Appointments Update

Last week Ryan had 2 follow-up appointments - Neurology and then Ophthalmology. Sweet boy was a trooper, as always. You may remember reading about the last eye appointment he had (spoiler alert: it wasn't pretty). This time was much better, re: no vom. WIN!

Neurology came first and it was just a check-up. Nothing major to report here. Meds all seem to be doing their job, and no changes are needed at this time. We did talk about Ryan seeming to be at a little bit of a plateau for development. And actually, plateau is not the right word, because he's not done with his progress, but the curve has changed some and his progress seems to have slowed down. That said, he's still moving in the right direction.

During his ophthalmology appointment, we followed back up with what the doctor had told us last time and I gave her a progress report of trying to get Ryan set up with orientation and mobility therapy, which is easier said than done. I've been calling all over and getting referred to other places to call. It's been a wild goose chase, but I'm plugging away. I think we will get there sooner rather than later. The doctor was also able to give me more reference material about CVI so I can continue to learn about it. I need to make this a priority so that I can provide help to Ryan's therapists and so I can be more intentional at home by doing day to day things in a way that will help him or assist him. This appointment was still pretty long, and the doctor is very thorough, which I really appreciate. They didn't have to dilate his eyes, which explains why there was no throw up. Yay. I did have a change of clothes for each of us, just in case! I can't handle what happened last time so I will come prepared to all eye appointments from now on. ;)

Do you like his duck face?
He's been doing this with his lips lately.
Maybe it's a precursor to talking?!?!?!

In other health news, Ryan's been relatively well, as have his brothers, so we've had very few trips to the pediatrician. This mama likes that!

Stay healthy, everyone! 

THE MOVE

Yep, THE MOVE deserves to be in all caps because it was kind of a big deal for us.

Move out day happened on Thursday, 4/19/18. We had been packing and preparing for weeks and the actual move out was relatively low stress. Our movers were wonderful and when I saw our trucks, The Tajh and The Deshaun, pull up, I felt like it was a good omen! We cleaned and did last minute prep while the movers filled up the trucks. We had one whole truck full of boxes and then one whole truck full of furniture. Then we had to go get a small U-Haul for a few things that wouldn't fit on the 2 trucks. Oops!

This is getting REAL

The Deshaun

The Tajh

Serious business - from bottom to top

Not one inch to spare!

Last time with our sweet neighbor, Janice

Empty house

Dining room 

Kitchen and den

Estimated move out time was 4 hours and it ended up taking 6 hours with 4 guys, so I guess we have a lot of stuff! Anyway, everything went really smoothly!

After the movers loaded everything, we had a professional cleaning crew come in to get the house spotless and they did a fantastic job. It was so strange to walk through the house totally empty! We then had to go over to our new house for a walk through to check on the repairs. Let's just say that we were there for about 2.5 hours (had planned on 30 minutes or so) and eventually had to leave to pick the boys up from school. My plan was that we would get them early, check in to the hotel (we stayed at Embassy Suites for the night to make it fun for the boys!), let them swim, grab some dinner somewhere and get into bed at a reasonable time. Instead, we picked the boys up at 6 pm, ate a speedy dinner at Wendy's, went to the hotel, unloaded our stuff, and then had a rushed swim session because it was so late at that point! Even though it was rushed, late, and not as planned, the boys had fun! Ryan stayed out with me watching while Stokes, William and Thomas swam in the pool.

So excited!

Swim time

Ryan and I watched!

William and Thomas

Happy boys

It was about 9 PM (past bed time!) by the time we got everyone bathed and in bed. It was a really long day!

Ryan slept in our bed

Stokes and William were on the sleeper sofa

Angel baby sleeping

We knew that it was a big transition and weren't sure how the boys would handle the changes and whether they'd be nervous about the moving trucks and seeing a different house. We figured that doing something fun, like staying in a hotel with an indoor pool, would make it a fun and exciting time instead of a scary and uneasy time. I think they really enjoyed the hotel! The next morning, we had to eat breakfast in a hurry because we had to meet people at the houses first thing. Side note: Embassy Suites has an amazing breakfast selection! It was great!

Closing day on both houses was Friday, 4/20/18. The movers held all of our stuff on the trucks overnight and we had closing on our old house at noon, and our new house was supposed to close at 3. The movers were going to show up at 4:00 and the move in could begin.

On Friday morning, after breakfast at the hotel, we took the boys to school, and Thomas went to our new house to meet some repair guys there for some estimates while I went by our old house to do a final walk through. I wanted to make sure we hadn't forgotten anything and just to really confirm that everything was clean and ready for our buyer. The house really looked fantastic. It was so bittersweet and emotional. After Thomas met the guys at the new house, he came back by for our final goodbye to our old house. 

Thomas and me at our old house

Last pic here

We're doing to really miss this house!!!!!

That was the house where the boys came home from the hospital, where they learned to do so many firsts, where we had therapies, and lots of visitors! It was time to move on, but this was a fantastic place for us and will always be in our hearts. 

