Happy 2013

Well I told you that 2012 basically stunk, with the exception of our little baby Jameson.  2013 is starting off much better!  My friend Sarah was able to get moved into a new place since the fire, although, not their permanent place, it is a nice home for now.  We also have a wonderful new edition to our family, Kelley Bernadette Wittschen Lynch, was born to Billy (Tim's cousin) and Bern.  She was born on 1-3-13.  We are sooooo excited to welcome her to the family and are incredibly happy for Billy and Bern, who are going to be awesome parents!!!  We can't wait to meet her and are trying to get a weekend trip planned out to DC very soon!!!  I am missing all of our DC peeps anyways...good excuse to go see them!

So next week starts all of our appointments and therapies again, so Tim and I thought it would be a good time to look for a house...sarcasm.  We are so excited to be closer to family and are truly grateful to everyone for helping us get to this point, especially my parents for letting us stay with them for a bit.  But we are itching to get back into our own place.  Someday when we are rich, we will pay my parents and everyone else back who has helped us!  We actually found a place last week and put an offer in, but since it was in 2012, we were outbid and didn't get it.  Now that it's a new year, I'm sure we will find something and things will go smoothly!!

Looking for a house is a lot different when you have a child with a disability.  We are trying to think of all the things that will actually save us time and money in the long run, and keep our little bubbs safe!!  Are there a lot of stairs?  Can we put a ramp outside if needed?  Will his little modified stroller fit through the doorway?  Does it have a stand up shower(which would be easier than a tub)?  If its 2 story, does it have a room on the first floor to change into a bedroom?  Will it fit our huge dining room table? Yes....I know it has nothing to do with bubby, but we love our table that fit in our last house and I need to find a home for it!!!

This is one of the many things that has made us realize how expensive it is to have a disability.  You don't realize it until you have to experience it first hand.  And Patrick isn't even that old yet, nor is does he have a huge amount of health problems, so we have been fortunate!  But everything from wheelchairs, modified strollers, modified beds, modified toys, modified cars and homes.  The expense is something that is just unreal.  Thank goodness we have a great support system, but not everyone is as lucky as us!

I know in a year from now, I will be lugging him up and down stairs, as a very heavy 3 year old and he will just get bigger from there.  We are trying to stick to ranch style homes for now, but are looking at 2 story if it is perfect otherwise and we can add on if needed.  But it will probably be a ranch.  I feel like we are at an advantage because we know what his capabilities could be, before we buy a house, so we can plan.  I know that it will get expensive to put an addition on, so if we can try to find something that works for all of our needs without having to do that.....that would be fantastic!!!!  So we shall see.

We love to take Avery with us to look for houses, she likes to pretend she is on house hunters (Tim and I are too mature to do that...wink wink).  We like to see how many times we can use the term,"this is a great space.". We like to pretend to run into each other in the kitchen or complain about the color of the paint on the walls.  I actually enjoy looking at houses.  Although it would be a lot more fun if they were in a bigger price range!

Here's to happy house hunting!!

It was an exhausting holiday season!

Still loving my new switch toy!

This hat is stupid!

Hanging out with cousin Jason:)

I added a link on the side that you can add your email address to.  It's suppose to send you an email automatically when I post.  We shall see if it works!!!