This afternoon I went in Madalyn's room to wake her up from a 4 hour + nap. She was still asleep and when the door creaked she rolled over and opened her eyes. She looked up at me and in a very cute, very sweet, very loving voice asked "Is Baby Samuel and Baby Hannah home yet?"
It was so sweet yet broke my heart. It's hard knowing that Mark and I aren't the only ones who miss our babies tremendously. Madalyn has not been able to see Sam or Hannah as she's not old enough to get into the NICU. We show her pictures quite often, and we hear her playing with her babies and talking about "Sam and Hannah." So, I know she knows something is going on. She will tell you that the babies are in the hospital because they are too little to come home - which is also super cute!
She's going to be a great big sister and I can't wait to be able to bring those 2 little peanuts home to meet her! She'll definitely be mommy #2!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Monday, May 25, 2009
3 + 2 = FIVE!!!
The last picture of me pregnant - 30 weeks.
Life has taken a drastic change since I last posted on this blog. We moved everything from our old house to our new house on Thursday, May 7th and we closed on both houses on Friday the 8th. Monday the 11th I had a random doctors appointment and ended up being wheeled over to Labor & Delivery. I was admitted and our babies, Samuel Charles and Hannah Elizabeth, were born on Thursday, May 14th at 30 weeks gestation. I was released on Sunday and came home to enjoy our new home - sadly, without the babes.
For those of you that don't know the story - here's the basic gist... I went in for my sono / appt on the 11th and found out that I was dilated 3-4cm. The perinatologist said that my Dr would probably want me admitted and the next thing I know I'm being wheeled over to L & D, sobbing the whole way. I was admitted and immediately put on magnesium sulfate to try to stop labor. I went through this whole process with Madalyn when I had pre-term labor with her so I was used to all the meds they put me on and the protocol. I was checked again after being admitted and the nurse said that I was then up to 5cm dilated and 70% effaced. She said I also had a bulging bag of water. Next thing I know, everyone is running around and tensions were high. I actually thought that the babies were going to be making their entrance that day. One of the pastors from our church was there and prayed with us. I was put on more IV fluids and given my first dose of surfactant (steroids) for the babies' lungs. This would help them tremendously if they were to be born early.
I was in the hospital battling with contractions (some very strong ones) until Thursday morning. I was only on the magnesium sulfate for a day but then I was also given a shot of terbutaline. This also helps to try to stop the contractions. I also received the second dose of the surfactant for the babies' lungs. Contractions came and went. I was told that I would be in the hospital until the babies were born. Ugh. I knew it was what was best for me but it was so hard to (1) be away from Madalyn and Mark and (2) not be able to relax and enjoy our new home. At times I was extremely discouraged but I continued to remind myself that the Lord was in control.
Thursday, the 14th, my doctor came in to check me. He said I was still at 5cm but that he could make it 7cm which meant that I could be ready to give birth at any time - my body was heading in that direction. He said he could also feel Hannah's head. He said that at that point he didn't want to just keep feeding medicines into my body if my body was ready for babies to come out. He wanted to check with the perinatologist and he said he would get back to me as soon as he decided what to do. About an hour and a half later, my nurse came in and said that they were going to do a C-Section at 3pm that afternoon to prevent any kind of emergency situation. They wanted to make the birth as stress free for the babes as possible and because they were so small and Sam was breech they were going to have to do a C-Section. I started crying and when Mark came out of the restroom he knew exactly what was going on.
My C-Section took place around 5pm that evening. Everything went as smooth as could be. I didn't freak out too much and I felt absolutely nothing. Hannah was born first at 5:30 and Sam was born at 5:31. She weighed 3lbs 12oz and was 16.5 inches long. Sam was just a little guy at 2lbs 11oz and 15 inches long. Both came out crying as loud as they could (which was an enormous relief for Mark - breathing is key at this point). They were in the OR a little while before going upstairs to the NICU - so we knew nothing was seriously wrong or they would've been wisked away immediately. I even was able to kiss Hannah before they took her upstairs. I was able to go up to the NICU after recovery and see the babies. Both were breathing room air and had only a C-PAP on - this was just to regulate the pressure in the lungs to help open and close. Because they were so small, they tend to "tire" out when breathing so the CPAP helps them with that. Praise that they weren't on any oxygen though. Both were off the CPAP machines by about 3 days old.
