More on U-Haul, Moving and Pregnancy update

Marginal Revolution linked today to two more posts on the whole U-Haul pricing as a way to look at migration patterns. One is a review of the idea by the Freakonomics authors and the other is a huge data crunch that some guy with too much time on his hands did as a little mental and scripting exercise. Nothing all that new learned, I suppose, but the trends do seem to bear out. Personally, I don't ever intend to use U-Haul again - after the last move where we ended up having to scramble for a last minute reservation (and do a round-trip rental from a little local place even though we were moving 75 miles away) even though I made the reservation 2 months in advance!! As Dy mentioned in her last comment, reservations mean nothing to this company, which I think is a horrid way to run a business. However, I guess it works for them because they still manage to stay around. Anyways... yes, I will definitely use a different company when it comes time to move again, even if it does cost more. I'm still not willing to spend the big bucks on movers (just way too cheap for that), although I have experienced a move with movers one time when the company I was working for paid for it. Gotta say, that was pretty nice... although it was amazing how much it cost!

Anyways, speaking of moving I've been thinking about the logistics of how we might go about finding a house and such in the area we decide to move to. Generally I would think that we would just pack everything up, either move into a temporary furnished place or bring a minimal amount of stuff into a place that allows for a short term lease, then look for a house from there. However, two things complicate this. First, we own four cats. I know, we're crazy - but believe me, it wasn't exactly our intention to have four... I had one from college, then we wanted to get a kitten my sister was fostering and ended up with two, then we adopted one from a friend who couldn't keep his kitten anymore. Four cats is a lot, especially when they are all friendly, personable, indoor cats as these ones are. I enjoy them all individually, but sometimes the four of them just get to be too much! But anyways, I digress. I think the chances of finding a short term rental that would let us have four cats is virtually nil (and I don't blame them, I don't think I'd rent to us either) so that complicates matters. Four cats is a little much to ask anyone to take care of (especially since my Mom already has four as well, and soon will have two more living there because my sister is moving home for at least a few months). So, yeah, that's definitely a problem. And then there's the fact that my husband really dislikes moving and would like to move again only once, if at all possible. Amazingly enough, he's only moved a handful of times in his life, and most of them with me (sorry, hon!) whereas I have moved more times than I can remember already (at least 20, if not more I think) so I'm a lot less bothered by it.

So, yes, I am currently entertaining the insane notion of renting a furnished place for a month or two in the spring, going up there with a small baby and a four year old, and looking for houses largely by myself, with my wonderful husband flying up on weekends and such. At least he could work from both places, so long as he has a decent internet connection... but still, that pretty much means I do all the legwork (with two children in tow!) and paperwork, and he does the bulk of the packing. Doable, but somehow I think it would be stressful. Perhaps that is putting it mildly. Very mildly.

Oh, right, I promised a pregnancy update in my post title. Everything is going swimmingly. I had another midwife appointment on Wed, and everything is progressing as it should. I was pleased to find that I only gained three pounds in the last month, as opposed to the seven from the month before - that evens out to an acceptable number. I was really hoping I would not gain seven lbs each month for the rest of the pregnancy! I had a goal out the outset to try and see if I could end this pregnancy at only 5-10 lbs more than I was at the start of my pregnancy with Emma and I still think that might happen. If it doesn't, oh well, but it sure would be nice! Emma is still really excited about the baby - she sings to the baby almost every day, and likes to take rests on my tummy so that she can try to feel the baby move. She really wants to be there when the baby is born, and I'm thinking that I'd like her to be there - with an adult back-up assigned to her, just in case things go off-track and she (or I!) need to be taken somewhere else. She has also started to pretend that she's pregnant, and I've had to act as midwife for the birth of several stuffed animals. I have another appointment in two weeks to do a glucose test, which I feel somewhat ambivalent about but I am going to do anyways. I do love having a choice though! At least I get to pick my own glucose choice (my midwife suggested jelly beans *grin*) and they will recheck my iron levels, which I've been somewhat curious about.

OK, time to go read some books to my very patient little munchkin and then I think we'll play a rousing game of Candyland.