What a weekend, we moved! Okay so actually we moved out of Portland almost three months ago, but at the time had no set destination on where we were going. So yes, I’ve already announced that we were moving, but now we actually have a landing spot.
As a reminder, we decided to leave Portland for a number of reasons, mainly it being so far from family and friends, which during the pandemic felt extra hard and extra far away. We decided we’d move to either the DC suburbs (near my family) or the Boston suburbs (near Matt’s family). We had a solid network of friends in both so we had no idea how we’d make the decision.
Where We Moved & How We Decided
Initially our plan was to spend several weeks in each city and hopefully have a feeling of which felt right to us. Before we even got to that stage, some job opportunities came up for Matt (the original plan was for him to work remotely). A really great opportunity came up in Maryland and that pretty much made the decision for us. I know we would have been happy in either location (or at least that’s what I think), so it was nice to have something be the deciding factor.
So here we are, we’re living in Maryland!
House Hunting In A Pandemic
I won’t go too deep into detail here, but as soon as we knew our destination, we starting house hunting. I think we were looking during one of the worst times: during the new year and in a pandemic where everything is out of sorts. But that’s the timing we had to work with. We were living with my parents while searching, which we were lucky to do. It meant we didn’t have a hard deadline of needing to move. The only hard deadline (which is a big one!) is my pregnancy. My main goal was to be moved into a house well before bringing home a new baby. With only a few months left, this felt lofty.
We looked at houses for a couple of weeks, basically looking at anything on the market in our price range. This gave us a good idea of what we liked and what we didn’t, so when we saw our (now) house, we immediately knew we wanted it and put an offer in the day it hit the market. I’m relieved to say we got the house, had a very fast close, and are now moved in!
Settling In
And now we’re in the long process of unpacking. This is truly the first time we’ve moved into a place where we intend to stay long term and that hasn’t really sunk in yet. Since college I’ve lived in eight different rentals. That is so many! The longest I stayed in any one apartment was three years. I’ve packed and unpacked so many times. It hardly feels real that we’re unpacking for the last time for a long time.
I don’t know if this will be a forever home or a home for many years, who knows! But I’m so excited to be putting down some roots after many moves. I’ve loved being able to live on both coasts as well as abroad and while part of me is sad to see those adventurous go, with a toddler and a baby on the way, our priorities have shifted and staying put seems really nice.
What’s Next
Next up we’ll be unpacking and getting our house ready for a new baby! While there are things I’d like to change about our house long term (dreaming of a full kitchen and master bath reno), I’m content with how it is now. Maybe a few years down the line we’ll get to do that.
I’m planning to do a blog post covering tips for moving while pregnant. If you have any questions about the move or moving while pregnant, drop them below!
