Cha, Cha, Cha, Changes

I cant even count how many times I've said in the last 2 months, "wow, things finally seem to be getting a little easier."  In Dec. we lost Isabelle's wonderful PT and OT and couldn't find replacements who were as good as they were.  Our insurance limited us to places we could go for therapy and no one had room for her in Feeding or Speech Therapy, so she wasn't receiving those at all.  But in Feb. she was accepted into long term care and after some trial and error we finally found all new therapists who were wonderful and the progress she made in the last 2 months has been amazing.  Plus, they all came to our home!  On top of all that, she qualified for respite care.  After taking forever to find someone, in March we got a respite worker named Sarah who started coming to  help out with Izzy.  It has been amazing! Finding someone I felt comfortable leaving Isabelle with was not an easy task. I was really worried about it at first and felt uncomfortable with the thought of having someone I didn't know helping with Isabelle.  But we called all the past families she'd worked with who only had amazing things to say about her and so she started. It's been wonderful.  Half of the time I don't even leave the house but just having an extra set of hands to help out has made my life so much easier.  She comes most afternoons from 3-6, while Isaac is working and we LOVE her!  

So, that being said, great changes have happened in the last 2 months which have made a huge impact on our family and made life start to feel a little easier.  Good things were finally happening.  And last week Isaac was offered a great new job!

. . . in Sierra Vista, Arizona.  Your probably wondering where in the world is Sierra Vista (join the club!)? It's 3 hours South East of Mesa, close to the border of Mexico.  All of those things that I just wrote about that were finally falling into place for us - gone.  Isaac is moving this weekend (he got the job and they asked him to move in 2 weeks) and we'll be following at the end of the month, while he looks for a house for us to rent.  I am stressing like crazy as I think about the next 3 weeks without him - 22 doctor appointments/tests for Isabelle, packing up the house and beginning the search for a house, all new doctors and therapists and respite workers for Isabelle.  Then, lots of 3 hours drives back up to Mesa to keep Isabelle's current specialist appointments (it takes between 3-4 months to get into a new specialist for the first time), as well as beginning the 1 hour 15 min. drives to Tuscon, where all of her new specialists will be.  Sierra Vista is too small to have specialists available.  That is probably one of my big concerns, I've loved living in a city and having so much available within a few minutes of driving. I've loved it even more since all of Isabelle's health issues began and there were so many amazing doctors, therapists and programs available to her.  

I actually have no idea what Sierra Vista will be like - this happened so fast we didn't even have time to go check out the town.  According to the website, the top thing that they advertise is the fact that they are the hummingbird capital of the world.  So I'm envisioning a lot of retirees, with binoculars around their necks, staring at the birds.  Now I'm not trying to sound bitter, I'm sure I'll eventually learn to love it, but for the last 6 years we've hoped an opportunity would happen to move us to the Northwest.  Now we're moving south east, to a town where the most exciting thing that they have to say about themselves is that their the hummingbird capitol of the world.  I'm worried, for many reasons, I'm worried.  But it's a great opportunity for Isaac, so we're going and praying that it will all work out.  

Until then, I'll be honest, I'm crying a lot thinking about Mesa and the things I will miss here.  But here's what I'm taking with me:

1. A kid so cool he wears sunglasses even in the bath tub

B. My signing genius.  We know speech will be delayed so we've been trying to learn and teach signs to her so she has a way to communicate.  Here she is signing 'more' for more food.

And here's what were hoping for:

 I'm hoping that we will finally be able to get a house with a yard! We are dreaming big and hoping that in S.V. Eli will have a yard to run around in and let some of that energy loose. 

And were hoping Baby Girl, who spends a good part of  her day like this (see picture below), will not have a big lag in her services and that she'll continue progressing the way she has and will start to crawl within the month (yes, I've set a date.  Probably shouldn't.  But she is so close and I'm praying, praying, praying that it will happen soon). 

And some good things about Sierra Vista (in case your thinking it's all bad) - it's only 90 degree average in the summer, so we'll be escaping Mesa right as the 100-120 degree weather is hitting.  Also, lots of bike trails and Isaac swears he is going to become a biking machine and start biking everywhere.