On Ode to our First House

Although the house on Longmont isn't technically the first house Steve and I ever lived in, it's really OUR first house. It's the first house we picked out together, it's where we lived when Steven was born and raised him for the first 3 years of his life. It's where we found out Logan was coming and where he lived for the first 4 months of his life. Even though we only lived there a short time, it was a very exciting and eventful time in our life! It's going to be sad to leave. (tear). SO I wanted to make sure to pay homage to this house and remember it for posterity.

This is the front. We got new siding in 2010 after a major hail storm. I think we did a good job picking the siding and shutter colors. One thing Steve and I actually agreed on, design wise. I'll never forget the ordeal we went through getting the roof over the carport fixed when we moved in, two words: Redneck contractors. LOL Besides that, there was that time that the sewer company tore up our front yard for months and left it looking like total crap, only to come back right before fall and plant sod that didn't take. Steve tilled up the entire thing and reseeded. He was so proud of that lawn. Hopefully the next owners appreciate all the work we did there.

Our living room, Steve and I really loved the floors in this room. Too bad Steven spilled an entire jar of car touch up paint on them. Not only did he spill it, he "painted" with it. You can't see it but this room has a vaulted ceiling and up lighting. Both Steve and I loved that architectural detail.

This is the kitchen. Steve and I really worked hard in here to make it look more modern. We did a renovation over the summer of 2011 and I think we made some really great improvements. Steve put in the back splash tile and took down the existing tile that was there. We repainted the cabinets and added new hardware, and painted the walls. It was a big project and Steve and I did not enjoy working on it at all but in the end I think it was worth it. The little dining room on the right is an addition that the previous owners put on the house. Steve's mom made me curtains for that room and I really loved how it turned out. Very cozy. Steven at his first meals at that table.

  

This is the Master. It was really too small for the giant bed Steve has to have but oh well. We had some great times throwing Steven on the bed and him giggling and saying, "Again!" Or hiding in our covers and watching TV. I can remember sitting up with contractions when I was in labor with Steven in that bed and timing them and listening to Steve snore next to me. ha ha! I also remember nursing Steven and Logan in this bed late at night. I spent a lot of nights watching them sleep in the bassinet attached to the bed too. Lots of good memories.

This is the nursery. It was first Steven's nursery and now Logan's. It is really the perfect size for a cozy little nursery. This picture was taken before all the decorations were done in Logan's nursery, but you get the idea. I'll forever remember playing with my boys in this room, changing their diapers, watching them both roll over for one of the first times, etc. Lots of great memories here.

This is Steven's big boy room, which was formerly the guest/junk room. It's been so fun watching Steven grow and make this room his own. It's down the hall from the nursery and when we first moved him he would accidentally turn into the nursery all the time instead of his room. Eventually that went away and Steven adopted this as his "room". All kinds of shenanigans have happened in this room. One of his favorite games is to hide in that teepee in the right corner and pretend the dinosaurs/big bad wolf/dragon/bad guys are out to get him. Then he will get up and chase them out with a sword (or 2) in hand, screaming of course.

 

The downstairs living area. It was supposed to be a play room too but it's so dang cold down there in the winter that didn't work. Also, Steven was also very into having us right by him so having him down there by himself didn't work very well either. But when we did get to play down there with him that was always really fun. I will always remember the look of excitement on his face when we brought him down to the train table that Steve and I stayed up till Midnight on Christmas Eve putting together. We had a lot of fun with that. Now it's mostly destroy the train tracks, but still fun.

This is the carport that the previous owners converted into a screened-in porch. When we moved in the entire roof and all the trusses over this had to be removed and replaced. There was some AstroTurf flooring in there and it was pretty gross. The wonderful contractors we had doing the work decided to not come back for a few days while the roof was exposed and then we had a horrible storm and everything was soaked and ruined. The ceiling was on the floor along with the ceiling fan they had. So that was quite a project. This was the first home improvement project Steve and I took on and I really think we did a great job with it! We actually did have fun on this one. Steve sealed the floors about a million times, ha ha. I think it turned into a nice play area for Steven and a relaxing area for us. We had a lot of good times here.

