Hi loved ones! Honestly we kind of let this blog lapse because we kept hitting speed bump after speed bump…and sometimes it’s easier just to keep your head down.

For starters, Tilly is here (y’all know that). Birth and recovery went well for Amy. Shaved nearly 10 hours off the previous birth! Last post mentioned “the calm before the storm” and it certainly looks like it was.

Tilly is 5 months old. She is another colicky/reflux kid which is unfortunate but otherwise she is doing fantastic. Hailey is so sweet with Tilly it melts our hearts. You can tell Hailey is already Tilly’s favorite person (yes, even more than the person with the food). She lights up whenever Hailey is nearby. It’s fun to see her personality develop.

Hailey started PreK a couple of months ago and LOVES “Miss Betty”. It’s located in Rohnert Park so Amy has been making the trek with both girls back and forth between there and the apartment in North Santa Rosa two days a week. We look forward to her turning 3 next month.

Dodger has been aging rapidly – he has had a couple of seizures in the last month or so and is clearly losing his hearing and sight quickly.

Kida is…Kida.

Onto the big news…

WE HAVE THE GREEN LIGHT TO MOVE BACK INTO OUR HOME! Finally!!!! The repairs themselves were extensive. Lots of hiccups along the way but we fully acknowledge that ServPro has been “our company” since the beginning. State Farm is still messing up our claim…if you have them, leave them NOW. But back to the good news…

Starting on Tuesday, ServPro will be moving our salvageable items back into our home. The current race is to clean all the construction residue before that happens.

This is going to be a slow process. We moved so many times in a short period that we are currently unorganized. We want to make sure everything is where we want it. Events like this also makes you realize what is truly “needed” in life…so I’m sure there will be some purging, as well. We hope to be fully moved out of the apartment and back into our home permanently by the end of May.

The Martinelli clan would like to thank all those who have held our hands through this ordeal. Whether it was an occasional meal, a listening ear, a random check in…we appreciated it all.

This will conclude the blog. We’ve got some moving to do!

Lots of love – Kenny, Amy, Hailey and Tilly

Hey loved ones,

Baby Bingo is still in. 38 weeks along. We are ready, Amy is VERY ready. The last two days have lessened in her contractions greatly – calm before the storm?

Roofers showed up at our home today to start repairs – surprise! We will be dropping by this afternoon to see it with our own eyes…thank you Whitney for the update!

A potty trained kid is amazing. We will work on sleep potty training down the road.

Halloween was fantastic. Hailey went as Minnie Mouse and really got into the spirit of it all. We ended up trick or treating near a neighborhood park – our apartment complex was too quiet. But we enjoyed Hailey’s last “only kid” holiday very much.

Love you all and hope you’re all well!

Hey loved ones,

We’d been told by multiple people that they weren’t really checking the blog anymore (still appreciated that people were checking in via text, though!) so we kind of let it lapse.

A fair amount has happened since the last post.

We ended up having to move apartments within the same complex due to a bacterial growth in our dryer vent which was causing our apartment and clothes to stink and giving us all headaches. New apartment is MUCH better. That ended up being 4 moves in a 2 month span.

Kenny had his big audit in August, which he passed 😊.

In August, Amy’s Grandma Patty had a traumatic fall from her bed in the middle of the night that resulted in a neck fracture. From there, she quickly declined: got multiple infections which doctors couldn’t figure the source or reason. She was placed on hospice. Amy got to go say her goodbyes before “GG” passed away on August 28th.

That night (prior to knowing about her grandma’s passing), Amy started having contractions at 29 weeks pregnant. In L&D they gave her an injection to slow down the contractions, and was discharged with an oral med to take if she had more contractions at home.

Amy has had contractions every night since (but refused to take the med because she is an awful patient and was afraid of side affects that may make her unable to care for Hailey during the day).

This last Monday the apartment complex set off the fire alarms for testing without warning. Amy was home alone with Hailey and dogs and evacuated quickly. She had already been experiencing abnormal pelvic pain that last week but this event “sent her over”. Luckily she had an OB appointment later that afternoon to discuss pain.

