North Carolina Trip

This past weekend, we had the chance to take a last-minute trip to North Carolina to visit with our friends Bill and Alice as well as my relatives. Since our car is still up in Boston, we went ahead and got a rental car for the two-day trip. In addition to the better gas mileage that this Toyota Corolla got us, it was also nice to be able to have a car to show Caleb how to drive (see picture below). We left early Friday morning for Pisgah Forest, NC - where we met up with Bill and Alice and spent the day catching up and enjoying the surroundings. We got to see some cool waterfalls, go down natural rock slides (unfortunately Sharon wouldn't let me take Caleb), and drive the legendary Blue Ridge Parkway. After Bill and Alice returned to their brother's house in Tennessee, Sharon and I drove up to my Uncle Bob's house where we had dinner and a fun evening of fellowship.

As far as Caleb's development, in addition to learning how to drive, he also had his first teeth make its way through his gums. Although we will definitely miss the gummy smile - I think that the single toothed smile will soon be just as fun. This Saturday, we will be flying back to Boston where we will spend some time with our friends up there and also pick up our car. After our family vacation from Aug. 16-23, we will be making our way back down to the Atlanta area. Today's exciting news is that we put our first offer in on a house, so we may even be driving down to close on our first home. We'll keep you posted, but we're very excited about the possibility if the seller accepts our offer.

Bill, Alice, Sharon, and Caleb in front of Looking Glass Falls

In front of one of the beautiful views off the Blue Ridge Parkway (Look at Caleb's great skill in photography!)

Caleb practicing his driving before we returned the rental car

Projectile vomiting: one of the greatest joys of motherhood (as the "shrapnel" reached all the way down to her legs)

Me on the natural rock waterslide

House Hunting

I have a confession to make. Though I once mocked my wives obsession with HGTV (that is Home and Garden TV for those who are out of the loop) - I have now become the first person to turn to that station and see what show is on. Although my favorite show is obviously House Hunters - I've found myself intrigued with every show dealing with real estate now that we're looking for our own home. Needless to say the whole home search process is a bit overwhelming, but we're starting to narrow down possible options. Our situation is even a little more complex because we would want to find a place that could resell quickly since there is a good chance that we would only be in the area for 2 or 3 years. The good thing is that it is definitely a buyer's market now and that we have a good deal of options. We'll keep you posted on the search as we hope to have a home closed on by the end of August.

As far as how things are going with Caleb, we feel that he has finally adjusted to his new surroundings - which means that it is time for us to leave again :) He also had his 6 month checkup not too long ago and he came in at the 95th percentile for weight again and his length and head size is increasing in percentile also. He still seems like he is on the verge of crawling - but I have a feeling that he may be that way for a while. We're still hoping that he's able to crawl by the time we leave for the beach on August 16 - but I fear we may regret that when we're trying to keep tabs on him all over the beach house. He is such an active guy now so it is a little scary to think what it will be like when he starts crawling.

Finally, we wanted to use this post to pay a tribute to our favorite fast-food restaurant: Chick-Fil-A. During our time at Seminary, Sharon and I took advantage almost every week of the special "buy one meal, get one free offer" that they had for Seminary and college students. It was a fun and cheap date night for us and also was one less dinner that we had to worry about planning each week. Now, we're super excited to be living in the birthplace of Chick-Fil-A. Just last week, Chick-Fil-A had their "Cow Appreciation Day" festivities where they gave free value meals to everyone that dressed up as cows. Needless to say - Sharon and I couldn't miss it and we have pictures of our home-made cow "costume" below. I know it was a little weak, but I was pretty impressed with what Sharon came up with at the last minute.

Logan hugging/strangling :) his cousin Caleb

Close-up photo of the cousins - as Logan took to referring to Caleb as "my baby Caleb" during his visit

We LOVE Chick-Fil-A

Georgia on My Mind

Just in case you didn't realize it, "Georgia on My Mind" is the official state song of the great state of Georgia. Many of you may also have not realized it yet, but this is also the official song of the new home state for Sharon, Caleb, and I. Yes, after many months of wondering where we would end up - we found out last week that we have been given the opportunity to live in one of the last places that we expected: the Atlanta area. It turns out that Janz Team will be employing a decentralized office approach in the United States for the next few years and our supervisors suggested we look at setting up our home base in the Atlanta area. In addition to the possibilities for Janz Team to develop contacts in this area, we are also super excited to be so close to Sharon's family (and the free babysitting that comes along with that).

Although Sharon and I had known about this possibility since the end of May, we didn't dare mention a word of it to her family until it was a certainty. So, when we arrived in the Atlanta airport after orientation two weeks ago, we let them know about the turn of events. As they had expected that we would be moving to the Midwest, they were shocked and overjoyed (to say the least) about our new plans. We are also very excited because the Atlanta housing market actually gives us the possibility of owning our first home, and we are already in the midst of some pretty intense real estate research.

As far as Caleb, he is still continuing to grow and develop super quickly. He just had his 1/2 year birthday last Thursday and we feel he is on the verge of crawling - as he really is trying hard to do it recently. Over the past two weeks he has become even better at eating solid foods - and he sometimes even gets some of it in his mouth. His favorite so far is sweet potatoes, but he has also taken a liking to green beans - which he definitely didn't inherit from his father. Overall, he has been a pretty happy baby recently, which I somewhat hesitate to write since he hasn't really slept nearly as well after I blogged about him being a "super sleeper." If he starts being grumpy again, I'll have to cut off all positive compliments about him on the blog. Anyways, here are some pics showing our happy baby and his enthusiasm for eating.

Here is the big toothless grin we all love


Caleb also LOVES his carrots

A well-rested Caleb is a happy Caleb