Monday, January 30, 2012

We'll Always Love Harlem

It's official: we Love Birds packed up over the weekend and left Harlem for roomier pastures; we'll always be Harlem Love Birds though since that's where our family began!

It was bittersweet, but a move that will improve our quality of life dramatically. 

At the end of the move Mr. Love Bird's BFF gave Nia her first baby doll:


Nia's been acclimating well to the new apartment and so far loves finally being able to use her magnetic letters on the fridge:
 



We had a year plus long battle in housing court and in the end it worked out quite favorably for us.

Here's what I love so far about our new digs: 
  • Closer to Mr. Love Bird's office so he'll get home in 20 minutes vs. 1 hour which means more family time
  • A very homey space - instead of an apartment building it's a 5-year old, 3 family home
  • Upgraded from a little over 900 sq ft to approximately 1,100 sq ft
  • 3 bedrooms and 2 full bathrooms instead of 1 1/2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom
  • Walk-in pantry closet and large linen closet
  • Huge master bedroom with en-suite bathroom and his and hers large closets
  • Loads of sunlight
  • Central heating/AC (no more huge radiators/AC units taking up space)
  • Substantially less costs overall which allows us to get Zip Car (used it the day after we moved to run errands and LOVE being close to suburban-type stores I was used to growing up in Ohio)
  •  We've quickly discovered an amazing Italian family-owned restaurant and our go-to brunch spot close-by and will be treating ourselves 1x/month for Saturday brunch the first Saturday of each month and Sunday dinner the last Sunday of each month
  • A wonderful library is in walking distance - looking forward to starting up Nia's weekly storytime soon!
  • Easier for our parents to visit with ample on-street parking (a little over 30 minutes for my father-in-law by car and just under 4 hours by car for my parents)
  • Much quieter neighborhood (sometimes our Harlem block would be a little too hot especially in the summer time)
So in short, I'm VERY excited about this apartment!

 
P.S. I always promised I wouldn't be the type of mom to give potty details for Nia in my status updates, but I thought it'd be OK to share here that Nia had a big breakthrough potty training today: she came to me so I could put her on the potty for #2 for the first time!