Since our last update we have had a lot going on! My
mom came out to Pennsylvania for a wonderful little vacay. We packed in a lot of Pennsylvania fun, including a day trip to Hershey, touring the Amish countryside, a Renaissance Faire and visiting an alpaca farm. She also helped us pack up our apartment, which was a huge help!
She and I flew back to CA together last Monday. Matt
followed me out to CA later last week with his dad and our Sadie Lady,
driving all the way across the country for the second time in one year...
wowza! They had a couple setbacks along the way with the trailer we bought to tow our
car & stuff back - the ramp broke when Matt started to load everything
(awesome...) and a tire blew out in Adrian, TX (middle of nowhere!). But,
long story short, they along with our belongings made it into town Monday
evening around 8 pm safe & sound. Matt and I are staying with my parents until we get a house in Merced. More on that to come. So far, all of us (me, Matt, Sadie, Sam, Mom, Dad & Sparky) are getting along swell, although it is a little weird to be living back at home again and to be driving the streets of Clovis/Fresno as a resident rather than a weekend visitor. We miss our Pennsylvania friends and the rolling countryside, but that's about all we miss. :) It's definitely good to be back on the west coast.
Matt
started his postdoc position at UC Merced on Tuesday morning, a mere 12
hours after arriving in Clovis! But, so far, everything is going well and
he anticipates a great year there. It seems to be a great fit for him.
We
are still looking for a home in Merced. When we started considering housing options months ago, we decided to purchase a home rather than rent. It made more sense to us both financially as a long term investment in a rental property, and the market seemed to be ripe for the picking. It's turned out to be a looong and frustrating
process to try to find a home to buy, as there is limited inventory in Merced, and the good ones go quickly! As an example, we put in an offer the same day a house went on the market and went in above list price. Within three days, the house had 12 additional offers and, obviously, we weren't the highest bidder. Ugh! We definitely didn't anticipate it
taking this long, and now we're trying to reevaluate the situation to see
if we need to just find something to rent. With the Tatum Tot's expected arrival getting closer and closer, we are really anxious to have some time
to get settled in a place of our own.
I
saw my new Obstetrician here in Fresno today for the second time. He is a
fantastic doctor who actually delivered some of my cousins. He was willing
to take me on as a patient pretty late in the game, and for that I am very
thankful. When I initially found out I was pregnant, my OB in Pennsylvania
calculated my due date as October 2nd. They then changed it to October 8th
after our 6-week ultrasound based on the gestational development, so
that's the date we've been running with the entire time since. Today, my
doctor told me he's going to use October 2nd in an effort to be
conservative, since he hasn't been overseeing my care for very long. It
may also have a teensy bit to do with the fact that both Matt & I were
big babies (he was over 9 lbs and I was 8 lb 11 oz), and they think the Tatum Tot is likely to be, too. A difference of six days may not sound
like a big deal to you, but to me it is HUGE for some reason! Obviously,
due dates are big fat guesses anyway, but that puts us a week closer to
when we will meet our little one nonetheless! It's exciting and scary all
at the same time! He also said that he doesn't intend to let me go past
the 8th, so what that means is that the countdown is ON, and our Tatum Tot
will be here in a little over a month... eek! So exciting! So much to do still!
This was a couple weeks ago, but I figure an updated picture is due nonetheless. :)
Lots of changes, and all of them very exciting! Thanks for bearing
with us in this time of transition. (I just realized that sounds like something you see posted in the mall when they're doing construction.. haha). We are really excited to introduce our new
family member and hopefully our new home to you very soon!
