Closing Time

Tomorrow is our closing date for our house here in Michigan and next Monday, March 26th, will be our closing on our new home in Cincinnati.

I'm sad to be saying goodbye to our home here, but happy to finally be at the end of this long process and looking forward to starting a new chapter for our family in Cincinnati. To back track a little, we did end up with Plan B from my last post. The potential major problems turned out to be one minor problem that will be fixed soon - something about flashing with the deck to prevent water from coming into the basement. I am very happy with Plan B - as one dear friend said, the B must be for better :)

Everything has been moving ahead steadily. We have mentally been deciding where everything will go and what we can bring and what we can leave behind. I have become intimate friends with Craigslist in an attempt to sell some of the things we won't need anymore. The biggest hurdle seems to be finding a new home for our pool table, so if you know anyone interested PLEASE let me know!

We have our movers scheduled to arrive here on April 4th and unload in Cincinnati the morning of April 6th. We aren't able to take possession of our house until April 5th so we will have one night in Michigan on the floor and one night in Cincinnati on the floor, it should be interesting with the kids! At least we have the Pack n' Play for Rylan to sleep in, I can't imagine trying to get her to sleep on the floor!

And here it is, the moment you've all been waiting for....Pictures of  Plan B! 

The Front

Basement

Pool Table will stay - why we need to get rid of the one we already have!

        

 Family Room 

Planning to take out the wall behind the love seat that separates the family room from the Kitchen

 Kitchen

Living Room and Dining Room 

For the time being, the Living Room will be Chris's office, there are sliding french doors that we will close to separate the rooms until Chris gets an office in Cincinnati

Master Bedroom and Bathroom

 Decks

Walk out to the lower deck from  Basement

Upper decks walk out from Kitchen and Mudroom

So that's we have so far. Obviously these are pictures from the previous owners, when we get our stuff in and more settled I'm sure I'll add more. We are very excited and can't wait to be there!

The New Home Update

So Chris and I went down to Cincinnati two weekends ago to find our perfect house. We had 13 houses scheduled to look at and saw 10 of them in one day. Luckily, that was all we needed to see. We found not one, but two houses we would be very happy with.

This was choice #1. It is PERFECT. It has 4 bedrooms upstairs, a completely remodeled kitchen and bathrooms, and finished basement. The yard is tiered and surrounded by woods. The owners accepted our offer on the contingency that their Short Sale they were trying to buy got its final bank approval. It was a done deal...until it wasn't. 

The sellers were doing everything they could to get the bank's final signature, they had their dream home in their grasp and so did we. After 3 days of getting the run around we finally got the word that the owner's of the short sale had completely stripped the house - cabinets, appliances, doors, etc. had all been taken. And then the bank had the nerve to ask for more money than they had originally approved. So the buyer's (our sellers) walked. And I can't blame them. But since they were only moving because their dream opportunity had arisen they decided to take their house off the market and we were on to plan b.

Plan B is on the same street, just off on a private drive with 2 other houses behind the main street. It is the EXACT same floor plan as the first house, but with obvious differences in what has been updated and how it has been updated. The main differences are that kitchen has been updated, but not fully remodeled, the only bathroom that has been updated is the master (nice new tub for me - YAY!) And although the basement has been updated and finished, it does not have a spare bedroom like the first house had.

We are very happy that this house was still available and we know it has a lot of potential after seeing what our first choice looked like. We just know that it'll take a bit longer, and some money, before it'll be just the way we want it. But some of the fun of buying a new house is putting your own stamp on it.

Chris, the kids, and I all went down today for the inspection. It was quite a long day, but I think very worthwhile in the end. The kids got a chance to see where were moving so now they have a picture in their minds when we talk about the move. I got a chance to refresh my memory and get a better feel for what we could leave behind in the move and see just what we want to get done in the future. We also had a few contractors out to go through the house to give us bids on a few projects we want done soon. We don't think we'll be able to do all three projects we had bid, but it'll be good to know how close or far off it'll be to do them all. 

The inspection wasn't perfect so this still isn't a done deal. There were 2 possible major issues that we need to get more information about and then negotiate with the owners. If they agree to whatever needs to be done then we should be fine and we're hoping to know more and have it all settled by the end of the week or early next week at the very latest.

It has all been very crazy and stressful, but Chris and I are confident that no matter what happens it'll all be as it's supposed to be whether its with this house or another house. Fingers crossed that it will be this house though ;)

The Birthday Boys

Jake turned 7 on January 23rd and Brenden turned 5 on February 1st, where does the time go? For some reason their ages now make them seem so much older. Like somehow going from 6 to 7 and 4 to 5 there's some magical transformation from little boy to young man. I'm sure a big part of it is that by the fall both boys will be in school. Whatever it is, they both seem so grown up and its making this momma a little sad.

