Our Last Night in Apartment 28-12

For the past two years, we’ve lived on the 28th floor in a 90 square meter apartment. Tomorrow, we will transition to a friend’s place while our new apartment receives some much needed attention… the concrete walls are finally straight, but the kitchen is not installed.

I find myself feeling very bittersweet about this transition.

Squeezing 6 people into a two bedroom apartment has been hard at times, but it has also given us plenty of opportunities to be unselfish with our space and our things.

This will be the last time that Schäfer shares a room with his sisters. In the new apartment, he will have his own space.

I’ll miss the chatter.

I’ll miss their natural togetherness.

This morning, over breakfast, I told the kids that I was sad that they would no longer be together. Schäfer asked if they could have slumber parties on the weekends. His sentiment warmed by heart.

Top 5 Things I’ll Miss

1. The lighting. Our living room and dining room have floor to ceiling windows – as do the bedrooms. We never turned on a light here. Our days were flooded with natural light. So much light that my books faded and we had to get an additional set of blackout curtains for the kids bedroom.

Hubs: We live on the 28th floor with a pretty amazing view of the lake and mountains. I’ll miss incredible sunrise devotionals from my couch and eating dinner to sunsets framing the mountain range.

2. Across the street is a small track that is open to the public if you wear sneakers. Years ago while running down a public street, I was bitten by a dog. I have loved having a safe place to run. This spring, I ran off 4 sizes. Bye Bye baby weight.

3. Once we get to the first floor, we are only a 1 minute walk from the second largest open market in our city. So at 4:30pm, I could literally go downstairs and figure out a plan for supper.

4. In this kitchen, we had our first ever bar space where the kids could sit on stools and watch me cook. I loved having them close enough to lick the spoon, but not right next to me – though sometimes that ended up happening too.

Hubs: The new apartment has a bar too. 🙂

5. Of course, I’ll miss having the kids all in one bedroom. There’s just an innocence and sweetness to childhood.

Top 5 Reasons I’m Glad We’re Moving

1. Our current apartment is laid out almost like a small condo with the bedrooms upstairs. Unfortunately, when the apartment was designed they did not cut out a large enough area for the stairs so they are quite steep. (Hubs: Like Navy ship steep.) Most children fall down them when they visit.

2. There’s isn’t much space for the kids to have a quiet place to play. If Selah is in the kids bedroom with her Little People spread out, then Schäfer has to take his Lego to our bedroom. That leaves Sianna downstairs with Senna who mostly takes things apart.

3. We do spend quite a bit of time waiting on the elevator. Our building has three elevators, but it can get really crowded – especially when school is in session because all the kids come home for lunch. The new apartment is on the first floor. No elevator.

4. Our new apartment has some grass and a space for the kids to run. At present, when we exit our building we are in an urban downtown center. There is no place for the kids to ride bikes or run.

5. We currently live next to a hospital: the ambulance sirens and congested traffic honking is non-stop.

I’m off to pack another box.