Okay - so we finally made it to Portland. Our plan was to spend the night (Tuesday, 12/16) in our new empty rental house on an air mattress, leaving first thing Wednesday morning to go to my mom's house three hours away. Mom owns a bed & breakfast so I was looking forward to a little extra pampering after the craziness of the air travel. I'm not sure if you followed national weather just before Christmas, but Portland got the Storm of the Century that Tuesday. Snow, snow and more snow fell on our new city (which apparently owns about two snow plows). It was beautiful. And paralyzing. The whole place shut down - including the interstates. We were stuck in Portland and Mom was stuck at her place. The moving company called and said the truck with our stuff would be here on Sunday the 21st. It was kind of fun, though - like camping but with all of the modern conveniences, three bathrooms and a gas fireplace. We just rolled with it because we had time on our side. We weren't supposed to leave for Green Bay (to visit the inlaws) until the morning of 12/23.

Then it snowed more. It was starting to turn into a pain in the ass. Everyone was sold out of snow shovels, ice scrapers, women's snow boots and sleds. Trust me - I looked in vain for those four items all week.

And the moving company called again. Our stuff would be here on 12/22. No - make that 12/23. We were losing our confidence in how on top of it our "move coordinator" really was because she didn't even know the interstates were closed. Having a knack for being able to get to the bottom of anything, Dude discovered that our truck was stuck in Spokane and not moving until the roads cleared. Which would be when??

We realized that it was going to be impossible to go to Wisconsin for Christmas and Dude reluctantly called his parents to break the news. Here's the thing about Dude: he's a total Mama's boy. And he loves tradition. AND his birthday is Christmas Eve. Christmas time at his parents' house is his favorite thing ever and he'd been looking forward to it for over a year. To say he was disappointed is a gross understatement. Also, three of my younger sibs live in Portland. My brother (Dan is 25) is recently married and already had Christmas plans with his wife's family. My two sisters (Sissy is 21 & Brianne is 23) had planned to have Christmas with my mom like they have every year of their lives and were at a complete loss as to what to do since Mom was snowed out of Portland. It was obvious that my duties as a good wife and big sister were cut out for me.

Cue the call from the moving company: our stuff would be here 12/24.

So, Bri came over to babysit while I fulfilled Dude's father's tradition of taking him out for a beer the night before his birthday. It was the first time we'd been out ALONE in...forever maybe?

The morning of Christmas Eve, we were all ready for our stuff to arrive. Dude had spoken to the driver the evening before and he was only about an hour outside Portland. Plus that particular stretch of interstate was open. We seemed to be in the clear! Seemed. The driver called that morning to tell us that the City of Portland still had a chain restriction for all trucks and guess what? He didn't have any chains. Not only that, the company didn't allow him to put chains on the truck. He was 10 miles away with my coffee pot and would remain there until the restriction was lifted - hopefully 12/26. I could not freaking believe it. Could. Not. But what was I going to do? So I got effing festive. I went grocery shopping and stocked up on supplies to create a holiday feast that included (but was certainly not limited to) Mom's shrimp dip for Sissy and some gluten-free, sugar-free, dairy-free, sesame-free bean dip with gluten-free crackers for Bri. And wine. And egg nog. And soy nog. Plus we got a tree. I learned that you can get a beautiful Christmas tree for only $10 if you wait until the afternoon of Christmas Eve to make the purchase. We decorated it with lights and a shiny little ornament at the top. That night, while Dude, Belly, The Bug, Sissy and Bri were sleeping (they spent the night at our house), Santa even came with stockings for everyone. Seriously, people - I was downright Jolly.

Christmas morning, we opened gifts, played with babies, ate delicious gluten-free waffles and chilled out. The whole day was nice and it was easy to forget all of the craziness of the move - as long as you overlooked that we had a single-sized air mattress as a couch and a lone steak knife as the only sharp knife in the place.

When the truck pulled up out front on the morning of 12/26, I was so happy that I almost kissed the driver. And Mom finally made it in to Portland. THANK GOD THIS ORDEAL WAS OVER.

I have since told Dude that if we ever decide to do anything so stupid as to move across the country again, it will be after we renounce all of our worldly possessions. But I'm pretty sure we will not be moving back to the East Coast anyway (which means you can stay, all my beautiful cookbooks, and you as well, 900 pairs of shoes). Costa Rica on the other hand...

So, we're here in Portland. And so is our stuff. Finally. But let's go back to December 15th - the day of the house closing...

