House Progress

The house building process has been moving along quickly. They are already 1 week ahead of schedule. Such wonderful news! Our close date is now set for June 15, right in time for me to head back to work on June 18!
Jason has been keeping a close eye on things and taking too many pictures of the process. So many in fact he filled up my c drive on my computer. Thanks Jason! Now what to do with all these photos he takes each day.
The kids enjoy driving by and seeing the progress too. I don't think they quite understand what is going on because at one point Olivia was worried we were going to live in a hole in the ground and then she was worried our house wouldn't have a roof when the walls started going up. But each week it gets a little farther along and she seems to get more and more excited about living in the new house. - As long as her room is cute enough of course -

The outside is done except for the finishes and they started on insulation inside yesterday so it is really starting to become a house!

The townhome we are living in has been working out. The kids have a space to play and each have their own room and that is really all we need to keep them happy. And the key success to making this work is just that. Make them feel at home. It is definitely hard to keep it clean when I can't fully organize things like I normally would and up until this week haven't been able to lift much or bend over to pick up the random toys and wrappers and things strewn about. But we are making it work and thankful we only have 2 more months of living in a bit of chaos.

Zoey is here!

After a month of craziness things are really falling into place. Most importantly Zoey Ann is here!

We welcomed her at 11:14am on April 9th. She weighed in at 7 lbs 3 oz and was 20.5 in. I finally had a c-section that was uneventful - Thank Goodness! Everything went smoothly. Jason was surprised to learn it was a girl and I was so happy to see his reaction. She is 2 weeks now and we are loving every minute of her. Only wish we have is for her to switch her day and nighttime routines around and then maybe Jason and I can get some sleep. Up every 2 hours to eat which takes at least a half hour to feed her and then another half hour to get her calm and back to sleep. An hour of sleep here and an hour of sleep there is what we get. Oh the joys of newborns ;) I wouldn't trade it for a thing.
She looks like Olivia, she has her daddys chin, her mommys ears and feet and all our love. She has certainly captured our hearts in the short time she has been here.
Owen and Olivia are adapting well. Olivia was the most excited before Zoey arrived and now the least excited to have her here. But she is coming around. Owen has been gentle and loving and could not be a better big brother. He asks constantly if he can hold her. Just so he can give her love and kisses. It could not be sweeter. And Olivia talks about how the girls get to do this and that and the boys have to stay away. I guess the boys are now outnumbered and she knows it!

We could not be more thankful for all the help our family and friends have been giving us. From playdates for Owen, meals, and special attention and gifts for the older 2. It has made the transition and my healing time go much smoother.

Life is good!

it's been a while

Are you still with me?We are finally all settled in to our "temporary" home.  It has been a stressful last few months juggling it all but we are finally over the hurdles and ready for the next chapter. All in time for baby to join us. I was hoping I wouldn't have to go this far with the pregnancy with all the contractions but things have changed this time around and they just won't take the baby before 39 weeks - which happens to land on Good Friday and my dr. isn't available so we are now scheduled for the following Monday. I am in A LOT of pain. A LOT of contractions and barely functioning but I am trying to tough it out, it is temporary and I know there is an end in sight and it will be worth it in the end.
Unless of course my water breaks sometime in the next week and then it is game on. I am hopeful, but it is very unlikely.

Moving, picking out all the selections for the house, trying to keep the kids unaware of the craziness, CPAP fun, ear infections, life, work. That about sums up our month. I have lots to post about. I have lots of pictures. It will take me a while to get caught up again. I hope to get back into my regular routine since I will have 10 weeks off from work and time to breathe again.

I hate my belly pictures but thought I should at least share 1. Here is the day I hit the 37 week mark (used to be my old record!) And now that I am 38 weeks and 3 days, you do not want to see what I have ballooned to...

Moving On.

