Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Synchroni City

Family photo in the POD. Kessler seemed worried that we were going to forget to pack her. She would crawl into the POD whenever given the chance.

In the last four weeks-
  • Pack Portland pad into a POD
  • Give two weeks notice and wrap everything up at work
  • Say goodbye to our friends in PDX
  • Research future places to live once we arrive in UT
  • Make the drive, in two days, with the remainder of our things, two cars, and the dog to UT (nice stop at Josh’s parents in Boise along the way)
  • Settle into Chris and Erika’s guest accommodations
  • Have family dinners and play with Finn
  • Find a house to buy
  • Buy it
  • Realize we need two four wheel drive cars to live in Summit Park
  • Sell the Matrix
  • Look for a new car
  • Meet our new doctor at St Marks
  • Set up a million appts (NST, ultra sounds, and weekly check-ins with the doc)- three in our first week
  • Chip- navigate hospital credentialing and Utah PA licensing
  • Four day breather in Driggs to sit in some silence and contemplate all the changes
Week 32- In front of our amazing accommodations with Chris, Erika, and Finn in SLC. We showed up to a fall extravaganza in Utah.

To do this week-
  • Chip- start work at IMC on the trauma team
  • Close on house
  • More doctors appts
  • Buy a 4WD car
  • Celebrate everything we have to be thankful for with friends and family (one of the very things we are MOST thankful for)
  • Snow blow the 3 feet of snow that fell at our house so that our POD can be delivered
  • Move into new house
  • Audrey- try to not help or stress too much- keep babies in so they can go on the list for at least next week…maybe even a few weeks out
Week 33- All of us feeling SO good about our choice to come back to the Wasatch all this place has to offer.

Wow- these lists actually look doable. I mean, they must be doable…we did and are doing them. However, it is amazing the number of details that didn’t make it onto the list, like the 26 (yes, he counted) phone calls it took to get our closing date secured yesterday due to complications, or the number of hours we spent talking about the different approach of our new doc and whether we were okay with it or not. Not to mention the emotional drain of saying goodbye to coworkers, clients, and friends, being 30+ weeks pregnant, and then being in and out of houses trying to find the right place, with some sciatic pain on my end and a twisted ankle on Chip’s to boot! But, we did it…. and we are feelin pretty good about it so far. We feel so fortunate, blessed, lucky, cared for, supported, and loved, which is what has made all of this possible. So, thank you to those of you who have been encouraging, helped us move our stuff, are praying for us, putting us up, making us dinner, and phoning us to let us know you are thinking about us and
helping us weigh through tough decisions. We could not have accomplished the tasks above on our own. We hope you all enjoy an excellent holiday this week. Happy Thanksgiving!

Kessler and her new roommate, Hudson.

“Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." -Christopher Robin to Pooh (A.A. Milne)











Monday, November 1, 2010

Can I get some more (cow) belly!

Our friend, Ben, took some fun photos of us on the river front- love the city in the background- Portland, we are going to miss you!


28 weeks- Here I pose with the twins in my belly and ALL their cousins on both sides of the family. We enjoyed a weekend of visiting in OH and a stellar baby shower put on by Chip's mom.

29 weeks- another visit to the fantasmagorical Dahlia forest at Brooke's parent's house. Man, what a send off. Lush moisture, we will miss you and all the beautiful things you make possible too!

30 weeks- belly is gettin pretty large at this point. I have gained as much weight as a typical full term singleton pregnancy at this point...and have about two months to go (hopefully). When people inquire about my due date and hear my answer, their encouraging smile turns to a look of concern. Hugh. Things are going to get interesting. ;)


I thought I would try to get one more entry in while I sit here in Portland. Less than 36 hours before we hop in the cars, leave our full POD and empty apartment, for our next adventure. We are moving back to Utah, this time Park City area, to rejoin our community and family there, hopefully with enough time before these babies show up to find a place to live, establish care with a new doctor, and get Chip started with his new job on a trauma team in Salt Lake. We have managed to pack the house, wrap up work (for me), say goodbye to friends here, and line up a bunch of stuff in Utah...in two weeks. There are about a million details that didn't make it on that list, but I have to say, I think we have been surprisingly successful in keeping the stress at bay throughout it all. Some serious team work (and when I say team work I mean I go to work and Chip does everything while I am gone) was in order to make this happen. Hopefully this bodes well for our twin parenting abilities. ...though I am not sure anything can really prepare us for that. At any rate- catch ya on the flip side...of a few borders east!