We left the house and went to the closing and signed away our old house and left the lawyer's office with just our memories. *tear

In the meantime, we had a few hours to kill before closing on our new house. We met up with Carole and went over what all was happening. Suffice it to say that it was a stressful day and did not go nearly as smoothly as everything with our old house. Our move out and closing on our old house was a breeze, but we weren't sure IF we were going to close on our new house, due to some repair issues and crazy things that popped up at the last minute. Carole even said that in over 30 years of doing real estate, she hadn't ever experienced what happened with us that day! Also, Carole was a ROCK STAR and basically took care of everything needed from our side and from the buyers side. She was working so hard all day long.

After being up in the air ALL DAY about whether we would close on our new house, it did finally end up happening. After closing, we went to our new house where the moving trucks had met MaSha to begin unloading.

Time to move in!

So many trucks!

Boys coming to their new house for the
FIRST TIME

They loved the moving trucks and wanted
to "help"

Beautiful new house

Lots of work to unload

The movers stayed until close to 9 pm unloading all of our stuff. Our incredible realtor (superhero of the day), Carole, got take out and brought it over to feed us - as if she hadn't already done enough! MaSha was clutch, too, with helping to unpack and keeping track of the kids so that Thomas and I could help direct furniture to the correct rooms.

Dinner time, courtesy of Carole

So many boxes!

Stuff was everywhere and boxes were piled high in every room, but we managed to get beds made and slept at our new house all together as a family that night. The boys were so excited to explore everything and see all the rooms. I wasn't sure if sleeping in a new place would scare them, but they did great! 

That weekend was full of unpacking, organizing, sorting, etc. That was several weeks ago and while we are functional now, we still have A LOT of work to do! Major shout out goes out to MaSha, for essentially camping out over the weekend and unpacking the entire kitchen (!!!) and Carole, who continued to assist with unpacking and feeding us. 

We met several of our new neighbors that first weekend and had some friends from the neighborhood that we already knew stop by for visits. It was such a warm welcome and we could feel the hospitality from the get go, which is such a great feeling!

sweet friend, Ginny Lynn, and family
stopped by and brought gifts!

After a busy and full weekend,  had to take a picture of the boys before school on their first school day in the new house. p.s. it was raining that day. :(

First school day in the new house

Different set of stairs to take all our pics on now

As I mentioned, we have a lot of work to do and some updates that are going to be on our list, but we're so happy with our new house and pray that we'll have lots of great memories here, too!

Friends and family, if you're reading this, feel free to come by and visit! We'd love to show you our new place!

Springtime

As I'm typing this, it has been a ridiculously cold day here today. This morning was in the low 30's. It's April 17th, people! Mother Nature needs to figure this out stat. At least it's sunny.

We have had some really, really beautiful weather recently though. It's such a great time of year when we can get home from school and play outside a little before coming in for dinner. We had such gorgeous weather this past Saturday to celebrate our last weekend in this house. The boys spent some time outside while it was so pleasant and we ended up grilling with our neighbors, Brecht, Megan and their boys. We will really miss our neighbors here!

A few pictures of recent outdoor fun!

William playing in the irises

Stokes at his "struction" zone

Ryan wearing Mama's shades

cartwheel....kinda sorta!

Selfie time!
Just look at that sweet little face!

It's fun to be outside!

Blueberries on the porch

Cool guy with his shades on

Creativity

I love it when the boys make their own fun. Just the other night, Stokes and William pulled out their sleeping bags from their bedroom, brought them downstairs to my office and had a "camp out". This was in the evening before dinnertime and still very light out...not time to go to bed. They even found some fake wood from a logging truck toy and made a fire for their campsite. They pretended to get warm at the fire and roast marshmallows. It was all so sweet! They were having such a good time with their imaginations and no screens were involved. They were laughing and playing and were so excited to show me their camp out. It was just good, old fashioned fun.
*Don't mind how my house looks. We are in the middle of packing and it shows!

At their camp out!

Those 3 logs are their "fire"!

Springtime with Cousins

It's safe to say that "spring has sprung" at our house. The sun is shining, the azaleas in our yard are gloriously blooming and we have that refreshing springtime feeling going on.

Spring break for school was last week, and while we didn't go anywhere or do any particular spring break-like activities, we DID get to have a visit with the Nanas and cousins! Kaitlyn and Whitney were both on spring break as well so the Nanas, who had Kaitlyn for the week, brought them up for a visit on their way to take Kaitlyn back home to Charleston. Greenville makes a nice little halfway point for them to break up the trip and we get to have visitors that we love!

A few highlights of the 2 days:

• The kids made homemade Oreo ice cream (Kaitlyn's idea)
• Thomas and I got to go out while the Nanas babysat
• Lots of outdoor playtime for all the kids (including a neighbor)
• Nana Wanda brought chicken salad :)
• The boys still love, love, love their "best friends", Kaitlyn and Whitney

Pics of the fun visit below. xoxo

Nana Wanda helping Ryan walk

Everyone climbed in the Nanas's bed on Friday morning! ha

Kaitlyn feeding Ryan

Lots of time outside!

Making ice cream with the ice cream ball

Thomas and me out with our small group!

Ryan and Nana Wanda
(she's a Ryan hog when she comes and I love it)

Happy campers?? LOL

Outdoor photo sesh with these amazing azaleas! I'm really going to miss these at our next house. *tear

Silly boys...

And cousins...