Oh, Hi, 2018.

table | rug | coasters | throw | planter | sconce

Hi, hello! How were your holidays?

We’re feeling settled and giddy and excited for the big change that’s about to come. Finally. As someone who loves a plan, we’re feeling at peace with where we’re at – with our lists and our home and the pups – and so now, we wait. Because baby is due so close to the new year, it took the turning of the calendar page to say, Okay, we’re so close. We’re ready! And with that same turning of the page, we know there are resolutions and new lists and new promises, but every year we make this promise to each other: Be more kind. When one of us is getting upset (and my feisty Italian side knows no bounds!), we’ll remind the other to say things with love and practice patience. These words are so easy to type but, of course, they’re much harder to put into practice! And that is why we give ourselves that same goal, year after year.

I stumbled upon our New Year post from 2017, and I, quite literally, laughed out loud. Not because I wish we could take any of those words back (and especially not that last paragraph – such a great reminder!), but because we thought 2017 would be a ‘light’ year, whatever that means. I shared the post with Scott, and we both agreed that, maybe, it was our way of setting our expectations low. It was our way of not getting overly hopeful that 2017 might be the year our family would grow. We had no idea that in a handful of months, we’d renovate the garden apartment, fall in love with a small town in Michigan and soon after, fall just as googly-eyed with a tiny vinyl clad home (never judge a book by its cover). We couldn’t have known of these surprise projects that would come our way, all of which we’re humbled to have been a part of.

This year, we’re setting our expectations high. There are a lot of projects we’re looking to accomplish at Tree House, and we’re doing all we can to take a step back and come up with an organized plan. But we also want to squeeze in every drop of downtime we can muster, leash up the dogs and push the stroller for a whole afternoon if we’d like! We’re ready to embrace the unexpected, but also those lows, knowing that they’ll only make us stronger, more whole.

2018, you’re going to ebb and flow, and we’re embracing you with open arms and an excitement that can’t be described. We feel so good – scratch that, so great! – about you.