We passed a weird milestone on Wednesday. On the surface, it just marked seven months of living in this shouldn’t-call-it-new-anymore house. Then we realized it also marked the point at which Clara has spent more of her life living here than at our first home.
We always knew our first house would just be a foggy blip on Clara’s memory radar, but passing this milestone feels like it’s actually happening. The house that we spent renovating/loving for over 4.5 years meant so much to me and Sherry – it wasn’t just our first home, it was our wedding venue, our DIY testing grounds, our inspiration to start this blog, and where we took our baby home from the hospital. But it’s already becoming “that place I lived for a few months back when I was a baby” to Clara. Sigh.
Here’s her almost seven-month-old self checking out her new room back on moving day.
And here she is over seven months later. Such a big girl. Still pretty bald though.
We’re really glad she (and Burger) took so well to the new house. And we’re more than a little fond of it ourselves. It’s just funny to think that a house that meant so much to us won’t be much more than “oh yeah, that place” to Clara. Thankfully she’ll have no shortage of photos and videos to remember it by (like this vid that we made just for her before we moved).
Do any of you have a childhood home that you only remember vaguely? Or do you get most of your memories jogged by pictures and your parents’ stories? I lived in the same house for my entire childhood, but Sherry moved around a few times, and only remembers “the drop ceiling in the basement that she and the boys would ‘accidentally’ break all the time” from her first one. At least Clara’s memory of her first house won’t involve destruction. Unless you count all the DIY that she witnessed.
Update- We just got Clara’s monthly pic done, check it out here. We’ve got a walker!!
Awww sweet!
Was teary-eyed while reading this….we have a 14 month old ( I believe he is only a few days older than Clara ) and are getting ready to move into a second home. We have lived in our current home for 7 years and have become a family in it. We have found a bigger newer house in a better safer neighborhood and school district but cannot help but wonder if it is the right thing. I am so emotionally attached to our current home since we have completely remodeled it and it is where I brought my baby home. How and why did u decide to move from your first house? Just wanting advice and encouragement…this has been so hard for me. I can’t imagine how I will be when we close on it and I lock the door and step out for the last time. :(
Here’s the post about deciding to sell and where we both were (and came to be): https://www.younghouselove.com/2010/09/blogiversary-iii-on-the-move/
And here’s a post about all the things we never wanted to forget about our first house (making a list to “capture” them all was really therapeutic): https://www.younghouselove.com/2010/11/in-the-words-of-rose-from-titanic/
It seemed so sad to leave when we first started talking about it, but slowly we got more excited to just take a look and see what was out there. Then we found our new house and our hearts filled with excitement about all of the adventures and memories we’d acquire there, so there wasn’t much room for sadness. Sounds weird but that’s really what happened. Good luck with everything! Oh and when it came to locking the door for the last time, we were so rushed and ready to get into the new house that there wasn’t really a big sad moment at all. We just cleaned our way out, shut the door, locked it, went out for breakfast, and headed over to the closing and the new house. All in one day – it was a whirlwind, but maybe being busy was a good thing!
xo,
s
It is a little sad, but there will be so many memories in this new home. We moved when I was 4 so I barely remember our family’s first house but when we drive past it, I know which one it is.
Oh, and if Clara starts to feel bad about being bald, let her know she’s not alone. I was bald until I was at least 2 and now it grows faster than I can handle!
Clara is adorable. I was more bald than Clara when I was 3 years old, her hair will come in soon and she’ll probably have a lot of it. I now have the thickest hair of anyone I know!
Aww, that’s a sweet milestone. :o)
My husband has weird pieces of memories from when he lived in Hawaii. And they moved away from there when he ws two. Pretty amazing. So you never know, Clara just may have a few random memories of the old house.
That might be the cutest pic of you and Clara I’ve ever seen. It must be nice to have such a smiley little lady! So glad you both enjoy the new home.. Clara and I have one thing in common.. the hometown of RIC! Congrats on the reno of the new house thus far!
First comment? No way!
Uh, congrats on the milestone?
Oh, not the first comment. It looked like it was first, but guess not. :)
Cheers!
I manually approve them to cut down on spam, so sometimes a few are waiting in moderation together! Hope that explains it!
xo,
s
I lived in the same house growing up and now I work there! My parents have been there for 34+ years. It has changed a lot over the years but I still love it!
I was 3 years old when my mom moved me from Orlando to Atlanta, then I moved about once every 18 months on average until I was 7….so there are lots of houses that I vaguely remember! I’m like Sherry in that there are random things you remember about the house. One had train tracks running just past the backyard, one came with a bar and a hot tub, and I’ll always remember the snow being so high on Christmas morning at the house in Buffalo that it almost completely blocked the windows.
great job you guys, I’m enjoying the fun from here in Australia
This post is so sweet. It reminds me to take lots of pictures and videos of every single moment we possibly can in our new house. I don’t want to ever forget a minute of our first house! We’ve been here for just over 2 months now and it’s been amazing every step of the way.
