Thursday, July 31, 2008

Wheels of Justice

We received the first letter from our lawyer for signing today. He will be hand delivering it to our landlord today. We will no longer be in charge of this property come Aug 7th! I'm beyond excited! Now for the fun part to see what our landlord says. That should be interesting. I will keep updated.

In other news we are packing away. I got alot done yesterday, and am hoping to get alot more done today as well. We have people lined up to help us move Friday evening, Saturday late morning thru saturday night, all day sunday and then all day tuesday. We should have no problem getting it all out!

Brian and I are on edge, and fighting quite a bit. He informed me yesterday that he is the project manager and it's his job to manage and my job to do the work. He questioned how I had spent my time, and that I had taken a break from packing 2 days ago and watched a 1 hour tv show. He has been home for 4 hours by himself and has played on the computer. Also I did dishes and laundry, instead of packing. Priorities he said. HMMMM. As most of you can imagine, knowing me, I absolutely lost it. He has yet to pack ONE box out of probably 80 boxes packed. He claims that he sees that what he did/said were wrong and that he will help out. We shall see. I know that nerves are high and stress is immense but still.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Moving Date change

We are able to take possession of our apartment on Saturday. We just found out. So that gets it a few days earlier than expected and allows us to start moving in earlier! we are super happy about that!

BEFORE, IN, AFTER, DROWNING IN....

I keep looking at the title of my blog. Life AFTER transition. During the move to iowa it said IN..then once we were all moved and living here I thought it was safe to change it to AFTER. apparently it should have been BEFORE, then IN and now it should be DROWNING IN. I can't help but laugh when I think about it.

We are still packing and hauling things over to the new garage. It is never ending. Right now she is hoping to have the apartment ready on the 4th. We are hoping that they get it ready on the 2nd or 3rd so we can have the weekend to move.
That's really about all to report.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Moving Sucks

I hate moving. i really hate moving. we have lived in 5 places since august of last year with this whole dang move from kansas to iowa.
our neighbor came over with this truck and trailer yesterday and we hauled 2 loads out to the new apartment garages. We are going to get some more stuff hauled out today.
Last night we went over to a friends house and they took our kids for 2 hours to the park with their kids so we could get some errands run! It was definately nice! We even got Jace's birthday shopping done!
Today we are hoping to get stuff sorted out into keep in apt, store in garage, and get rid of. We bought 10 rubbermaid tubs at walmart to start filling with store in garage stuff. I'm sure it won't be enough, but at least it's a starting point.
We aren't using any boxes for storage, all rubbermaids. We lost all the stuff in the boxes during the flood, and the stuff in the rubbermaids was ok. As we were getting things out of our storage the boxes were all covered in mold and falling apart. Good enough reason for me to spend the money on rubbermaid from now on.
Sorry that we aren't keeping up with phone calls and emails and such. We are just exhausted. Bri and I were talking last night and we think this is probably the most physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausting thing we've ever been through. The mold and mildew and such probably doesn't help either. The younger 2 are struggling the most from it with sinus issues and cough. The rest of us have scratchy throats, headaches, fatigue, and Bri has a slight shortness of breathe when he's in there. Basically we are exhausted and attitudes kinda suck to be perfectly honest! :)
More updates soon.
love to all, and again HUGE THANK YOU'S to everyone for all the support!

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Fun Day yesterday (all in all)

Yesterday was a bit of a relax day. Yesterday morning the kids and I met up with 2 other families at a place called Playstation. Picture McD's play area but in a 3 story 20,000 sq ft bldg. The kids played there for about 2 hours, then we went to McD's for lunch. The lawyer met us for lunch and we went over all the paperwork and officially signed everything. He will send the demand letter on Monday and we wait and see what our landlords do. If we get no response or not the response we want then we take it to court. I'm hoping to be able to skip that part, but I'm willing to go the distance and refuse to back down. After that we came home for naps. Last night was Family Free Night at Coralridge mall so we headed out there for the evening. They have a big old carousel, and a clown, and the children's museum is free, kids eat free, and a large indoor play area. The kids had a great time running around and playing. We stayed way later than we probably should have and didn't get home and get the kids to bed until 9:45. Ari had a meltdown as we were leaving the mall but fell asleep in the van before we'd even left the parking lot! :) The kids are all still asleep this morning so far, which for them is sleeping in! :)
We've listed alot of things on craigslist, that we simply won't have room for in our new apartment. We have 6 people coming over so far today to look at all the different things. hopefully we will get it sold fast.
our neighbor is bringing over his truck and trailer today and we are going to start hauling stuff over to the apartment garage. Our apartment won't be available to move into until the 5th, but she was able to give us our garage so atleast we could get started.
I lost my cell phone. I think that I left it at the bank yesterday. I will have to call the bank this morning once they open! But in the meantime if you need us you can call Brian's cell phone number or our home number!

