Alive and Well in Mississippi

If you are wondering, we did make it to Mississippi...finally! It has taken me a while to catch my breath long enough to update our blog, so I have alot of catching up to do. Therefore, this post may be a little lengthy, so pull up a chair.
For starters, it seems that we had to pack alot more than originally planned for a temporary move...at least that is what my dear husband discovered. The temporary apartment that was provided for us came fully furnished, so Matt assumed we just needed a few toys and clothes. Well, he quickly learned that nothing is easy with two little ones. He forgot that we needed Will's bath tub, his pack n' play, Caroline's kitchen, Will's high chair, Caroline's booster seat, all of the strollers...the list goes on and on. I obviously concentrated on the kids' essentials, because it seems that I left all of my essentials back in Dothan.
Thankfully, Pappaw and Mamaw Kat came down to help watch the kids and load everything into the UHaul for our move. Matt drove the UHaul which pulled Ol' Red (the only one who was treated like a king in this whole ordeal), his Dad drove the Expedition, I drove the kids in my Tahoe and Matt's Mom drove her Explorer. (Yes, we have realized it is time to get more gas friendly modes of travel...but that will have to wait unit we get settled.) Finally...the caravan was on its way! Matt and Pappaw headed out an hour earlier because they figured since they would have to drive slower in the UHaul, and we'd catch up with them soon.

Once we were all packed and on the road, I breathed a sigh of relief. Of course, that sigh of relief came way too soon because traveling from Dothan, Alabama to Jackson, Mississippi with a baby and toddler by myself about drove me over the edge. For starters, it takes a normal person about an 1 1/2 hours to get to Montgomery from Dothan. Our little trip took 3 hours....we had to stop 3 times! My favorite stop was when Caroline yelled out from the back seat in panic mode..."MY BELLY BUTTON!" You see, Caroline has to play with her belly button in order to go to sleep, and of course her mother put her in a bubble suit for the ride home which limited belly button access. I thought something was terribly wrong with her screaming like a maniac in the back so I came to a screeching halt. Thankfully, once belly button access was granted, all was well until the next stop a few miles down the road.

We finally made it to Philadelphia after about 7 1/2 hours in the car (it should only take 5 1/2) so that we could drop Bama off at Pop's. We let the kids play for a few minutes and then back in the car we got...oh boy! At this point, we have still not caught up with Matt and he has made it to the apartment already. As we were leaving Philly, Matt calls and informs me that he can't get into the apartment. Oh fun...at this point, I'm thinking we should abort this little trip and call it a day. My husband thinks otherwise and tells me to keep coming...he'll figure something out. Thankfully we all finally made it in one piece. We got settled in pretty quickly and enjoyed a few days of playing with Mamaw Kat and Pappaw before they made the trip back to Louisiana. In closing, I'd like to thank both of Matt's parents for their help...I would have definitely lost my mind without them!