Died and Gone to Heaven

A lot has fallen into place in the stressful month (or two) since I've posted on this site. Mimi and I purchased our first house. Woot. I've been offered the opportunity to teach my first semester at Mizzou which is actually a bit rare. I won a student paper award through AEJMC in St. Louis (it comes complete with a plaque!) where I will be presenting in August. Mimi has found a new doctor. We've spotted a couple of ways we could quickly get involved in the community and get to know the people there.

That said, I'm not sure I can completely wrap my head around the stress I feel right now. I'm moving next weekend before returning to DC to finish out at my job. The AEJMC conference is the second week of August. Orientation for Mizzou is the third week of August. And I have a baby due in October. It's a bit overwhelming. We've got to fit house painting, Lamaze classes and CPR training in there.

I've been doing a lot of running. About 24 to 28 miles a week.

People have asked me a lot about what this transition is like.

Basically, I'm going to place I've never been. To program I've never visited. To live in a house I've never seen. In part to prepare home for a child I've never met.

It's kind of like the afterlife. Good friends have told me that Missouri has a great program--the program is truly the stuff of legends. People I trust have told me Columbia's a fun town with very nice people (emphasis on "very"--I'm not sure I'll know what to do after living in DC and Florida). Family has told me that have a child will be the greatest responsibility I'll ever had, make me busier than I've ever been and happier than I could ever imagine.

Am I moving or dying to go to Heaven?

Welcome to Columbia

So for those that do not know as of July 11 I will be living in Columbia, MO. I'm on my last visit there before we officially relocate and I've been creating my own little Arcadian Nest for Greg and Little Miss P to move into. I thought I would share some photos. The first one is of the paint colors I am thinking about for Miss P's room. We decided to go with the color on the right (called asparagus). The second is a front view of the house with a fresh cut lawn.

I've met with people on electricity and been trying to round up a washer and dryer while I am here. I hope that we can put things together rather quickly once we start to move furniture and get settled. After this trip I'll be back in DC for a little over a week. I cannot believe how close the move is getting.

Our neighbors are wonderful so far. Yesterday I met several and their children when they were selling lemonade. They gave me some great tips and explained some things about the neighborhood. I visited one neighbor today and hung out with her and her two kids for an hour or so. I love where we are going to live, and I am feeling better about the community--although I'll still miss DC. I also met with a pastor at the local Nazarene church who is going to get some people to help us unload the truck on July 11 and help my parents when they are here on July 3rd. A lot of coordinating.

I met my new Dr. today at the University of Missouri Women and Children's Hospital. It was a great experience. She has two residents as well who shadow her and work with her patients. It is great to be part of the learning process. Miss P was so active today they had a hard time getting her heart beat. I really love that she is so active.

Weddings, Reunions and Pregnancy

I'm in Texas this week again for my friend Stephanie's Wedding and 10 year High School Reunion. Got to see Stephanie, and my second cousins Angie and Ally this weekend in Waco (see photo on right). I wore one of what Greg calls my "loud maternity dresses." I love this dress although I bought it a size too big so I can wear it into the pregnancy. Stephanie has been a friend of mine since my Freshman year at Baylor. The wedding was beautiful and I am very happy for Stephanie and her husband Tyler. Like Greg and I, they both work in journalism--Tyler is a sports reporter for TV and Stephanie is a TV producer. It was great to see them, meet their families and see some old friends from college as well. It felt a little like a mini-reunion. One of my friends from Freshman year at Baylor, Jason and his wife who I also knew through classes, were present at the wedding. We had a good time reminiscing about the organizations we participated in during our first years at Baylor. It was neat to see them and remember the people we knew when we first came to Baylor. Things were so different back then and it is hard to believe all that has happened in the six years since graduation. In addition, Little Miss P and Little Miss Boone got to meet for the first time--or at least their bellies did (my cousin Angie is almost nine months pregnant). One of the funniest things was when the photographer asked us to take a photo with Stephanie and they asked for the eight house party women to gather around her. Stephanie corrected him and said their were actually 10 girls there. This made me smile. I am so excited for Angie and Cameron and cannot wait to see what their little girl.

This week I am catching up with friends in San Antonio and Boerne, many whom I have not seen in more than five years. The reunion is Friday at Little Gretel, a restaurant owned by one of my classmates Veronica. Although many people have still not paid we are hoping to have close to 80 attend the event. I'm honestly just ready for the event--the planning and preparation has gone on forever. Note to Little Miss P--do not run for officer of your senior class if you have no idea what you will be doing or where you will be living when you are 28. Helping with the planning of my high school reunion has made this period of my life a little more complex. How could I have known I would not be living in Boerne, Texas ten years later? How could I have known I would be pregnant and moving to Missouri? I guess I need to give myself a break.

In other news, Greg and I finally closed on our house in Missouri. I'll be heading up there later this month and then we will be moving in mid-July. I'm sad to say goodbye to DC, but excited about new opportunities, and Greg and my life with Little Miss P. Greg's been working on packing books (he's already filled up 10 or so boxes). I've been searching on Craig's List for appliances and furniture and looking for painters, electricians and lawn care people in Missouri. I could go on but I think this might be a blog all in it's self.

Videos!!

We got a little camera to record the events of our pregnancy and Little Miss P when she arrives. Here is a cute video of Greg from right before we found out Little Miss P's gender. It made me laugh so I thought I would share it.

Little Miss P

So we have a new name for Baby P. Thanks to Sari one of Greg's former WJC students, she is now "Little Miss P." Greg and I worked today to register for some additional baby items for upcoming baby showers and also did some research on some Canadian French kids shows (Annie Broccoli is what the Perreaults in Chicago suggested).
I'm so excited about Little Miss P's nursery and as soon as we know where we are living in Missouri I'm going to hit the ground running on decorating. The theme for the nursery is going to be birds, bears and turtles. To the right is what we chose for her room (even before we knew she was a girl). It's pretty gender neutral but really goes with our family style. I'm so excited about adding another family member to our nest!