Friday, July 25, 2008

Our Kids



This is a picture of our kids last night watching TV in the dry room. This is pretty much where they live. Can't you see the look of pure excitement on their faces? :)

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Thank you's and news

First I want to start with thank you's! Over this last week we have received a moneygram, invitations for meals, emails of encouragement, emails with housing ideas, invites to get out and enjoy summer a bit, daily phone calls to make sure we are okay, long phone sessions of sorting things out (and listening to me freak out and fret), offers of free toys to replace all the flooded ones, help getting furniture to replace what was lost, a law firm willing to take on our case for a third of the cost, and in general lots of love and support! I won't list any names, but you know who you all are and we just want to say THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! I odn't think we would be making it right now if it wasn't for all of you. This has been one of the hardest things I think we have been through, and to be so far away from family and such has been tough.

Next the news. Like I said above we were referred by a friend to a lawyers office and they have agreed to help us for a third of the fee. We will be meeting with him to get all the papers to him and he will be taking over all the fighting with our landlords. I'm so greatful for this because i'm just done fighting with them.

We have found a place to live. not ideal but clean and safe. We will be moving to a 3 bedroom apt, 2 baths, 2 garages. It has a playground, pool, fitness center, etc on site. The rent is actually a bit cheaper, and it's free trash and cable. It's even closer to bri's work than we are now (8min drive compared to a 17 min drive.) it's in the BEST school district around. This is the school district that we were wanting to get into from the beginning. The bad news is we have to get all of Ben's paperwork done and redo IEP's again. This isn't ideal but we have no choice. We are going through all of our things figuring out what to sell, what to give away, what to store and what to keep, oh and what all is just straight up ruined from the water and needs pitched.

The smell in our home is horrible. Ben and Ari are both having a bit of sinus troubles and a light cough. Bri and I have had headaches. Doc said it's from the mold and mildew.

That's about all I have to report right now. Life is hectic and we are running in circles trying to figure out what to do next. My bank account is going to be calling the shots soon, which means some things are going to come to a screeching halt! :) I'm sure you all know how that goes! I will update more as i know more!

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

OMG

%&(@#&%?@#@ that's all I have to say. UGGGGGGGGH I can't scream this freaking loud.

Click Here

landlord, FEMA, housing, sanity

It's been a long few days. Sorry for the slow updating. Our landlord has been out once. He came with a "specialist" who was going to let us know if the walls were wet. DUH! So guess what, he said it was wet. They now have the fans pointed at the ceiling and want us to run them like that for 48 hours. HMMM. They finished the roof, sorta. It's a VERY bad roof job and there are already lose shingles and such. We called an attorney and they advised that we contact FEMA, so we did that and they came out and inspected yesterday. It will be 7-10 days they said before we get an answer back from them. In the mean time we are running in circles trying to find somewhere to live. We are having no luck finding rentals, as all of them are either to small, to expensive, or what not. After the flooding rentals have become few and far between. We have looked at a few houses for sale and are in the process of seeing what we can do there. Not really holding my breathe on any front right now.
The kids are going insane. They are not enjoying being stuck in 1 place in the house. They are bored, and rightly so. Ben doesn't have school today so I think we will go into town and do something...not sure what yet.
I'm ok..tired and sore. The cyst on my stomach is still infected and still really sore. I recheck at the doc tomorrow.
We are just trying to figure out how to get all of this. we are struggling...i'm just at the end of my sanity and bri is as well. The kids are even fast approaching! :) i will update more as i hear more.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