I have such a horrible memory (I remember almost nothing from my childhood or even my college years… and that was only last year) and pictures and videos are the only thing that keep events fresh in my mind :)
So sweet! I’m sure our baby boy will have vague memories of our first house as well. It’s such a big part of my husband and I, yet he’ll probably be too young to remember most of it (which is probably a good thing!) Nothing like your first house together, though! Love your new home :)
I have vague, hazy memories of the house I lived in until I was 5 years old. I would LOVE to get back in that house for 5 minutes to see if any of what I remember is what it actually looks like!
What I do remember is my Dad and I walking through the house before we moved out, and kissing the floors and the refrigerator goodbye. I will never forget that.
No video posted
If you’re viewing from a smart phone it might not show up (it’s on Vimeo and those vids are funny for some reason). But if you click the link that says “the vid” it should take you to the post with that video and a link to it on youtube.com. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
I remember in preschool–I (and by “I”, I mean my dad) had made a “magic flip book” that made it look like something was moving as you flipped through it (like old school cartoons) and I left it in the bathroom and it got WET! My magic day was ruined, and (clearly) I am still pretty horrified about it…
Three years later–my mom permped my short, red hair and to this day i look at pictures and can only think of bozo. Really mom? Really?
:)
But congrats on YOUR wonderful memories!!! :)
Such a cute video :). Great idea too!
I don’t remember anything from my first home, ages 0-2. I’ve seen pictures though – just a tiny white square house on the military base
I barely remember my first house growing up! I am getting ready to move with my son into a new house and think it is a little sad he won’t remember the place he took his first step! Thank goodness for pictures :)
My parents built a house when I was two that I had lived in until I got married. I don’t have any memories of the other house we lived in. But, I’d be sad if our boys didn’t remember our current house (our first house) if we move.
We moved around, but I, and my brothers, always found something to destroy. My mother sighed a lot. We moved a little over a year ago and my 4 1/2 yr old still talks about our wood house (this is the brick house), but his younger sisters seem completely oblivious. A little sad to me as that’s where we brought all three babies home and really became a family.
I lived in the same house my entire life, and my parents still live there….it has evolved over the years….they did a ton of DIY work too, but it’s still there to go “home” to. Of course, pretty much the minute I left for college, my mom turned my bedroom into her office/photography studio…hmmmm…..anxious to have an empty nest much? lol!
hey….where did you get Clara’s pajamas (in the “7 months later” pic)??? They are adorable and I have a hard time finding pj’s for the little lady that I like!
Those are from the Carter’s Outlet ($3!!!).
xo,
s
I remember 2 houses, though we lived in 4, with this last house being the longest. I don’t remember the first 2 at all, as I was just too little. And my parent’s current house we actually moved into (renting), moved out of and then were able to go back and buy it later on. What I remember from the house in-between are snippets of memories. Like the tiger lilies in the yard. That we could ride our bike through the kitchen, living room and bathroom in a circle since they were all connected. That I fell down the stairs (tall, steep, non-carpeted) when my sister and I were playing “runaway”. Sigh. We were cool. ;)
oh and it makes me so sad to realize that my two oldest boys will not remember the house that we brought them home from the hospital to. We moved when they were 1 and 3. The oldest is now 7 and he has very vague memories, but mostly just from pictures. :(
I lived in the same house all my life. A house that my parents are threatening to sell because its too big for just the 2 of them. I’m trying to let go of the “its not just a house” feeling myself. Good luck!
But your pictures will definitely help Clara feel like she was there for more than just a few months.
BTW, your blog is one of my favorites, and actually inspired me to recently start my own blog.
I lived in the same house my entire life until I went to college. But then I still came back to that same house on summers off and even lived with my parents again just before getting married and moving out for good. My parents still live there. I never moved around (unless you count moving to and from college dorms and working for a summer at a camp). My husband and I lived in our first apt together for 4 years and recently switched apartments. It was just an apt, but it was our first home together. While we are enjoying our new place (and cheaper rent, can I get a “woohoo!”?) it was a bittersweet moving experience. We don’t have kids yet, but hope to in a couple of years. Ideally we’ll have a house and bring our baby home to our and their first house.
Is there a Clara monthly photo in the works? I can’t believe how big she grew from 12-13 months. Where does the time go?…
Yes! We still have to photshop the number on it, but it should be up soon!
xo,
s
We moved when our little guy was 20 months old. Our old house had only a tiny space for him to play. When we first put him down in the new, bigger, empty house, he toddled from room to room saying, “Yes! Yes! Yes!” I don’t think I’ve ever felt so validated in a choice.
