Transitioning

We've been here in Tennessee for just over a week now. The transition has definitely been hard - I was really upbeat about the whole move right until I pulled up to our new apartment. We rented it sight unseen, and I figured it couldn't be that bad...and it's not, but leaving our beautiful, charming apartment with its huge kitchen and basement, and pulling up to something not nearly as nice almost sent me over the edge. The trip we had just made, almost 1000 miles south, hit me all at once and I informed Brian that we would be accelerating our house buying plans significantly. An nonworking kitchen stove gave me fits for a few days.

Exhausted Dad, trying to make Caleb nap with him

On top of apartment woes, I immediately launched into a hunt for a daycare for Caleb and the first place I saw made me want to run far, far away. The second place was nice, but didn't have space for at least a year. (Thanks for not mentioning that on the phone...) I came home to my parents, thankfully here for the week, and burst into tears, pleading with my mom to stay and take care of Caleb.

But slowly things are coming together. We've got our pictures up on the wall. The bedrooms are significantly bigger and having 2.5 baths is incredible. The closets are walk-ins and central A/C is such a luxury. I got offered a great job with one of the United Methodist Church governing agencies. I did eventually find a wonderful daycare for Caleb - it's a K-12 Christian private school with an Early Childhood Learning Center that takes babies starting at 6 weeks old. The director of the ECLC was the only person who's made me feel at home here. The school has a beautiful campus and there's lots of outdoor playtime for the kids. It's 10 minutes from our apartment and I couldn't be more thrilled.

The post-thunderstorm light hitting a rock face, viewed from our balcony.

Tennessee requires more hair product than I'm used to and I was called "ma'am" three times in the grocery store yesterday. It's hillier than I thought middle Tennessee would be and the rolling hills are covered in green. The beauty of this part of the country can take your breath away.

I think we're going to like it here.