Life Lately + Photo Dump

Thought I would combine a real update with pictures since that will make it bearable. :)

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J has continued to improve after his illness.  He has several doctors' appointments, but thankfully he made it through and managed to keep most of his blood! Ha!  Everything looked great except his liver numbers were/are still high.  The Infectious Disease doctor was not concerned, so we are not either.

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The day of one of his appointments he had a phone interview with Pictsweet.  He was originally supposed to talk to them in December, but obviously that didn't work out well with J being in the hospital with CMV.  It went well... so well in fact, they called him two hours later to schedule an in person interview!

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Cooper and I have continued going to story time and on playdates with Georgie.  It is so much fun to watch them now, as they actually interact (by hitting each other and taking the other's toys, but you know...).  They are also both crawling.  It is so cute to watch them race for a toy!  Georgie is pulling up, so she is a little ahead of Cooper, but she is a lot to keep up with!!!

Eating some banana and avocado 1/4

Cooper has loved eating real food.  He is not a fan of carrots or green beans though!  It has been fun watching him eat... or not eat, as the case may be.  Some days he is extremely messy, but other he is really clean.  And sometimes he eats everything on his own, but others he wants to eat it off one of our hands.  We have given him some puree from a pouch because we found it was easier that way when traveling.

Looking outside 1/6

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1/13

After all the sickness, J was so glad to spend a long weekend with us over MLKJ day.  We stayed in our pjs almost all weekend.  We also made pancakes, which is always a good thing!  After not being able to play with Coop, J fully enjoyed his weekend with him.

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Sound asleep 1/21

Cooper started army crawling.  He uses his left arm and right leg.  He started out slow, but now he is so fast it is hard to keep up!  It's been interesting keeping him away from things (mainly cords and my plant.  He loves to eat my plant.)

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1/28 He ends up doing the splits after a while.  He doesn't like it.

Not sure if you heard, but it snowed in Atlanta at the end of January.  Thankfully, J came home and missed all the chaos.  We didn't go anywhere for several days.  We had planned to leave Thursday night at bedtime to head to Jackson, but we ended up leaving in the afternoon since the roads were going to refreeze.

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1/28 LOVING the snow!

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1/28  It was bad.

1/29

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This is the Google Maps Traffic progression on the 27th

Headed for Jackson and happy! 1/30

1.5 hours later, not so much

Happy to be out of the car.  At Zaxby's.

Cooper did not have a good night at the hotel.  He hardly slept at all.  Thankfully, J did get more sleep than we did.  Nothing we did pacified Coop.  I ended up putting him in our bed, but he kept crawling over to J.  And the static.  It lit up the room!!! I have never seen static like that before.

1/31 FINALLY passed out... just as we had to walk out the door

J's interview went well.  Coop and I drove around Jackson and even made a quick trip to Aldi.  Mamaw and Papaw drove up to see us.  They played with Coop for a while, then we drove around and had lunch.  Then it was time to pick up J.  We were KY bound!  This was only the second time Cooper had been to KY and his first time to church with my parents.

Coop and OG 2/1

We had a fun time, even though it was so short.  J and I even went out by ourselves.  And of course, snow and ice ran us off earlier than planned. :(

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Cooper got faster at crawling and also more interested in exploring.  Which means he has been in some tight spaces lately...

2/5

Daddy got the job!!!!

2/9

Ready for church 2/9

Selfie! 2/9

Got a little zucchini on his face 2/9

2/11

I hate bibs! 2/12

2/13

I'm the boss around here! 2/13

1/26

So we are moving to Jackson, TN!!  J starts 3/3.  He is staying in a hotel for a few weeks until we can get a house.  We are going house hunting next weekend.  It's all so crazy!  We have been looking online, researching schools (as this is our last move for a LONG time!), getting pre-approved, etc.  We are hoping the timing works out right since we already put in our notice at the apartment!  We are so excited to be able to buy a house and be closer to our families.  It's going to be crazy for the next few months, but would you expect anything different from us? :)  Crazy is the new normal!

730!

It's been another year- with more big things happening!

-We bought a house and moved to civilization
-I completed 1 year teaching in February
-J got a new job!
-We took an autumn trip to the mountains
-We traveled to NYC!
-I decided to go back to school to get a Master's degree
-We placed membership at a church


We have been so blessed the past 365 days. We are looking forward to the next 60ish years!

Wow!

We have been so busy lately, I haven't given a real update!

