John and I have realized that our Florida road trip has somehow given us a little house perspective. As much as we’ve been loving the new house (nearly two months after our move I still find myself going up the stairs and whispering “duuuuude, we have a second floor”) and as much as we’ve been feeling more settled with every wall that we de-wallpaper and paint, leaving our second house was definitely bittersweet.
It’s kind of hard to explain, but somehow while traveling it’s more obvious to us that we still remember every nook and cranny of that place, and our new house still feels sort of unfamiliar and mysterious. We don’t quite remember every light switch location or which way each door swings yet. So on one hand our old house is sort of glorified in our mind as “the one we know so well” yet we have that early dating excitement for the new house. We’re smitten, even though there’s tons of work to do and we’re just getting to know each other.
I find myself sitting on the beach wondering what’s going on at our new house. Is it raining there? Are there deer playing poker in the sunroom? And then my thoughts jump to how a new family lives in our old house now, which also feels kind of strange yet sweet. I’m glad it’s not lonely. (I know that makes me sound crazy, but I’m ok with it)
That’s why I’m so glad that one of the last things that we did before we started packing up was to make a video for Clara to remember the house by – just like we did when we left our first house. And this time instead of being a little lump in our arms like she was for the first one, she could actually chat and run around and do three year old things. She loved the idea of making a video of the house so she could re-watch it whenever she wanted, but she started out a little shy… so it was especially cute to see her get really into it as we went (she started telling us what rooms to go to, what to look at in each space, and saying funny things like “we’re in New Jersey” when I asked her what room we were in).
Since I know not everyone can watch videos, here’s a bit of what’s covered: John and Clara play “airplane” in the office, there’s some dolly-doctoring in the sunroom, I get bossed around in the hallway (“we have to show this one!”), I get bossed around in Clara’s nursery (apparently it was the baby’s nap time), a bit of frog-dress-up goes on, there’s some jumping on the guest bed, and some Clara-throwing in our bed. Oh yeah, and we stand in the bathtub together. Totally normal stuff. There’s also some Gangnam Style dancing at one point. And it’s possibly the only video in the history of videos to features the sentence “that’s not your cousin, it’s a llama.”
So much happened in our second house, and it was an especially huge part of Clara’s life since she was just seven months old when we moved in.
It’s where she learned to crawl, walk, and talk. And it’s where she has celebrated all three of her birthdays as well as three Christmases…
We’re so glad to have a bunch of photos (along with a fair amount of video documentation) thanks to this little house diary of ours. My absolute favorite memory of that entire place was this odd little nook that we had in our living room where Clara loved to hide:
Thankfully, she has since declared that her new closet is her “favoritest hiding spot in the big wide world.”
Love that bean. Love that house. Love you guys for sharing in the sappy stuff. Now somebody get me a tissue so I don’t ugly-cry my sunscreen off.
*We would have posted this sooner, but John’s computer had a freak out while editing it a few weeks after we moved, and nearly wiped out all of our photos/videos. So here’s the obligatory “remember to back up your computer so you don’t find yourself screaming into a pillow for twenty hours!” warning (which is the only thing that saved this and countless other photos/vids from disappearing into the computer crash abyss forever). For those wondering, we use a combination of amazon.cloud and external hard drives to back up our would-cry-if-we-lost-them photos and videos.
Holly says
Well color me nostalgic. This post really hit “home” for me. Hubby and I just bought and moved into our first house (been renting for seven years since we were married) and we too have stairs for the first time (oi, my calves are a burnin’). Our baby boy bean is seven months old now and will never know his very first home. Our daughter, however, has never known anything different. She was brought home, learned to crawl, walk, and dance in our first house. Now our son (and any future little ones???) will learn to do the same in this looks-bigger-from-the-front-than-it-is house we’ll be courting indefinitely. Dang. Where’s a tissue?
Mia says
How cute!! I’m sure you have lots of videos from around the house (which I love watching of my childhood home) but it’s special to do the tour with Clara as well!
Side note… what kind of radio is that? Is it a bluetooth/wifi? It looks as if you set up your phone next to it.
