It wasn’t just one thing. And it wasn’t a specific moment that the light bulb went off. We just knew it was a long time coming. We lived in our Upper East Side one-bedroom apartment for four years when we got pregnant with James. I would have loved to stay there forever; I enjoyed the hustle and bustle of the city yet quietness of being away from it all. But Brooklyn was calling our name (or Jimmy’s name… I still wasn’t sold.)

During that spring, we stumbled upon a neighborhood called Park Slope where we rented a 1.5 bedroom, perfect size for a nursery, for a year. It was an adorable spot with so many restaurants and shops where James and I went on many adventures. The year flew by and our lease was coming to an end. In the back of our minds we knew we could always renew our lease but it was fun to look around to see our options for bigger spaces. In this time, we fell in love with a new area of Brooklyn called Cobble Hill, only one mile away from Park Slope.  The two-bedroom apartment we saw was filled with stainless steel appliances, bright light, and a beautiful marble bathroom. Everything was new which we were not used to so we put a deposit down and moved in a few weeks later. Within a few months, we found out we were pregnant again with Henry. As James grew, our space kept getting smaller and smaller and our time in the city was running out. The second bedroom wasn’t big enough for two growing boys and it certainly wasn’t convenient to lug a double stroller up and down the flight of stairs to our apartment. Since Jimmy and I both grew up in the suburbs in Massachusetts we knew we would someday move our family to a suburb as well one day and we were ready.

James, Henry and I would trek from Brooklyn to Fairfield County each week to meet our realtor to view houses. Once I saw a house I liked, we would put it on our list to view the upcoming weekend and we would go back to see it together. But more often than not that house would go off the market by the time the weekend rolled around. I probably viewed over 25 houses within a few weeks. One spring weekend morning we drove to Connecticut to view a new house that just came on the market and fell in LOVE right away.  We actually put an offer on another house that day but it fell through. We decided to take a chance and put an offer on the house we are currently living in today. It’s true what they say – everything happens for a reason! It was beautiful – move-in ready, new appliance, freshly painted and so many charming characteristics.

While there are aspects of the city I miss deeply like the convenience of walking right across the street to pick up milk (or ice cream), heading to the local bagel shop for a toasted poppy with cream cheese, or the cute cafes with delicious coffee, we’ve embraced the suburbs with open arms.  I have fully emerged myself into the lifestyle by hopping in the car and driving to our daily errands.  It’s so much easier to run to Target and load up the trunk with our purchases rather than the bottom of our stroller. We have gone to sing along’s, story times, coffee shops and restaurants. There is even a concert venue nearby where we saw Anderson East perform (he is so amazingly talented!) We have 3 bedrooms, space in our home to store winter clothing, a driveway (no need to check on street sweeping days anymore!) and a backyard to run around in. It was fun to go on stroller rides down the city streets heading to the park or wherever the day took us. But it is also fun to just open the screen door to our yard where the boys can explore. We are only an hour train ride away from the city so we can visit whenever we get the itch. It’s our first home and I can’t wait to continue building memories together as a family!