We've been fortunate enough that as a (now ex) military family, we've only had to move once in an eight year period. At that time, my son Rowan was an only child, and only 18 months old. My husband was deployed, we had a civilian moving company move our things (which only took a few days), and my cousin drove my car from Georgia to Washington and I flew. It went pretty well, and Rowan was also a pretty easy kid to travel with anyway.

But now that we're done with the Navy (involuntarily, thanks to multiple lung collapses, whee!), we're getting to move back home to Colorado. FINALLY.

Now with two kids, one 7-years-old, and one almost 2 and quite a different character, not to mention one cat who meows the whole way to the vet, I'm getting nervous about driving 1,300 miles with them in tow.

I know Rowan will be fine. He can bring his toys, books, whatever he needs to manage to get through THREE DAYS of driving. But the little one? Not so much. Aurora has never been as easy of a baby or toddler as Rowan was, nor as easily portable. She's also much more vocal which is a blessing and a curse. I'm not worried about her missing the house or anything, fortunately. But she is almost entirely diaper-free at home right now for potty training, though she has to be naked, and I really don't want to deal with a major transgression, but I fear three days in diapers isn't going to help one bit.

My cat, oh, my cat thinks the cat carrier in the car is torture. The vet's office is 10 minutes away, yet the whole trip she yowls, and stresses so much that I swear she sheds enough fur to build a second cat. I'm going to order some pet Rescue Remedy, but really, I have no idea what I'm doing here.

Not only will we all be in the car for three days, but we are having the Navy move our things this time around, instead of a civilian company. What that means for us is our things won't get there for, well, probably a week or more after we do. My mom is loaning us some air mattresses, but really, we'll only have with us what we can cram and tie down in the back of the minivan we're driving.

Moving is so much easier when families are smaller, or children are much older. And I'm totally out of my league here. Every time I try to figure out a plan to help keep kids entertained, or figure out how to prevent my cat from having a meltdown, my brain blanks.

I need help! Give me your best moving with toddlers and pets tips!