Moving Downtown

Hello.

A while ago (okay, it's probably been a long while) , I told you that I would write a blog about us moving downtown. I haven't taken the time, I think because I knew this was going to be a long post.

So, keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all time. :)

To understand our move downtown , you have to understand where we have been.

When Kate and Grace were 6 weeks we packed up and moved to Chicago. It was a lot, but honestly it was all such a blur...

When we moved to Chicago, we didn't have an apartment lined up, so we lived in a hotel for about a week. The perk of living in a hotel with two itsy bitsy babies was the hotel staff felt bad for us and upgraded our room, the bad part was the rest of it.

That was a very stressful week for our family. We ended up finding a place, and it was almost too good to be true. It was in a "family friendly" Chicago neighborhood, it had a washer and dryer IN UNIT (this is a HUGE deal in Chicago) and a parking space included. Seriously, this was unheard of.

We were so revealed. Finally, we could stop living out of suitcases with two tiny babies.

Here is a photo from our days of living in a hotel :) 

Well, what people say is true. If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is. 

We found out that our apartment, was really out of the "family friendly" neighborhood by about a half a mile and instead smack dab in the middle of two gang territories. Awesome. 

It was a really challenging year for us. 

I had to make the choice daily that I would not live in fear, especially in my own home. 

We had a number of unfortunate events happen while we lived in that apartment. Some that I would rather just forget. 

We knew we needed to move. We so desired to stay in Chicago, but we really didn't know what that looked like after our first year back. I was pretty traumatized. 

We decided to look in a few different neighborhoods. 

We looked in Lincoln Park, Lincoln Square, Lakeview and many more. 

We just couldn't find a place that we really felt like we could call home. 

Every time we went downtown, Austin and I would both say that we wished we lived downtown. 

Not only would it give us a lot more time together, due to the fact Austin's commute would be about 1/4 of the time, but it would also give us security that we were so desperate for our first year back in Chicago. 

We really wanted time to find a since of normal. 

There had been so much change in our lives, and we so desperately needed normal.

We looked and looked downtown. Nothing was really fitting. 

Then, we found a place right in between Michigan Ave and the Lake. 

Again, we thought that it was just too good to be true. 

We were so hesitant. 

We decided to proceed with it and just be watching for red lights. 

We didn't see any.

And, it finally happened. We were able to move downtown.

Here is the little tiny sliver of the lake you can see from our window. 

When we moved downtown, we decided to sell our car. This was such nerve racking move for us. 

We had two one year olds at this time. What were we doing selling our car. 

I have to say, it was one of the best moves we made as a family. 

It simplified our lives in a way, you can only understand if you live in the city. 

We didn't have to worry about tickets, or being towed to the edge of hell (which happens to be on lower lower lower Wacker Drive in the city tow lot.) There was so much freedom in the simplicity of just walking for us.  

Our true desire in living in Chicago has always been not to just be tourists in the city, but residents who are concerned about our neighbors and the issues of the city. And, I think Austin and I have both come to a realization in our move, that it doesn't matter where in the city you live, there are people hurting and their is injustice taking place. People just need you to stop and ask how their day is going. 

One of my very favorite things about our building is the other people who live here. I would say over half of our building is about 75 and have lived in the building for most of their adult life. They have raised their families in this building. This building is a significant part of their life, and their is nothing that brings them as much joy as seeing Grace and Kate in the building. I have had many people tell me, seeing them is the highlight of their day. It reminds them of the time that they spent here as a young family. It is such a cool thing to bring the joy of that memory to the people in our building. 

You should see all the kisses that the girls blow and kisses that are blown back to them. 

They are basically the rock stars of the building. It's adorable, and they don't mind it one bit. 

We love our city, our neighborhood and our building. We are so thankful that we are able to live where we do and have the opportunity to engage with the people around us! 

Talking

Day Three.

When we found out we were having two girls Austin knew he would be in trouble. Three girls in the house would mean three times the clothes, three times the shoes, three times the emotions, pretty much three times everything. One thing that has already become apparent is that with twin girls is that there is three times the talking in the house. 

