Moving Cross Country with a Baby

A Whirlwind Few Months 

March- have a baby. June- move cross country with a baby. Time in between- tie up loose ends with old job, get house in order to move, oh yeah- learn how to be a new mom. All with Matt already on the east coast, leaving just me, a dog, a cat, and a newborn. Game time. The spring of 2014 was one whirlwind adventure after another! The first few weeks were dedicated to bonding with my new son and spending good quality time as a new family in D.C. But when I got back from D.C., we had to hit the road running because that's what you do as a military family. You get thrown impossible tasks and you figure out a way to make it work. 

Fortunately for me, my mom flew in from Portland to help me out, but mostly to snuggle with her little pogi boy, or Lola's boy as she likes to call him. We'll humor her by letting her think he's Lola's boy but everyone knows Jellybean is a mama's boy! The military is really accommodating when it comes to helping out new moms, and I'm grateful for that. Between my prenatal care, childbirth, follow up appointments, and everything in between, the medical facilities at Fort Hood gave me whatever I needed. My squadron also bent over backwards to keep this new mama comfortable. So, when my mom came to help me get the house ready for the move, I knew I'd be busy, but I knew we'd be well taken cared of too. 

Two weeks before I would be putting Texas in my rear view mirror, we moved into a hotel. Household goods picked up my furniture, Jellybean and I took pictures in front of his very first house, and off to the hotel we went to live out of suitcases for what ended up being almost 6 weeks. Being on the move and living in hotels and out of a suitcase with a newborn definitely challenged me. During those two weeks of outprocessing in Texas, we quickly learned that Jellybean HATES car rides. I mean H-A-T-E. As soon as that kid was in his car seat, he would scream his head off. They say babies love going on car rides, it will put them straight to sleep they say. Well, not my baby. And I had a three day drive from Texas to Virginia ahead of me. Let's just say, the Bose canceling headphones weren't packed up by the movers. 

Moving Day 

Taking photos outside our first home together

Jellybean had no problem sleeping in a hotel

Saying bye to Lola at the airport 

Time to Hit the Road 

Moving day came, we dropped Lola off at the airport in Killeen, and then drove up to Dallas to pick up Matt who would be helping us drive cross country. I prepped Matt over the phone regarding Jellybean's tendencies to...well...scream his head off every time he was in the car. But, to our pleasant surprise, Jellybean decided screaming wasn't really getting him anywhere and he slept most of the three days we were on the road. I sat in the back seat ready to pop my boob into his mouth whenever he woke up hungry so we didn't lose precious time having to pullover every two hours. Jellybean still wouldn't take a bottle so, yes I put safety aside while I unbuckled my belt, leaned over the carseat, and fed him until he fell asleep again. We had rubber to burn and places to be! We never took the little guy out of the car seat though, we have a few safety standards in this family. 

We always traveled during the day. Since it was summer, the sun was up and we could hit the road pretty early and be in our next hotel all settled in by dinner time. Once again, the pre-travel anxiety wasn't warranted since little man did so well on the move. He's already prepared for military life and my little Air Force brat survived his first PCS! 

It would be another few weeks after arriving in Virginia until we found our perfect home (on the water) and a few weeks after that until our furniture would get delivered. Air mattress and microwaveable dinners during that time wasn't that big of a deal when the views from the balcony are spectacular! 

Hanging out with Dad in the hotel. Our first
road trip as a family.

He's giving me the stink eye, but grateful this
little man is such a good road trip baby! 

Selfies in the backseat with mom while dad drives 

I'm a west coast girl, but I was still excited to see the Atlantic!
Home for the next few years. 

The view from one of FOUR balconies in our new house. This one happens
to be connected to the master bedroom :) 

Lessons learned from our first PCS with a newborn. 

1. Accept help. My mom flew in to help me move and my friends were always willing to chip in here and there. 
2. Know when baby's fussy hours are (for us it was always between 1900-2100) so we made sure we were always settled in a hotel by that point. 
3. Only take half of what you think you need- I definitely packed way too much baby stuff that I never even touched. 
4. Planning ahead can go a long way but don't get discouraged if it doesn't work out the way you originally wanted it to. Plans will always seem to unravel when there's a newborn in the picture.