Saturday, August 20, 2011

Unaccompanied Air Baggage

It arrived on Thursday! Christmas in August! And as our neighbor warned me, even though we were very much looking forward to getting some of our stuff, in the end it didn't feel like a whole lot. But we were and are still very happy about it, and the kids were dancing around squealing with delight at each box opening.

Best things about UAB arriving:
- The girls' bikes!
- The grill! No propane yet, but hopefully we'll get some soon so we can cook out.
- Our own sheets and towels!
- More silverware!
- The art/craft center!
- Cubby's crib! We had a crib in the welcome kit, but the mattress seems smaller than standard, and therefore leaves gaps around the edges. And the side rail doesn't come down like ours. Don't get me wrong -- we very much appreciate there even being a crib in the welcome kit, but it's nice for Cubby to be back in a familiar bed.
- My shoes! So now I can bring the girls to school in something other than my running shoes. Not that I'll ever fit in with the fancy, beauty queen-esque mamas, but at least I look a little more put together. Or so I think! Ha ha.




Things we wish we had put in UAB:
- A mini-stero system so we can plug in our ipods/laptops to play music. We thought we had, but it must've been put in HHE because all 7 of our packed-to-the-gills UAB boxes got here without it.
- Bed covers! We packed sheets, but not the duvet covers or our quilt. It would've been nice to have that instant familiarity and homey-ness in the rooms. Our neighbor lent us covers for the girls' beds (colorful ones from Ikea), and that has been wonderful.

I'm sure there's more stuff we miss, but I can't think of it now. We were smart to pack bathroom rugs in our luggage because we needed those immediately. We packed shower curtains too, but all our showers have glass doors so we ended up not needing them. The GSO rep came by last week to inspect the house, and mentioned that we are welcome to paint any walls if we want to (yay!) just so long as we paint them back to white before leaving. I think a little color here and there (I'm thinking accent walls) will make this place feel a lot more like home. Bright yellow? That would seriously clash with some of the furniture, but I do want something bright to fit with Mexico. N has yet to chime in about this issue.

One piece of advice we got before arriving was to have the shipping company reps open our boxes and unpack our stuff for us, and take all the trash away. Wonderful advice! There is such an urge to just do it yourself and be alone with your things, but with small kids around and no tools, it makes so much more sense to have the pros do it. I also asked the guys to put together the crib (cuña (Found out it IS actually "cuna" without the trill! Apparently "cuña" has several non-crib meanings, one of which is "bedpan.") - with a trill over the n - don't know how to do that on the Mac [-thanks Craig!]) and the bikes, which was also great advice we got -- have them put together everything so we can use them immediately.

I'm also so thankful for the Exersaucer that another neighbor gave us so Cubby could stay put and watch the commotion from a safe distance, eating his Cheerios.


4 comments:

  1. I ended up painting a whole room yellow (and yes, the paint color actual name is just "yellow" so that gives you an idea) and Karl loved it. So you never know :)

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  2. A near-adobe orange is the most soothing color in our house! Along with the purple of course. Didnt i spot a purple wall in your yard? We also like the subtle shades of green in our bedroom and the deep red of the family room. And you had great colors in you Va house, too.

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  3. I've been wondering if your stuff got to you on schedule. Woohoo on the bikes! I'm sure that and any other toys and familiar things really help. Just imagine what it will be like when the HHE arrives!

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  4. On a Mac: hold down option and type n. Then type n again. Voila: ñ.

    Always enjoy reading your postings!

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