For Sale, Fall Fun, and Fashion!

Our house is for sale. It has been on the market for almost three months now, and we have had exactly two people come look at it. We're in that spot (familiar to many) where our house is not worth what we paid for it, and maybe not even what we owe on it, and it's difficult to compete with the short-sales and foreclosures in our area. So I am really thinking it's not going to happen any time soon.

We are lucky in that we can easily afford to keep paying our mortgage, and we are pretty comfortable in our house. We like the location, neighborhood, and schools, and would probably not even consider selling at this point except that we really want to get into a ranch style home that will be more accessible for Eden. Our current home is a colonial and all of the bedrooms are upstairs. So, not only is Eden not able to get to her room on her own, but also ALL of the toys in the house are on the main level, and it's difficult to keep things picked up! I would love, love, love to be able to put the girls' toys away in their bedrooms and still have them able to get to them. There will also be an issue in the future, when Eden is bigger and heavier, with picking her up and carrying her up and down the stairs.

Another issue is school and friends. The girls are in kindergarten now, and I had kinda hoped to keep them in the same school for the majority of their schooling. John and I both went to the same elementary school, middle and high school for our school careers and we are still friends with a lot of the same people that we grew up with. Kids in the early grades tend to be very accepting of differences, and I think it will be nice for Holland and Eden to stay with the same kids as they grow up. This is another reason I want to make the move sooner rather than later.

I've looked at lots and lots of houses, mostly online. There have been a couple that I have really had my eye on that sold, so I am trying not to look much anymore. I don't want to get my heart set on anything seeing as how the chances of us getting out of this house are pretty slim.

In the meantime we are staying put, and enjoying some fall fun. We've done a trip to the apple orchard, and are enjoying our warm apple cider, cinnamon donuts, and pumpkin spice lattes (well, that one is just me). I've put up a few decorations and we have picked out the girls' Halloween costumes. They are going to be Pinkalicious and Fancy Nancy. Should be super cute! They get to dress up for a school party and parade this year (something their preschool did not do) which is sure to be loads of fun. We are still anxiously awaiting the leaves actually falling off of the trees so we can rake and jump in our leaf piles, but alas this has not yet happened. Holland really thought it would happen on the first day of fall and has expressed her disappointment regularly since!

In health related news, both girls have had two fairly mild colds since school started and recovered without incident. That means we have been one year hospital-free with Holland, and a year and a half with Eden!! Yay! I am hopeful that they have possibly outgrown the prematurity-related-crappy-lungs phase of their lives. Only time will tell.

We haven't outgrown the prematurity-related we-hate-food or the gain-some-weight-already phases, but we continue to plug along with some good days and some bad days. Holland is currently 42 inches tall, and about 32 pounds. Eden is 41 inches tall and hits 32 pounds on a good day (more consistently about 31.5). We are definitely not getting anywhere quickly these days.

The girls got new lenses in their glasses in August. Holland's prescription is very similar to in past (R -4.75, L -10.5, with astigmatism in both), but Eden's eyes got waaaaay worse:-( Her first pair of glasses (about a year ago) were only about a -2 in each eye and she had very little interest in wearing them, claiming she didn't need them and they hurt her nose. Around April of this year her new eye doc confirmed that she wasn't seeing much better with or without them (about 20/40) so said she didn't have to wear them if she didn't want to. At her 6 month appointment we find out that she is much more nearsighted than she was before (R -5.25, L -6.75, with astigmatism in both) and should definitely be wearing glasses. Since getting the new glasses she wears them every day without complaint and even asks for them in the morning. So, she clearly needs them.

Gosh, I don't know what else I might have left out. Holland's allergies have been horrible this year in the spring and early fall so we have been playing around with her allergy meds a little bit...not sure anything really helped. We tried taking E off of her Prevacid but that seemed to be a failed attempt and she is back on the 15mg solutab. Maybe we'll try again in a couple of months.

The girlies got their hair cut short...really short for Holland, at her request. She asked for it to be cut "like a boy in the back and a girl in the front" and that's what she got. It pained me a little bit at the time, but I am determined NOT to let my own hair issues rub off on my girls, so I let her do what she wanted and now think it looks super-cute (though it is already needing a touch-up).

I am toying with the idea of another 4-week Conductive Education session with Eden in February...we'll have to see if I can work that out.

And finally (I should probably wrap up since this is getting long), our 6th Annual Fashionable Growth Fashion Show is coming up on November 12th, and our family will be modeling again for the 6th time! The fashion show and silent auction are our major fundraising event of the year, to raise money for the Family Advisory Board and NICU families at St. Joe, where our girls were born and spent the first 110 days of their lives. We were so lucky that our girls were born at such a great place, and will be forever grateful to the NICU staff for the exceptional care that they provided our girls and our family. If you are interested in attending please let me know!