Everything was going according to plan - we met the buyers at the settlement office, signed paperwork, were promised a huge chunk of money would be wired to our bank account within 24 hours, and were on our merry way. We went straight to the airport, checked in, made it through security without babies crying and felt like things were just as they should be. Stupid us. Stupid, stupid, stupid us. Our flight was suddenly delayed and instead of having an hour or so between this and our connecting flight to Portland, we were going to have about half an hour or less. Dude went to the desk and explained that there was no way we could do that with Belly, the Bug and waiting for two strollers on the jetway. The ever-so-helpful ladies at the desk changed our flights so that instead of going DC-Philadelphia-Portland, we were now going DC-Phoenix-Portland to give us ample time between flights. It added two hours to our travel, but at least we'd make the planes. I didn't question it because I figured Dude had it handled.

What Dude didn't realize was that this new itinerary gave us a mere 35 minutes between flights - a detail that came to light as we were landing in Phoenix. Miraculously, our strollers were waiting for us when we walked off the plane. Belly & the Bug were thrown into them and I literally ran through the airport pushing both strollers with Dude trailing, toting the four carry-ons. I asked the employee at the top of the jetbridge to call ahead to our gate and let them know we were coming and she said they wouldn't hold the plane for us. Thanks for that! So helpful and exactly what I needed to hear at that precise moment! So we run, run, run to the other terminal, pull up in front of the gate, and they're loading a plane to Houston. What?! "Oh - didn't they tell you at your original gate? Your flight has moved...THREE GATES FROM WHERE YOU JUST GOT OFF THE PLANE." So we run, run, run BACK the way we just came. I'm sweating. As in, sweat mustache. Always a good look. Fortunately, this flight is now delayed 15 minutes and I have time to grab a bottle of water before we board. Alright, I think, time to breathe. Everything is fine.

Only when we give the guy our boarding passes, it beeps in a bad way. It beeps again. And again. He finally says, "Apparently you're not checked in for this flight and your seats have been given away." I just looked at Dude. I was sooooo close to losing my shit right there in the pre-board/first class line. Dude clearly recognized this and just HANDLED it. Calmly and firmly. Like the awesome husband and former tour manager that he is. We got on the plane in our original seats - one window and one aisle with the girls on our laps. The plan was to get the person in the middle seat to want to move so that we'd have a free seat. As it ends up, the very last person to board the plane was a guy in his early 20s whose face just FELL when he saw his seat. Dude looked at him and said, "What the f**k? You don't like babies or something?" The guy was all, "Uhhhh...no man...I mean, babies are cool." Oh my God. I started laughing SO HARD. The flight attendant found him a seat somewhere else. Again, I sighed in relief.

We arrived in Portland and my little sisters met us at the airport. Dude went to get the rental car while I got the luggage. Except...yep, you guessed it...only two of our four bags arrived. Plus our car seats were missing. Have I mentioned that this was 11:45pm Pacific time and we had been up since 6:30am Eastern? The woman at the baggage counter thought something was wrong with me because I wasn't freaking out at her about our missing stuff. I was so over it, though, I just couldn't summon up the energy to be pissed. The two suitcases that had arrived had our clothes and toiletries and that was what was needed the most. We got loaner car seats and went to the crap motel I'd reserved for the night. Ah, sleep. How I needed thee.

We'd made it. We were in Portland. It was all going to be okay.

To be continued...

I've had spotty internet over the last few weeks so haven't been able to post. I will definitely write more this week and give a full recounting of our wild and crazy move/holiday. You just ain't even gonna believe the whole ordeal.

It was 5 years ago today that we arrived in Washington DC from Los Angeles - a bittersweet day filled with meeting new friends and crying because I missed my old ones. Sigh. Anyway. For today's blog, I'm borrowing a New Year's list from someone else (thanks, Library Girl) to remember the old and herald the new:

1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?
I invited a sibling to live with me. I quit a FABULOUS job. I hired a moving company to move me.

2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I poo-poo resolutions. As in, shun them as opposed to actually poop them. But the whole purpose of this move was to achieve greater balance in our lives, so I'm going to strive to accomplish that.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yeah, like 40 of my friends gave birth at the end of April/beginning of May. Okay not really but 4 of them did and one of the little bundles of joy was even named after me! Apparently she is the best baby in the whole world, too. I'd also like to give shouts out to Harley, Colin, Anna and Blaise for providing my inbox with a wealth of cutie-pie pictures.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Not this year, thank goodness.

