Growing Up...

Thanks everyone for your comments! I have decided to keep my blog public and only post random pictures not showing Ethan's face! I like the challenge of taking those photos!

Wearing Oma's booties & a wee Dutch Nijntje outfit from John and Geri Oort fresh from Holland!

Ben and I have lived in Calgary for exactly three years. As we are entering our fourth year we are moving into our fourth place in Calgary. It feels different this time because we own this house! It is such a great feeling.

The decision to buy a home has been something we have talked about for the last 2 years. We have prayed about it a lot in that time, but it was just never the right time.  A year ago I was hit with the realization that we are not going to be moving back to BC for a few more years. Ben had gone after a transfer and we were told not yet. It was hard for me to take especially with us talking about having a baby soon. I really didn't want to have a baby in Calgary. I wanted to have our baby in the Abbotsford Hospital where all our friends and family could come visit and where our babies grandparents were close by. The knowledge of us not leaving for at least a few more years has turned out to be a blessing. It has caused me to live more in the now and to build more of a life here. I have made a lot of new friends in the last year and the ones I already had have grown:) I just feel more at home here in Calgary now.

Now that I have had Ethan and really felt blessed by my midwives and the Foothills Hospital (even tho it was a crazy experience) and our rental house lease is coming up in June (at which time they are increasing the price by $200!!) we really had to pray about what our next move should be. After a lot of prayer we decided to see what we could afford and if we found a house that fit our needs in that budget!

I have worked in Real Estate for almost 6 years. In that time I have helped (behind the scenes) 400+ people buy & sell their homes. It's a weird feeling stepping from behind the scenes to becoming The Client. It happened so fast! Two weeks ago we got pre-approved with the bank, then I emailed Claire (my boss and Realtor) and told her we wanted to meet and see some houses. We met on the Thursday morning then viewed 5 houses that evening which were all horrible homes! Then in the middle of the night, while I was up feeding Ethan, I got an email about a house that just came on the market. The price was too good to be true but there was a few items we would have to compromise on and there were no pictures yet. I looked up old pictures of the house and did not like what I saw (way too much work needing to be done) so I left it. Then in the morning I got another email saying that the pictures had been uploaded... so I browsed them and wow it looked amazing! I decided to send it to Ben at work, to see what his thoughts were on the things we had to comprise on. He loved it and said, lets look! So after calling Claire, she tried to set up a showing but the Listing Realtor said no showings till Saturday! Oh dear. So we booked a showing for 9am Saturday.

The house was perfect, they had updated it nicely and the things we needed to compromise on were not so bad with what we were getting in addition! It was the first house we went through where I imagined what our furniture would look like, where it would, how I would arrange Ethan's room etc. We were beyond excited.

And to make a long story short, we wrote an offer and there were 2 other offers on the house made that day. We offered the same price as another buyer but we moved our possession date and the other buyer wouldn't so we got it! Then a week later we removed the financing and inspection conditions and the house is ours!  Now I get to think about packing up a house and moving with a 5 month old! Oh fun! But I know it will be so worth it!