I can totally relate to this! We moved from a rental into our own house when our eldest son was 11 months and he loved having so much space… and so did we! Guess it’s different for you guys as you have such fond memories of your first home, but you will always have this amazing blog to show Clara! x
I lived in the same house until I was in 5th grade and I always used to wish that we would have stayed there forever. We had to move because of that silly Emminent Domain rule. They were planning to put a road through where our house was!
You guys are very lucky to be in the house you are in now with Clara. You are probably right in that she won’t have many (if any) memories of the old house, but it will matter to you guys more than it matters to her. She’ll love this house just like it was her first and feel the way about it that you guys did about your first one together.
bittersweet.
i remember all the places we lived from when i was about 4 years old on. i have a lot of good memories from each place, like playing in the wood paneled living room of one of our earlier apartments while my mom watched Y&R and The Price is Right. Or the cool 2nd floor open landing and bathroom heater that we had at a townhouse we lived in. moving into our first house was definitely the biggest chunk of memories since that’s where we lived from 4th grade on.
my parents have since moved, but i still drive by our old house from time to time when i go back home to visit. my husband’s mom still lives in the same house where she brought him home from the hospital, so he can’t relate at all.
is it strange that a lot of these memories are tied into architectural features of each place? i guess i’ve been into home design longer than i thought.
I think I might have teared up on this one. We moved around A LOT when I was younger and never had a home that really felt like mine. Now that I am grown it is so nice to have my own place that I can stay in forever and make it mine.
Aww I love that video. I lived in one house till I was nine months old and then the second one until I left home. Although I have zero memories of the first house – it still feels sort of mine. You know? We have lots of pictures and we drive near it a lot and we talk about it.
Clara was (is) so cute. I love that pic of her in the empty room.
That’s a sweet milestone.
My parents still live in the house I grew up in (they bought it when my mom was pregnant with my sister, and they’ve been there almost 30 years). They did rent a house for a few years that they still talk about, when my husband and I were house-hunting my mom actaully drove us past their old rental house, and the house she grew up in (which turned out to be for sale, I kind of wish we’d bought it).
This did make me a wee bit sad. How precious, a video to remember her first home. BABY IN THE MIRROR, Sherry makes me laugh out loud. ;-)
P.S. My son and daughter were both bald until after they were two years old. THEN they had massive hair. They both have beautiful thick hair. Good things come to those who wait. LOL
Clara is just so cute!!!!
What a sweet video for Clara to remember her first house by! You guys are awesome parents!
My husband and I are currently living in the home that I lived in as a child. The home has always been in the family but after our wedding we decided to move back to North Texas. The house is very old (1950ish) and needs tons of repairs we are def. enjoying the adventure. I have so many memories in that house as a child, I am so thankful that I get to share those memories with my husband and our future kids along with making tons more. : )
I think in these sort of weird milestones ALL THE TIME! When our house was being built, we lived with my in-laws for 10 months. I couldn’t wait to get past the 10 months in our house because I felt like then our cats would think of it as “home” more than grandma’s was. It’s going to take a few more years before we pass up how much time we spent in our condo :) (though our new house is definitely more of a home now!)
What a great idea for a video! The sunroom is beautiful too. I think I’d eat breakfast there everyday.
I wish I had a video of my old house. We moved when I was 6 months old across Canada and I lived in that house until university. I bet I’d get a kick out of all the 80s features now… Red shag carpet, anyone?
I lived in the same house from the time I was born until I moved out 18 years later. My parents actually only sold it about 3 months ago, which was very emotional for everyone in my family. I have 5 siblings and we all actually came back to say goodbye to our home. I’m so glad that my daughter was able to spend time there and get to know it at grandma and grandpas house too.
My family moved when I was 6 years old. I remember the house pretty well, but some of the details are apparently off. I always remember my bedroom as an ugly shade of olive green and burnt orange, but my mother assures me that it was in fact honeydew green and a pastel orange. I thought she was remembering it wrong, but then she pointed me to this old dresser that came from my old room and matched it exactly. It was honeydew green. My mind boggled. I can’t picture it as honeydew green. The whole house is olive green in my mind, but my mother tells me none of it was.
I’m not sure what to make of that. Did my developing eyes actually see it as olive green back then when it was a much more pleasant color? I’ll never know for sure.
Glad to hear y’all are sentimental like me…I cry (only a little) when I get a new car! We are in the process of buying, and I know I will be sad to leave our current home, for similar reasons as you. Helping my Mom clean up my childhood home to sell was also sad. I get it guys, but I know you are looking forward to making tons of memories in this new house. Thanks for sharing!
