Moving House - advice please

[ruthandpolly]

We're moving house in a couple of weeks and am desperately trying to think of things we can do/not do to minimise anxiety for dd 10months (not to mention not traumatising 2 cats) (or even dh!)

Apart from making sure we keep track of her favourite stuff and sticking to routines as far as humanly possible - what else can I do? thanks

Get her new room set up asap, make sure its a close as possible to her own room if you can. I move house next week and have the keys already for the new palce so have been sorting out my dd's room so they can move straight in.

I remember moving when my dd was 7 months old, we had removal men and my dh is pretty good, so I went out for the day, took her away from all the cafuffle and return back when all the furniture was in place.

I agree that if her room is in place first, that will help enourmously. Good luck with the move

Agree about the room idea - we did this and it does make it much easier. We packed it up last and set it up first. I fact, I roped in my sister and brother in law to do it for us in the hour either side of the move andthey just shut the door, looked after our DD and packed up toys, clothes and pictures - very easy and DD had a lovely time with cardboard boxes - foudn it very exciting to our surprise. I reckon if you can stay in control, as relaxed as possible and happy, they will take their lead from you and stay calm as well.
For me, the only way to do this - 1 16 month old DD at the time and 2 cats - was to plan well in advance like a military operation and work out a two week schedule of de junking, cleaning, packing and labelling. I run my life by lists and had them stuck up everywhere.
We survived by calling in a lot of babysitting favours in the last two weeks so I could get organised and being thorough when making those lists. For example, my sl moved house and only remembered about her full freezer the night before the move...stressed out, surrounded by packing boxes trying to defrost a freezer, giving food away to her bemused neighbours just wasn?t fun. Packing up a garage or garden shed can take much longer than you think so start early - same for an attic (our garage took a whole weekend!) Pack a survival box to go in your car - everyone will have their own list but I remember ours had stuff like paractemol, biscuits, T bags, flask of hot water, mugs, calpol, spare nappy and wet wipes, baby food, toys, pen and paper, mobile phone adaptor, list of important phone numbers incl., estate agent, solicitor, removal company, buyers solicitor etc.,
Remember to collect any spare keys in a advance from neighbours if you have given any out, cancel any deliveries like milk, newspapers well in advance so you don?t end up paying extra. It is nice to make a brief note for new buyers about things like what day the bins are collected, who delivers milk in the area, which companies supply the elec, gas, etc etc. etc.and a job that can be done well in advance rather than rushing mins. before leaving the house as an afterthought.
I bet once it is all over you will find that she is more relaxed than you are and actually enjoyed the excitement of the day. Good Luck hth xx

Totally agree with packing up your DD's room last and unpacking it first, also I found if you try to keep the layout of the room as close as possible to the 'old' room it helps. My poor DS has spent each of his 4 birthdays in differnt houses due to the nature of DH's job and TBH I've been more worried about it than DS ever has been, he finds it quite an adventure, just make sure favourite toys and cuddlies are on hand at all times.

Don't do what I did and labelled some of my boxes by writing on the parcel tape....with a dry wipe pen...... how silly was that!!