We have a new home!!!

Oh hallelujah!! I've been looking since November since my landlord in our current apartment told us he was selling the house. I'd been getting kind of desperate lately since I'd been looking for months and there just wasn't anything out there that met our needs, and thankfully my landlord was having trouble selling the house. But then I got a call from one of the real estate agencies I've been dealing with and found the perfect apartment. I viewed it on Wednesday and signed the lease yesterday. What's so great about it?

- It's one block away from Brendan's school
- It's 3 bedrooms
- One of the 3 bedrooms, the really small one, will be Brendan's playroom
- Which means I get to reclaim my living room from all his toys that are currently living there
- There's 2 full bathrooms
- There's a washer/dryer in the apartment, which I haven't had (can you believe I got through Brendan's infancy without having a washer/dryer?)
- Central air
- Walk-in closets in all the bedrooms
- A view of the water from the master bedroom
- I'll have a parking spot so no more jockeying for a place to park or worrying about what to do in bad weather
- There's a bus that stops on the corner and one on the next block to take me to the subway
- There's a shopping center 3 blocks away with a supermarket, pharmacy, bank, etc.
- The playground is 3 blocks away.
- And best of all, the apartment below it (I'll be in a 3rd floor walk-up again, you can't have everything) was empty and my parents came to look at that apartment and took it on the spot. I'll have them right there. No more schlepping Brendan out of bed before the crack of dawn to take him to my parents. I can come straight home from work without having to stop there first. Built in babysitters right below me. And the best of the best, no more worrying about Brendan running around over someone else's head and making noise.

I have the apartment as of March 15th, but can have the keys a week before. I need to get a bunch of stuff done. The whole place needs to be measured for blinds, I need a new couch, bookcase, endtable, lamps, a new bedroom set for Brendan. I'd like to get one of the walls repainted in the master bedroom, which is zen-like red. Plus all the other assorted stuff you have to do when you move. This weekend we're going to start tossing alot of stuff and then I'll have the keys next Thursday and I'm hoping to get everything done and moved in in a month. I'm paid up in my current apartment through April 6th, so it shouldn't be a problem.

I'm not good with big changes like this, but this couldn't have worked out better, and it's such a weight off my shoulders.


The living room -



The kitchen -



The hallway from the living room down to the master bedroom. The laundry area and bathrooms are on the left. The linen closet and the playroom and bedroom are on the right.



Laundry area -



Brendan in the playroom and his bedroom -





The bathrooms, with Brendan standing in the stall shower in the smaller bathroom -





The master bedroom (I'm going to do something about that red wall) -