Since I've been released from the hospital, we've been at the hospital at least once every day. It's been hard to work around schedules and being with Madalyn as I'm trying not to "push" her to the side but we're making it work. Every day that they've been there has been a step in the right direction.
Just today when we went in to see them we got great news! Both babes are now above their birth weight which is awesome! Praise God! Babies typically lose weight after they are born and for little babies like ours this can be really scary. But today we learned they are beefing up! They are eating every 3 hours now and have even increased the amount they are taking. This is good news because it means that they are digesting well. They both are still under bili lights for jaundice but this is common in preemies. Hopefully now that they are eating more and digesting it better, this will go down quickly. They are doing great and are absolutely ADORABLE! Big Sister Mady talks about them all the time and constantly tells everyone she sees that she is a Big Sister now! She can't wait for them to come home.
It will still be about 4 weeks or so before they are able to come however it could be quicker... we'll see. They will start trying to take bottles here in the next week or so. Hopefully before long they will be moved from the isolet (baby in a box) and moved into cribs - then we can hold them whenever we want (right now we can only hold them once a day during a feeding).
I'll try to post updates more often now that I'm at home and feeling good. I am not feeling any pain right now - just a little tired from pumping every 3 hours. Other than that, I'm doing well. I have to admit that it's good to be home however it's really hard to leave my babies at the hospital. I do know that the Lord has a plan and that they will be home soon. We'll be able to look back on this time as a small blurp on the radar.
Thanks for all of your prayers and encouragement! We appreciate all that everyone has done for us! You are all so special to us!!!
By the way, I wanted to say a HUGE THANK YOU to my husband! While I was in the hospital for a week he spent 50+ hours unpacking and setting up things in our new home so that when I came home I wouldn't have to do anything. Doing this along with taking care of a 2 year old is definitely taxing and so I wanted to thank him! I love you baby!
The first time that Daddy got to hold his SON!
Mommy holding her newest daughter for the first time.
Mom and Samuel
Daddy and Hannah (both sound asleep!)
My baby girl - keeping me company at the hospital!
Monday, May 4, 2009
Big Girl Bed
We've been wanting to transfer Madalyn over to her "Big Girl Bed" for a while now, but with packing and moving it just hasn't worked out. My cousin graciously gave us the twin bed that her son used when he was little (since he has since moved to a bunk bed), and we've been storing it at her house until the last possible minute. We just didn't want to move it twice before we got into our new house.
Anyway, we have the bed now and it's in storage here. Saturday night we were on a packing spree and decided to take down Madalyn's crib. We simply put her mattress on the floor and called it her "Big Girl Bed." She went bananas. The minute we got the crib out of her room and put her blankets and such on her new bed, she started asking "Will you tuck me in, Mommy? I want to go to bed." We definitely were not putting her to bed at 4:30 in the afternoon! ha! She asked the rest of the evening if it was time to go to bed yet. Finally at 6:30 we gave her a bath and the go-ahead to get into her Big Girl Bed. It was so cute. She was so excited. We did explain to her that there were 2 rules that she needed to obey; (1) she was not to get up in the middle of the night - she had to stay in bed (I didn't want her running around playing) and (2) in the morning, when she woke up, she was to ask if she could get out of bed. Mark and I went back and forth on this one and decided this would be best right now. I wasn't too hip on her walking around at crazy hours in the morning.
The first night in her bed went better than we had expected. She rolled off the mattress once at 12:30am to which she was yelling from her room, "Mommy, will you tuck me in again, please?" Other than that she was in her bed the whole evening. Sunday morning Mark heard her asking if she could get up at 6:30. We have a rule in our house that we don't get her out of her bed until 7am so Mark told her that it wasn't time to get up. At 7 she asked, from her bed, "Mommy, may I get up please?" I went in and she was still laying in her bed. Yay! It was a good night.
Sunday afternoon was the second test as it was her first nap in her bed. We again went over the rules and she did exactly what we asked! I'm so proud of her!
If she is this excited about a mattress on the floor, she is going to be super excited when we put up her real bed and get her new bedding and such. I can't wait!!! On the other hand, it was sad to take down the crib - my little girl is growing up!!!
