warp speed

This still all feels surreal.

Last week --five days ago actually-- we still hadn't fully made up our minds on where SJ was going to start school, if she was going to start, trying to decide what to do while we waited for our house to sell going into the sixth month on the market, living apart and in limbo like we have been.

Now, within the last four days, we have a contract on our house, found our new house, got settled in a contract with that, got SJ registered for school with the new address (she starts tomorrow!) and even got Sawyer enrolled in a great preschool.
Um, can you say crazy??

Crazy indeed; I feel like I've been running around in a million different directions with a thousand things going on in my head all at once. Oh, and two slightly talkative, excited, curious, goofy kids in either ear at all times. :)

So we got down here Sunday afternoon and went through a few houses: one we'd seen before and liked, one Ryan had seen the week before but I hadn't, and four others. We'd narrowed down the area we really wanted to try and be in, narrowing it further down with a certain few neighborhoods that felt like a better community, so really our pickings were slim. We've pretty much seen every house on the market that fit our criteria. [side note: the house we are buying was the 101st house Ryan had looked at with our realtor since moving here. over 101 houses on this hunt!!]
So coming down this week, we knew that we had to settle for one we'd seen, hope something new came up to surprise us, or decide to rent for awhile, hoping that someday soon our dream house would come on the market.
Well, we definitely liked a few we looked at on Sunday. Enough that we knew we could make it work for us anyway.

And by Monday we'd made our decision. Yes, twelve hours later.
I secretly knew it the minute I saw the new listing online last week and told Ryan he'd better call our realtor and get over there and look at it (I was up in St Louis) quick. Not that I fell in love with it from it's listing... one might even argue the opposite. And when Ryan saw it he wasn't that impressed. And when I made him take me back to go see it, I'll admit I was less thrilled with it in person than on the internet. But I had a feeling this was the one. And it wouldn't go away. And in the end, despite maybe even liking other houses better, it looks like this one's the one thats gonna be ours afterall.

This house, in all this time of us searching, came on the market the day before we got the offer on our house. This house was the only of our final four choices that was vacant and ready for a super quick close. This house is in a neighborhood that I originally hoped to be in but thought we couldn't afford. None of these factors weighed in on our decision but rather after the fact were realized, and once again I am in awe of how you-know-who is throwing this all together just in the nick of time.

Just in the nick of time indeed; Savannah starts school tomorrow. I knew Thursday was the first day of school but I didn't think in a million years that we'd have settled on a house and have a binding contract on it so fast and so I didn't think to bring any of Savannah's school clothes or school supplies with us from St Louis. I thought at the very best, she'd be able to start next Monday, the first full day of a full week for everyone, and after we'd have been back home to gather her stuff. I didn't bring any of her records, immunizations, birth certificate, nada. But once we had a contract on a house so fast (within an hour of making the offer!!) and knew what school she'd be in, I got on the ball and got on the phone and on the fax and went back and forth and all around and to the store for a school outfit (dress code here) and some extra supplies and everything worked out and she slid into her Meet the Teacher open house this afternoon just in time. She gets to start with the rest of the class on a The First Day, bright and early tomorrow morning. Amazing.

Can you believe how this is just all happening just so perfectly?!?
I am so enjoying this ride! I can't wait to see what's around the next corner.
It's been a roller coaster and we've suddenly been thrown into super sonic speed and who's to say that it'll be all downhill from here, but right now I'm enjoying this ride and I'm excited that it's finally looking like one I'll be glad I forked out the cash on tickets for in the end!