How not to transport baby furniture...

This picture is about a week old, but here it is anyway. Because I recently had dinner, I currently feel about double this size...



20 wks 5 days bump

In other big news, we are now the proud owners of furniture for the baby's room.  Babies R Us was having some kind of special on the set we liked where if you bought both dressers, you got the crib free, so we did it.  We technically don't need the extra dresser, so we're going to save it for a guest room or - gasp! - a second little munchkin. (No, it's not twins...trust me, I asked at each ultrasound.)

Getting this furniture to our house was quite an ordeal. Being the penny pinchers that we are, we decided not to have it delivered, but to borrow a friend's truck and get it ourselves.  Sure, no problem, we thought, as we bounced along in a farm truck with shocks so ineffective that every bump spilled our drinks. Happily down the road we went, and about 25 minutes later, we pulled into the parking lot thinking this was a jolly little day.  We headed inside, gave our paperwork to the customer service desk, and went outside to pull the truck to the front of the store.  Out the boxes came...and we realized just how big they were.  Still, not to worry - we had R's cousin ready to help us (er...help R) when we got home.  They loaded them onto the back of the truck, wiggled them around to make sure they were stable, and said "Do you have any straps?"

Um. 

No.  No, we do not have any straps to secure these pieces of beautiful, brand new furniture for our beautiful, brand new baby-to-be.

But, alas, off we went, with R gripping the wheel so tightly that his knuckles turned white and he started to sweat. I watched the furniture through the side view mirror on my side, watching for the slightest bobble.  None to be had.  I was just starting to relax when we got on 465. Our plan was to get on the interstate for as short a time as possible, given that we didn't really want to drive very quickly nor be in traffic, so we stayed in the right lane and went slowly, much to the utter disgust of every other person on the interstate.

And then I noticed, out of the corner of my eye, a large tree blowing in the wind.  And then I saw the the bottom of one of the boxes was starting to come loose.  And every relaxed muscle in my body became instantly tense.  

We got off the interstate and took the back roads home.  By now, the bottom that was coming loose was now completely loose and flapping in the wind (By the way, Babies R Us, great job on the packing tape...), so we stopped to see what we could do.  I had brought with me some twine (yes, twine) and scissors to use in case it rained and we needed to cover the boxes with plastic.  We used the twine (again, really...twine) to tie the bottom of the box back to the rest of the box, and again...went happily (or by this time, not so happily) on our way.  I said a Hail Mary just in case.

Then, we took a left turn...miraculously, this was the first tight left turn we had taken the whole trip.  Still watching in the mirror, I saw that same box that we had just so neatly tied up start to wobble.  Please, box, do not fall off of this truck and into the ditch on the side of the road. I need this dresser to use as a changing table for my firstborn child!  

We stopped again.  Using the same twine and scissors as before, we tied the larger dresser to the smaller dresser, hoping that this would stop the wobbing. Given that we had a few left turns to go, we didn't want to take any chances.

By this point, we were within a few miles from home.  We had one last obstacle: railroad tracks.  We anxiously approached these, more nervous than ever.  This had been an hour and a half ordeal...would we lose a piece of furniture after all this hard work?   We held our breath as we approached them, and...

Phew. No wobbles, no falling off the truck, no explosions, no one injured.  We drove the rest of the way home without a hitch, and, thanks to the wonderful help of R's cousin (don't worry...we bought him dinner for being a part of this ridiculous ordeal), got everything off the truck and into the house without a problem.

What we learned:
- Do not, under any circumstance, try to save money by moving furniture if you do not know you're doing. There is a reason you pay so much for movers.
- Do not buy Starbucks before riding in a truck made for hauling things on a farm. It will inevitably spill on your white shirt.
- I can only imagine how my parents felt moving three kids in and out of college dorm rooms and apartments. Really, it's a miracle they still want to talk to us.  But they do, and it's because they're patient and kind and wonderful.
- My husband and I are good partners, and even though we were stupid to do this in the first place, I admire him for not a) driving off the road and b) not losing his cool.  All in all, I think we somehow managed to handle this first baby-related excursion pretty well.  I guess being a parent involves doing crazy things and organizing random excursions. Accept these with as much patience as possible and try not to yell at each other in the process.