Our new house-to-be

Well!

We are back in the desert again, home from our big house hunting blitz in Nashville. I would like to offer up a prayer of thanks to the Airplane Gods who made it possible for us to have a separate seat for William on both flights. (He's just getting too old and wiggly...and strong...for us to hold him on our laps for an entire flight.)

William had a good time in Nashville, to put it mildly. He turned 11 months old. He had his Mama Dee and Grandaddy Aaron at his beck and call, and he got to chase around their cat, Tigger. And he also got to hang out with both his uncles.

With Uncle John:


















With Uncle Mark:














Oh yes, and he got his first taste of real Southern cooking. We let him have some of the amazing biscuits at the Loveless Cafe. No, I didn't give him any of my fried catfish or fried okra, but he's got time.



















Incidentally, he'll get the chance to eat a lot more biscuits in the future because we bought a house just a few miles away from the Loveless Cafe. Yes, we are officially homeowners now. After slogging through about 40 houses--actually, it was more like sprinting through 40 houses, since we did that in about three days--we found a winner. Here it is:















It's a four bedroom, two-and-a-half bath house with a wonderful big fenced-in backyard where William can play, run, skip, hop and jump until he falls over from exhaustion. The owners are even leaving us the big fabulous swingset, and I can't wait for William to be able to use that.

Also, frankly, I am relieved. We were pretty sure we'd find something on our househunting mission, but it's nice to know that we really do have a place to live, come July. David and I really feel like we saw every possible house on the market in our price range, and this is the winner. It's in a big, new, clean family-friendly neighborhood with a community pool and good schools. Yeah, we're moving to Suburbia, but frankly, we are now the kind of people who do that. (No minivan yet, though.) I know, I know, I've always envisioned myself as the kind of person who lives in the hip, older neighborhoods, but you know what? We looked at houses in those neighborhoods, and they just weren't what we needed or could afford right now. This house has room for us to grow, for us to stash our three zillion books and DVDs, for me to plant roses and maybe even grow some tomatoes. There's space for a guest room, so that all of you can come see us (read: see William) and not have to sleep on the sofa in the living room. It's going to be good.

And William likes his new house. There's a room on the second floor that's decorated with a choo choo train theme, and it's going to be perfect for William's new room. We took him to see it, and he felt right at home.




















Random other photos from the trip:

Playing with Daddy:


















Posing with Mommy: