We Sold!

   Well we had our house on the market for 9 days before we got an offer.  We used these guys:  discoverealty. Our agent was Travis.  They worked with us and has a free staging consultant come to your home to help you get it ready to show.  They took awesome pictures too.  They always kept me in the loop, and answered all my questions.  Thanks Travis and your team!
   We closed beginning of June, and I am really happy we did.  Don't get me wrong I miss my friends in the neighborhood, it was so much easier to barrow a cup a sugar when they were right next door, now... I have to go to the store!  You know that feeling you get when you have been away from home for a long time and you get this excitement in your belly.  When I go back to the neighborhood past "the old" house I don't get that.  I think by the end of it we were really really happy to leave.  I am sure it will be great for the new owners, since we fixed everything while we lived in it.  We had to repair so much in that house that by the end I think we really hated living there.   One chapter of our life is done, ready to open tons a news ones.

Mommy and Declan

Last days of cleaning just missing one thing...

Sunrise from the old house

These are the birds that lived in our hitch of the trailer,
 luckily for us they left before we had to.

While we are building we are renting.  In order to stay on the main floor for Declan (We started the process to get a wheelchair, I will post about that later)  we had to get a... 2 bedroom apartment..... to say it is a tight fit is an understatement.  Ok going from a 5 bedroom home to a 2 bedroom apartment is hard so this is what you gotta to do:
1) Declutter:  Those treadmills that are sitting in your garage... they are not there for decoration and since you probably don't know how to use them I suggest selling them.
2) Get A Storage Unit:  A 5X10 doesn't fit anything you need to find one of the biggest units where it will be easy to get in and out of.  Also stack boxes! Go up to the ceiling  or until your boxes start to look like the leaning tower of pisa.
3) Use every nook and cranny in your apartment:  Oh that's the master bedroom walk in closet you say?... Oh nope it now holds your babies changing table, and every miscellaneous box that you think you needed in your little place.  Oh they gave you a stackable washer and dryer?   Well look at that when you move that over it gives you a perfect place to put your freezer... what you can't shut the laundry door? Oh well deal with it!
4) Find places to go:  You may think to yourself "naw I can stay inside the apartment with 5 people, and tons of baby toys everywhere"  Yeah well you would be wrong.  See first you don't notice it but you start to go a little crazy, you get this far away look in your eye, and you start to contemplate the murdering of your older children... and you start to think "It might be worth going to jail".... SO to avoid this from happening find somewhere to go.  Go to the clubhouse and play at the pool or park or in our case splash pad.  Go for walks, even sitting on the porch out of the cramped space will help.  Read a good book, if your like me then you would be diving into my favorite author's books (That would be Sherrilyn Kenyon for you that don't know, there is nothing like a great romance!)  But I advise you not to kill your children, they might be the president some day. (the president of the nerds is probably more likely, but I didn't want to crush their dreams)
5) Alcohol:  enough said, AND or for those of you that don't drink the hard stuff a big glass of Dr. Pepper does wonders, it's what the doctor's ordered "wink wink"  (Since I am trying to look beautiful for my sister's wedding come August the only drinks I have been drinking is water :(  My hubby says I am pretty mean without my caffeine, and I have to agree with him...  I will have you again Dr. Pepper I promise!

Well those are the best suggestions I can give you.  Yes it will be a tight fit, yes you will get on each others nerves, yes you will be too broke or poor to go out all the time.  BUT think of what is to come.  Our future is  coming and we can't wait for it to start!

I want to say a very special Thank You to our friends (who know who you are H&N) for watching our babies (Mickey & Cooper) while we deal with these small dwellings.  We miss them, but we know your taking care of them.

Also to everyone who helped us move!  T that flatbed helped a lot!  Thank You Thank You!

Picture of the apartment below, yes I know it's messy, and no I don't care...
D&K are a sharing room, and Mom and Dad are also sharing one with Declan... fun times.
I do have to say the master bath here is bigger than the one we had... but everything else feels like it shrunk...

 



 



 

Sun bathing

Places we have gone:

 

 

The End

No more Quarantine!

