Well, on Monday, we finally, finally closed on a house. It’s been almost a year of showings, packing, worrying, signing papers, moving, searching internet listings, contracts falling through, negotiating and waiting.

In the midst of all this, we said goodbye to our four beloved dogs, welcomed our daughter to the family, moved in with my parents, continued to deal with Grayson’s disease and hospitalizations, and struggled with several private issues.

To say it’s been a stressful year is probably a gross understatement.

But we’ve survived, and keep surviving each day, and I’m hopeful that one day soon, our little family will thrive.

Our new home is very different than anything Ryan and I have lived in since we’ve been married. We’ve always lived in the suburbs, in your basic cookie-cutter house. Now, we will be living in a townhouse in the city, in a location that is much closer to the medical center and Grayson’s school, as well as Ryan’s job.

The townhouse is 3 bedroom/3 bath, so both kids will have their own bedroom and bathroom. Grayson’s room is downstairs- one of my requirements because lugging him up and down stairs (as we are doing now at my parents’) is no easy task. There’s no actual yard (minimal yard work- hooray!) but it does have a good size patch of grass/courtyard for Charlotte to play on as well a large patio. There’s a private park and pool down the street that we will have access to, for a yearly fee.

The house is smaller than what we’ve had before, and a ton smaller than the house we are in now, so we are going to have to make a conscious effort to downsize our stuff, get smaller furniture, and in general, simplify our lives. I’m excited about this, and hope it will be freeing to be without so.much.stuff.

Unfortunately, the previous owners, although very nice, left the house a mess. I mean, nasty. And the carpet is gross. Before we do anything, we are having everything deep cleaned, and then we plan to paint every wall in the house. All our stuff is at my parents’ ranch, so Ryan will be making several trips to East Texas to get it all.

We’ve also ordered Grayson a new bed- a safety medical bed. Since Medicaid is paying for the bed, the process of actually getting it is relatively long. Since Charlotte is in Grayson’s original crib and the crib he’s in now belongs to my parents, Grayson is bed-less at the new house until his new bed arrives.

So, we have a lot of work and some more waiting ahead of us before we can actually move in, but I’m actually really looking forward to not being in limbo anymore, settling in, and making this new place our home.