Hey little one.  It has been some time since I last had a chance to sit down and update you on everything that has been going on.  The reason for such a long absence is that we finally moved in to the home you will start your life in!

Starting last Tuesday (May 22), the keys to our new home were handed over to us.  Mom had to work, but we wasted no time to begin moving.  With mom having packed about 90% of the old house Grandpa Tom and I began moving boxes over.  After 6 total truck fulls we had managed to move over 40 boxes.  Grandma Judy spent the entire morning cleaning the the new place and had the rugs professionally cleaned so that we could move into a nice clean place.

After 2 hours of moving, I went back home and noticed that we had hardly made a dent in the almost 100 boxes and about 25 pieces of furniture in all.  It felt good, while it was also depressing seeing how much more there was to get done.

Throughout the week I moved my office over and made a few other trips moving things here and there.  Mom was somewhat displeased that I was doing so much of the moving behind her back because I think she really wanted to be a bigger part of it.  It led to some arguments and my general behavior throughout the week was not so wonderful, so unfortunately we had a rough final week in our old place.

But come Friday it was all said and done.  The movers arrived early in the morning as did Tom and Judy.  I left to head over the new place to get the Internet and TV set up which took almost 4 hours and lasted until the movers had brought everything over.  Judy pretty much cleaned the entire old house Friday evening and all day Saturday.  She has been amazing during these past few weeks.  I think she is as excited, if not more, than we are about finally moving from a tiny condo into a townhome that her family can begin their new life in.

The last few days your mom and I worked tirelessly to unpack, organize, fix, build, rearrange and prepare the new house for the years to come.  It seems like we have so much more to do, but there is an end in sight finally.  Mom's feet have been killing her and her back has been a wreck.  Mine are bothering me as well, but she not only did more moving around than me, but she has YOU to worry about as well.  I tried to make her feel better each night giving her massages and rubbing her feet, but she is still aching.  We are both looking forward to tomorrow where we can take a break from "moving" and let our bodies recover!

Yesterday, Tom and Judy brought Kodi over to the old house just to show him that it was empty before bringing him over to the new place.  We all gathered there and looked at the empty condo and definitely cried.  Not as much as your mom and I cried earlier, but still teared up quite a bit.

Earlier in the day, mom and I had stopped by to grab the last few items from the old condo.  We stood there in the empty space and balled as thought about all of the memories she and I had there.  It was our first home.  It was the place we grew to love each other as much as we do today.  It is where we got engaged.  It is where your life began.  It is where some of our best memories together were formed.  Sunday night dinners with Aunt Julianne.  Walks around the Town Center each day.  Watching Kodi grow up in the the only real home he has ever known.  Walking up to grab drinks at the Town Center after work and watching football games on Sunday.  Decorating each holiday from top to bottom and inside and out.  Sitting in front of the TV with the fire on after digging our cars out of 5 feet of snow.  Taking walks in the snow covered ground around the lake where you could not hear anything but the snow falling from the tree limbs.  The list truly goes on and on.

We will miss you 12160 Abington Hall Place, Unit 202, Reston, VA :)

I made sure to leave some writing on the wall, literally, in black ink inside the water heater closet above the door.  I hope that one day we will be able to take you there and show you where we began our family.

Ok, back to Kodi.  We brought him over to the new place and he was definitely confused at first.  But he found his toys, our bed, and all the familiar smells and things from his old home and quickly settled down.  We showed him the back yard and the field he could now run in.  After all was said and done, Tom and Judy surprised Lisa with a birthday present of a new grill.  It was also a house warming present for me, but we were both thrilled.  We sat outside and talked for a while before Tom and Judy left.

Once they were gone a huge storm came rolling in and we were very scared it was going to bring with it a ton of thunder of lightening which would scare Kodi and probably ruin his first and potentially many more nights in this new home.  Thankfully, it just rained really hard for a bit and then calmed down.

We woke up today and continued getting the house ready.  I stopped by Pops and Jane's to pick up a few things since I had not seen them much since we began moving.  Normally, they would have been involved in the whole thing, but Pops is sick with Bronchitis and does not want to risk getting Mom and you sick.  Plus, I think that since Tom and Judy are really the ones that made this new house a possibility, they wanted to let them be in charge and did not want to stick their noses into everyone's business.  I doubt anyone would have cared, plus I'm sure we'll see the quite frequently in the days, weeks and years to come.

I put together the grill, grilled up some tasty burgers and we actually ate dinner before 9PM for the first time since Thursday night before the move.  Mom called it a night around 10 and I picked up a little and got relaxed on the couch and here we are now...

I'm sure I will say this to you again come November, but for right now...

Welcome Home Little N, Welcome Home.

Love you and your Mom,
Dad.