Home Sweet Home

Moving ain’t easy. That’s what I learned last month when we moved into our very first home. After me and Vins got married, we first stayed with my mom since it was just her and my sister at home. We had my grandmother’s old room and bathroom renovated (it was originally 2 rooms that we merged into 1, so it was a pretty big space).

part of our newly renovated room

It was convenient since we lived near where Vins works and I could still hitch with my mom in the morning when she brought my sister to school (sad to say, I don’t drive & I don’t know how to commute ;p). Plus, everything was free! Well not really, we gave our share for gas, cable and electricity, but everything else was on the house (literally)! After we had our first baby Miley, it was even more convenient since my mom would just help in taking care of the baby while Vins and I were at work. Then, we got pregnant again. Suddenly, our big space didn’t seem so big anymore.  Already, one side of the room was devoted to plastic containers containing Miley’s clothes. Our desk had become the milk and sterilizer station. There were toys everywhere.

clutter! our room dominated by Miley's things

Of course, my mom and I would have our usual arguments – on raising kids to being a wife. Whenever she would go into our room and tell me to fix the bed or to clean my closet, I’d fume and feel like I was in high school all over again! I’m as stubborn as they can get so whenever me and my mom would get into another fight, I’d whine to Vins – WE NEED OUR OWN PLACE!

I mean, we were financially ready. Living with our parents had allowed us to save big time. Also, kids grow up pretty fast. You couldn't expect all of us to stay in that room forever. So one afternoon, we looked at houses with a broker who showed us several within our price range.

house #1 - ok but had very small rooms

house #2 - looked nice from the outside but a little small inside

house #3 - still just ok...

house #4 - had the most potential from the inside

Like I said, they were all… OK. Nothing that really excited me since all of them looked like they needed serious renovating or redecorating (in my standards at least). We then asked if there were any houses available in Vins’ village (which was really the location we wanted since Vins grew up there and the community was really nice). She said there was one newly renovated house for sale… but it was way above our prince range. Well, we thought, what the hell, let’s just have a look then. Nothing to lose. We walked in the door… and we were home.

this is it!

I knew it in my gut, this was THE house! We figured, we could buy one of those so-so houses (and be miserable), eventually spend a fortune to have it fixed… or just buy the nice house where all you’d have to do was move in. Hmmm…

We met with the sellers right that afternoon, did some negotiating, and the house was ours after a couple of weeks! Of course, I gave birth the very next day after we signed the papers (it was really meant to be!) so we couldn’t move in right away.

With 2 babies, living at home seemed quite nice again. I mean, it was so comfortable, there was breakfast when you woke up, you didn’t have to think of grocery or laundry, there was always someone there to help you take care of the babies. We knew that when we finally moved, that would be the start of us being real grown-ups. No more depending on anyone but ourselves. Our own rules. So almost 7 months after we bought the house, we finally moved in last 11.11.11!

moving day!

all our junk (which I cleaned up while Vins was playing PS3!)

We only have one maid - Miley’s yaya - as of now (more on that later), I’ve been eating bacon and spam for a week,  I paid our first set of bills… but I wouldn’t have it any other way!

first dinner with Vins at home

P.S. Now I can understand why my mom keeps bugging me about cleaning up after myself. Now that I have my own house, I can’t stand clutter! Haha!