Both boys had very nice birthdays that lasted much more than just the one day. Since Jake's Birthday fell on a Monday he had 5 friends over for his "party" on Saturday before. I say "party" because it wasn't much of a big deal. Jake only wanted 2 friends from school and 2 friends that live on our street to come over. The boys had pizza and brownies, played the wii, and played with Jake's new toys in the basement until it was time for everyone to go home. Jake had a wonderful time.
                                                                          

On Sunday Jake got to continue his celebration by spending some time at my dad's house for lunch, presents, and cake. Later we had my dad, brother (he was in town), Aunt, and Uncle over for cake. We all sang Happy Birthday and enjoyed Jake's cake. I also made Jake's favorite meal, chicken picatta, for dinner.

And his celebration finally came to a close on Monday on his actual birthday. We had hoped to bring a treat in for school, but the school has recently changed its policy to not allow outside treats, but Rylan and I were invited to come in to read a story to Jake's class and answer questions about Jake. It was very nice to see Jake in his class and I think he enjoyed having us there. After school he got to open his presents from us and my mom. We also skyped with my mom and talked with Chris and Grandman (Chris'sdad) on the phone. Unfortunately, Chris had to leave Saturday until Wednesday for work. 

Brenden can have a hard time waiting for his birthday with Jake's being only 9 days before his. I get a lot of "is it my birthday, yet? Is it tomorrow? The next day?" And this year was no different. However, even though his birthday could not possibly come soon enough he at least had his very first birthday party to look forward to that would be 5 days before his actual birthday.

Long ago, Chris and I decided not to have birthday parties for the kids until they turned 5. It seemed like 5 was something of milestone and we didn't feel like we needed to go crazy with parties every year when they didn't have a lot of friends. So with Brenden turning 5 this year it was time for his first real birthday party with friends and all of the hoopla. We decided to rent out Xtreme Bounce Zone, which I'm sure there's a variation of these everywhere. Anyway, as the name suggests its all giant inflatable bounce things and we invited Brenden's friends from DK. He had about 10-15 kids from class come and they had a blast. They bounced for about an hour and a half and then we did pizza, cupcakes, and presents. Brenden had a great time and it was so nice to see my middle child get to be the center of attention for once :)

Brenden got to continue his birthday celebration through the week with presents and cake on Wednesday for his actual birthday. We also made brownies to take into DK to share and celebrate with his class. He was so happy that he got to take the first bite since it was his birthday - he had been talking about this for what seemed like weeks. And like Jake, he also got to go to my dad's house for a few hours on Saturday for lunch, cake, and more presents. It was a very nice birthday week for the B Man.

                                                       Brenden Bouncing it up at his party

                         Rylan enjoying the bounce zone as well, she wouldn't stop going even for a picture!

And now I am very happy to be done with cakes and presents for a LONG time. Over the past 2 weeks we've had 2 chocolate cakes, brownies, cupcakes, candy, you name it in the house and my back side has had enough! And as much as I love seeing the looks on the boys faces when they get new presents, I am SO ready for the present explosion that occurs for a month from Christmas to their birthdays to finally end.

When one door closes another opens

In the midst of our loss a couple of weeks ago we did get some good news, an offer on our house. Finally.

A woman had looked at our house back in November, but said that even though she liked it she would keep looking. Well, she came back the beginning of January for another look and made an offer. The offer initially came in VERY low and we really weren't sure what we should do. After talking with our Realtor we decided to counter offer and just let her know that we weren't going to play around that this was it. And believe it or not, she came back much closer to what we were hoping. After a week or so of getting the finer points down we had an offer we could both live with.

We had our inspection on Wednesday and just heard back today that it went well and there were only 3 minor issues, and one isn't even an issue they just didn't know what I had done. Anyway, so it looks like we're on our way to Cincinnati!

The offer was written that we won't close on the house until late March, but all contingencies will be off by February 17th for us to be able to write an offer on a home in Cincinnati. Once we close on the house we will rent our house back for at least April and if we don't find something we like by then we can rent May as well. This is perfect for what I want. It allows us to move when the weather is a little better and it will give Jake a chance to be in his new school for at least a month before school gets out so he can make some friends for the summer.

We are hoping to go down to Cincinnati sometime in February, but we're not sure yet if we will take the kids with us. Right now, there's not a lot on the market in Anderson twsp, but hopefully things will pick up soon. If not, we've also started to look at some other areas, but until I go down there I won't know for sure if I really like them.

Its going to be a busy few months trying to pack up everything and sell some things we don't want to move. Regardless, I'm excited to be moving forward!

Moving on

Note: This is very personal and might be too much information for some.

We lost our baby. It had stopped growing sometime around 9 weeks which is only a week after I had seen it and heard its heartbeat on an ultrasound. What follows is a lot more detail about the day I found out and what I have been feeling since. I'm trying to find a way to move on and this is the best I can come up with now to help in the grieving and healing process.


Monday was  the worst day of my life, hands down. I went in for my 14 week appointment only to leave finding out my baby had died nearly 5 weeks earlier. And to make it worse, the week before the nurse had supposedly found the heartbeat to ease my worries that something might be wrong when I had had some spotting. I should have listened to myself rather than the nurse, I knew in my gut that the heartbeat was mine and not the baby's. I had even had a dream a few nights earlier that I was having a miscarriage. And this time was so much harder. I saw my baby lying so still in my belly, not moving, no heartbeat, and the same size as when I had seen it 6 weeks earlier. The doctor didn't need to even tell me, I knew. And because I couldn't listen to myself my body was none the wiser. This time it would not be natural, my body wouldn't take over and  offer me comfort, instead I would have to take some medicine that would continue to make this even more real and awful. The medicine worked fast and quick, but by no means was it easy. From the cramping to my water breaking to passing my baby it has been a truly awful experience. And of course there is still bleeding so I am still reminded every time I go to the bathroom. And so I don't want to eat or drink anything now. Its not like it tastes good anyway. And I don't want to do anything, but yet I have to be doing something so I'm not thinking about it so now I play computer games until I'm too exhausted to see straight, which you would think would be a lot earlier than it ends up being. And I don't want to be mom during the day. Its strange to be sad about not being a mom to one more baby and not be able to rejoice in the 3 beautiful babies I do have. And of course they don't get it. They're sad, but for like a minute and then its like "you're still sad? Why?" Oh to be a kid and innocent. And of course Chris is out of town. Normally I don't mind sleeping alone on the couch, but I need him here to know HOW to sleep right now. Without him I don't know how to just stop distracting myself so I can sleep because if I stop distracting myself then I think about all that has happened and all that I lost in the past 2 days and then how can I possibly sleep. Between the thoughts and the sobs its awful to even breathe let alone sleep. Could it all just end now, please? Haven't I endured enough pain for one lifetime? My resolve has been challenged plenty I would think by now. I know I will move on and I know I will survive this, but I simply don't know how right now. I can't even see the tunnel to even know if there's a light at the end of it. I wish I could have just held my baby and let him know that I loved him and it was all going to be ok. All I wanted to do when I saw him Monday was climb inside that screen and curl up with my baby and comfort him. I love you sweet baby and I know that I will always think of you. I hope the universe has a better plan for you now.

10 days in the Desert

As our Christmas gift this year, my mom flew our family out to Arizona for 10 days in the desert with her and my brother. We decided to go the week before Christmas because the Browns were playing the Cardinals on the 18th which is also my mom's birthday, nothing like killing 2 birds with 1 stone!

Any way, so we got to Arizona on the 17th and got the kids situated with my mom and brother and then Chris and I stayed in Phoenix for 2 days of quiet while the kids were off to Tucson. I have to say the 2 days of quiet was very much needed and appreciated! Chris and I got to sleep in, sort of, go out to dinner, hadn't done that since the summer, and got to go to a football game without having to figure out babysitters. It was all SO wonderful, hopefully we'll be able to do it again in the not too distant future, but more than likely it'll be at least 2 years away....

The rest of the trip was like having Christmas all week long for the kids! It seemed like everyday my mom had something planned and when she didn't have something planned we found something fun to do!

A look at some of the fun we had:
(I also posted all 221 pictures from the trip on Facebook.....my mom sure does like to take pictures!)

In-N-Out Burger for the first time......Yummmmm

U of A Basketball game! Go Cats!
(coincidentally they were playing Oakland, a team from Detroit)

There was LOTS of swimming in the pool...I mean hot tub :) The weather was too cold for pool swimming!


Baking Snicker Doodles
The boys helped to measure, mix ingredients, roll balls, and dip the dough into the cinnamon sugar, and they turned out great!


Much needed haircuts


Cowboy and Cowgirl time!
Rylan LOVED the cowboy boots, you'll see them a few more times below:)


Jewelry time with Mana


A visit from Michelle (my old coach)


A few of my favorite silly pictures in front of the Christmas tree



Sugar cookies this time! And Rylan wanted to join as well :)


Brenden by his Fathead and the Christmas Tree


Christmas Morning!

Stockings are stuffed to the limit!

Opening Presents

Nintendo 3ds for the boys, they must have one awesome Mana!

Rylan's own Jewelry, complete with clip on earings :)


Fun exploring in the Desert


And of course, BASKETBALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A very good time indeed! With so much fun and excitement for 10 days its now time to wind down and relax until the New Year that will bring even more chaos and craziness with moving and the arrival of quatro - our current name for the new baby :)

We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and has a Happy and Safe New Year!