#casadevoigts

April 23, 2015

On March 20, 2015, we closed on Prairie Meadow Dr.  The whole building process went over much smoother than we could have anticipated.  It was fun to make all of the interior selection for the house and our builder was really easy to work with.

It was the actual closing that was an absolute nightmare and was pretty much the cherry on top of a really long, stressful journey.  I have been trying to recall the exact timeline of our two days of "closing hell" but my mind seems to have repressed the details.

The closing of our previous two houses were fairly uneventful so we assumed this one would go off without a hitch as well....HA the universe had different plans.  In a nutshell, our closing was delayed three times and then cancelled twice over the course of two days.  In the meantime, we had packed up the apartment so we headed to a hotel.  We had to cancel our movers twice and reschedule all of the installation appointments that we had scheduled weeks in advance.

When closing was cancelled on the second day, I lost it.  All of the stress of the last 15 months pushed me off a cliff. I was frustrated, angry, overwhelmed and completely helpless.  We had waited for this day for soooooooooooo long.  This was a hard lesson in "best laid plans..." and the fact that you really don't have control over much, if anything, in life.

When we finally got to sit at the closing table, the situation didn't get any better.  What normally takes 45 minutes to an hour took us over 3 hours.  But at last we finally had the keys to our castle in hand.  We rushed "home" to let in our movers who had been waiting hours for us and began the long process of unpacking.

(Finally, in our new{est} home!)

Over the next several days, we were able to get all of our installations completed (window treatments, sound system, TVs hung, etc.), bedrooms set up and unpacking all of the stuff we had managed to live without for 9 months.  Makes you realize how little you really need in life!

Our house was the first completed on our block and entire street.  In fact the day we closed was the day they broke ground on the house next door!  Our lot was only 5,000 sq ft.  The backyard was tiny (which we loved) and the houses were right on top of each other (ended up not loving this so much). We didn't have any landscaping for almost 3 months and living in a construction zone was a challenge but we survived, we were finally home.

(Living in a construction zone was fun for the boys.)

          (Construction begins on our neighbors house.)
           



Willow Park East was the newest subsection of Stapleton (a neighborhood in NW Denver) and since we were one of the first people to move in, it was so exciting to see it take shape.  The pace of the construction and development of parks and pathways was incredible.

Looking back, I have to say it was all worth it. The hard times in life are the ones that give you an opportunity to make yourself better, a chance to really look within and find a new strength in yourself.  The stress put us back in bi-weekly sessions with our beloved therapist, Anne G (What?! You don't have a marriage counselor? Oh, you really should!), but we came through with a new sense of ourselves and each other.  Eight months after moving in, our marriage was stronger than it had ever been.

The neighborhood was full of young families, with children close to our kids ages.  Neither J nor myself are super outgoing people but it was easy for us to meet likeminded people and develop friendships.  We had finally found our niche.  We were happy.

(Finished product, landscaping and all.)

(Our view.)

 (Our teny, tiny backyard.)

 (Customized kitchen, with an awesome 9' island.)

 (Open concept, first floor.)

Lindsey 

The Aster

And so we began to do our time at The Aster.  

J thought we could do it for years.  I was less optomisic about our tight quarters but thought we could last the six or seven months until the house was completed.

We lasted two months.

There were several times I thought about getting in my car and just driving away (not forever but maybe a few months).  I KNOW it's possible for two adults, two small children (and all of their crap) and two dogs to live in a two bedroom apartment but we found it quite difficult to go from over 3000 sq ft to 947 sq ft.  It was horrible.  The time we spent in that apartment was almost right up there with suffering through all of the showings at the last house.

The boys had to share a room for the first time which also doubled as the "play" space because the living room and kitchen were one space (which as I look around now, my masterbedroom basically equates to the communal living space in that apartment) and there was no dining area at all.

The last two weeks we were there Jack was sleeping with us (see exhibit 1 and 2 below) because Leo still wasn't sleeping through the night and was waking up Jack.  It is truly amazing how this little boy could spin a full 360 degrees throughout the night.  No judgement to others but we don't do the co-sleeping thing in our house.

September 2014, the universe finally cut us some slack...a three bedroom townhouse became available at same complex so in order to save our sanity and our marriage, we moved (AGAIN).

While the townhouse was not the answer to all of our problems, it was exactly what we needed to get us through our limbo.  There was 3 bedrooms, 2 levels, a tiny kitchen, a place for a sofa/TV, even space for a card table to eat at and an attached garage.  We lived on a courtyard with a little playground right out our front door.  There were tons of families (many waiting for their homes to be built as well) with kids in the 2-8 year range and everyone was super nice.  If fact we made couple of really good friends while living there as did Jack.

It was absolutely perfect for the boys.  In fact, part of me knew that I would be sad to leave purgatory just for the social factor and the convenience of opening the door to let Jack out to play with all the kids.

