Bean Boozled

Fun times when we got home from grocery shopping tonight. Making Jia's dreams come true.

So exciting.

Rotten egg, not popcorn.

Dogfood, not chocolate.

I got barf, not peach.

At one point Jia got lime and she was thrilled.  Fei got lawn clippings and thought it wasn't so bad.

Here Dad, strawberry or dead fish.

He got dead fish and ate it anyways. Yum.

Ya, she didn't really want to try.  Coconut or spoiled milk.  She got spoiled milk she's ready with ice tea and chocolate to cover the flavor.

Yesterday

Yesterday Fei and I went town.  Prepping for our trip, supplies for Lili's Birthday next week and Easter coming up.

Fei doesn't care for surprises and she loves to shop for the littles.  The Easter Bunny did a whole wack of shopping for the baskets.  Pretty much done. 

It was so beautiful out that we came home and insisted everyone get in the car for a walk.  We did a marsh hike in Cow Bay.  It ended up colder than it looked and we only did a half hour but it was good to get out all of us.  That's becoming rare.  A whole lot more divide and conquer these days.

So gorgeous yesterday and a total white out snow drop today.

Check out Luk's feet/legs.  Becoming the norm hence the braces coming up.  He was exhausted after 20 minutes.

Snow

Look what dumped on us in the last hour!!

It's my flex day and Eric and I were planning to take Lili to Victoria to update her passport.  Yikes.  Glad we had a meeting that held us back.  TCH is closed.  Would have been a disaster. 

Lili is back in school and I'm back home in jammies.  Into season 2 of Breaking Bad.

Disneyland!

Mom and I are taking the three girls to Disney in April.  Sooo excited.  Packing light and flying from Bellingham.  Deal on flights and the 25% off for Canadians on the DL tickets.  Yahoo. 

Doing the Harry Potter adventure and getting to hug Chewbacca.  Yup...Pretty excited.

Told Eric he'd have to worry about me galavanting once I got brave. 

Eric is happy to stay home with the boys.  He really hates flying.  The boys haven't clued in yet.  It would be extremely challenging for them to do a fast paced trip.  There is NO packing lite for Luk ;)

We'll go again on a road trip once Kai has citizenship.  We'll plan more days and be able to rest a bit more. 

We're thinking that if Kai hated an indoor playground here, he'll despise Disneyland.  He's not ready. 

Picture me here instead of this unknown stranger :)  Can't wait.

Major Purchase

Miss Jia has had three cast off phones with glitches.  Two died with hardware issues.  One is too old for good games. So, Missy bought her own tablet.  Bought it on  line and it was delivered today. Big, major purchase.  We have one very happy girl.  Loaded Minecraft for her.  It's a brave new world. 

Home

Always good to get home.  Kids are all so excited.  Kai was yelling LUK, LUK and big hugs.  Jia was yelling MOM, MOM. 

Clinic was 3 1/2 hours.  8 appointments.  It's an overwhelming way to do things but way better than making separate visits.  A wealth of information.

Little Mr. needs leg braces.  He is NOT going to like them.  He'll need physical therapy too to monitor the braces.

Overall he's in good shape.  No big changes.  The braces will get him more upright and help with the fatigue.

His MRI from the summer was great.  I got lots of information about future toileting solutions.  There are some surgeries available now for him.  Children's has a new guy from Ontario that is performing them.  So that was exciting news. I thought we might have to look to the states.

We met some more kids with Spina Bifida and joined a support group. 

On the home front Eric got a call today from the 'at home' program with the government and both boys qualify!!  We don't have many details but we know enough to know it's big major news.  So excited. 

Easter Seal House

We're all settled in.  Room is fabulous. Super clean.  Really super clean.  Cleaner than any hotel ever!  Love. Luk is watching treehouse on his foamy bed.  Fei has chips and wifi.  I get to lounge until it's time to cook dinner. Boil and reheat ;)  Thanks to Eric who set us up nicely.

Grapes and lemon cookies for snack.  Another early morning for spine clinic tomorrow.

Did It!

I have major fear of driving onto ferries.  Lucky me...I've never had to before.  Eric knows my fear.  Today, Fei and I are off to Children's with Luk.  And I did it.  And for the first time ever we were stopped at the damn ramp.  Seriously.  Stopped us and the two cars ahead of us at the upper ramp.  No clue why.  Made for more time to be super stressed.  So.  We're on the boat.  We ate.  Luk is watching cartoons.  Just need to sweat a little about driving off the boat.  But really my fear has always been more about the ramp getting on. 

