The Move
Wow, talk about a whirlwind! This move was CRAZY! I honestly hope that I never have to move again. Or, if I do, that someone else is paying to pack everything up for me because WOW! Moving is difficult.
We had a really tight time schedule to actually get things ready to go. The people buying our house scheduled the inspection for the last possible day, Friday the 13th of May. We didn't want to completely disassemble our house before that time so it would be in good looking condition when they saw the house again. So, we did minimal packing before that time. We packed away clothes and kitchen stuff we knew we wouldn't need between then and when we were out of the house and figured out exactly how we were going to get our stuff down to NC. Originally we had talked about renting a U-Haul truck, loading it up and trailing David's car behind while I drove separately in my car. But, as soon as we got down to NC we would need to get a storage unit to unpack everything in and then we'd need to store it until we bought our house (and then load everything up into a moving truck and unload it at our house eventually). We decided it would be a better idea to use a Pod where we could have several days to load things into it and then someone else would transport it for us, so we could each drive our car, not trail one. Also, then it would be in storage down in NC, meaning we did not need to unload it as soon as we got there. Of course, I was newly pregnant and was beyond exhausted, and at night times I started to feel sick and was throwing up. And of course, the best time to do your more productive packing is after the kids have gone to bed, so it was really a bad combination. The day after they did their inspections we had U-Haul drop off their version of the Pods. We got 5 of them, but hoped we'd be able to fit all of our stuff in 4 (yeah... we totally filled the 5 TO THE BRIM). It was a little bit more expensive to do it this way, however, in the end we were so extremely happy with our decision and I'd highly recommend using them to anyone.
The morning they were being delivered was also the morning of the 5/3 Riverbank 5k run, which I signed up for to run on the Bank of Holland team! Even though I was feeling so worn down with the pregnancy and all I had going on, it was fun to run!
I made it back in time to see them being delivered! They took up our entire driveway!
We started loading them immediately with all the boxes we had packed away. Also, that day a few friends and neighbors helped us to unload the storage unit that we had rented when we put our house on the market. So, we were able to load all of that stuff into the Pods as well. That night we were hosting a mini going-away party, so we could see all of our friends who could make it and say our good-byes. I was trying to pack, watch the kids, cook dinner, etc while David was off at the storage unit loading things up. Thankfully my friend Amanda came over to help watch the kids for me too! About 2 hours before people were supposed to arrive I was wondering where David was, I had expected them to be home from the storage unit by now. I called David and our friend James answered his phone and said that everything was ok, but that they were headed to Urgent Care and that David couldn't talk right now!!!!!!!!!!! Are you kidding me??!! Apparently, he lifted one of the boxes from the floor and scraped the top of his hand on a stray metal bar of the storage unit. He must have hit a blood vessel because there was a lot of blood (so I am told). Thankfully, he was ok and was even seen by the Dr quickly. Six stitches and about an hour and a half later he was on his way home, arriving at the house the same time everyone else was showing up! Yikes! We thought he was going to be told that he wasn't able to lift anything more than XXX lbs, which would have been a huge problem, but he was told he could do whatever his pain threshold would allow!
We enjoyed seeing everyone one last time. Unfortunately since he and James had lost 2 hours in packing/unpacking of the stuff from the storage unit, several of the guys who came spent their time helping us unload the cars with stuff from the storage units and getting it into the Pods. That was a bummer that they weren't able to relax and David couldn't be inside chatting with everyone, but it was so helpful to have all that help and to get all of that done.
