Home Sweet New Home?!

We found a new house!!!

Our current house has been on the market since July of last year and is just not going to sell for the price we need. Because of current market conditions, we would have to take a pretty significant loss, and we are not in the position financially to be able to do that. Recently, the opportunity to lease our house to a family who would like to rent for a couple of years, with the hope that they will then be in a better position to purchase, presented itself. Doing so would allow us to go ahead and purchase a new house that would be more suited to our needs before the girls start first grade.

I am not 100% comfortable with this...the idea of two mortgages is pretty daunting, particularly when thinking about all of the "what ifs." What if the renters don't make their payment, or leave us in a lurch??? Yikes. We really can't afford two houses.

When the offer first came up, I told them we needed some time to think about it. Then, just a couple of days later, we had a showing scheduled for our house. In the meantime, I had a house bookmarked online that I kept going back to. It had "disability features" listed as one of it's selling points, and I was intrigued as to what that meant. I had driven by the house a few time, and had driven John and my mom past. It looked good from the outside.

Somehow, the stars aligned...a new possible opportunity for leasing our house was on the table...a showing was scheduled on our house...we decided that we should go take a look at this other house. I told myself that I just wanted to an idea of what was out there. I was thinking along the lines of "what if someone made an offer on our house?" We didn't have any prospects in mind. I had been to look at several houses and hadn't really seen anything that would meet our needs. Even houses that looked to have good potential online would have numerous little *things* that wouldn't work for us. Mostly, the houses I was looking at were either too small, not laid out well, or had at least one or several *steps* making them less accessible. There were also issues with me (or John) not liking the neighborhood, not liking the yard, too much work needing to be put into it, etc, etc... I really hadn't had any luck finding something that I really felt would be *the one* so I wasn't too worried that our house wasn't selling.

So we went to look at this house. It was a Sunday, and we had to be out of our house for a showing, so John and the girls came with me for the first time. We knew shortly after entering that this was IT. It was the first house that I had been in that really felt like it could be our home.

It is 4 miles from our current home, in the same school district (good), but at a different elementary school (also good). We love the layout...all one floor with no steps at all. There is a ramp in the garage, and another to the back doorwall, making it wheelchair accessible. The doors and hallways are extra-wide, with pocket doors to the bedrooms and bathrooms. One of the bathrooms has a barrier free shower, with a built in bench seat, hand-rails, and two shower heads...one high and one low. All of that work already done!!! Almost too good to be true. On top of that, the kitchen was recently redone with all new cabinets and counter tops. I'm sold. I have to have it. This kind of house doesn't come along everyday.

We made an offer, and it was accepted. We met the family interested in leasing our current house, and they signed a 2-year lease. We are well into the process of obtaining a second mortgage. We are hoping to close by the end of May, spend the month of June packing and moving, and be completely moved out and moved in by July 1st.

This is such a huge, life-altering commitment and change. We can't help but be completely freaked out, stressed, and apprehensive. But at the same time we are also feeling really excited and hopeful. I have visions of Eden being able to go anywhere in the house, whenever she wants, independently. Being able to play with her toys in the playroom, go get in her bed at night, and never having to worry about the other kids running upstairs to play without her. As she gets older, I have visions of her using a walker to go to the bathroom and learning to transfer herself, independently. I see her as a teenager and young adult, being able to use the bench and rails in the shower to bathe herself, independently. This house will help us achieve those goals.

I feel sentimental about our current home. This is our first house and we have lived here for 10 years. It is our home. We have been through SO much here, having babies and raising them for almost 7 years. I will definitely be sad to leave. But I have such huge hopes and dreams for the new house. I feel like it is a place where we can watch our girls turn into big kids, then pre-teens, teenagers, and young adults, while we grow old together. These past 10 years have gone by so fast. In another 10 Holland and Eden will be 17...in high school, at the same age John and I were when we started dating. Another 10 years, and I am sure I will feel as sentimental about the new house and I do now about the old.

