the rooms with our memories and our hopes for the future. This house will see our daughter walk, our love grow deeper and hopefully many, many moments of laughter and happiness.

 

Our wedding letters/guest book hung over centerpieces Andrew & I made for the wedding <3

We now live next door to my sister Ashland and our niece, Harlee. Jan and Michael Jay live next door to lend a hand, give a hug or share a cup of coffee. This house is situated at the end of a cul de sac where we can watch Hannah ride in her cozy coupe car and run around with her cousin.

Our very own custom art in 3D chalk by neighbor and artist Janis Sherwood!

This house has the exact kitchen Andrew and I have dreamed about cooking in, preparing food to nourish our bellies and our souls.

A dining room to act as my office, but also help host family meals. A sun room to sit and visit, talk and laugh.

Loving the closet space in Hannah's room!!

Hannah's original piece by JJ and MJ

This was the first thing I made for her room when I found out I was pregnant and we had a name chosen!

We haven't finished our room yet. Those pieces on the wall will move to over the bed

Guest room / holding space for unfinished/unpacked stuff

The first piece of art or furniture I bought for the trailer when I first moved in has found it's way to the new house

This house is just what we wanted, more than we needed and so full of potential and joy.

This House, Part 1

At the end of 2011 I was looking for a new home to be my fresh start after the end of a relationship. I wanted something affordable, safe and homey and with a yard for my dog to serve as my first house that didn't include a roommate. A good friend of mine's mother owned a nice piece of land with a trailer that she sometimes rented out, so I called him and jokingly mentioned that I would love it if his mom would let me rent the trailer. I figured it was a long shot but worth asking. He checked with her and the stars had aligned, her previous tenants had recently left and she was having some work done on the place but it could be mine if I wanted. It was available for me and I moved in on approximately January 4, 2012.

I brought my pets, the furniture I had, used some old stuff that had been left behind and bought 1 piece of art. It was a shadow box from Target that says "Life isn't about finding yourself, it's about creating yourself." This was fitting given the season of life I was in. Andrew and friends helped me move in and it became home. Over time I never bought any more art, I only hung photos of us or things that I've painted myself. It truly is my house. It isn't the most picturesque or matching decor, but I put a lot of effort and love into every piece of refinished furniture or painting on the wall.

 A few months later Andrew and I had started dating and he was spending more and more time at the little pink trailer in the woods. He officially moved in in mid 2012 and we made it our home. Over the years a kitten adopted us, our dog Sidney ran after tennis balls in the yard, we painted furniture on the back deck, read books in the sun room, changed a guest room into a nursery. We've watched the leaves fall and the grass regrow many times now, and this house has been good to us.

Our relationship grew from friendship to a deep love while we lived here.
We celebrated our engagement, newly married life and pregnancy here.
We welcomed home our first child during our years here.
We watched our daughter crawl and laugh and talk while we grew here.

This house became our home. 

But there were also hard times.
We said goodbye to our beloved dog while we lived here.
We grieved the loss of multiple family members during our years here.
We experienced a difficult pregnancy and hard recovery here.
We work too much and often miss spending enough time together, but we still grow here.

This house is still our home. 

Our landlord, who was once 'Zach's Mom', became Paula, our friend. She watched our family grow and helped us along the way. We will forever be grateful to her for her generosity and kindness.

Our family outgrew this house, and now it's time to make a new home. We are excited for the new adventure and extra space, but it's hard to beat the quiet that comes with the beautiful plot of land. I'll miss watching the hawk that lives on the left side of the yard and the momma deer and her twin doe that crunch the grass along the back treeline. I won't hear the squirrels that rule the entire property and like to run along the top of the sun room when the weather is nice. 

This house will always be where our family grew and our love flourished.

Hannah: 12 Months

21 pounds 4 ounces

29 inches

Hannah, my big sweet 1 year old!!! Girl, you are one year old and your daddy and I simply can't believe it. The past year flew by at record speed. You grew faster than we could keep up. Your development exploded in the last few months, both verbally, physically, socially. You are keeping us on our toes (and you stay on your toes as well!). 

Aside from turning 1 (!!!!) this past month was fairly tame. Sadly we started the first day of this month with your first real throw up. You'd been running a slight fever which we attributed to teething, woke up in the middle of the night fussing so I went in to give you some tylenol, which you immediately barfed all over me. It was really gross and pretty pitiful. Daddy cleaned you up while I cleaned myself up, then we laid you down and you passed right back out. You were a little worse for the wear the next day, but thankfully that was the end of the upset tummy.

We started back at Mother's Day Out for the school year and you and I were both so excited! We kept your teachers from the summer term, which we were super excited about. When we walked in to school that first day you immediately smiled when you realized where you were going. The mental, social and developmental stimulation you get at school is priceless. We love our teachers at Mother's Day Out!!

We helped our good friend Grayson celebrate his 2nd birthday and you were all too eager to help eat my piece of cake and ice cream! It's fun to help party with our friends now that you're mobile and interactive.

This month was full of hard knocks including a busted lip, a black eye and miscellaneous bumps and bruises. You looked pretty banged up most days, but you're tough and we survived.

