The Big Boat Arrives

You might remember my newsflash that day (seems like weeks ago right now)... The Big Boat arrived a day ahead of schedule. This was excellent news because it meant we had a whole extra weekend to get some unpacking done. 

And so, on Thursday 21st February, we were at our rental apartment nice and early, ready to greet our 185 or so boxes and packages. It went smoothly, everything was in shortly after midday and most things even made it in one piece.*

The first van arriving. Yes, first. There were two.

First boxes on their way into the second floor apartment

The carnage

Emily was just happy to be reunited with her slide!

The following week is a complete blur. It was back and forth between apartments trying to unpack as many boxes as we could and still keep to Emily's routine as much as was possible. Nobody wants a cranky toddler around and we didn't feel it would be fair on her to unsettle her any further than we already had. With the help of several babysitters (grandparents), we pulled it off. 

Within three days, we'd set up Emily's room so she was able to nap in her new bed (which she LOVES), and within five days, we'd officially moved into the apartment. Eight days after the boxes arrived, we had a handful of boxes full of DVDs lying around the living room, and the spare room/study/storage room is, as the name suggests, a storage room for some more boxes - most containing baby clothes. Twenty or so others have gone into storage until we move into the new house in Summer, and in the meantime we can live in some sort of order. 

I'll post pictures of the apartment in all it's organised glory soon. 

* For the record, you may have seen a certain company's name on the boxes in the photos: I will make it very clear that they do not come recommended. I don't know if it was our two packers in particular that did an appalling job, in which case it's a huge pity as they let the entire company down, but I couldn't find it in me to recommend them to anyone planning an international move. So steer clear.