Goodbye 529 Tracy Circle

I'm going to miss this house. Yes, you read that correctly...I will miss this house. More importantly, we will miss this house.

Katy, Amelia, Eleanor, Scout, and I are moving to Durham, North Carolina. I have taken a job with Duke University within the Office of Research Support as Assistant Director of International Projects. I will join a team to help Duke manage their grant funded international research projects. It's a great opportunity. Katy is interviewing with Durham Public, Chapel Hill City, and Wake County Schools for a Speech Language Pathologist position. We've found Amelia and Eleanor a daycare, and secured some temporary housing.

But back to the house...

This was our first home. We've had many good nights, and some rough ones. However, they were all nights in our house that helped shaped who we have become over the last two years. We've had three years in Boone. We've made many friendships. We'll miss church, work, daycare, and our neighborhood.

Katy and I made a lot of memories here with cookouts, football games, Christmases, walks through the neighborhood, and hard work. Amelia learned how to grow baby dirt...that's what she called the first vegetable and fruit plants that we grew. She skinned her knee riding her tricycle. Scout had al the space she wanted to escape her human sisters when they were too loud or had dressed her up enough. Eleanor was brought home from the hospital to this house. Already she's begun rolling over, babbling, and playing with toys. Our girls have grown here, and so have we as a family unit.

                    

   
















We will retreat from the mountains and get back to city life. It's the right time for us to do this together, and it will take all of us working together to do it well. We feel that it is what's best for our family, and we will undertake our move with faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.

A Practically Perfect Party

Almost a week ago, my Amelia turned three years old.  Three.  Three has felt like a big one.  She is no longer a baby, no longer even a toddler; she is a little girl, a preschooler.  I've surprised myself with how difficult it has been for me.  I'm celebrating her childhood, but also saying goodbye to toddlerhood.  Even now, with a preschooler, I can see the future looming.  I'm thrilled to see who she becomes and all of the things she will accomplish, see, do, change and experience.  At the same time though, she already needs us less and less.  I know, I know - that's as it should be, and I am proud that we are raising her to be independent and confident.

2017 has not been easy on Amelia and while she has mostly handled it with as much grace as a three year old can muster, that fact has been undeniable.  There were some big changes at school, including the recent culmination of a transition to the preschool classroom (which has been a life goal for Amelia for almost an entire year).  Eleanor's arrival has rocked her world in innumerable ways, most of which will be good in the future, but aren't easy now.  On top of all of that, we will be completely uprooting and changing her life in the next few weeks.  So, it was important to me to make this birthday extra-special.  I felt like she deserved something that was completely about her.

All of you know how much birthdays, and celebrations of any kind, mean to me.  I love the chance to make things special; I love surprises so much that I won't use online banking for a month leading up to Christmas and I have never once shaken a present.  As a parent, celebrating Amelia's birthdays have been one of my favorite things.  I'm sure the same will be true for Eleanor. I absolutely adore finding ways to celebrate, seeing how excited she is and making it fun.

When a kid has a birthday, especially kids as young as mine, it's an accomplishment for the parents too.  You're celebrating another year of parenthood.  As you watch your kid blow out their candles, it's a prime moment to allow yourself some ever-elusive pride in your parenting skills.  Maybe that's why we all fall into the trap of letting them have way too much sugar and blindly falling into the meltdown trap that's sure to follow even the most low-key of birthday parties.

This year, we celebrated a good bit.  We had celebrations with grandparents, a Mommy and Amelia day at Tweetsie, popsicles with her class at school and a birthday party.  I capitalized on one of her very favorite things for the party; Mary Poppins.  Amelia is captivated by Mary Poppins.  She would sit and watch the movie every single day if she could.  All of her toys take turns being Jane and Michael, "spit-spot" has become a part of our everyday vernacular and the mere mention of Mary Poppins brings a spirited rendition of "A Spoonful of Sugar."  Here are some pictures of the party decorations, etc.

We had a wonderful turnout to celebrate our Amelia.  I couldn't be more grateful.  Thank you to Amelia's grandparents; I couldn't have pulled off the party without your help.  Thank you to every single person who came to celebrate with Amelia; our friends and family came out in full force and we love you all even more for loving our girl.  Thank you for understanding that three years old squeal, that makeshift "shows" demand attention, that playgrounds can be tough to share, that sugar tastes even better when it's celebratory and that this party was a labor of love.  Amelia had an amazing birthday; she knew it was just for her, she felt loved and for that, most of all, I thank you.

So, just once more, a week later, I'll say it again; happy 3rd birthday to our Amelia!