The Move

Steve, Ruby, and I moved into the new house about three weeks ago on August 16th. One of the main reasons we put off moving out of our old apartment for as long as we did was because the thought of packing all of our crap, er belongings, made me want to knock myself unconscious. Although Steve and I tried to not be hoarders and to make periodic donations to Goodwill, we still accumulated a massive amount of belongings since our wedding (mostly in the form of china, glassware, kitchen gadgets and appliances) and an even more massive amount since the birth of Ruby (in the form of furniture, baby gear, and TOYS).

Before getting married, Steve and I had really quite little in terms of wordly possessions and never needed to hire professional movers to move. The last time we moved (from Steve's apartment in Mountain View to our apartment in the city), we rented a small U-Haul and enlisted the help of two friends. Almost everything we moved belonged to Steve, as I had brought with me only two checked bags from the East Coast a few months earlier. The time before that, when Steve and I moved from an apartment we shared in Sunnyvale during the summer I interned at Roche Palo Alto to a house in the Berkeley hills, we rented a minivan and did the entire move ourselves. And the time before THAT, when we moved from Steve's apartment at Stanford to the apartment in Sunnyvale, we used only Steve's personal sedan. Of course those were the days when Steve possessed exactly 1 bowl, 1 spoon, and a pair of chopsticks.

We packed our first box about a week before Moving Day. We only had the few hours between when Ruby went to bed and when exhaustion overcame us to work. We tried to tackle first the most tedious aspects of packing: the china, glassware, and frames. Even though the wrapping of each individual item in packaging paper was the most time-consuming part of the process, most of the items we were packing had been stored inside cabinets and had not seen the light of day since they were first unpackaged during receival, so our packing progress was not apparent to the outside observer. After several days of packing, I realized that we had yet to pack a single thing we actually ever USE.

We planned the move for a Monday, so that Ruby could be watched by the nanny at our share care partner's house. Even though we had packed diligently every evening the previous week and through the weekend, we were still up until 3am the morning of Moving Day, throwing things into boxes.

Midnight on Moving Day, a sad state of affairs:

Our movers arrived around 9:30 in the morning. They were highly efficient and finished the job in just 4.5 hrs. Although there are many moving companies in the San Francisco area, this one seemed like it was meant to be.

In addition to hired help, we also enlisted the help of all grandparents in the packing/moving/unpacking process. My mom flew in the Friday before Moving Day to help pack and to look after Ruby so that we could pack. She stayed until two days after the move to assist with the most critical elements of the unpacking: setting up the nursery and rendering the kitchen functional. Her departure was immediately followed by the arrival of Steve's parents. Steve and his dad were tasked with putting together the many pieces of new furniture that required assembly, while Steve's mom cooked and stocked our freezer. After a week of frantic unpacking/organization, the house looked quite in order for just 1 week post-move.

The main reason for the furious pace of the unpacking was our desire to minimize the disruption to Ruby's day-to-day life. Ruby is definitely a creature of habit, and she does not adapt easily to new situations/environments. For the first week after the move, our share care partners hosted the nanny share for the first time in their home. Even though Ruby had been to their home before and she was familiar with all the people there with her, she experienced a lot of anxiety about being in a less familiar place. For most of the time she was there, she needed to be held by the nanny the entire time or else she would get scared and cry. After the first day, Steve started dropping her off in the morning because it was too upsetting for both of us when I had to leave. Even though by the time Ruby got home the first day, we had set up her bed and unpacked all of her regular toys, she could tell something wasn't right, and she regarded everything in the house with a great deal of caution. Oftentimes when Ruby feels insecure or scared, she becomes even more attached to me than she usually is. Anytime I was in her eyesight, she would protest loudly until I picked her up and then bury her face in my shoulder and cling to my neck for dear life.

It took Ruby a week or two to fully adjust, but I can tell she is now comfortable with our new home. She is once again able to play on her own, and she is less cautious and more eager to explore. It is a little sad to think that Ruby will soon forget our former home, which is where she was brought back to from the hospital, where I spent 36 hours in labor, where we learned I was pregnant, where Steve and I came home to after getting married. Of course I'm sure we will make even greater memories here, ones that Ruby won't forget.