Life in the Harms family has been, as always, full of change. We made our big move back to the midwest in late June, saying lots of tearful goodbyes to our dearest friends in Norfolk, VA. We had been there 2 years, which seemed like much longer, and made friends that really are now family. Here's a picture of our last "girls' night out" before Marty, Avery, and I headed west. We went out to Press 626-a wonderful, quaint little wine house and restaurant with outstanding food ... such an awesome night!
(From left to right: Hannah, me, Sarah, Emma, Meredith, Maria, Stacy, & Allyson ... I miss you, Ladies!!!)
We were so fortunate to have my parents take Avery off our hands for the move, so she spent some quality time with Nonnie and Grandpa (Amy's parents) while Marty and I drove from VA to WI. She had a blast! Now we're all here in Manitowoc, WI and slowly, but surely settling in to our new house, new community, new everything. This is our new (to us ... only 4 years old, though ... awesome!) house complete with garage and spacious backyard and walk-out basement.
My parents put in an amazing amount of work between when we closed on the house in late May and when we arrived in late June ... they painted nearly every room, cleaned like mad, and even had the carpets shampooed ... it was literally move-in ready when we got here! They have been awesome and clearly so happy to have us so close to home (only 30 minutes away!).
We've been enjoying our summer, spending weekends traveling a bit. We've been to Madison and to northern WI for a family reunion just in the last few weeks. We've seen many friends and family members, who are now just a drive away!
Avery at the new Splash Park in Middleton, WI. She had a blast, even though it was only 65-ish degrees that day!
We bought this very gently used Burley and so far, Av digs it. Now we're working on learning to dig the helmet ... getting better every time, though!
Smelling the flowers at Grandpa Doc's house (Marty's dad). Actually, these are his neighbors flowers, but our nature girl doesn't seem to care who's flowers she smells ... or picks ... or eats.
Marty's sister Suzie, with our 4 m/o nephew Joseph (his other sister Denise's baby). Avery is warming up to him quite quickly and learning how to be gentle with a baby ... this is key because in a matter of months, he may be bigger than her!So we've been busy with life: my new job (I'm working as a primary pediatrician for Aurora, a large health care group in eastern WI ... loving it!) and Marty's job hunt/finishing his master's degree/much-awaited yard work/more job hunting, and both of us getting to know the joy (and challenges!) of raising a toddler (Av is now 20 months old). Of course, neither Marty nor I would be content without at least one more big change in life ... so we've decided to add to our family! We're expecting our next baby in February. Thankfully, I've been feeling great and we're extremely excited to meet our next little one. As with Avery, we're going to wait until his/her birthday to find out 'boy' or 'girl' ... so keep your eyes peeled for another Harms Baby Pool!
