Move

I have pictures to upload but they are on my camera and my laptop won't upload pictures from my camera.  So this post will just be boring words.  We have finally moved.  We were sad to move but it got to the point where it was just hanging over our heads and we were just waiting.  It needed to happen finally so we could all get to getting our lives settled again.  We aren't settled yet but at least we are on our way towards that.  The boys headed to Scout Camp after the open house.  Mike went up for two days while I stayed home with the little kids to get the house ready for the packers.  It was a stressful two days because the baby doesn't like to be away from me.  She likes to be held or right next to me all the time and Mike and the two boys were gone so I had to rely on Eli and Piper for help.  Mike came home on Wed and it just felt like everything fell apart that day.  All the stress finally came to a head and came out in an ugly stress barf.  There was a decision we had to make and I told Mike I wasn't able to discuss it and we needed to wait to have the discussion later but he insisted we discuss it and make a decision and so I kind of fell apart.  Tears, yelling, more tears.  It wasn't pretty and I wish it hadn't happened.  Mike didn't yell.  He didn't cry.  Just me.  Anyway, we had the discussion and then it ended up being a moot point, which didn't help.  There were other not cool things happening at the same time that made for the perfect emotional storm for me.  Too much at one time.  Bleh.  

The packers came on Thursday and packed our house up in two days.  The two older boys came home to see their rooms packed and boxes everywhere.  We lived around the boxes until Monday when the movers came and loaded the truck.  We spent the night at our friend's house and then returned to the empty house on Tuesday morning to clean.  It was a fast and furious morning of cleaning.  At 1 we closed the doors to our house and drove back to our friend's house to shower and drop off the kids and then we drove across town to sign the papers and hand over keys to the house at closing.  It was so fast that there wasn't time to feel sad.  I briefly felt sad at one point when I was cleaning but didn't have time to dwell on it.  I guess I'm just sentimental but I kind of wish I had gotten the chance to walk around one last time before we gave over the keys.  

We headed back to our friend's house for dinner.  We had more wonderful friends come and see us to say goodbye and then we put the kids to bed and went to a late move with our friends.  The next morning, we got started late because we washed a load of laundry and repacked the van and car.  At noon, we finally left Knoxville.  We ended up reaching Atlanta at 5 PM, the worst time to try and drive through Atlanta.  I don't know how people manage living there honestly.  The traffic is so bad.  The GPS kept taking us on crazy routes making the drive even worse and at one point I couldn't see Mike's car anywhere.  I finally found him about an hour later.  Finally, at 10 PM we reached Warner Robins where we stayed in a TLF on base.  That night the two younger boys were pretty emotional.  Eli said his ear hurt and was worried it would get so infected it might have to be cut off and "what if I don't make any friends?"  He cried and cried.  Isaac was in Mike's car during the whole Atlanta traffic ordeal and Mike kept yelling and threatening to throw his phone out the window and poor Isaac was feeling the effects of all the stress so after we stopped for dinner he sat in the van with me and cried.  He missed his friends and wanted to go home.  I told him to hop out of the van and run two laps of the parking lot and he would feel better.  He ran them and he did actually feel better but he told me later that he wanted to cry multiple times in the car but held it back.  

The next day was better.  We made good time and arrived at our vacation rental at 8 PM. Isaac briefly got upset again and said he wanted to go home and were all the yards going to be so ugly?  Mike went to work the next morning and I took the kids to get some food at the grocery store in the pouring rain.  When Mike came back I told him that we needed to head over to the beach after the storm passed because the kids needed something happy to happen.  The rain stopped and we went and played in the ocean for an hour.  The kids were so happy!  The next morning we woke up, ate quickly and then headed back for an early morning swim.  It was perfect and again, the kids were so happy.  I really feel like going to the beach helped the kids have a happier outlook on life and their current circumstances.  

We went to church today and the ward is not as big as we expected and the primary is small.  It's small enough that they have combined Isaac and Will's class and Eli is also in a combined class.  There is only one other boy in Eli's class again and that makes me sad because he has been worried about making friends and I had been praying for boys to be in the ward.  We will just have to figure out how to find other friends in the neighborhood and such.  The ward was very friendly though.  Everyone was so welcoming and we have already had three invites to do things.  I'm hopeful that this can be a smooth transition.  

The kids all show subtle signs of the stress from the move.  They are a little more sensitive and get irritated at one another quicker.  Piper cries more easily.  The baby isn't sleeping again.  We finally got her sleeping without much effort at night time and now we are kind of back to square one.  She is tired and cranky and confused.  

We are in this vacation rental for ten more days and then we will have our stuff delivered and get in the rental house.  Hopefully we can rest up and make the next few days happy and fun and do some exploring and take more beach trips before life has to be stressful again.  

Moving is so tough.