houses

what Mommy in the Midwest is thankful for (2012)

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest

I just read my post from this time last year about what I’m thankful for. Currently, I’m sick with a cold.  Ryan was sick this time last year.  I wrote last year that Theo had been coughing for three weeks.  Theo just stopped coughing (after about four weeks).  Allergies maybe?  Why is this a sick time of year for us??

Anyway, I’ve been thinking about what I’m thankful for over the past couple of weeks.  I’m thankful for everything wonderful in my life.  I’m thankful for the things I have because I’m lucky and I’m thankful for the things I have because I’m determined to make my own good luck.  I’m thankful for all the changes in my life this year.

And it’s been a crazy year.  When I wrote this post 12 months ago, I didn’t know what all my family and my relationship would endure this year.  My grandfather died.  My sister got pregnant after trying for over a year and is due with a baby girl in a few weeks. I got a new job that I love.  In the midst of all that, Ryan and I argued more this summer and fall than we ever have because of all the stress we were dealing with over this house.  This home of ours.  The six months since Dexter’s 1st birthday in May have been a blur.  Shortly after his birthday, we moved out of our house and in with Ryan’s parents.  We certainly didn’t plan on living there for five months, but that’s what happened.

We kept searching for a home and when we found the one we ended up buying, we weren’t happy.  We felt like we got suckered.  A total fixer upper.  So we’ve spent countless hours over the past months working on the house and sacrificing time with our family.  Now we have been in our house (that is far from done) for about a month.  Was it a big transition?  Not at all.  Seamless.  Ryan and I went back to the couple that loves spending time together.  We went back to being the parents that feed their kids dinner and put them to bed every night.  We went back to plain old boring us.  Which is all I ever wanted.

After all of this, I’m thankful for our house.  One day it will be everything we want it to be.  We will have provided our kids with room to grow and play and enough space to have their friends sleep over.  We want to be the parents that have the house where the boys hang out with their friends.  Open door policy.  I’m thankful that we were able to purchase a home.

I’m eternally thankful to my in-laws.  My in-laws who let us live with them for 5 months.  My mother-in-law who watched the boys night after night, weekend after weekend, while we worked on the house.  My mother-in-law, who cooked us dinner and cleaned up after us, and gave the boys hugs and kisses while we were gone.  My father-in-law, who has spent more of his own time and energy on our house than we have.  My father-in-law, who could build a house by himself, and has spent countless days working by himself on our house while we were at work.  My father-in-law, who always has an idea of how to fix something. How to fit something. How to make things work.  My father-in-law, who is teaching my husband everything he knows about being handy so that one day, Ryan can teach Theo and Dexter.

I literally don’t know where we’d be without them.  Maybe we wouldn’t have had the nerve to buy this crazy house if it weren’t for them.  Maybe we’d live in an apartment for a year while we were fixing it up.  I. Don’t. Know.  But what I do know is that they’re there for us, through thick and thin, and we could never repay them.  They’re my second set of parents.  I’m thankful to have amazing in-laws and a wonderful relationship with them.

xo,
~C~

feels like home

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest

I’ve really neglected the before&after pictures of the house, I know.  But mainly it’s because they wouldn’t really be “after” pictures yet since nothing’s totally done. (I’ll let you steal a couple sneak peeks in the pictures below).  However.  As I mentioned in my Halloween post…we DID officially move in!  We started staying at the house on Sunday 10/28.  Three months + 1 day after closing.  After we made this decision I started thinking it was super dumb because Theo is transitioning to a big boy bed AND both boys are transitioning to sharing a room with each other.  On a Sunday night.  Genius.  Seems like something you’d want to get a handle on starting on a Friday, right? Eh.

As it turns out, so far it has been fine.  Our big boy really has proven to be just that so far by staying in his bed, not partying all night, and not keeping his brother up all night.  They are fine if we put them to bed at the same time, but they will talk/yell to each other for about 30-45 minutes.  It seems to work better if we put Dexter to bed about 20-30 minutes earlier than Theo.  He has been really good about staying quiet when he knows Dexter is asleep.  Theo is a pretty sound sleeper, so even on the days Dexter wakes up early for milk (yes, we still heat up milk for Dexter at 5:45 am most days), Theo sleeps in.  Saturday both kids slept til almost 8.  EIGHT!  Couldn’t believe it.

