Pictures of our new home from our toddler's point of view

You know those times when you can't find your phone anywhere, and then you find it on the floor somewhere face up? If you have a toddler, once you get over the relief that the screen isn't cracked (or worse), you immediately check the photo stream because . . .well, toddlers.

Recently, I discovered that Edgie had taken roughly 200 photos in one afternoon on my phone. Once I deleted all the blurry and repeated pictures, I started to enjoy looking at the rest. He was obviously walking around the house just clicking away. It was really interesting to see his point of view for a change. I thought I would share it with you. I didn't edit any of the pictures because I really wanted to keep the artistic integrity of his work.

Oh, who am I kidding? I'm lazy.

Let me introduce you to the photographer, three-year-old Edgie:

His hair looks so much better now that he let the barber cut it. The lice he contracted at preschool really did the trick: "You don't want to get bugs in your hair again, do you Edgie?"

This is our entry from his perspective. It really isn't this big, but from his POV it looks huge! Notice the sliding barn door on the den. I reeeaalllly wanted that design element, and I'm so glad we could work it in.

You don't necessarily notice all the color variations on the floor unless you're a toddler with a camera pointed right at it. All the shades of the wood allowed us to decorate with many different tones and colors.

One place we played with different colors and stains was our kitchen. Hubby actually chose all the design elements here. He loved the look of off-white cabinets and a dark island. We liked the look of stainless steel appliances, but not of the fingerprints left behind. Ours have a granite-colored finish.

The best part of the kitchen is behind those double doors in the corner - a huge pantry. So much storage for snacks (which makes a happy Hubby and boys) and for all of my fun serving dishes that I use maybe once a year.

Here's our granite. Can you see it? It's actually the opposite of how it looks here. It's a creamy white with dark flecks.

Isn't it interesting how it changes when you put your face right on it? Toddlers have long known about this trick.

Stairs from a toddler's perspective. Toddlers have also long known how scary stairs are.

When the house was being built, they were putting in this lighting on the stairs. I thought it was an unnecessary expense. Now that we're in the house, it love these! We turn them on at night for our two nocturnal wanderers. I actually fell down the last two steps one night when they weren't on. They really help!

We needed a new time-out spot. Here's the view from the new one.

We have a lot of natural light from the three huge windows in the great room. I really like it. We don't have blinds yet. I thought that would really bother me, but we have no neighbors behind or on either side of us.

Unfortunately, this is our view . . .

 . . .because we have no grass either. It makes for a dirty, muddy mess everywhere. Luckily we have boys because they totally don't mind.

And here is the view from the photographer's bed when he gets tired.

Mommy is going to have to work on getting him to fall asleep by himself. That way we won't have to turn on the stairway lights for him when he wakes up in the middle of the night and Mommy is not there. But that's a blog post for another time (and not the first).

I gave myself the unrealistic timeline of having all the boxes unpacked and put away by February 1st. I realize now how ridiculous that is. It took me about nine months to pack it all up. It should take me at least half that long to unpack and organize.

Stay tuned in February when my decorator stops by and we share some tips. The grass and landscaping are coming in the spring, and I can't wait to show you that, too.



What is your favorite design element in new homes?

It's not perfect until it's about to change

There is an off-Broadway musical called "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change." Even though I've never seen it and I suspect it's about marriage and relationships, I've been thinking about that phrase a lot lately.

It's no huge secret that I hate change. Well, maybe I don't hate it, but I'm definitely scared of it. Sometimes it's kind of a thrilling scary feeling, but mostly it's just a dread filled scary feeling.

We're moving, you know. We've been building a house for almost a year. No, it's not some huge mansion that has to take that long. Rather, it's just Karma's cruel joke of stretching out the dread and the fear and the unknown for as long as It can.

Yes, I'm excited for a new house - our house. It will be brand new, never lived in, everything picked out by us new. All ours. But, it's a new neighborhood and a new routine and a new grocery store and new drugstore and different Target. If Hubby had his way, it would mean a new school for the boys; but I refused. That's too much change for them. Okay, me. Too much change for me.

I wasn't thrilled when we bought our current house. Although it wasn't exactly sight unseen, it was sort of. You see, we were living on Long Island with three babies under the age of two, and Hubby really did not want to fly back to Nebraska to look for houses. His sister was moving out of her house, so he decided that we would buy it. Though it was the perfect house for us - four bedrooms, three car garage, and a fenced back yard - it wasn't what I had pictured as perfect when I was thinking of our first family home.

We spent years and a lot of money making it perfect for us. We have a huge master suite, a beautiful kitchen, and a cozy family room. And the icing on the cake is this:

We love our outdoor fireplace.

Who wouldn't want it, right?

It was never our plan to live here permanently. We always wanted to build our dream home. But time and the destructive nature of four little boys changed our plans. We are building another modest home about the same size as our current one. We're adding another bedroom so all the boys can have their own, and of course an open concept living and eating area. For me, the best part about our new home isn't the huge, walk-in pantry or laundry that is separate from the entrance to the house; but it is the flat private street we will be on. I can truly say to the boys, "Go play in the street," and I know they will be fine.

For more than 10 minutes, Slim helped a caterpillar cross
our new street, and not one car drove by. 8 cars probably
would have driven by on our current street.

We currently live on a busy through street which is a hill and a curve. I hate it. It wasn't something I realized before we bought this house. We also had virtually no young kids in the neighborhood for our boys to play with.

But now, they are older and more careful on their bikes and friends from school have been found within blocks of our house. Every evening after homework, there are boys here or our boys are there. The other moms and I joke about how it's a shame that they are all playing now that we will be moving. They will have to find new neighborhood friends, and I will have to get to know those moms and those kids.

Just when it became perfect, it's changing; and that's giving me anxiety.

Potential buyers have looked at our house; and while the feedback has been mostly positive, it's some of their negative comments that are getting to me:

"We're concerned about all the oak wood."
"The basement was a disappointment."
"The carpet needs to be replaced."
"It's too close to the neighbors."
"The trees in the backyard look sick."

I polished all of those cabinets myself, thankyouverymuch, and I know the basement isn't totally cool and the wood is oak, but the house was built in 1988. The carpet is beautiful and is only dirty in one high traffic spot and the trees have been lovingly trimmed every year and our neighbors are soooo quiet and nice. Oh, how I will miss our across the street, very nice neighbors.

Our house is perfect.

Only we want a change. We want a change. That's good, right? Change can be good. When the Earth changes from this:

to this:

it's good.

When babies grow and learn to walk and talk and use the potty it's good, right?

When little boys become big boys and help their brothers and get good grades and develop interests and friends, that's good, isn't it?

And when life moves forward, even though it's a little scary and a little uncertain and even if it means you have to change some things you don't really want to change, that's okay, right?

Right??

I often make the mistake of complaining to the sticking point. I mean, me. Stuck. Stuck in a rut and a routine that, while it is comfortable, it really doesn't make sense anymore. While easy, it's not the best for me. Change is not always easy. Sometimes it's really hard. Sometimes we gnash our teeth and dig in our heels and whine and cry and complain about it.

Then it comes anyway. And it's just fine. In fact, it can be pretty perfect sometimes if we would only give it a chance.

I try not to get too excited about change. I don't want to set myself up for a disappointment. I guess that's my own personal defense strategy. Don't plan, don't get excited. Just let it happen. Change happens, whether we  I like it or not.

I was talking to someone the other day saying that just about the time that things become perfect and easy, that's the time they need to change. Without change, after all, how can we grow?

Even if something is not perfect, it doesn't mean we can't make it that way. We've done it before. I think we might be able to do it again.