Life Updates

We have officially been Texas residents for almost 2 months. When do you think the disbelief wears off? Overall, I feel like this move has been really great for our little family. I think the adventure of something new, all the exploring and meeting new people has been and will continue to be great for us. I thought I would take some time now to share some updates since our big move.

Definitely, not trying to sugar coat things though. I have had plenty of moments in the last 8 weeks that make me second guess the whole thing. Moving away from our closest friends and families comes with moments of discomfort for sure.I’m already thinking about things we will miss out on. For example, a friend’s baby shower, small birthday gatherings, the big holiday gatherings – these things we would have made time for if we still lived in Michigan.

Recently, one of my friend’s sent a video of her daughter talking to the camera and it made me so sad – I realized I hadn’t heard her little four year old voice in so long! I do have to remind myself though that when we were in Michigan we still lived a few hours from most of our friends and our siblings. So realistically, with work and our kids, there would still be things we would miss out on. 

I think it’s just weird now being so far away that there really isn’t even a possibility for me to make it to certain events – regardless of if I actually would have if we were still in the same state. It’s all just an insanely big adjustment and I think it will get easier with time. Change is so hard and scary. I think that’s also why I’m still in disbelief when I say out loud that we live in Texas. 

Our New Neighborhood

Ok, ok on to the good things. We have already had some family members visit, it’s been so fun to show them our neighborhood and do some exploring. Bryan and I are also loving doing some exploring ourselves. We are enjoying the weather. It’s been wild to have 60-70 degree days in November and December. I think our outdoor time has increased dramatically. 

We are spending more time playing in the backyard and walking around the neighborhood – stopping at the various playgrounds for the boys. I will say, I definitely enjoy being in a neighborhood again. Our last house was on a dead end street surrounded by woods. There were no sidewalks – our walks consisted of a down and back on our little street. That property was absolutely beautiful but after 2 years of that, we missed the community / neighborhood feel. Definitely did a 180 with our current house. Much smaller yard, neighbors right next door and sidewalks everywhere. Meeting other families while at the playgrounds though has been so fun! 

Work Updates

I started with my new job at the beginning of December. I’m in a brand new clinic / practice with one of my good friend’s from residency. It’s slow going – we are building this practice from the ground up but I think it will be a unique experience in networking, self-promotion (which still feels unnatural to me) and career growth. Our hospital system just hosted an official ribbon cutting ceremony for our clinic. We had the opportunity to introduce ourselves to the community. The amount of support we were shown was incredible!

The kids started in their new preschool/daycare last week. It’s a stone’s throw away from my clinic. It is nice to be able to drop them off at school before my work day starts. I’m excited to see how Noah (our youngest) adapts to this totally new environment. He has been home with Bryan for the first year and a half of his life! We are still figuring out what works with our timing for leaving the house. The kids are eating their breakfast in the car and they are having fun with that novel experience. 

Bryan and I are taking advantage of this daycare time too. I work until 2pm on Fridays. This past week, once I was out of work, we took Murphy (probably should give you an update on him soon too!) for a hike. Then we grabbed the boys a few hours later. Going to try to sneak in a little day date on those Friday afternoons. We know the boys are having fun at school anyway!

Bryan is sitting down now at home in the quiet and exploring several different options for his next career move. He’s been a stay at home dad for the last 4 years and I’m so unbelievably grateful that he was willing to do that for our family. I’ve mentioned his business before – he does own a mortgage brokerage company but he’s considering other avenues now as well.  I’m just excited to see what he’s able to do without having to chase toddlers around the house! I think he’s ready for a new challenge too. The stay at home parent life / grind is no joke!

We are settling into our new Texas life. Overall I think change is good. Hard, but good.

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