Moving is loud and exhausting!

On July 30th, we closed on our new house, just a few minutes down the road from our rental.  We love our new house!  It is right down the road from the pool and playground.  We can see them from the front yard.  It's a quieter neighborhood because it is a younger neighborhood with new construction going on in parts.  We are in a "bend" cul-de-sac, what I call a half cul-de-sac which is good for bike riding and learning.  

Bobby was listening to a story on Audible in our bed, obviously exhausted from packing, while his daddy worked at his desk.  Taken before the moving day.

The day after we closed we moved all our mattresses and clothes over to the new house with the pets too.  We started sleeping over there and making multiple daily trips to the old house to load the borrowed horse trailer, the van, and the "new to us" SUV that we bought used.  (Oops, I forgot to mention that on here!  We'll have to revisit this topic later.)  Brian scheduled the movers to come 10 days after closing.  This was so he could work from home as needed and make the move slowly.  The plan was not to overdo it, but each time he finished his goal for the day, he added on new things he wanted to bring over.  The movers ended up bringing way less than we thought they would over.  It saved us money, but we were getting in 14,000 steps a day and fell onto our mattresses each night completely spent.

Bob found the noise cancelling headphones and started wearing them around the house.  Was our moving too loud?

Everyone was dying to get our couch!  Isaac finally finished my fairy garden that he started at the beginning of the summer, and just in time for our new front garden.  This "garden" needs a lot of work, but it's just too hot right now.  I already bought tulip and hyacinth (for Genna, in memory of her bird) bulbs to plant with her after we weed it and fix it up in October.

He found rocks on our early summer walks and glued them onto the bottom of a half gallon carton with a door cut out.  He painted the rock to go with it.

My budding entomologist has found several geckos and anoles to occupy himself with in our new backyard.  This one he caught for me in the house and lost part of it's tail in the struggle.  Then he tried to take it outside only to have it run up his arm and "disappear."  He came back in saying maybe it was on his neck somewhere.  I found it on his back hanging out.  Drew was quite weirded out by the moving tail left behind in the house.  :)

The unpacker's throne!  Judah had the honor of mashing down the packing paper.

The first Saturday that we were in the house with furniture we started back up with Saturday chores.  My littlest vacuumer had lost his spunk and needed some help finishing this room because he wanted the nice carpet lines and couldn't keep them straight.  

Our Baby Fix

We made an overnight stop in Baltimore on our journey to Texas.  We were able to see two of our very best friends in Maryland, thanks to them traveling all the way to our hotel near BWI and hanging out with us in the lobby and outside at the picnic tables.  We didn't have a vehicle and it would've been a hassle to install car seats and try to squeeze into their two vans just to go to Chick-fil-A for a bit.  So we brought Chick-fil-A to us.  It was a brief visit, but it was so great to see them again!

Then we arrived in Texas late because our plane was delayed.  We were picked up in three cars, by my mom, sister, and brother.  We were all so relieved to be done with the traveling part.  That much luggage just makes it hard.  Just a few days after I had my two feet on Texas soil, a good friend of mine from college came over to see us with her new baby boy.  He was so itty bitty and smelled so good.  We all enjoyed getting in some good cuddles and love!

We were all in need of a good baby to hold!

My mom and dad were staying with my brother and we stayed with my sister, except for Brian stayed in a hotel near his work for the first week because we needed a place for the cat.  My mom came over some mornings to watch the boys while I took the girls to complete registration at their school and get their uniforms.  We didn't rent a van, just a regular car to save money since my parents were going to be around and I had cars to borrow for a while.  Brian bought a new commuter car within a week of being in the country.  A very kind Knight (from Knights of Columbus) whom we did not know offered to lend us his truck for as long as we needed it.  So we were able to get by with just Brian's new car and the truck until our van arrived, saving us a bunch of money.

The Big Day

A few more days passed with last minute activities, more good-byes to good friends, and one last trip to the Hutte in our old village.   Some people arrived on their horses and Genevieve got to ride one for a short walk around the Hutte.  She was very excited about that!

The morning of the big day, meaning the day we were to fly out of Germany to move back to the states, Brian took Drew, Isaac, and Genevieve to a bakery one last time.