5. What countries did you visit?
Dude and I took Belly and the Bug to Maui in August. I know that's not a different country, but it was 10 hours on a plane from Washington DC with a coupla 10-month-olds. If that's not world travel, I don't know what is.

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
Adult-only time with Dude. A clear head. Something resembling a pre-twin-vessel body.

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory?
June 30th - my last day at my place of employment.
July 1st - the day the oh-my-God-so-expensive-I-can't-stand-it-COBRA kicked in.
November 4th - I cried such big tears of joy. [NOTE: I am pretty white. Lily even. But I went to college at Howard University and graduated with a degree in Political Science. The night of 11/4 I wanted to go up to campus and run around screaming, "WE DID IT!! WE DID IT!!" but I figured they'd call security because some crazy white lady was storming the Yard.]

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Dedicating myself to motherhood. Jeez - that's something I never thought I'd say.

9. What was your biggest failure?
I didn't use all of my excellent Macy's coupons this fall? Seriously. That's as deep as I'd like to delve into my failures.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nope.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
A $700 double stroller. Can you even believe that?? I used a little inheritance money to get it or else there would've been no way to justify it. I also love my tall black boots. And probably my annual donation to Planned Parenthood.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
The girls on their many plane trips this year.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
John Edwards was pretty lame.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Mortgage, of course. Followed closely by diapers and formula. Car payment was a distant third.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Babies crawling/walking. Seeing family. Maui. Selling our house.

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
"Love Song" by Sarah Bareilles. How many times did I hear that song???

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? Happier.
b) thinner or fatter? Thinner (that's not saying much, though, considering I'd had twins 2 months earlier in 2007).
c) richer or poorer? Richer, but only because we sold the house in DC and haven't bought a new one yet.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Reading. Exercising. Chillin.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Obsessing over details.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
We spent it in our big empty house with my little sissies. More about that in the forthcoming blog about the move/holidays.

21 is missing. Time to take a breather...
Whew!

22. Did you fall in love in 2008?
Every day with these little girls and Dude.

23. How many one-night stands?
None, but the girls slept in our bed every night so I guess our bed was a happy "foursome."

24. What was your favorite TV program?
Project Runway and Top Chef remain my favorite programs.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Hate is such a strong word...so no. But this time last year I didn't know Sarah Palin existed. She provided ample opportunity for very strong dislike.

26. What was the best book you read?
Sadly, I didn't read much. Isn't that the dumbest thing ever? I had infant twins this year, though, so I slept instead of read when I had the opportunity. I guess "Eat Pray Love," but only because that's a book I actually completed. I'm in the middle of "Peace Like A River" now and that is much better.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Peter Himmelman makes cool kid music!

28. What did you want and get?
A move back to the West Coast.

29. What did you want and not get?
Those cool winter boots from Timberland.

30. What was your favorite film of this year?
HA! Like I went to the movies this year. Gimme a break.

31. What did you do on your birthday?
I sold my house and flew cross-country to our new hometown of Portland. Dude brought me coffee in bed, though!

32.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Having the unpacking fairies show up and do their thing in the new house.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
"Does it have buttons on the front? Yes? Well, sorry, but I can't wear it because my daughters will bite the buttons off."

34. What kept you sane?
Dude.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Jon Stewart. And Anthony Bourdain. And also Justin Timberlake on SNL.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Please see the answer to question #7.

37. Who did you miss?
Oh, there's a long list....

38. Who was the best new person you met?
I'd have to say that the person I had the best time getting to know much, much better was Mary. She's already what I miss about Washington DC. Ho hum.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008:
Um...be sure to have extra wipes at the ready when changing a poopy diaper?

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
"I'm gonna watch you shine
Gonna watch you grow
Gonna paint a sign
So you'll always know
As long as one and one is two
There could never be a [mother]
Who loves [her daughters] more than I love you"
(From Paul Simon's "Father and Daughter," with lyrics altered to reflect what I sing to Belly and the Bug)

Final Thoughts:
Oh 2008 - what a crazy year you were. And hey, 2009? Please be good to us.

Last night I cleaned the fridge. I mean, like, emptying the fridge in preparation for the move and it was B-A-D. I knew this day was coming so I'd put off cleaning it for awhile. Ugh. I don't even want to think about the stench that came out of some of that tupperware when I popped open their tightly sealed lids. I kept cursing under my breath that I'd be happy when we were all moved and this nonsense was done.

But here I sit tonight - the last night in the house before it's all packed up - and I'm very, very sad. I love this little house! I keep getting weepy when I think about all that has happened here in the last five years. It has been a wonderful home for us and it is just teeming with warm memories. Here are a couple that I'm savoring at the moment...

