Bears at the Zoo

One thing we've enjoyed doing this spring (on days that aren't FREEZING or RAINING which are hard to come by here!) is going to the zoo!!

The Toledo Zoo has a great Polar Bear exhibit and the bear is really cute!

But I think that this bear might be cuter!!! :)

CJ really enjoyed getting to see the bears (and all the other animals too)!! We can't wait to take him to the San Diego Zoo!!

Late Mother's Day Recap

My Mother's Day post is late for a couple of reasons.

1) It has been crazy busy around here with guests and activities and move preparations (see previous post)

2) After going through infertility, it is hard to adequately sum up all the emotions and thoughts that accompany this holiday for me.

First of all, I am SOOO incredibly thankful to be a Mom to the sweetest little boy, CJ. I can't imagine my life without him in it, and am so thankful that God allowed me to be his Momma!!

My heart still aches for all my blog friends that are still waiting for their blessings!! The pain of wanting a baby is still fresh to me, and I remember how "Mother's Day" was a hurtful reminder of what I couldn't/didn't yet have. I pray every night for God to reveal His plan for the families of everyone still waiting!!

JT's Mom was here on Mother's Day this year, so CJ & JT surprised the Mommas in their lives with pedicures and a dinner out!

We had a really great time getting pampered together! I got blue toes, and "Nana" got red toes. :)

After the relaxing pedi's, we went out to dinner downtown at The Melting Pot!! What a yummy treat that was!!

I think you can tell that I enjoyed it! :)

Busy, Busy!

We've had visitors for the past two weeks, which has been busy but a great time! JT's Mom was able to come up for his graduation and got to spend lots of quality time with her youngest grandchild CJ.

CJ & "Nana" had lots of fun together:

Gallup Park

Playing

Hands on Museum

Backyard

Exploration Zone Class

Then the following week my parents came. They really wanted to see us (who are we kidding?, they wanted to see their only grandchild, CJ!) before the big move since it will take us some time to get moved, settled in and ready for visitors!

CJ enjoyed his time with "Oma & "Grandpa":

Touch a Truck Event

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park

Detroit Tigers Baseball Game (CJ's first MLB game)

Gallup Park

Hands on Museum

Now that we know we won't be having any more visitors, it is time to get down to business getting ready for the move. Last night JT and I spent about 4 hours in our basement sorting through stuff to donate, stuff to sell online, stuff to sell at our yardsale and of course stuff to TRASH! That is one really good thing about "having" to move every 3 years, is that it forces you to go through your stuff, and "clean up" what you have! Speaking of which, I better get back to work while CJ is napping...

It's really happening!

Here it is, 2:30am and I can't sleep. Too many thoughts swirling around in my head...

The movers came this morning (yesterday morning at this point) and surveyed how much stuff we have. That way they get an estimate for how many boxes/days/men they need to do our move. That is when it REALLY hit me for the first time.

This is REALLY happening. We REALLY are going to be moving in 5 weeks. Holy cow. Until today, I've kept up my Scarlett O'Hara attitude: "I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about that tomorrow" pretty successfully...But I can't keep putting it off! I better come to terms with it quick, because I only have a month left to say goodbye.

As weird as it sounds (even to me!) I feel sadder about moving away from Michigan than I did 3 years ago when we were moving away from Hawaii. Don't get me wrong, I won't miss the winter weather. AT ALL! But there were so many wonderful things here that I will miss! I'll post a list another day when it's not the middle of the night and I can actually think coherently...but overall this Michigan Chapter of our life was a big one. JT & I changed and grew so much in these 3 years. We went through infertility here and had our sweet baby CJ here.

I feel like I have about 50,000 things I need to get done before we move. And realistically with a VERY active little toddler, I know that they are just not all going to get done. So I need to work on prioritizing, and stop wasting time. Hmmm....blogging wasn't exactly on my to do list...oh well, "tomorrow is another day."

Con-"Grad"-ulations

Today I am so proud of my hubby!! After 3 years of hard work, and hours and hours of writing and research on a thesis, and seeing countless patients, JT graduated from the University of Michigan with a Masters in Restorative Dentistry!! Yes, he is an over-acheiver...the "Dr." wasn't enough, he had to get a masters too! Ha ha! Good work honey!! His Mom was able to come up from SC to be here! What a special day for our family!! :)