Last Visitors

I realized something about myself this past week.  I love having people come stay at our house, cooking them special food, and going out to do fun things, but I HATE hosting things at my house.  I don't understand the difference really other than guests are usually just a few people at a time versus a house full of people.  Anyway, my Occidental College roommate and friend, Kimberly Hughey came to visit with her family, Matt and Brighton.  This is their families 2nd visit to see us!  She is so good about keeping in touch this way.  We've been being to get out to DC for a few years now and just haven't done it!  

They flew in Friday afternoon and we picked them up from the airport, came home for French Dip sandwiches and then headed out to see Frozen on Ice!  Hayden and Brighton both loved it!  Even Reid couldn't take his eyes off the stage despite it being way passed his bedtime.  Hayden belted out the words to each and every song, it was very cute to watch and listen.  

The next morning we took it easy since we had such a late night and got biscuits at Stilesboro Biscuit.  That afternoon we headed over to a local farm and did a bunch of different activities and let Hayden chose her pumpkin.

Giant Slides

Zip Lines

Duck races with water pumps

Tractor Ride

Picking pumpkins

The next day we drove 2 hours north to Chattanooga, Tennessee.  There are 3 activities there that we have never done before and I'm so glad we finally did them before leaving the Atlanta area!  We started out at Ruby Falls which is an underground cavern that Native Americans used to store food.  It was also used by both sides during the Civil war.  At the end of the tour you get to an underground waterfall which Reid could not take his eyes off of.  He loves watching the water come in during bath time, so this must have been the giant version of that for him.  

Some part of the walk were super narrow!

Made it to the water fall

Next we headed to the incline railroad which took us to the top of lookout mountain, it was way steeper than any of us expected!

At the top!

Hayden was in heaven with her slurpee and blue lips!

Our last stop was Rock City which was our favorite stop.  It was amazingly beautiful and I can't believe I probably won't go there again.  I wish I could go on walks here everyday, I loved it that much!  It rained but that didn't stop us, and it cleared out the crowds, we only saw a few other groups.  There is no other word that describes it but "magical."    

The following day we headed to the Georgia Aquarium.  We took Kimberly and Matt here 3 years ago when they came to visit and they loved it so much that we decided to head back so Brighton to experience it too.  Because it may be our last time going I let Hayden get her face painted too.  She loved it of course and wanted everyone to see her face :)

The next day it was time to say goodbye.  Our house always seems so empty and sad when visitors leave.  I think it also made us sad because these are the last visitors we will have in this house.  It's crazy that we are starting to have all of our last times...

10 months old!

Reid is 10 months old!  He has developed quite the mean army crawl!  He gets where he needs to go, but he keeps trying to crawl, hopefully he'll figure it out soon.  He likes to blow spit bubbles, recognizes when things are out of place or silly, pulls himself up, can get into a push up stance (on his hands and toes), and can go from crawling to sitting.  He is after all of Hayden's toys and Hayden isn't quite sure how to handle this yet.  He still only has 2 teeth, but I think one front tooth is almost in.

Always on the go, I had a hard time getting him to sit still for a few pictures!

We took Reid to Omaha to house hunt and I was a little nervous about how he would do.  Yes he did get sick of being in the car, but he did so well!  I know I was blessed with an easy going baby to help us out with this big transitional year in our lives.  So grateful for my happy boy!

BIG NEWS

We are moving to Omaha, Nebraska!  We found out in May that Paul would most likely be getting a promotion at work.  We had no idea where the job would take us until July I believe.  Paul interviewed in late August, got the job and now we will close on our house in Nebraska on November 21st and we are trying to sell our home here in Georgia.

Paul's new job title is Regional Service Manager and it's a great next step in his career.  I am very proud of him for all his hard work.  He officially started his job September 22nd, but is able to start it here in Atlanta.  His boss Mike has been wonderful and won't make him be in Nebraska until we close on our home.  We have a great moving package so the move will be less stressful which is wonderful.

I can't believe we are moving again.  When we first heard this was a possibility I cried and cried.  I am not ready to leave my support system here. I have my practice established, I have wonderful friends, I love Hayden's preschool, heck our embryos are here!!!  Hayden is also having a hard time with it, she loves her friends, her primary class, her preschool, this is the only home Hayden really remembers.  She keeps telling me how much she loves our home and doesn't want to leave it.

We put our house on the market on September 24th and no offers yet.  Selling a house is hard!  It feels like rejection each time someone passes up on the home you put so much effort into making nice!  It's also so hard to keep it in "showing" condition all the time, not to mention getting kicked out for periods of time!  But I'm hopeful that the right family comes along soon.

Last week, Paul, Reid and I made the week long trip to Omaha to look for a home.  Our realtor, Nancy was great and helped us so much.  We did find a home after almost losing it.  Because we haven't sold our Georgia home we had to show that we could afford to pay both mortgages in order to put an offer in.  I am so scared that we may have to pay 2 mortgages, but hopeful everything will work out!  We got approved and then we were able to put down an offer on this new home.  We will only be in Nebraska a few years most likely so we wanted to buy a home that we could turn around and sell in a few years.

Paul is so good at getting Reid to sleep when we're not at home!

 Our new home (still under some construction)

It was pretty exciting when we went back the next day and saw the "SOLD" sign!

Randomly enough, Paul's cousin Amy Houser and her family live in Omaha!  She is about 6 years older than Paul so he didn't know her well.  They were kind enough to let us stay with them for half the week and we got to know Amy & Zach and their children: Sebrina, Josh, Mia & Caleb.  They are wonderful people and we are so excited to have family close by!  I don't know what we would have done without them this last week.  They helped watch Reid several afternoons so we could look at more homes, they showed us around the area, and they made us feel less anxious about moving to a foreign place.

Here is Reid with their two girls.  We were at Josh's soccer game and it was freezing, so we went back to the car!  We are in for a rude awakening this winter!

Swim Lessons

Hayden took swim lessons from Ms. Lisa in August and September and really got brave in the water this summer.  Hayden can jump in the water, turn around and bob all the way back to the wall by herself, she can float on her back, and swim freestyle without help.  She is also working on her side breathing.  I am so proud of her and hope hope she likes swimming as much as I do!

I know I took video but now I can't find it anywhere on my phone :(  Pretty sad about this!