Anyway, we have the bed now and it's in storage here. Saturday night we were on a packing spree and decided to take down Madalyn's crib. We simply put her mattress on the floor and called it her "Big Girl Bed." She went bananas. The minute we got the crib out of her room and put her blankets and such on her new bed, she started asking "Will you tuck me in, Mommy? I want to go to bed." We definitely were not putting her to bed at 4:30 in the afternoon! ha! She asked the rest of the evening if it was time to go to bed yet. Finally at 6:30 we gave her a bath and the go-ahead to get into her Big Girl Bed. It was so cute. She was so excited. We did explain to her that there were 2 rules that she needed to obey; (1) she was not to get up in the middle of the night - she had to stay in bed (I didn't want her running around playing) and (2) in the morning, when she woke up, she was to ask if she could get out of bed. Mark and I went back and forth on this one and decided this would be best right now. I wasn't too hip on her walking around at crazy hours in the morning.
The first night in her bed went better than we had expected. She rolled off the mattress once at 12:30am to which she was yelling from her room, "Mommy, will you tuck me in again, please?" Other than that she was in her bed the whole evening. Sunday morning Mark heard her asking if she could get up at 6:30. We have a rule in our house that we don't get her out of her bed until 7am so Mark told her that it wasn't time to get up. At 7 she asked, from her bed, "Mommy, may I get up please?" I went in and she was still laying in her bed. Yay! It was a good night.
Sunday afternoon was the second test as it was her first nap in her bed. We again went over the rules and she did exactly what we asked! I'm so proud of her!
If she is this excited about a mattress on the floor, she is going to be super excited when we put up her real bed and get her new bedding and such. I can't wait!!! On the other hand, it was sad to take down the crib - my little girl is growing up!!!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
28 Weeks - 2nd Milestone
I've officially made it to 28 weeks today! I have hit my 2nd major milestone in a twin pregnancy. Let me explain: There are 3 major milestones to hit in a twin pregnancy, as my doctor says. The first is the 24 week mark. Babies born this early will likely spend at least three months in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), and a third of them will survive with no long-term problems. The 2nd milestone is 28 weeks, when viability skyrockets. Ninety percent of babies who make it to this stage of gestation survive. Long-term complications are still a possibility, however. The last major milestone that doctors like to see mothers of multiples hit is the 34 week mark. Babies born now generally have an excellent chance of survival, without any major long-term complications, though they might not have full lung maturity (which generally occurs between 33 and 37 weeks) and will need to spend time in the NICU.
This morning I had my 28 week appointment. I had my sonogram first and all was going well until the very end when the sizes of the twins were compared against each other. Baby A, our boy, is measuring smaller than average while Baby A, our girl, is measuring a little bigger than average. One is in the 57th percentile and one is in the 32nd precentile. These are things to necessarily worry about until they compare one twin to another. Doctors want to make sure that they difference between the two isn't too large - in other words, one twin would be taking more nutrients than the other one. The sono tech gave us all the numbers and then said "I need to go run this by some others.. I'll be right back." He eventually came back and said that they needed to run more tests - do a doppler test. I was crying at this point. All I could think about was bedrest and the fact that one of my babies was too small. We were then sent off to see the Dr.
Dr. S. said he wasn't that worried about the size difference in the twins but that he wanted to keep an eye one me. I'm going back in a little over a week to have a perinatologist do a sono for me and evaluate what he sees. So, we'll see. This appointment is the week after we move in.
Other news from the appt - Dr. S. told me this morning that he's excited that we hit 28 weeks and now we're shooting for 34 weeks. Once I hit 34 weeks, anything can happen... WOW! to think that 34 weeks is only SIX weeks away!!! Am I ready? I guess I better be!!! Both babies are now head down. Girly-girl has now decided to join her brother in the head down position which is super exciting. I had a feeling one had switched places because things just felt different. Now, if they stay this way, I'm on track for trying to have them naturally! Fun! My blood pressure and urine culture looked good (i know, too much information) and my weight is even good. I have gained less so far than I did with Mady so we'll see how these last few weeks shape up. As for growth, I'm also doing well. At my current point, 28 weeks, I'm measuring 32 weeks for someone with one baby... if that makes sense. So, I'm technically only measuring 4 weeks ahead of schedule. I'm sure that will change though towards the end of the pregnancy as the babies are getting bigger. Dr. S. said I was doing well. He told me again to make sure that I rest lots - laying on my left side - especially on the weekends. I've been making sure that I do get lots of rest during the day. He said everything else looks good! Yay!
