I live in a neighborhood where I literally took the locks off of the doors and left for the store to change them without worrying about the house while I was gone(I still latched the storm door, but whatever). Then I changed all of the locks myself. It made me feel like a total grown up.

A portrait of my daughter every day in 2014

Leaving this place is so bittersweet. We came here five years ago with the plans of some day buying it. We even considered it until a few months ago. We brought our girl home to this house. We carved out a little home. We planted a garden and raspberries and watched them grow. We liked our neighbors. Packing and moving has been sort of surreal. Our new house is so amazing it almost feels like we shouldn’t have it. Like we don’t deserve it. It doens’t quite feel like home yet when we pull into the driveway. But it’s gorgeous and I’m really in love with it.

As we packed the last little bits and cleaned she found treasures stuck to the floor in her old bedroom.

I was the last one in our old house. Turning off lights, checking closets, locking doors. Remembering where the couch once was that I first brought my girl home to. It felt strange knowing it sits empty waiting for its new family. I’m sure I will make some excuse to drive by in the coming months to sneak a peak at who’s taken over residence.

A portrait of my daughter every day in 2014

Unpacking and moving errands got the best of me today so today’s photo is a quick iphone snap of a crazy naked babe super happy to see her kitties in her new house.

A portrait of my daughter every day in 2014

Our house is an insane mess. This kid seems to be simultaneously having a hard time and adjusting really well.

A portrait of my daughter every day in 2014

Putting my daughter to sleep in a house that we OWN was a surreal experience tonight. Frightening(holy shit were going to have to take care of this place), awesome(this is all ours!) and totally surreal. She kept sitting up and looking around the room, as if surveying her new surroundings. Moving is HARD. Moving with an almost two year old is intense and not very productive. My legs ache. My brain hurts. And I only did a fraction of what my husband did. But we did it. Thanks to a lot of wonderful people we have a place we can actually call home. And that means so much.

A portrait of my daughter every day in 2014

We’re packing and moving here, and picked up a few new toys to bring out at times when we really need to entertain(or calm) this girl. This one is a puppy with long hair that she can comb. Really it’s obnoxious and ugly, but she likes to use the brush and comb on anything and everything.

A portrait of my daughter every day in 2014

Dear girl, I do not recommend drinking the bubble solution.

A portrait of my daughter every day in 2014

This girls hair is getting bleached by the summer sun.

A portrait of my daughter every day in 2014

Every month we get one of these boxes in the mail with her meds in it. This month she decided to drag it all over the porch and pull the contents out and put them back repeatedly.

A portrait of my daughter every day in 2014

Some days I struggle to find a good photo, others there are so many I can’t choose just one. Today was one of those days.