The process of having your house on the market is brutal. We have done it twice in the last 2.5 years. And we can finally say we are DONE! The right offer came through and after a bit of back and forth we have made a deal. We ended up taking less on our house than we ever imagined, but sometimes a little sacrifice on one end means huge gains on the other and that is what we are hoping for.
Our close date is March 23 so hoping everything stays as planned until then and hoping that baby decides to stay put until at least then (btw that is 37 weeks for me if you are counting and I have never made it past that for either Owen or Olivia). Cutting it close I know!
Our dream home was no where to be found on the market so we have decided to build. We feel very lucky to have found a house we absolutely love and will fit in our price range (with a little stretching on the down payment...). They are starting the building process this week and it should be done by the end of June.
So that leaves April, May and June to find somewhere to live. Fun for us right?
It will all be worth it in the end. That is all I keep repeating. March is going to be one crazy month for us.

The plan will be to move to a rental town home for a few months. Luckily we found one that was willing to allow us a short term lease and it will fit our growing family. It definitely isn't my ideal situation but we will make it work. I think our biggest struggle will actually be trying to maintain a bit of normalcy for the kids with all the changes occurring. If we can pull that off, we are set.

Our new house is just a few miles south of where we currently are. We found a neighborhood we liked and tried to find a lot that was appropriate for safety concerns we have for Owen. No ponds to fall into, no busy streets to worry about him running towards and no woods to get lost in....the list goes on. We will still put up a fence but we really feel like this will be a much safer environment.
Its a corner lot so the picture is a shot of the front of where the house will be.

And this is what the house will look like when complete...(not these colors though, we want to jazz it up a bit)

It is completely our style and we loved everything about it when we saw it. We thought for sure it would be out of our price range but after some wonderful promotions and a bit of savvy by our realtor, it is meant to be.
We wanted 4 bedrooms up and a bonus room up. A potential space for Owen to have when he gets older. It matches everything we were looking for.
Jason's favorite part...the kitchen. He finally gets that gas stove he has been wanting. My favorite part....all of it.

As we start to pack I have been getting sad about all that we are leaving behind. Great neighbors, wonderful memories of our family in this home and finally to have everything "done" in the house.
And now we start again. New memories to be made and a new home to make....
Wish us luck.

If you enjoy packing or need an extra work out carrying things let us know. Jason only has 2 arms and I am just not of much help lately!

Life's a journey NOT a race

New always requires we take time to adapt. We started with tests. Then moved on a plan.
A plan led to a trial with a mask. To see how he would tolerate it. He fights but he gives in.
Another study and the ok to proceed. And now we move on to the next step in our journey.
Sleep with mask. Sleep with machine. Sleep. Deep Sleep. Peaceful Sleep. Sleep.

I was skeptical about how this would work. How would he fall asleep with this. How would he tolerate it. There is no sugar coating that he is fighting us. Thankfully he is using his words and telling us no instead of hitting. I think he knows it's good for him. We have to be forceful. We have to be repetitive. We have to make it routine.

It is working. Slowly but surely it is working. We turn it on and he immediately gets quiet and sleepy. He doesn't like to lay down with it on so we have to make him do it. But once he is there he doesn't move. His eyes gently close and within minutes he is out. It.is.amazing.
He used to toss and turn and kick and sleep in the most awkward positions. He used to snore and sit up and kick his wall. And now with CPAP we lay him down and there he stays. Doesn't move an inch for hours.

We are still struggling to keep it on all night. We have to check on him from time to time and reapply the mask. But it has only been 3 nights and we are just starting out. I am hopeful this is the start of something amazing for him. Better rest. Better behavior. Better awareness.

The best is yet to come.

a month gone by

I am just going to call January like it was. January was a big ol blog slacker month for me. Not that we didn't have anything to post about. Just didn't feel much like posting. But February is a new month and I need to get back into my routine.
So many memories are made each day that sometimes we forget the important ones that we want to carry with us for many many years. That is one thing I love about blogging is it helps keep those memories alive.

And so here is the January dump...

Auntie Erin and Uncle Matt were staying at a local hotel so we took full advantage of the pool facilities. Both kids are doing great with their swimming. I think it is time to get them back in to swim lessons. Just need to find the time!