At the appointment, with Kenny present, the OB insisted Amy go to L&D again due to pelvic pain, non stop contractions, and the findings in a cervix check (60% effaced and 1cm dilated at 35w5d).

After being discharged from L&D, she has been placed on modified bed rest. If she has contractions she HAS to take the meds, which lowers her blood pressure and knocks her out. Discharge orders were “try to keep the baby in you for another week”. Luckily Kenny is able to work from home to help assist with an active toddler. “Bingo” is healthy.

Hailey started potty training about a week and a half ago. She’s doing great, so far. Just working on pushing down those pants a little faster and more communication skills of “I have to go!”.

There aren’t many updates on the house. No repairs have been started. The HOA officially missed the window (October 15th) to have it completed this year. It will be next spring before it will be an option. Where it stands: the HOA stated in an email last week they hired a contractor to start work on our roof but the insurance and residents affected have not been given details. We are calling malarkey until we see proof.

We have already set up for Christmas in our apartment since we know we will be a little preoccupied soon. Hailey has stated that being Mary Poppins again for Halloween “will not do” and has requested to be Minnie Mouse. It will be interesting to see if Halloween is truly Hailey’s last holiday as an only child or if Bingo will be in the world!

As folks have been updated of Amy’s modified bed rest and pregnancy happenings, the main question (which we are SO appreciative of!) is: how can we help? Truth is, we have what we absolutely need for right now. If Bingo comes tomorrow, she has a safe space to sleep, clothes, blankets, swaddles, etc. There are still a few items left on the baby registry but nothing that needs to be here the moment she comes home.

We appreciate all the love and support given this year. It’s certainly been a tough one.

Love you all,

Kenny, Amy, Hailey and Bingo

Hey loved ones.

Sorry, y’all. It’s been a whirlwind.

First of all – we are all well. We are about as settled as we can be in our North Santa Rosa (basically Windsor) apartment before we have to get the place ready for a newborn.

To catch you up: our house is in the exact same state as it was in the previous post. Absolutely infuriating. We had a claims agent from State Farm named Bo. Bo needs to reconsider his career. He made what we’ve been able to accomplish an absolute struggle (basically Kenny did his job besides cut checks and Bo didn’t like that we were proactive)…I.e. he almost made us lose our apartment. Anyways, that jerk-off is gone. Another agent (adjuster), who has actually seen our house, is now taking over our case and trying to fill in all the holes that Bo created. So hopefully we will be back on track.

Last Friday the head of our HOA notified us that they would not be paying for roof repairs. We pay multiple hundreds of dollars in HOA dues for this very thing. Protection, poor piss landscaping and once a year gutter maintenance that is always too late in the fire season. So our insurance is gonna have to deal with that, because this “nose goes” game is absurd. What’s sad is that this individual lives in the community. She knows us. She’s seen Amy and Hailey outside every day.

All we can say is: Karma.

The roof needs to be repaired first before the amazing crew at ServPro can work on the interior. Fingers crossed it’s done before winter!

A few people have asked, so I’ll address it here. Hailey doesn’t fully understand what’s going on. We are calling our apartment “home” while calling the previous home “the house”. We still go back to “the house” to get some of our cherry tomatoes from our garden, for example. She’s one tough cookie. She’s seen the inside of our gutted home and exclaims “woah” every time she sees it. But no major meltdowns. We are working hard to make sure our current home is fun.

We have a pool, wild blackberry bushes (which we go and pull from daily – yum!), visit the “purple dinosaur” at the little park in our complex, watch the hummingbirds that come to our feeder and read on our balcony every day.

We’ve also been asked if we will return to the house when it is complete. Honestly? We aren’t sure. The way the HOA has handled this situation with the insane fees that it comes with for little to no return doesn’t instill any confidence. They have checked on us once to make sure we are okay. We are still paying those dues. Also, psychologically, how do you go back to trusting a home after such an event…even though it was all started from the outside? But let’s be real: we don’t know when it’ll be complete and what the state of the housing market will be when that time comes. We may not have the choice.

