It’s finally here – Moving Day!

We started the day by sending the under 28″ crowd to their respective care providers. I dropped Nicki off to daycare and Lily to “kitty camp” (our euphemism for the kennel). Boarding Lily for the day was a lesson’s learned from a few moves back. I had six of my friends help me move apartments, and in the hustle we noticed Lily was missing. She turned up under the kitchen sink – a hiding place she had never explored before, and that I almost didn’t think to look – after several moments of sheer panic and near tears thinking my indoor-only, can’t-fend-for-herself kitty was gone forever. While I wasn’t worried about Nicki running off into the wild blue yonder if a door was accidentally left open, I thought the transition would be easier for her if the day was as normal as possible.

Drop offs went longer than usual for obvious reasons. There were hugs, and near tears, and more hugs. Nicki has really bounded with her teachers, especially the ones that have been with her from just two months old! They’re her second (and third, and forth) mommies! Linda over at the boarders also takes amazing care of Lily – so much so that she actually sends us Christmas cards of our own cat!

When I arrived back at the house the movers were already there. They got the house packed up in just over two hours. The only hiccup was the crib. It wouldn’t fit through the door assembled and they weren’t willing to unassailable them. No problem, I’m handy with tools, right? Unpacking went just as smoothly.

Side note: I highly recommend Jericho Moving and Storage. I’ve hired professional movers three times and these guys are hand’s down the best. Everyone was great, courteous and extremely professional. The final bill came out to be 16% less than the quote, and that’s after we purchased insurance!

After the last of the boxes were in the apartment it was time to pick up Nicki. Lily got an overnight stay since there wasn’t time to get them both, and daycare highly frowns on overnight stays. The plan was for Domingo to make her dinner while I assembled the crib when we got back. That’s when we hit our first and only major snag.

The movers did dissemble other furniture. (I’m sure they just didn’t want to disassemble the crib for liability reasons.) They taped up all hardware components to the respective furniture to make reassembly easier. When they brought the furniture in, I noticed a cam connector on the floor near the entrance way. I set it aside figuring we’d eventually discover what it belonged to.

When I tried to assemble the crib I noticed that not one, but five of the eight connectors were missing. I had managed to keep track of the screws, but had somehow failed to notice the connectors and five had fallen out of the crib posts in transit. Panic. We didn’t exactly have a plan B sleeping option.

Luckily I had friends in the area who could come over and lend a hand with Nicki while Domingo and I tried to solve our crib fiasco. While I waited for our friends to arrive, Domingo went to the hardware store armed with what we thought was one of the missing five connectors. I’m sure you can guess where I’m going with this. When he got home we realized the cam connector didn’t fit in the slot. Not even close. It must have come from a different piece of furniture. I pried out one of the remaining three connectors and realized it was actually a cross dowel. Back to the hardware store Domingo went.

Success. And only two and a half hours behind schedule.

Another side note: Baby Bargains recommends never buying a crib second hand because of the risk of missing parts/hardware. The guy at the hardware store kept referring to these times of items as “assemble once”. After this experience I’m inclined to agree.

Posted in Family Life | Tags: Milestones, Moving