You guys, we bought a home!

On a scale of “I guess this is happening” to “Holy heck, are we crazy?!”, we are somewhere in the middle. A little in denial. A little in a frenzy of excitement and stress. A little ready to hurl ourselves out of a very tall window if we have to write one more check or pack one more box.

Nonetheless, we close in 9 days, and then the real fun begins.

Some of you know that we’ve been looking, casually, for a couple of years. Our current 2-bedroom garden apartment is quickly being overtaken by primary-colored baby miscellany. But we loved this place so. Despite having very little natural light. Despite multiple flooding/leaking issues over the years. Despite having family sleeping on an air mattress in our living room. Despite not having a dining room.

Despite all of that, it’s been our home for 11 years. A week ago, I realized, I’ve lived in this apartment longer than I’ve ever lived anywhere in my life. So, it will be missed.

But it is on to bigger and better things (or playrooms, at least) for the Aquilines! We have never really done a real move. I mean, like one where we had to pack up a whole house. We’ve moved from our college apartment in Tennessee to a small studio in Chicago. From a small studio in Chicago to here. And that’s it. (For the latter, we just hired a couple of guys off of Craigslist, paid them $200, and gave them a six pack. In hindsight, not the best idea.)

This move will be tough, especially with a baby, but it will take us to a place that, we hope, we can grow into for a very long time.

Here’s the most important thing  you need to know about the new place: IT IS IN ANDERSONVILLE! If you know us at all, you know we love our neighborhood fiercely and deeply. Remember how I told you we’ve been looking for two years? Well, that’s because we had a search radius of approximately 5 blocks.

Andersonville is our ride or die, y’all, and we weren’t willing to give it up. Even if that meant getting a little less for our money. Even if that meant being patient.

Okay, maybe Sona was ready to give it up after months of no luck, but I wasn’t. We must have had a thousand conversations that went something like this:

Sona: Hey, I found this property we should look at.

Me: Where is it?

Sona: Well, it’s only like 2 blocks from Andersonville proper.

Me: I guess someone else will really love it, then.

You get the idea. I was uncompromising, patient, and laser-focused on our goal, which has always been to raise Finn in this community that has become so special to us. I knew it would happen, if we waited. Sona wasn’t so hopeful. In the end, she’s glad we held out.

You see that? That’s Sona, standing in front of our new building, pointing to where we want Finn to go to elementary school. It’s across the street.

We’re also just 3 blocks from our favorite Chicago beach, 1.5 blocks from our go-to produce market, 2 blocks from our vet, half a block from a large park, 2 blocks from the train, and a 5-minute walk to all of our favorite neighborhood haunts.

We looked at over a dozen properties, and we were very selective about what we’d choose to see. For whatever reason, none of them felt right. There were a few that checked most of our boxes, but I’d leaving feeling uncertain. Towards the end of the process, I started to get pretty frustrated. Was I being unreasonable? Should I just settle? How do you know, anyway? There may have been some tears and a couple of conversations about “soulless” condos.

We had two weeks left to re-sign our current lease, and we found it. A neighborhood momma reached out to be on FB, saying her friend was selling her duplex. I looked at the photos, but I didn’t feel moved.

Then, the listing went up the next day. The price was right, the location was GREAT, and it had two parking spots (something we hadn’t seen). So, we went to look.

I knew immediately. We walked in, and I was sold. It wasn’t the biggest place we looked at. It certainly wasn’t the newest or the one with the highest-end finishes. But it felt like it could be our home.

From there, things moved pretty quickly. And now, we’re just 9 days away from getting the keys!

It needs a little TLC. So, we’re doing some work on it during the month of June, installing new flooring throughout, updating a couple of the bathrooms (it’s 3 BR/3 BA), and doing a few cosmetic changes.

On June 29, fingers crossed, we’ll move in. It’s going to be a crazy demanding, taxing, and expensive summer, but we are very excited to have a place we love in a place we love.

Finn won’t remember this apartment, but we will. He will remember his first home.

Here are some photos:

This is the first floor of the duplex, and I love that we’ll be able to have an “adult space,” separate from the family room.

We have lots of ideas of how to better utilize this room.

This downstairs family room, which is HUGE, really sealed the deal.

It’s a great space for Finn. And the bunnies.

See? The bathrooms are–not the prettiest. But these are just cosmetic upgrades, and we are happy that we get to put our own stamp on the place.

I’ll be blogging about a lot of home stuff over the next year, I suspect. I’ll keep you updated as we turn this place into our home.