Well, it's official - we've moved (past tense)!
Now it's just a mountain of badly marked, disorganized cartons to sort through (Georges is doing a great job with the sorting, even as I write this). The movers finished up at around 3 or 3:30pm, earlier than I would have expected, but we got a bit lucky because when I arrived at the new apartment in advance of everyone else, there were two empty parking spots right in front of our windows, so I staked them out for over an hour until the truck arrived with the mont-charge (the elevator-thingie used by professional movers because the elevators and staircases in Paris are usually too narrow). Even though our apartment is only on the first floor (1 flight up from ground level), it was still faster to haul everything up on the left through the living room window. The four moving men were all very nice, very careful in wrapping furniture, and worked quickly - several of them were part of the same crew that moved us into Rue Lamarck two years ago and they remembered us. We gave them croissants and pain au chocolat to get them started, and some beer and a nice tip when the job was finished; they asked us when our next move would be since we're now regular customers.
Last night, we did the bare minimum: I set up the coffee pot, Georges set up the WiFi and computer and our phones, we went to an early dinner and then came home to collapse -- asleep by 10pm! This morning I cleaned the bathroom and Georges hung the shower curtain (we have a BATHTUB this time!) and I got to test-drive the shower (good water pressure). We haven't hung curtains yet but there are the old wood shutters on the windows for privacy at night. We made an easy breakfast (can't turn on the fridge until this evening, it has to "settle" for at least 24 hours after a major move) and will go out for lunch and dinner again today.
But we got the two washing machines in place (still have to test them - especially the dishwasher which is brand new and has never been used), and we have a rough game plan for how to proceed over the next 10 days until the Little Guy arrives, so each day we'll chip away at the cartons and Georges will take care of installing curtain rods (way too high for me to reach, even if I wanted to do it) and bookshelves while I organized the kitchen and clothing and try to find space for everything we need. We know we'll be making another trip, with a rented van, to the storage place because there is no way everything is going to fit in this apartment, which is 50% smaller than our last place.
I don't mind smaller. I don't mind not having a great view. I'm happy to be in a neighborhood with more amenities and hopefully one that will allow my body to begin to heal from the joint problems I've been having (need to get xrays and some physical therapy once we find out what's really going on there). And we'll be saving a lot more money living here, and the new school is so convenient.
As I looked around at all the debris last night and this morning, I just felt happy. Georges is happy too. We can tell that, even though it will be small, we'll be comfortable here as a family. Even enough room for his daughter to sleep when she visits, and to have family dinners like we always have, with all the kids and even their friends.
And now, I hear some boxes calling my name.
