We Moved!

I can't believe summer is over!  I had no clue when the kids had their last day of school that a few days later we would find a house and start a crazy process that would last almost all summer long. Our closing was delayed several times and so now, after 5 1/2 weeks of no cable or internet, we are finally moved in and reconnected to the land of the living.

We had been passively looking at houses for over a year.  I've said it numerous time, but as Alex gets bigger, it was becoming increasingly harder on me to get her up and down the stairs to her room every day.  As she gets bigger, so does her equipment and our house just wasn't working for her anymore.  We had a LOT of criteria for the new house and all of the houses we had looked at lacked in one way or another so we honestly didn't know what we were going to do.  But patience paid off and on August 13th, we said good-bye to the house we've been in for the last 12 years. I love our neighborhood and the wonderful friends we have made there, and even though we only moved about a mile away, it was still very emotional.

As silly as it sounds, I walked from room to room conjuring up a ton of memories and said good-bye. I think Zach's room was the hardest for me.  I brought him home to that house.  It's seen a lot of transformation and it's all he's known.  One of the door jams in his room is where we marked his growth.  Not something we could take with us, so I got emotional.  I'm a sap.

 

Good-bye camouflage room!

Alex's room was just as hard.  When we moved into that house she was 11 months old.  We were going through genetics and seeing doctor after doctor (wait, I guess somethings haven't changed since we're still doing all that!) - but back then the doctors kept telling us she was going to catch up, she was going to be "ok", they could find no reason that she wouldn't be. 4 months after we moved in we spent a month in the hospital in the PICU and we knew our road was going to be different with her.  I guess saying good-bye to her room made me think of all we have been through there.  There were lots of tears, hers and mine, shed in that room, but it's all she's known too.

Saying good-bye to our room made me question if we were doing the right thing.  It also brought up a million memories of all of the family decisions and discussions that were made in there.  

And once I turned to take one last look before we walked out the garage door, I lost it.  Lots of tears.

 

                                

Alex is very landmark oriented.  She gets crazy excited when she gets close to school, or my parent's old house, or she see's the exit for our house on the highway.  I was really nervous about how she was going to adjust.  We talked a lot about us moving in front of her and to her.  In fact, when we first started talking about it she was getting very agitated.  We played our usual round of 100 yes/no questions until we asked her if she thought she wasn't coming with us and she raised her eyebrows - which means yes.  We explained over and over that she and ALL of her stuff was coming with us and and then, just like that, she was happy.

On moving day she spent the entire day with her nurse, Tammy, and by the time she came home that evening we had it all ready so it would look familiar. When she got home Aaron got her out of her chair and helped her walk into the house.

She looked all around and really took it all in.  

She seems very happy here and has really settled in nicely.  Zach has several friends who live in the neighborhood so he settled in just fine.  One of our requirements to move was that we didn't disrupt his life too much and that he stayed in the same in the same school district and close to his friends. 

I love how spacious Alex's room is.  I love she has a bathroom attached to her room.  We met with a great contractor and will be starting a remodeling project on it in a week or so because the shower cannot accommodate her chair, but that's all we have to do to make it perfect for her.  I love that the doors here are wider and all of her equipment can move from room to room with ease.  I love that the downstairs is all open and so much easier for us to move her around.  And as crazy as it sounds, I really feel like we are closer as a family.  We spend a lot more time together now that she has so much more access to move around with us.

I have some catching up to do now that we finally have internet, but for now, we are Home Sweet Home!!