Moving Day(s)

The movers showed up first thing on Thursday morning. Unfortunately Jay had to work, which left me and Evelyn alone with the movers for the day. It was a little bit stressful initially. How was I supposed to keep Evelyn entertained all day while they packed up her toys? And where in the world was she going to nap? Not long after the movers arrived it occurred to me that they probably weren't going to be packing everything at once, and maybe would consider saving Evelyn's room for last. I expressed my concerns to one of the movers, Joe. He offered to pack Evelyn's room minus the crib and rocking chair, leaving the room open not only for her to nap in but also providing a place for me and her to hang out that was out of the way. Joe packed up Evelyn's room in about ten minutes, then moved on to the rest of the house.

Jay came home to deliver lunch and take a quick break before heading back to work. Then he was home for the day by about 5:00pm, just when the movers were finishing up for the day.

Nothing had been moved out of our home yet. Everything was in boxes and the furniture was wrapped up and ready to be loaded in the truck the next day. Jay and I loaded our suitcases in the car and headed to a hotel. As we pulled away from the house we talked about how easy it would be to break into our house and with the way everything was packed up we had essentially made it really easy for someone to steal all our belongings. We were only joking, but it was a little unsettling leaving the majority of our belongings behind.

My parents in San Diego so kindly agreed to take Kella in during the two weeks that we would be without a home. Friday was a big day with a lot on our to-do list, starting with dropping Kella off at the airport at 4:30am to catch her flight to San Diego. 

Thursday night was really rough with Evelyn, which was no surprise. She doesn't sleep well anyways, especially not in the pack n play. And with the previous traveling we had done she was pretty thrown off from any sleeping schedule. I woke up around 4:30am on Friday and noticed Jay had already left to take Kella to the airport. A few minutes later I heard Jay walk into our hotel room and slam the door behind him. Then I heard Kella. I jumped out of bed and into the living room where I found Jay on the couch with his head down. Dropping off a dog at the airport isn't such a convenient task... There was no way for Jay to hold Kella on the leash and carry the kennel into the airport in one trip. So he put Kella inside the kennel and carried it across the airport parking lot and into the airport. While attempting to check her in he learned that somehow we missed the memo about a health certificate required when flying a pet. (We felt pretty stupid for not thinking of this ahead of time but to be fair, even when we purchased Kella's kennel and received a list of items we would need to fly our pet, the health certificate was never mentioned!) The lack of a health certificate wasn't our only setback... Kella's kennel was too large for the plane by one inch. There was absolutely nothing Jay could do in that moment, except turn back around and carry Kella (inside her massive and heavy kennel) to the car and drive back to our hotel.

So there we were. 4:30am, we had to figure out how to get Kella to San Diego before we left for Vegas in two days, pick up our rental car, and meet the movers back at our house by 8:00am.

Jay called the airline and was unsuccessful in getting a refund for the flight Kella had missed that morning. However, he was able to get her booked for a flight at 6:00pm that night. So that meant we had to get Kella to the vet and obtain a health certificate, and exchange her kennel for a smaller size, along with our already overflowing to-do list for the day.

To add to the chaos... As we were getting dressed and ready for day, busy little Evelyn pulled herself up on the door of Kella's kennel, her hand slipped, then her face fell into the metal door and scraped up her nose. I thought for sure she would need stitches. She quickly settled down, the bleeding stopped, and we got some neosporin for her nose. I'm so thankful for Jay especially in those moments. I tend overreact but he's good at remaining calm.

On the way to Enterprise I called Kella's vet and was miraculously able to make an appointment for 8:30 that morning. Jay grabbed the rental car, took Kella to the vet, and picked up breakfast for the movers while I drove to the house and let the movers in. The rest of the morning went smoothly. Our car got picked up as scheduled, and Evelyn took a nap while I was able to sit and take a few deep breaths. Jay acquired Kella's health certificate, dropped Kella and breakfast off at the house, then headed to work.

Jay finished his last day of work at Kellogg's (woo hoo!!) at around 2:30pm. He came home to check on us before going back out to run a few errands, including exchanging Kella's kennel. By the time Jay returned, the movers had loaded everything in the truck and it was close to 4:00pm. We took one last walk around the house.

There are plenty of things about this house that I won't miss and many reasons why I'm content with leaving. As we took one last look around recollecting the last eighteen months, I felt nothing but joy...

Bringing home a very naughty puppy who became a loving and loyal member of our family.

Taking a long awaited positive pregnancy test, then bringing home a five pound peanut who grew into an eighteen pound peanut and brought us more joy than we've ever known.

A young married couple living thousands of miles away from family and having to rely on each other more than ever, thus strengthening their already unshakable relationship.

This house on Northfield Drive will always have a place in our hearts.

We raced to the airport and successfully dropped off Kella. Her total travel time was estimated to be about eight hours. Transporting Kella had been such a stressful ordeal- not just all the preparation it took, but the idea of putting our pup on a flight without us was nerve racking. Once I got a text from my mom at 10:00pm informing us that they had Kella and she was doing well, it was such a relief to put that out of my mind and focus on our move. 

Saturday, our last full day in Michigan, was very relaxing. We had a lazy morning then ate lunch at our favorite Thai restaurant in town- Thai Cuisine. Later that evening we had a farewell dinner with the Eaton's and Christensen's.