The Big 'Move'

As a military family, we are no strangers to moving. With that being said, changing rooms around inside the same house should be a simple task, right? We’ve got this! It should be way easy after state to state moves, town to town moves; I mean what is a new room arrangement?

We are a family of six consisting of my husband, myself, a 15 year-old boy, two girls ages 9 and 7, and a 3 year old boy. This is our second year in our own home after my husband was medically retired from the Army. Excitingly, this means no more moves unless we really want to! Yeah! What a relief it is to say that!

Recently I decided it is time to rearrange bedrooms because of many different factors. These include the girls beginning to fight constantly as their own personality traits become more prevalent. Our oldest daughter trying to be very clean and organized, very specific about her side of the room being off limits; and our youngest being slightly more lacsidazy about her items, dropping them wherever she is when something else grabs her attention. Another being that our 15 year-old was located directly across from Mom and Dad’s room, he is old enough he needs a little more space and so does Momma and Daddy.

This move is something that my husband, oldest son and youngest daughter were not pleased about, all with their own reasons. When they all objected to my plans, I formed my own reasons in my mind for why they would want to object. I really shouldn’t have asked because the responses I received were not as Disney channel as my imagination had formed.

For my 15 year-old... prior to asking his opinion, I imagined he would say his objection was that he would then be further away from Momma and Dad and he enjoyed the peace of knowing we were just a door away to be able to knock and chat anytime things got dramatic in his teen life.

For my youngest daughter I think, it most definitely has to be that she feels she has an endless sleepover with her best friend and this would remove that.

Let me just tell you now, I couldn’t be further from correct!
I asked my son, “What is so bad about moving into a larger room further away from your momma?” His response... “It would be great to get away from you but, I don’t like change and I don’t feel like moving my stuff. I don’t see why I have to switch up just because they (his sisters) can’t get along!” Well then!

Surely, I can’t be so incorrect about my sweet baby girl who just loves her sister so much no matter how much they get in disputes... HA! Who do I think I am? Obviously, I have watched too many hallmark movies, because my sweet Princess Peanut Buttercup happily admits she does not want her own room, because then her big sister will no longer be cleaning the room for her and she will have to manage it herself!

This made me decide after two strikes that I wasn’t even going to swing for the third and see if my thoughts were on point with my husband’s objection. I just told him I’d really appreciate if he helped me get it managed and I thought everyone would be pleased with the results even if they weren’t with the plan. Plus, it wouldn’t be so hard we are just rearranging, not moving. So as reluctant as he was, we set the date.

I won’t even cause you the mental stress of trying to understand me trying to describe all the details of it. However, I will gladly share some highlights of this ridiculous event.

I will start by sharing that my 3 year-old’s pediatrician has said she most definitely sees the early signs of OCD. He is very specific about his items, who touches them, when, and how. We know this, we talk about this for a few days getting him pumped about this great relocation. (How can one mom be so wrong, so many times in a matter of days?!) Apparently in his mind things were going to just stay together and in place, only in a different room. Small panic began when we had to disassemble his bed and then once he seen his bed in his new room and none of his toys were in the correct section of his toy organizer shelf, that panic grew. Nothing else could be done until everything in his room was in order.

First hurdle cleared! *sigh of relief* Moving on. Trip after trip, back and forth moving bed pieces, stuffed animals, posters, every item big and small. Taking minor notice that I see my youngest son playing peacefully in his new room, I’m passing my oldest son and husband as they are working to accomplish the same goal as myself objections or not. I even have my oldest daughter grab the other end of a toy box to relocate with a bit of ease. I hear a noise in a corner of the living room somewhere out of sight. Just assuming it is a toy or maybe a tablet that was left on, I pay little attention to it. After about a hour and a half of this, I am to the point of asking my youngest where she would like certain items in her room and then BOOM, it hits me! I have seen everyone except her! She was protesting this move, tucked away in the corner of the living room cuddled up with her dog, playing on her tablet. What?!?! Sneaky little shammer.

Who was I kidding moving four beds, dressers, and toys; I absolutely underestimated the effort, energy, and time this would take! After everything was said and done, my amazing family made it through yet another move! My boys are happy, and my ever-squabbling girls are separated, both with their own hand-made signs on their new doors stating, “Please knock, thank you!” Peace at last. Everyone is happy.

First night in everyone’s new space and my crazy girls have a sleepover in the oldest’s room with every intention of having a sleepover in the youngest’s room the next night with not one single argument. My oldest comes knocking on my bedroom door to give me a goodnight hug because I forgot to go to his room before laying down.

This is not just another move... this is another memory for us to reflect on and laugh about later. An eventful day ending with this tired momma realizing that maybe I wasn’t so wrong about their real objections and this move being better for everyone after all. Momma win! WooHoo!