Hey, I’m Carna. I'm 28 and I live in Dorset. I am a third owner of Muddy Boots nursery school, and 7 months ago was lucky enough to become Mummy to my wonderful daughter Aoife. Also in my life is my amazing fiancé, Ollie and crazy puppy, Harley. My blog is all things us, taking one thing at a time!
22 months ago Ollie and I brought our first home together. It was perfect for us, a two bedroom, mid-terrace house with a reasonably size garden. We were desperate to make it our own, so we spent three solid months doing it up just how we wanted it. We then enjoyed a great summer with our friends and family going out, having bbq’s all the things you do as a couple with no responsibilities. Then in the space of 9 months we dramatically outgrew our home as our family doubled in size to four! Along came a puppy and a baby.
We decided we would sell our house and look for something bigger. However, our lovely little house sold a lot quicker than we expected and we hadn't found the perfect house we wanted to make our family home. So... we moved in with my mum and step dad. Aoife was just over four months old when we moved and she just went with it! She was totally amazing. Harley took a few days to adjust as things were different, but after the settling in period Harley loved it, she had a huge garden to run about in and there were some beautiful walks where my mum lives.
It was so lovely living with my mum and step dad, but we really did need our own space and I felt so bad all of us being there invading their space. We eventually found the house we wanted, and as the sale went through it turned out our completion date was inevitably going to happen while we were away in Canada!! And the stress began...we wanted to be there to pick up our keys and start sorting all our belongings out of storage, but that unfortunately didn't happen.
My mum and Ollie’s mum picked up the keys while we were away and they were kept safe for our return. We got back on a Saturday lunchtime after a night flight back from Canada (so as you can guess, we had no sleep) Ollie and I were so excited to go and see the house we pretty much went straight there. We'd had some of the rooms painted while we were away so we could get the carpets fitted when we got back.
We didn't move in straight away as we had to do a few bits to the house and ensure that the garden was dog proof! We moved in five days after getting back from our holiday. I was so worried about how Harley would be, since she had been away from us for 10 days and doesn't really cope well with change, but she surprised us so much and just settled right in. She sleeps downstairs and was happy and chilled when we said goodnight. Hurdle one done!!
The next hurdle was Aoife. This was going to be the second move during her tiny life! She was in her own room and she must have loved it, since she had such a good night sleep...this could be mixed with jet lag but she was a dream! However, do not be fooled, like any six month old baby she did wake up a few times in the night, but she did well considering she had just come back from another country and went into her own room.
We're now settled in our new home; there is still a lot to do as we like to buy a property with some sort of development to make it our own, but it feels like home.
Here are my recommendations for moving with a puppy and a baby under 1
1) Start packing early. There is nothing worse than rushing packing. That's the mistake we made and it was a total nightmare, the stress wasn't worth it. We ended up just throwing stuff into bags and we are still trying to find things now!
2) Ask for help where you can. People who love you will help you if you need it, even if it is just taking the dog for a walk, watching the baby or helping move some boxes. It all helps!
See you next time!
