And another moving update

A picture you haven't seen yet of Judith from a few weeks ago, being cute!

Yesterday was the big moving day. The movers were our bright spot in the day - they worked hard, were careful, and were extremely helpful, taking items we didn't think they would (like all the house plants and out door potted plants - more than 20, so we were thrilled! They really wanted to pad their time a bit, because Robert and I did a lot of work over the weekend and their 8.5 hour estimate turned into 6.5 hours (really 6 hours, 5 minutes, but those 5 minutes took us to another 1/2 hour of billing). We were pleased to save all the extra money from our work. And they worked so hard during the day, not taking a lunch, only taking one break to drink their beverages, that we did not begrudge them the extra billing.

They were very pleasant and were pleased with us, too. They said we were very organized. Most of the houses they go into look like people woke up in the morning and said, "Hey, let's move today!" The chaos that is usually all around was not evident to them with us. Robert and I found it chaotic, but I guess that's just moving.

On the negative side of things, the AC doesn't work. And at the end of a very long, very hot day with no AC, what we wanted to do was take showers and relax. The unfortunate thing though was that there was NO HOT WATER! We had noticed a lack of hot water on Sunday, went and looked at the hot water heater, and realized it was essentially turned to a vacation setting, so we turned it up, and expected there to be hot water last night. But it was a no go. Nothing worse than sore, aching muscles, and cold water drenching you. Yuck! It did not improve our moods, that's for sure.

But this is all a little out of order. Here's the sequence. We got up and ready and the movers came and got started. Robert took Judith off to day care, and then we worked and worked and worked some more. The movers finished up just after 2:30. And we got started emptying box after box after box, as fast as possible. Robert worked on the first floor (kitchen, living room, dining room) and I worked on the second floor - particularly Judith's room and the loft. The loft is going to serve as our family room and Judith's main play space besides her bedroom, and we wanted both of those rooms ready for her. We really felt that she would be better at adapting to the new house if all of her things were clearly there and usable.

Robert called it. Before he left to pick up Judith from day care on Monday, he asked me to be sure her booster seat was all set-up for her because she would like to see that ready. Well, as soon as she walked into the new house, she immediately climbed into that chair and wanted to be buckled in. That is where she sat, asking questions, and looking around, for 10 minutes. Then she was willing to go upstairs to nurse and then see the loft and play with her toys. Once she was satisfied there, she was then willing to go into her room. She started asking about her crib and wanted to see it. So off we went, and she was very happy with her room. So, all in all, new house seems to be OK for her right now.

After some pizza for dinner (what else would you have on moving day), it was time for bed. Judith did very well several times with the stairs yesterday, but fell head over heals twice as she got tired later in the evening. One time Robert caught her immediately and the other time I was there to catch her immediately. But it makes us very, very nervous. We'll have to be particularly vigilant when she is tired. It's just hard to get her to listen to us when we tell her to stay either downstairs or upstairs, and we're going to have to work on that with a vengeance. Every parenting guide, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, recommends against baby gates for children over 24 months of age - they learn how to use them and get to be big enough to climb them. We have seen both behaviors from Judith, so we will not trust her stair safety to the gates -she's just going to have to listen to Mommy and Daddy and their directions. We hope that in a few weeks, when she is used to going up and down the stairs many times in the day, that shew will be good enough at it that we will be able to allow her to do it herself without having to go with her (when she's not tired, that is).

So Judith went to sleep and we worked on more of the house, but ran out of steam by about 10 p.m. Robert had only slept about an hour the night before he was so anxious, and we were just beat. Hence the need for warm showers and sleep for ourselves. The showers were obviously not what we expected. But there was a nice surprise with sleep. We recently discovered (because a bed skirt has been covering it up for 3 years) that our previous movers when we came to California never took the plastic wrap off the box springs. So the plastic wrap finally came off, and we were surprised by how much more comfortable our mattress was. It was a good day to be surprised by such a thing. We also bought new pillows for the new home (yes - you're supposed to buy new pillows every year, but these are the first in three years), and they made sleep extra comfy as well. So that was good.

This morning it was getting Judith off to day care and ourselves to work. We were both running very late trying to find things and do "just one more box quickly" before we left. I came to the office to work on the move here. As part of this downsizing we gave away furniture, and my old huge u shaped desk came to my office at the Diocese. But those movers didn't actually put it together. There is also a new file cabinet that needed assembly. So I handled the files today. Tomorrow I will tackle the desk - I need to bring the drill with the allen wrench attachments. Not a fun project, but my office is non-functional right now, and that's a problem.

Robert had trouble focusing at work, and we're both sick at this point with some horrible cold. So he called it a day and took the afternoon as sick time. He has been working on un-packing more and making our space more functional. Yeah! Hopefully by the weekend it will be better.

AT&T has been a huge problem in this move - unhelpful and unresponsive to my attempts to get our services moved. Anyway, after six days and more than 10 hours trying, it all got worked out today, and they will be there to install our phone, internet and TV service next Friday - September 5. Our home phone number will be the same, but will not work until then. Robert's cell phone works at the new house. My cell phone is MIA in the chaos that is moving - we're hoping to find it soon - it's been gone a week.

So, we will only have internet/email access at work (and tomorrow is my last day of work until next Tuesday) and we will only have Robert's cell phone for a while. We're not ignoring everyone, we promise. Hopefully, by the time we get the services set up we will also get the house settled, and we can take some video of it all to post here so folks can see what it looks like. It will be a good home (once we eliminate the ant infestation and get the AC and hot water working). Oh - about those problems. So, we called the guy we're renting from.

Long story a bit shorter: we posted on the town forum that we were looking for a rental of this size, he posted back he had one, we met, agreed on terms and a move-in date (Aug. 22) and were set. Then he hired a property management company who took more than a week to run our credit and background checks and approve us. And the guy doesn't want us "officially" there until Sept. 1 because he bought it Aug. 29, 2006, and wants the tax break that could come if he sold in the next three years for a profit (not likely) and could claim it was his primary residence for two full years. So we're "official" Sept. 1, even though he's given us the keys. But then all the stuff breaks, and he suddenly doesn't want to deal with it, so we have to call the property management company, which has us down as moving in Sept. 1. Oh well...that's what you get for not working with the system. We even told him we would move in Aug. 29 if there would be a problem (to meet his goals and needs) but this is how he wanted to do it, and we had already hired movers, so this is what we wanted as well. It gives us a week to get the old place clean and ready. We need the time!

Anyway, we called this morning, and the property management company says they will handle it, but at this point we haven't heard back yet as to when anyone will be out to service the AC or hot water heater. This is unfortunate as the temp will be 104 tomorrow, Thursday and Friday. And Thursday Judith and I are home all day and Friday is Robert's Friday off. We could go elsewhere, but we just moved and NEED to be home to unpack and get settled. Oh well - it will get worked out. I'm venting and ranting so I will quit now. I'll vent about the frustration that is AT&T another time.

In the meantime, we hope you are all having a calm and enjoyable last unofficial week of summer, and that you have a great Labor Day weekend.