We have moved. We've been here for three weeks on Monday and yet it feels like home already. The old flat cleaning seemed unending; but that's another story I'll probably never get around telling. Suffice to say it's done and that's all that matters.
When we got here, it was empty. Waiting around with a toddler in an empty, open space is their idea of heaven. I embraced the situation and let him explore. When our mattress arrived we played a game of peekaboo with Roman at one end and me at another; he was having a great time. I let him wreak havoc in the afternoon when I found myself alone; he unzipped suitcases, unpacked and proceeded to empty disposable (clean) nappies all over the place. I even let him play with my set of keys.
Roman took a few nights to get used to his new bedroom, but after some time he settled down nicely.
We've been sick in the new place already. All three of us. All at once.
Roman started walking here. And he hasn't stopped. He took to his feet on the Monday we moved in and by the next Monday was completely walking, on his own, Mr. Independent. It was only at the start of July he stood up completely unaided and by the 1st August, he's walking. Confidence is his middle name (although, really, he has his Granpa's first names as his middle names.)
I love my new home. I love having a garden. A kitchen that can fit more than one person at a time. I love having room to breathe, think, people watch. And I love having more space.
I love the potential that comes with a place when you move in. You imagine Christmases and birthdays spent there. You just know special - and possibly more mundane, less special - memories will be made there.
Our last place we lived in was special, I suppose, and I thought I would feel more emotional than I did about leaving it all behind. After all it was the home in which we brought our newborn too and where he had his first birthday. But when I walked away last Thursday I felt nothing but relief; that we weren't going back there and that someone else can realise it's potential.
We can take those memories with us and bring them here. To our home, where it truly feels like home.