While Grace and Kate sure do look similar, they are VERY different people. Kate has always hit the verbal milestones before Grace, she was the first to smile, babble and laugh. Since Kate started "talking" there hasn't been much quite in our house (who are we kidding, there has never been much quite in our house since they were born.) While it took Grace a little longer to start "talking" she has sure made up for the time that Kate was "talking" and she wasn't.

One of my new favorite things is the fact that the girls will talk to each other. I don't know if they are really communicating with each other, but it sure is hysterical. I do know that Austin and I are in trouble because I'm pretty confident that they are talking about us in a language that we can't understand and I'm sure it's only going to get worse from here. Tonight, the girls and I were on our way to pick up Austin from Bible Study and they just talked and talked to each other for over ten minutes. Kate started babbling and the second she stopped, Grace started. They match tone and emotion when they have their conversations. They are so  funny. They are such a joy in my life. Just a glimpse into the little things in our lives. 

The Olympics of Medical Professionals

I have seen a lot of Doctors in my life due to my type 1 diabetes. But, I never really realized how medical professionals should be ranked until I had Kate and Grace.

Bronze Medal:

These are the medical professionals who know their stuff, but just want to get you in and out of their office. I have experienced a few bronze medal medical professionals but in my experience they are few and far between. They are more concerned about their pay check then they are about making sure you have your questions answered.

Silver Medal:

These are Medical professionals who are great. They listen to your concerns and don't look at you like you are an idiot and don't know what you are talking about. This would be your most common medical professional.

Gold Medal:

These are the star medical professionals and the point of all of this rambling that you have been so patient in reading. We have been blessed to have mainly type of individuals these during my pregnancy and this last month since the girls have been here. (Shout out to all of our NICU nurses... seriously, you guys are the best.)

One person in my mind who needs a gold medal is the girls pediatrician. We went to Dr. Powell's office based on the recommendation of the NICU team and they have been wonderful. After Kate was admitted to the hospital the Dr actually called me just to see how I was holding up and if there was anything they could do for us. Then yesterday after what we will call one of Kate's blueberry spells (she holds her breath and turns blue, it can be pretty traumatic) there was a knock on our door and the nurse walked in holding balloons and a teddy bear. The girls pediatrician sent it over just to let us know the office was still thinking about us. Gold medal Dr. Powell's office, Gold medal.

The Adventures Begin..

On March 2nd Austin and I (Sara) began one of the biggest adventures of our lives... we became parents to the two most beautiful girls in the word (we may be a little biased). Over the past month we have had a lot of struggles as well as a lot of wonderful moments. In the next months we will have a lot of big changes coming, and we want to share the good and bad moments with all of you no matter how near or far we are from you.

I had a challenging pregnancy to say the least. I think I probably solely funded my high risk doctors salary for the year with my co-pays (man, did this pregnancy make us thankful for health insurance!). But my pregnancy came to a culmination the last week of February. I was a hot mess to say the least. I was sleeping on the couch due to the fact I got stuck if I slept in our bed. If I would have been on fire, I wouldn't have been able to stop, drop and roll due to the fact that I had a speed bump for a belly. Through the latter part of my pregnancy I had developed pre-eclampsia. The last week of my pregnancy, my blood pressure shot up and began to wreak havoc on me. Once I was admitted to the hospital I went into preterm labor and shortly after we got to meet Grace Emery and Kate Sophia.

I was able to meet them briefly before they were whisked away to the NICU, where they spent the first 3 weeks of their lives. They spent time learning how to eat and remembering to breathe. Grace came home from the NICU on March 27th. We were so excited to have her home, but we missed Kate. It only took her two additional days to get to join us at home. Unfortunately, due to a bug and high fever Grace ended up being admitted to Children's Mercy hospital. The day she was discharged Kate was admitted for the same bug. Kate is still in the hospital due to the fact that since she is sick she keeps forgetting to breathe.

Austin and I have learned a lot about the difference between surviving and thriving in challenging circumstances over the last month. We have come to the realization that to thrive in hard times you have to just deal with what is in front of you at the moment and not get overwhelmed about everything else. We are called to be faithful with what God has set before us in that moment and not get overwhelmed with the 50 other things on our to do list.

We are so thankful for all the love and support we have received from all of those around us! Please continue to pray for our sweet girls as they are still growing and developing.