Today found me caring for our little ones in the midst of a stomach bug. It came out of nowhere...I didn't even feel sick until I started eating breakfast and then it hit me. Unfortunately, this was also a really busy day for Jeremy and tonight is his first "on call" night at the hospital. Being on call actually means being at the hospital from 4 pm through the next morning, so it's really just being at work...I don't really know why they call it "on call". Anyway, I had a fever this afternoon, the chills on and off, and just felt pretty miserable. The kids did okay and I somehow got them fed and to bed. I am feeling a bit better, so that's good.
Let's see...writing about the move. Two-and-a-half weeks ago the moving truck was packed and waiting in our driveway and we were sleeping on our mattress on the floor in our empty bedroom.
Loading the truck on a rainy afternoon.
Yes, we will definitely be bringing these two with us!
Our dining room in a state of disaster.
Our last dinner in our house. Dear friends brought over dinner and we had a picnic on the dining room floor in our (mostly) empty house.
Love checking out the "Diesel Truck" (her name for it).
My mom came for those last couple of days to help us with the kids, the packing, and the cleaning, and she was so helpful with it all...even making us delicious meals out of the random odds and ends left in our fridge with only one pan, some olive oil, and salt and pepper (everything else was packed!). We also had an impressive crew of seminary men help load the moving truck, as well as numerous other friends who helped with the kids, cleaning the house, food, etc...
After a week of packing, cleaning, and saying goodbyes, we finally loaded the last few things into the moving truck and the van and then locked the door for the last time and drove away. I expected more sentimental feelings with leaving our house, but the reality was that by the time we left, I was so ready to be done packing and cleaning that I couldn't wait to get out of the house. (By the way, our house never did sell, so we are renting it, in case you are wondering.)
We drove for about three hours and spent the night with my Great Aunt in Indiana. A good time, good food, and good conversation were had by all. Friday morning we hit the road for a long day of driving. Jeremy drove the truck all day (there was no way I was going to drive that thing!). I spent about 8 hours total by myself in the car with the kids. It was quite possibly my most challenging day of parenting yet, and it will be a hard one to beat. We all survived and finally arrived at our hotel in Knoxville, TN for the night, where we found that the one bedroom suite we were expecting was actually just a normal hotel room. (Our entire family sleeping in one room = terrible night of sleep for everyone). Jeremy had not yet arrived at the hotel at that point, and I had just taken our kids out for dinner and then hauled all our stuff and our whiny kids up to our room by myself and I was in no mood for arriving to our room to find that it wasn't the suite we were expecting. In my state of exhaustion, I may or may not have kind of lost it on the phone with Jeremy at that point. Thankfully, he arrived at the hotel shortly after and we were moved to a different room that was a suite and was handicap accessible, which meant it had a huge bathroom. Love slept in the living room, Jeremy and I slept in the bedroom, and Jobot slept in the gigantic bathroom. {At this point, I should add that Jobot had developed hives at some point during the day...possibly from the stress of moving, or from the fact that I fed him strawberry baby crackers pretty much all day because that was the only way to get him to stop crying while we were traveling. Seriously...if he wasn't sleeping or eating in the car, that kid was crying. He is not a good traveler. I had new-to-us toys for him to play with and new books to look at, but he would not have any of it.}
We all collapsed into bed shortly after 10 and everyone slept all night long.
Saturday morning we had breakfast at the hotel, cleaned out the van (which was a disaster from the day before), filled up on gas, and headed out for a shorter day of driving. The kids handled the drive about the same as the day before...lots of crying, whining, and misery. Lots of me trying to ignore them because safety on the road was more important than their latest demand, and lots of me passing back snacks, books, and toys to the backseat when I could. And, again, lots of a crying Jobot with hives. Taking a long road trip alone with two kids ages 3 and 1? Not such a great idea. And with kids who are all stressed out because you have just loaded up their entire home onto a moving truck? It makes is even worse. We didn't have any other options though, so we did it and survived.
We drove through the Smoky Mountains on Saturday and arrived at our new (rental) house around 5. A hired crew of three really nice guys helped us move in, we met some of our neighbors, and one of our neighbors even ordered dinner for us and ate with us after the moving truck was unpacked. It was a nice welcome.
Jeremy had the first week off, so we spent that week unpacking, setting up the house, and cleaning (the house was filthy). It was exhausting, challenging, disorienting, and honestly, just pretty terrible.
Things are a bit happier these days. The boxes are unpacked, the house is mostly clean, and we sort-of know our way around. This moving thing, though...not easy.
Jeremy is really enjoying his program and is excited about what he is doing, so that is great. He is working at the Children's Hospital, which is what he was really hoping for.
We are looking for a church, and for friends. The days are long and boring for me because I don't have anyone to hang out with. Not boring in the sense that I don't have anything to do, because these two little people take quite the energy these days...they are both at such busy stages. Just, bored because I don't have any other Moms or friends to interact with. I think I am going to go to a Mom's group on Friday, and a relative of someone Jeremy works with called today to "meet" me over the phone, so hopefully soon we will have some friends.
A few photos from our days here...
Fun with the hose in the backyard.
I will take photos of our house and do a little tour post at some point, and also tell the story of how this came to be our house (pretty amazing). Anyway, that's all for now.
Grace! So glad you all survived... I cannot imagine being in the car with whiny, teary, confused and bored kids... you are a champion!! You are so organized and thorough and prepared for everything that if you say it (the packing/moving/moving into filthy house) was pretty bad--it must have been!! If I lived anywhere near SC I would have helped you with the arrival part. Soon enough you'll get your bearings and find a local church. Thank God for internet! Can't wait to hear more stories. By the way, Jobot is so big now!
ReplyDelete--Rebekah