Finally Settled

HI!

I'm back!

You know what it means by me blogging again? It means that I'm finally settled! Wooo hoo! Jamie and I are living under one roof after a long two weeks of not seeing each other. We've spent a whole week together (which we haven't done since JUNE!). We've gone on dates. Closed on our house. Cooked meals (okay, I did that). Slept in our queen-sized bed. Not the twin anymore (hallelujah). And can finally call this place "Home". Praise You, God, for that!

Don't worry, hopefully tomorrow or early next week, I'll take pictures of our humble abode.

But before that, let's catch up, shall we?

Last week. Big week.

Sunday night was the last night I slept in my house. Just me a Lulu Bear:

We went to be around 3:00 in the A. M. And woke up around 6:00 in the A. M.
Why the "h" am I smiling in the wee hours of the night?! Insanity, I tell ya. I don't think I could sleep because I was thinking about the movers coming in the morning.

Did I get everything packed?

Is every box labeled?

What if they don't even show up?

Will they be nice moving people?

Will they steal all my stuff?

Can I seriously handle one more seven and a half hour drive by myself?!

But, have no fear. They showed up around 10:00 ish on Monday morning. Two men. Ready to haul some boxes and furniture.

In the meantime, Leia played in the back of my car:

She was probably a little overwhelmed. I mean, who wouldn't be with this bad boy parked in the front of your house?:
Multiply that picture by about three or four and that's how long this truck was. I'm not kidding. It was a beast of a moving truck. My stuff only took up the first little section. For realz. All of it fit right in front of that door:
And guess what?! I had visitors mid-move!

Hi, Owen and Kendall!:
Kendall is my Big. No, I'm not calling her "fat". She's my Chi Omega "Big Sister" and she is the b-e-s-t BEST! She and Owen were driving to Tulsa from Alabama and came to have lunch with me. Love them so much!

Love you, Bigity Big Face!:
Here's my beloved Mickey puzzle before I took it apart:
Stupid missing piece.

Did I mention that my mother-in-law Kim came to keep me company while the movers were here? I'm so glad she did, because I would have been bored to tears. She also took our kitchen table back to my parents' house so they can use it in their new studio. Thank you so much, Kim! You're amazing!

Monday night, me, Kim and Leia Lu slept in a hotel room. Yes, we snuck in this little lady:
And no surprise here...she didn't sleep well. She barked like a mad woman around 10:30 at night and I was just waiting for the knock at the door asking us to leave. I'm a pretty by-the-book rule follower, so it took some guts to sneak her into the hotel. But, we made it. We didn't get caught and blacklisted from all hotels for the rest of our lives :)

Tuesday morning, we went to the house one last time to get the food that was in the fridge. And I walked around taking a few pictures of our empty house.

Goodbye, living room:
You provided lots of movie-watching, Leia-playing, and nap-taking. We'll miss you.

Goodbye, Office:
Jamie will miss his man cave.

Goodbye, Guest Room:
Only a few guests stayed in here, but this was the home of most of my clothes. For that, I thank you.

Goodbye, master bedroom:
You were large and cozy and perfect.

Goodbye, master bathroom:
I'll miss that whirlpool tub. That thing was the bomb!

Aaaaand for some unbeknownst reason, I didn't take pictures of any other room in the house. Hmm..weird. We had a kitchen. And a guest bathroom. And a dining room. And a garage. A complete house, if you will. I'll miss all of that too.

But now, here we are! This was taken last Wednesday, on move-in day:
That was an enthusiastic thumbs-up for the movers we hired! They unloaded everything into the apartment and the storage unit in about three hours. It would have taken me and Jamie many more hours, plus a hospital visit, I'm sure.

And marriage counseling.

Married couples shouldn't move themselves. It's not healthy for a marriage.

I had to put Leia in the bathroom so she wouldn't get away or escape but she barked like a crazy pooch, so I put her and her bed on the kitchen table so that she could observe everything going on:
She much preferred that!

Thank you, United! You guys were fabulous!
I felt sorry for them, because our apartment complex doesn't allow moving vans to come up on the parking lot, so they had to park down below, carry everything up a big ramp and them up a flight of stairs. So sorry, guys. Not my fault :(

Eventually, Leia Lu got tired from watching all the action, so she crawled in her bed and took a snooze:
Night night, girlfriend!
Wednesday and Thursday, I unpacked crazily and only had about three or four boxes left in the house Thursday night. Record-breaking? I think so.

Friday morning, Jamie and I left at the crack o' dawn to head back to Memphis to close on our house. Oh I'm so sick of that drive. But I was glad to close on our casa. No more mortgage payments for this couple! Whoop whoop!

Thankfully, we have dearly beloved friends, Phillip and Emily who let us stay with them for the weekend. Emily is preggers and had a gender-reveal party Saturday night, so we just stayed the weekend so we could spend time with them and see if they were going to have a baby girl.

Friday night, we went to the mall and picked out a build-a-bear to reveal the baby's gender. Emily and Phillip had gone to the baby Doctor that afternoon to find out the sex of the baby. But they just had the doctor write boy or girl on a piece of paper and seal it in an envelop so that they could find out with everyone else at the party. How fun is that?!

So, we chose two stuffed animals to represent Baby Black's gender. A monkey with a baby blue boy outfit if it was a boy. And a bunny with a pink baby girl outfit for a girl. The gal at Build-a-Bear opened the envelop, put together the animal based on the gender and sealed it in the box which Jamie proudly carried:
There's the mystery box:
Saturday night was the party.

Can you tell Emily's a tid bit nervous?:
It's almost time to reveal the gender:
Phillip and Emily explaining the story behind the Build-a-Bear:

By the way, don't you just hate Emily!? Look at how cute she is! There's no way that she's like twenty months pregnant! No way! I'm bigger than that after a big dinner! You're too cute, Miss Emily!

Opening the package...
It's a.....

BABY BOY!!!!!
Look at how happy they are with their future bundle of love!!:
I am beyond excited for them both and can't wait to meet the little guy next year!

Holly (on the left) and Jenny (on the right) were the hostesses with the mostesses of the party:
You all throw a mighty fine gender reveal party! Love you both!

That night was rough. I said goodbye to a few people that I love and will miss dearly. I boo-hoo'd as we left...I hate saying goodbye.

Sunday morning, we woke up and the four of us headed to IHOP for breakfast. I love me some breakfast food and I love me some IHOP.

After breakfast, it was time to say goodbye to my "Memphis bestie", Emily. I wept like a little girl. Emily and I clicked from the get-go when I first met her at Sunset Symphony last year. Emily, I'm gonna miss you so much, but can't wait to see you soon!

I love and miss my Memphis friends already and know that goodbye's are not forever. I much prefer "See you later". So, Memphis pals, I'll see you later!

So hello from Lafayette. Here begins a another journey in another city.

Love you guys.