Moving Day

Looking around at all the belongings we still had last Friday (11Dec15) and the overwhelming feeling rushed over us: "We're never going to fit all of this into only one POD!" So we got lucky and there was one delivery slot  available on Saturday and one pick-up cancellation slot open for Monday pick-up. We snagged it quickly!!

Second POD is here

Our bedroom was still a mess with everything you could imagine collected from around the house the night before our big move. Anything from clean laundry, to paperwork, to bags only half-packed, boxes/bins for the movers, and somewhere underneath it all was a bed for us to sleep on. But come 10pm we called it quits because we knew we would be worthless come the morning if we didn't get a good nights sleep.

Our messy drop-house

Finally our big moving day came.  You know how folks tend to say that things can take twice as long as it should or that one should plan accordingly? We were very glad that we gave ourselves lots of wiggle room for this move because this Sunday was our big moving day and when one of the guy's called out sick, we had to wait most of the day for his replacement. Scheduled to start at 9am, we "sat around" (aka: finished all that last minute packing!) because we didn't get started until after 1pm. And to be honest, we didn't have much stuff so I'm still not sure why it took these two young guys four hours to pack a two bedroom?! They even kept commenting on how well we packed and wrapped up furniture so all they were doing was physically moving things outside. Ugh!  It was a lesson in patience for sure.

Playing Tetris inside a POD

But they were really nice guys and you could tell they were trying really hard to puzzle piece things together so we only needed to store the one pod. Their puzzle skills were fascinating! We were so impressed! Unfortunately we still had to fill about 1/3 of the second POD because our mattresses were just way too big. But I was still impressed at their skills as they kept reassuring us,"I'm 90%sure we can just squeeze this all into one POD." They tried so hard!

Make sure your munchkin still has a few toys to play in the midst of moving chaos!

Moving day with a toddler and a dog isn't easy. Even if you're not the one physically moving the boxes, you're certainly are the one keeping a munchkin happy and a dog out of the way. Our friends on the other side of town were so kind to offer for our two year old to stay with them for the morning, and generously through naptime as well.  The dog was more well behaved then we expected and for the most part stayed out of the way and only peeked around corners out of curiosity.  And with all the doors open, I was impressed how she stayed in the house for the most part, never running away. Overall the move as a whole went more smoothly then we expected. PODS and the movers were very easy to schedule, and I would recommend them to people thinking of storing prior to relocating. And  wrapping up your own furniture and things into boxes took forever for us, but with a bunch of blankets for protection and shrink wrap galore, it can totally be done and saves a ton a money!

Packing the cars with everything we will need these next few months

Another tip I would suggest is to not do everything last minute. Keeping this down to the last wire inevitably adds to what stress you already have. I'm glad we didn't have the movers come any later then two days prior to closing. This way we could have a full day in between for sweeping out the house, packing our cars appropriately, and most importantly, ensuring the PODS were picked up. Only one POD could be picked up on Monday, and the other squeaked by with pick-up at 10am (the new owners had their walk-through at 10:30! Yikes that was a close call!!)

Hornbeam friends visiting

And the biggest tip I can give for a big move like this is to accept help, especially from friends and family who offer! Toddlers are happier if they have a few of their toys to play with to keep them occupied or if they can stay at a friends house to hang out with their best friends.  Thankfully once all our furniture was unavailable for us to use, we were also able to stay with our close friends who also live in town.  They graciously had an extra bathroom and two guest rooms for us and our Tiny Tot to use.  They also have a dog that our Doodles likes to go on doggie-playdates too so it was a nice treat for the dogs as well.  We desperately missed having Christmas decorations around during this move and we felt right at home at their house with their Christmas tree and stockings hung with care.  And to add to the comfort, we slept in their Paris-decorated room giving us the feel of a vacation from all the moving stress.  For two days they spoiled us with good food and comfort.

She's got the pig-tail blues

So many friends and neighbors outpoured their love and support for us during this transition week and we know we are truly blessed. We already miss our Chelmsford family!

Goodby Home, Sweet Irish Home