Kara, I totally understand about the new car sort-of-sadness! I too cried (only a little) when I drove off the lot in my awesome new car and “abandoned” my old one (that I never even liked!). My husband definitely thought I was slightly crazy…in a cute way…I hope. :o)
Our youngest son actually locked himself in our old van at the car lot when we bought a new van. I can’t imagine what he’d do if we moved from the only house he’s ever lived in!
I have no memory of the first two places I lived. But the third had concrete back steps going down to the back yard. My brother (1 at the time, 4 more to go) and I would pretend it was a stagecoach and we were the driver and passenger. That and the secret playground, which I actually found again with my own son a couple of years ago.
I lived in two houses before my parents moved to the one they live in now – one was a condo for the first few months of my life and then to another house until just before I started school. I don’t remember much about either – the second one, I remember the neighbors, my 2nd birthday party in the backyard, and the HUGE Christmas tree we used to have because of the high ceilings.
we moved almost every year until I was about 8 years old and then about every 2-3 years until I was in highschool. when I try to remember each house they all kinda blur together into a very pleasant montage of family game nights, birthdays, and holidays. It’s weird to not always be able to say “oh yeah, that’s what the living room looked like in such and such house” but overall it’s not a bad thing. Plus, each of those moves was an adventure!
I lived in 11 different houses growing up. I remember most except for the very early ones. My husband and I built and plan to stay here a long time….kind of weird not moving every 2 years!
The only time we moved was when I was 8 years old. Family friends actually bought our house so I still sort of grew up there too! It was a good way to preserve some memories there. My parents are still in that second house, and I get so heartsick when they talk about moving into a smaller home. Funny how houses carry so much attachment to our hearts!
Throughout my childhood we moved a LOT. I lived in 12 different homes/condos/apartments from NY to NC before the age of 18–some for only a few months, some for many years (no, not an army brat). In college til now I’ve moved by myself 3 times in 6 years (creature of habit?). And I remember all of them thanks to the lots of pictures my mama took. So fear not! I think your little birdie will stake her claim to your first love nest.
Being a child of constant change I think I would like my kids to have John’s experience of planting roots and sticking around long enough to watch the whole garden grow, bloom, and even bear fruit (did I lose you with my silly metaphor?) I think you get the picture.
PS You’ve inspired me to do a little DIYing in my new casa.
Change is good :)
I was lucky enough to get to revisit my childhood home a few years ago before it was sadly torn down. It was just as cool as I remembered – awesome view overlooking the town, 2 stair cases, double decker sun porches, and the wall paper that my mom had put up in my room was still there (I torn down a swatch of it to keep forever, of course!). So many memories. That new house that was built there just doesn’t compare.
I love your video! My little man is almost 3 and I love watching videos of him as a baby because you forget their favorite games and toys and I love listening to his baby noises :). I bet she will love the video when she is older!
We moved in Feb. when our baby was just 6 weeks old. It is weird to think she won’t have any memories (or even many pictures) of the house we brought her home to!
Loved watching that video again. I lived in the same house my whole life (until college) but have some memories of it before it was totally remodeled. I’m never sure if I actually remember it that way or if it’s just from photos and videos my parents took though….
awe, we are a bald-baby family and I love it. Our youngest is two now and the bald-baby stage has passed :( Congrats on your milestone. Bitter-sweet life moments.
Speaking of moving…we are moving in 2 weeks!! Any tips?
Second, how do you keep Clara’s head so round? We have a 3 month old and his head is geting flatter and flatter!!!
For moving tips, see the tab that says “topics” up by the search bar? We have a category in there with moving info in it so click that to see all of our moving tips. As for Clara’s head, we held her and played with her a lot (to keep her from always laying in a crib/swing) and did tummy time with her. But mostly I think it’s genetics (John had a huge round head as a baby, and she got that from her dad).
xo,
s
Sandy, I think some kids are just going to get flatter heads. After my daughter, I tried like the dickens to make sure my baby boy’s head didn’t get flat. He was held for so long and at almost 9 months, it is finally starting to round back out. But not fast enough for me. It’ll all round out in the end. :)
It’s true! Eventually they’ll all have those round toddler noggins! Hehe.
xo,
s
My husband moved into the house he grew up in around the age of one (his parents still live there), while my dad was in the Air Force, so I lived in no fewer than 11 homes before leaving for college, and since then I’ve lived in another four, noot countinng dorm rooms! Most amazing to me is that our son was born back when you guys moved and now he’s almost Clara’s age when you moved! Time sure flies when you’ve beenn on this planet for such a short time!