You will probably hear until you are blue in the face about how your father and I lived in Chicago the two and a half years before you were born. As if having lived downtown is proof that your father and I actually are cool, respectable people. In a one bedroom condo on Briar Street, we were in an amazing location in the heart of boys town, East Lakeview, a block from the lake and walking distance to just about everything. We loved it so much that we thought we would raise you for a year or two there... who were we kidding?
During the fall of the pregnancy house prices plummeted, mortgage rates fell, and somehow the value of our condo held its own. We decided to take advantage of the housing situation and make the unmentionable move to the suburbs where you could be close to your grandparents and we all would have a bit of breathing room. With your dad working from home, we just didn't see how that could be accomplished with a baby and mom underfoot.
A few months into the pregnancy, post morning sickness, we put the condo up for sale and started looking for homes in Lisle and Naperville, Illinois. The condo "sold" in about two weeks to the first person that scheduled to come through it (I told you it was a great place). Unfortunately, due to the the ongoing mortgage crisis, it took us three months to actually close on the sale of the place. With one hiccup after another, we officially sold the condo and purchased a new old house in Naperville on March 6, 2009.
It is important to note that our closing was delayed a week, thanks to Wells Fargo bank (who hopefully won't be around by the time you care to read this) who decided the day before we were to close to rescind our buyer's loan. Amazingly, she was able to put things back together a week later, but the damage had been done. The contractor we had scheduled to put in new hardwoods had to reschedule us for six weeks later, severely delaying our move in date.
I was crushed initially, the dream of taking you home from the hospital to your nursery was gone. On the flip side, we had moved so that you could be closer to your grandparents and so we moved in with them for the time being, when I was around 8 months pregnant with you. The move was somewhat of a blessing as mom (your grandma) took care of us and cooked us all these wonderful healthy meals for you. I tried to take it easy those next two months while helping out as much as possible with getting the new house ready. Your dad was working exhaustively while renovating the bathroom, getting the floors ready for the hardwoods, and painting all the walls while still working more than full time on his paying job.
I worked up to your delivery date and then until your actual birth date. I was fortunate enough to have been on a project those last 5 weeks at work where I was able to work from home. It was definitely a god send as you were getting bigger and bigger by the day and much more difficult to carry around. Besides, the train conductor was getting awfully nervous each day he saw me climb on the train to downtown.
On March 7, 2009, the home renovations began. Taring up carpets, baseboards, the entire master bath and priming and painting all the rooms in the house. The house renovations (up to your birth date) are documented here. I wouldn't say we were in over our heads, but there was A LOT of work to be done. Your grandparents pitched in, as did your uncle Walter, who also happened to be living with your grandparents at the time. It was a true family effort to get the house ready for Tucker! As I mentioned, with the closing delay, Tom (Farr), the hard wood guy, was delayed in starting. He was nice enough to give up a few of his weekends to get started early, but the grunt of the work didn't start until April 13th. Yes, the day before your due date.
The renovations would consume us up until I went into labor. Despite our efforts, we would not be moving in until much passed your birth date. Waiting as long as possible to allow fumes to dissipate.
No comments:
Post a Comment