I have nothing of importance to say.

I just wanted to publicly declare that we all love the house that we are now living in.

Jeff and I ended up having to move every single thing we own by ourselves [gag]. But in hindsight, it was kind of empowering. (you know, besides the colds we caught). But on another plus side, we had far less scratches and damages to our furniture than in the past when other people have helped us move.

In the past, we have always lived in basement apartments. (and we have hated them.) But they were cheap, and so we moved from one basement apartment to another, (6 times in 3 years). So I can honestly say, we could not love or appreciate this house any more than we already do.

Today we went to the store and picked out paint samples. Jeff went to work, and I unpacked a few boxes while cleaning the house and watching maddie scream in joy at the freedom of banging pots and pans as loudly as she pleased.

The night before, I put maddie down for bed, went to bed myself, and woke up at 7:00 am to a happy baby who had slept through the entire night! All she needed was her own room.

It was a pretty boring day, and I loved it. I feel like I'm finally being the mom I wanted to be. I finally feel in control. I know where my life is headed, and things are finally back on track.

Grad school is just around the corner, and I know that things won't be boring for much longer, so I'm really trying to soak everything in. When maddie's awake, we're playing in the backyard, or crawling through the house together, or reading lots of books. Never mind the mountain of boxes. They'll have to wait. I'm playing with my baby right now.

Why are we getting so excited over a house we don't even own? Because for the first time in a long time, we feel like we have our own home. We're finally setting down roots. And we don't plan on moving for quite a while.
(or until I'm accepted into a doctorate program. but let's not think about that right now.) 

Our front yard. Two little old ladies live on either side of us, and they are both hilarious.

kitchen. check out that giant refrigerator!

Maddie in her elephant costume on the first day there. (living room)

After moving everything in the first night, we really only had enough energy to put a mattress on the floor and have a "sleepover" in the living room. Maddie didn't seem to mind. 

Our bathroom has a soaker tub. Maddie might love it almost as much as I do. 

I know it seems random, but I love this window. It sees in from the kitchen into the dining room. It's one of those random things that allows us to say that the house has "character."

How to lose 10 lbs in a day

answer: you chop off all your hair.

to be fair, I asked the hairdresser to leave it much, much longer. But since she was young and in hair school, she just kept chopping until everything was even. That's ok, though. Hair grows.

I really did love my long hair before, but I never actually got the chance to enjoy it. It took too long to do anything other than a messy bun.

Before

after

Now that it's much, much shorter, I might actually have time to do my hair, and then be able to feel great while doing stuff like this: 

Speaking of which, go check out this adorable video of maddie standing up for one of the first times: