Welcome to Charlotte

Part of the family is in Charlotte!

I've been slowly packing the house for a couple of weeks and Tuesday is when the professional packers (thanks be to God!) arrived to do the rest. It turned out to be more hassle than it was worth for John and me to be hanging around the house while it was swarming with packers. I'm so grateful that my mother in law came over to help me watch John. But the poor boy had nowhere to nurse or nap, so he was frazzled. At one point, we got in the car and drove for an hour just so John could nap. Despite his going six hours without nursing at one point (John never does that), one of the packers commented that John was the best baby he's ever witnessed on a packing day. That made me feel good!

Toward the end of the day, I commented that I wished I had driven to Charlotte that day instead of waiting till Wednesday. That sparked us to thinking and we figured out that I could get everything together in time. I was out of the house within an hour with a vehicle full of stuff, the baby, and two yowling cats. I left Atlanta at 4:30 p.m. so I hit a lot of rush hour traffic while leaving. It was a real blessing that exhausted John slept for the first two hours of the drive while I got to feel like an adult and listen to the Dave Ramsey radio show in peace.

I stopped for dinner in Greenville (John loved his fettuccine alfredo), but after that the drive got ugly. It was 8:00 p.m. when I left the restaurant and John screamed and wept for the next two hours to Charlotte. Normally he falls asleep for the night between 8:00 and 9:00, but for some reason he just couldn't fall asleep in the car again. It's been a while since John and I have had to endure two hours of uninterrupted screaming.

The night was not yet over, though! I had to stop by the apartment first to drop off the cats since cats are not allowed in the hotel. Chris had chosen the apartment and I had not yet seen it in person, so I made my way there. I can't describe much because it was dark and late, but it certainly seems like a neat place. Our first adventure concerned some wildlife which welcomed me at the apartment. I had John in my Ergo and was walking up the steps to the front door when I placed my hand on the rail, touching something very soft and wet. I let out an exclamation! It turned out to be a very cute frog who did not jump away despite my assault on his person. As I brought all the cat supplies into the house, John and I said hello to the little frog on each passing.

After getting the terrified cats set up with a litter box, food, water, and cat beds, John and I set out for our hotel six miles away. I got lost because my GPS system wasn't working at the moment. I called Chris, who got online and talked me through where I was going, and in the meanwhile John began crying again, the cats were yowling (which they do when John is crying in order to alert me to trouble with the baby--as if I don't know), and I briefly thought a policeman was pulling me over (but he wasn't).

I was bedraggled when I finally arrived at the hotel past 11:00 p.m., having been awake since 6:00 a.m. But we made it safe and sound. John had one night terror after falling asleep, which is pretty typical when he has outrageously tiring days.

Today Chris is supervising the loaders and then he will drive the truck to Charlotte, meeting me late at night at the hotel. John and I will probably spend a lot of today relaxing, as the poor baby woke up with dark circles under his eyes. But I might also venture out to buy a toaster oven and do an initial grocery shopping trip.