Are We Done Yet?

I keep swinging between elation and an anxiety so severe it renders me dysfunctional. I keep thinking the deus ex machina moment is coming. As of yet, it has not. I have moved some where in the neighborhood of 10 times, but this has been by far the most difficult.

As I mentioned I have been waiting for help to come save the day, (atypical of my personality since birth). Let me explain the factors at play here. First, regardless of my moving experience and above average organizational skills I am limited physically in ways that I've never dealt with before. Second, I am moving a family of four instead of just myself. Third, I have a toddler underfoot or "helping" at every turn. Fourth, Mike.

Mike has limited moving experience, no organizational abilities to speak of and a completely different set of priorities. I feel like I'm swimming against the tide a lot. Thank God he can run cable, anchor shelves and fix things that require the use of a nail gun. I really would be lost without his talents. The trouble is when I tell him the 3 things I need him to do before I can proceed with getting us settled and instead he does something that wasn't even on my radar like mount speakers. I think it's a Mars/Venus thing.

The kids haven't been all obstacle either they've pitched in here and there. Isaac "packed" his bookshelf (which I had to repack while he was school). Overall his attitude has been much better than expected. He was helping untangle the cords on the entertainment center today and he became very concerned. "Are you SURE we're supposed to take this?", he asked me. It turned out Isaac thought that t.v.s come standard in every house. Eight year olds. I straightened him out by pointing out that there was nothing in the new house when he saw it the first time (not even a t.v.) and we would leave nothing in this one. Riley decided to be helpful today too. She told us she was wet and instead of waiting to be changed went to the diaper bag got a new pull up and had it halfway on by herself. I think when they can change their own diaper it's time for the potty.

I've done my best to keep kids on their normal routines, but it's hard. I had all these sunny visions of long afternoons spent letting Riley run through the empty house while I unpacked boxes in peace (while the boys were at work and school). The problem was there was no furniture to unpack things into. So, instead I spent long days in the wreck of the old house packing boxes and waiting. Waiting for help to load the car, waiting for shelves to be disassembled/reassembled, waiting for Mike to get off work, waiting for a time when I'd be free of both kids and so on.

We've done our best to this point largely by ourselves. I feel like I'm drowning. Tomorrow we'll have the U-haul for the big furniture and I don't feel like we're as far along as we should be. I thought we had lots of help and it's turning out that we don't. I tried to line everything up ahead of time, but I never knew how much we'd have done at any point. We're down to the wire now and I'm pleading on facebook and text message for help tomorrow, fingers crossed.

I need a hero, I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of this move. He's gotta be strong. And he's gotta be fast. And he's gotta be fresh from the fight. (I totally hear it sung from the fairy godmother in Shrek 2, but feel free to hear Bonnie Tyler).