Writing from Chicago today! The move has gone pretty smoothly–a few hiccups with Comcast (ugh) and the post office (it's no wonder they can't make any money–apparently, receiving a confirmation that your address has been updated with them means absolutely nothing), but overall all is well. We drove up here last Saturday, and Penny was a trooper. She took two naps, which was awesome and only had two meltdowns. Otherwise, she played in the car–I had purchased a few secondhand toys she'd never seen before, which helped a bit. And lots of snacks (for everyone) helped to pass the drive. We spent two nights in a hotel here and then were unloaded on Monday.
We didn't get much unpacking done on Monday, as the boxes were unloaded late in the day after all the furniture, but we were incredibly productive on Tuesday. We got most of the house unpacked and even hung up artwork and photos in the main rooms all in one day. Josh was home Monday and Tuesday, which was great. Since then I've been juggling keeping Penny entertained, exploring our neighborhood, unpacking/organizing, and contacting various utilities/Craigslisters/freecyclers to get settled. This move has been so much easier than our last move 15 months ago. I think a big part of that was a serious push to organize and purge before the move. We had more notice this time around, and it wasn't as far to move, so those things helped, but over the last year we have really tried to get rid of things we don't need or use and to keep our house organized. Our efforts were validated when our box total came to 99 this time around, whereas last time we had 120. Penny was only 4 months old the last time we moved, so we have acquired clothes and toys for her (we haven't gotten rid of any baby/toddler stuff), but even with all of the kid stuff, we're still 21 boxes down. Definitely moving in the right direction. Having less stuff helps, but having organized stuff is what really makes the unpacking easier.
As far as activities here go, we have ventured out to a mom/tot group at the neighborhood coffee shop. Penny was the oldest kiddo there–it was advertised as a baby/toddler group, but it was mostly babies, at least this week. I've also contacted a music school in our neighborhood and will probably start taking Penny to storytime at the library next week. I also checked out the La Leche League schedule and will try to attend some of their meetings this fall. We joined a gym that has childcare and I'm working on getting Penny adjusted to a new nursery. In Omaha, she went to our church nursery two mornings/week plus Sundays, and she absolutely loved it. This nursery is much bigger with lots more kids and caregivers, so I think it will take some time to get adjusted, but I'm sure she'll be walking around like she owns the place before too long. The gym has a nice sundeck, wifi, a cafe, a spa, yoga classes, and a pool with family hours on the weekends, all of which I'll be taking advantage of! I am thinking I'll do yoga a couple times/week and then come a couple more times/week just to hang out, get a massage, blog, shower, or whatever. And Penny will have fun swimming with us on the weekends.
Penny has adjusted very well to our new house. She keeps saying "New house! New room!" and thinks the whole thing is just one big adventure and playground to explore. The house is mostly one floor, so she can pop in and out of her room or the living room, kitchen, etc. whenever she wants, which she seems to think is pretty cool. She has also been sleeping really great here. A few times when it was about naptime, I asked her if she wanted to play in her room and she hung out there for a little bit and then fell asleep on her own. One of us had always laid down with her for naps before, so this is a really nice welcome trend. I was worried about how this would work with new baby coming, so I will be thrilled if she starts taking naps on her own. We will see–it may just have been a fluke.
Sorry for the blogging gap this past week. I meant to get a couple posts scheduled to post during our move, but time got away from me and I just didn't get it done. Things will also probably be a little slow around here this month as we continue to get settled, make a new plan for Bugabug's birth, find doctors for the family, activities for Penny, get our cars registered, etc. etc. But happy September! Hope you all enjoy the holiday weekend.
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