August Was Moving Month

It's been a while since I have put up a blog post. I also haven't been very active on Faith's Mom's Facebook page. That's because the month of August was dedicated to moving! 

About 4 years ago, Faith and I moved from the apartment she grew up in, to a different one in northeast Bismarck. The primary reason for the move was to have underground parking so that getting her loaded into the van by myself during our cold, snowy winters would be less of a challenge. We also needed to find a place in which the elevator didn't break down on a regular basis! 

One of our last sunsets at our old apartment 

That place served us well, but the drive to her day program, which is located across the river in Mandan was time consuming, not to mention, expensive. I drove about 45 miles a day and used up a tank of gas a week! 

Searching for a New Place 

Before our lease ended, I began praying about finding somewhere else to live. A condo would have been nice, but surprisingly not all of them had an elevator. (I didn't ever find one on the first floor.) A townhome would also have been amazing, but the ones with no steps were not accessible and too expensive. Older homes in the area were more affordable but not really an option as they also lacked accessibility. 

Faith during our last week at our old apartment 

For the past few years, I have been doing home health care with a client in an apartment building that was in the perfect location. When I left work and went to pick up Faith at her day program, I was amazed the drive was less than 10 minutes! 

I started to keep an eye on openings, and to my surprise a few 3-bedrooms had gone down drastically in price, so I called the property manager to look at them. My only hesitation was that they were on the 3rd and 4th floors, which makes it harder to get Faith downstairs in the event the elevator goes out. 

I asked the property manager if there happened to be any 3-berdrooms on the first floor that was available. She looked at me wide-eyed and said something had just opened up that day! And as an added bonus, it was the apartment right below my client and his wife, who have become close friends of mine and Faith's. 

Telling Faith the News 

After taking the apartment, the next thing was deciding when to tell Faith we were moving. I knew from past experience that telling her too soon had the potential for causing anxiety for days. But not telling her soon enough would not give her ample time to process the news. 

I finally told her at the beginning of August, about 3 weeks before we moved. All she said was that she didn't really want to move. To help prepare her, I took her to the new apartment to meet the property manager and maintenance guy (who were really great with her). We also went upstairs to visit our friends who lived in the building. 

Faith seeing the new apartment for the first time 

It was around that time that I slowly started packing up the apartment. I am glad I started early, because it took forever, even though I didn't think we had that much stuff! I tried to do most of it while Faith was at her day program. I also had to pace myself because I have been struggling with pain in my left upper arm and shoulder, for which I had started physical therapy. 

Moving Week 

The day we got the keys to our new apartment I took Faith with me. I wanted her to be involved as much as possible, which helped to alleviate her anxiety. After I dropped her off at her day program, I met with my group of helpers who got my boxes and smaller stuff moved. Of course, it had to be on the hottest day of the week but with all the wonderful help, it only took 2 hours! 

On Wednesday, the professional movers came and got all of my big furniture. I was a little stressed because I had thought they were coming around 11 but didn't arrive until 1:30. 

An impressive cloud on my way back to Bismarck for a load of stuff 

They were pretty quick though, and they got everything moved and put into place by the time Faith arrived after her day program. (It had worked out to have my respite care staff to pick her up so I could stay at the new apartment until the movers were done). 

By the time Faith got home, the movers were gone and her stuff was all set up so that she could do her normal routine. She had a dance to go to that evening, so her staff got her showered and ready to go while I ran a few errands. Another staff took her to the dance, where she had a lot of fun! 

Excited to go to the dance!

Saying Goodbye

The next day, after picking her up from her day program, I took her to our old apartment so that she could see that it was empty and give her a chance to say goodbye to our old place. 

We also said goodbye to our wonderful neighbors across the hall. On Thursdays, we would stop by their apartment for a brief visit and homemade cookies. It was a teary goodbye as they are elderly and grew quite fond of Faith. We also had other friends that lived just down the hall, but we attend the same church, so we will still see them on a regular basis!

(Below is a video of Faith helping me push a load of stuff to the elevator)

Getting Used to a New Place

Last weekend was our first weekend in our new place. It has underground parking as well, which is something I don't think I would ever go without. 

Unfortunately, we no longer have central air conditioning, but Faith is content with a portable air conditioner that the property managers installed at no cost to us! My room has an air conditioner in it, and so does the living room, so it's really not so bad. I am looking forward to cooler weather, though! 

Overall, Faith has done very well with the transition. Everything went so smoothly, except for one little hiccup. Faith was due to get all of her monthly supplies, and I called to change our address with each of the companies. 

On Wednesday, her feeding supplies came to this address, but not her food, which is typical because they usually ship separately. But on Friday I got a text from our former neighbor. She had sent a picture showing several boxes in front of our door. I knew immediately it was Faith's food. 

I was really annoyed, but thankfully I had respite care, so when she got here, I went to our old place and got the food. I had borrowed a wagon from our upstairs neighbor, so I was able to get it to the van in just two loads. 

Our new view

Besides that, everything with the move has been great! I really love living in this location where it's so easy to get Faith to her day program and also to Bismarck. I was surprised that it even took about the same amount of time to get to church!  

I feel like I will have some extra writing time and will hopefully save money on gas, not to mention less wear and tear on the van! But the best part is, Faith really seems to like it!