Hi ladies! My name is Heather Cox. I’m a thirty-four-year-old stay-at-home-mom with three kids and an amazing stepson. With four kids and three dogs, we are beyond busy. Our kids are ages 15, 12, 9, and 4. We have a high schooler, a middle schooler, an elementary student, and a preschool-aged tot who stays home with me. Balancing so many PTAs, extracurriculars, volunteer events, teacher emails, doctor appointments, as well as being a special needs family, is madness…on and on it goes! I rely on my years of retail management experience to organize, delegate, occasionally dictate, and fold sweaters like a boss. 

We live in the very, very northernmost part of Austin. If I drive two minutes one way I’m in Round Rock, two minutes another way and I’m in Cedar Park. I am not an Austin native, so when people here refer to “North Austin” and mention streets like “Braker” and “Lamar,” I’m a bit confused. That’s South for me!

Speaking of being an intruder, I mean transplant to Austin, the way our family ended up moving here from Shreveport, Louisiana, is something of a story…so back in July of 2013 I’m in labor with my third child, in the hospital eating ice chips and waiting on that epidural, when my husband gets a phone call. He recognizes the number as a place he interviewed for in Austin, where some of my in-laws live. He sneaks away to the private bathroom in my delivery room and stays cloistered there for what feels like an eternity, while I lay in the bed strapped to monitors and an IV and in considerable pain. He finally pops his head out with a look on his face of excitement and surprise. “They’ve offered me the job,” he whispers. “What do you want me to say?” 

What?! I’m in extreme shock, riding waves of contractions, barely functioning. My mind flashes to the nursery for this new baby, finally finished. School is starting in two weeks for our kids. My four-year-old daughter has been accepted into a great preschool program. So many of our family and friends are here, our support network, our church family. It’s our hometown. I ask a few questions about salary, and when he’d have to start and try to focus on his answers. I’m probably in the least capable decision-making state of my life, but I mumble “I guess to say yes?” and so begins a new stage of our lives. I should also point out that I’m one of those people who hates change, clings to the familiar and comfortable, and does not handle meeting new people well (hello, introverts!), so this move was huge for us. 

When they finally let me eat after delivering our youngest…this is a sugar junkie, “what the heck did I just agree to” smile.

Those Austin in-laws I mentioned? They happened to be in town for the baby’s birth. By the end of the day, our new son was born, healthy and beautiful, my sister-in-law had already contacted the principal of the school where she worked and started the enrollment process for our kids, called her friend who was looking to rent out a house and found us a place to live, and my mother-in-law had started packing up my house…exactly one week later, we loaded up a moving van and piled into the car with our newborn and headed to Austin. Shell-shocked doesn’t begin to describe it. 

First time exploring Austin-we wound up at the Big Top Candy Shop on South Congress!
Trying to acclimate to college football here…Longhorns gear provided by my Austin in-laws!

It’s been four and a half years, and we love Austin. The culture, music scene, diversity, acceptance, weirdness-I can’t imagine living anywhere else! We try to keep Louisiana close to our hearts by visiting often, watching LSU Tiger football, going to Mardi Gras when we can, and of course by cooking Southern food frequently. Austin is a city of transplants, so much so that it’s hard to find a person who’s always lived here. I know people say “Welcome to Austin, please don’t move here,” but I’m so glad we did. And I’m so glad Austin welcomed us with open arms and taco trucks!

Fun facts about me:  I actually still scrapbook (me and three other people, I know, I know), I love using Pinterest to inspire my crafting obsession, and am equally adept at messing up said Pinterest crafts, I’m an avid reader, I love eating but hate cooking, and I choose a different color scheme for Christmas decorating – Every. Single. Year. 

 

 

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