one year

i know, i know...i owe you more tahoe pictures. and i have some great ones from the weekend we spent with gigi and great uncle bobert and great aunt lori. those will come, i promise!

in the meantime, we are 3 days shy of thalia and i being in north carolina for one whole year. can you believe it?! i keep going back and forth. sometimes it feels like so long along that i moved in to this apartment...other times it feels like not that long ago. but when i start to think about all the changes thalia has gone through, it is amazing...

for example, she didn't start crawling until about 10 days after we moved down. now, she is running all over the place. she was just starting to babble when we moved...now, she is saying things like "scuse me" when she wants you to move, and "bless you" when someone sneezes. the little voice that has emerged from her is so adorable! then there is the hippo. here is the first hippo picture taken in north carolina:

and here is her 18 month picture...her last one that will be taken in the apartment:

speaking of last one taken in the apartment, i have some big news. i apologize that some of you have to find out through the blog, but that is kind of the entire point of having it (not only delivering pictures of my princess!). friday is technically my last day of my one year rotation. but thalia and i will not be coming home to michigan. instead, gsk will be relocating chris and all of our stuff down to north carolina! while it is really hard to tell our family and friends that we are leaving, this is really exciting news for me...working at the "home office" was my goal when i signed on as a sales rep; and it was a big part of why i wanted to do the year rotation - to get down there and see if i like the office world. and i love it! so the fact that i get to stay and continue working with a great team of people is really a blessing. and while it will be a big adjustment for chris, he is also excited about the opportunity for new things down in NC. we aren't moving right away...while the company is helping us sell the house, it has to be on the market for at least 60 days before we can accept a buyout. so we are looking at early november to be permanently moved down. but not to worry...we have plenty of excuses to come back to michigan to visit.

thanks again to all of you who have kept up with us over the past year. thalia and i could not have done so well without the love, support, and prayers from our truly amazing family and friends. since we aren't coming back to michigan, the blog will remain as our way of keeping everyone up to date on thalia's new milestones. we love you all so much...and hope you are receiving blessings for the way you have blessed us.

much much love and a bit more sleep,

c, c, and t