The next chapter in our lives.........

This week our lovely little house in England went on the market for sale.  It was a really bittersweet moment seeing it up on the real estate website this morning in all it's glory.  To us it was so much more than just a house, it was our home.  The very first home that Mr D and I bought and lived in together.  It was the very first building block to the foundation of our family. It was where both Master J and Miss H were born.  It seems so long ago now but it was where so many memories are locked away.  Looking at all the photos online this morning brought them all flooding back, and I can almost hear the voices and conversations of precious friends and family as they've come and gone, in and out of that little house.  It feels very sad to be selling up, but on the flip side we've made Australia our new home now and we have to look forward in order to really move forward.  Beside we have our very own Aussie bub now in Miss L.

This is how it appears on the web at the moment.  If anyone is interested in buying it -let me know :))))))) (but you have to love it as much as we did).  You can view it HERE

When we first bought the house it was a total wreck and Mr D and I re-decorated every inch of it bit by bit.  Well actually it was mostly Mr D!  He is such an annoying perfectionist that he wouldn't let me anywhere near a paint brush, and when I did attempt to do a bit of painting he would hover over me like a dragonfly until I handed over the brush!!  We did have a great agreement though: I would choose all the colours and the decor and he would do all the DIY!!!! Who can argue with that?? (one day I'll tell you my secret - or maybe it's being a crap painter??)

It wasn't all plain sailing though, we did have several DIY disasters along the way.  I remember the day when Mr D decided to re-tile the kitchen.  He pulled all the appliances out of the kitchen including the fridge and washing machine and left them unconnected in the middle of the dining room so he could work.  The only problem was that he was off to the USA on a business trip early the next morning, and by the afternoon he was no where near finished!!!!!!  "You can't just leave me for a week with a tiny baby and no fridge or washing machine!!!" I wailed, freaking out - mid meltdown!!!  (I had visions of having to move in with my mum for a few days for the second time since Master J was born).  Luckily he managed to finish it all on time - at about 6am the following morning, just an hour before his taxi arrived to take him to the airport!!!  What an awesome hubby!!

The garden was another HUGE project we he tackled!  Mr D took it very seriously and even put string across the lawn to make sure it was all completely level.  He was very precious about his grass (and got teased mercilessly but all his mates) but it did look absolutely fantastic when it was all finished.  My job was to choose and buy the flowers, which I loved. The whole project was a slightly stressful at times as I'm sure you can image that English weather and ALL THAT MUD was a nightmare!!!)  I have just showed Master J these pictures and he doesn't remember them at all.  It seems so strange that such a huge part of our lives will be pretty much non existent in the kids lives.

This was taken during the last summer before we left for Australia

Miss H's very first bedroom

Mmmmmmm maybe I did used to do a bit of baking!!!! (All out of a packet though - look how far I've come).

The day we had to pack up and leave happened so quickly that we didn't really have a chance to reflect or say goodbye properly.  The removal men invaded like a swarm of ants and anything and everything in sight was boxed, packaged and packed up before you could say your name backwards.  They were so thorough that when we unpacked a few months later the bin that had been in Pete's office was still full of crumpled up papers!!!  It was a bitterly cold February day and Nanny Soph (the kids nanny) brought them back to the house before the big van left so that they could see it and say goodbye to our home.  Miss H sleep through the whole thing and Master J and I had a little cry.  I don't think he actually understood what was happening and just cried because I did!!  After that we went to live with Granny and Grandpa for a month before the big trip to Aus.

When we first arrived in Sydney, not knowing a single person, I really wasn't sure how long we would last and keeping our home in England was like having a bit of a safely blanket.  I had no idea how far we would come in two years and how much we would change and grow as a family. I smile fondly when I think about the old me and how different my life was not so long ago. Somedays I miss her, but on the whole I couldn't be happier here (Just wish my family would move too - hint, hint).

The age old saying the your home is where your heart is couldn't be truer for us.

Have you ever had a big house or country move before?  How did you cope?

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