City Slickers to County Hillbillies

Wow. A lot has changed since my last post! ....

 For starters. We no longer live here:

We put our house up for sale mid October. Two weeks later we received a full price offer, with a closing date 30 days away. Man were we ecstatic! But I will tell you what. NEVER again do I want to sell a house. Especially while pregnant. UGH! That was the most stressful 30 days of my  life. Not too mention, perfect timing for our furnace to go out! I hope the new homeowner enjoys that expensive hunk of metal we installed. (plus a/c, stove, new electric panel, roof repairs, and closing cost! grr.) Luckily, we were able to get the buyer to come up on the price to make up for the expensive and unexpected repairs.

So now we live 40 minutes west, in the good ol' town of Wentzville. In the exact same house that I grew up in!!:

We have traded in the sounds of gun shots and barking dogs, for the peaceful sounds of the suburbs and a distant train. Don't get me wrong. I will miss the city.  A LOT. We had one hell of a good time in our old house. But we needed something bigger, and safer to raise children. So here we are.

Here are the things I am missing the most:
1. Our city friends- obvi! Charlie REALLY misses her school friends- Elyn and Abigail. The other day she packed a "suitcase" and said she was moving back to the city to see her friends :(
2. My short commute. 20 minutes has now become 40-60 minutes. Boo!
3. My very deep, very comfortable, steel bath tub. Oh how I miss thee.
4. The convenience of being extremely close to the: zoo, botanical gardens, science center, city museum, any/all sporting events, etc.
5. My dang chalk board door! Where am I going to put Chuck's "Honey Do" list now?

But on the other side I am enjoying:
1. My new master bath for my many nightly pee trips. No more wobbling my fat butt down narrow stairs several times a night.
2. No stairs while bringing in groceries. (can you tell I really despise stairs at the moment?!)
3. Being able to leave my house at night without the fear of being robbed.
4. No worries about the South Grand protesters and helicopters hovering above our house. 
5. Watching Charlie do the exact same things, in the exact same places, that I did growing up. For example, it was a bit sentimental watching her ride her bike in the neighbors driveway yesterday- the exact place I learned how to ride without training wheels!

One last thing I want to share. The first day we met with our realtor, she gave us homework: write a letter to the new homeowner. So here it is!

To the future homeowner of 2330 Arkansas:

This home has been our "baby" for the past 6 years. Lots of blood, sweat, and tears have gone into the house that it has become today. Seven years ago, my husband and I graduated college, got married, and began our house search. We knew we wanted to be near Tower Grove Park, but fresh out of school our budget was on the low end which limited our options.  Luck came our way, when we met the previous owner of the home- Josepha.  She was elderly and could no longer keep up with the home and needed to move to an assisted living facility.  After viewing the home with my husband, he became very nervous about the massive amounts of wallpaper, textured ceilings, blue 80's carpet, and colorful paint choices. I on the other hand become excited about the potential the home could offer- thank you HGTV!

Thirty days later, we closed on our home, helped Josepha move into her new home, and began our renovation. First, the blue carpet was pulled to reveal beautiful wood floors that just needed a little sanding and stain. A total of 7 different patterned wallpaper was carefully peeled off the walls. Inch-by-inch of the ceiling was scraped to remove the old texture. And for several years we have slowly rejuvenated our home, one room at a time.

For awhile, the two of us felt lonely.  Most of our friends lived in the County, while we choose City Life.  But since then our friends have also grown fond of our neighborhood, and the conveniences the City offers, and have since joined us.  For several years, we played kickball in Tower Grove Park, entertained in our back yard, walked to nearby bars/restaurants, and carpooled to sporting events. Go Cardinals!!

Four years ago, we welcomed a baby girl into our family.  And today we are expecting a baby boy to arrive early 2015.  With our growing family, we need to expand into a larger home.  We would love nothing more than to stay in our current home, but we have decided to move our family into the home that I grew up in and to continue to build on my past family memories and traditions.

We will greatly miss this home.  As recent graduates, expanding in our careers. As newly weds, continuing to build our love for one another. As first time home buyers, learning the basics of home renovation. As first time parents, watching our daughter take her first steps in this very living room. And now we hope that you will make as many memories here, as we have.

Cory & Chuck Dickens

Here are some flash back photos...

 And then the very lovely pictures from our realtor:

Farewell Arkansas house!!

It's a ....

(I was going to crop out the beginning, but Charlie is too funny with her "lets go"!) 

As you can see, Charlie is not happy with the news.... Chuck on the other hand, is thrilled.  And my intuition/motherly instinct was right!

And after all this fun news....

We get a stinkin' flat tire on a 100 degree day. Boo!! 

Big Sister!!

Charlie is going to be a big sister!!

Charlie is convinced its a girl. Most conversations go something like this:

Mom- "do you want a baby brother or sister?"

Charlie- "I want a sister!!"

Mom- "what should we name her?"

Charlie- "Hercules!!!"

Just the other day we were having this same convo at Panera. It continued from the above, to:

Mom- "what if its a boy?"

Charlie- "I dont want a brother!"

Mom- "but what if it is?"

