This Is Not My Beautiful House
So, it has been a while. There is too much, let me sum up: had a baby, bought a house. I know, the baby is "old" news (she'll be nine months next Thursday; dear G-d, she'll have been out longer than she was in!), but she is amazing and brilliant and beautiful and currently fast asleep. THANK ALL THE DEITIES. Sleep is our biggest problem - aside from that, she is still at 90th percentiles for height & weight, eats and nurses like a champ, and has recently begun to crawl and pull herself up to standing. It's incredible how quickly she turned into a little person. Love!
The house, on the other hand, is newish. We started looking this past spring, stumbled across a townhouse in our friends' neighborhood near Valley Forge. It is 2 bedrooms/2.5 bath, with a loft area that can be closed off into a 3rd bedroom. Basement is unfinished, kitchen and first floor were completely re-done, and it did not require a great deal of work (OR SO WE THOUGHT). After a lot of panic, hand-wringing, and second-guessing, we bought the place and moved in a month later.
[Oh, and here's where I ought to add that I left my job the day after closing. After a few months of being a professional packer/unpacker, I am now a full-time stay-at-home-mom. It is wonderful except when it blows. We said we would re-evaluate after Pookie turns a year old; I am torn. I'm starting to feel the financial pinch, not to mention how exhausting and DEMANDING a near-toddler can be, but at the same time, I can't stand to have her out of my sight for longer than it takes to have a quiet lunch.]
Anyhow. After being told that there were no problems with the basement - our inspection turned up possible water issues, but we were more focused on the MOLD IN THE ATTIC and believed the seller when she updated the disclosure to say "no water accumulation" - we moved in to find a giant puddle downstairs. Cue panic. During a thunderstorm a few weeks later, I took a video of the CASCADE in one corner of the basement. Cue more panic and my husband trying to move back out. *facepalm* We did eventually pay to have the basement waterproofed (bye-bye, furniture money) and have been pursuing legal options (so far, no response from the seller), but the whole thing has left us even more cynical than we already were. Which I hadn't thought possible.
Aside from that, we're mostly unpacked and settling into somewhat of a routine. Not one that's preventing our child from being nocturnal, apparently, but at least we're becoming consistent.
The house, on the other hand, is newish. We started looking this past spring, stumbled across a townhouse in our friends' neighborhood near Valley Forge. It is 2 bedrooms/2.5 bath, with a loft area that can be closed off into a 3rd bedroom. Basement is unfinished, kitchen and first floor were completely re-done, and it did not require a great deal of work (OR SO WE THOUGHT). After a lot of panic, hand-wringing, and second-guessing, we bought the place and moved in a month later.
[Oh, and here's where I ought to add that I left my job the day after closing. After a few months of being a professional packer/unpacker, I am now a full-time stay-at-home-mom. It is wonderful except when it blows. We said we would re-evaluate after Pookie turns a year old; I am torn. I'm starting to feel the financial pinch, not to mention how exhausting and DEMANDING a near-toddler can be, but at the same time, I can't stand to have her out of my sight for longer than it takes to have a quiet lunch.]
Anyhow. After being told that there were no problems with the basement - our inspection turned up possible water issues, but we were more focused on the MOLD IN THE ATTIC and believed the seller when she updated the disclosure to say "no water accumulation" - we moved in to find a giant puddle downstairs. Cue panic. During a thunderstorm a few weeks later, I took a video of the CASCADE in one corner of the basement. Cue more panic and my husband trying to move back out. *facepalm* We did eventually pay to have the basement waterproofed (bye-bye, furniture money) and have been pursuing legal options (so far, no response from the seller), but the whole thing has left us even more cynical than we already were. Which I hadn't thought possible.
Aside from that, we're mostly unpacked and settling into somewhat of a routine. Not one that's preventing our child from being nocturnal, apparently, but at least we're becoming consistent.