You became a professional at smashing cake. We did a mini cupcake at home the night before your birthday, sent mini cupcakes to school, went to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner and you smashed cake there, then by your actual party, girl, you went to town!! It was so cute and funny. I'm glad we did the practice runs so you didn't get to the party and look all confused. 

Your verbal skills have gone through the roof. As of now you say: Baby, bye bye, bites, bottle, Mommy, Daddy, Maggie (daycare teacher), cat. Now some of these words don't sound exact, like cat is more of -dat, or -kiddy. Bite is 'biiit, with a soft T.  You wave, clap, give high fives. We're working on blowing kisses.

You pull up on everything, cruise the furniture and have started letting go of things while standing. You end up on your tush pretty quickly and usually with a startled look on your face. Your doctor thinks you'll be walking very soon, but for now you fall into the "quick to talk slow to walk" category. (Even though 12 months isn't technically slow). 

Big girl, Daddy and I have such wonderful hopes and dreams for you. We know you will conquer the world with your smarts and your smile. Your laugh is deep and contagious. You wake up happy and usually go to bed happy. When you meet new people you watch them closely, usually bury your face in my shoulder for a minute, and then after about 5 minutes you warm up and talk their ear off, smile at them and wave excitedly.  You are not shy, by any means, you just need a few minutes to decide whether you feel like telling someone about your day. 

We love you so much, and it has been the biggest joy of our lives to watch you grow and help shape you into the beautiful, smart, funny human being you are becoming. We can't wait to see what the next year has in store for our family and for you!! We love you Baby!!

love,

Mommy & Daddy

Hannah: 11 Months

~21.8 pounds

~28.5 inches

Sweet Hannah,

Somehow, and I'm not sure how, but somehow we have made our way to month 11. One month shy of being 1 year old. I'm in denial. I can't believe that my little baby is almost 1. I'm planning your party, invitations are ordered, the venue is booked (which is actually Nana and Papa Chip's house!), the date is set. It's all coming fast and furious. But for now, you're 11 months old. If I could freeze you at this age I would. You are so fun and happy and full of life. Every day and every outing is a new adventure. I ask you if you're Mama's big girl or Daddy's big girl. You usually respond with jabbery noises or dadadada (which does not mean you're agreeing to being Daddy's big girl!).

We started off the month in Orlando, Florida, visiting Grandpa and Grandma Tammy. We had such a good time with all of our family there. You were a hit, to say the least! In addition to visiting family we also did a day trip to Sea World and an overnight trip to St. Augustine. While we were on vacation you decided to practice and perfect all these cool tricks that you had seen at daycare. You mastered the army crawl, started clapping (especially for yourself), giving sloppy kisses, going from tummy to sitting up, and waving. It was insane how much you exploded.

We saw the end of MDO, which was very sad. You've spent the last 3 interim weeks with me at home, but after your taste of socialization and activity I am just not enough anymore. We have to get out of the house at least once a day, even if it's just to go walk around Target. We've done more zoo trips in the last 3 weeks than we have all year! Fun thing about the zoo these days, you finally have started noticing the animals!! We've also been to the Botanical Gardens twice. MDO picks back up next week and we are both very excited!

We welcomed a new family member this month, Cousin Kirra!! She came early like you and we are still (un)patiently waiting for her to be released from the NICU. We went to her baby shower and you were such a good girl. Just amazed at all the people, most of whom were different than who you are used to seeing, and hearing. This was a Filipino party and at first you were a little unsure. They were excited and loud and speaking another language. Before long though you were ready to party and hung in there really well despite being hot and tired. It was your first baby shower!

You've become a professional jabberbox. You changed from making the same sounds (ma-ma-ma, da-da-da) to conversational talk. You make different sounds, use inflection, act like you're responding to questions and comments. It's really too cute. You are a talkative girl!! In addition to these talking sessions, you said your first purposeful word, BABY! We look at the pictures and art you made for Daddy on Father's Day and point to it and ask who it is, then we say baby. Now every time you see another baby, a mirror, a picture of a baby, a box of diapers with a baby on it -- you said baby. It's the cutest word I've ever heard.

You mastered a new cool trick at the end of the month -- standing up in your crib! You started pulling up on anything you can get your hands on, playing on your knees and standing up (while holding onto things). You are SO proud of yourself, and so are we. After you wake from naps you stand in your crib and just jabber away. Unless we take too long in getting you up, then you cry.

On the last day of your month we went to Marion to meet family from my dad's side. I've decided to call him Paw Paw. We went to the cemetery and stood at his grave site and talked for a bit. I told him about you, and told you about him and how much he would love you. It was nice to be close to him again and let you get to know him. We tried to visit with some other family members but they had other plans so it wasn't much time with them.

I've started planning your 1st birthday party and part of it includes a ball pit. We broke it out one night and let you test it out and it was just too cute. You thought it was so much fun. We don't leave it out all the time (because hello, it's messy!) but when we get it out you love to take the balls out of the pit, bang them together and then drop them, pick up 2 more and start over again. 

This month was so much fun, so full of new milestones and fun times. Every month feels like my favorite, and this month was so different. I'm so in love with you and the fun, happy little girl you are growing into. We love you Baby!!!