The Last Few Months + Empty House Tour

The Last Few Months + Empty House Tour | Outfit Details

Dress (old, similar) // Shoes // Earrings // Necklace // Bracelet // Bracelet // Jackie's Dress // Jackie's Shoes // Jackie's Bow // Husband's Shirt // Husband's Pants // Husband's Shoes

The Last Few Months + Empty House Tour | Where I Have Been

Well hello there! It’s been awhile. I feel like I shared Jackie’s evaluation results from Kennedy Krieger and that we were moving and then I dropped off the face of social media. Honestly it was kind of nice. I didn’t have to band width to create content and barely even consumed any. 

A state to state move with a child on the autism spectrum is hard. Add two other moves on top of that and I was lucky to make it through each day. 

By now I feel like I can say that not only did we move, but my parents and grandparents will be moving to Chattanooga as well. My dad has been talking about this for years. Owning their own business, and the kind of business it is, means my parents can live anywhere. While both of my parents have lived in the DC metro area since the early 1970s, they felt like it was time to move on. Our decision to move was just another push for them. Jackie is their only grandchild and they provide a lot of support to us. So they found a house a few weeks after we did. My grandparents will be moving in with my parents so that they can have more support and live a less complicated life as they age.

The Last Few Months + Empty House Tour | It Takes a Village

So while you may be thinking, moving one apartment can’t be that overwhelming, I have actually been moving an apartment, two houses and several businesses! It’s been exhausting. I would get up on the weekdays, pack our place for a few hours until Jackie woke up, take her to my parents house, pack all day there, go home & get Jackie to bed and then pack for another hour or so until I fell into bed. The first few weeks were rough. Jackie really struggled with the disruption and the change. But as we all know, it takes a village to raise a child. My parents were busy getting their house and businesses ready to move, so my village was Emma and her family.

Emma started off as my right hand when I was doing conferences. She celebrated her 18th birthday with us in Abu Dhabi at the Ritz Carlton right before the first conference. After that, she traveled with us and really became the younger sister I never had. When Jackie born, her position in our family and hearts was cemented. Emma has experience with kids on the autism spectrum from her own family and gets Jackie on a level that a lot of people don’t. She has taken Jackie to Disney world without me twice. She goes on my vacation with us.

This time, she took Jackie so I could pack. They swam, got ice cream, visited Emma’s family’s chickens, and had much more fun than I did! Jackie spent a lot of time with Emma’s family, going out to eat and worming her way into their hearts. She still talks about them daily, including asking to FaceTime Emma’s mom.

The Last Few Months + Empty House Tour | The Move

Moving day finally came. This was the first time we had professional movers and I felt kind of useless during the entire process. But it was nice to not have to pack a truck! Of course we had water and donuts for our movers as soon as they got there. If you don’t already know, it’s a smart move to feed and hydrate your movers. 1) it’s just the kind thing to do 2) they are likely to take better care of your stuff! After clearing out the apartment, we stopped at both my parents house and my grandparents house to pick up some furniture and a few more boxes. After that, our was locked in the truck and we’d see it again when we got to Tennessee.

Two days later, it was time to drive to Chattanooga. The Husband, my dad and I drove down on June 29, so we could be there in time to do a final walkthrough that night. This was the first time The Husband and I had stepped foot in our house. I had gone through a similar house from the same builder a few houses down but never in the house we bought. Luckily The Husband and I both loved the house!

Settlement the next day was easy and fast. While masks are now required in public everywhere in our county, they weren't at the time. So there were some COVID safety thing we did (lots of hand sanitizing, signing separated from the seller), it wasn't as odd as it could have been.

We raced back to the house, with our new keys, and the movers were already there. I was able to get a video of the empty house before the movers started bringing everything inside. You can watch that over on my IGTV.

It was supposed to rain all day during our move in. The weather held off until just before the movers were done. We hurried to help them bring in the last few things before it started to pour.

The Last Few Months + Empty House Tour | How We Prepared Jackie

We decided that Paris, Emma and Jackie would drive down the day of the move. This would give us plenty of time to have all of the stuff moved into the house and get Jackie's spaces set up before they arrived, minimizing her trauma and confusion. Jackie did fairly well, according to Paris and Emma, and they made it down to the house by late afternoon. We weren't as set up as I wanted to be but it was still better than having Jackie around for the entire day!

To prep for the move, I created a social story talking about the move and the new house. We talked about the new house a lot and showed Jackie pictures of it. She often walked around the apartment saying "Guess what!? We bought a house!". Upon arriving at the new house, she ran around saying "new house, new house". It appeared we had done just what she needed to feel comfortable. She even woke up the next morning exclaiming "new house".

The Last Few Months + Empty House Tour | Getting Settled

Chuck and Paris stayed for a few days to help us get settled in. Since the house is a new build, there were a few things that needed to be done in order to make it livable. Hanging shower curtain rods, window curtain rods and a few other things were at the top of my list. Between my parents, Emma, The Husband and I, we were able to get most things unpacked in those first few days. Emma ended up staying for 10 days, sleeping on the third floor. This was great for Jackie's transition, helping us get all of the boxes unpacked and helping me get a few projects done. She even encouraged me to do a few projects that I was going to put off or pay someone else to do!

We had Emma take some pictures while she was here too, which is what the pictures in this post are. I try to get family pictures early in the year and use them for the Christmas card! Which ones do you think I will use this year?

The Last Few Months + Empty House Tour | What Is Coming Next

So that was a lot, and I am impressed if you made it to the end of the post! Now that we are settled and I have had some time to get caught up on a few things, I can get back to my blog! I put this space on the back burner because there was so much going on and now I have the band width to come back.

I have a lot of projects to share with you, Jackie updates, room reveals, and so much more! So keep coming back and thanks for sticking around!