Lastly, our backyard. This backyard is epic. I remember when we first viewed the house Steve and I were both like WOW about this backyard. We pictured our dogs and our future kids running around and having a blast and that's what ended up happening. Steven and Steve had so many great memories chasing each other around with sticks. We had Steven's first birthday party out here with one of the giant sheets that the kids run under and we blew huge bubbles off the retaining wall. I will never forget the time Steven drove his little buzz lightyear car off the retaining wall. Steve and I both though for sure we were going to the ER but nope. Not yet at least. Steve had a heck of a time hanging that swing for Steven too. It doesn't quite swing straight and you have to make sure to not crash him into the tree. lol

Our house on Longmont has been through a lot with us in the short 4 1/2 years we've lived here. We've seen a 3 major storms go through the Maryland Heights area that affected our house twice. It's been through the finding out we were pregnant, birth and early years of our two boys! It's been through countless family parties, friends over for BBQs, playdates. and just good times hanging out. I remember I threw Steve's big 30th surprise birthday party a week or two after we moved in! That was crazy and stressful but so much fun. I'm sad to leave a house with such great memories, but happy and excited to be moving onto a bigger house with more room for our family. Excited to see what the next chapter holds!

 

House Selling Update #2

We have been crazy busy lately because we are finally under contract on our house! Yay!! It was pretty crazy how it happened. After having our house on the market since July and having not that many showings, Steve and I were getting very antsy. And also sort of depressed. But all of a sudden we got a lot of requests for showings over MLK weekend. I think we had 4 or 5 that weekend. It was crazy! I think it might have to do with our agent took our 2013 listing off and put us on 2014 that first week in January so we showed up as a "new" listing...I have no idea. So anyway we had those showings that weekend and it was CRAZY! Juggling 2 kids and nap times and 3 dogs and trying to keep the house clean, it was just nuts. Luckily we have parents that are awesome and willing to help and our agent, Ellen (Steve's aunt) was awesome about helping too. She lives close and let us put our dogs at her house a few times so that's super nice.

Anyway, after those showings we really didn't hear anything. We heard back from one agent that they didn't really like our house, which is fine. But it got to be Wednesday of the next week and Steve and I were really disappointed that we hadn't even gotten good feedback. Then all of a sudden, we got a phone call from Ellen (who happened to be the Bahamas!) saying we got an offer!!! Steve and I were so excited!! After a tiny bit of negotiating, we had a contract! And we set the close date on March 6th which means we had to be OUT.

Steve and I looked at houses a bit when we put our house on the market but now it was ON. We really needed to find a place to live. We didn't want to rush it and wanted to make a really good long term decision and investment. But we also had about 6 weeks to find somewhere to live! Steve's parents offered to let us live there but about a week before we got the offer we found out Steve's brother Matt and his girlfriend, Ruty and her sons Eli and Micah would be coming to live with them for a while. So we really didn't want to move in there unless we had to. It would be super crazy.

So Steve and I spent the next 2 weekends looking all over for houses. The problem was we weren't sure where we wanted to even live. So that gave us way too many options! We eventually narrowed it down to St. Charles/St. Peters area (even though I super loved a house in Creve Coeur). It seemed that my parents would be moving that way and Steve's parents live that way(ish) and a lot of our friends as well. We also really loved the area and what we could get for the money there as well as the good school districts. So West we went!

We looked at a LOT of houses. Some were too far for me but were beautiful and cheap so that was a tough decision. Some Steve loved but I didn't and vice versa. I really wanted to find something that had it all, a good investment, great house and one that we both really loved. And we finally did find that house!

It was kind of crazy. Ellen and I were looking for houses on a Friday I was off work and Steve was working. Her best friend's daughter and her husband were selling their house in St. Charles. The husband got a job in Texas so they needed to move. Ellen was listing their house for them and she just asked me if we could stop by since we were in the area so she could put her sign in the yard. Of course I said ok. When we got there my jaw just dropped. It is BEAUTIFUL! It's an atrium ranch which means the entire back wall is windows. It sits up on a hill and the view is beautiful! They have a gorgeous deck that runs the entire back wall of the house. It has an open floor plan with a finished basement with lots and lots of room. It was really just perfect and I knew Steve would love it too.

While we were there, the homeowners were there and I tried to keep on my poker face but as soon as we got in the car, I said, "Ellen, get me in that house!!" I thought we could never afford it but turns out they wanted to list it for not too far from what we had expected to pay. So we took Steve there the next day and he fell in love too. I was getting so nervous because I really wanted him to like it but he super did. He just kept walking around saying, "wow!" It really is a neat house with a ton of cool features and SPACE. Which is something we are really lacking at our current house. So Steve and I considered all the options and decided to put in an offer on this house. Since Ellen would be the agent for both parties it was so easy. She talked to them and got an idea of a range they were hoping to get and what we were willing to pay. It was really so great to have her to help us. We put in an official offer Sunday and got a call back like 10 minutes later that they were going to accept! We were really surprised they didn't counter back but we weren't complaining!!