This morning I had my 28 week appointment. I had my sonogram first and all was going well until the very end when the sizes of the twins were compared against each other. Baby A, our boy, is measuring smaller than average while Baby A, our girl, is measuring a little bigger than average. One is in the 57th percentile and one is in the 32nd precentile. These are things to necessarily worry about until they compare one twin to another. Doctors want to make sure that they difference between the two isn't too large - in other words, one twin would be taking more nutrients than the other one. The sono tech gave us all the numbers and then said "I need to go run this by some others.. I'll be right back." He eventually came back and said that they needed to run more tests - do a doppler test. I was crying at this point. All I could think about was bedrest and the fact that one of my babies was too small. We were then sent off to see the Dr.
Dr. S. said he wasn't that worried about the size difference in the twins but that he wanted to keep an eye one me. I'm going back in a little over a week to have a perinatologist do a sono for me and evaluate what he sees. So, we'll see. This appointment is the week after we move in.
Other news from the appt - Dr. S. told me this morning that he's excited that we hit 28 weeks and now we're shooting for 34 weeks. Once I hit 34 weeks, anything can happen... WOW! to think that 34 weeks is only SIX weeks away!!! Am I ready? I guess I better be!!! Both babies are now head down. Girly-girl has now decided to join her brother in the head down position which is super exciting. I had a feeling one had switched places because things just felt different. Now, if they stay this way, I'm on track for trying to have them naturally! Fun! My blood pressure and urine culture looked good (i know, too much information) and my weight is even good. I have gained less so far than I did with Mady so we'll see how these last few weeks shape up. As for growth, I'm also doing well. At my current point, 28 weeks, I'm measuring 32 weeks for someone with one baby... if that makes sense. So, I'm technically only measuring 4 weeks ahead of schedule. I'm sure that will change though towards the end of the pregnancy as the babies are getting bigger. Dr. S. said I was doing well. He told me again to make sure that I rest lots - laying on my left side - especially on the weekends. I've been making sure that I do get lots of rest during the day. He said everything else looks good! Yay!
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Mommy, Daddy, Dinosaurs and Wonder Pets!
Last night we went out to dinner with our good friends, Paul and Nicole. When we got back to their house, Madalyn was still awake - the sitters hadn't put her to bed yet. So, being completely stuffed from eating too much I plopped down on the couch and laid there for a good 20 minutes instead of immediately putting Mady in bed. She decided it would be fun to act like she was tucking me in bed. She would cover my feet and legs with her blanket, give me her favorite bunny named Ma, hold the sides of my face with her sweet hands and gently kiss my forehead, and then tell me "Goodnight, Mom." I would pretend like I was sleeping and then I would wake up and we would start all over again. We did this numerous times before she said "Mommy, we need to pray." I told her that she could pray for Mommy since she was putting me down to sleep. She said "Thank you Jesus for this food." (a lot of times she prays for us when we eat). I had to give her a quick lesson that she can pray about anything she wants and then she said she wanted to pray for Mommy and Daddy. Here's what came out of her mouth next... "Thank You Jesus for Mommy, Daddy, Dinosaurs, and Wonder Pets. Amen." It was so adorable. She had been playing with Dinosaurs at Paul and Nicole's house while we went out so I'm sure that's why she prayed for them. I have no idea why she prayed for the Wonder Pets. Wonder Pets is a tv show and since I rarely allow her to watch tv I have no idea why she prayed for them. The only place I think she has seen Wonder Pets may have been at the gym. Who knows why she prayed for them... but it was so sweet! (I also loved getting all of those sweet kisses on my forehead!)
Saturday, April 11, 2009
House Update!
Most of you know by now that we've sold our house and purchased another one! Mark keeps mentioning that I need to update our blog with the process so here goes... A short version...
Sunday, March 22: When we had our house For Sale by Owner, one particular guy was interested but never did follow through. He emailed Mark out of the blue tonight and wanted to see the house. Mark passed along his number and the guy called within the hour. He came over at 7:30pm to look at our house and loved it. He said he would definitely be in touch. Meanwhile, Mark called our realtor (whom we just listed with a week ago Friday) and told him about the situation. He mentioned that another realtor had called him today and that her client came by our house this past Friday and was interested in the house and she said that an offer might be coming soon.
