We're officially residents of North Carolina

A couple of days before we left Sean decided to make things interesting. He ended my clear run of not having visited the ER for either of my children. Poor guy woke up unable to get air into his lungs. I rushed him to the ER where he received a few breathing treatments. I have only ever been more scared once.

When I picked Meredith up from her last day of school in NYC, her entire school said goodbye to her. It was the sweetest thing I have ever seen. She also got her school pictures in  that day.

We hung out with Rob's parents on Friday night after our truck had been loaded. We stayed overnight as Renee & I prepared for our drive down. Yes ladies & germs Renee & I drove down with 2 kids, 2 dogs & a fish. We thought it was going to be a rough drive since Sean & Meredith were crying when we first got started. I was fully prepared to park at long term parking in Newark Airport and fly down if the screaming didn't stop. Thankfully enough they fell asleep. For 3.5 glorious hours, they slept.

We stopped at IHOP in College Park, MD for breakfast with some friends. And because nothing involving me should be boring, I promptly got thrown up on by someone else's kid. They weren't even a part of our group. Blech. I was present enough to duck so that my hair didn't bear the brunt of the funk, but I did manage to get it all down my back. Unfortunately for Renee, I was wearing her sweatshirt.

 

 

I was pleasantly surprised by our drive down. Both kids were fabulous. Both dogs were fabulous & the fish survived. Renee & I chatted the whole way down and I am grateful she was there to keep me company.

It's official. We're North Carolinians. Say that 5 times fast. 

Meredith has started her new school. She loves it & they love her. We've met some of our neighbors & Meredith has made fast friends. She introduced herself to Jack (2 doors down) as Meredith "But I'm really Belle" Her friend Jack tells his mom that he wants to go visit his princess. Is that sweet? 

   

And yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting & hanging out with a fellow Brooklyn transplant and her kids. Andrea brought Alex & Cicci over for some moving box mural making. To say it was a fun time is an understatement. The kids played, painted, played marching band and had donuts. All while it was sunny and then raining. Alex thought paint slip & slides were the bees knees and she sure was right! We had a blast and can't wait to see them again. 

   

This is why we moved. We moved so the kids would have a better life and we'd be able to watch them enjoy their lives. Making friends for ourselves is gravy, but it's good gravy that we're happy about adding to our buffet (thanks GMA).  

The smiles are what it's all about. 

Packing reaching fever pitch

We move in 10 days!! I can't believe it. As we get closer to it I can't help, but feel anxious. It's a BIG move. It's not a move 2 hours away (by car) where we can still be a part of our NYC life as if we haven't moved. This is an 11 hour drive (non-stop). Our house is packed up. New things for the new house have been ordered. Clothes have been packed up. And as everyone knows..... once the clothes are packed up, it's go time. 

I'm excited and nervous. Meredith wavers between being upset about leaving & being excited about new adventures. Sean doesn't understand, but I'm sure he realizes something is going on. He's being extra affectionate with his therapists & extra cooperative. 

One thing we're finding is that there are things that aren't worth packing. Like used finger paints. I've been perusing Pinterest and have found all sorts of good things to do with the kids. One thing was to put oil & finger paints in ziploc type bags and then tape them to the window so the kids can play. Well.... my windows are to high & I only really have the ikea mirror for the kids. So we made do. 

I taped the bags using packing tape to the mirror. 

 

They had fun & it kept them busy for quite some time. FABULOUS! 

Almost completely finished packing. New adventures here we come!!!!

Guest blogger, Flat Samantha, coming soon. :) 

Cat's out of the bag now.....

Now that everyone knows who needs to know, I can let the whole world know that we're moving in March. Yes again. Rob is transferring to North Carolina.

There are so many things to take care of before we move. I haven't started packing, but I feel like I have done this so many times already that I'm a pro. I really only need like 3 weeks to pack the whole house. Of course we'll start well before that, but still. I'm pretty organized (even though you'd never know it by looking at the state of the toys around here) so things should go into boxes pretty easily.

So the start of a new year and a new life. CRAZY!!!