Cate is 18 months old today. She had her well-baby checkup on Friday, and she’s still solidly in the 75-90th percentiles for height and weight (33 inches tall, 26.6 pounds), while her head circumference is still off the charts. That’s my girl, ever consistent.

This is normally when I would write a post about her latest development milestones, but I don’t really know where to start. She blows our minds with some new word (or sentence!) every day, and it’s really hard to keep track of all of her latest cool tricks. She’s also starting to enter into the “terrible two’s” phase where she tests our limits and throws unbelievable meltdowns when we say no, but as awful as those moments are, they’re pretty rare. For the most part, she’s just lovely, fun and delightful, and we can’t get enough of her.

Because she’s so aware of her environment and so consistent with her routine, I am a little worried about how this move is going to affect her. I know she understands a lot more words than she can say, so I keep telling her that we’re going to move to a new house this week, but it’ll be ok because Mommy, Daddy, the kitties, and all her toys are going to be there. I don’t know if she really gets it or not, but hopefully some of it is sinking in.

Speaking of the move, this is how things are going so far:
* Last night was my last girls’ night with my Seattle girls. Kind of sad, but I know I’m going to see a few of them at Kris’s wedding next March, so it wasn’t a “good-bye forever” kind of scenario. I didn’t even cry.

* The pet movers are coming to take the cats tonight. They have a 6 a.m. flight tomorrow morning, and there’s no way the transport people can get here to the boonies to pick them up and back to the airport in time. (We live about 30 miles from Sea-Tac, not an easy drive.) So they’ll board them tonight, fly them out first thing in the morning, and board them in Raleigh until we get there. I’m really going to miss them while they’re away.

* Monday morning, Dave is leaving for his cross-country drive, and the movers are coming to help me pack. We’ve gotten most of our stuff packed already, but this last stretch is sort of overwhelming, so we’re paying for help.

* Tuesday, the movers are loading up everything and starting their drive. My sister arrives around noon. She’s getting a rental car (with a toddler seat) because the movers are taking my car. Tracy, Cate and I are going to check into a hotel that night.

* Wednesday is our official closing date. Dave and I already signed our part of the paperwork last week (we signed early so Dave could leave on Monday), so the only thing on the agenda that day is to get the empty house cleaned, and get the keys over to the realtor. Hopefully, after how crazy the past week has been, Tracy, Cate and I will get some downtime in the afternoon to just hang out and have fun. I’d like to enjoy our last day in Seattle.

* Thursday, we fly to Mississippi. I know my parents are super-excited already. And considering the stuff my mom has already bought in anticipation of our arrival (fingerpaints, sidewalk chalk, an inflatable wading pool, countless toys), I know Cate is going to have an absolute blast there.

We’ll be in Mississippi for a week, then Cate and I fly to Raleigh on Thursday, August 7th. I can’t wait.

More updates when I can, but the blog might be pretty sparse over the next week or so.