Moving with kids!

Wow! Moving can really sock up your time, especially with 3 little ones running around you.
My last post seems like ages ago but can finally take a breath of relief....we are done moving in and organized..mostly.

How did we do it? Not quite sure. The house that we moved into was in drastic need of cleaning and cleaning. What I mean was..it was filthy. Turns out that before we moved in, and during the time the house sat on the market, a small group of 'squatters' decided that it would be great to move in and take advantage of the unoccupied space. Lovely! Grime and who knows what else lined the floors and the walls, and so many things that could have maybe been salvaged...well we just through them out at arms length.

But that was the easy part. Moving with kids, who can't stay off the floor, is not so easily accomplished.

Then I had a sudden light-bulb moment.

Cleaning like a mad woman I scrubbed and disinfected the entire living room area. Thank goodness there was no carpet! And then I proceeded to block it off from the rest of the house with a baby gate, playpen, and chairs. At first the kids cried and screamed at this arrangement but I was too stubborn to let them potentially be bombarded by some gross germs on every surface outside their new bubble.

We didn't have any internet yet, and the tv wasn't hooked up. What to do? The toys inside the bubble were being discarded in the corner and the lack of interest was increasing. I grabbed a few dvds and set them up to play in my laptop on a box. A blow up mattress with their pillows and a blanket became their couch. When they finally fell asleep from exhaustion on their new bed ( into the wee hours of the night as my husband and I cleaned and painted) I attacked the room they slept in with paint. It is amazing what we got accomplished.

So my advice to you. When you are moving, make a bubble. Put your kids in it, don't forget to always have food made/snacks or they will rebel, and label your boxes well. In the time of need, kids toys and movies ( for the move) can be a serious emergency kit to help you steer away from insanity!