Happily Homeless....for now Written by: Justin

whoops - sorry Justin - forgot to post this when you wrote it a month or so ago :)

So far, this summer has been pretty great! We finally sold our house
which brought about mix emotions. On one hand, we have been trying to
sell it for quite some time so we were excited that the prospect of
another house was just around the corner, but on the other hand, we realized how
attached we had grown to it given that so many milestones took place there.

But here I am,
living with the in laws. I suppose I should make the 'raise the eye
brow, and exhale look' as I mention that but things have gone extremely
well. Why does everyone make the expression when talking
about their in- laws? It's like when you're watching House Hunters on
HGTV(that right! I said House Hunters) and the husband ALWAYS has to
makes that comment about the closet space in the master bedroom. 'Hey
nice size, should be enough room for my wife's stuff.' Haha! We get
the joke now move on. Fortunately, Brittani and I have a
good relationship with both families and have plenty of closet space,
which we are extremely grateful for.

The girls are doing great! Hudsen surprises me every day with her
vocabulary and overall politeness. She says thank you, please, excuse
me, I'm so sorry, and so many other little things that it always catches me off-gaurd.
I sneezed the other day which was of course was followed up with a
'bless you daddy' which was then followed up by eating her yogurt and
responded...'this was delicious!' Everyone is so damn polite in our
house you would think were British, but slightly better.

Henley is growing like a weed! She, unlike Hudsen has not met a food
she does not like. Hudsen required a whole song and dance to get her
fed at this age, while Henley cries if you don't feed her fast enough. It's pretty
funny! She truly has been incredible. We are so blessed. She sleeps 12
hours, she eats well and all the girl does is smile and giggle. I don't
know if she is just teasing us and then will end up being a holy terror,
but if she remains the same Brittani and I will 'Count Our Blessings'
Underlined phrase was a little play on words as it is one of Hudsen's
favorite books from the Berenstein Bears collection....a pretty legit series of books
and television show!!

All in all we are taking things in stride...Raising my eyebrows every chance I get, looking for a home with plenty of closet space, a tea set that would make Kate Middleton jealous of Hudsen, and some sort of market research infant eating survey Henley can participate in. Who says 100 degree weather can’t be fun?!

Henley is really thriving in Des Peres :)

Soooooo due to the recent sale of our house...and the incredibly quick closing date requested by the buyers....Justin and I and the girls find ourselves shaking up with my parents in their Des Peres home. We scrambled to try to find a new house the weekend our home went under contract, and we just didn't see anything that we wanted to jump on...so we looked briefly into renting an apartment...and quickly decided against that. We are so lucky to have both of our parents ready to jump up and help us at the drop of a hat and ended up taking my parents up on their offer of staying with them while we search for a home. (An offer they may find themselves soon regretting) :)

But so far so good over here!

Henley is growing up so fast and just wanted to document few of her recent milestones over the last month.

At 7 months we took the bottle away, and she took on a new love for her sippy cup. She couldn't quite hold it and tilt it herself right away, but just a few short weeks later she is doing it all on her own, which helps me out the most so I can multi task through the hectic-ness of mealtime over here :)

Henley is also standing up well while hanging onto furniture. She can't quite pull her self up yet, but when left alone for a few moments...she can hold her self up (in reality, I am right there behind the lense to catch her if she falls) :) Here she is watching with her sisters current favorite show 'Jake and Neverland.'

May not be any ones ideal living situation...but so far we are having a wonderful time :) !

Well, better get off the computer and back on the House Hunt! :)

Packing Up and Moving Out

(This blog was written a week ago...but I decided not to post, because I didn't want to jinx anything...typical me...but now that we have CLOSED, I am ready to click that 'publish' button!) :)

