Still moving in - and some new house firsts

So, I think I would say we're 50% unpacked. It's the really important 50% that is done, which is good, but there's still plenty to do. We got some new appliances to fill in what was missing or not working here, but we've had some issues getting everything to work correctly. Our new dishwasher wasn't draining correctly, so Patrick did huge loads of dishes by hand this week, and we've mostly still been using disposable plates, but the maintenance guy came today and it seems to be working again now. Yay! We did not replace the stove, but did have to get an electrician come and fix the power to the stove last week, then discovered the gas to the stove was not on, and then discovered that the oven does not work. Patrick got it all figured out, and the part ordered, so hopefully we'll really be cookin' again soon. =) The washing machine and dryer that we got seem to be working fine (once we got the gas to the dryer turned back on!) but we did have some wiggling and scooting to do to get them to fit into the 2nd floor laundry closet correctly. I can now open and close the closet doors and the washer and dryer doors, but the detergent drawer is still a little tricky. =) We also had the electrician install the boxes for overhead lights in the kids' rooms, but haven't actually gotten any lights to put up yet.

We've had lots of fun first experiences in our new house, and I thought it would be interesting to write them down, so I can remember how huge this was for us someday when we're all used to having our own house. =)

Just for a little perspective - this was our 10th move in the 8 1/2 years that Patrick and I have been married. We have lived in three states, owned our own home (a 3rd floor condo) only once before, and lived in only one stand-alone house before this (that we did not own).

This is the kids' first yard! Patrick and I had a yard for a while (7 years ago), but this is a first for the kids. We have a lot to learn about how to how to stay safe out there, since we don't have a fence yet, but I am so excited about this one!!!! I am so thankful for our yard and the space for the kids to just play. We will be even more excited and love it even more someday when the yard is actually grass, and not 90% weeds. =)


Along with our yard, we have our first driveway. (Again, we'll have to learn some new safety rules.) How fun to have somewhere to learn to ride bikes and stuff!

In this house we have a dining room! A couple of days after we moved in, Elijah pointed to the kitchen table (in the eat-in kitchen where we have eaten all our meals so far) and said, "Why is this still here?" When I asked him what he meant, he said, "THAT's the dining room! That means we should be DINING in there!" Well, I guess we'd better get busy and clear it out (that's where all the boxes that we are still unpacking are right now) so we can actually eat dinner in there sometime - it will make him feel a lot better. =)

We decided to use the formal living room space for a playroom. I love that all (well, almost, so far) the toys can be in one place, and that that place is NOT the family room floor! The kids are overjoyed to see a bunch of their toys that we have had packed away - we haven't had room to have them all out at once before.

I am still adjusting to the idea of having a more permanent address. I am so excited to not have to constantly update everything - once we're done getting everything switched over to this address, that is. I still have to log in to Amazon sometimes to check my address book - when I am updating addresses I often find the old address is actually one or two (or more!) addresses back, and I can't even remember all the street numbers and zip codes anymore. It's a good thing someone kept a list for me!

Some other things we had to/have to get - a second shower curtain and bath mat, more towel racks (it seems like we always need more towel racks, every time we've moved anywhere!), new toilet brushes (we've only ever had one before!), a lawn mower, and a broom. We also get to go through all of our cleaning products and give away the ones that we won't use at this house, instead of hauling around our collection of things specific to other houses. =)

In case you missed it earlier, I am excited to be able to decorate our new house! It's going to take me a while, but I'll try to post pictures as I start to get things done. So far, we've rearranged the living/family room furniture a few times, but that's about it. We'll probably be ready to unpack the fun stuff - books and pictures and all that jazz - pretty soon. I think I'll have plenty of time to think about anything I want to do beyond that as we continue to get unpacked and then bring home a new baby, before I'll actually be able to do anything. That's OK - then I will really know what I want! In addition to decorating and making it feel like us, we have plenty of little projects to keep us (Patrick, mostly - sorry, babe) busy, since this house was a little neglected when we got here. Neither of us is new to working on projects like this, but it's been a long time since these things have been our responsibility at our own house. Cool, but a little scary!