Our Last Week

This post was written Friday before we moved...but I never ended up having enough time to post it! But I wanted to make sure it got posted to remember our final week in MA!

This blog was started when we moved to MA - to help our friends and family far away (because we knew no one here when we moved) feel connected and to keep people up to date. With that in mind I want to make sure (in all the last minute chaos of packing and cleaning) that I fully chronicle our last week here. I apologize for the long post...and the lack of pictures (I can't remember the last time I took so few pictures in a week...). But, in the theme of reminiscing, I have a lot of links to old posts :)

Saturday

We started the day with our family pancake breakfast - making pancakes without eggs & using soy milk for the first time. They were delicious! Now that my mom was here, Lucas and I hoped to really get a lot accomplished since this would be the only full day we would all be there before moving day. Unfortunately, I had to take the twins to get their 1 year blood draw. What I thought would be a quick trip turned into a couple hour ordeal as they had to have 2 people to do a pediatric blood draw, and we had to wait for another person to come.

Entertaining the babies in the hospital lobby while we waited...

On top of that, they weren't able to find Allie's vein so I was going to have to come back with her. This slightly traumatic event ate a huge chunk of my day and killed my productivity. However, I was lucky enough to end the day with pampering and chocolate in the form of an evening with the Kims. Oddly enough, 2 of my dearest friends in MA (who also attend our church) happen to share my name...and at one point we all lived in the same town! It was great to enjoy one more fun night with them before we leave MA. I will miss these dear friends.

Sunday

Sunday was hard because this was our last service at Westgate. I almost didn't want to go...maybe if I didn't actually say goodbye it wouldn't feel like we were leaving. But I did. We cried. The church gave us a very sweet send off (with cake, gifts, kind words, and even a song!). It was hard to say goodbye to so many people we love, and so many people that I felt I wanted to know more, but never got the time. Our church family has stepped in as our family here when we needed support, and we will miss the dear friends we have made.

Monday

I had to take Allie back to the hospital in the morning. I was prepared. I called ahead and got the hours for the lab so I could be the first patient in (to get it over with quickly). Unfortunately, they still couldn't find Allie's vein, so they sent me to another lab upstairs (that didn't open for another hour!) I did manage to get Allie to nap while we waited - which was crucial because we again ran into the problem of them needing another person to do a pediatric blood draw, and we had to wait another hour after the lab opened! Allie was an angel (all the people in the waiting room commented), which made it even more difficult when it took several more attempts before they finally got the blood they needed. In the end, Allie wasn't the only one with a tear-stained face. Thank goodness it was finally over!

Tuesday

Lucas and I drove to New Hampshire to sign the papers for the closing of the house! They worked it out for us to do the closing through the mail so that Lucas' parents could get in the house & clean before we got there (are we spoiled or what?!).

Wednesday

We managed to squeeze in one final play date with our neighbor and her little guy Nacho. He is 21 months, and the twins adore him. The twins have mimicked things he has done at past visits for days after he was here. This visit Ryan watched everything he did and then followed behind and did it too (like hugging the giant penguin). We will miss this sweet friendship, and I will miss the friendship of his mommy!

In the evening we got a wonderful surprise in the form of a last-minute visit from Seth & Cari! We thought that we had already said goodbye, but they decided to pop in one more time and bring us Papa Johns pizza! We enjoyed a couple of hours with them, and getting to squeeze in some quality time with friends who have basically been family since we moved here (they moved into our building at GCTS, a few doors down, 1 week after we did).

Thursday

Thursday we managed to squeeze in one last visit with one of our favorite NICU nurses. It was great to see her and show her how big our babies have grown! Unfortunately, we didn't have our GPS (we had forgotten it was in Lucas' car), and we had the adventure of trying to find our way back home completely blind (in an area with many one-way streets). It took us twice as long as we should have, but we made it! It seemed to be a fitting goodbye to driving in New England - getting lost one last time! And, the sellers signed the papers for the closing, so the house officially became ours!!!

The babies play with the pots & pans that are waiting to be packed...

Friday
Friday we had hoped to see our dear friends from seminary one last time. These were our neighbors at seminary, and we've stayed close over the last 5 years - vacationing with them annually, visiting them as often as possible, and they even housed Lucas when I got stuck in the hospital (while visiting them) in New York... We so hoped to see them one last time, but a giant snowstorm kept them from coming. So, instead we are packing...and cleaning...and packing...and cleaning! It will probably be a late night.


Tomorrow, Saturday, is moving day (provided the snow doesn't keep us here). A crew of friends are coming to help us load up the truck in the morning - and we're hoping to have the house loaded and cleaned early enough in the day that we can take off and chip away a few hours of the trip.


We are a mix of many emotions - excitement, sadness, exhaustion. The hardest part for me is leaving all of the baby memories - their first nursery, the people who helped when we first brought them home, the floors I walked to get them to sleep in the middle of the night, the yard we played (or more accurately sat) in during the summer, the neighborhood we walked (including the cemetery I used to walk them in when I couldn't get them to sleep - day and night), the park where they tried the swings for the first time... I'm a very sentimental person, and it is hard for me to leave the home of all these memories.