I'm excited to announce that we are FINALLY moving! This has been such a long time coming. We were on the market all of last summer…and then took it off before Henley was born in October, and kept it off through the winter, as we adjusted to life with the 2 girls. We anxiously got it right back on the market in March, and I am happy to say that we are under contract, and moving in 1 week! Yes, we were on the market for what seemed like forever….actual cumulative time, about 9 months, which isn’t bad, however, if you throw in the amount of time I have spent thinking and planning t his move, we are probably going on about 3 years! I have stressed myself out throughout the whole process…excessively cleaning, tidying up, decluttering, fluffing anything that could be fluffed….and it has been more than exhausting mentally. As a realtor myself, you would think I would have wrapped my head around this whole process working with so many wonderful clients over the past 6 almost 7 years….but no – I really hadn’t. We purchased our home, our first home, about 1 month before Justin and I got married. Having never lived together the whole process was so exciting! And as a realtor, it was one of my first transactions which made it even more FUN!
But as the amount of girls in the house tripled over the last 3 years…we are busting at the seems and screaming for more space...indoor and out. I have spent a lot of time, that I now regret, complaining about the downfalls of our little home here on Sandalwood Creek, and now find myself incredibly sad about leaving. So typical me. I couldn’t help but cry last night while in bed as Justin casually mentioned how he feels about leaving this home that we brought our two little angels home to. Its amazing to me that I can be so excited to move on, yet, so sad to leave. So to keep all of my memories in check, as I constantly fear I wont remember feelings, I had to get everything I am feeling and thinking about on paper.
So as we start our week long of counting down to the last day on Sandalwood Creek…I should clearly be packing…but no…Instead I am finding myself flipping through old photos remembering the 6 years we spent here. It's been amazing, every minute of life in our little home.
Here are a few moments in the little house thatI will cherish forever!

First months of marriage were spent fixing up our house

Our 1st year anniversary quickly approached!

After being married for a little over 2 years, we found out we were expecting just before hosting our 2nd ugly sweater party.












Baby bump picture taken in our upstairs landing
(I was 28yrs old here...but for some reason I feel like I look like a cast member on 16 and pregnant) :)

Final BUMP picture before heading to hosiptal. We didn't know what we were having, but I did know that I had gained 60lbs! Ha!

Hudsen is born, and we are excited to finally be home with her!

Hudsen nestled in nicely to her new home.....

Our first Family Christmas Card

Hudsen growing up too fast!

And taking her first steps at 10 months...

Celebrating her 1st birthday with our families

Driveway fun...
























Couch fun...

Halloween 2009....

Another Christmas Card picture...

Story time with daddy

Happy Easter 2010

Clearly her favorite holiday...

Hppy Fathers Day 2010

4th of July fun in the driveway



Sprinkler!

Baby Bump #2 on our 5th Wedding Anniversary

Golf Lessons in the driveway

And suddenly Hudsen turns TWO!

Heading out the door to a Halloween Party

Heading to hospital to have a baby but wanted to grab one more picture before Hudsen becomes a Big Sister!

Home from the hospital with Henley, and Hudsen starts helping out instantly :)

Matching! :)

Henley relaxing with Daddy

And yes, ANOTHER Christmas Card picture! Okay, you know its time to move when your family no longer fits in front of the only size tree that fits in your family room :)

Happy Valentines Day!

Growing so fast!

Happy Easter!

Relaxing on Mommy's Yoga mat watching one of their 'shows'

The picture that earned Justin and Henley a spot in Ladue News's Daddy Look Alike Contest

Two sisters just relaxing

Saturday morning fun in the 'Big' Bed

Happiest Baby in the World. Hoping our next home makes her smile just as BIG!

We came into this home as newlyweds....and almost 6 years later are leaving as a happy family of four! Amazing! :)

Our last dinner consisted of the three P's.....Pizza, Paper Plates, and Packing Tape :)

Wow....what a great time we have had here....but today we say GoodBye.... thank you for all the wonderful memories you have given us! :)

Little Mermaid

At the end of April Hudsen started taking swim lessons for the first time. She had been talking about swimming all winter, but I wanted to wait until Justin had some time away from work on the weekend so he could be the one taking the dip into the pool in the Parent/Child class. I myself was not feeling too anxious about throwing on an old bikini, with my 'mom' stomach and general paleness….so I was happy to learn there was an opening at a time that worked for the whole family.....so for 4 Saturdays....at 8:20a, Justin and Hudsen hit pool!

Enjoying her yogurt before her first lesson

SOOOOOOO ready to go!

Learning to jump in off the side

Swimming to the toy

Modeling her tutu swimsuit prior to the 3rd lesson

No wonder Hudsen loved swim lessons so much...she has the funnest Dad!

Don't get me wrong....it wasn't all fun and games, as seen here....Justin shows he is serious about learning to swim, as Hudsen eyes the competition :)

Last lesson....someone got a little c0cky and decide to wear her first 2piece swimsuit :)

All and all, we loved Rockwoods swim program and will definitely be continuing lessons!

Olympics 2012!