Monday, July 23, 2012

We ride to OREGON!

Look at this climbing baby!
I feel like a warrior. After packing and packing and cleaning and packing some more, I feel like Xena, but without the warrior-princess getup. Instead I get to wear baby food covered comfy clothes. I prefer my outfit - WAY less chafing. Packing and cleaning with a vertically inclined baby in the house is I.M.P.O.S.S.I.B.L.E! We had everything packed up and in the front room in boxes, and Little J decided to climb to the very top of the stack. Over and over and over again. My heart skipped lots of beats that day. After we moved all the boxes to the storage unit, Little J came and sat on the couch, pointed at where the boxes used to be and said, "Uh!". He was pretty sad that they were gone. So, he decided to climb on the camp chairs instead.

We have almost everything packed, except for the essentials - computer (duh!), changing table, couches, bed, and the diaper genie. Little J likes all the open space and has been exploring all the empty closets. We like playing peek-a-boo in them. It's been nice to slowly move into the storage unit and not have to do it all in one fell swoop.

It's dangerous to go alone. Take this
string with you.
We're leaving on the 31st to drive to Oregon with nothing but the essentials packed into our Subie. It'll be an intense game of Tetris to fit everything in the back, but I think everything'll fit.

Moving has created a kind of existential crisis in my mind! All of our earthly possessions are packed in a 10' x 15' storage locker! All our lives are in there. All of Little J's baby clothes, our bikes, our bed, our furniture. It's like we've just shrunk our lives to fit into this tiny space. But then I got to thinking. Is it really our lives in there? That's assuming that our lives are defined by what we own. I don't want to make that assumption. I think we're more defined by how and what we do, not what we own. That made me feel better about leaving all of our stuff in a corrugated metal shack.

I need some advice. It's a 12-hour drive to Sisters, Oregon from here, and we're trying to decide if we should drive there at night. Little J HATES his carseat like a cat hates a spray bottle. I'm afraid driving there during the day would mean lots of tears from the small one, and lots of frustration from the big ones. But, I don't want to get to Oregon at 7am, and then be a peanut butter brain for the rest of the day. Thoughts? Thanks.

5 comments:

  1. He's almost a year! Crazy how time flies! I would do it at night. We're trying a red-eye flight in a few weeks ourselves and we're really hoping it works out. At least with flying we can switch off holding Hen and sleeping, but that may not be the case with driving. I would still try at night though. I think especially on the open road, there are less stop lights and stopping in general, which for us, helps Henry love his car seat a bit more.

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  2. You're such a clever writer. James is absolutely adorable sitting on top of the boxes, hah! Peanut butter brain for a day or crazy for 7 hours... not great options, have fun!

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  3. I'd give you advice on the car bit if you were leaving a few days later...but as it were, we're driving 10 hours to California that same day! We're opting for being peanut butter brains (mostly cause I can't endure Nikolai's crying) but do what works for you! Good luck with everything!

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    1. Oh dear! I can't handle the crying. Josh can't either. I'm sure everything'll go great with us though. Lots of prayer, snacks, and maybe some drugs for the baby, and I think we'll make it. Good luck on your way to California!

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  4. I love the picture of James offering the protection of the string!I'm sorry I don't have any helpful tips seeing as we don't have kids! My sister is a NICU nurse and is a proponent of the small dose Benadryl for traveling tykes. . . but that's not everyone's thing obviously. We are going to really miss you guys!

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