YoungHouseLove says
It’s the Tivoli Model One. We got it on sale through Joss & Main and I just had my iPhone connected via a cord.
http://www.tivoliaudio.com/model-one-reg-radio-in-classic-walnut-beige.html
-John
Mindy says
Soooo, the first thing I thought of when I saw the picture of John with Baby on his chest was, how can this NOT make them want to run to the new bedroom and work on number two?! Even I have baby fever lookin’ at it and we have three!
jessica worley says
Aren’t children so amazing that they can turn a small little nook, something we adults would probably look upon as an eyesore or a mistake, into a magical little place in the world and our memories? Kudos to you for recognizing it. Thanks for a smile today. :)
Rachel says
Love the light above your bed, it looks so cool! Did you do a post on it or did you purchase it from somewhere?
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks! It’s the Maskros light from Ikea.
-John
Briel K. says
What a great home video! This will be so much fun for you guys to look at in the years to come!
Amanda says
My parents always had us do a video tour of our houses when we would move. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten to watch any of them though. I’ll have to find the cassettes! It’s definitely a cool thing to have, though.
Ashley says
Such a sweet way to remember her childhood homes…I wish we would have done that with our 1st home! We have a 3 year old too, and a 1 year old…we just moved into our 2nd home, and I swear it’s your house’s long lost twin…same blue trim and doors, same blue spindles on the staircase, even our brick fireplaces are lookalikes! I look forward to following your journey as we make our way through renovations, too :)
Christa says
I’m going to come right out and say it: I feel like a stalker. I discovered your blog yesterday and have spent every ‘free moment’ reading your posts, watching your videos, and learning about DIY in so many amazing and wonderful ways. I absolutely love the attention to detail you both give in your posts, the drawings / diagrams, the lists (love love love), and of course the projects. I especially enjoy the little tidbits about your past (ew on bedbugs, awesome on the honeymoon to Alaska!). Keep up the amazing work! I’m completely inspired and motivated! Thank you.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks so much Christa!
xo
s
Elizabeth Crawley says
” I’m glad it’s not lonely”. Doesn’t sound crazy at all! Our house is 107 years old this year. I always tell people that we are the “keepers” of the house instead of the owners. I honestly believe that our home is a living, breathing entity as “crazy” as that sounds! She’s older than us, so I don’t feel its right to “own” her, lol! Its funny that you posted this because today at work I was thinking we should have a party for our house’s 110th birthday! Hope yall have had a wonderful Va-Ca!!
Ally says
Aw this post was so sweet! I’m still attached to the house I grew up in. I lived in it from ages 3-17, and even though I lived in my family’s next house for 6 years after that and have now lived in my own place for 4 years, whenever I have dreams that take place “at home” they are ALWAYS in my childhood house. I have literally never had a dream where I’m in my family’s second house or in my current one. How weird is that?!
Ally says
P.S. That means your current house could be “the house” for Clara. If you stay there for a long time it’ll be the one that all her memories are from, and maybe she’ll still be dreaming about it exclusively when she’s 27! Ha!
MG says
I’m sensing some other big changes.
Michelle @ Life's Like That says
What a precious thing to do! Such a great memory for Clara. She will be forever grateful to you for capturing moments like this:)
Heather MacFeather says
What a neat idea the video is. I did panoramic shots of one apartment I lived in and enjoy looking at the collection from time to time (when I stumble across the DVD I burned the pics to…my low budget/low tech backup system).
What struck me most was your comment about the old house being lonely. That is exactly how I felt when I moved out of my condo. In my case though, the buyer fell through so her bank owned it after I moved out…so it empty and must have been really lonely. I guess when you put so much heart and soul (and sweat and maybe some tears) into a place you begin to think of it as having a heart and soul of its own.
Enjoy the rest of of your vacation and thanks for sharing.
Heather
LesLeigh J. says
Well, Clara is freaking ADORABLE! If I didn’t already want to have kids before this video, now I definitely want have kids haha…
I can’t believe you guys don’t live there anymore, it really is bittersweet! But I can’t wait to see what you do with the new place =)
-LesLeigh J.
Julia @ Cuckoo4Design says
This is so stinkin cute and bittersweet! What an awesome way to remember!
Michelle says
You guys are so sweet and wonderful for letting us share in these things with you. Makes me a little laughy/teary as I’m watching! Dancing in the kitchen is a tradition in my house too! It just seems natural…
Taylor says
This is so sweet! I love that you find the time to capture so many memories for Clara. I’m sure you’ll make many more special memories in your new house!
