To our new home (and native land)

So, what has happened since I last blogged?

Oh, that's right - We moved to Canada.
We packed up all of our stuff - thanks to some awesome help, since I'm still not allowed to lift heavy things - and put it all in a big trailer that some one else was going to drive for us, and then left behind our apartment for the open road.
Calista was actually pretty good for the whole packing/cleaning process. She fell asleep during the end of the cleaning.See the completely empty and freshly-vacuumed carpet?A close up of the napping, because moving is hard work!


Once we got everything out and in the car or trailer, we got Calista ready for her first roadtrip.
Car seat? Check. Adorable sunglasses? Check. Pacifier? Check. Calista's right ear? Check - she made certain of the last two!

With our baby ready to roll, we headed out. Traveling with her was really good. I pumped in the car while Kyler was driving, so we could feed her on the run. She slept almost all the time we were moving in the car, waking up to eat when we stopped to eat, too. We made it to the border on the second day, and that is where we begin to find that anything that can go wrong on this trip... will.

First, we didn't have our marriage license. We didn't really think we'd need it. The immigration officer at the border thought differently, and he made me cry talking about, "well, why is it in a moving truck?" and "we need proof you're eligible to apply for permanent residency." Me saying I've already turned in the application apparently didn't matter... except in the end, the lack of a marriage license apparently didn't matter, either. Grumpy Immigration Officer said, rather huffily, to go sit down and he'd do the paperwork, and a few minutes later, lo and behold, there is paperwork stapled into my passport and he sends us over to the counter for declaring our belongings, including the car.

Second, we didn't have our car title with us. We had the most recent registration, but not the title. This immigration officer implies that without the title, we can't bring the car into Canada, so Kyler spends 20 minutes looking in the car while I'm having a bit of an emotional meltdown while holding Calista inside. Finally, Kyler comes back in, sans title, and we ask another immigration officer what we can do. We decide to bring the car in under my visitor's visa, so it doesn't need the title. Once I get permanent residency, then we have to import it. This nice officer clears the rest of our goods and sends us on our way. Whew!

We spend a couple of days in Raymond with Kyler's family, taking car of some business. Like, we want to add me to Kyler's bank account, and also add about five grand of our money into the bank account. We write ourselves a check and go to the bank. Well...

Third thing to go wrong, Kyler's account was inactive. Not too big of a deal, but moderately annoying. They activate it, but then we find (when we go to pay for lunch) that the card still doesn't work. He has to go back the next day and get a new card, as well.

Fourth, there is a 30 day hold on all foreign checks, regardless of amount. Kyler and I are slightly worried about this, since that means we will have no money for a month. Eventually, an old friend of Kyler's from high school, who is the officer or whatever at the bank we are talking to about adding me to the account, initials our check and tells us the bank tellers will deposit it now without a waiting period. And they do! Win!

Fifth, I don't have a form of ID they like to add me to the account, since I'm not Canadian. Eventually we decide a passport works, and we go back to Kyler's parents to get mine. Finally, I am on his account.

Sixth, we want to get Canadian cell phones. Let me tell you, American ones are way better. With Canadian companies, you have to pay extra for call display and voicemail. How ridiculous is that? But that's not the problem we encounter. Through this event, we discover that Kyler... has no Canadian credit. None. This means no cell phone company will give him a contract. Eventually, we work it out to be added to Kyler's sister's family plan, and we are so grateful to her and her husband for helping us figure it out.

Seventh, the truck is supposed to be in Calgary on the Friday. Before they can deliver the truck to our place, we have to clear our goods with customs up there. But before we can clear our goods with customs, we need a form from the truck company, which will then need to be returned to the truck company after customs. The truck isn't supposed to get into Calgary until later afternoon... and customs closes at 4, and of course isn't open on the weekend. So on Friday, we head up, pick up the form from the truck company, and go to our apartment ready to spend 3 nights on our air mattress. What fun.

Eighth, when the truck finally gets here on Monday afternoon, no one is around to help us... Kyler's dad drove up from Raymond and gets here after a bit, so it's just Kyler and him, since I am pretty much useless between the baby that needs attention and the body that is still recovering from said baby. Kyler and his dad are exhausted by the end, but the truck does get emptied.

Ninth, kind of, our casualty list includes two goblets and a bookcase. And lots of dings and scratches on our pantry cupboard, headboard, bookcase, etc. Not too shabby, considering.

Through it all, Kyler and I took the Kurt Vonnegut approach to things:

Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward.

And, guess what? We survived. We have money in our bank account, cell phones in our hands, stuff in our apartment, and a beautiful baby girl. What more can we ask for?