goodbye old - hello new

Well to be honest I expected the process of selling our first house to be a bittersweet one - and wow, was I right.

This was the home Aaron and I first bought, only one month after being married. So it was our beginning to everything- homeownership (and everything that comes along with that), marriage, living together, and bringing home our first baby!

It was a spaciously cozy (if that makes any sense) 3 bedroom, 3 bath house that when we first bought it, needed some serious updating and TLC. Which was perfect for me! I spent ~~hours~~ ~~days~~ ~~months~~ years slowly updating, and bringing back to life each room of that house. From new paint, to new floor, to painting the trim white, painting the kitchen cabinets white, updating fixtures, landscaping... making it... well, home. And wow, what a home it was!!!!

That house has become such a part of me... I can literally say I have blood, sweat and tears put into that sweet home (blood part comes from ripping up carpet and taking a tack strip under the fingernail...ow)!! But as much as we've done to this house, TOTALLY changing the entire look and even feel of the home, it's the memories that are the hardest to let go of.

Maybe let go isn't the right word, because I'm not losing the memories like I am the house, but it's these specific memories that get me all teary eyed without fail every time I replay them in my mind:

Moving into a brand new house as a newlywed couple

Pushing our couches together in that living room for an all-nighter-movie-night! (this was clearly before children became a part of our lives....)

Working until the wee hours of the morning on my sweet baby's nursery

Bringing my first born son home to that cozy little living room full of baby swings, blankets, and diapers

Gavin crawling for the first time in that basement playroom

Gavin taking his first steps in that living room

(I shouldn't be writing this post while being hormonal and pregnant, cue the tears)

Gavin's nightly baths from a newborn to a nearly 2 year old, in that tiny, cramped, upstairs bathroom

Playing "chase" with Gavin down that hallway

Watching Gavin run, play, and dig up all kinds of dirt in that backyard

Getting my second positive pregnancy test for baby boy #2... and celebrating in that tiny, cramped, upstairs bathroom!

And I could literally go on forever... with sweet moments of time that are perfectly frozen, right there within those walls.

I've had to take numerous trips back to that house to finish packing things up, cleaning, etc. and I always find myself getting overwhelmed with memories and emotions, and of course that always ends in a few (maybe a few hundred) shed tears.

I remind myself we have this new, beautiful home, that we plan to grow into, to fill up with wild and crazy boys...maybe a girl someday if I'm lucky, and make new memories in.

Our old home is being passed onto a super great family and I just pray the house brings them as much love, laughter, and joy as it did my sweet family.