Moving Day!

 Moving is probably one of my least favorite activities.  It is a pretty awful reminder of how much STUFF you actually own.  

To be clear, I've never technically moved before.  We moved into our family house when I was about 3 (so I remember nothing of that) and my mom still lives there.  When I went to college, it was just a few minutes down the road and I was living on campus (read: furnished) all four years.  When husband and I bought our house, he lived there for over 6 months before I moved in; so we just moved a few things on weekends as we felt like it.  This time however, was going to be an actual MOVE.

As soon as we found "the house" the packing began.  My mom came out to our house almost every day for a month (bless her) and helped pack every box.  Since I'm not supposed to be lifting heavy stuff, she did all the lifting and helped keep me from getting too overwhelmed.  She also made pretty frequent trips to Goodwill to get rid of the crap we didn't need and took home the super awkward and fragile pieces so they wouldn't get messed up in the move.  We made sure that boxes were organized by room as much as possible and labeled as much as possible.

A week before the move, husband and I finished up the packing and furniture wrapping.  We packed our suitcases for a week and moved in with my mom.  (He then went out of town for work for almost the whole week.)  I did employ 2 friends for a few hours one afternoon that week to help me finish the last little bit that he and I didn't get to, but for the most part, it was all done.  Meanwhile, we closed on the house and the painters came and painted our entire house, which mom and I checked out each evening.  

Saturday was moving day.  We loaded a cooler with water, husband got a large U-Haul and drove out to our old house.  Mom and I headed to the new house (they're about 30-40 minutes apart) and began cleaning.  The house had been professionally cleaned before we closed, but there was still sheet rock dust and general dirt from the painters.  We wiped down everything in the kitchen and cleaned all the floors.  

We were expecting to have several hours to clean while the old house was getting loaded on the truck.  When husband called to say they were heading our way, I was shocked.  Turns out there were TWENTY-TWO people at our house to load the truck. 

We had created a Facebook event and asked friends to help us move, but I had NO IDEA that many people would show up.  They emptied the entire house into the street and two of my more spatially skilled friends packed the truck.  All the boxes marked fragile were placed in cars.  All the other boxes and furniture were piled (quite neatly from what I understand) in the truck.  In just a few hours they had loaded everything and were headed out to unload.

I labeled each room with sticky notes (what good is a box labeled "Living Room" if nobody knows which room in the house that is) and stuck sticky notes on the wall where the furniture pieces were going.  That way, as it came in, I didn't have to be there to answer the "where do you want this" and we didn't have to move boxes out of the way to put the furniture where I wanted it.

Eight more people showed up to help at the new house, meaning there were THIRTY (!!!!) people to help move us in.  I hated not being able to help, but was seriously overwhelmed with the outpouring of love that day.  By 1 pm everything was unloaded, furniture that had been taken apart was getting put back together, and boxes were starting to get unpacked.  We had expected most people to leave after emptying the truck, but a lot of them hung around to help unpack.  By 4 pm, we were pretty much COMPLETELY moved in.  Never in my life have I heard of a move quite like this.  The only thing left to do is hang all the pictures on the walls, but I have to make some decisions on that stuff first.

That night we felt like we had lived there for years just looking around.  It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen.

We weren't in any kind of rush to get moved in before Baby... but now we really don't have to be.  When Baby comes-- we are settled in! (Baby's room is still kinda lacking in furniture, but we're getting there!)