insanity

it's a mess.
after fighting with our landlord they finally got someone out to replace the roof. yesterday afternoon the roof people were drinking and apparently didn't cover the roof properly. We went out and shopping and had been home 5 minutes when a HUGE storm came. (at this point we didn't know that the roof wasn't properly covered) I was putting groceries away and heard rain loudly. sounded like the door was left open. i went to the living room and it was pouring rain, IN our house. it was pouring down the walls, in all the light fixtures, the fireplace, the doors, and just randomly all over the ceiling. I screamed for brian and the kids and we started moving stuff out as fast as we could. Mind you this is an 800 square foot living room. it's our living room, a TV room, the kids play room, and my craft storage area for all of the kids pictures and projects. oh and all my pretties are in there. I run to the neighbors and he comes over with tons of buckets. we are constantly checking the rest of the house. next thing we know it starts coming in our garage and storage room. all of our holiday and storage was soaked before we even knew what was happening. we call landlord and he comes with maintenance man. we find out that the already rotting out attic from the flood and such is filling with water. they go on the roof and cover it with plastic. it's to late. the storage ceiling starts cracking open. the living room ceiling is bulging and you can see all of the beams. the smell is horrible. water was pouring in the wall between the living room and the kitchen. the smell is horrible. the electrical got shorted out, so we don't have lights up there or power outlets. we have no idea what we are going to do.
that's all the info i have for the moment. we are in a state of shock right now and are struggling to figure out what to do next. i just can't believe this is happening. i can't deal with all of this and so many things happening at once. when do we get a freaking break?

Saturday, July 19, 2008

PLEASE PRAY

they came to fix our roof 2 days ago. didn't get it finished correctly.
our home is flooding. it is coming from everywhere. we are moving things as quick as we can. afraid attic is going to cave in. we have people here helping.
please pray
i have my cell 316-208-3251

Friday, July 18, 2008

Progress....maybe...

I went to the doctor this morning. He put me on a strong dose of antibiotics 3 times a day and I check back in with him on Wednesday unless it gets any worse. I'm not running a fever yet but definately run down and really sore. He will be in the office tomorrow and wants me to call and check in with him then.

This morning a whole crew of people arrived at our house. The took down 1 tree, started taking down another, took down part of the roof and began putting on the new roof. They began digging out part of the drainage dish and outlined everything that they will be doing with us. 3 trees coming down, the drainage culvert dug out, drainage tiles and all that fixed, the back wall repaired, an entirely new roof, the storage shed and dog run taken down, all the satellite dishes removed, our stove fixed, and our AC has finally been repaired. So we are VERY happy to see these things getting fixed. Oh and when the landlord came over for the meeting they took up the carpet and took out the rotted and molded wood and caulked the whole so more rain can't come in. We discussed with him that we love the house and would have considered buying if it wasn't for the issues. He said this is something that we can work out as the repairs are done. We can only hope that he continues to hold up on this. We didn't sign or agree to anything so all is safe there. We will wait and see what his workers actually complete over this next week.

Lastly we heard about Jace's GI doc. Our family doc agrees that we need to move on to a new doctor...so we are going to go ahead and go to the University of Iowa Hospitals to a Pediatric GI Surgeon. I'm excited and nervous to be finally getting into the doctor that we have been hoping for for years! This is a GREAT facility with amazing doctors and cutting edge treatments and programs! Jace's first appointment is on the 7th of August, 1 day after he turns 5!!!!

That's all for now. Dinner is cooking and I'm sore and tired. More later....

Lets Talk

Brian spoke to our landlords yesterday.
Our stove lit on fire and wouldn't work. After some work we have gotten it to sorta work.
It rained yesterday and the water AGAIN was coming into the living room. It's supposed to rain for the next 2 days.
Our AC is all goofed up still.
The landlords said that they want to "sit down with us and work this out."
No clue what that means but Brian agreed. They are coming over today at 3:30. So we shall see. I'm hoping we get this worked out but I'm definately not holding my breathe.

In other news I go to the doc late morning. My stomach is killing me and I only have 1 pair of shorts and 1 skirt that I can wear comfortably right now. So yeah, constant laundry.

Other than that not much else going on...not like that isn't enough! :)
I will update this evening.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

brief updates

Our landlord came over tuesday and took a piece of siding off the back of the house. He is leaving it off to let it dry. Someone is now supposedly going to be out Friday to fix the problem. I will believe it when I see it. We've heard that for months. Someone also came out to supposedly fix the AC. It isn't fixed. Go figure. Brian called the landlord to tell him it still isn't fixed and no response back from his voicemail. So now clue. We have been given some contact info for a local attorney that I will be calling today. I'm just so sick of dealing with all of this.