We sure miss our neighbors, though. All 3 girls in the driveway was such a blessing.

As for the 2nd little lady on the way – she’s 23 weeks developed and doing extremely well. She’s much more active than Hailey was. Thankful that this pregnancy, at least, is going smoothly.

Our apartment is great for the most part. We have some foul odor coming from our utility room/vent system, which our apartment maintenance crew is trying to figure out. Just hoping we don’t have to do what the plumber has suggested: tearing down a wall to see if there is some leakage in our draining system for the washer. *sigh* We are well taken care of by the staff and they’ve acknowledged that this is a big deal that needs to be resolved – so it is nice having someone fight for us.

That is about it for now. Thanks again to all those who check in with us. We love you. We are so grateful for our support system!

Much love – Kenny, Amy, Hailey and baby Bingo

Hey loved ones.

Well, we are ALMOST back. We just realized we haven’t posted in almost 2 weeks. Many apologies.

There have been extreme highs and extreme lows since the last post.

Due to an opportunity we couldn’t pass up – we have signed a lease with an apartment complex that is in Northern Santa Rosa. We move in in two days.

During major events like a fire, State Farm hooks you up with an organization acronym “ALE” to help find housing for those who have lost their homes or been displaced. They were suggesting places like hotels that cost nearly $275-400 per night. If we took that offer we would run out of insurance allowance for rent in less than 6 months. Not gonna work with a baby due in 20 weeks. So Kenny rolled up his sleeves and found the place for us that will allow us to stay for a full year if needed. It’s hard to work with outside companies or individuals who don’t understand the housing and rental situation in CA or Sonoma County when they live in Illinois…

Insurance has been the worst. Our claims agent and our actual SF agent have been more of a headache or hindrance than good. Any steps made to fix the house have not been with their assistance and we WILL be finding new representation after this claim is closed. And the HOA is crickets – haven’t heard from them in weeks. We will remember that.

A few days ago Kenny got rear ended on highway 37 – hit and run. He is okay. There is minimal damage done to our smaller car. But it happened less than an hour after we found out we got the last apartment in the complex. Just can’t seem to catch a break or at least have a longer stint of good luck. But the guy was caught, so that’s good.

A week ago we took one last trip to the Sacramento Zoo and got to see Amy’s friend Sarah and her two boys. It had been 2.5 years since Amy and Sarah saw each other last. Too long! Funny how some friendships you can just pick right up where you left off…

We also got to celebrate Uncle Alex’s birthday in Pacifica last weekend. A new park for Hailey and some familiar faces really did our heart good.

Today we got to see “Baby Bingo” for the 20 week anatomy scan. She’s incredibly active to the point of making it difficult for the ultrasonographer to get the shots she needed. We are definitely doing to have our hands full with this one haha.

We look forward to being back in the area and having our own space again. Hailey enjoyed her mini summer with Grandma, and she loved having time with Auntie Mandy, Uncle Scott and their two boys. Having a back up home with slip n slides, dog figurines, a cute baby and snow cones is the perfect Auntie/Uncle home to go visit.

A HUGE THANK YOU to the Lord family for taking care of the dogs while we traveled between counties. We are so lucky to have friends that love our dogs as much as we do (or Dodger loving Scott more than us)…it’s helped tremendously reduce stress knowing they are taken care of.

And obviously a big thank you to Amy’s mom for having all of us under her roof for almost a month. Wouldn’t have been able to do it without her!

That is all for now. Below are some pics of the house in its current state – completely gutted.

Much love – Kenny, Amy and Hailey

Hey loved ones.

We finished out Kenny’s work week and came back to Woodland to really start getting our stuff in order. We are close to finishing the list of all the property we owned and it is mind blowing just how much stuff we collected over the years that actually hold some value. Our Walt Disney signatures, original Disneyland memorabilia, books, records, etc.

What is bonkers is we’ve seen some of the things they have chosen to discard – it makes it so hard to predict what was salvageable. I guess it’ll all just be a surprise next year.