J started his new job last Monday. He has to leave the house around 6:45 in the mornings! It is an adjustment to waking up earlier. It is very different from his previous job, so it will take some getting used to. There is a lot more freedom with this job though- he can text me or call me whenever, he can eat lunch whenever he wants, and they don't care too much if he is a little late. (A wreck caused him to be a few minutes late today, but it wasn't a big deal.) The drive is something both of us are going to have to get used to. Knowing he gets off work at 5, but not seeing him until after 6 is torture since I know the traffic is heavy. I know I'm a worry wort.

I have been busy with lots of meetings. Hopefully, the last of my meetings are occurring this week. I had one today, and I have another Wednesday. Although there is talk about me getting 2 more students, so we'll see!

As you can see from the previous updates, we are under contract for a house! Last week we spent Tuesday and Thursday evenings in Fuquay doing a second look and completing the offer. Wednesday was negotiation day, then Thurs we signed the official paperwork. Friday, we were officially under contract. It was an exhausting week. J didn't even get home until after 8 most nights!

Friday, we rented The A-Team, cooked some burgers and just relaxed. Between the house and getting up earlier for work, we were both tired! I am no ashamed to say we were in bed by 9:30.

Saturday, we did a little shopping. J got some more pants, and I got some to replace my worn out ones! Then we ate at The Flying Biscuit (thanks Groupon), and headed to the movies to see Hall pass (thanks LivingSocial!) The daily deal websites helped us have a cheap date night! Total cost was $25.

Yesterday after church, we went to eat with the others that live near us (2 couples + 1 family). We had some home cooked roast, baked potatoes, lima beans, and banana pudding! Our house will be about a mile from the family's house where we ate. We made it home in time for a 45 minute nap before heading back to church. After church, we ate at Chipotle and Skinny Dip (self serve frozen yogurt.- like Fresh Berry from a couple of weeks ago.) I had strawberry and vanilla yogurt with cake, a brownie, kiwi, strawberries, sprinkles, butterfinger, and reese's. Perfection!

I have already started packing a few things, but I hope this week to get a lot more done. We mainly need to clean out some things that we don't use. I am planning to have a yard sale in a couple of weeks- so I have lots of stuff to go through! Our landlord can't stand not to have a month's rent, so she says she will be showing the house while we're still here. I have left notes on the stove, microwave, and fridge that we will sell them to the person moving in. Hopefully we can get rid of them that way!

So it's only going to get crazier around here, so sorry if the updates are few and far between!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I confess the reason I have been skipping out on blogging is because.....

we have been waiting....
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for John to get a job offer! He finally got it at 7:30 this morning!

J interviewed about 3 weeks ago for a position in Raleigh. It is at a bank doing marketing- which is what he really wants to do (not necessarily at a bank though.) He starts in 2 weeks!

All that means- that we are considering buying a house. We have been casually shopping for a week or so, browsing around online and driving through neighborhoods. So we have lots of decisions to make. How big of a house? Budget? WHERE is the biggest decision since I will keep my job, but J will be working north of Raleigh. So please keep us in your prayers as we start yet another phase of our lives. :)

P.S. J will be buying me a puppy, too! He just doesn't know for sure yet. ;)

It's been a great week!

I am trying to remember what we have done this week, but all I can remember is from Friday morning to today!

J got a phone call at 9 Friday morning, offering him the job in Dunn. We were both in shock because we were both so convinced it wasn't going to happen. After work, we headed to Raleigh to celebrate. We ate at The Cheesecake Factory. Cheesecake is definitely a celebratory food! We waited forever, but the food was good. And so was the cheesecake!

Saturday, we headed to Smithfield to the outlets to get J some clothes. He got some ties, a couple of shirts, and a pair of pants. Success!

Today we went to church in Fayetteville again, then went to Fuquay to go to Kroger and Harris Teeter. I had to get some more chicken!

Tomorrow is J's first day. I am going to Winterville for a workshop, so it will be a long day for us both.

Since J got a job, we decided it was best if he didn't ask for another day off, so I am headed to KY by myself. Instead of driving 12 hours, I am flying. I am a little nervous flying alone, but I am sure it will be fine. I will be in KY from Friday- Wednesday.

This week is coming back to me now! Tuesday, J went to the doctor. J liked him, and he had a different idea for treatment, so that's good! They had to do some bloodwork to see if this new medicine will work. I think we find out next month at his next appointment.

Thursday, we went to the local golf course so J could play some. It was such a pretty day... until we got there. Then the sun went away and it got windy. :( We both still enjoyed it.

That's all for this week. Payday is Wednesday! Yay!

YIPEE!!!!!!!!!

J GOT A JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are so excited to be DINKs! (Double Income No Kids)

J will be working in a town 15 miles or so away in a credit union!

God never seizes to surprise us!