So here we go!!! Wish us luck as we make our way on a new adventure, a new house, a new home, and a new journey toward independence for Holland and Eden!

One Day at a Time

Just one more day until Team Holland and Eden heads out for our 6th annual March for Babies! If you are interested in supporting our team and helping us reach our goal, now is the time to make your donations. Thank you so much for your support in our efforts over the years!

As soon as this big event is behind us, I will fill you in on the details of our recent major, exciting, life-changing news...

Before you ask...NO, I'm not pregnant.

Hoppy Easter!

Marching for Babies

It's that time of year again! In a little more than two weeks, Team Holland and Eden will once again be hitting the street to March for Babies.

I watched this video for the first time in a long time and was surprised at the emotion I felt looking at pictures of the girls in the NICU. Holland and Eden will turn 7 this summer, and in some ways I feel so far removed from that time in our lives. But, when I take the time to pause and reflect, I am instantly transported back there and I feel...lucky and strong. I cannot believe that we survived such an ordeal, and that we are now fairly emotionally intact and happy.

We have committed to doing the walk again this year as a celebration of our beautiful girls, with the continued hope that our donations will be put to good use, and someday fewer babies will be born too soon.

Please support Team Holland and Eden as we walk in our 6th March for Babies, and help us reach our goal!

Is It Spring Yet?

I am sure that people get tired of reading about my sick kids, probably just as much as I get sick of writing about it, but here we are again.

Eden has been sick all week with a fever, sore throat, and severe congestion. It appears to be viral, seeing as how the strep test was negative and the antibiotics don't seem to be helping. She missed the whole week of school, and today is the first day that is finally feeling a little better. Just as she seems to be on the upswing, Holland caught it. She complained of a headache and sore throat yesterday morning, but didn't have a fever and was playing cheerfully, so I sent her to school. Bad call. They called me an hour later to pick her up. By the time I got her home her fever was up to 102.3 and she was miserable. So, it appears that we are looking at another 3-4 days of misery, assuming she has the same illness as Eden.

Have I mentioned that we are ready for Spring and a break in all this sickness we have had this winter??? I think that we have had a really bad cold/flu season this year, just based on the sheer number of serious illnesses we have had. However, my girls are growing up and getting stronger, and at least these yucky viruses don't put us in the hospital anymore. I am thankful that we aren't spending the whole winter inpatient!

There have been a few breaks between sicknesses, and some major developments that bear mentioning...

I became a brunette! Chances are that I will probably go back to blonde in the summer, but it's fun for a change of pace.


We went to a Pinkalicious cupcake social and saw Pinkalicious The Musical. We bought the soundtrack and it is a MAJOR hit at our house. I had those songs stuck in my head for weeks.





We did EuroPeds (see previous post).


Eden got a new manual wheelchair, a Zippie Zone...in pink of course. It took 6 months to complete the process, but it was fully covered between our private insurance and CSHC. We haven't had a whole lot of time to practice using it yet, but she is already pretty good at pushing and steering it. Our long-term goal is that she will continue to use her power chair when we are outdoors or for longer distances, but will use the manual chair in smaller settings (like at school). So far, we are happy with it. Eden sits well in it and it is pretty easy for her to maneuver. It puts her a eye-level with her peers, and while slightly tall for her now, will eventually be good for her learning to transfer (particularly to the potty) independently. I will post a more thorough review in the future when we have had more of a chance to use it.




Holland got a new bike and we have had a couple of nice days to ride it!



Both girls got new glasses! Eden picked out a pair of pink and purple Flexon frames, which we hope will be good because they are flexible and will not need as many adjustments as her old pair. They look beautiful on her, but the jury is still out on whether they will hold up for her. We shall see. Holland picked out a pair of chunky blue frames, that are very stylish and certainly make a bold statement...very her. I was honestly a little hesitant about them because I worried they were too heavy for her delicate features and would hide her face too much, but I decided to let her choose. She has always had definitely opinions on what she likes, mindless of what other people might think, and I really admire her for that. Now that I have had a week to get used to them, I really like them. I think they suit her and she gets a lot of compliments:-) Of course, they are both just so cute anyway...if I do say so myself.