Another first today will be driving in Vancouver.  Not looking forward to it but no fear.  Then we're staying at Easter Seal House.  Another first for Fei and I.  Eric and Luk have stayed there before.

This boy likes his eggs.  He ate it all.  Saved the eggs benny for last.

Jumping Jimminies

So glad Eric took them.  They got there and all the boys from their class were there together.  Our boys weren't invited. :(  I would have had a hard time ignoring that was happening.  Crazy that we'd be there at the same time.  Kai was overwhelmed.  Spent the bulk of his time happy to sit in the car that does nothing.  He wasn't interested in climbing or playing with anyone.  He needed a lot of breathers.  Luk and Jia took off playing.  They loved it there.  Most of Eric's pictures are blurry.  I found a few that weren't too bad. 

Lion

We liked the movie.   It is slow and super draggy.  Nice portrayal of adoption overall.  Bit lacking in communication between the adoptive parents and their son.  Showed him not connecting as Indian or familiar with cultural things like language or food.  Also showed him hiding himself and his search from his Mom.  Good talking points for us.  I felt that most issues of trauma were downplayed.  Some things were touched on so briefly.  I would have rather seen more of the human connections and less of the filth and poverty in the filming.  Lili cried when he found his birth mom.  She didn't equate his story with her story. Fei wasn't bothered by anything in the movie. I didn't find a need to cry. There you have it.  Our review.

It's Melting

Blue Sky

There was blue sky when I got home.  We went for a walk at Somenos Marsh. Nice to get out for a nature walk even if it's still cold out. 

Yesterday we had a nurse over from the at home program. Assessing the boys.  Hoping they qualify for support.  Would help cover supplies for Luk and therapies for Kai.  Fingers crossed. 

Lili got all A's on her report card.  As proud as always. 

Yesterday was Lacie's 13th Birthday! 

Tomorrow Lili, Fei and I are going to see Lion.  Eric and the Littles are going to an indoor playground while we're at the movie. 

Fei's 14th Birthday

How can she be 14?  Feels like she was little a few days ago.  What a lovely young woman she is turning out to be.  We love you Fei Fei.

Odds and Ends

True story.  Valentine's day.  Eric and I dropped the kids at school and instead of going home or going out for fun we went grocery shopping to get ready for Fei's Birthday.  At the checkout there was an old man ahead of us who looked at me and said "you should go on a diet". Uh.  Really.  So I turned to Eric and said "did he just tell me to go on a diet?!" Eric mumbled that he'd probably had a stroke.  So ya, that happened.  Eric thinks it was because our cart was overflowing. Then we came home put away the giant grocery order. We talked about lunch out.  Then stayed home and cooked.  The littles came home all hyped about valentines and treats.  I went to pick up the big girls and took them to Tim's so we could have girl chat with chocolate chills.  Promptly got a call for a dental cancelation so we ran there.  I had some work done.  Old filling fell out last Friday.  Then my mouth was seriously frozen for hours!  Skipped dinner and took myself to bed with the boys at 7.  When Jia came up she was talking but I dozed through her chatting.   Then she kissed me on the lips and I jerked awake and she told me we were married.  Too funny.

Celebrating One Year with Kai

Kai's Gotcha is Wednesday but that's Fei's Birthday so we're opting to celebrate the day we met Kai instead.  Metcha.  On BC's family day. 

Friends came by earlier for a visit and lunch.  Then we took off to Victoria for the afternoon. We did some party prep for Fei and then played in James Bay.  Gorgeous day to be out and about. 

Ended our day at the Spaghetti Factory.  Three families. 17 of us.  11 kids.  We had fun.  All of the kids were amazing.

Last CNY Event

Did the Nanaimo CNY Gala today.  Way overpriced.  Too many people.  Advertised as festival seating.  We were there really early but it wasn't festival seating at all.  Arg.  We were around the middle but still too far back for Kai to see.  We were scared of the buffet line but ended up budging in with Mary on her table and it turned out ok.  Likely annoyed some people but Kai had sat at a table with cutlery for over two hours without food and he was getting pretty grumpy.  Luk was asking when dinner was. Luk never asks for food. The food was good but it was our first buffet that was portion controlled.  Weird. There were a crazy number of acts.  Lots of kids, read untalented.  Overall fun is a mindset.  We did ok there. Kids got stuffed roosters so that made it all ok for them.