Hello, Tennessee

**Happy Birthday to my Daddy! I love you!**

All things considered, our move went quite well. And when I say “all things considered”, I mean all the crazy that goes with a garage sale, packing Husband up to go on ahead of us, and moving 2-3 weeks earlier than you think. (We did have a garage sale on that Saturday. I still hate them. We also sent Husband off to Nashville on Sunday so he could start his new job on Monday!)

Because my brain is still in “I just moved” mode, I’m going to use my phone pictures as a guide for the past week.

Last Tuesday was our last day to get ready before the movers came. It was also the Blu Ray/DVD release of Cinderella. It was a purchase I’d been planning for quite some time. What surprised me was how much Caedmon loved it. I think in the space of 3 days, he watched it about 7 times. Best moving treat ever. (He was only slightly disturbed that I already knew the words to the songs. And sang along.)

Wednesday morning, the movers arrived bright and early and got started.

Three guys had our entire house packed by 3pm.

Thursday morning, they were back and had everything loaded on the truck by 2:30pm.

While the movers worked, Honor spent some time in the pack & play, and was joined by Caedmon a time or two. Not something that I normally allow, but at that point, it was about survival.

He even hung out in there by himself (with Cinderella on the DVD player) when Honor was with me.

Our first empty room was Caedmon’s bedroom. He took the opportunity to plank.

This was my favorite moment of the day.

It looks sweet, doesn’t it? Let me tell you reality. It was about 2pm. We were all tired (there were no naps that day!), I’d already busted out a real Coke (that didn’t help that much), and the movers were almost finished loading. Caedmon was trying to revive a green army man we’d found behind a piece of furniture. Honor had a Gerber Wagon Wheel can half full of Kix, which she was stirring with the spanking spoon. They were happy. So I left them alone. Survival.

I am so thankful for our friends who helped with the kids, let me borrow a vacuum, and helped me clean the house. I don’t think I could’ve made all of that happen by myself.

Thursday night, the kids and I stayed at a hotel. We were all exhausted. And Honor? It seems that no naps all day = crazy Honor. The child was literally running laps in the pack & play two hours after her bedtime. I took pictures, but they’re all blurry because IT WAS DARK AND WAY PAST HER BEDTIME. It was fine as long as she was happy, but she got angry about 8pm and stayed that way until she finally knocked out a little after 10. And then woke up from 1-3am, again, angry. The entire time. Which means she woke Caedmon up. He wasn’t happy either.

I had the hope that the kids might sleep just a teensy bit late on Friday morning, seeing as how we were worn out and in a cool, dark hotel room. Nope. We were up and going in plenty of time for cartoons, breakfast, and our move-out walk-thru at the house at 9am.

After the walk-thru, we loaded up. And when I say we loaded, we loaded. The movers wouldn’t take anything liquid (which was different than I expected from previous experience), so I had 3 more boxes in the car than I planned on. But thanks to my mad packing skillz (learned from my Daddy), I made it all fit.

And I even had room for the kids (though Honor had boxes under her feet, which she proceeded to kick for most of the trip).

We hit the road, where Honor finally slept peacefully until almost lunch time. We stopped at the golden arches for some lunch and to get some wiggles out.

After we hit the Tennessee state line, we saw one of my favorite road signs ever.

I gained an hour of my life back that day. It was marvelous.

From just before we hit Chattanooga to Nashville, Caedmon slept. Honor cried. So we stopped in downtown to see Daddy and check out his office. Caedmon was very official with his visitor’s badge.

It was good to see Daddy again!

That night, Husband took us to Buffalo Wild Wings. Caedmon loved all the TVs. And Husband taught him the art of the claw machine. His first (and only) try, Caedmon scored not one, but two stuffed animals.

Saturday morning, I met the movers at the storage unit to unload while Husband and the kids got things ready at the townhouse. After they unloaded at the storage unit, we headed to the townhouse. The last box was off the truck, the crib was put back together (always the last thing!), and the movers were pulling out by about 1pm.

The unpacking began. By the time I went to bed Saturday night, this is what the kitchen looked like.

There was one clean space.

Sunday, M3 was in town and came to hang out with us while we unpacked. Hopefully we’ll get to see more of him now that we’re in Nashville.

I unpacked the last box on Tuesday. It goes much quicker when half of your stuff is in storage.

Now we’re just getting settled in and trying to figure out the sleeping situation with the kids. Honor has been waking Caedmon up, which is quite the opposite of what I thought would be happening. Next week, we dive back into school. I think we’re all ready for some routine again.