The kids are fairly bored. We haven't had much of a summer. Between the flood, the kids being sick, ben's school and therapy, Ari's therapy, the issues with the house and spending so much time on the phone over them, and everything else we haven't had much of a summer. Jace starts school on August 11. So yeah.

Brian's sister and her hubby moved to Iowa yesterday. They are storing all of their things in our garage until they move into their apt on Aug 4. They just left this morning for vacation. It will be nice having some family close by again!

Today is a lazy day. I have ANOTHER infection on my stomach and am feeling a bit run down and stuff. Ari has speech and physical therapy this morning, but other than that we are going to just lay low at home.

Monday, July 14, 2008

I give up

i'm so ready to give up. Everytime I turn around it's something else.

Friday the babysitters came over. It was my day to go into town and run some errands and have some time to myself. i get a call that emily has a headache and a bit of a fever. i say give her some tylenol and have her lay down. I get a call again later saying that her fever has gone up. I head home. Emily comes running in and says she has to tell me something. the babysitter cuts emily off and starts talking. Apparently one of the sitters was sick so she laid on my couch and watched TV. So Emily had to fill in for her and help the other sitter. She couldn't figure out how to get the stroller to work so she carried Ari and had Emily push Ben in the cheap umbrella stroller. They went on a walk. Emily started complaining that she was tired and her stomach was crampy and her head hurt. The other kids wanted to go to the park. So the sitter picked the park. Emily I guess laid on the ground there. They finally came home after over an hour. By the afternoon (i was home at this point) Emily had a 104.5 fever and was having strange nightmares and we could hardly wake her up. Turns out she was overheated and dehydrated. In the middle of all of this our air conditioner broke. The doctor called us constantly throughout the evening and all and we got her up every hour to force fluids and keep recking temp. Finally around 3am it started going down. I was so mad at the sitters and called their parents. The father of the girl who was sick just said how much did you pay her and nothing more. Needless to say we are going to find new sitters.

and Jace...poor Jace. He has been getting sick sometimes 6 times a day. The other night he got sick a little after midnight. It's been horrible. We've been cleaning up puke almost every single day.

To top all of this off our landlord is being an ass. He still hasn't fixed the water damaged wall. The back wall of the living room is completely wet and molded. The AC is broken and leaked all over the utility room. He refuses to fix anything. We have no clue what we are going to do and it's a mess.

Sorry to sound all bitchy and all but I'm exhausted. Between Emily being sick and the constant struggle with Jace and his stomach, and the issues with the house and all of that I'm exhausted. We are sleeping sometimes 5 to 6 hours a night and i'm just wiped out.

more later....

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Jace and his tummy

Life has been busy. We were in Wichita for the 4th and had a fun time. We went to the zoo, did fireworks, visited family, had a date night, ate out, went shopping, and spent time with friends. It was a wirlwind of a visit.
Jace got sick quite a bit while we were gone. Since we've been home he has been throwing up 3 plus times a day. It's been a mess. He went to his GI surgeon today and they are changing around his meds. He will check back in 1 week. If there is no improvement then they will be doing the endoscopy again. Not exciting, and not particularly looking forward to it. He's back on a super strict diet that is constantly changing as more and more things keep making him sick.
Other than that not much else going on.
Will update more as I know!

A few pictures from our trip

Emily and Jace at Wet and Wild at the Zoo

Benjamin and Ari at the zoo

Ari and Grandpa at the zoo

Emily with 2 sparklers

Jace seeing if his sparkler would light the grass on fire

Ben and his sparkler

Ari and a sparkler

Visiting with Brian's mom

Emily and Jace playing in the water

Ari and Poppy Being cute

Ben got sprayed with water

Monday, July 7, 2008

Home

Just wanted to jump on real fast and let everyone know that we are home. We are getting hit with some major storms at the moment.
I will update on our trip with pictures tomorrow!
it was great seeing everyone and getting to spend some time together!

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

quick hello

Sorry it's been so long since I blogged.
Things are hectic here. The older 2 have had VBS this week, Ben has had school, Ari has physical therapy, Brian has been working extra hours, etc..It's been busy.
Today Benjamin has speech therapy at school. i'm going to stay and watch and listen today, as I'm not sure if I like the new speech therapist.
We will be leaving town and heading for Wichita tomorrow at noon. I'm looking forward to the trip.
No time for more now but I will try to get a full blog up before we leave.