The day was an eventful and wee bit stressful one, but nothing too major happened.  Little things like not having the cash for the cat on hand and me having to run to an ATM while Brian helped check in most of our 26 bags kept us moving and busy.  Right before going through security, we found a family bathroom and Brian and I tried to give the cat her anxiety medicine for the flight.  It was a pill, however, and getting a cat to swallow a pill is way more difficult than getting a dog to do it.  I've never done this before, and both Brian and I got bit trying to get it down her throat.  She's never actually drawn blood on anyone before so this was out of character.  She was highly stressed out before we even started, so it really wasn't her fault.  I remembered a syringe that was in her carrier, and Brian ended up breaking open the pill, dissolving it in water, and squirting it into her mouth while I held her.  It was an experience, but all was well after that with her.  It was a really long trip for her to be stuck in the carrier with no food, water, or litter box so she was rightly stressed for several days after.

As we were going through security, they pulled my purse out and I thought, "Oh no, what did I forget to take out of there?"  WHen they told me I had a knife in there, I was at first shocked, but I quickly remembered a few days before when Genevieve slipped her pocket knife into my purse before running off to play at the playground.  It happened to be her second pocket knife after losing the first on and just buying a new one a couple of months before at a German shop.  We took a picture of it before it was confiscated, and I sent it to my friends in Germany asking if one of them could stop by that shop and buy another one.  My heart was truly hurting for her.  She had no idea that they'd confiscate it.  I guess she hadn't been paying attention when the same thing happened to her dad previously.

Brian is taking the picture and was sitting next to Hannah.

Bobby wanted to sit with his sisters, so I sat across the aisle from them in case he changed his mind later which he did.  He's getting braver about sitting away from me lately, but it never lasts the whole length of any event.  He always changes his mind in the middle.  I switched with Genevieve when he did.

These two were on the other side of dad, across the aisle.

He did take a nap though before Genevieve and I switched places.

It was a looong day due to the time change we added six hours to our day, and it was after 9pm when we got to the hotel rooms in Baltimore, and after 10pm when we were all tucked in.  We'd had no dinner really, but the airplane gave us lots of food throughout the flight.  Most of us were okay and the little, pickier guys ate up my snacks for their dinner so we could just get to bed.

Our luggage

The whole process of getting our 26 bags, 2 booster seats, 1 car seat, and 1 freaked out cat in a carrier to and from the airport in a shuttle bus not much bigger than our van was exhausting.  BUT WE DID IT, and we are so thankful it is OVER!

And More Good-byes!

The boys' last day of Kindergarten was the day before we moved into the furnished apartment.  It was a sad good-bye.  The head teacher took a few special moments with each of them.  She spoke to Drew exclusively in German, but spoke half English, half German to Judah.  

I took a picture after their cubbies had been stripped.

We played at the playground across the parking lot after school like we've done so many times.  The boys found a cricket and played with it for a while.  They've been so interested in insects and so we've been talking a lot about how to tell if it is an insect by counting the legs and body parts.

Holding his Cricket

Two of Judah's Friends from School

One of the little German boys was crying because Drew and Judah wouldn't be coming back after the break.  So sad!

Good-Byes Everywhere we Turn

We went to our favorite local Italian restaurant and ordered our family favorite, the Schafkase (Feta cheese with olive oil, olives, peppers, tomatoes, and spices baked and served hot with pizza bread).

I had to leave early because I was meeting someone back at the house, but Brian and Genevieve stayed and shared a dessert.  Brian LOVES this place and really had to drag himself away.  The previous owner, the mother of the chef and current owner, has always been so sweet to us and we were sad to say good bye.

For a month we've been in the house with very minimal toys.  I have to say it's been nice and for a while there I was thinking we should just get rid of all our other toys, but then they started to get really bored when we were at home.  We had to get creative to keep the little ones busy.  Isaac mad Bob this car track and city on a brown paper bag.

Our really good family friends said their last good bye after church on Sunday.

Brian and I went to the old, 500 year old to be exact, bar in a village close to ours for one last time.  There was supposed to be a jazz festival there, but then the World Cup changed everything.  They cancelled the festival all due to the World Cup soccer game because they said that no one would come.  We enjoyed some delicious flammkuchen and talked with the owners for a long time.  They don't speak hardly any English and so they always have spoken German to us.  I do still have trouble when people talk too fast or just some accents are harder for me, but they were very easy to understand and I left feeling very proud that I had such a long conversation in German.  Granted, he was a talker and didn't require too many full sentences from me, but still it felt good to have made some progress since living in Germany for so many years altogether.

Its' not my favorite thing to have my picture taken when I'm eating, can you tell?

Of course, we had to say good bye to our hair dressers too!  Everyone got a fresh haircut right before moving.    Isaac got his first real, non buzz cut haircut from a salon.  He's been more interested in styling it and so I thought it was time.

