Home is where your heart is

Michael locked in our new home in London this morning before heading back to Chicago. Grace and I said goodbye to him last Wednesday and are SO excited to see him tonight. His flight has been delayed a bit, but who cares as long as he safely arrives home tonight. :)

Alright...back to the house hunting update. Michael had one day to take off work and go around London looking for an apartment for us last Friday. The turn around was literally less than 24 hours. Michael and I were checking out 12 apartments online Thursday night and by the morning 4 of them were already taken! The real estate companies have a difficult time keeping their websites updated. Can you imagine putting your place on the market and within 24 hours having a bidding war between several potential renters? Must be nice--anyone want to invest in real estate in London?

Michael had a long discouraging day until his last stop. It fit my 2 little requirements- first floor or a lift because of the stroller and preferably walking distance from the Blossoms! After meeting with the owner who was envisioning a business couple and not a family, he and Michael were able to come to an agreement this morning.  Below are the pictures Michael took on his phone of our new home for the next 7 months! That's right, folks, Michael 100% picked out our place on his own and all I have are these pictures until I get to see it in person next week. I trust Michael's decision- I've always liked his taste and he is definitely the pickier one out of the two of us. South Kensington...here we come...

The movers packed up our things Monday, which will hopefully be waiting for us in their storage unit in London until we are able to move in. Our new place is fully furnished so I basically packed our clothes and baby stuff. When I say I packed, what I really meant was decided what goes. The moving company literally did everything! It was amazing. I felt like such a brat- just sitting there while 3 men packed up and moved our stuff out. If I had packed anything prior they would have basically had to repack it for liability reasons. They have to sign off saying they know what is in every package. 3 hours later...it was the best moving experience of my life!

Our first big purchase will be a crib, otherwise it's a pack-n-play for Miss Grace. We didn't think it made sense to ship ours since it would take 6-8 weeks via boat. We're not sure when move in day is going to be so we'll be hanging out in a hotel in the meantime. I figure hotel living (as small as it is in Europe) should be fine for a while since we need somewhere to literally only sleep. I plan on being out and about and exploring as much as possible, especially in the beginning.  That or hanging out at the Blossoms! ;)