As of yesterday, June 18, we have officially been Nashville residents for 1 year. 

We knew moving so far away from family and friends would be challenging, but we also knew it would be a good experience for our family of three and obviously a true blessing for Tyler's career.

Tyler is almost done with his intern year (woohoo) and loves Vanderbilt.  With that said, he works so hard and it is full of challenging times.  It is full of early mornings, late nights, all nighters, studying, and constantly being exhausted with usually only 1 day off a week.   If he is going to be challenged and a workaholic, Vanderbilt has been the best place for it.

This also marks the one year mark of my unemployment.  I miss Astellas, the people, and the financial income, but I can honestly say I don't miss working.  I feel blessed in a way to have worked half of Jack's life and been home with him the other half.  I can appreciate both the working moms and stay at home moms and see the challenges and rewards of both.  I truly appreciate being able to devote my time and energy entirely to my family and let's be honest...making sure Tyler is fed and taken care of can often feel like having a 2nd child :)  I mean that in the best way possible, but he does work such long hours & long weeks and I am able to help him with all the other stuff in life so he can concentrate on being the best physician possible.

Since we have been in Nashville, we have grown as a family and made many new friends.  We came to a town not knowing anyone and are now surrounded by great friends and co-workers.  Jack is attending a great day school for MDO and we have made a church home that has brought us closer to God and centered our family around Christ. 

Jack & I have made great friends that we love to see each week.  This has been a true blessing and I know that when Baby Girl comes into this world I have a support system around me when I need it. 

We love our house and it has been perfect for us.  As I've said previously, Jack & Jake love running around the yard & playing on the deck.  We love the area of Nashville we ended up in and our neighbors.  The commute to/from Vanderbilt and proximity to both Green Hills & Brentwood/Franklin have worked out perfectly.  Jack took his first steps in this house & we have hosted our first family Thanksgiving & birthday party here this year. 

 

Nashville has been such a family friendly town with great entertainment, people, restaurants, & so much to offer.  It has also been fun to live in a city with four seasons and watch as everything changes, including our yard. 

That said, we definitely do miss Texas.  On the top of our list is obviously family & friends.  You can also find us talking about missing being close to the ranch & lakehouse, TX country music, the Hill Country & Austin, and definitely the food!  I'm pretty sure Tyler would do anything to eat Whataburger, Campisi's, Country Burger, or Dickey's on a bad day.  And obviously we miss Mexican food, but Nashville has a couple of places to try and hold us over a bit until we get home. 

Of course there are challenges & hard times.  We have our stressful moments and these moments have brought us closer together but we are prepared for more ahead, including raising two children & facing financial challenges on a resident's salary while repaying loans & I am not working.  It is hard to not have family right around the corner & we are sad every time we have to miss a friend's wedding, shower, birthday, or big event. There are times Tyler needs a break and so wishes he could get a small taste of Texas to give him that break, whether it be a meal, hunting at the ranch, or fishing at the lake.

 

We have been so lucky that family has come to visit often and that our parents are good at road trips!

I went back and looked at a few pictures of move in and it's crazy how much this little boy has changed, too.  Here's one of his first rides in the swing (something he still does almost daily) & helping us with the tools as we unpacked & got settled.

Jack has been a pro at road tripping lately and luckily he also had my mom in the back to entertain him.  He slept for about an hour and a half and we stopped a few times for this preggo to get out, stretch my legs, & use the restroom.  One plus of leaving TN...Whataburger.  We miss it in TN but Jack and I were able to indulge in Birmingham (and made dad very jealous).

We got into Sandestin about 6:30 and headed across to Baytowne Wharf for dinner.  This was a great area that we hadn't been to before & we had fun exploring all the restaurants, shops, & activities. 
As and added bonus Jack got to ride the carousel in a racecar after dinner.

The next morning it was beach/pool time.  Jack's least favorite time of the day was sunscreen time.  Does any child like sunscreen?  We covered him in the hotel room & were constantly re-applying.  Also, as you can tell we kept him very well covered & luckily he liked to wear his silly sun hat. 

(Random note for parents - We had great luck with this stick when reapplying while we were out playing)

I was interested to see how Jack reacted to the sand since in Charleston he was pretty moody about it at times.  He was cautious at first and just had to figure it out, but soon enough was playing away.  Shortly after my dad took him for a walk on the beach, he pulled my cover up out of our bag & started using it as a blankie.  He cuddled up with it and acted like he wanted to go to sleep.  It was barely even 11:00am!  He normally will NEVER sleep before 1:00pm.  But low and behold, he fell asleep right there and took a 2 hour nap on the beach!

After Jack woke up it was lunchtime at the grill by the pool & then pool time!  He hadn't been in a pool in over a year so I was interested to see how he would do.  Luckily, he loved it and was even happy to wear his puddle jumper in the big pool!

 That night we headed to dinner at one of our faves from back in the day, The Back Porch.  All I really remember about The Back Porch was always waiting for a table, but after a quick 10 minute wait we had a delicious dinner on the beach.

After dinner, we explored Destin to see how much it's changed & grabbed a key lime pie & breakfast for the next morning at The Donut Hole...yum.  We also stopped by The Track for Jack to ride the kids train, which of course, he loved.  He almost looked scared while he was riding it but he was truly mesmerized the entire time.

Sleeping in a hotel was interesting when we went to Charleston so I was anxious to see how Jack would do.  We were in a large suite where Jack's pack 'n play was able to be further away from everything.  He would fall asleep in the big bed and we were able to easily transfer him and continue about our night.  No tears at bedtime this trip since he was so tired!

 

Sidenote:  This is where I slept!  Oh how I remember fighting with Layne on who got to sleep on the top bunk back in the day.  Since I'm pregnant, I couldn't even imagine climbing onto the top bunk now-a-days!

Here's a throw back pic of me sleeping on the bottom bunk back in the day.

Enjoying donuts for breakfast before beach time.

 

He took another nap on the beach during day 2. This time even earlier than the day before!

That night we headed to Seaside to explore & get dinner.  Again, this was a new area to us and we loved it.  It's so beautiful and we ate some delicious steamed shrimp on the beach with a gorgeous sunset. 

We started out day 3 at the pool & tried to save the beach for the afternoon so he would nap later, but the action on the beach in the afternoon proved to be too much & he ended up napping in the room.  He still had lots of fun swimming & playing on the beach before naptime, though!

Since it was our last night, we took Jack back to the train for one more joyride.

I asked my parents to dig up a few pictures from our family vacations to Sandestin.  My first trip there was 1986 so I was 3!  I found a few comparisons with the pictures from this vacation of Jack and they make me very happy!