Moving Days -

Moving day is here.  Wow.  Time flew by.  Are we really done with our DPP Rotation so soon?!  It just seemed like yesterday we were moving in with a 8 month old and 2 1/2 year old.  It's amazing how life just seems to pass you by when you have a few moments to soak it all in.

I actually welcome moving day.  I consider myself a pro.  It allows me to purge some things we've collected, re-organize our spaces, clean. To me moving signifies another chapter in our lives.  I am able to look back and reflect on where we lived and what happened in our lives while we were there.  Denver - got married and pregnant.  Nashua - Mikey was born.  Downers Grove - Katie was born.  NYC - finally got to live in a city we have both always wanted to live in and were close to family again. Stamford - both kids old enough to go to school....and that's just a start.

All of these moves have been based on career choices.  Scott wanting to further his career and build up his resume so he can provide for his family and feel proud about what he's accomplished.    I am so glad that as a young family we have been able to support him.  We know that as our kids get older our time is becoming more limited as far as uprooting them and moving them around the country.  I am excited to say that I actually can sort of see an end to all this moving around, after maybe 1 or 2 more moves. Don't get me wrong.  While I do like moving and think it is exciting to go to new places and really feel like I am living life, I also find it exciting to think about finding that perfect house that I know we will be in for 20 plus years and raise our kids in and experience life in and be able to really settle down and I can finally buy furniture for a specific room and paint it whatever color I choose and put up wall paper, or not.

So after all that reflecting, the movers knock on our door ready to start.  I have to thank Mary and her son Quinn for watching the kids on packing day, so that Scott and I could really focus on the movers, and making sure that they packed certain things together and labeled the boxes correctly and so we could clean up the apartment after they were done loading the truck.  It was such a relief to know that I didn't need to worry about entertaining the kids or trying to keep them out of the way or having to feed them lunch or put Katie down for a nap and have the movers be really quiet while she napped.  They took their sweet old time to pack everything up and a nice long lunch break and 4 or 5 hours to load it all up.

Lots of boxes in all the rooms.

We took over the hallway of our floor.

I tried to facilitate the packing day by taking down her crib a day before.  I didn't realize until it was stacked in the corner that that is probably the last time I will see the crib and Katie doesn't get one last night to sleep in it.  Tear.

The movers came on Monday 7/29 so they were able to find a spot right in front of our building.

I picked up the kids from Mary's about 2:30 and took them to the Marriott where we were staying for the evening.  We checked in and then headed to 2 of our favorite parks for some last sprints through the sprinklers and for some Italian Ice from the cart lady.  We enjoyed pizza one last time for dinner at Luigi's Pizza and then back to the Marriott for baths and snuggles. Scott stayed at our apartment until 8 at night cleaning and supervising the moving company who didn't finish loading until 7:30 that night.

The kids post bath looking out the floor to ceiling windows at the Marriott.

 Move in day was an equal success and went super smooth, mostly thanks to our friend Katie and her two kids Jacob and Carly who offered to watch Mikey and Katie for the day while the movers loaded things into our home and Scott and I unpacked.  Katie and her husband Brian and there kids live close to us and we've known them for years from Denver and KPMG so I'm sure we will get together lots over the next year! I have to admit that I am a little OCD when it comes to unpacking.  I my opinion I am the only one who knows the best place for things in our new home, so naturally I am the one who has to put everything away or at least beat the movers and Scott and tell them where to put stuff . So a big thank you to Katie and Jacob and Carly for watching and playing and feeding the kids for the entire day!

Only about 1/3 of the total boxes.

About 2 hours after the movers arrived and we have this much unpacked already!

The movers and landscapers here on the same day.  What were we thinking?!

 I laid awake many nights picturing exactly where everything will go down to what I will put in what cabinets and drawers in the kitchen.  I even thought about everything that was in storage and where that would go....I must say thought that there was a lot more in storage than I remember.  So now that we got everything moved in and unpacked from NYC in 2 days, it's time to go to PA and supervise the movers packing and loading the stuff in storage and spend a day or two with the family, oh and find time for a little birthday party for Katie.