My dad had a wedding to go to on Saturday evening, but after the wedding he got in the car and drove several hours. Then he finished the drive on Sunday and was there Sunday late afternoon to help us get out of the house! We were so thankful for his help; we could not have done it without him. As soon as he was out of the car he dug right into getting things put in the Pods and helping us pack things up in the house. It was our goal to leave on Wednesday and do the drive in 2 days, so we would have a long weekend to unpack the 2 cars and start to settle in before David had to start work. We only hoped we could get everything packed in that short of a timeframe! Amazingly, we were able to get everything in the Pods by Tuesday late afternoon, and U-Haul came back over to pick them up. The weight limit on the Pods was 2000 lbs each, but of course there is no scale on them, so you just have to do your best to guess how much things weigh, and try to put the heaviest items (piano, safe, freezer, furniture, etc) in different Pods. Well, the U-Haul lady was BARELY able to lift them. All 5 were over the weight limit and 2 of them were almost so heavy that she couldn't lift them back onto the truck. The problem with them being so heavy isn't necessarily that they boxes can't handle the weight, it's the fork lift that they bring to the house can only lift so much before it would start to tip! So.... I was really, really nervous as she lifted all of our belongings up in the air and onto the truck! We had insurance on them, but still! Yikes! But, she was able to lift all 5 and only asked us to take a few things out of 1 of them (and we took something very minimal out just to see if that would be acceptable to her!). Now the task was getting all the remaining stuff from inside the house into the cars. We had our suitcases filled with clothes for the first week that we needed, toys and things to entertain the kids in the car ride, and all of the stuff we were still using in our kitchen (dishes had all been removed previously, but things like Tupperware that was in the fridge and dishwasher, food items in the pantry that we were using up until the end, cleaning supplies, towels, bed stuff, etc. We had hoped to leave Wednesday morning. My dad was taking the cats with him, since they were not able to come into the Taylor's household (they already have a dog and a cat and they were worried about how things would be with 2 additional cats). We filled his car to the brim with the cats and their stuff, and then anything else we knew we wouldn't need for months (like all our bedding stuff, hangers, other things that take up space) and he headed out of town before 10am (he needed to leave early enough so he could do the 13 hours drive in 1 day, since he couldn't really stop with the cats). I was quite concerned that they would whine all the way and it would be a miserable trip for them. But they did great!
We had also hoped to take off in the morning, but that totally didn't happen. By the time my dad left we had everything out of the house and everything moved in the kitchen. But, our cars were pretty full, so David had to shove things here and there and everywhere to try to get everything fit inside. I was also trying to clean the house (vacuum the floors, clean the bathrooms, clean the kitchen and fridge, etc) and we had the kids to watch and keep out of the rest of the house too! Thankfully our friend Linda was able to watch Kayla for a few hours in the afternoon, and we put Isaac down for a nap so that we could both work hard. We didn't end up leaving town until nearly 4pm! I had no idea that all of the last minute stuff would take so long. I was so completely exhausted by this point. Since I started getting sick around 8pm, we knew we couldn't drive much past that. And if we didn't leave by 4, it would hardly even be worth starting the drive. But, we didn't have anything in the house anymore so we had to get on the road. We spent a moment alone in our house after the kids were buckled in their car seats and said our final good-bye to our house. I know a house is only a man-made object, but that home has so many sweet memories for us it was really sad to say goodbye. I got a little teary eyed at thinking about this being the last time we'd be in our first house, and then it was on the road. We had the mini-van loaded so high that there was only a teeny tiny opening to see out the side-view mirror. The kids were in David's car (since we had the van loaded to the gills, and in fact had moved the middle seats of our van into a Pod) and that was crammed full of stuff too. And, we had a car-top-carrier (which I call a Bubble!) on top of the car, and some kids toys tied up on the van as well. And David and Kayla's bikes were on the bike rack on the Honda. It was a scene to behold! We made it about 4 hours on the road before quitting for the night and overall it went really well. The next day went well too. We took turns driving each car, as they both had their own issues. The minivan was hard to drive because you couldn't see out the back and had trouble seeing out the side, so it was like you were driving blind. And the Honda had the 2 kids with no helping adult. So, both were hard work! But, we made it to the Taylor's house by about 10pm, completely exhausted, but so happy to be at our destination. On our way down we joked that we were homeless! :) But, in all reality while we don't have a place to call (our) home, we are so blessed with our situation.
Now, we have to unload both of our cars, and in a week when the Pods get down here, we will have to unload 1 of them! So thankful we don't have to unload all of them right now!!!