House News

Barron and I have always assumed we would stay put in our house on Danube. When we were first married, we would spend evenings in the backyard talking by the firepit. We would look at the house and imagine what we would do to make it bigger and better for a family. Where would the porch go? Should we go up or out? Where should the swingset go? Over the years, we did minor interior upgrades to make the house feel better... particularly after it's bachelor pad days!! We held off on a lot of major upgrades or renovations because we just assumed we would be tearing the house down and starting over, so why throw away money if we were going to redo it all soon anyways? After a few things happened to the house this past fall, and the knowledge that we have some major repairs on the horizon (need new electrical throughout, etc.) we relized we needed to go ahead and make some major decisions. Could we afford to stay and tear the house down and build something NEW? Could we afford to stay and do a major renovation? Should we move OTP and get a bigger house for less money? How do we feel about private/public schools? Are we in love with our neighborhood? Do we want to be further from either set of parents than we already are? The questions go on and on and on and on!! We spent the past 4+ months having conversations and doing research with family, friends and experts. Once all the facts came in, we still had to do some soul searching because it seemed that we were in the fortunate position of having several options that were all good. It reminded me of choosing which college to attend... we needed to make a decision and not turn back! So, we are excited to have finally made the decision to stay on Danube and undergo a fairly major renovation!! We are currently working with an architect and a builder in the beginning stages of the design process. Needless to say, I think we are a bit overwhelmed with all the upcoming decisions that will need to be made. Fortunately, I am comforted by how well Barron and I work together as a team and the support system we have with our families. I know it's going to be tough and stessful (every home renovation article I read warns that if your marriage can survive a renovation, it can survive anything!), but I am beyond excited that we have the opportunity to turn our dream into a reality.

Jack's First Birthday

Letter to Jack on his first birthday.

Dear Jack,

I can hardly believe a whole year has passed since you came into this world. My memory of your arrival is still so clear in my mind and in some ways feels like it was only a few months ago. You have brought so much joy into our lives- the smiles and the laughter in our home have increased exponentially since your arrival. You have been such a sweet and happy baby and you just go with the flow. You are always watching the action, taking it all in and are more observant than I sometimes realize. You are a cuddly little boy and you love to snuggle, which makes a mom feel good! Even when a lot of the snuggle time occurs in the middle of the night.... speaking of, you seem to finally be getting the hang of sleeping through the night. Yay! You LOVE to play with your big brother and do everything you can to make him laugh. And, he loves to make you laugh too. You feed off of each other so much. And once Dad gets involved, well, you are all laughing so much you can hardly breathe. You have four teeth, you're walking, you're climbing anything you can... you love to crawl as fast as you can down the hall to Davis' room to play with his toys... laughing the whole way down the hall.