Whoa, it has been a long time since I have written a post. It feels like forever, even though it’s only been 8 days since my last post. The past week has been complete and utter chaos.
My father came down early last week to tow John’s car and most of everything I will be needing over the next few months. That was beyond stressful for me. As a military family you have two or three choices when it comes to moving: 1. You can choose to have them move everything for you. 2. A Do-It-Yourself Move where it’s all on you and then reimbursed later, and 3. You can choose to do a partial DITY move – you take some and they take the rest. The down side to having them moving everything for you is that you do not get to help, which is hard for me. I want to be the one to pack everything. In our case, it drove me nuts because I had to pick through everything and decide what I wanted to take with me for the four months I will be living here in STL. Needless to say, it was a bit of a nightmare. We packed John’s little Focus to the maximum with everything I could think of that I needed – mostly clothes and beauty products. I have acquired quite the collection of both, so it was a lot of packing and unpacking once we arrived.
After my dad left with the car, that’s when it all got even crazier. He also took Charlotte’s crib with him, so she started sleeping in her Pack and Pay, which went a lot better than I expected it would. The next two days were such a mess with trying to juggle a toddler and two dogs. The dogs ended up at doggie daycare for two days, which they love, so that worked out in their favor. I spent most of the moving days at Samantha’s house hanging out and letting the kids get their last play dates in until we see each other again. Seriously, it was so sad to think we won’t see each other until the summer.
After the movers had taken everything away, we decided to stay in the cabins on base at Uchee Creek. It probably wasn’t my best idea ever. I thought since it was a cheaper nightly rate, and cheaper for the dogs, it would be fun to stay in a cabin. Wrong. It rained the entire time we were there, so everything was a muddy mess. I wish we had purchased an air mattress and stayed in our house the last few nights. Besides the rain, it was a long drive back and forth from the cabin to our house for cleaning. Note to self: start cleaning before it’s time to move. John and I both wanted to wait until everything was out of the house before the cleaning started. Huge mistake, we should have been cleaning for weeks. But, we busted our butts and got it done. Fingers crossed that we get our deposit back! Lesson learned I guess. It wasn’t all bad though, we had a little nature walk the morning we left with Charlotte and the dogs and I broke out my camera and got a few great shots before we left.
After our house was completely empty, I think it all finally hit me that we wouldn’t be coming back there after the holidays. We’ve taken leave a lot to come home and visit, but always knew that we would be coming back to that house. All I have wanted to do is come home since we’ve been in Georgia, but now it’s so sad we won’t be going back to the house we brought Char home to. But, it was time to say goodbye and move on to what is next for us in life. So, we packed everything else we were taking with us and started our journey back home. The drive from Fort Benning to STL is about 11 hours, so we have always stopped and stayed the night in Nashville. It’s a nice little break for us and Charlotte, as well as the dogs this time. My mom found a us great hotel that allows dogs so that was a huge help. We stayed at the Hilton Home2 in downtown Nashville and it was wonderful. There were so many other people there with dogs, which made us feel so much more comfortable. Traveling with dogs isn’t the easiest but it definitely can be done comfortably for everyone if you make the extra effort.
Saturday, we arrived home to a warm welcome including a “Welcome” sign and everything else! I can’t tell you how good it feels to know we will be spending the holidays here with our loved ones. We have missed Christmas three times and countless other holidays. I can’t wait to watch Char open gifts with her cousins and run around and play together this year. The move kept me on top of my game when it came to shopping for the holiday. I purchased almost everything online and had it shipped to my mom’s so we weren’t trying to do it all once we got here or having to travel with all the gifts. There were still a few final things we needed to pick up, so John and I went out into the madness Monday to finish the shopping. The craziest part of the whole day was that Char wasn’t with us. John and I are NEVER alone together given the fact we didn’t have free babysitters around in Georigia. There were a few times when we were at the store that I even thought, “Wait, where is Charlotte?” Like I thought she just walked off, since I am so used to her always being by my side. I look forward to the next few weeks of hopefully spending more alone time with my husband since I won’t see him much over the next four months while he is away at school for his new position in the Army.
After all the madness of packing, cleaning, shopping and leaving the place we have known as home for the past two years, we are finally back in the place we call home. Even though it isn’t forever, I am so excited to spend as much time with our loved ones while we can. So it is goodbye for now Georgia, maybe we will meet again some day.
What have you been up to this past week?
Yuri says
Thanks for sharing! Beautiful pictures!! Your daughter is the cutest!