The big move

This month we hit our 4th anniversary of living in Florida. We really weren't sure what to expect moving here, but it's really when the real world began for us. We had been married 2 years and had been focused on school, work and enjoyed living near family and friends. We'd been living mainly in our 1 bedroom apartment and were just starting to imagine a life with kids, and in a larger place. I never would have guessed how different our lives would be 4 years later. First, we moved into a 3 bedroom townhouse that felt absolutely huge at the time! Now we live in an amazing home, in a wonderful neighborhood and even have sunset views of the lake from our backyard every night. Tyler's job took him all over the South and I got to experience it with him. We have driven around this entire state together, know all the best beaches and have even driven to Mississippi, Alabama & Georgia. The Florida lifestyle of theme parks, beaches and being outside year round has been a really fun one to get used to.

I became a mother in Florida. We have an almost 3 year old son and an almost 1 year old daughter. That has got to be the biggest change. They are my life and I love them so much. Before moving to Florida my normal day consisted of school, studying, hanging out with Tyler, family, friends and then working full time. Now my normal days consist of feeding, dressing, changing diapers, playing, stroller walks, shopping, bathing, and bedtime. I'll take the latter any day. We are a family of four and love it.

We have made great friends here, and since Tyler and I don't have work friends or family, all of these friends have come through the church. In the past couple years so many young families have moved to Windermere. At first we were quite a bit younger than the average family and having no kids, also set us apart from most families in the ward. But now we are more in line with the majority of the ward. There are about 10 kids who would be in Jackson's primary class and class at school, same with Abbie. There are some great people who we have grown to know and we are sad to say goodbye to our new friends already. We are almost certain we won't find what we have here, in Connecticut. 

But it's time to end this chapter of our lives and move onto another adventure. We've always known that living here was just a temporary thing, but now that we've grown to love it here - it is hard to say goodbye. For a while we were hoping that Tyler's new job would allow him to live here and keep working from home. We thought maybe he could take a different type of national sales job and keep living here, but alas those options did not work out in the end. This job is requiring him to be in Connecticut and so we are heading off.

When Tyler first mentioned that Connecticut was an option for us to live I wouldn't even consider it. I didn't even let him talk about it with me because I didn't want it to happen. After months of thinking we'd be moving back west, to California, I didn't want to hear that we'd be moving across the country in the wrong direction. But eventually it was inevitable that we'd be moving there so I finally let him talk about it with me. I think that same day I decided to look at a map, because I had no idea where Hartford even was in the state.

December was when things got real. While I was at home during one of the roughest weeks of motherhood (both kids had ear infections and Abbie wasn't sleeping or nursing at nights) Tyler was meeting with Legrand here in Orlando at their national sales meeting. It was that week that he found out that the job was officially offered to him and we had to move to CT. 12.12.12 was a memorable day for us because I was at the doctor with both kids and Tyler was meeting with the Presidents and HR Directors about details of the job. They said they'd get him a formal offer after the new year. Well fast forward to February and FINALLY we got an offer that we agreed to and signed. That was a long waiting month. While we knew it was probably happening. We couldn't publicly announce it for weeks. While I still wasn't thrilled about the move, I was so excited when the offer finally came through that the uncertainty was over and we could start moving forward.

Tyler has been up to CT three times this year already and the kids and I are heading up this weekend for the first time. We've spent hours looking at homes, neighborhoods, and cities and still aren't sure where we will move. We have a realtor and Tyler has spent a couple days looking at homes already, but it is still overwhelming. We did have a favorite house, but that one just went under contract. We have some other top contenders but I'm still anxious to get up there and see for myself. We are looking in to towns of Avon, Simsbury, Farmington, and Burlington. They are all on the west side of the city, since Tyler will be working in West Hartford. Who knows where we will end up, we are even thinking of looking at some additional cities this weekend. It's just such a change since most homes are much older and such a different style than we are used to. There are some really beautiful homes though and we are anxious to get a house with a big yard full of soft non-Florida grass (while it's not covered with snow that is).
I hope that soon we can post pictures of our new house on the blog, but until then - let the search continue. 

When I stop to think about moving I really start to get sad and tear up, but with so much going on at the moment, luckily I'm not stopping too often. For now I'm enjoying my time here while it lasts.

On to the next adventure ...