The next three days were a bidding war essentially. The guy that had looked Sunday evening came back twice and the realtor's client made an initial low offer. We countered that offer and told the fsbo guy that we had another offer on the table. He then made an initial offer and we went back to the realtor. Her client found out there was another offer and upped her offer to above listing price. The guy made a second offer but it wasn't near hers at all so we accepted the offer from the realtor and her client on Thursday the 26th. We were ecstatic! 19 days on the market and we sold for more than listing price!! Woohoo! It doesn't get any better than that.
We found out that she wanted to close on May 8 (she's moving from out of state and needs that date specifically) so on Friday the 27th, we immediately began searching for houses. We basically had a little over a month before we had to be out of our house so we were in a bit of a crunch. Most of the houses we were looking at had possession dates of 30 days so we basically had about a week to find something so that we could move from one house to the other. Talk about stress! We had been browsing online for months already so we had a couple of ideas on some houses that we liked. We had even gone to some open houses and we were able to weed out some that we thought were potential keepers, but weren't. We were out for about 4 hours on Friday and found one house that we sort of liked. The house that we really liked was unable to be seen so we had to wait until Sunday. Mark's note: As we were driving along, Eric, our realtor from Remax asked me if I was interested in a foreclosure. I said absolutely. We went by to see it. It was phenomenally large! It was well north of 3200 sq ft, 4 BR, 3 bath, colossal kitchen, the works. The neighborhood is one of the nicest neighborhoods in Champaign. The only issue was when they foreclosed on the owners, they turned the power off and it rained, and the sump pump obviously didn't keep water out of the huge finished basement. They hired a company to come in and clean it all out (cut the drywall out about 2 feet above the floor all the way around). But it rained again, and the water came back, so when we looked at it, it had about 3 inches of standing water. We seriously thought about this home (it needed a LOT of work and we were very concerned about mold and water coming back in the future, it seemed like a lot of water for not a lot of rain) but the price was right. It was $110,000 below what the owners purchased it for 2 years ago. 4 buyers looked at it that day right after us and it was sold that night. Addendum: about a week later I was talking with our friends who used to live next to this home, and he told me that there had been water issues there for years. Things happen for a reason...
Sunday the 29th : We went out looking again and we were able to see the house that we had liked online. We fell in love with it and put an offer in later that night. They came back with another number that night and we put out another number also. The next day, Monday the 30th, we couldn't settle on a price and were going back and forth between $5,000. It was not an issue of whether we could go up because we could, but Mark just didn't feel peace about it. He felt like the Lord was telling him not to go any higher. So, we didn't and we didn't get that house. Mark's note: The nice thing about that house was that it had a finished basement. It really didn't need any work, but the back yard was a little smaller than we were wanting. As Jennifer and I really prayed about this house, I believe the Lord was testing our faith. The Lord gave me a number for this house, and he told me to stick to it, for whatever reason. We walked away, and it was one of the hardest things I've done. To be honest, we thought when we walked away, the owners would realize what was going on, and they would lower the price. We were wrong. Ironically enough, we looked on line a week later, and they had lowered the price on the home $5,000. Things happen for a reason...
After being extremely bummed we went out again on Tuesday. Our realtor had some new houses to show us and we liked 2 of them, the second once especially. It was in the Sawgrass Subdivision - a newer subdivision - and was owned by the builder. We liked it but were a little skeptical about getting our hopes up as we had before. We slept on it that night and got up the next morning and took another look.
Our realtor was leaving on Wednesday afternoon for 5 days so if we wanted this house we needed to jump on it and not wait until he came back. We looked at it again on April 1st and put in the offer that afternoon. We got a call later saying the seller wasn't willing to go down that much, but as Mark and our realtor were talking he got a phone call from her. We prayed and waited for a call back. He called back and said that she had accepted our offer. Praise God! Mark's note: We did some fancy negotiations to get our asking price, which suited me just fine. I'm really only happy when I feel like I got a deal. I can't really expect her to do too much to the property before we move in because from start to finish, she ended up dropping the price $32,000.
April 3rd was the inspection on our current home. We were pretty nervous as we've heard these inspections can be deal breakers sometimes. We got word on the following Monday morning that the buyer of our house wasn't concerned with the little things listed on the inspection and wasn't going to have us fix anything! Praise God! We didn't have to fix anything!!! Mark's note: Actually, I've been fixing things for the past 4 years that we've owned our home. We've redone most of the kitchen, the whole bath, a new roof, new light fixtures, rewiring, a basement remodel, exterior window work, and we painted the entire home. We gave her a sweet deal on a nice home. We will miss this home as we've spent most of our married life here, and it's the only home Madalyn knows. There's lots of memories, but better things are to come.
