T - 2 days!

I thought I should pop in and do a little pre-move update! We are almost all packed up! The thought of packing one more box makes me want to hurl but we will get there ;) The girls have been much more gracious about letting me pack up their belongings whereas before they would look for something they hadn't cared about in a months and yell, "Momma!!! Did you pack _____?????!!!" I kept telling them we're not packing it up forever, just until we get into the new house!

We're loading the truck Saturday morning and saying goodbye to this house. It's bittersweet. We started looking to move two years before the girls were born and probably stayed too long. At the same time I look at all of the tiny details I put into the house, spending years of time and money making my new house look like a cozy old house. I was in the girls bedroom last night and flashbacked to me pregnant (and very sick) rocking in the glider of the girls room crying tears of joy and anticipation (well, and who am I kidding, crying to hurry the hell up and get here I'm in PAIN!!!!), dreaming of bringing my babies home. I tortured my family making that room exactly how I dreamt it up to be but they were gracious and even after my Mom painted the entire room and I changed my mind she painted it again. My Dad painted the dresser three times until it was perfect (thank you mom and Dad...ah I owe ya huh).

We brought our tiny 5lb preemies home here and lived in the living room with them for almost two months while we slept on the couch and they shared the tiny top hammock of the pack and play.

I brought Royce home his first puppy, Buddy, a wrinkled little tank of a purebred bulldog, and handed him over as soon as I pulled into the driveway. That dog trashed this entire house which led to many remodels and furniture replacements!! We put him down last September so his memory leaves here with us on Saturday.

We've been prepping the girls, telling them how wonderful the new house is and they've seen it for themselves and are excited. Tonight as I was getting Rasa dressed for bed in her room I told her we're moving in a few days, we will call the new house home and we won't be here anymore. She said, "Yep. Bye bye house, so long, farewell!" as she was jumping up and down. Adia's been saying randomly, "Momma's going to the new house, Papa, Lucy, Rasa, Jenn...." (Jenn asked her if she could come visit her in the new house). They point to their toys and our furniture and say how it's all coming with us.

I talked to one of my best friends today and she reminded me that I get to bundle up all of my happiness and move it with me. All of my sweet memory makers (Royce, Rasa and Adia). She reminded me of the images I've captured of our happiest moments here in this house and how those are mine, I own them, they are forever and they will never go away. Thank you Amy for that sweet perspective.

I've always been a sentimentalist. I can't help it. When my family moved from St. Cloud to Blaine I was eight years old and after everything had been cleared out of the house I went back downstairs to my bedroom, ran my hand along the ledge and said, "good bye room and good bye house". I felt a heavy heart about leaving it behind then too.

So with that, goodbye room and goodbye house. I'm moving on to a real cozy old house.