Olivia had a playdate and sleep over with auntie Erin one weekend. She had quite an adventure but it also gave us a great opportunity to spend some one on one time with Owen. Our big event was making pizza's together.

 

There hasn't been a weekend in January where we have been able to be home. Each day there have been showings. Some days all day long. So we have been going on lots of little outings. The kids have been troopers enduring this crazy life. Just last saturday we had 6 showings on Saturday. Opportunities to let us get out enjoy some time together. Often times we avoid it because getting everyone to cooperate on these adventures isn't the easiest. But we've been making it work and trying to stay positive.
This was our trip to the zoo. We watched the dolphin show, saw the penguins and monkeys and tried to talk to as many animals that would listen.

The rest of our time has been spent on keeping the house clean. Keeping the 1 inch snowfall,  that we always seem to get, cleared from the driveway for prospective buyers. Trying to keep things as normal as possible for the kids and a very cooperative dog.

Another big accomplishment this month has been the "gonzo" mask. Owen has been doing great with it. So great in fact that after just one week of the "desensitization" we were cleared to move on to the next step. Another sleep study...fun, not.

The study is never quick to be scheduled so we had to wait until Feb 16th to get in. But a cancellation came up on a Thursday night and we jumped at the chance to get it done.

Off to Children's Hospital went Jason and Owen. I was worried for them. Wondered how he'd tolerate all the wires again and then to add the mask and the hose on top of it all.

But he is getting used to it. And he tolerated it. And he slept wonderfully. They actually had to wake him up in the morning. Great sign of things to come. And now we wait again for the next step....they need to come out to our house to set up the hose and machine.

January hasn't been all good news. We did get an offer on our house but it fell through. We had our hopes up and now we are back to square one. But we will try to stay patient and let happen what is meant to happen. We do have much more worrisome things to be praying for in our family. PJ has been diagnosed with cancer after an ER trip and a pancreatitis (sorry I have no idea how to spell that!) diagnosis. A scan showed cancer in his liver, lung and bone. A very scary situation that we don't know fully what it all means yet but we are praying and hoping the dr.'s can get it into remission.

As we leave January behind us, we are hopeful for better news in February. Hoping and praying for a healthy family. Good test results and chemo treatments for PJ. Strength for my mom. A good result from the new CPAP machine for Owen. For no signs of bedrest for me. For Jason's travels to be safe and quick. And for me to not lose my sanity :)
And most important a happy birthday to my sister Lisa tomorrow, man you are getting old!

You've been masked!

Mask desensitization is our task. 

We can't start the trial with a CPAP machine until Owen shows that he can tolerate the mask. Our mission is now to get him to feel comfortable with it. Make it seem cool. Make him feel like a superstar in it. If this is going to work and help the little guy sleep he must wear the mask.

We started a few days early by taking out his nebulizer mask and asking him to wear it. New Years Day he had it on most of the day, carrying it around and either putting it over his mouth or pushing it up to rest on his forehead. We were surprised at how much fun he was having with it. I guess that is what happens when we act like it is the BEST thing in the world ;)

The nebulizer mask is at least a little fun since it has little fish pattern on it. We kept calling him Fish Man.

Today they came out for "the fitting" There were about 6 different masks to choose from. We asked him to try them all on. He cooperated. He was great. Some were to big, some seemed like he would pull them off or it wouldn't stay on since he moves around so much. And in the end we narrowed it down to 2 and let him choose. He hasn't wanted to wear it much since this but it is the first day. I think we need to dress it up a little, add some sort of stickers, give it a cool name, make it fun. Because calling it a mask just isn't going to cut it.

For good measure, Olivia tried it on to show Owen how cool it was to wear a mask.

Dad did too but I wasn't quick enough to snap a photo!

I hope this desensitization process goes as smoothly as the fitting went. Once we make it to 10-30 minutes of consistently wearing the mask we will move on to trying the machine. These situations always remind us how lucky we are to have Owen. To remind us how to appreciate little milestones like wearing a silly little mask can be such a big deal. He doesn't know why he has to do it but he knows it makes us happy. That is what drives him and we are so proud of him.