In, but not Settled

Ahhh, the life of moving. When I married Daniel during his first year of Optometry School, I had no idea what a ride this last year would be. Quick recap for those who didn't catch our happenings:

August 2007--Moved our belongings to storage unit in Idaho, then moved to Bethel, AK.
November 2007--Picked up belongings in Idaho and moved to Mesa, AZ.
December 6th, 2007--Talmage Harriman Wright joined our family nearly 3 weeks early and weighing a whopping 10lbs 6oz. We spent the next 3 months consoling him due to colic.
January 26th, 2008--Seth turned 2.
February 16th, 2008--Moved to Utah (on my birthday).
May 2008--Daniel graduated and we moved in with his parents in Saint Anthony, Idaho.
July 2008--Moved into town home in Idaho Falls, Idaho while negotiating with a doctor there.
August 14th-20th, 2008--Dropped everything and drove to Phoenix, Arizona to work out job details since the doctor in Idaho Falls wasn't working out.
August 27th, 2008--Moved to Chandler, Arizona in 110 degree (or something like that) weather.

Technically that's 7 moves in about a year! Hopefully, we'll stay put for at least a year or two, and then the next move will be local.

With all that moving, you'd expect us to have it down to a science. Well, in some ways we do. Daniel and his Dad have gotten really good at cramming all our belongings into a 24 to 26 foot moving truck. We finally learned to break the longer move into 2 days with a hotel stop in the middle. On this last move, we figured out how to rig the laptop to play movies in the suburban for both kids to see. I learned to pack a little box of things I'll need immediately and to plan clothes for the first couple days after moving.

But, what I haven't figured out is how to make the boxes magically pack and unpack themselves, or how to not feel exhausted for the week or two following a move. With this move to Arizona, due to the heat, we had to get all the boxes inside and out of the HOT garage. So, we have boxes EVERYWHERE. I should almost take pictures. I can't see the kitchen table or counters, and can barely fit in one of the bathrooms due to all the boxes. Laundry is already piling. Babies are screaming. Mommy is just shy of pulling her hair out!

The one really nice thing about this move has been having our good friends Dan and Jenny living so close. Seth loves their son, Patrick, and Jenny took Seth for us the morning of the move while we signed paperwork and ran errands. Then, knowing we probably hadn't found our kitchen yet, they had us over for dinner and games tonight.

Well, I'm tired and closing my eyes and going to sleep makes the boxes go away, even if just momentarily.

--Stephanie