We got confirmation that PG&E put in a temporary power outlet that will allow ServPro to finalize the cleaning process (air purifying) and get started on the repairs. Nothing to get the whole house covered, just enough for repairs.

This is huge. There are going to be so many hurdles that come our way but this is a big one. We can rest easy tonight knowing that everything on our end is complete for just a small window of time. We will enjoy our time at the farmer’s market tomorrow.

Hailey is still struggling a little from time to time. She’s asked a few more times if we can “go home?” It hasn’t gotten any easier on our part to hear that. But we do our best.

That’s it for now. Again, thank you to those who reach out and to those who continue to keep up on this page.

Much love, Kenny, Amy and Hailey

Hey loved ones.

Time goes by so quickly. Just realized we have not posted in a handful of days.

To catch y’all up:

Last Friday was an extremely rough evening. While we were having our nightly sit outside after Hailey’s put down, we heard sirens. Next thing we know 3 fire trucks and an ambulance turn onto our street and park in front of our driveway. Without speaking or making eye contact it was a wild dash up to the house to make sure Amy’s mom (who was home) and Hailey were OK. While we had a radio baby monitor on us, and would have heard if something was happening, all logic goes out the window when it comes to PTSD. We will save you from the aftermath emotions when we realized everyone (in our home) was ok. The emergency response was for the neighbor right next to us.

Saturday we decided to have a family day and go to the Sacramento Zoo. Not even 20 feet into driving and we get a notice on our car that we have low tire pressure. Pull over, yup…a nail. Great. So Kenny took that car into Les Schwab while Amy and Hailey went to the zoo. Now our car (SUV) is having more issues….details to follow. Hailey had an absolute blast at the zoo and we are so thankful we got a season pass. We will have no problems going at least two more times as a family to have made up the cost.

Now fast forward to this week: Yesterday we drove up in separate cars. Amy had a couple of appointments (braces staying on for a few more weeks – darn) while Kenny has a large audit coming up tomorrow. We are down to one car while Hyundai works on the SUV, which is now having headlight, brake light and air bag issues. Those aren’t important right?

Hailey has had a bit of a day today. A good friend warned us that Hailey may have days where there is just so much anger inside such a little body. Today is one of those days. Who can blame her. Maybe we will do some ice cream for special snack after her nap. Tomorrow we will do the children’s museum – it’s one of Hailey’s favorite things to do so hopefully it’ll seem more like “home” and being her temporary comfort.

Thank you to the Lord family for watching and loving Dodger and Kida. They are having a blast and it brings us great comfort knowing they’re so loved and being well cared for.

Now the house: according to Kenny, it is completely gutted. No possessions, all carpets ripped out, place is cleaned. ServPro (again – amazing company) notified us that the permits to start repairs has been stalled. Kenny called the City of Rohnert Park who was…kindly putting it: completely useless and uncaring. But now hopefully repairs will start soon now that we’ve been “the squeaky hinge”. I’m sorry, but if a house has been RED TAGGED, their permits should be expedited for approval.

We got a potential timeline from our adjuster as to when we could expect to either move back in or have the house ready for sale. His guess was sometime after Christmas or before Valentine’s Day. Hearing that has been one of the harder pills to swallow. We know we want to be back in the area by mid-October to be closer to our Dr’s for “Baby Bingo’s” delivery. Finding a furnished apartment that allows two dogs for such a small amount of time is no small feat. At this point we just take one step at a time. That will just have to be figured out on a later date.

Thank you to those who sent us texts saying “we haven’t seen a post in a few days – you okay?!”. Knowing you all care so much and genuinely are invested in how we are doing helps tremendously. Any and all love we receive is so needed…so just thank you. We are lucky to have you all.

Love, Kenny, Amy and Hailey

Hey loved ones.

ServPro at it again! They truly have been amazing to work with. We got an update today that all of our salvageable items are packed and moved away to an offsite location and that they’re going to start the cleaning process. To say they move quickly is an understatement. When we saw it yesterday all of our items were still out and our home looked like the quarantine scene from ET.

