We move house in three days and there is so much to be done, the list is endless! Well, my list is anyway. The kids are oblivious and Mr Point Five has to work right up until the pre-pack day. Explaining the lingo – prepack is the day the movers come to the house and pack up all our stuff for us. Uplift is the day after when they come with the van and take it away (hubby doesn’t always get this day as a RDO)and Unpack is the day after when they arrive at our new house at 8am and unload all the boxes for us to unpack.  Hubby gets the three days off this time which is fabulous – I think I would have a meltdown if I had to attempt any of those days solo with the kidlets as I did with the last move, a day which is right up there in my top three most awful days ever with only my two labours being above it on the scale of horrendousness.
Now I know you must be thinking wow, how lucky is she that she gets men in (courtesy of Mr Point Fives job) to pack for her, but there are two downsides to this.

One; they dont look like this….

They look like this…..

and Two; you really dont want anyone else, no matter how un-droolworthy they are, to see the underside of your washing machine and fridge or the contents of your bedside cabinet (I am still embarrassed when I remember the poor man who packed for us two moves ago who had to box up my top drawer with chicken fillets for my bra, some novelty fur-lined hand-cuffs and some flavoured body lubricant courtesy of a breast feeding body with the “damp”ness of the Sahara desert).

So, anyway, back to the kids part.

Moving house with kids – in a nutshell, DON’T. Its painful. Send them away to band camp and welcome them home to the new house, all unpacked and done. But in case that’s not an option, or slightly illegal given that Master J is only 16 months, I have some tips.
1. Dont do it alone with the terrors gorgeous little people – make sure your partner is there or enlist a girlfriend to babysit as it will take one person full time to make sure they aren’t playing out with the traffic when all the doors are open for the moving men, or getting squashed underfoot of the moving men or even worse, trying to “help” the moving men pack your stuff – they don’t think its cute. At all.
2. Have a chat to the movers and make sure the TV is packed last, and put the remote for the TV in your handbag ready for the new house.
3. Pack snacks – LOTS of snacks.
4. Pack a suitcase with all the kids bedlinen, pillows, night lights, comforters, PJ’s etc so its easy to get to in the new house. Throw in a few favourite books and toys to help them ease into bedtime.
5. Then there is the school to enrol in, uniforms to buy, selling the old uniforms, the gas/power company to notify,  the phone line to disconnect, reconnect it (including internet) at the new house, research and book accommodation for the first night out of home, make sure we have the porta-cot back from Dad’s, make sure there is loo paper in for the new house as well as a place to get take-out for the first night as well as have plates and cutlery on hand to eat it with…..sooooo many little things to consider and plan for as well as have a back up plan just in case, the list really is endless.
6. Don’t expect hubby to think of any of the above. I got all excited when Mr Point Five said to me about a week before we had to move “honey, I’ve been thinking about the move and we need to make sure we……
……..have hooks for the TV cabinet for when we get there” Sigh.

Any other tips???