Moving on

Reflecting on our time in Austin has been tough to do since we've had the major task of moving with about ten days notice. We are so lucky and so excited to get to Maryland, but i feel like I need to describe what I gained from Austin and the things that i will miss while I am still here.

When I think of our two years here it has been a serious adventure that has flown by. Obviously my favorite thing about Austin is that it brought us Avery. When we first arrived here, I got a job that I ended up loving but I was truly unhappy. I loved living in Charleston and somewhere in transition I lost my joy. I think that is one reason we decided to have Avery, both Kyle and I felt that something was missing in our lives. We wanted excitement, a purpose, something bigger than ourselves. We wanted, we were blessed, she came, we all go.

I will mostly miss the wonderful friendships I've made here in Austin. Truly some of the most generous and kind people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. The hard part is that it is really hard for me (and keeps getting harder) to meet people, form great friendships, knowing that I will have to say goodbye at some point. That is the nature of Kyle's work and to look at it positively, I meet wonderful people along our travels who truly help make me a better person in so many ways.

I will also miss football seasons, wearing burnt orange, Torchy's tacos, Central Market, walks to our park, Avery's awesome doctors, and Quack's coffee.

I will not miss Austin summers, Austin traffic, Austin roads and lights, our current apartment, and distance from either coast.

So looking forward to Kyle finally being able to do what he loves and is really good at, being so close to DC, Baltimore, Annapolis, and NYC, four true seasons (white christmas!), and Maryland sports! This will be a new phase of life for us with so much to look forward to.

I have a feeling we have not seen the last of Austin, but until then, Maryland here we come!

Catching up or falling behind....?

It's been a while since I've posted and that is because we have been exceptionally busy in the last three weeks. The end of the semester came, Kyle's parents were in town to celebrate graduation, two days after they left we went to Charleston for a week to visit my parents. A day after we got back we flew to Kentucky (up and back in the same day) for a job interview and now we are leaving on Sunday for Maryland so that Kyle can interview for another job. This is getting crazy. The picture above just about sums up our last 10 days.

We are all ridiculously tired and seriously ready to make some decisions so that we can get on with our life. On the bright side, we are extremely lucky that Kyle has options and whether we end up in Kentucky or Maryland we will be very happy.

It's time to move on from this phase of our life. Temporary, graduate student living has been great, but it's time to move on. Should be exciting stuff happening in the next few weeks! Here are a few updates on Avery and some things I've learned from taking eight flights in 10 days!

*Avery turned seven months old, she is sitting really well on her own, she is pushing up and wants to crawl badly but is not quite there, she has seven teeth (they all just sprouted at once!!), she is babbling with lots of bah bah bahs and mah, mah, mahs, which is so fun to hear her voice!

*Changing a diaper of a squirmy baby in an airplane bathroom is really hard!

*The ground in the airport is dirty, but sometimes a baby needs to play. This is why you bring blankets and ignore the looks of disgust on other mother's faces.

*Workers at the Nashville airport were the friendliest people I've ever met at an airport.

*Random grandmotherly women will want to hold your baby...I usually said yes and stood right by their side.

*It's amazing how long a water bottle can distract a baby, easily buys you 10 minutes!

*I'm still trying to find a comfortable way to sleep while sitting up in the plane. Anybody have suggestions?

Also, we go to the hip doctor today for a checkup. Praying that all goes well!

I'll hopefully get to update this blog with definitive info on where we will be moving to by the end of next week. Until then we will be jetsetting and trying to make good decisions as a family :)