Alabama: Getting Here and Being Here

Have you ever done something crazy and thought to yourself later “I can’t believe I just did that!?” If so, you likely understand where my head is at right now because I CANNOT BELIEVE WE JUST DID THAT.

And by “that”, I mean handle a short deployment, get through the holidays, find a job, list a house, sell a house, find and buy another house, parent our two children, pack and get everything out, deal with 5,000 daily related tasks, road trip 800 miles, and every single freaking thing in between all on our own.

Now everything that we were worried about, anticipating, or wondering how it would all come together is behind us, and we’re actually laying our heads in the place we’ve always dreamed of coming back to, starting a whole new chapter of life as a family of four (plus our love chug – duh). WOW.

We are happy campers.

I kinda wanna go to bed (I’m writing this at 10:01 p.m. Tuesday night), but I kinda want to type too, sooooo… I’ll just blab for bit because Jamie is awake next to me anyway watching Crossfit YouTube videos. 😉

We have been planning for months to set Sadie up with a “big girl” bed in our new home, so I took this picture the morning she woke up in her crib for what we thought would be the last time (before the movers disassembled her crib). We transitioned Hadley around the same age and it was SO EASY. Like, absolutely could not have been easier. With Sadie, her booty will be back in the crib in our new house. She is SO NOT READY. Whatever, man!

Our packers and movers were on their “A” game and showed up bright and early by 7:30 each morning. They were absolutely fantastic to have in our home.

Jamie’s last day in uniform as an active duty officer was Thursday, the same day that our packers arrived. We both thought we’d be so sentimental about this day, but we were so busy and distracted. This ended up being a good thing! Knowing Jamie will still be serving in the Reserves is making this transition a million times easier in so many ways. We admittedly have no idea how long he’ll do the Reserves thing, but for now, it’s a fantastic way to ease out of wearing a uniform.

After our movers left Friday, we ran across the street to make s’mores and enjoy time with our neighbors. Perfect night for all!

We opted not to stay in a hotel Friday night since staying in a hotel with Sadie is one of our least favorite things to do, so we took an idea from my friend Leanne and borrowed a tent to let the girls camp out in. Hadley is OBSESSED with her – highly recommend), so she apparently knows all about camping (?).

They each have (I swear to you they are SO worth every penny), and slept really well in them. It took Sadie a hot minute to fall asleep, but they slept soundly until 6:30 when Hadley woke everybody up by exclaiming that she wanted milk.

Do you remember in my “Saturday Sit-Down” last week how we were so excited to clean our house for a few hours and then run around to all of our favorite local hotspots? WHAT A JOKE!!

Cleaning, touching up paint, and packing our cars was so much work. Holy moly. And doing it with two girls at our feet was so hard. At one point, I laid on the floor with Sadie trying to get her to nap and just prayed for help. I had no idea how we were going to get everything done.

Buuuut let’s backtrack. Before Saturday got too nutty, I slipped out to do my last workout at the local 9Round gym. Man, I adore these people. I already miss their energy and friendship so much already. I was glad I was able to run in and get in one last sweat sesh. Manhattan friends, you won’t be sorry giving this gym a shot.

After working our tails off all day, we finally rolled out around 6 p.m. We gave big hugs to our neighbors (while I cried like a big baby) and smiled for one last picture on our porch. We drove over to Junction City, weighed our cars full (part of doing a partial DITY move), and immensely enjoying a greasy dinner at Freddy’s.

Sadie’s face was basically all of our faces after successfully completing our tasks that day!

Jamie had to officially sign out on the 25th, so he got up Sunday morning, drove to post, signed out, and then we hit the road. The name of our game was to stop when Sadie wanted to stop. They equalled stops roughly every 150ish miles. We walked around gas stations, played at McDonald’s play places, ate dinner at McAlisters, etc.

We even decided to pop off an exit and drive by the first home we ever owned in Clarksville, Tennessee. And guess what? Teddy freaking LOST HIS MIND when we got about a mile away. He 100% knew that we were at his old home. I died. We haven’t lived here in over four years?! How does he know? Dogs are truly so smart.

We finally got to my parent’s house on Monday around noon. I told my mom about a week prior that I was thinking about getting for Sadie’s upcoming second birthday, and just a few days later she saw it in excellent condition on a BST site. I told her to grab it, and the girls have been going bananas over it ever since. Lord, strike me if I’m lying, but both girls have ridden it at least 100 times. Hours and hours of fun. What a FANTASTIC toy!

Did you see my IG stories?! The girls truly love it. I cannot get enough of seeing them ride it and smile the way they do! You can shop it .

Yesterday we spent some time in our new home finalizing a few things before we close next week, and afterwards brought the kids to a local park. The last time I was at the park was in October with my girlfriend Amira, my sister Jennifer, and all of our kids. We talked a ton about the possibility of Jamie finding a job in Madison (Alabama) and us moving back in the spring. EVERYTHING was unknown at this point, just five short months ago. I couldn’t help but share about the conversations that were had while pushing these same swings just a few months prior.

All I wanted to do yesterday was run around the playground playing tag and going down the slide with Hadley, be silly with Sadie, and feel every bit of the gratefulness that was overflowing from my heart. Everything has worked out. We are here. We are home.