Stephen& Emily Holden: Saying Goodbye...

I think I was really in denial that we were moving, almost up until the few weeks before we left. May was a crazy month getting ready to go. Lots of last minute doctors appointments for myself. Along with Andrew's doctors appointments, a follow-up MRI and another round of Botox treatments to get everything in order before we leave. Plus, trying to get medical and school records transferred over to Georgia has (and still is) a big headache. Remind us about all of this when we're contemplating moving again...please!!!

But of course we had to get in a few lasts...

We were lucky that Stephen's little brother James decided to fly down this way to see a good friend of his get married in the Dallas Temple at the beginning of the month. So we were able to spend a few days with him while he was in town. We did a few of our favorite things one last time. Unfortunately Stephen had to leave a little early and fly to Atlanta for work, but we got some good playing in.

Spent a day at the Dallas World Aquarium and loved seeing all the animals.

Andrew was a little disappointed there were no horses...and we couldn't convince him that they would have seahorses. But I think him being entertained by the penguins made up for that fact.

Then of course we had to find some good Texas BBQ. Rudy's is one of our favorites and we divulged into some delicious meat.

My sweet friends who've I've become so close with the last year threw me a baby shower/goodbye party. It was darling and I should have taken pictures of all the hard work that went into it. I seriously felt so loved and touched that they would do that for me before we left.

Love these ladies and miss them dearly already. Sad that they won't be able to meet these two littles.

I don't know if Andrew really understood when it was his last day of school. We had to pull him out about 2 weeks before school really ended. He sure does miss having the school bus come to our front door each morning and he still talks about all his teachers and friends his misses too. I'm so glad that in the month he went to school, he dived in and learned so much. We will miss the wonderful program he was able to be apart of.

Here he is excited as always waiting for the bus to come and pick him up for his last day of school.

We made some amazing friends while living in Texas. Some of Stephen's co-workers were among them. All being in the same rotational program we haven't all been in the same place at the same time except this year. But even then, we've met up and taken trips together, spent holidays together, and when everyone's in town for conferences we'd go to baseball games, tour the city together or just hang out and cook delicious exotic food. All of them are staying in Dallas for their final position...except for us. So we decided to head to our favorite Thai place for one last get-together.

Andrew is really going to miss these guys. They spoil this kid to death!

Andrew loves the park. Mostly because we take his walker and he just runs free. We had tons close to our house that we frequented a lot. So we had to hit up some of our favorite parks one last time. He especially loved Oak Point Nature Preserve, just a mile from our home. His favorite was the big lake. He loved looking for the ducks and walking over the bridges.

Going from a 4 bedroom/2 car-garage home to a tiny apartment was a challenge. We had TONS of stuff we knew we just couldn't take. So we spent lots of time on craigslist posting everything from fridges to lawnmowers and everything else we knew we didn't need. I'll be honest. We got rid of A LOT and threw away or donated even more. But somehow we still filled up this tiny apartment and are going through another round of purging as we unpack. Ahhhh yes. Just another one of the many joys of moving.

Somewhere in the month of May Stephen DID have a birthday, just so happened to be the day before the movers came. He's had a incredibly busy month transitioning to this new position. He was gone for almost half the month, spending time with his new group in Atlanta and working on projects they needed him for. He had a huge project due on his birthday and because we were moving that week, told them he had to stay in Dallas. Still he was hard at work most of the day. He was able to get off a little early and come in with me to my last doctor's appointment with my MFM dr. where we were able to find out the genders of these two littles growing inside me. We tried to do a little celebrating in the morning before the craziness of the day began. But poor guy didn't get much as we were up till the late hours of the night, preparing for the movers the next day.

Then before you know it the movers showed up on our doorstep early the next morning and that was that. I was very grateful and spoiled to have the AT&T pay for movers. They did everything for us....Literally. I sat on my couch for two straight days while these men packed up my entire house, loaded it onto a truck and drove off. I was so grateful too, being pregnant AND having to move...this was the only way we could have done it.