Charlie- "I will be so PISSED! I will push him down"

That was the first time I have ever heard her use the p-i-s-s-e-d word, and also a first on the violent pushing. It was surprising because she used it like a PRO. Like she used it 100x before. And why is it so hard not to laugh when kids use naughty words?? Grandma Jo kept a straight face the entire time. She always says "if you just ignore it, they won't use it again".... Gma's are so smart. Makes me wonder if me and my siblings had potty mouths too?? Wouldn't surprise me. I bet Ben and Jes cussed like a sailors. But not me, I was the good child. ;)

I am not sure whose name choice is worse, Charlie's pick of Hercules Dickens, or Chuck's pick of Ca$h Money Dickens? And yes, it will be spelled with a dollar sign instead of an S. All I can picture is a baby with a grill... which then brings the Nelly song to mind. "Smile fo me daddy, what you lookin' at? Let me see ya grill, let you see my, what? Ya, ya grill ya, ya, ya grill"













August 25th is the date we find out the gender. I think I am more excited to see Charlie's reaction more than anything. I better have the video camera ready, because the reaction may be an AFV winner!

My gut feeling is boy, just because this pregnancy is totally different from my first.

For one, I was never sick with Charlie. Well, maybe once. I remember almost barfing my banana up in an Old Navy at 3am during Black Friday shopping. But that is about it, nothing actually came up. (the experience did scar me for life. Never again will I got BF shopping. preggo or not!) With this pregnancy, I have been sick morning, noon, and night. So sick that I have actually dropped 6lbs! I can't even think about swallowing a vitamin. Everything smells like sh!t, like literal poop. I can't sleep. Its hard staying awake at work and while driving in the car. And I am already making several pee trips at night.

One thing that has not changed is my platelet issue. As a matter of fact, I am in St Marys Infusion Center now getting my platelet fix (its the only time I have time to blog! what else would I do for 7 hours in this chair?).  For those that do not know the full story, its your lucky day!

I can actually thank Grandma Jo for discovering the issue. I was in my 8th month of pregnancy with Charlotte. We were walking around Botanical Gardens on Mothers Day when she asked me how I had got this huge bruise on my back. I had no idea what she was talking about, but it was a big one- like basketball size, and you would think there would be a pretty awesome story to go with a bruise that size- like saving a baby from a runaway train! So, I went to the doctor the next day (mom's orders!), it was right around closing time. They told me they would get back to me within the next couple of days with my blood work results- no biggie. I was not expecting a call at 7am the next morning from my doctors home line. She told me to VERY carefully make my way to the ER.  I was freaking out! I had no idea what was going on. Come to find out my platelets were at 4K!! Normal range is 150-200K.  So I was at a high risk of bleeding to death if I were to fall or get into any kind of accident.

So there I was stuck in the hospital for several days, with one of those house arrest bracelets that would sound if I tried getting up. They released me with an appointment to see a high risk doctor and a hematologist the following week. However the day of my appointments, Charlie decided she was ready to  come right then, an entire month early. THUNDER CATS A GO!  At that time, my platelets were only at 20K.... 30K short for an epidural. I will fast forward through all pain and screaming and just say that it was a very scary delivery, but everything thing and everyone one turned out fine- except my voice which took a couple of days to get back!

About 2 months after my delivery, I was still struggling to keep my platelets up and going crazy from massive amounts of steroids- ROID RAGE!!. So my hematologist recommended a splenectomy. By removing my spleen, he hoped that my antibodies could no longer attack my platelets.  And this worked for about 3 1/2 years. I had super platelets. Over 350K!! But then last fall I relapsed back down to 20K. The next option was a series of 4 infusions called Rituxan. I was told that this would be a gradual increase. And it was. I was just reaching 100K when we found out we were preggo. And then I dropped back down. boo!

So here I am now, getting platelets pumped into me. No clue how long this will last or how high my count will get, but I am trying to stay optimistic.... Shall we start taking bets on how many times I will be here until January?

On a positive note, I am so incredibly excited about being preggo with my sister- Jessica and my bestie- Sarah.  Charlie gets to be the ring leader of the rug-rats! :)

Oh! By the way. The above picture is from Charlie's 4th Birthday. Can you believe I have a 4 year old??

Yes, she had a Birthday. And no, I did not blog about it. Did I mention that I have been really tired and sick all time?  So suck it! :)

Prima Ballerina

 Meet our new Prima Ballerina!! 

Charlie started ballet lessons in January at COCA in UCity.  She goes every Sunday for an hour. Really it is just an organized chaos of small children. In fact, I bet her instructor hits the bottle pretty hard immediately following every class. I know I would. After several crazy sessions, she finally invested in an assistant. Smart move. Here is a sample of said chaos- in butterfly form:

 

(sorry for the poor quality. My phone stinks!)

The best part in my opinion, is the 2 way glass. There is nothing  more entertaining then seeing a child press their boogery face against the mirror and slide from one end to the other, pick their nose/butt/crotch, or make ridiculous faces, while thinking no one is watching.... Oh we see you crazy kid, including the inside of your nose and tonsils!! One of these days I am going to catch the act on video and win AFV.  Luckily my daughter is classy and only picks her butt while doing a pile'.

Watch this sneaky wedgie picker...

This is what my balance looks like when I am drunk. I am pretty sure Charlie is saying "I cant do it".

Solo moves.

And finally Twinkle Lil Star.

Several of the other ballet moms have commented that "Charlotte has such personality". And although I would probably say the same thing, some times I wonder if that is a compliment or a nice way of saying my daughter is crazy? hmmm. One other mom did make my day when she told me that Charlotte is the sweetest in the class. Her daughter was apparently very shy and did not want to participate, until Charlotte grabbed her hand and danced with her. Aww, that's my girl!

I had to take a break from uploading ballet videos to research some sports related activities for this summer. Need to make sure she is well balanced for Chuck. ;)

Stay tuned for Charlie's Flower Girl post. When I find the motivation. :/