Despite what you might be thinking the title of this blog post is implying, I can assure you that I am not planning to sell either one of my beloved children. Not today anyway. However, ask me again tomorrow and you may get a different answer (yes, of course I’m kidding). All jokes aside though, my husband and I are just days away from having one of those large “For Sale” signs placed in our front yard and it’s both exciting and terrifying all at the same time.

Can we just talk for a second about how much added stress this has been causing and WE HAVEN’T EVEN PUT IT ON THE MARKET YET?!? Updating this, painting that, cleaning this, getting rid of that, replacing this, organizing that, bang head against wall, repeat. And trying to keep things clean and organized when you have a 6 and 3 year old? Ha! Sometimes it seems damn near impossible. It’s like they are purposely waiting until a room is spotless just so they can bring out every toy and tiny object they own and transform it into a space that looks as if it’s been hit by a tornado. I’m about one bribe short of promising a pony to get these kids to keep their bedrooms clean. I just try to keep reminding myself that things won’t be like this forever and it really will all be worth it once we are in our new home. That works…sometimes. To every parent of young children that has gone through this and made it out with even a small fraction of your sanity left, I salute you.

On the bright side, making the decision to sell our house has given me the big kick in the rear I needed to get some serious spring cleaning done. Only, I started last spring. The people who work at our local Goodwill should know us on first name basis at this point with how often we’ve been there to drop off car loads of “stuff!” You never fully realize just how much “stuff” you have until you have to think about moving it all from one house to another. Why wasn’t I just born a minimalist? And how in the world is it possible to accumulate so much junk many unnecessary items in your house? We certainly have an even deeper appreciation for our wonderful neighbors who let us fill the remainder of their garbage cans with the rest of the trash that doesn’t fit in ours.

There’s a part of me that is really sentimental when I think about leaving our current home though. Especially when I think about all of the memories we’ve created here over the years. This was our first house. The one we brought both of our babies home to and have watched them grow up in. This is the house we have made into our home and something that has had a major role in our family’s story. These plain old cement front steps have welcomed many visitors and have been the chosen spot for first day of school pictures. Within these walls there have been many tears shed, but even more belly laughs. Within these walls have been first steps, first words, and lots of snuggles. But above all else, these walls have been filled with love and that is the difference between a house and a home.

I know that we will also welcome many visitors and experience many firsts in our next house as well, but it’s still going to be difficult to say goodbye to the place where we have created so many wonderful memories over these past 9 years. Thankfully, we don’t have to worry about leaving those memories behind with the house itself, or packing them up in boxes like the rest of our belongings. I’ll be more than happy to carry them with me, knowing that we will have plenty of opportunities to make even more memories in our new home.