Cuteness

Just thought I would post three cute pictures of Charles that I ran across while downloading from our camera. The first one is a quite awkward pose we found him in one night - we check on him nightly, and it was a priceless photo op! How can that be comfortable? The second one is of him in his new shoes. He loves them and brings them to me every morning, sits down, lifts his feet and says, "shoes, shoes" until I put them on him. The last picture is of Charles sitting on his UGA stool acting like a gorilla. Jacob taught him how to beat (pat) his chest and say, "oh, oh, oh," to impersonate one. His favorite book is Goodnight, Gorilla so we get to see this trick often.

For Sale By Owner

Yes, we put our For Sale By Owner sign out today, with a tear or two shed as well. Even though we feel like it is our time to close the chapter on our time here in Birmingham, it is still difficult to imagine life in a new city. I feel like we just arrived here in a U-Haul after 4.5 hours on I-20 from Augusta. I have been through a roller coaster of emotions these days thinking about leaving B'ham and starting new friendships and routines in Charleston. Yes, the pregnancy hormones are playing a part in the ups and downs, but this city holds many memories over the last four years. During our time here, we bought our first home, traveled to Europe and Africa, nursed my dad back to health after a triple bypass surgery at UAB, had our first child, and celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary and 10th New Year's Eve together.

We will greatly miss our first church joined as a married couple, Red Mountain Church, and our community group that we have been a part of over the years. We will miss our friends and extended family that we spent so much time with. We will miss our afternoons at the Zoo, Botanical Gardens, library and our typical Thursday night takeout at Shangri-La or dining out at El Cazador. We will definitely miss our comfortable house that we put so much love into and made our own.

With all this being said, we do look forward to starting our next chapter in Charleston. We will have our second child shortly after arriving and hopefully a few more while we are there. If it's in the plan, we look forward to buying our second home and setting up a big boy room for Charles and nursery for Baby 2 (and maybe even a second bathroom)! We will hopefully find a new church home and a new community of friends along with reconnecting with old ones. We look forward to being closer to Jacob's parents, siblings, and my dad. Jacob is ready to begin his cardiology fellowship (the last stop before private practice) and beginning a new phase of learning. We dream about having the month of June off with days filled with naps and beach time - I can not wait for long walks in the sand with cute little bare feet and backs to nibble on. Jacob has even discussed with Charles his future plans of special fishing trips. It will be fun to be tourists for a while in our new city and visit the Battery, Fort Moultrie, the beaches, Rainbow Row, City Market, and the Aquarium - of course, we welcome visitors to share our new city with!

Yes, I know you might be wondering why am I already bidding farewell to B'ham, but at this moment of less than four months left and putting the sign out in our yard, I felt it was an appropriate time to share my memories, anticipations, and fears. I might not have the time to blog this much over the next few months - I have a feeling that life is about to get a lot more hectic!