So Monday we had a signed contract on the new house and the ball was rolling! It is so crazy. What a whirlwind it has been since then. Inspections, appraisers, plumbers, electricians, contracts, title company, paperwork, ETC non stop! We are going to be able to do a simultaneous close on both houses on March 6th. So that's less than a month! OMG!

SO I guess you are wondering what this dream house looks like, eh?



Front of the house, Steven really wanted this brick front and the 3 car garage. I really liked the lot that this house is on, there is common ground to the right of it and no neighbor to the back so only really one neighbor. And the houses aren't super close together, which I liked.

This is the back of the house. As you can see, it is gorgeous! ha ha. It sits on top of this hill so you can really see forever. The deck is really amazing too. You can see on the bottom left a hot tub. Hollar! We do need to add a fence for our dogs (and kids). Hopefully we can do that quickly after we move.

This is the basement next to the stairs. Isn't it beautiful? You can get a glimpse of the view here. The current owners have this sort of weird plant feature next to the stairs that I'm not sure if we will keep or not. It screams, throwing rocks to me but we'll see. ha ha

This is the living room upstairs. Behind this picture is the kitchen, dining room, breakfast nook. You can see the railing for the stairs to the right of the picture. The master bedroom is behind those wooden doors. The hallway on the left has the boys bedrooms and a bathroom. I really loved the built in shelves, cool little architectural detail. I'm SO excited to have a fireplace and mantle too.

This is the kitchen. Isn't it pretty? We don't even have a table for that breakfast area. ha ha!

I can't wait!!!

Logan at 4 Months

Four months old already, baby boy! Time sure flies!

yummy hands

You are growing by leaps and bounds each day and I'm trying so hard to savor the little moments because I know they go so fast!

This month you have really become in tune with the wold around you. You're noticing everything lately. When we go into a new room or a new place you look around intently at everything. You're really focusing on things too. You love to grab onto things within reach as well. You're really great at batting the toys above your bouncer and in your car seat. It's so neat to see you starting to do that.

Some people might say you're vain but you love to look at yourself in the mirror lately. I can't blame you, you're the cutest baby around! It's so neat to see you focus on your image. When I look into the mirror too and smile at you, you immediately give me a big smile. It's so hard to get a picture of you smiling though because you focus on the camera or phone as soon as I get it out. I have to be sneaky!

You are such a happy, easy going baby lately. You love to smile and giggle when I tickle you. (And you are ticklish all over!) You've been very laid back lately, not very fussy at all with us. Which is so nice. I know the grandmas say you give them a hard time some days but at home you are almost always happy. You will cry when you need to be fed or get tired but that's understandable!

You're biggest achievement this month was rolling over! You have done it both directions from your back to your belly. You don't love tummy time so I wasn't sure if you'd be behind on this one but you managed to surprise me and rolled right over this month!

We thought you might have started teething this month because everything is going in your mouth. You love to chew on your hands or any other objects you can get to your mouth. You were drooling like crazy too in the beginning of the month but no teeth have come through yet. Which is fine by me!

You're favorite pastimes this month are trying to use your legs to stand. You love to do that when we support your arms or upper body, and your legs are so strong! You still love to follow your crazy brother around the room and he provides a lot of entertainment for you. You love to babble. You will talk and talk away, really loudly sometimes! It's so funny!

Like father like son

We made the big switch to putting you in your crib at night and you didn't skip a beat. You were sort of restless next to our bed all night so I thought maybe in your own room you would do better and I think you really do. You usually sleep a solid 5-6 hour stretch when we first put you down and then up to feed and sleep another 2 or so hours in the morning. You are regressing a little bit in putting yourself to sleep, we do have to rock you most nights but that could be the 4 month wakeful, teeth or just getting rocked more at the grandparents. You're still really not bad though and don't take a ton of help to put you to sleep so that's nice.

So 4 months old already! Time is really flying by! You have discovered your hands and batting at your toys. You're rolling over and babbling. You're a pretty easy going boy who loves to laugh and be tickled. You're sleeping in your crib now and doing great. We've had so much fun with you this month, Logan. Can't wait to see what next month brings.