The House

Okay, so I'm finally posting pictures of the house. The first one is what the house looked like when we bought it eight years ago. It was a "cozy" two bedroom cape cod. It was great for just Michael and me, and when Rex came along, it got a little tight, but we managed. When Sean came along, he and Rex shared a room, and it got even "cozier". We do plan to have more children at some point, but we were out of corners for them to live in. We had two choices- add on to the house, or move. We seriously considered both, but we love our neighborhood and our neighbors, and we love living so close to downtown. As I told Michael, you can buy a house anywhere, but you can't choose your neighbors. We are very lucky to have such good friends living around us. So we decided to stay and add on. We tore off the roof, added a second floor with four bedrooms, two baths, and a laundry room, and a full attic on top. We should have moved. I know I will feel differently once everything is done and we have our lives back, but I'll be honest- these last few months have been hell. Everything that could go wrong did. We had a three month drought before construction began. Once they tore the roof off, it poured for three nights straight. Michael nearly killed himself when he was walking around on top doing some work and he fell through the ceiling. (he's okay now) The steps that were supposed to take 3 to 5 days to come in took about 5 weeks. You see where I'm going with this. Our one month project dragged out into nearly three months, and that was just until the kids and I could move back home. We've been living in our basement for almost another month now while Michael gets the first level livable again. (It will be several months before the new level is ready.) This is after the boys and I had been living in our neighbor's parents' house for two and a half months. God Bless Them. They are such wonderful people to put up with us for so long. They are retired. They have their nice, quiet lives. She sews, he golfs. And here I come with one year old and three year old little boys. Wham. We must have felt like a mack truck moving in. Rex was like a pinball bouncing from wall to wall, and Sean cried. and cried. and cried. On our third day there, Rex decided to sing a song at the dinner table. "Old McDonald had a penis...." I froze. I literally could not move. I had two thoughts- 1. How fast can I pack my bags? and 2. Where are we going to go? But they did not kick us out. They snickered quietly as I gave Rex the "shut up or die" look, and listened intently as I tried to explain why that was not an appropriate song even though, as Rex so quickly pointed out, it was true. It was a rough couple of months, and Michael and I were beginning to feel like a divorced couple. I got the truck and the kids, he had the house and the dog. I would bring the boys by the house in the afternoon sometimes for visitation. But we are home now, and things are a mess, but we're all together (*very* close together in the basement), and that makes it bearable. I don't know when (if ever) this house will finally be done on the inside, but the outside is finished, so here is the photo you have been waiting for. Hope you like it!