Having a baby wasn't enough of a life change this year

Since I've sadly never had a crazy wild tropical spring break (although most who have barely remember them anyway), I think it's safe to say this spring break was a lifetime best.

Moving on up....

We bought a house!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It came with a bunny!

In the yard, anyway.

We should have stopped renting about 4 years ago but we had been hemming and hawing and really didn't know if we wanted to stay in Baltimore once we were both done with grad school. I graduated when I was 8 months pregnant, so that made it a little easier to decide. We probably should have moved then, but that whole "giving birth" thing was taking up a lot of our attention. Once Dalton arrived, just a few days of us carrying his car seat up 3 flights of stairs to our apartment and not having a washer and dryer solidified things. We met with a realtor when he was three weeks old.

We're moving just in the nick of time, maybe, because this kid is dying to crawl (but who knows, it could be a few more months).

He can back it up, and roll across the room. He's like a chess piece that can only move in certain directions.

Long story (sort of) short: a house we loved dropped in price last month. Seriously, it was our dream, and had all sorts of stuff that we thought was out of our price range, AND my dream stove (gas, 5 burners!). We had plans to see it on a Sunday, but then Eric just got a feeling we should move fast and went to see it with Dalton on a Wednesday night while I was in penis class. They loved it, so the three of us went over on that Friday. That night, and the next night, Dalton slept through the night for the first (and second) time! Since then, he has not repeated this behavior.

By Sunday, when we were originally supposed to see it for the first time, there were four offers in, including ours. After tons of stress and counteroffers and craziness, eventually, our offer was accepted. The ride on the emotional roller coaster continued, but yesterday we finally settled!

It required a lot of hydration. And candy.

The house is now ours!

Moving break to pop some bubbly!

He was fascinated by his new carpet. 

I could go on and on and on about my love for it, but I'll just say it actually has a yard and it's on a quiet street (right now we live on a really busy one). I'm just so excited for Dalton to grow up there and have so much more room to play.

The day before we closed, we did the only logical thing - went out to buy tons of new toys. We didn't feel we had enough crap to move, apparently. What's the point of having more room if not to be able to better spoil your child?

He makes it look like we will be living in a mansion.

Best $6 we ever spent.

We pretty much don't buy any baby items new, so everything came from this HUGE consignment sale that they have four times a year at the state fairgrounds. This is the first time I went since being pregnant and it was better than Christmas. We got so many wonderful things so freaking cheap, including, but not limited to, baby gates and bright colorful foam mats so Dalton doesn't bump his head (as much) on that beautiful hardwood floor.

Yesterday I was just opening all the drawers in amazement and mentally repeating "mine mine mine all mine". It doesn't seem real yet. 

I posted on Wednesday about our first post - baby date night and the thought still makes me shudder. Thursday night, we stayed up late after Dalton went to sleep, packing up the kitchen and talking. It's crazy, and annoying because Wicked tickets aren't cheap, but I had so much more fun wrapping dishes and hanging out, knowing Dalton was close by and I was there for him if he needed me (or I needed him, which is more likely if I'm really being honest). That's my life now, and I love it. But I'll love it much more from my new beautiful porch, back patio, finished basement, gorgeous master bedroom, etc. 

What was your home buying experience like?

Where can we get cheap yet not complete crap furniture, and who's good at decorating that lives in the DMV and wants to come over?