Well, I need to write this down just so I will remember the chaos that was this move!!!
It started in the previous post the week before closing when our deal almost fell through. This was devastating news as we had no contingency clause on the house in SC. Miraculously that all worked out and the movers arrive. Everything goes great on the first day of packing. The kids are in school all week and stayed in after care scheduled for Tuesday-Friday. Mike is already here so we don't have to worry about that. I have made many lists of the items that are to go with us to corporate housing the items that are to stay with the move. We have gathered up extremely fragile items, we are selling things on Craigslist right and left as the week moves on - our washer/dryer, 2 rugs, couch, loveseat, bench, chair, etc. It is busy, busy.
On Wednesday, packing is crazy again and Mike and I unload the attic so the movers will pack it up. We find them sitting around alot, but they assure us that we will be ready to go by closing time on Friday. Wednesday night (or after summer school rather) we discover that Doggie is MISSING! Doggie is an integral part of our life and has been something that Ryan has slept with and carried around with him since he was 5 months old. This is truly a DISASTER!! We search through all the boxes that we thought had been packed that day. (imagine 3 children in a house that is totally filled with boxes. By this point every item in our kitchen/bathroom/loft/bedroom has been packed save for our beds and our summer clothes.) It was a zoo!! We had explained to the movers that doggie shouldn't be packed...along with Lovey, but they didn't listen so well. We gave Ryan a "fill in" Doggie in the form of Bunny, and thankfully he went along with it in the hopes of finding Doggie before the boxes were loaded on the truck the next day. (we were unsuccessful -- Doggie was gone for over a MONTH)
We went to the pool on Wednesday night to get out of the house...
Thursday dawns bright and early and I am taking the children to preschool and getting home to find some small corner of our house that Colin can nap in. He is NOT napping...he is CRYING....on and on and on...
I am trying to do last minute things like turning off our utilities and turning in cable boxes/remotes when I log on to my bank information and see lots of RED ZEROES!! Something is not right....I am on the phone and seeing this bank statement and getting a call breaking in all in the same 3 minutes...
I get off of the phone, switch over lines and realize that the preschool is calling. Kaitlyn is running a 100+ fever. I have to go get her. In the meantime, Colin is crying and Mike is trying desperately to get our loan set up for our other house in SC as we have only 30 days till it's closing and we are trying to get all of our closing documents secured through the relocation company that we had to use for the AL house. It is not going well and he has been on the phone by hours and it is only about 11:45 am.
I switch car seats from my car to mike's because my car has a uhaul attached that we are going to load tonight (thursday) with any big items that we need to take to corp housing for a month. (In hindsight, thank goodness I switched that car seat). I am calling my bank as I am going to get Kaitlyn trying desperately to find out what has happened to our account. Well, come to find out, I messed up on the online banking. Instead of paying $2000 for a bill, I paid $20000 for a bill. What a mess an extra ZERO makes in your life. The mess of it was --- I couldn't get the $20000 back and issue the real amount. They kept taking the money out of our account (which didn't hold that much) and trying to pay the bill. The bill kept rejecting for insufficient funds and round and round that merry-go-round we went. We had to ask our parents to spot us some cash because we had to pay realtor fees the very next day at closing and couldn't get our money back until the following Monday. WHAT A DEBACLE that was. Thank goodness we had money deposited into our account to cover the payment until we could get our cash back. Now, I am on my way to get our sick daughter. Then I spend 2 hours at the doctor to be told that she has a virus. i bring her home and put her to bed and then think...what in the world am I going to do with a sick daughter tomorrow when I have to go to closing and get my house sold?!?!
We went to a going away party Thursday night - which was a lot of fun. We are REALLY going to miss our neighbors. We packed what we could in the uhaul.
Friday and we are up early -- we break down cribs, we pack suitcases, we deal with movers who have left JUNK all over our house that they haven't packed yet that need to be packed. They are supposed to be out of Bham by 11am....they are still at our storage unit at 3pm. Not good. I dropped the 1 child off at preschool, got the closing money, went and signed my paperwork early, went back to the house and THANK THE GOOD LORD had sweet Ms. Leigh show up to keep Kait and Colin. (she is Kaitlyn's teacher at preschool and was Ryan's also) We have her setup with an ipad as this is the only thing left in our house. there are no beds, there is no couch, there is no TV, there are no toys. EVERYTHING is being packed...it was AWFUL!!!! The kids are only supposed to be there until noon and then we are on our way....well, these POOR, POOR children were in our house until 5pm. It was the HOTTEST day on record for AL -- around 108 degrees and we have a child with a 100+ fever and neither have naps. Leigh had to leave at 1pm. We are still trying to get out of there. Our sweet realtor stays to help me get finished once the movers finally leave and sweet Norma is there cleaning as fast as she can. She finally heads out at 5pm to go to another job and we get everything that movers have just LEFT in our garage. INSANE! they were not supposed to take our cribs, but they took our crib mattress. Remember that carseat I switched over on THursday...thank goodness, because they PACKED our infant carrier that Colin needs to be in the car. They BROKE our green egg along with so many other things. They put a hole in our outside door, they got drinks and dirt ALL OVER our stairs, they dropped a sharpie and made a HUGE spot on the master carpet, they left our baby swing that we now have to haul, they left tile and bricks and so many other things....I just can't say enough. We had a feeling at this point that things were not going to go well. Mike and I said goodbye to Ross Bridge at 6pm on Friday night. This is 7pm EST. A VERY LATE START TO OUR ADVENTURE!!
We arrived in Chapin, SC at 1:30am EST and I don't think we have ever been so tired. We have gotten NO sleep ever since that call last Thursday and my sweet parents let us sleep in Saturday morning. Do you know what time I rolled over -- 11am!!!
This was the first leg of our move home to SOUTH CAROLINA.
