Gadsden, AL

A couple of weekends ago, Chris, Lottie, and I visited Gadsden, Alabama, our future home. The forecast said it would be very cold and rainy with a winter storm warning (it was the weekend after all the snow), but we went anyways since I had already booked a hotel through Priceline (non-cancellable). It ended up being in the 50's and rainy, so not as bad. Even with the weather, we still enjoyed the city a lot.

Gadsden is about 4.5 hours from Spartanburg or 2 hours west of Atlanta and only 10.5 hours from Katy (4 hours closer!). It also returns us to the Central time zone. The Coosa River runs through the middle of the city. I created a map of some key places from our trip here. (What do you think for my first try, Carrie?) Chris and I both decided it reminds us a lot of Abilene in size and amenities.

(Random side note: Gadsden is about 5 hours from the coast--this will be the furthest inland I have ever lived. For someone who does not love the beach, it was weird to realize that I have always lived less than a 1/2 day's drive from the coast.)

We left Friday afternoon with the ice warning beginning about the time we would arrive in Gadsden. Well, I should say the time we thought we would arrive in Gadsden, since we forgot to account for the time change. Let's just say it is pretty disappointing to think you are 35 minutes away per the GPS ETA, only to realize you are really 95 minutes away--all of sudden your butt is achy and you really just want out of the car. We did hit snow, but nothing to make us stop for the night. When we reached Gadsden, one of the first things we saw was the sign for Chris' hospital.

It was very exciting. We continued to the hotel and spent the rest of the evening looking over some brochures and doing a little research.

The next day we called a realtor and asked about residential areas to explore. And since Chris is friends with everyone he meets, we also talked to the hotel receptionist, a cop, and people at church on Sunday. We found Gadsden to be even friendlier than Spartanburg. We then spent the morning driving all over the city and neighboring towns. We found several great places to live. We also checked out Gadsden Regional Medical Center, which is the hospital where Chris will do most of his rotations, as well as Riverview Regional Medical Center, where Chris may do a couple of his rotations. Both hospitals looked very nice and had a great feel.

Gadsden Regional

Riverview Regional

Down the street from Gadsden Regional, we discovered this comforting sight:

The first words out of Chris' mouth were "we will be just fine here."

Amidst all the researching and exploring, we did take time to enjoy the city and the trip. We ate incredible catfish at Top O' the River, an extremely popular local place with a great atmosphere (Greg & Dad--we already know we are taking y'all there).
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We also ate at Kati Thai, which is a little hole in the wall Thai place that was consistently ranked as one of the top restaurants in all of my research, and rightly so, as it was the best Thai we have ever had.

Sunday morning, we attended Rainbow Church of Christ and felt very welcomed. There are a couple of other churches we plan to visit as well, but it was nice to know there is already one that may work as our new church home.

The trip really was a great little chill family weekend away. Lottie's schedule was even more messed up than it ever was on our 3 week tour of OK & TX, but she handled it like the precious sweetheart she is. One of my favorite moments of the trip was goofing off with Lottie in the big king bed after her bedtime.

All in all, we really enjoyed ourselves. Gadsden seems like a great city. I think we will enjoy our 2 years there. We are still very sad to leave Spartanburg, but it was comforting to find Gadsden so promising and pleasant. 

It snowed! (no quotes needed)

It for real snowed--2 days this week too! It snowed about half an inch on Tuesday.

Then, Wednesday night, it snowed 3 inches.

Both times, the snow was beautiful, soft, and powdery with huge flakes. I have never seen snow this beautiful and light before. 

Tuesday, I took Lottie out while it was still snowing, so she could see snow. At first, she revealed that she has about as much love of the cold as her mother. Note the extremely unamused expression.

Then, she realized that something different was happening, and her curiosity was piqued.

We did not stay out too long, but she seemed to enjoy her first small snow experience.

Wednesday night, it snowed fairly hard our area. It was beautiful, so naturally we dressed warmly...

...and head out to play.

Notice the wonderful, huge flakes?

The next morning the world was transformed and gorgeous.

