Stella and the Big Adjustment // Happy Friday

So when you get ready to move you try to think of everything you can and plan so that you are prepare. You hire movers and pack your stuff. You talk to your kids about the move and how they aren't going to live in this house they have grown up in anymore. And you think that the crying your cat is doing and all the licking is just a result of her being nervous that you aren't going to take her with you, so you assume it will get better once you move and she sees that you did in fact take her with you.

Turns out not to be as true as I had hoped.

The kids did great in the move and loved the new house from the start. All our stuff got moved - although the movers weren't the best. I have a whole house to unpack but I was here and it was all in my timetable to how fast or slow I got the house back in order and the garage empty.

We were so pumped to be in the new house that first night because we had finally made it. Then Stella came out from wherever she was hiding.

Here's an interesting fact about cats - they don't adjust to change well. Basically Stella cat cried the entire first night loudly. We were all just about in tears. But I remembered moving into the old house and she did that the first night at that house too so I had high hopes for the second night.

Stupid high hopes.

Turns out that wasn't going to be the case here. First she hadn't lived at the apartment for as long as she had lived at the whole house so the move was a lot bigger for her. And second she's five years older.

She continued the crying into the second night. This time we heard her a few times over the monitor in Connor's room resulting us in having to lock her downstairs. But as I read up on what was going on I read that locking her up was just going to set up back and wasn't going to make this better. The third night she continued to cry and this time we heard Addison in the hall at about 3am telling Stella that she was okay but she had to stop crying. After that we shut the kids's doors so Stella couldn't wake them up. It was one thing to keep us up but I wasn't going to have two really grouchy kids because Stella cried at them all night.

The fourth night we were at our breaking point. I laid in bed sometime in the middle of the night - I swear this was worst than having a newborn - and did some hardcore research into how to make this better. We couldn't keep going at this pace. I ended up finding the nightlights to put by her food dish and litter box because one of things I read said that she was crying because she was feeling loss and we think cats have really good night vision but it's not as good as we think especially when they are somewhere different. She was barely coming out during the day so she was struggling at night. After doing that it got better the rest of the night.

The next day Stella came out during the day and I couldn't help but hope that that meant she would be better that night. I tried to help my odds by getting as much unpacked that day as I could because I also read that getting back to normal as quickly as possible helps. I was exhausted by the end of the day and hoped Stella would let us sleep through the night. And finally she made it almost the whole night before she lost it somewhere in the early morning. But we were better rested and not as likely to kill her now.

Each night after that got better until she finally stopped crying. She started coming out and about during the day. She found her hiding places. She found her places to look out the window. She finally adjusted. She finally got comfortable.

Moving with a cat turned out to be about 100 times worst than moving with kids. The kids did great and were comfortable immediately in their rooms and in the house. But Stella cat not so much. At least we are finally sleeping better.

So my advice if you are moving with an older cat - be prepared for some major caffeine the next morning. Put nightlights around the house. Resist the urge to lock the cat in a room. Close your kids's doors. And did I mention caffeine - lots and lots of caffeine?

Have a great weekend!

Happy Friday!