Since You've Been Gone

I'm going to backtrack a little bit and hopefully get caught up to the present, so here we go:

Mike headed out to Ohio on June 13th. That was a sad time and we missed him, but Matthew was only 2 weeks old and there was still the move and the house to deal with. And I needed more time with my family before I left Arizona. But, the call of the paycheck was there, so Mike packed his bag, or rather his box, and flew out to Ohio. We got some really great perks from his new company, including a REALLY nice furnished apartment to stay in for a month and a rental car for two weeks, so he was all set when he got there.

He jumped right into his job, although he was, and still is, waiting for his security clearance to transfer over. He likes the feel of the smaller company and hopefully will find some more joy in this work than he did with Lockheed and the big corporation.

He also had to get busy finding himself a car and finding a house for us to rent. He found a cute little car pretty quickly, but unfortunately we've found quite a few problems with it recently and we're probably going to get rid of it now.

As far as the house goes, we had been checking websites for a couple weeks and found several nice homes for rent. We decided to rent for now because we don't know the area yet. So I sent Mike a list of houses we had found and a list of things to look at. Well, our favorite one online was the one we got because Mike walked in and thought "Lindsey would LOVE this house." It is beautiful. I will post more details about the house later, but Mike did a great job!

So, what were Amy, Matthew, and I doing while Mike was setting up our new lives in Ohio? Well, mostly we were still getting used to a family with two kids and a temporarily single mom. We didn't have to worry about packing or any of that, so we got to play a lot! Amy taught Matthew to read booksand watch movies

and sleep at the same time!

We also spent a lot of time with my family. Grandma and Grandpa wanted to spend as much time as possible with the grandbabies!

We did have to do some packing of the stuff we would need in Ohio until our stuff got there. So we packed out suitcases, and the movers came bright and early Monday, June 29th. They were great! I walked them through the house and they set to work. Mandi Allen was great and offered to take Amy to the library with her kiddos to get her out of the house, which helped a lot. Thanks so much Mandi! Right when they got back, my mom came over to take Amy to her house for the afternoon (since her bed was in a box and there was no way she was getting a nap at our house) while Matthew and I stuck around the house to supervise the packers.

At the end of day 1 of packing, it was time to party! My mom had invited a bunch of family and friends over to her house to swim, chat, eat, and say goodbye to me, Amy, Matthew, Lisa, and TJ. It was a blast, but so sad when people started leaving and we realized we actually had to say goodbye. It was great that Amy got to play with Keaton and Lilee one more time too! She's going to miss them, along with her other friends. Grandma and Grandpa Knight were able to come down from Linden and see Matthew for the first time and get to say goodbye to us too.

We spent the night at my mom's house, and the next morning Matthew and I had to say goodbye to Amy. This was definitely hard because she was with my parents the whole week we first had Matthew, and now we were going to be on opposite sides of the country! I definitely went through withdrawals without my Amy! But we said our goodbyes and Matthew and I went to meet the movers. They had finished packing everything the last night, so they loaded up the car and our stuff started its trek across the country. I have to say, having professional movers has been an awesome experience. They were so great and we didn't have to lift a finger!

And here is the empty house. My mom came over shortly after the movers left, we did some last minute vacuuming and cleaning, and we were off to the airport. I guess I should mention that the reason Amy was not coming was because we decided it would be easier if my mom brought her the next week (since she couldn't fly out with us that day due to the fact that my dad had gotten her tickets to Wicked later that week), so she was crashing at Grandma and Grandpa Lewis's house for a week and a half.

We definitely bawled all the way to the airport. We're such big babies. And then my mom stayed at the airport until she physically couldn't see my anymore, and every time I turned around to see if she was still there I just started crying again. I have no clue how I'm going to survive without my mom. She has been a constant in my life and my best friend! She is always there for me and always goes out of her way to make sure we're loved and taken care of. Thank you so much for all you do, Mom. We miss you already and can't wait for a chance to come visit.

Ohio, here we come! Arizona, we will miss you!