Again we bundled Lottie up, so she could get her first real snow experience.

Our little snow bunny 

What a precious pair

Exploring the beautiful snowy woods

Happy puppy and happy puppy tracks

Making a snow angel

Our snow angel. Don't see it? Yeah, it was a rather ethereal angel. 

Happy rosy noses and cheeks

It was a great morning. I love snow, especially when it only comes a couple of times a year. The North may make fun of how the South shuts down when we get a few inches of snow, but it means snow always equals fun and vacation and not an inconvenience. 

Beautiful, peaceful snow

Happy, beloved snow

PS In a couple of the pictures, you can actually see Lottie's teeth. She has 3. In the top picture, you can see her top tooth peeking out below her lip on the right. In the bottom picture, you can see her bottom two front teeth. The one on the right has just come in, so it is more difficult to see. So, Gigi, you now have pictures of her teeth.

Big Week for Lottie

The last week has been one of those weeks where several things happened all at once in Lottie's world.

First, her 3rd tooth arrived, the other bottom front tooth. I don't have a picture for this because getting pictures of a baby's teeth are incredibly difficult (think trying to get a picture of an alligator's teeth).

Second, I started working again. I am keeping 2 little boys--Rowan, a 19 month old and Finn, a 3 month old. They are very sweet, but Lottie is having to adapt to sharing her mommy, toys, and home. True to her social butterfly self, she is handling it well.

Third, this weekend we traveled to our future home--Gadsden, AL. More to come on that later.

Fourth, she started signing. We have been using sign language with her, and she signed "more" this weekend for the first time. She also does "finished" now. It is very handy; though, I think she signed "finished" to me this afternoon with a bit of an attitude. I guess it is starting.

Fifth, she started crawling on all fours. She crawls on all fours until she decides it is too slow or she falls to her belly, then she resumes army crawling.

Finally, she successfully pulls up on the furniture. She has been working on this awhile and could pull up on low things like a suitcase, but Friday, she successfully pulled herself up on the coffee table. Since then, it has been non-stop pulling up on things. Today, she fell and cut her lip on her first tooth, but that didn't stop her. About 30 minutes later, she fell and bumped her head. She was standing back at the coffee table minutes later. She also cruised a little today (took a few steps while holding onto the coffee table). She is on her way to walking!

It "snowed!"

Actually, we got iced, but it was fun all the same. It fell in perfectly round pellets and sounded really cool, like TV static (the good kind). We went out and played last night while it was still falling.

You can kinda see the round pellets in the flash of the camera.

As you can see, Chris tucked Lottie into his duck hunting jacket and toted her around. I thought she looked like a floating head.

The next morning, the world was bright and crunchy...

... so we had to go play again. 

Lottie is holding an icicle

By lunch time, it was already melting. The water was running under the ice on the street. I took a video because we thought it was cool. All you north folk probably think this is ridiculous. Haha.

Crazy to remember that this time last year I was pregnant in the snow.

Studying up for her future

I already mentioned what Chris and I are doing to get our girl to Aggieland in this post and this post. Now our girl is doing her part:

Studying intently

Pointing to Elephant Walk (yep our little Ag is in a John Deere onsie)

Showing off her special book

Only one word for this:

WHOOP!!!

Visiting Luke - Part II

Lottie dictated a letter to her Daddy about the first part of the trip, and I will share the last little bit. We spent the final 3 days hanging out and just soaking up baby cousin time. For the most part, they played separately since Lottie "pats" and flings toys, but when they were together, it was really precious.

We also helped give Luke a bath...

...just like Aunt Sarah and "Luke" did when they visited.

We really had a great time and loved spending time with everyone and the incredibly precious Cousin Luke. It was great enjoying Luke as a sweet little newborn, especially since he eats like a champ and may be close to Lottie's size by April. His hands and feet are already about the same size as Lottie's (Lottie's foot is on the right).

He is going to be such a cutie chunk of a baby boy. We love that little man! Thanks Bros, Sarah, Luke, & Zoey for hosting us!!!