Genna also had to get a toner on her hair to cover up the fading blue hair.  It is a shade darker than her normal color now, but she loves it.

At the furnished apartment, the boys and I had to get really cozy to read bedtime stories on Hannah's twin bed.  I didn't mind it one single bitty bit.  I love to read picture books to my boys, and I really love to cuddle!

My Bull in a China Cabinet

Some people may read that title and think I'm talking about Drew.  He's the crazy one after all.  However, one of my other kids have been on a streak of breaking things of late.  We are living in a rental here in Germany, and we've made it about 2.5 years without damaging the house.  As soon as our stuff disappeared, it began.  I'm sure that the two are related, but not one hundred percent sure how.  Is he bored with just the smaller amount of books and toys to play with so he needs to hang on everything and break all the things?  Or is his sweet little inner self in turmoil from his belongings being taken over the Atlantic?  Or is it the fact that they are all sleeping on mattresses on the floor and the house rule forbidding jumping on the bed is just too much to bear when you can just walk right on to your bed?

Looks innocent enough, doesn't he?

After the movers took our furniture and household goods, we had temporary furniture delivered to our house.  It is literally the bare bones kind of stuff, a couch and two sitting chairs, a dining room set with a tiny table and eight chairs squeezed around it, and mattresses on the floor.  Brian and my mattress is a full size.  Our feet hang off the end and we feel like we are going to roll off the bed if we roll over.  The mattresses are hard and covered in plastic...not comfortable at all.  I blew up our twin air mattress that I kept for our late mini shipment and just started sleeping there after the first night.  Just hang in there, there is a reason for all this detail.

It all started with the jumping on the beds.  The boys started out just falling onto the beds and pushing each other down onto them.  I warned them they were on shaky ground and if anyone got hurt, it would be the end of it.  Of course, that didn't take long for that game to be over.  Soon there was nothing left to do, but jump on the beds, apparently.  I caught the three youngest jumping on their beds and told them no jumping on beds.  Then I caught them jumping on my air mattress.  I laid down the law and said absolutely no jumping on any beds, but especially not mine!  One morning I catch them "falling" onto my air mattress and told them they are no longer even allowed to touch my bed because of their disobedience.  Then Judah had some friends over and someone tattled on him that he and his best friend were jumping on my bed.  I went and told him he was going to bed early and he was now not even allowed in my room at all.  Not five minutes after his friend left, he and Bobby were in my room jumping on the bed.  What is going on with this boy?  I increased the punishments and banned him from my room indefinitely.  The bed was now totally busted, and he has to use his own money to pay for a new one.  That was only the beginning.

He's come home with broken shoes three different days from Kindergarten.  Granted they were hand me down shoes, but they were the first day he put them on his feet.  He's broken multiple toys which I don't care as much about, but he also broke our car automatic window, the rolladens (outside window coverings) and pulled a rubber seal off the door jam.  Again I cry out, "What is going on with this boy?"  He's now had just about every punishment under the sun.  The only thing left, and I really don't want to have to do this, is to make him have to stay in the same room as me at all times.  One more broken thing, and I may be forced to do it.  Oh, please, don't break anything else!

Back to the mattress again, I mentioned that Bobby had been jumping on the mattress with Judah.  That night while I was saying prayers with him, he interrupted, totally out of the blue, saying, "Judah told me to jump on the bed."  I had not been talking about it or anything.  I took that moment to explain that he shouldn't just do something because someone tells him to if he knows that it is wrong.  Next time, I explained if someone says to do something that Mommy said not to do, tell them, "No, Mommy said we can't do that."  I teasingly said, "No more monkeys jumping on the bed."  I have heard from outside of their bedrooms several times, Bobby declaring, "No more monkeys jumping on the bed!"  I think he learned something.  I hope he learned something.

It's getting real packed up, Big Guy.

When one of the boys is losing control of their temper, I like to try the Black Widow's lullabye that she uses for the Hulk.  I say, "The sun is getting real low, Big Guy."  They don't really get it.  They've never seen the Marvel movies.  In fact, one day, exasperated by my "lullabye" Judah says, "Mom, that doesn't even work!"  But it does for me.  It keeps it light for me, and when your son is turning green and bursting out of his clothes he's so angry, humor makes it doable for me.

That story doesn't actually relate to this post, just to the title of the post.  This post is about our movers coming to pack us all out except for our small shipment of sheets, towels, pots and dishes, a few toys, and bikes that goes at the last minute.  