Eden at EuroPeds!

Eden did two weeks of intensive physical therapy at EuroPeds in Pontiac, MI, at the end of February. The timing worked out nicely because we all had the last week of Feb off for winter break, so she only ended up missing 4 days of school. We were supposed to go 5 days a week, 4 hours a day for two weeks, but had to miss the very first day because of a snow storm that dumped 10 inches of snow on us.

It was a serious break from our usual routine because I had to wake Eden up at the crack of dawn to feed her and get her out the door in time for an hour drive, and we had to be there at 9am. It was a sneak peak of what life might be like next year when the girls are in school full-time and have to leave at 8am every day (YIKES!). But we did it, and I was pretty proud of myself for getting her there on time...for the most part.

Overall I was very impressed with the program and the therapist that Eden worked with. She pushed her to work really hard, while still keeping her motivated and (mostly) happy. And Eden did work hard. She was doing one legged squats with weights on her legs. It was intense. I am sure if I did half of what she did I wouldn't be able to move the next day, but she is tougher than most of us and really didn't seem sore or over-tired at all. She also ate GREAT....like I have never seen her eat before.

It seemed a lot like she was an athlete with a personal trainer for the time we were there, and she made some nice gains in her overall strength and stability. I think she enjoyed it and felt a sense of personal accomplishment when it was finished. We are already looking forward to going back, but probably not until the same time next year when insurance will cover it again. In the meantime, we will continue with our once a week private PT at home, along with therapeutic riding (we started a new program in March) once a week, and hippotherapy once a week. We are also planning to attend another 4-week conductive education camp this summer.

Should be plenty to keep us busy.

Wordless Wednesday

Flu Bug

Holland is sick right now with our first case of Influenza. The FLU. It's one of those things, like RSV, that strikes fear in the heart of every micropreemie parent. She has had a flu shot every fall since she came home from the NICU, with 2 extra shots last year to help protect her from H1N1. Unfortunately, the shot can't protect us from every flu bug out there, so here we are.

She had a low-grade fever on Friday night, but it came right down with Motrin and didn't return on Saturday. I actually took her in to after-hours care, thinking I should make sure it wasn't another case of strep (we had that a couple of weeks ago), but it was so crowded with sickos that we ended up leaving without touching anything and without being seen. She was okay that night, and on Sunday during the day, with the exception of a really runny nose. On Sunday night the fever returned and she began to feel really, really crummy. I took her to the pediatrician on Monday morning and they diagnosed influenza. We have been managing okay during the day with Motrin, fluids, and lots of television, ipad, and video games.

Night time has been a lot more difficult. For three nights in a row she was up at least once an hour crying, moaning, and generally feeling miserable. She could not breathe through her nose, was coughing, and had all over aches and pains. She complains about a tummy ache and a yucky dry mouth and lips. A few times she actually called out, "Somebody help me!" :-( Last night, night 4, was the first that she (and I) got longer than an hour stretch of sleep at a time. She actually slept pretty good from 2am until 8am. So far today her fever has not returned and I am hopeful that we have turned a corner.

Through it all her lungs have seemed to remain remarkably clear, and at both checks at the doctor's office she was satting 99-100. Happy, happy, joy, joy. I will take 3 miserable night at home with clear lungs over ANY nights in the hospital on oxygen. So, today we remain over one year hospital-free, and it looks like we might have kicked the flu bug's butt at home. (I hope I am not speaking too soon...)

Holland will be out of school this whole week, and missed her kindergarten Valentine's Day party. Eden is amazingly still healthy. I am crossing all of my crossables that she will STAY that way and not catch this, because she is supposed to start 2 weeks of intensive physical therapy at EuroPeds on Monday. Her getting sick now will be a major setback in so many ways... We are so ready for spring!