Home Sweet Home

We have been in our house for a week and a half now, though we feel FAR from settled. We have boxes everywhere, and I just can't seem to make it through the piles on my kitchen cabinets and in the bedrooms.

The movers carried everything out of our place in the city, packed it into a huge truck, drove it out to New Jersey, and then carried it all into our new place. And all on the hottest day of the year. It was sweltering. We had a few dicey moments. Our home was built in 1929, so it wasn't quite built with today's furniture dimensions in mind...namely a queen size box spring. The mattress was okay, as it's flexible and can kind of bend around corners. However, the box spring, being completely inflexible, took 4 guys (3 movers + Kevin), and required some shoving, paint scratching, and ultimately completely removing a window in order to make it to the second floor. But in the end we got Cameron's crib assembled, our bed set up, and we spent our first night in one first house!

That was all on Monday. Then on Friday, Kevin caught a late flight for Dallas to pick up another load of home stuff. We had all kinds of boxes stored with my parents that we needed to get...things we didn't bring to New York in the first place because, a.) we were moving into 500 square feet, and b.) we thought we'd only be up here a year (ha, ha). In addition to boxes, we picked up quite a bit of furniture - some things that were ours and some pieces that Kevin's parents have generously passed on to us to help furnish our first place.

Kevin arrived in Dallas Saturday morning, then went to 3 different houses (my parents and his parents' 2 places) to load up furniture and boxes. Then he and his dad left Dallas that afternoon and drove north to Norman to pick up one more piece of furniture from my brother and his wife. From there they headed northeast, and spent the next 2 1/2 days on the road to finally arrive in our driveway Monday night around 7:30pm. Whew.

We are both so exhausted we can hardly keep our eyes open at night. We haven't had a "leisurely weekend" in about 6 weeks. But here we are, in our own - albeit chaotic - home. Cameron loves running around the empty rooms and the backyard. He loves the huge 24-foot Budget Rental truck parked in our driveway. He still thinks riding around in a car is pretty cool. We are so grateful to be here, it still seems unreal.

So, dear ones, we have a couple of extra bedrooms...come on up and see us!

Tomorrow's the day!

Tomorrow is closing, where we go sign a mountain of papers, hand over a check for a nauseating amount of money, and then receive the keys to our very first home. We still can't believe it's tomorrow.

I have spent every waking moment trying to pack up our apartment in preparation for the movers on Monday. We still have a ways to go, but I finally feel like the end is in sight. Though I guess the end will come whether I'm completely ready for it or not. The movers will show up on Monday morning, and whatever isn't packed to my rather annoyingly exacting, uber-organized standards, will get thrown in a box and sorted out later. I'm okay with that.

I'm so excited about the space and the yard that I haven't thought much about leaving the city. I'm sure it will make good fodder for a piece later on comparing and contrasting the city to the burbs. In the meantime, I am just trying to make it until Monday.

T-Minus 2 Weeks...

The countdown is on.

Two weeks from today the big, burly men with the large truck will arrive at our apartment. They will load up all of our worldly possessions and haul them to New Jersey, where they will look pitifully insignificant in our new home.

Between now and then I have to pack said possessions into boxes in some kind of organized manner so that they will arrive at our new place in a.) one piece, and b.) enough order to actually find the things that we will immediately need. This is no small feat while I am being dogged all day by "small feet". I can do some packing while Cameron is awake, but I have to be seriously vigilant - he has been known to try to "help" Mommy pack. I have had to rescue sippy cups full of water, pacifiers, bags of coffee, bibs and my keys from boxes that Cameron has tried to helpfully pack for me. Mostly he just wants to get his hands on the razor sharp packing tape gun and the industrial sized permanent marker I use for labeling. Why are the most dangerous/harmful items always the most appealing?! Ah, a spiritual question for the ages.

Anyway, just a quick update on where we are and how we're doing. Closing is a week from this coming Friday. Then Kevin and I have to buy a car that weekend, finish packing the last minute items, all in preparation for the aforementioned burly movers. Thankfully, Kevin's mom was available that weekend and offered to come up and wrangle our little troublemaker while we're taking care of the final details. So nice to have one less thing to worry about that weekend!

More details to come...