They packed us out in two days which is a record.  It usually takes three, but they had a lot of hard workers.  The only little mistake I made in my mad dash to organize the whole house for the shipment in only three days was that I didn't make it quite clear enough with my labeling not to pack what was inside of the dresser that I was not shipping.  I labeled it "Do not pack" but I failed to tape up the drawers and so they thought it was just the dresser that was supposed to be left and not all of Bob's clothes that were put in the drawers.  Before I knew it, all of his summer clothes that I had set aside were packed up in the room full of boxes and the guy had no idea which box they were in.  So we have been living with only the clothes that were in the laundry room, awaiting being washed.  Two friends did dig through their clothes and donated a few things since I had only one pair of shorts in the laundry.  Since I do a load of laundry nearly every day, it hasn't been too much of an issue as it turns out.

I sold this rocking chair and I moved it outside so the people could come pick it up that day, so the boys got cuddly in it one last time before we parted with it.

Now that all of our stuff is gone, we have over a month with temporary furniture and the bare essentials.  Judah didn't seem to fully understand that we were moving for good.  A week after they took our stuff, we were talking about his best friend at German kindergarten and how he was going to miss Judah a lot.  Judah suddenly exclaims,"What?  We're leaving forever?!!"  Not sure how he missed this in all the conversations we've had about this move.  I guess he just thought it was another trip to Texas, but I'm not sure what he was thinking about all our stuff going along for a trip to Texas.

Out of Sorts

This is kind of how we've all been feeling since the big move.  Drew's been losing his temper. Genevieve's been crying over missing her friends and being lonely.  Judah's kicked it up a notch with his two year old tantrums.  Bobby stopped sleeping through the night and got a cough he can't shake, but has otherwise been happy.  Hannah and Isaac have seemed normalish, but I think they just hide it better.  Brian's got big adjustments at work to deal with.  I have been drowning in boxes, to do lists, the children's issues, my own loneliness, learning my way around, cultural and language frustrations, and trying to feel settled.  I know from prior experience though that it takes a good six months to feel settled and normal.  The house still feels foreign, even though I am not getting lost in the house anymore.  If you are moving or just moved for the first time to a whole new area, whether it be an overseas move or not, just give yourself six months.  I hated New York for six months, and then I loved it.  I hated Germany before for six months, and I cried my eyes out when we left it.  I hated Maryland/DC for that long, and, again, cried my eyes out when we left.  I'm used to it, but it doesn't make it any easier.  

Where does my angel sleep?

We outgrew our house, you see?  Eight people just don't fit well in a four bedroom house, especially when one of the bedrooms is small, one of the people is a two year old, one is a baby, and one is a mommy who is the lightest sleeper in the entire world.   So Bobby was in our room since it didn't make since to move Judah into the boys room when we were moving a few months after Bobby was born.  I really tried to just keep him in my room, but I wake up at every noise.  About a month in, I moved him and his pack-n-play around the corner to our master bathroom and cracked the door.  That's when he started sleeping through the night, not every night, but gradually more and more often.  When the movers came, we moved him into Judah's empty room.  Judah moved into the boys' empty room in a borrowed pack-n-play for that week, and the four big kids had a sleep over on mattresses in the girls' room.  Well, I had to ship Bobby's Moses basket and pack-n-play ahead so I kept the pad from his Moses basket and his bumpers.  I made him a little bed on the floor since he wasn't rolling yet.  However, he didn't seem to like it so much and was not sleeping as well.  So I made him a makeshift bed out of the suitcase and the pad and bumpers.  This worked well.

Then we got stuck at the airport and our flight delayed.  We ended up in a hotel for one night.  I didn't want to unpack my suitcase for just one night, so I put coats down in the tub with his Moses pad and bumpers.  Yes, he slept in the tub.  He was safe and we were all able to sleep better.

Then when we arrived in Germany at the hotel, he was back in the suitcase again.  This time, however, we put him in the closet.  This doesn't work as well since I can hear when he wakes up and makes noises since the closet has to be cracked for ventilation.  Usually he would just go back to sleep before I'd ever hear him if he was in another room.  It's still better than him being totally in the open because then we might wake him up when we are reading or getting ready for bed.

Then I bought a used European stroller that has a bassinet attachment.  So he is at least in a real bed even though he's still in the closet.  He gets his own room in a couple of weeks when we finally get to move in to our new rental house.  I don't know what he'll do with all that space.  I'm hoping he likes it.  A lot.  Enough to go back to sleeping through the night again, at least sometimes.  He's still a total angel right now though.  He's happy and peaceful almost all the time.