tiny kelsie

I didn’t expect to write this post this soon, or at this stage in our lives. I admit, I knew this wasn’t our forever home. When we sold our first home in Texas and moved to Connecticut, I became a bit more realistic about my expectations about how long I would live in one place.

We bought our Texas house with “forever” in mind, and we started making preparations and decisions to move to the East Coast after living there for a little over three years. I was devastated but excited. I was scared but adventurous. And then we moved 1,600 miles away.

Before I had fully unpacked, boxes still strewn about, Mark was surely high from the experience of leaving it all behind + what new experience awaited us. Then he said, “Maybe in a few years, we’ll move to the West Coast.”

The nerve! But I didn’t take it that way. He was just reminding me that adventure awaits, and to leave my heart open for possibilities. I knew I was going to take good care of it, try to not get too attached, and make it full of art, memories, laughter, souvenirs and a lot of love. That I did. And now we’re moving. But, where?

Oh, not too far. About two miles north. We love our community here in Coastal Connecticut, and we’re trying to keep as much consistent with our son’s life as possible. It’s hard enough getting your first full-time sibling at ten years old!

Mark had made up his mind about moving far sooner than I did. He was planting seeds just like that West Coast one I mentioned above. When I fell in love with Monet’s Gardens while in France, he said, “You need a bigger house for a garden like this.” He was inserting the idea in every conversation.

I wanted to keep living small.

I’ve loved living in this little cape cod style house. It was just enough space for the three of us. I love that living small reflected my values of less materials, more experiences. I had space for art. I had a beautiful outdoor space and a water view. We were close to everything, I could kayak from my backyard and walk to the harbor, the beach, the library, and the train to New York.

Even after we got pregnant, I was making decisions how my children that have a decade difference in age were going to share a room. His Batman room would be a Superhero room for a girl and a boy….until we got the genetic scan back. THEN, it would be a Batman and Robin theme ;).

Then, a silly thing happened.

Two months ago, I parked too close in our single car garage.

Suddenly it occurred to me: there wouldn’t be much time before my belly didn’t fit in there at all. And what about a car seat?! I didn’t want to spend a winter shoveling my car out of the snow because taking the car seat out couldn’t happen in my garage.

I mentioned it to Mark. He made another comment. I finally looked on Zillow to see if there was a house I liked that had slightly more square feet with a water view.

There was one. Actually, there were two. And it was a river view.

We reached out to our real estate agent that night.

Erica Acheychek sold us our first house here. She’s not only a total powerhouse that stays on top of her game, she’s super great company and we’ve kept in touch with her over the 2 1/2 years we’ve lived here.

The next day, I was in the houses. I liked one. Mark made an offer, he saw it the following day. Within two days, my FOREVER friend, Ky, flew out to help my 7 month pregnant butt get our house ready for showings. We worked our tails off. We showed Erica how Texas girls get shit done, I’ll tell you that.

A week from the seemingly insignificant garage moment, my house was on the market. But I still wasn’t sure if I wanted to leave.

We saw more houses.

Mark wasn’t really won on the first one, though he made an initial offer. I wasn’t either. Our current house had been better maintained. There wasn’t a lot of closet space. And, funnily enough, the garage was in complete disrepair. It reeked of wood rot, wasn’t even on a motor, and was VERY far from the house.

So, I gave a few a try. I was very stubborn.

“This house is perfectly fine!” -Me, all the time during the past two months, even up to this Monday

They all had to have a nature feature. If it wasn’t a pond or a river, it needed to be next to an open space. A brook, a stream, anything. Nature in my backyard.

Our house sold immediately.

We listed on a Friday. On Sunday, there was an open house. By that evening, Erica was in conversations with our buyer’s realtor. By Monday we had a list price offer in cash. …did I mention we love our realtor?

…it wasn’t long before we found a house for us, too.

That situation was a little bit of a mess, and I’ll spare you the details. But we move into it in FIVE days. Stay tuned.