The hardest part for me was my inability to keep the place clean and organized for more than an hour.  I am a stay-at-home-mom.  My house is my "office" and since I spend so much time in it, I prefer my home to be clean and orderly.  In my mind everything item has a "home" and that is where it should go.  I realize with kids that is an outlandish concept but not entirely impossible.  However, I quickly discovered I was fighting a losing battle in the townhouse and I needed to lower my expectations.

We tried to keep ourselves busy.  The boys and I went to Illinois for Labor Day, there was a trip to Florida in October, back to Illinois for Christmas and a few long weekends away in the mountains in the new year.  Having things to look forward to helped to make the time go faster and offered a distraction for our anticipation.

The new house was within a mile of the apartment so just about everyday I would drive by to see the progress.  It was very exciting to see it all come together.  Our time at The Aster went relatively quick until the last month, then the walls started to close in on me.  It was hard to pack the minimal amount of stuff we had in advance and I felt like a in a holding pattern surrounded by half empty boxes. (The photo below was of Jack's room and a packing area.  If you know me, you know this mess sends my anxiety through the roof.)

While updating the blog, I have been looking through all of my old pictures.  I take a lot of pictures...or at least I did.  During this time, I clearly needed a distraction so I remember that I was really working on my photography and trying to teach myself new things.  I am far from a professional but looking at these photos reminds me that I need to pick up the damn camera again.

Trip to Illinois over Labor Day 2014
- Boys saw their first Theresermans Parade, Jack visited the farm and rode in a tractor the first time

October 2014- Longboat Key, FL.  I could have an entire post of just pictures.  My "happy place" always turns lots of great photos.)

Fall 2014

Christmas 2014- Traveled back to Illinois to make the family rounds.  This trip exhausting at the time but I think that years and years of having to divide our holidays three ways has become the norm in my sub conscience   The off years when we stay in Colorado for Christmas or Thanksgiving always seem too quiet and anticlimactic.

And last but never least, our sweet boy, Leo took his first steps in December 2014!

Lindsey

The Last 15 Months...

...Have been tough. (This was written in the Fall of 2014.)

So long story, (kind of) short...Novemeber 2013 we decided to build a new house.  We had several reasons which at the time sounded reasonable.  We put our house on the market in early November.  By mid January, we had had over 50 showings.  Yes I said 50+ showings...if you have ever sold your home you know that is a TON.  Mind you, during this time, I had a brand new baby.  

Every day for 10 or so weeks I had to keep my house spotless and relatively toy free.  Most showings were the same day as the request was made and often times within an hour or two.  For 10 weeks, I had rush to get the house in show condition and then get my two kids and two dogs out the door for at least an hour.  

By the end, I was resentful of every single phone call.  I knew I was just wasting my time and I wanted these strangers to get the f*ck out of my house.  

Jack's colic was probably one of the most stressful times of my life.  This was worse.

We had one last "out" of our contract to build a new home so we pulled the plug and took the house off the market.

Fast forward to April 2014.  Inventory in the neighborhood was up and houses were flying off the market.  The idea of making a good profit on something we had owned for less than two years was very tempting so the house went back on the market.  

Three weeks and 20+ showings later, we finally had an offer!  After a little negotiating we had a deal and a good deal.  But after 70+ showings and enough stress to push me over the edge (a few times), our good reasons to move became blurred in both of our minds.  

Over the next few months we looked for a new home but all of cookie-cutter-crap for sale in our desired neighborhood wasn't the right fit.  Which lead us back to building.  Our original builder was going to take over two years so we went with our second option.  

Our new home would be done in 9 months and in the meantime we would need to find temporary housing.  So I began the process of packing up our house, deciding what would fit into a two bedroom, 947 sq ft apartment and what we could go 9 or so months without.  You know, cause life wasn't already stressful enough.

We were fortunate enough to be able to store the vast marjority of our belongings at J's warehouse for free.  So every night for two weeks, J would bring a van home from work, we wold load it up after the boys were down, he'd unpack it the next day and repeat.  

We left our home for the last time on July 16, 2014.  A new chapter was beginning and we both cried as we drove away.  

                                           

Funny when I look back now, the stress of this time was like childbirth.  You remember that it was a horribly painful experience but it's become dull with time.  Looking through pictures of this period it's happy memories like the ones below that make me think "shit I could totally do that again!" 

Just like childbirth!

Lindsey 

Hello, Hello

Is there anybody out there?

Besides my amazingly articulate BFF, does anybody blog anymore...or read blogs?  I kind of hope not.  I have found that the older I get, I become less and less inclined to share my life with the outside world.  However, I have always found writing to be very cathartic and I have often thought about returning to my blog since I stepped away a few years ago.

There has been one recent development in my life that has encouraged me to get back at it but I'll save that topic for later.

Since my last post in 2015, I have a few unpublished posts which I feel are pertinent to our journey leading to present day. So, to remember the years gone by, I am going to go back and clean up those posts and publish them before I move on to where we are today.

(In the meantime, this is life at this very second!)

Lindsey