Now we're just waiting. We have our inspection on our new home today, April 10th, and we close on both houses on May 8th! I've started packing boxes here and there and we're getting super excited to move into something bigger before the babies arrive.
Our new house is 2 years old with 4 bedrooms, 3 bath, with a full unfinished basement. The builder, whom we purchased it from, put in an I beam in the basement so there are no beams coming down randomly for support. This was unique to the other homes we've looked at. We are going to finish it off and put a 5th bedroom and a 4th bath down there. I'm excited to have a master bath with a jacuzzi, which we don't have now and HUGE walk in closets! It has a place for Mark's office which we will wall off with french doors and it has a nice big kitchen! The backyard backs up to a commons area, so it will give the kids a place to play as they get older. We have definitely been blessed.
This was probably one of the hardest times that we have gone through with all of the stress and worry but God definitely provided. It's funny that we humans think something is so perfect for us (like we thought the first house was) but God has another plan! You'd think we'd learn that lesson after a while! He gave us an even better home that we will use to Glorify Him! I'm so thankful for the lessons learned through this process, most importantly the lessons of faith and prayer! God definitely knows what's best for us - we just need to trust Him!
Here's a picture of our new home... Except that it does have grass now :)
Sunday, March 22: When we had our house For Sale by Owner, one particular guy was interested but never did follow through. He emailed Mark out of the blue tonight and wanted to see the house. Mark passed along his number and the guy called within the hour. He came over at 7:30pm to look at our house and loved it. He said he would definitely be in touch. Meanwhile, Mark called our realtor (whom we just listed with a week ago Friday) and told him about the situation. He mentioned that another realtor had called him today and that her client came by our house this past Friday and was interested in the house and she said that an offer might be coming soon.
The next three days were a bidding war essentially. The guy that had looked Sunday evening came back twice and the realtor's client made an initial low offer. We countered that offer and told the fsbo guy that we had another offer on the table. He then made an initial offer and we went back to the realtor. Her client found out there was another offer and upped her offer to above listing price. The guy made a second offer but it wasn't near hers at all so we accepted the offer from the realtor and her client on Thursday the 26th. We were ecstatic! 19 days on the market and we sold for more than listing price!! Woohoo! It doesn't get any better than that.
We found out that she wanted to close on May 8 (she's moving from out of state and needs that date specifically) so on Friday the 27th, we immediately began searching for houses. We basically had a little over a month before we had to be out of our house so we were in a bit of a crunch. Most of the houses we were looking at had possession dates of 30 days so we basically had about a week to find something so that we could move from one house to the other. Talk about stress! We had been browsing online for months already so we had a couple of ideas on some houses that we liked. We had even gone to some open houses and we were able to weed out some that we thought were potential keepers, but weren't. We were out for about 4 hours on Friday and found one house that we sort of liked. The house that we really liked was unable to be seen so we had to wait until Sunday. Mark's note: As we were driving along, Eric, our realtor from Remax asked me if I was interested in a foreclosure. I said absolutely. We went by to see it. It was phenomenally large! It was well north of 3200 sq ft, 4 BR, 3 bath, colossal kitchen, the works. The neighborhood is one of the nicest neighborhoods in Champaign. The only issue was when they foreclosed on the owners, they turned the power off and it rained, and the sump pump obviously didn't keep water out of the huge finished basement. They hired a company to come in and clean it all out (cut the drywall out about 2 feet above the floor all the way around). But it rained again, and the water came back, so when we looked at it, it had about 3 inches of standing water. We seriously thought about this home (it needed a LOT of work and we were very concerned about mold and water coming back in the future, it seemed like a lot of water for not a lot of rain) but the price was right. It was $110,000 below what the owners purchased it for 2 years ago. 4 buyers looked at it that day right after us and it was sold that night. Addendum: about a week later I was talking with our friends who used to live next to this home, and he told me that there had been water issues there for years. Things happen for a reason...