So the big bed and room-sharing is great.  The mom/homemaker/nurturer in me has been happy as a clam for the past week.  Theo and Dexter have been getting along so well.  My heart bursts every time they hug each other.  Every time I catch Theo trying to teach Dexter something.  Every time I sneak a peek into their room because it’s too quiet and see them sitting on Theo’s bed playing with something together.  It feels amazing to just cook their dinner and give them a bath here and do the most normal, ordinary, mundane, boring things.  That’s all I wanted.  They love this house.  It’s far from done, but it’s home.  It’s already our home sweet home.  Blood, sweat, and tears have all been shed here to make this place our home.

The OCD person in me still sees unpacked boxes and piles of tools and unpainted cabinets, etc.  But those things can wait.  We’re home now.  We’re with our kids every day.  I never have to miss a bedtime or dinnertime or storytime.  It’s all I’ve been wanting for the past 3+ months.

Best friends.  Two peas in a pod.

It’s home.

xo,
~C~

our house: there’s more to the story

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest

I was waiting to see what happened before I talked about this, but I guess it’s okay now.  I hope it’s okay now.

So…flashback to July 27, 2012.  The day we closed on our house.  We had mixed feelings about the house. We went to closing.  As we were walking up to the building, we (sorta) jokingly said, “let’s run. What if we don’t go in?”  We knew that the house needed SO much work.  A complete remodel.  We signed our names a billion times and the house was ours.  Then, the seller sat back in his chair and told us, long story short, that the basement leaked.  The finished basement leaked.  The same basement they referred to on the sales disclosure that said there was no history of moisture in the basement.  We asked a couple of questions…no one seemed to think anything was out of the ordinary.  We were shocked and to be honest, the gravity of what that man said didn’t really sink in at the time.  It would take a couple of hours.

We left closing and went to the house.  It felt good walking up to the door and turning the lock with my key. Our key.  It felt good walking in.  It had potential.  Lots.

We went to a Japanese steakhouse for lunch to celebrate and then to a home improvement store to buy some new locks.  Always the first thing you do when you buy a new house, right?  It started raining while we were in the store – we left there and went straight to the house.  We went down to the basement and there it was.  A puddle of water in the corner beneath the window.  UN. BE. LIEVABLE.  Our hearts and stomachs sank.

We talked to realtors. Attorneys.  Friends.  Family.  We were devastated.  We found out that the basement was going to cost thousands and thousands of dollars to repair.  We sent a letter to the seller and they responded.  2+ months later…. I’m happy to say that we have cashed a check from them for the repairs and we didn’t have to sue them. I don’t know if it was out of kindness or fear that they settled outside of court.  Maybe both.  Doesn’t matter.  All that matters now is that the basement repair people know what the heck they’re doing and our basement doesn’t leak anymore.  We had to remove carpet and drywall and decided to just let it sit unfinished throughout the winter to see if there is any more leaking.  Fingers crossed that we can actually use that additional 1,000+ square feet.  If we can’t, then this house was a total waste of money and we should have followed our guts when we were walking through the door at closing.  Turn around. Run the other direction.

I guess we got lucky.  I am pleased that they agreed to pay.  There will always be the fear that the basement will leak again every time there is a big rain.

We still haven’t moved in.  We are having carpet installed in the bedrooms this weekend and plan to move in sometime soon after that.  As soon as we can get things put away and furniture re-assembled.  I think Theo is starting to understand.  He knows that’s our house, and that we’re working on it to make it nice so we can live there.  I don’t know what Dexter thinks about it…he just sees it as a big open space to run and play in.  That’s really all we wanted for them anyway.

Wish us well…we need to be together as a family.  Working on the house and not spending a lot of time with the boys has been hard on all four of us.

The day we closed. 
After a storm on September 7th.
How our basement looks now.  Not exactly the vision we had for it.
I look forward to the day I can post pictures of our finished basement…many months from now.  
~C~