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! 

Pink and Purple

Day 5. 

I LOVE the colors pink and purple. Seriously, anyone who knows me would be able to tell you that pink is my all time favorite color. So much in fact, I almost peed my pants when I found out I was having TWO girls,  everything would be pink and purple. This is seen very clearly in their nursery. 

Our nursery in KC, it still looks almost identical

Gutter book shelf Austin made for the girls.

So, while pink and purple are on the top of my favorite color list, there is one place I don't want to see it, on my sweet girls arms and legs. When I first noticed this happen, I FREAKED out. It went away in about 15 minutes, but then about a week later it happened again. Luckily, we had our 4 month check up right after. I had snapped a few pictures of what happened and showed it to our pediatrician. She asked if she could show the pictures to a few other pediatricians in the practice, I thought shoot my girls are going to be famous for their pink and purple legs. When she came back she told us she had never seen anything like that ever before and none of the other pediatricians had either. Excellent. She then sent it to a few other specialists at Children's which eventually got us an appointment with the pediatric cardiologist. These are hard appointments to come by and we got in super fast, rock star status. All of this to say we had our appointment yesterday and we got the all clear. The doctor said what they had was rare, but it wasn't causing them any pain and that they should out grow it in the next year or so. Praise the Lord! He also said that they were incredibly pale children, they got that from their mother :) My sweet girls have had such a rough start at life that I couldn't stand it if they had to go through anything else. 

In other news, the girls are up to 13 pounds. Dang. I'm almost lifting 50 pounds if I carry them in their car seats at the same time. Don't be surprised if you see me in the Olympics in four years for weight lifting. 

Here are the pictures of their arms and legs, I promise they have been checked out and they are okay. 

     

Matthew 6:25-34 : We have needed this reminder :) 

²⁵  “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶  Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?^[a] 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹ yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹ Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. ³³ Butseek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

³⁴  “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

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. 

Kate and Grace Meet Annalise!

It's quite in our house right now (knock on wood) so I actually have time to blog :)

My bother got married last July. Not only did I get an amazing sister in law but I got a fabulous niece as well. This is blog is about how Annalise finally got to meet her cousins :)

When I first found out I was pregnant, Annalise told me that there were two babies in my belly. I said no way girl, but low and behold there were two babies in my belly. When I had my first ultrasound and found out that we were in fact expecting twins Vanessa (my sister in law) told Annalise and she simply replied with "I already knew". Seriously, she is the baby whisper. We told Annalise she could meet the babies after Christmas, not thinking much about it due to the fact that March was in fact after Christmas. As Christmas approached Annalise became more and more excited. Unfortunately, she thought she would get to meet the babies the day after Christmas. After the girls were born Annalise didn't get to meet the babies due to the fact they were in the NICU and they couldn't have visitors under 16.

With confidence we told Annalise she could meet the babies on Easter. Unfortunately, Kate was admitted at Children's Mercy and we were not able to get to introduce Annalise to her cousins.

Annalise was finally able to meet Kate and Grace on Tuesday. She was so excited to meet them. Before, she wanted to hold them she wanted to check out the car seats and rock and plays to make sure they were safe for the babies.

Annalise and Grace

Annalise and Kate

We are so blessed to have Vanessa and Annalise as part of our family and it was such a joy to see Annalise finally meet her cousins!