Oh Sunshine!  I missed you!  We have been able to go outside, and to stores.  Ok so we haven't gone out too much.  Enough to get our house up for sale! We also picked a builder and hope to start construction in July.  So lucky us we will be renting for a bit, a little concerned about what we are going to do with the dogs for a few months, but we will figure it out.

We picked a rambler that hopefully work great for our family needs, and in an area that I like.  I will post pictures when the time comes, but it will be awhile.  What's that saying.. The longer the wait the bigger the reward?

Declan has been a trooper.  Since I have been dealing with showings of the house, I have been cleaning a lot and then I pack our babe up and leave the house for hours.  Messed up his nap times a little and I haven't been able to have a lot one on one time with him all day long like we normally do, but I think he is doing great.  I include him in my chores like making the bed I fold him up into the bed and he laughs and smiles back.  Laundry has gotten a little trickier he has gotten a little heavier and bigger I can't fit him to well in the basket with loads of clothes, but he likes to be with me.  Of course I haven't been able to keep up with our baby boy and the house so we have been working on independent play this month.  If we set him up in his highchair and prop up his elbows he can play on his tray with his toys.  He is able to exchange things between his hands too, still working on getting things to his mouth.

loved to sit in the cart, kept looking all around.

This May we are seeing the neuro doctors and hope to set something up with the spine specialist soon.  Poor boys back is getting worse, but he still loves to sit up.



D&K
    Big D is in an after school program called Mindstorm they build lego robots and program them to move.  He seems to like it and even though it makes him into a bigger nerd that's ok cause he is a big smarty pants!

    We got D&K in swimming lesson and they like it a lot, they never want to leave when the lesson is over.  I see a summer full of swimming pools and lots of sun.  It's a good thing we only have a month and a half left of school.

This next month is going to be full of packing and moving, oh joy...  May the weather be good, and mine and your families stays healthy.  We wish you well!

crazy hair!!

Declan's 1st Birthday!!

Declan is ONE!!

Can you believe it?  We made it, one year.  You can ask anyone I was so excited for this day to come.  I was gearing up for it weeks before.  I wanted to have a big party but since we are still waiting for spring to come, I kept it small.

We had a potluck and I had four different kinds of really good soup.  Thanks for our families for making those.  They were really good.

Present time was about what you expected he liked the bows and tissue paper more than the presents.

But we sure appreciate everyone who came and he is loving all his gifts.  Thanks!

But what we can't forget the cake time!

 Declan is ready!

We all sang to him and he was smiling back at all of us, so I know he liked that part.

Declan didn't know what to do with the cake, he was just kind of poking at it so I helped him out.

But he got the hang of it, and was slopping it up in no time.

Happy 1st Birthday Declan!!!

After all said and done, it was too much for the babe and he finally crashed.

I added a few more picture below.

The Journey so Far

We had a Christmas party to go to and since there were going to be a lot of people there we decided not to take Declan but we wanted everyone to see how far he has come, so hubby and I made a video.  It was my first, and there are some glitches in it but I hope I can get hubby to fix those for me soon.   I think it turned out rather well.

Thanks all for checking in on our little family.

if the video doesn't work go here:

Declan Video

The Holidays

Dad and Dec, of course dad is hiding.

     You know when time seems to speed by when it comes close to the holidays, well our house is no different.  Trying to get the house ready to sell, taking care of a special needs baby, two school age kids, the hubby, and add the holidays, yeah don't judge you wouldn't have any time either. ;p

 


                                        Halloween

Well you could say our Halloween was a little eventful but we got through it, and the kids loved going door to door.  It was starting to get cold, so we started to lock down on when we took Declan out.  But he did wear a Halloween sleeper and stayed inside with Dad while I took D & K around the neighborhood. I was the neighborhood witch, D was a zombie hunter, and K was a vampire.  Halloween is definitely my Favorite holiday.

mom and Dec.  I love this babe

 The house was lit up with lights, spiders and webs, all sorts of things.  The kids kept saying Thanks for a great Halloween mom.  So I'm happy.

