Well, we are all moved to Ohio! We landed at my parents house a couple weeks ago and have been doing our best to settle into a routine. Lila has adjusted beautifully. She’s still sleeping like a champ, eating us all out of the house and generally been her happy self.

Her momma on the other hand has been struggling! I think I was so concerned about helping Lila adjust that I forgot to also help myself.

The stress from the move hit me pretty hard and now the stress of house hunting and getting settled has made my body cave. I’ve had bad insomnia (sorry Luke!), headaches and generally have felt “off.” I know a move is a huge upheaval and I need to just be patient with myself.

It’s been a godsend to be able to stay at my parent’s house. Having two extra sets of hands around to help with a toddler is more valuable than gold. Right now my mom took Lila with her to buy some flowers so I could get some work done. And earlier she watched her so I could meet a friend for lunch. Thanks mom!

We’re in the thick of things with our house hunt and have seen about 10-15 homes with our realtor so far. Unfortunately, I’m not sure any so far have been right. There are two we really like, but both have their issues. One is at the very high end of our budget and the other is more of a modern house when I like older charm. Basically I’m just unsure about both, so the search continues.

I have always loved looking at real estate, so I thought I would love house hunting, but when you’re the one actually making a decision that large, it’s way more stressful than I anticipated! We really would like to buy our forever home so our kids can grow up in one house, but I am starting to think that is putting too much pressure on the decision.

My friend Julia said when we find the right one it will “feel like home.” I sort of loved that and am just hoping that feeling hits me soon.

Despite the stress we’ve felt with moving, new jobs, getting settled and finding a home, we are already so overjoyed to be living closer to our families and friends. Our days have been filled with family BBQs, popsicles with cousins, walks at the park with grandparents and lunches with dear friends.

Being able to support the people I love in person vs from a distance has been wonderful too. Tomorrow night I am off to Chicago to stay with a friend and help her with her 3 week old while Luke and Lila visits Luke’s parents in Indiana. Then this weekend we are going to my alma mater Ohio University to celebrate my best friend Julia’s 30th birthday.

Fun times with the people we love. It doesn’t get better than that.

I hope you are all having a great start to your summer!

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!

The Batman family is on the move! We are headed back to the Midwest where we plan to lay down some permanent roots near our family and friends. We’ll be living in Toledo, Ohio – my hometown and where my parents, brother & his family, best friend & her family and many more live. It’s also about a 2.5 hour drive from Luke’s folks in Indiana.

I know, I know … it’s a little crazy to be leaving sunny Lake Tahoe and Reno for the city that had the worst winter in the US last year, but to be honest, weather is just a drop in the bucket compared to all the things we want out of a home. The biggest being proximity to our family and friends.

It’s funny how having a child shifts your perspective. When we first left Chicago for Lake Tahoe, we were in search of adventure, outdoorsy lifestyle and of course the skiing. But now that Lila is here, we’d really rather be taking her for a walk at the park than going skiing. And what we’d REALLY like to be doing is taking her for a walk to the park with her grandparents, cousins, aunts & uncles and friends.

These days my dreams for my life are simple and attainable. Having my parents over for a Sunday BBQ. Owning a home with a big yard. Being close to my best friend and her boys. Going to the Blueberry Festival each summer in Indiana. Being able to attend baby showers, 90th birthday parties and engagement parties for the people I love.

And when we thought about it, both Luke and mys families are so great … I mean Lila really hit the grandparent jackpot … that it just didn’t seem right to not have her experience their love in person as much as possible.

So we’re packing up and moving back home at the end of May. I will continue to work from home and have several long term clients who don’t care where I live. Luke has some leads on a few great positions (send him good vibes!). We’ll be living with my parents until we can find a house to buy. Right now we’re house hunting in Perrysburg, Maumee and Moncolva.

When I left my hometown 11 years ago, I honestly never thought I’d be back. Now not only are we coming back, but I couldn’t be more excited to raise my girl (and future kiddos) in the midwest surrounded by the people we love.

Now we just have to get through another cross-country move. Eeep!