Growing pains

And no...not the kind that seize your legs in muscle cramps in the middle of the night.  The growing pains I'm talking about are more related to life in a "new" home.  A new home, a new development and for us a new city.

We made the decision to relocate to the city when we realized that we were not going to get the French Immersion instruction we wanted for our kids in our former home.  Living in this part of the world makes you realize quite quickly what an advantage a second language can be.  It's always been my meal ticket.  From student jobs to teaching contracts- French language skills have opened so many doors for me.  So, that is what we wanted for our kids too.

When we bought our new house Jack was only a week old.  I can remember trying to change a diaper and nurse a 7 day old baby in the front seat of our van while parked outside the model home.  I was bawling.  Post-partum hormones and major life decisions do not go well together.  However, I think we did well.  It took almost a whole year to go through the build and design process and we were in our new place before Jack's first birthday.  What a year!

This new home lacks the personality that my old home had.  It's beautiful and new and so much more functional.  But it just doesn't have much character. Yet.  We are a busy family  with 3 young children and decorating and renovating are not high on the priority list right now.   That's not to say that we're not settling in or nesting.  What we are doing here is putting down roots.  We're making new memories in our home.  We are "building" new friendships with neighbours.  This development is swarming with "little people" riding bikes, scooters and Little Tykes Cozy Coupes.  There are basketball nets, trampolines and road hockey games.  This block is ALIVE!!   Our kids are making friends every day and we are starting to feel like we're all part of something great here.  I'm so glad things turned out this way, even though it was a tough road to get here.

So even though our boxes are not unpacked yet, our windows remain uncovered, our yard is full of dirt, our driveway is full or rocks (you get the picture here??) we are settling in quite nicely.  Bonus?  There's a porta-potty on the corner behind our house.  I think an extra bathroom definitely increases our property value, don't you?