#3 -- MOVE

So, remember those pesky 2011 "Goals" I made?  In case you forgot, they are over there on the right side of the blog...to constantly remind me of the things I need to be working on.  And I am working on them, truly.  I just don't update you guys all that regularly on them because I didn't think they were interesting you.  If I am wrong, correct me now..

Anyhow, back to #3.  How ambiguous, right?  Well, I can't be super crystal clear, but we knew that  -- one way or the other -- we wanted to move this year.  And as things started to fall into their places, we realized that moving meant 'upgrading' and staying in the same city and just getting a larger house.  That's cool.  That was in our plan anyways.

So, we spend most of the spring prepping the house.  We had prepped a bit last year because we actually made an offer on a house up the street from us when I was 8.5 months preggo with Sam (yeah, we ARE that crazy).  That fell through only because someone slipped in with a cash offer which knocked us right off the table.  We still are a little bit bitter about that one...we still ogle the house every time we drive by it (pretty much every morning, LOL).  But, it just wasn't meant to be.

And it wasn't...because we got a LOT more done on our house afterwards...and I am convinced that if we had tried to sell last year, we would've had a really REALLY hard time doing so.

After all the hard work, our house officially listed at 11:00 am on Tuesday, June 28th.  Pictures were uploaded to the listing by 8pm that same night.  We scheduled an open house for Sunday -- even with the holiday weekend.

Tuesday night I made this:

I thought it added a nice festive and welcoming touch to the front door.

Wednesday, I got a phone call from our realtor that someone wanted to go through our house already!  Great, I said...when?  "Tonight" he replied.  WHAT?  WHAT?  WHAT?  "at 4pm"  IT WAS 2:30 at that time.  I hadn't left the house 'showing ready' that morning -- who would do that 24 hours after listing...with two small kids and a dog and a cat?  I gulped back all the fear in my throat and replied "Ok, I'll make it work".

I then RUSHED out the door of work (thank you to my understanding boss and co-workers).

As I raced up our street, I saw this:

I seriously almost starting crying.  I mean, I know this is my CHOICE and everything...but there are SO MANY memories in this house!  This is my FIRST house (bought independently), where I got engaged, where I got pregnant two times, where I went into labor (if you don't count target officially for Sam's labor).  Lots of good memories here.  I know our NEXT house will have plenty of good memories also, and I am ready to leave here, but I will miss it.  We put so MUCH work into this house...and it shows, it really truly does.

Anyways, I brushed the tears away and did the fastest cleaning of my house I've EVER done...45 mins.  I was DRENCHED in sweat.  But I got the dog in my car, the cat zipped up in a duffel bag, and raced out the door at 3:57 down to the park at the end of the street (another HUGE perk of this house...its proximity to kid friendly outlets...LOVE).  We sat there until my parents picked up the boys for their swim lessons, and while we were sitting there FOUR more showing for Thursday and Friday got scheduled!  Crazy!

So, with the forewarning for the showings on Thursday, we planned ahead.  The house was ready when we left for work, I prebaked cookies to put out, and so all I had to do was rush home, do a quick once over, grab the animals and put out the cookies:

We were kind of sneaky and just stayed at the next door neighbors tonight for dinner and swimming (and of course spying).  There were only 5 cookies left at the end of the night.....

Here's little Max giving Shiloh a hug -- she's in that canvas duffle bag.  She was on a leash and after she explored the deck, she decided she felt safer in the bag, so she crawled back in there...

I can tell you this.  It is freaking WEIRD to watch other people walking through your house.  Knowing they are seeing YOUR STUFF, and you aren't there.  You know they are talking about YOUR HOUSE, YOUR STUFF, and you can't hear them!  We actually considered grabbing the baby monitor and seeing if we could eavesdrop on the people...but that just didn't feel right.  A part of me got really sad again watching people go through our house....I know that it will make someone else really happy after us.  I kind of hope that it finds another young family to nourish and coddle.  This house likes babies.

And, after 4 showings, we've heard only positive feedback...

Including some hints at an offer possibly coming in already...

Holy cow.  Am I ready for the SOLD sign yet?  I guess If I'm not, I had better GET READY.

I'll keep you posted