Leaving Colorado

1100 miles.  Five states. Three days.  Three cars.  Three adults and a baby.  Two time zones.  Lots of gasoline.  Lots of stops.  Lots of God's grace.  And we are officially moved from Colorado Springs, CO, to Clarksville, TN.  Matthew is now stationed here at Ft. Campbell and is in-processing before starting back dentistry later this month.

Most of you are probably wondering how William made it through our cross-country adventure.  By God's grace, he did so well, even despite some difficulty.  A couple of days before the packers came, William started waking up during the night for no apparent reason.  This was difficult because he's not exactly been the world's best daytime napper!  Before all the craziness began, we could count on 10 or so solid hours of sleep for him at nighttime.  He must have known something was up, because now that we are back and settled, he has started sleeping through the night again.  Hoping it'll last!

Another difficulty for William (and for us all!) during the move was how HOT it was.  I would pick William up out of his crib and his back would be drenched in sweat.  This was after a nap with a fan blowing directly on him.  Having no a/c in Colorado is so common because it's rarely needed.  But during the week of our move, we needed it...  badly!  On Tuesday when the movers were there loading our items on the truck, William just wasn't sleeping at all.  It was hot.  He could sense something was up.  And this mama let his bear blankie buddy get packed (shriek!!!).  So where do you go with a baby where there's a/c and where he's sure to get some rest?

The car.

We drove to Chic-fil-A, and up and down the I-25, until he had gotten enough rest to make it through the rest of the day until bedtime at a hotel with an a/c unit.  We still had to clean the house that night, so he rested on me in the Moby wrap while we swept, mopped, vacuumed, and tidied up the rest of our Colroado house.  Though he was still hot in the Moby (and I was about to DIE), he seemed to feel secure.  And that's what he needed as everything he had known was about to completely change.

We began our trek across the country on Wednesday morning, July 18, around 11am.  William did so well in the car.  His rough patches happened towards the latter half of the day when he'd about had enough of the carseat.  So we pulled off occasionally to either pop the paci back in or, if he wasn't taking to that, to stop and walk around with him a bit in the fresh air.  Rather than be upset about the fact that his schedule was completely out of whack, I decided to accept it, to PRAY, and to focus on keeping just a couple of things consistent.  Those two things were a consistent wake time and consistently eating every 3 or so hours.  Bedtime went out the window.  Some nights he went down at 10:30 once we found a hotel, other times 8:30.  And he would wake up multiple (and I meant multiple) times during the night, so who knows if he even knew it was nighttime or not!  We would do our best to put his paci back in and pat his belly to let him know it was ok.  One night he was wide awake around 3am.  I went to check on him, and he giggled and smiled back at me.  Though that time of day was not mama's favorite for playtime, it was so sweet and reassuring to know he felt secure and happy.  Praising the Lord for that grace.

Next stop (after multiple stops, that is, to eat/potty/nurse/sleep/nurse/change diaper/nurse/get gas/nurse)... Tennessee!

Packers came on Monday, July 16

My dad graciously came to drive one of our cars back to TN

William loved seeing pop pop

Giving the floors a good sweep and mop before move out

Dad cleaning the window sills in the kitchen and probably wondering what all he's been roped into!

Cleaning with child in moby so he could get some sleep

Saying goodbye to my friend's downtown pottery studio

My good friend Jennifer holding William.  Jennifer fired all my pieces for Pottery for the Parentless.

Saying goodbye to my dear friends at the UPS store behind our house.  Here's Mary.  Just missed Susan.

Goodbye to our favorite old shopping center behind the house!

Officially ready for departure on Wednesday morning.  William is tanked up and ready to sleep!

Goodbye!

Singin 'Flyover States' as we drove through Kansas on day one.  William got hungry in the middle of nowhere.  So that's where we fed him.

Kansas

Day two: Missouri and Illinois.  We even managed to take our plants and remaining refrigerated food with us.  It was quite the eclectic assortment of items!

My sweet dad who got roped into an 1100 mile journey that took three days!

Found another blankie bear at wal-mart...whew!

Stopping in Illinois to give William some time out of his carseat

Hangin in there on day two spent in the backseat

Crops outside the gas station

Next day's destination: Kentucky and then Tennessee