So, the new year has begun and I am already freaking out.

It’s starting to sink in that this is the year that we are moving, and how on earth am I going to finish the hundreds of little things that need to be fixed around here, get the house on the market, then move a house full of stuff – plus two cars, four cats and a baby – to another location. Oh. My. God.

I knew this was coming, of course, it was just easier when I was still thinking of it as happening “next year.” Now next year has arrived. Hence the wigging out.

We booked our trip to Raleigh to check out the area and do a little house-hunting. We’ll be staying with the lovely and hospitable Cat, Tony and e-baby from March 6th through 10th. That’s a small item on my big huge list of “Reasons to Freak Out,” because we just did a super-long flight with a baby, and it was not exactly what I’d consider to be one of the more pleasant, stress-free experiences that I’ve had in the past, um, forever.

This trip should be slightly easier – we bought Cate her own seat, so the three of us can take up a whole row to ourselves. And she’ll probably (hopefully?) be walking by then, so I can set her down in the airport and let her toddle around a bit to burn off some energy. This last trip, she kept trying to wriggle out of our arms because she wanted to get down and crawl, and eww, gross. Just the thought of her little hands touching the same dirty floors that all those shoes have trekked across… yuck. Sorry, kiddo, not enough Purell in the world.

Anyway, I have a feeling that once the ball gets rolling on all of this move stuff, I’ll be fine. It’s just the anticipation that’s worrying me. I’ve started making my to-do lists now. Obsessive-compulsive? Maybe. But it helps me fall asleep at night instead of lying awake and twitching, so I guess that’s worth it.