Settling in...

We are slowly getting settled in our new apartment. Moving was soooooo difficult with a 4-month old and a 3 year old!!! Grace was easier than Annabelle, but it was still difficult. Theydidn't understand why I didn't have as much free time to play. I saved a lot until the last week, so it was a CRAZY final week in the old apartment. But we got it done. I was so grateful for my mom for coming up three times to help pack and for one of Grace's favorite babysitters for coming over to watch the girls. My neighbor Susie helped a lot too. She'd come over and hold Annabelle while I worked. It was nice to have the help the times I needed it.

We loaded the truck Friday night. Grace even wanted to help load.

Before the truck was loaded, she enjoyed running around in it. She was so red! (It was about 90 degrees when we started, even though we waited until 6pm to start loading!!) John and some friends got the truck loaded in less than 2 hours. We were amazed at how quickly it was finished!

Saturday morning, we finally saw ourapartment for the first time. We had seen a 1-bedroom at the complex and the floor plan of the 2-bedroom, but there wasn't a 2-bedroom available to tour. Storage space was in short supply, so after we got everything into the house, we had to start tossing more stuff. (I thought I had gotten rid of enough during the packing process, but I still had (and need to still) to get rid of more!) We have a storage closet on our patio, but the hot water heater takes up half of the space. We were not expecting that!

Yesterday, my sister came over with her girls to help me sort all the girls' clothes. She had passed on stuff from her girls, and we've gotten a ton of new stuff (plus other hand-me-downs from friends through the years.) When I pulled all the crates out, I had 7 large crates and 4 small ones.

I knew I had a lot, but I had never counted. And that was only newborn to 24 months and 1 small box of winter 3T. (And the girls' dressers are overflowing with everything they fit into now!) We decided to get rid of all the baby clothes once Annabelle is done with them, and with the rest of it, I had to decide what I would never put her in, even if it was the right size for the right season. I have 1 large crate of clothes to sell to a resale shop and 4 trashbags (so far!) of give-away clothes. It feels so good to get rid of stuff! I have 3 crates to finish going through today, and then I have to tackle Grace's dresser. (I've already purged Annabelle's current wardrobe of things she won't ever wear.)

Next up, toys.... But that's a job for another day!!!