Taking the nesting instinct to new levels

For the past month, Doug and I have been furiously working moving into
a new house in the Wallingford neighborhood of Seattle which is near
the University of Washington. It's a really nice community and we love
our little house. It's a 1922 Craftsman style bungalow with all
updated features. So we didn't have to do any work on it before moving
in. This is great because we had lots of work to do on our Shoreline
house that we occupied for 5.5 years.

So, why did we move? Well, Doug and I were in the middle of remodeling
our kitchen thinking we could do it all ourselves, when we got halfway
through laying down a terracotta tile floor in our dining room we ran
out of steam and I started looking for contractors to finish the
remodeling job. After meeting with a half dozen contractors I quickly
learned that our small project to spruce up our living area was going
to cost in excess of $40,000. We were in a quandry. We had to decide
if it was worth the time, effort and money to do the job and would we
be over improving our house? A couple of days later, Doug called me
and told me that one of his co-workers had a house was up for sale in
Wallingford and we went to see it that night. We were really impressed
by the craftsmanship of the older home, the updates and we loved the
neighborhood. Then we thought it was too expensive for us. So, we
thought...why not check out other houses in the neighborhood?

For the next 5-6 days we drove around the neighborhood and viewed about
25 homes with two different realtors and then we decided that the first
house was the best one we had seen. So, we met with the couple and put
in an offer. The following Monday they accepted our offer. We got the
house! It sounds really easy, but there was a lot of work that Doug
and I had to do during those 10 days. We functioned as a really great
team. He'd call me about paperwork and financial matters and I'd run
around and take care of the details. The sellers were really impressed
with our offer and our efforts to get the house and we were the winning
bid!

It's been a month now in our new place and we just love it. Most of
the boxes are gone and our new couch was finally delivered and I'm
starting to see clients at the house. It's been a long two months and
now we are focused on getting ready for the baby. The crib is set up
and the changing table is getting stocked with clothing an supplies.
The diaper service is starting soon and I'm getting to big to stoop for
anything on the floor.

I don't recommend that any couple buy a house when one of you is
pregnant, but if you do get some help. When we found our that the
house was ours, Doug called his dad and sister MaryAnn to come help us.
Thank God they showed up. Mike was so helpful. He helped us pack for
two days before the movers came and when the moving was done we started
working on the vacant to get it ready for sale.

Mike was so awesome! He whipped the yard into shape by trimming
hedges, moving lawns doing landscaping ( I picked out the plants and
arranged them, he did the digging) finished tiling the kitchen floor
with Doug, painted, put up crown molding and base boards and ate lots
of sandwiches that I bought at Safeway. The amazing thing about having
Mike here for two weeks was that he and I got to know each other, so
much better. I learned more about him in those working days than I
have in the past seven years. I'm so glad that Doug asked for help and
that his Dad responded. Oh, and MA too. She cleaned and painted while
conducting her job search. She was a great help at our new house. She
did lots of cooking and cleaning and taking care of the dogs, in order
for me to get some much needed sleep.

With five weeks to blast off, I'm taking it easy now and getting ready
for the baby. Hopefully, we'll be ready when he gets here.