Sunday the 29th : We went out looking again and we were able to see the house that we had liked online. We fell in love with it and put an offer in later that night. They came back with another number that night and we put out another number also. The next day, Monday the 30th, we couldn't settle on a price and were going back and forth between $5,000. It was not an issue of whether we could go up because we could, but Mark just didn't feel peace about it. He felt like the Lord was telling him not to go any higher. So, we didn't and we didn't get that house. Mark's note: The nice thing about that house was that it had a finished basement. It really didn't need any work, but the back yard was a little smaller than we were wanting. As Jennifer and I really prayed about this house, I believe the Lord was testing our faith. The Lord gave me a number for this house, and he told me to stick to it, for whatever reason. We walked away, and it was one of the hardest things I've done. To be honest, we thought when we walked away, the owners would realize what was going on, and they would lower the price. We were wrong. Ironically enough, we looked on line a week later, and they had lowered the price on the home $5,000. Things happen for a reason...
After being extremely bummed we went out again on Tuesday. Our realtor had some new houses to show us and we liked 2 of them, the second once especially. It was in the Sawgrass Subdivision - a newer subdivision - and was owned by the builder. We liked it but were a little skeptical about getting our hopes up as we had before. We slept on it that night and got up the next morning and took another look.
Our realtor was leaving on Wednesday afternoon for 5 days so if we wanted this house we needed to jump on it and not wait until he came back. We looked at it again on April 1st and put in the offer that afternoon. We got a call later saying the seller wasn't willing to go down that much, but as Mark and our realtor were talking he got a phone call from her. We prayed and waited for a call back. He called back and said that she had accepted our offer. Praise God! Mark's note: We did some fancy negotiations to get our asking price, which suited me just fine. I'm really only happy when I feel like I got a deal. I can't really expect her to do too much to the property before we move in because from start to finish, she ended up dropping the price $32,000.
April 3rd was the inspection on our current home. We were pretty nervous as we've heard these inspections can be deal breakers sometimes. We got word on the following Monday morning that the buyer of our house wasn't concerned with the little things listed on the inspection and wasn't going to have us fix anything! Praise God! We didn't have to fix anything!!! Mark's note: Actually, I've been fixing things for the past 4 years that we've owned our home. We've redone most of the kitchen, the whole bath, a new roof, new light fixtures, rewiring, a basement remodel, exterior window work, and we painted the entire home. We gave her a sweet deal on a nice home. We will miss this home as we've spent most of our married life here, and it's the only home Madalyn knows. There's lots of memories, but better things are to come.
Now we're just waiting. We have our inspection on our new home today, April 10th, and we close on both houses on May 8th! I've started packing boxes here and there and we're getting super excited to move into something bigger before the babies arrive.
Our new house is 2 years old with 4 bedrooms, 3 bath, with a full unfinished basement. The builder, whom we purchased it from, put in an I beam in the basement so there are no beams coming down randomly for support. This was unique to the other homes we've looked at. We are going to finish it off and put a 5th bedroom and a 4th bath down there. I'm excited to have a master bath with a jacuzzi, which we don't have now and HUGE walk in closets! It has a place for Mark's office which we will wall off with french doors and it has a nice big kitchen! The backyard backs up to a commons area, so it will give the kids a place to play as they get older. We have definitely been blessed.
This was probably one of the hardest times that we have gone through with all of the stress and worry but God definitely provided. It's funny that we humans think something is so perfect for us (like we thought the first house was) but God has another plan! You'd think we'd learn that lesson after a while! He gave us an even better home that we will use to Glorify Him! I'm so thankful for the lessons learned through this process, most importantly the lessons of faith and prayer! God definitely knows what's best for us - we just need to trust Him!
Here's a picture of our new home... Except that it does have grass now :)
Friday, April 10, 2009
A Complete Lifesaver
Lately, I have been perusing a few websites for moms of twins. I have come across numerous posts about maternity belts and how helpful they are. I have been having quite a bit of back pain lately and so I considered purchasing one to see how well it worked. A few days ago, I got on Ebay and checked them out. I found a great deal on one for $12 and no shipping. It's called the Ultimate Maternity Belt by Motherhood Maternity. It came in the mail yesterday and I could immediately tell a difference when I put it on. I wore it all day and my back never gave me any issues at all. It seriously is my new lifesaver!!! It's simply a piece of elastic that you can fit around your back and under the tummy. It basically supports the big ole belly that I have and it definitely does it's job. I even wore it to the gym yesterday and didn't feel like the babies were going to fall out when I was exercising! It's well worth my $12 that's for sure!!
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