Sharnese Coney says
Clara is so adorable! She has the best parents also.
leanne says
love this post! i am just now getting back into reading your blog daily. The new house and the move was just too stressful for me. Now that you’ve had time to settle in and make some progress, i think i can handle it ;)
Carmen says
What a sweet idea! Being military, we move every three to four years. I wish I would have thought of doing something like that for our last two houses!! We have one more year or so left here, so there is still time before our next move. I’m totally going to do this!! Hope you are enjoying Destin, we were there in June and spontaneously decided to learn how to fish for some feisty blue crab with our three boys. We loved it!! Destin is the Best. Place. Ever. :o)
Carmen
Katrina says
I love your blog and all the wonderful photography that you post, but this video captured and shared how you actually lived in and breathed life into your second HOME. I loved seeing how you interacted with Clara in each room, especially John throwing her onto your bed. Sometimes I feel like photos on blogs are so staged and that daily life is (intentionally or unintentionally) filtered out. Your relationship with Clara was the focus of the video and your home showed better than ever. What a wonderful keepsake to have – Thank you for sharing it.
Andrea says
This is perfect as we are about to move out of our house in a few weeks. Since we’ve been in our little (literally) space we’ve had 2 kids and adopted a great dane. So much fun and memories – I’ll surely be documenting it in video.
And as someone who has lost all video of my eldest child’s first years – man, I feel ya – glad your vids and pics were not lost!!
Renee says
LOVE this idea. **made me little teary for you**
we don’t plan to move anytime soon but i think i’ll start making a vid every year or so anyway for memories
(actually, everyone should make one for insurance reasons!)
John – what video editing software do you use?
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks! I used I-Movie (comes free on a Mac) for a while and now use Final Cut Pro (since I had to buy it for a book video we were making).
-John
Jen says
What a great idea! I still have faint memories of the house I lived in until age 3, but to have a video to remember it by would be awesome. I love that you let Clara give the tour herself :)
Tirsa says
What a great way to get great memories. When we moved, I went to each room with my son, took a last look and said goodbye. I wish I had thought of taking video instead ofjust a couple pictures (in which I refused to come out because I was too emotional). Two years later and DS still pines for that house even though he loves the new one. He wants both houses! Ha, ha.
Heidi says
I love the way Clara says her name! Too adorable! Hope you guys are having a fun vacay!
Criss says
How could I follow your blog for 2 years and not know there was a doorway between the laundry room and the office?!?
Katelyn says
Aww love this video you made for your little bean. I’m making a mental note to do this for my kidlets in the future!
Julie says
Sherry, not sure if you did it on purpose , but I am pretty sure you are wearing the same shirt you did on video of the first house goodbye? LOL
YoungHouseLove says
No way! That’s so funny. I have like five shirts so I’m not surprised.
xo
s
Jessica Smith says
I think moving is bittersweet as well. On one hand you have a new and improved house but sometimes the memories your leaving behind is hard to get past.
Betsy G. says
Sherry,
sniff, wipe, you are killing me here.
I am supposed to be packing for a little vaca time in NJ. Which I thank you for, you made smile about your love for NJ before the storm. When it hit I knew I wanted to help out, spend some time there. A little give back ?. So while waiting for a phone call, instead of cleaning/packing etc. I popped on to see what you have been doing…MISTAKE. Now I have the tears flowing, no work is done! But thanks for sharing, this is an amazing idea you had to do. Clara will appreciate it so much as she grows and can someday share. Check the “great idea” box on your parenting accomplishment list.
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Betsy!
xo
s
anna says
This was the sweetest. I just watched it and your catchy entrance music immediately caught the attention of two (almost three) year old daughter. She watched the video with me and she was just smitten with Clara. She kept saying ” is dat my best fwiend”? It was the cutest, really….and she was shaking her toshie right along with y’all during tge hangman style.
anna says
Um…..the above comment should read “the gangnam style”. Lol. Wouldn’t want to know what hangman style looks like.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha!
xo
s
Sarah says
Thank you for sharing though you have me on the verge of tears as my husband and I are in the process of selling our first home and purchasing our second. Our first has very similar memories especially when it is the home we found out we were pregnant twice and have brought home two beautiful baby girls.
YoungHouseLove says
Aw Sarah, all the best of luck!
xo
s
Mamaw says
What a wonderful idea! Priceless.