D, K & Declan on Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

Don't worry it was quiet.  We stayed home, and had a big dinner with some family.  All the trimmings, and not to mention all the pies... I say thank you, but my body was saying 

"What are you doing to me!"  

Oh well, that is what Holidays are for right?

My kids are getting so big, and they are changing daily.  Little D especially, he is growing up to fast and I am enjoying every minute of it.  We have been able to keep him healthy and he is showing us a world of miracles and of hope and dream.  Love it!

Christmas

All the stocking were hung with care, the tree was lit with bright lights and family ornaments, and Declan could care less.  He didn't care one iota for this big tall bright tree, or anything under it. All he wanted was mom, and then some more of mom.  This separation anxiety is getting really bad.  We are still locked up for winter rarely going out, we have cut out most family parties.  We did go to one party, my mother watched Declan so we could go, and since we wanted to show off our baby boy, hubby and I made a video of our journey so far, I will post that video on another post so keep your eyes open for that one.  Even though we did a small Christmas I believe the kids had fun, and enjoyed all they received.  Declan liked ripping the paper more than the toys, but he has a short attention span and pretty much loves anything you put in front of him.  Oh I forgot, anything except his food, then he just spits it at you.  Trust me my face has been the receiver of food at late.   We all stayed up for the New Year, yes even Declan, banged pots and pans and drank apple cider at midnight.  We are wishing for a better year with health, no more surprises (the bad kind), and getting into a new home.  

We wish everyone well, and hope for a cure soon!

Declan Sitting!!

Jan 8,2013

Ok I know I am really really far behind, and I have been working on a post since thanksgiving but there never seems to be enough time... ever...

I am going to post this out of order, but tonight I am just so happy for my baby boy!

My parents came over to visit and my mother just happened to be playing with Dec on the table and had him sit up, and guess what.... He sat up, ON HIS OWN!!!  He is 10 almost 11 months hasn't sat up this whole time for this amount of time.  I rushed to grab my phone so I could record it.  It was awesome to see.  I know with all the work we have been doing with PT and everything at home, I knew with hard hard work we could get him to this point but to actually see it was beyond words, my heart just sings with joy for my little champ.  I don't know if this is a fluke but I don't care right now, I'm just so happy to see it.  Beat that neuromuscular disorder that we still don't have a name for ;P 

I apologize in advance about how excited I am on the video, I get a little high pitched.

Enjoy!!!

Love you Declan, you give me hope and make me believe in miracles!  

xoxoxoxoxo

RSV-Synagis shot

Just found out how much our co-pay is with the RSV shot (synagis)... OUCH!  Talk about pharmaceuticals getting rich!  

For those of you that don't know what Synagis is, it is used in the prevention of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections.  It is recommended for infants that are at high-risk because of prematurity or other medical problems such as congenital heart disease, or SMA. 

All the doctors were "yes, if you get approved, get. this. shot".  What they don't tell you is how much it is going to cost.  I mean we aren't in the dog house poor or anything, but we are trying to save for a new home that will fit the needs of a special needs boy.  So it was coming down to a shot (where he still may get RSV) or a home (where said boy will live and flourish...) After talking with my son's nurse and explaining I can do one or the other but not both, and that I was leaning towards not doing the shot she found some funding for me.  So we are ok till at least January, then hopefully the nurse can help us find more funding. 

So do you want to know what much this magic shot cost before insurance? This is based on Declan's weight of 15lbs.

$3000 per shot, and Declan needs 5.  Our insurance will cover 80%.  That's $600 a month we need to cover.  Talk about highway robbery, and at Christmas too!  Luckily the funding the nurse helped us get drops that copay down to $50, till mid January. So if we can get funding for February and March we should be good till next year.. and I don't even want to think of next year yet.

Our shot is ordered and we are planning on getting it next week.

If you want to know more about this shot you can google it or go HERE the dark side of Synagis if you want to be talked out of it...

*Just a note to friends and family we are out on the gift giving this year, but we wish you well.*

I hope this shot is worth it.  We wish you the best and if you are following the path of the SMA journey we wish you luck.  May we find a cure soon!

Declan went to the voting booth with us.  His first vote!