Buying your first home is a huge milestone. It leaves you feeling excited, terrified, confused and overwhelmed…but also super stinkin’ proud.

Let me tell you, these past 7 months as home owners have been one heck of a wild ride. From the mice and the toddler-sized hole they chewed in the wall of the kitchen, to the condensation on the windows when it’s cold out. The doors all make a different noise when they open (annoying when you have a sleeping toddler) and the bathroom fan rattles worse than a hornet stuck in a coke can. There is no shortage of problems around here.

Our home is definitely a fixer upper…a lot more than we anticipated! But luckily I married my own personal Chip Gaines who can fix up or build just about anything, and trusts in my design/renovation ideas!

One day I’ll marvel at how long it took to get wifi or a working dishwasher or how we survived with no heat in 30° weather for 3 days. The electrical work is all crazy, nothing works like it should and one switch is taped off because flipping it blows a fuse. But the big kitchen, hardwood floors and spacious backyard keep me from wanting to run screaming when something else gets added to our “fix-it” list.

I know one day we will move away from this house and while yes there are things I’m ready to be rid of, I know I will cry when remembering all of the incredible memories we have already made here.

You can’t appreciate the good unless you’ve lived through the bad too.

So I don’t want to miss this season. Our first home. The hard lessons. Overwhelming sense of adulthood.

I want to lean in, embrace the experiences. Restore the beauty. Find the blessings and joy hidden within these walls. It’s here. I feel it.