That first summer we were here - 2004 - Dude would come home from work, toss his bag in the house and, before he changed even, would check on "his" tomato plants beside the house. I had never seen him care about something like that with such passion. This is the guy that is totally anti-pet and took YEARS to come around to wanting children. It even made our holiday letter that year that Dude had taken a "parental interest" in those tomatoes. Ironically, I don't remember actually eating any of the tomatoes that MUST have resulted from his tender loving care.

The kitchen in this house is miniscule. I'm so not kidding. It is the smallest kitchen I've ever seen in a house and was, by far, the biggest drawback to our purchasing it. Regardless, I've cranked out some pretty impressive meals here. One that stands out as amazingly superb was Thanksgiving 2006 - the one when my older sister and her husband came to visit. We made duck breasts with a cherry port reduction, pesto mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, horseradish creamed spinach, dressing (cooked in a muffin tin so that there was a higher ratio of crunchy outside to soft inside than is found in a regular casserole dish), rolls (the most delicious dinner rolls ever) and stewed orange cranberries. We also made pecan pie and a pumpkin cake with an ornate mandarin-orange-and-pomegranate design on the top.

October 25, 2007: I was almost 33 weeks pregnant, working from home that day and on a business call with an attorney who was giving me a thorough recounting of an important conversation with my boss. As I stood at the bottom of the stairs - GUSH! - my water broke. I wasn't sure if it was gross to say my water had just broken or if I should just try to end the conversation quickly without mentioning that I was standing in a puddle and my sweatpants were glued to my legs. I guess I wasn't thinking very clearly because I opted for the latter. It took me a good two minutes to get off the phone. Dude was also on his phone in the kitchen conducting a conference call. I said, "Honey!" He ignored me. "Honey!" Still nothing. "DUDE!!!" His head popped around the corner with a look on his face that clearly said, "Can't you see I'm on the phone?"
Me: "I'm pretty sure my water just broke."
Him: "Guys. I've gotta go." And he promptly hung up.
Thus began our adventure as parents.

I could go on and on but I won't. Suffice it to say that this little house has been good to us and I'll miss her.

I just got off the phone with my grandma. Today would've been my grandpa's 89th birthday but he passed away a year and a half ago. They were married for 67 years and the fact that he's gone and she's all alone in a nursing home seems like cruel and unusual punishment.

There was a time about 4 years ago - before they moved to the nursing home - that Grandma was in the hospital and I went to stay with Grandpa for the weekend. We'd never spent so much time alone together before - just the two of us. We had a blast! Grandpa regaled me with stories, I cooked him anything he wanted (corn on the cob, English muffin pizzas), and we spent a healthy amount of time matching the carefully filled out and filed information cards with the numerous antiques in the house as we readied for the annual flea market and antique sale. He was extremely thorough and each card noted what the item was, where and when he'd purchased it, how much he'd paid, and what he was hoping to get in resale. Grandpa was impressed that he only had to show me once how to work the filing system, which meant that instead of double-checking my alphabetizing skills, he could tell me stories about toys he had had when he was a kid, dating my grandma, WWII, how much he loved my dad, etc. Sometimes he'd get frustrated when his arthritic fingers wouldn't allow him to show me how to play with an old toy or peel a peach. He'd say, annoyed, "I'm 85 years old. How much longer am I supposed to live?" At first I was taken aback by this comment but by the third or fourth time, I said, "At least through the weekend, Grandpa." I couldn't imagine anything worse than him dying on my watch.

Soon after that weekend, Grandma and Grandpa moved to a nursing home near my uncle in North Carolina. They made the transition from their big house on the hill to sharing a single room. Getting old had never seemed so unfair to me than at that point, but everyone knew - including them - that they could not care for themselves any longer. After Grandpa died, I realized that THIS was the worst part of getting old. At least they'd still had each other when they moved. Now, it's just Grandma. And every night she tells Grandpa goodnight and turns out the light in the way they did together for over half a century - pretending to blow it out as she turns it off. It's devastatingly sad. And I'm terrified that it's a glimpse into my own future.

Grandma told me on the phone the other day, "Don't get old, kid - it stinks!" Oh Grandma, how I wish I could avoid it! My mortality has never been more real to me than since I had Belly and The Bug. Sometimes it feels like, if I'm not careful, I could blink and I'll be almost 88-years-old like Grandma. I just hope Dude is still around to hold my hand and turn out the light with me.