Countdown to the move - Day 3

TODAY was Day 3 - it's been hard to post at the end of the day and keep up! There's always more to do or pack, and if not we just fall into bed. But today was a big day and I want to get it down before I forget!

We closed on the house this morning. The walk through was at 10am, and the closing meeting at 11am. My mom came to the house and stayed with the kids while Rob and I were out for most of the day. Everything went smoothly and we got the keys. We needed to stop by the old house after the meeting to get ladders and brooms from the garage for cleaning. Then we went straight over to the new house to open it up and get ready for the painting crew, cleaning women and the man installing our blinds. They all came between 1pm and 1:30pm. I made sure everyone had what they needed and didn't have any questions, and then Rob and I ate a quick lunch and headed back to the kids around 3:30pm.

My mom had the house all picked up and the kids were happy (Maddie was sleeping). But I could see my mom's eyes that she was exhausted, and she claimed that all she needed was a little caffeine. I asked her if she had helped herself to the coke in the garage, and she laughed and said "I didn't have time!". I GET THAT. I totally do. Sometimes I get halfway through the day and wonder why I feel irritable, and it's because I've had to go to the bathroom for hours and have been ignoring my own needs. So we caffeinated my mom STAT, and she bounced right back. ;) Then I kicked her out and told my dad, who had stopped by to check in, to take her out to a nice dinner!

We played with the kids and fed them dinner, and then I told them that if they were good and ate all of their dinner and took good baths, that we would have a cookie picnic at the new house before bedtime. They liked the sound of that idea, although Robbie is still slightly nervous and unsure about it all. But I think the cookie part lured them, and so after baths we wrestled everyone into pj's with cups of milk and took off for the new house. Rob and I actually needed to go over and lock up the house behind the blind installation guy, who had just left, as well as take another load of things we would prefer to move ourselves vs. the movers on Friday. So I thought it was a good opportunity to involve the kids and make it fun.

On the drive over I called Auntie Cheryl and invited her to join us, and then picked up coffees for us. The kids were excited to go inside the house, as we've been doing drive-by's for the last few weeks. They knew their bedrooms had been painted today, so they ran upstairs to check them out. Everyone was happy with their room, and then we just let them run around and explore and wrestle. We threw the blanket down on the kitchen floor that I had brought along, and had our cookie picnic somewhere in the middle of the visit. Then more wrestling, which turned into melting and tripping and falling and lots of bumps and tears as bedtime rolled around. Ellie asked to go upstairs to bed, and when Auntie Cheryl explained that her bed wasn't here yet, she asked "Where's the door to leave?". The girl had HAD it! Put me to bed.

We loaded the kids back up in the car a little before 8pm and headed home. It was a very quiet drive back and everyone went right to sleep when we put them to bed. Then Rob and I reheated pizza for dinner, cleaned up the house and tried to sort a few more odds and ends into boxes. Oh, and I sat on the phone with Comcast for 20 minutes only to get halfway through my question and get disconnected! I called right back and somehow my call was answered right away. We spent 15 minutes trouble shooting our modem and router and got the internet connection working again. It had been down all day, and it was a really odd feeling. For whatever reason, our 3G network was down also so our iPhones and iPad were useless as far as data was concerned. But while we were out at the closing meeting it worked just fine. We can't figure it out but it's resolved now.

And now we just throw the rest of our belongings into boxes and head for the finish line - Friday morning!