Operation Move House: part 1

Tomorrow, we are having our house photographed to be put up for sale.

It's with a heavy heart that we are (hopefully) moving on from this house. We moved in on 30th June 2005, just over four weeks before our second child, our first son, was born. I spent those four weeks, manically trying to get the house how I wanted it before he arrived. It took a lot longer than that though, and there are still things we never quite got around to doing!

When we moved here, we had a litter of teeny kittens, that were only a few days old! Moving our cat, Millie, and her babies was a delicate operation. She had nested in a box full of towels so we had to move that box, complete with four kittens, and Millie to our new house without stressing them out! We were held up for a number of hours but finally got moved in by the evening. Millie and her kittens were put safely in a bedroom. The next few weeks were fun, seeing them grow and become braver and very mischievous. We kept one of them and the other three went to homes of various friends. The last one was collected the day before child #2 was born! 

So, within a few days, all but one of the kittens left us, and our new baby came home to our new house. We celebrated our first Christmas here, with a baby, a toddler and two cats. We began the tradition of buying real Christmas trees in this house as we had a bit more room. That has become a real occasion, and Christmas tree buying day is an event in itself!

A few months after that, we brought a cocker spaniel puppy to join our home! As if life wasn't mental enough. She did all the usual puppy naughtiness but settled down eventually to be a loving, devoted, family dog. She's 8 this week and still as crazy as ever, although she sleeps a bit more these days.

The first year in our home was pretty manic, but it really doesn't feel like almost nine years since we moved in. We have since brought home two more beautiful baby boys, so have definitely outgrown this house. I think we all have mixed feelings about moving, sadness at leaving the home that is full of so many memories, excitement at the prospect of moving to a bigger house where our family can grow up and we can have a bit more storage space!

I just really hope it sells quickly as I'm not sure how long we can keep it this tidy for!