Surprise! We Are Moving!

As if life hasn’t been crazy enough over the past few months with my cancer diagnosis and treatment, surgeries for both of my little ones, the stomach flu, the holidays, and a bathroom renovation… we decided to buy a house… IN TENNESSEE!

So much went into making this decision to move away from our home state of Illinois, but we couldn’t be more excited for everything that lies ahead for our little family. It’s a bit scary to think about making this move, but how boring would live be if we never stepped out of our comfort zone?

We will miss this house that has turned into our home and safe haven. The place where we welcomed our son after he was born, where both our babies took their first steps, where we stayed home together during the pandemic and where we ran endless laps around the kitchen island. We will never be able to replace our first home, but know our new one will hold just as many special memories.

There have been SO many questions since I shared that we are moving, so I wanted to answer some of the most frequently asked ones!

FAQs:

Where are you moving to?

We are moving to Franklin, Tennessee from Naperville, Illinois!

How far is your old home from your new home?

It’s about an 8 hour drive from house to house or an hour flight from Chicago to Nashville!

What made you decide to move away? Did Nick get a new job? Why Tennessee?

Nick and I have always had this feeling of wanting to move outside of Illinois, but have always suppressed the urge because this is where we grew up and where our families are. We are really close with both sides of our family, and are fortunate that everyone lives within a few hours of each other. We have always loved the idea of experiencing something different than what we grew up with. Don’t get me wrong, we both had wonderful childhoods, have amazing families, and wouldn’t change a thing about the way we grew up, but we still love the idea of paving our own way.

We have some really close friends that moved to Franklin a few years ago, and each time we have visited them, we fell more and more in love. Whenever we left to go home, Nick and I would have long conversations about how awesome it would be to live there. The neighborhood we are moving to is unlike anything we have experienced before and has such a strong feeling of community.

Despite the fact that we talked about moving to Tennessee a lot, it was always more of a “wouldn’t that be nice?” thing versus a concrete plan. We’ve known for a while that we aren’t living in our forever home, but didn’t have a timeline for when we wanted to move. Nick and I would occasionally send each other homes that would pop up on the market (both for homes in Tennessee and Illinois), but it was more a research thing and getting an idea of what we want, and what different homes cost.

When this house in Tennessee popped up on the market, we just had a feeling about it. Sometimes that’s how it happens with real estate, right? I actually remember seeing this house when we visited our friends, and loved it so much.

I have SOOOO much more to say about this decision, but I won’t bore you with that now 🙂

When are you moving?

Not sure of the exact date yet, but end of January (2023)! So just over a month from when I am writing this!

Did you sell your house yet?

We have accepted an offer on our house, so fingers crossed it all works out!

What are you most excited about with the new house?

Ahhh so many things! First of all, the exterior of this house is SO unique and beautiful, and I fell in love as soon as I saw it. It will have 1 more bedroom than our old home with an in-law suite on the first floor so we can host lots of visitors. We also have beautiful views from most of the windows in our house, which makes me so happy.

Outside of the house itself, I am just so excited for the memories we will make here.

Will there be DIY projects in your new house?

YES, YES, YES. While the house we are buying is really new (built in 2017), it is pretty cookie cutter, and not really our style. I can’t wait to put our stamp on it! I also love that it doesn’t NEED anything right away so that takes a lot of stress off!

Let’s just say I want to repaint the entire interior of the house, refinish the floors, redo the fireplace and built ins in the living room, make the laundry room more functional, add wallpaper and wall treatments throughout the house, update the outdoor living space, swap light fixtures, build a super fun play space for the kids, update the kid’s bathrooms, and redo the kitchen. That’s just a few of the idea’s that come to mind, we will definitely not be doing all of this right away, and I know more will pop up along the way!

What are you most nervous about?

Right now, I am just hoping that nothing goes wrong between now and closing on the houses… If you’ve bought or sold a house before, you know that there are a lot of ways that things can go wrong, and I am trying to stay positive!

Other than that, I’m not necessarily nervous about anything, because I truly feel this is going to be SUCH an amazing experience for our family. I more just want to make sure this transition is as painless as possible for our little ones. Luckily, with them being as young as they are (3 and almost 2), they aren’t established in a school district yet. They are in daycare, and we will miss it SO much, but know that they will adapt really well to whatever daycare/preschool they move to next! Plus there are SO many fun things in store for them in the neighborhood we are moving to.

The other obvious thing is that we will be further away from family so will need to be on top of planning our trips back to visit. We already have a number of long trips back up to Illinois planned and know we will still see our family a lot! I know that each time we visit or have visitors, the time spent together will be that much more special and intentional.

I am getting SO excited for this new chapter! What other questions do you have?!