Yep – you read that title right. Part eight. As in this is the EIGHTH time we’ve moved since getting married four years ago. I think we may actually be insane!

The big move back to Ohio is coming up this Tuesday. Of course we have nothing packed, but got a sitter all weekend to get everything done. Lila and I will be flying back on Tuesday, while poor Luke drives a Uhaul across the country. I wish we could ride with him, but toddler in a car for 40 hours … no way, no how.

Since I shared with you all that we are moving, things have really fallen into place for us. It’s almost strange how they worked out so nicely. Like the universe was on our side with this one.

First, I’m so proud to share that Luke got an amazing job! He’s going to be Director of Finance for a software start up, which also happens to be where my brother works. A huge bonus to this job is that Luke will be working from home, which has been a dream of his for some time. He was pretty excited about the new Macbook and accessories he got to deck out his home office. In terms of my work, I’ve been lucky that my clients don’t mind where I am working and are sticking with me through this move.

We found a private seller who bought both of our four-wheel cars and already have two cars lined up for us in the midwest. Luke’s friend is a dealer, and found him a new Camry and me a used Ford Flex (photo below). I know some people hate the look for Ford Flex’s, but I sort of love them! Plus there’s three rows of seating for our expanding family. I just cannot bring myself to drive a mini van.

We’ll be living with my parents at first until we can find a house. I am a total real estate junkie – HGTV is my favorite channel –  so it’s been super fun to scout out our first home. My dream home would be an older house that either has been renovated, or is priced so we can renovate. I’d like it to be walking distance to shops, a park or school for Lila. Here are a few I have my eye on.

Toledo is such a great real estate market. You can get a lot for your budget, which is exciting. We are working with an awesome realtor – Christine Stowell – who lives in an older home herself and her husband has a home renovation business in Toledo, so she totally gets what we’re looking for.

This week we’ve been making the rounds saying goodbye to our favorite people and places here in Reno. The wonderful moms I met through Gymboree met me for wine and also gave me this super cute memory book of the fun times we had together with our kiddos. They are too sweet.

We’ve been talking about our move a lot with Lila, hoping to prepare her as best we can for the upheaval her world is about to experience. I say “Lila, soon we will be moving to Ohio and we won’t be living in this house any more. We’ll be living with Gee and Mimi.” She says “Yeah!” and then other times says “No!” So we’ll see how she handles it.

I think the hardest part for her will be missing her babysitter TeeCee (Tracie). She’s gotten really close to Tracie and her family and loves them so. I’m just going to do my best to be there for her and let her know it’s okay to be sad and miss them.

There is so much to get done between now and Tuesday, which has me up at night, but I just keep telling myself that the next month is going to be stressful, but after that it will all be worth it. I’ll keep you all updated on how it goes!