Moving out!

It is appropriate that I am typing this from a hotel room in Boston.

As I mentioned here, there was a list of things we had to do before moving out:

- install ceiling fan in our bedroom

- send personal knick-knacks for long-term storage to my parents' house

- sell the twin bed/nightstand

- PACK PACK PACK!!

- donate everything else that we cannot pack/give to friends

Living room & the two things I gained while living in Cambridge!! Haha. 

And, we actually got everything done!! I kind of can't even believe it (I was finishing up work, going to a conference, hosting collaborators, while taking care of Chase and Nate was furiously finishing parts of his experiment that he needed to take to Geneva). Nate was convinced it would only take us 5 hours to pack, whereas I thought it would take about two weeks. It took us about 5 hours per weekend during the first two weekends in August, along with about 5 hours a day for the last 5 days before the move (on August 14th). So, probably one solid week of only packing would have been correct, after the sorting and packing I had been doing here and there since February. Nate was also convinced that it would only take 8 boxes -- whereas I said at least 20. We ended up with 18 boxes total - 13 from Cambridge, 2 from Omaha, and 3 from San Diego. They were various sizes, so I guess depending on the sizes each one of us could have been right. In the end, I overestimated and Nate underestimated. But, we got everything packed and out of the apartment. 

Second bedroom, bathroom, kitchen

We didn't actually sell the twin bed -- we donated it. But, we did end up having to sell the couch (the person who initially wanted decided to take another one) and that did get sold. We gave away our TV and coffee table to friends because the tenants didn't want those either. We had an open house to say goodbye to our friends and gave away anything they were willing to take. In the end, the left overs got donated along with clothing and other items that had accumulated in the apartment after our 5 years there. We made a detailed list (super conservative) for tax purposes and it seems we donated close to $1300. 

Master bedroom and walk-in closet

We left our beloved (okay, maybe only beloved by me because Nate still doesn't think you can love living spaces) furnished but empty-of-our-stuff apartment on the 14th. Nate went straight to Geneva to find us an apartment. Chase and I went to San Diego to chill for a few weeks and hang out with my parents. Now, Chase and I are stopping over in Boston with my mom (who works here) for a few days before the two of us travel (ALONE!! So scared to travel alone with a 4.5 month old!) to meet up with Nate. We will have about 3 weeks to hopefully (fingers crossed!) move into our apartment and get settled before I am starting my post-doc. I will be sure to regale you of stories of how frustrating it is that everything in the US is designed only for 110V, how annoying it is not to have access to laundry 24/7, and how ridiculous it is that grocery stores can be closed for most of the weekend! And that's just what I can think of right now -- I'm sure there will be tons and tons more stories of our life abroad. 

A bonus of Chase "flying" while flying! Also known as the reason I'm hoping to have Michelle Obama arms soon -- lifting him up like that for an extended time is not easy! 

Chase-Related Home "Improvements" and Crafts

Chase was almost exactly 4 months when we moved out of our apartment and in those 4 months we figured out surprising things that did and didn't work for us in terms of having a baby in our apartment.

Biggest thing that did not work for us (mostly me): having him in the room with us
Before Chase was born, I would scoff at those who thought babies needed their own room. Why wouldn't he just sleep in his crib in our room? I thought. Well, a few days after he was born, I found out that little Chase was a noisy sleeper and every little noise would wake me up and put me on edge. Nate could sleep through it all without a care in the world! Lucky him! I was getting even less sleep than I should have been because Chase's breathing, sighing, even moving was keeping me wide awake! I also theorized that he could smell my milk when I came into the bedroom to sleep so that was also waking him up, making his sleep worse. So, at a few weeks old (maybe 3, I don't even remember anymore!! How quickly it goes!) we moved him to the spare bedroom and it made both of us happier. Although we never really set up a real "nursery," we did pretty much give him his own room by putting his crib and his changing table/dresser in there.

Biggest nice surprise: having the twin bed in the extra bedroom
Even though we got rid of the twin bed (see next post), having it in the spare bedroom was amazing. I could feed Chase there at night, it would keep both of us from waking up too much, and then I could put him in his crib before going back to my own bed. It worked out so well!

Biggest "I told you so"... from our end: cloth diapers
Everyone told us we would never stick with the cloth diapers -- except for Nate's mom who seemed to be our only supporter. We started out with prefolds and covers and then transitioned to pockets (that means nothing to almost all of humanity, but they are cloth diaper terms that I would love to discuss with anyone who cares). We got an amazing deal on craigslist and I painstakingly replaced the elastics on 23 diapers (really the only "craft" part of this post -- but boy was it time consuming!). We love cloth diapers and it actually makes me sad that we may not be able to use them in Switzerland due to us probably not having a washing machine in unit. We made do washing them in our old washing machine (running an extra rinse cycle manually before the wash cycle), but with our new washing machine (see last post), it was even easier! Not only could they be washed directly due to him only receiving breast milk, but they held in poop SO much better than disposables. In the end, we did end up using overnight disposable diapers because this Chase character is the heaviest wetter ever, but one diaper every night made sense economically, and only putting ~700 diapers in the landfill rather than ~6,000 makes sense environmentally. We still use disposables when traveling short term or when we had sitters so those numbers about are a bit of a lie.

Biggest saver of space and money: minimalism
We really tried to get by with the fewest items possible, mostly because our apartment is small and we were going to move so soon. People were so kind and gifted us many clothes and toys/gear. We also received some hand-me-downs which were awesome. Chase outgrew things SO quickly so we tried to pass it forward and gave away old clothes, the swing, and many accessories. Overall, Chase is just happy chilling on the floor with a few toys, although he won't say no to an activity mat. He did have a swing but he wasn't much of a fan and he already outgrew it. Other than that, we were able to get by without any kind of rockers or seats or activity centers. He has a pack-and-play as a crib, a $10 changing pad attached to the top of a dresser, and will have a high chair when we get to Switzerland. Overall, we could have gotten by with even less, but it was nice to have the things we did.

Biggest baby ever: Chase
Both our mothers found our weight records for our first few months (my mom even had it charted on old school graph paper for both my brother and me so I digitalized those points to start). I combined the information and added Chase's info to objectively conclude that Chase is a freakishly large baby. I'm really hoping he is plateauing because he is in 12-18 month clothes and is 4 months old! I am hoping once he starts moving he will get leaner. We got him some sturdy clothes for Switzerland so it would be nice for them to last an appropriate amount of time!

All babies were exclusive breastfed during this time and it's not like the three of us were small! Chase is just HUGE!