Here's a quick overview of how we got here!
Thursday morning. Here's a picture of Brinley looking out the door at Dave & Scott with the moving truck. She played only child for the day because Makenzie was with my mom. Brinley handled it well; sitting through a boring closing session, followed by naps in her pack & play (which were cut short by the sounds of moving), and random meals.
My little escape artist snuck her way out the front door while I wasn't watching. She had to see what was going on!
That's our second moving truck, by the way. The first one was half full when it was decided we would need another one. This meant that Dave would drive a truck (his brother, Scott, drove the first one), and the girls and I would go in my car. I was sure we would have tons of room in the second truck, but it was also packed full!
Part of our amazing Texas moving crew. These guys were UH-mazing! Like, they-should-start-a-moving-company amazing. There was definitely some planning going on here. All I know is stuff was being taken out of the house, some on the truck, some on the lawn waiting for the perfect spot in the big puzzle of what was our house in 2 big boxes, and lots of wrapping of furniture. It seemed like they each had a job and it all worked like a charm! I can guarantee you this; these trucks were packed tight. It was pretty crazy to see everything packed in before the door was pulled down and off went #1 to Minnesota!
Right before this was the beginning of about 12 hours of hard goodbyes for me. I had just said goodbye to my best friend and as she was getting in her car, I said, "and look, we aren't even crying." I thought it was kind of odd, but maybe it was just our way of being strong for each other. She said she would cry in the car. I made it about 30 feet; the length of our moving truck from where she was parked to where Dave was standing.
My next hard goodbye? My house. It was late by the time we were completely finished. We got everything cleaned up, decided we would spend the night at Chris & Sarah's house, Makenzie would spend another night with my mom, and we would leave early in the morning. And then it was time to leave. To never come back to this house. Our first house, where Dave carried me over the threshold. The one we brought all our babies home to, the only house they have ever known. The house Makenzie didn't get to say goodbye to because that's just not the way the day worked out (looking back, I think that happened for a reason, or at least that's what I tell myself so I don't feel guilty for depriving her of that). The house with so many great memories! There's a nice breast milk design on the ceiling in the living room, which is hardly noticeable (although my sister did notice it). It will be there until someone has to paint over it. It happened one night while I was preparing a syringe of milk for Madeline and we chose not to cover it when Dave was doing some touch up painting. I can still hear the pitter patter of Makenzie's bare feet or Brinley's hands and knees as they make their way through the house. The backyard where we spent many hours, especially in the past month, while Makenzie watered Dave's "dirt" or Green (our Meyer Lemon Tree that she named), and Brinley proudly crawled through the yard or dug in a fresh mud pit Makenzie made for her. I could go on and on . . .
My point is, it was really, really hard to leave. We thought about spending one more night, but decided not to prolong the inevitable; at some point we had to say goodbye. The good news is that once we drove off, I was fine. I got a little teary the next morning as we passed the Valley Ridge exit, but once the new owner called me and I knew she was in the house, I had the closure I needed to move on and realize for sure that it was no longer mine.
The last (and hardest) goodbye. My mom. We met her and Art in Gainesville on our way out of town to pick up Makenzie. I started crying when I saw the sign that Gainesville was 20 miles away. I don't need to go into much detail here, because if you're reading this, you know how close we are. I just found out today that I'll see her Thursday night. And I can't wait!!
Makenzie's favorite part of the trip was when she got to go tinkle on her frog potty on the side of the road. We were trying to get through Kansas City before traffic hit, so we needed a quick stop. There was a rest stop a couple of miles ahead as soon as she announced she needed to go. It was a park-only rest stop, so we pulled over, Dave jumped out of the Penske, got the frog potty out of the back of my car, and Makenzie was elated! I didn't think to grab the camera, so I made her wait. There she stood, pants pulled down, huge smile on her face, ready to do this, while I rummaged through the back seat for the camera. The picture is well worth it!
See Time1 in the picture below? That's how long my angels sat in carseats Friday. This does not include stops; it's actual drive time. I could not be more proud of them.
I had to take a picture of Dave's bachelor refrigerator. I added in the baby bottle and Ozarka.
Here is our Minnesota moving crew. These guys had us unloaded in 2 1/2 hours. Also amazing!
Home sweet home for the next 5 months! The double car garage works perfectly to store all our belongings that don't fit in the townhouse.
See how close the park is?! We have been there almost every day. I have to say almost because as Makenzie's punishment for being a brat in the DMV, she wasn't allowed to go to the park for one whole day. Then later, I took away her Ipod when she sat on Brinley. It was a rough day!
It was midnight when we got to our townhouse, so I didn't see any surroundings. After another night of 4 hours of sleep, I woke up to this view. This picture is taken from my bedroom window, and this is what I see when I lay in bed. There are 2 ponds separated by a walking path. There are also paths around the pond on the left and halfway around the one on the right.
Here's the play area again. This location is one of the reasons Dave could choose a home for us without me seeing it. He knows what is good for us.
Makenzie loves to ride her tricycle along the paths, then to the playground. Right before I took this picture, she said, "look, TWO ponds." She also told me she was going to get her swimsuit so she could swim with the ducks in the pond.
It's not a complete post without a picture of my baby. My baby who will be ONE in five days! My Superbaby who withstood all of this change while she was getting molars. Don't you just want to tickle those toes?!
