Does he look different?? - you may not be able to tell from the picture, but Amy swears he smells different... some sort of mix of pipe tobacco and leather elbow patches...
Yes, Brad successfully defended his Ph.D. on August 4th!! Woo-hoo!! He worked very hard over the past 7 years and he is very happy to be (mostly) finished. I couldn't be prouder of him and have enjoyed walking around the house calling him doctor (and not just sarcastically when he can't find his keys, etc!) ;) It's exciting starting this new phase of our lives and we feel so grown up now that we'll have 2 incomes, haha! Leaving Athens was sad, though. We really liked it there and are leaving behind great friends. We're already working on plans to visit!
We couldn't leave without getting at least one customary picture with one of the bulldogs!
Brad starts his new job with MMS on September 2nd, which is also Nora's first day at new her new daycare. Stacie starts work tomorrow, yikes!
We're slowly getting settled into our new place. We were happy to find a place to live that is only 1.7 miles from Brad's building (which is around the corner from Nora's school) and about 5 miles from Stacie's school. We're told the 5 miles will likely be 15-20 minutes with the traffic, but it's still less than last year and a lot better than most people's commutes around here! We really like the town we're living in and the neighborhood is great. We have very nice neighbors and we're within walking distance of 3 parks, the W&OD trail, the community center, library, and all of the historic downtown area! The townhouse itself leaves a bit to be desired, but we're working on it and it's a rental! We have a good amount of space and with proper safety gate placement, Nora has a lot of room to roam on the main level. :)
We don't really feel like we live as close to D.C. as we do. We need to go in for a visit soon just to realize we do! Herndon is a surprisingly small town (just over 20,000 people!) while still being close to everything (including being literally 5 minutes from Dulles airport!) And there's a Bills bar right downtown! We're ready for football season - Nora has even learned to throw her arms up when we say "TOUCHDOWN!!"
We can't believe Nora's going to be 1 year old at the end of this month. Time sure flies when you're having fun! She is a ball of energy, and makes us laugh everyday with the new noises and faces that she likes to make. She's a pro at walking now and doesn't often want to hold still (not that this should surprise anyone... remember this?)
We have some videos to share soon, but we should probably take advantage of naptime to do more than just update the website! There are boxes to be unpacked, Ikea stuff to be built, etc... :)
Thanks for checking in on us! We'll post more soon! :)