Insurance still needs to work with these companies to find a magic number for demo and repairs to start. But because of Kenny’s proactiveness and the efficiency of ServPro, we see forward movement which is relieving.

We will be in the area for three days early next week as Amy (hopefully) gets her braces brackets off and Kenny has an audit for work. We will peep in on the house then and maybe get some pics.

We are adjusting well at the summer home. Hailey has been such a trooper this whole experience. But we do look forward to the days she doesn’t wake up crying anymore.

Dodger and Kida are…Dodger and Kida. Doin’ their thing.

We will be looking into summer memberships for things like the zoo, children’s museum, etc. while we are here. We really want to take advantage of what this area has to offer and make it a fun time for Hailey.

Kenny and Amy are doing well. Happy to have good friends who have been far away near us again. We look forward to when things slow a little and we can take advantage of spending time with them, as well. Emotions come and go in waves…like finding out Kenny saved Amy’s Africa backpack was a little overwhelming in a good way. It really could have been so much worse.

That’s it for now. For those who are still following our progress and doing occasional check ins – we love and appreciate you all so much. Just a “thinking of you guys” text sometimes comes at just the right time that fuels our tank.

Much love – Kenny, Amy and Hailey

Hey loved ones.

It’s been one week since the event. This has felt like the fastest and slowest week of our lives.

Today ServPro is at our house starting the clean up process. Either State Farm as an agency or our actual agent sucks…because they have still yet to approve the whole house to get cleaned/moved. Maybe next time we look for an agent we will ask them if they’ve personally been through something like this so the empathy to get the ball rolling will be there. The ServPro team has been incredible, though.

Kenny made a trip and back yesterday to drop off some larger items to make our move tomorrow easier.

Hailey has been a trooper this entire week. She’s had her moments, but who hasn’t out of the three of us? Admittedly the hardest part is going back to the house to grab more items and seeing the excitement or sense of relief that comes over Hailey as she sees all her toys and books that we are going to have to leave behind. It’s so hard that we can’t explain fully what is going on in a way she will understand. We showed her her room last night and she said “oh NO! Big mess!” Yeah, kid, that’s an understatement.

We have been in the process of also listing every item we own. All the professionals are saying that while most of it wasn’t physically burned – there is smoke damage. To put a price on priceless items or heirlooms like Kenny’s grandparents wooden furniture that were handmade, baby blankets made for Hailey or a recliner chair handed down after a father figure of Amy’s passed away…it’s hard. You can’t. But we keep reminding ourselves that we all made it out safely and that this situation could have been SO much worse.

Folks in the area who have been through the big house fires in the past tell us it’ll get better – and we hold onto that.

Next goal is just moving in and getting settled at our “summer home”. Maybe find some swim lessons for Hailey locally there since we had to cancel the ones in Rohnert Park.

We plan to be in the RP area every week for Kenny’s work. Thank you again to all of our friends and family who have been so supportive. We keep telling ourselves “Just Keep Swimming”.

– Kenny, Amy, Hailey and the doggos

PS – below are some pics of the damage

6/3/2022

Hey loved ones.

Today was an accomplished day that helped both Kenny and Amy feel less “stuck”. While Amy and Hailey were driving a car full of items over to Amy’s mom’s place – Kenny was at the home watching as the roof was tarped for the rains tonight and the ServPro crew was reviewing the damage for report to insurance. The debris has been cleared away outside. The cleaning crew did a full inspection of the house and determined that there is soot even in the rooms that weren’t directly affected by fire.

PG&E also confirmed that gas is completely turned off, like they took the entire meter unit away.

A thank you to our friend, Scott, for helping Amy unload a full car today. Also another thank you to our neighbor friends Whitney and Brian for pizza dinner last night. Watching the girls play arcade games and eat probably what is possibly the best pizza in Sonoma County really helped us escape from reality. And lastly to Grandma Dawn who is going to house all of us for the foreseeable future.

Tomorrow’s goals are to reorganize clothing and items still with us, a blood panel for Amy’s pregnancy and to start making lists of items lost or damaged in the fire. We hope you all have a nice weekend and will check back in here soon.