Changes

Since the last time I posted, so much has happened. Everything I'm going to talk about deserves its own post, but I don't have that much time, so I will abbreviate our last few months. April and May were consumed with trying to wrap things up in Memphis as it became closer to Brandon's graduation. My last day of work was May 7th, which just happened to be Brandon's 27th birthday. That was a very hard day for me. I had worked for the Gillespie family for two years and had grown to love them like my own family. I called them "my family away from home". I had a wonderful last day with my two precious boys. Saying goodbye was the hardest part. Carter walked me to the car, as he usually did, and then he wanted to ride with me while I backed out of the driveway. As I was backing out of the driveway, I couldn't help but think this was the last time. I started tearing up and he looked at me and asked, "why you crying, Meaghan?". Talk about breaking my heart. Since then, I have gotten to see them a few times. They are such sweet, loving little boys and I can't wait to see what the future has in store for them.

As I just said, it was the same day as Brandon's birthday. We went to Nashville to celebrate. As you can see from this picture he was a very happy boy!

The following day, we boarded a plane and headed to Cancun!! We took this trip as a birthday/graduation/anniversary gift to ourselves. It was very much needed! We had the best time relaxing by the pool everyday and just being together. We already want to go back.

Eating dinner at a restaurant on the beach.

My favorite place

Before dinner one night

Relaxing by the pool under a cabana

Once we got back in town, it was time for Connor's first birthday. I cannot believe the little guy is already one. It feels like just yesterday I brought Carter to the hospital to meet his baby brother.

Look at those big blue eyes!

The following week, on May 28th, Brandon graduated. I am incredibly proud of all the hard work and dedication that he put into these past five years. (I say five because he took a year off so that I could graduate.) We had all of our family in town to help us celebrate this huge accomplishment. Here are a few pictures of the big day.

Hooding Ceremony

Brandon being hooded

James, Jason, Craig, and Brandon

Brothers: Bryce, Brandon, and Brooks

The graduation ceremony

Brandon receiving his diploma

My and my doctor!

So proud of him!

Brandon graduated on Friday and we had a bright idea to move the next day. The main reason was that all our family would be in town and could help out. Talk about stressful, but we got it done thanks to our wonderful families. We could not have done it without you! Here is a picture of our moving crew on a lunch break. *Notice Bailey in the center of the picture. You would have thought she was exhausted from helping us.

On the way to Alabama

Home Sweet Home

Pretty soon after we moved in, we headed back to Memphis for Carter's 4th Birthday. I began taking care of him when he was 22 months old, so it is hard for me to believe he's four!

Carter with his singing Cars balloon

The birthday boy at his party at Pump it Up

Connor and I coming down the slide

I think we had just as much fun as the kids did.

Carter and his awesome cake

Before moving to Birmingham, I had already accepted a new nanny position. My first day was on June 28th. I am nannying for a one year old little boy named Perron. He is a sweet, laid back, and happy little boy. Here is Perron swinging in his swing.

Brandon started at UAB on July 1st. He began his first month in the Emergency Department. This month he's been in the MICU. He moves back to the ED on Tuesday. I think this month in the MICU has been challenging, so I think he is counting down the days until he gets back to the ED. I know I am!

A few weeks ago, the Gillespie's took a road trip to Birmingham to visit us. We were so excited that they got to come see our new house and visit with us the entire weekend. Here are the boys eating breakfast before our big day at the McWane Science Center.

Isn't he the cutest?!

Adorable!

I hope I haven't lost anyone yet. Sorry this post has been so random, I wanted to get in the main things that have gone on with us these past few months. We are still trying to figure out our new city. I had the hardest time at first trying to figure out how to get from point A to point B. The layout of the city is confusing. It's slowly coming together. I love the fact that I'm five minutes from a grocery store! In Memphis, we were about twenty minutes from one.

We are enjoying our new house, although we have had a few surprises along the way. For example, our AC went out upstairs and was 95 degrees in our house. We've had giant cockroaches. I could handle to AC going out, but not the cockroaches. Apparently they are a problem in Alabama. They are so gross, so fast, and so big. We've already had Terminix come out twice. They seem to have gone away. Other than that, we love our house! I will make a post soon of some before and after pictures of the house.

Lately, Brandon has been working so much that any time he has off we try to make the best of it. He had last Saturday off, so we went to Oak Mountain to go hiking.

Thanks for tuning in and reading about our life. Hopefully, it won't be another four months until the next post.