Updates

Kitchen! All 39" of it.

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Jia was fine in school today. We got a call for a family Doctor. FINALLY.  So Eric and the three younger kids have a new Dr.  Unfortunately he's not taking spouses or adult kids.  So Lili, Fei and I are still searching.  I was called today about a neurological assessment for Luk.  She feels that he's bright and doesn't need another check until something medical changes for him.  She felt that medical trauma and exhaustion were more likely causing personality changes. She advises counseling or anti anxiety meds. All these quick diagnoses without even meeting him.  

I'm still sick.  Definitely better than yesterday but not great.  Jia told me I look dead.  So, ya, it's an ordeal.  Luk's tiny one day sniffle is a full blown experience for me.  So much coughing. 

A cold?!

It was Jia's 1st day of high school yesterday.  She was so looking forward to her fresh start.  I skulked around for a couple minutes, then drove away with huge apprehension.  Sadly she reports two other girls in the class were staring at her, whispering and one of them took a picture of her and the other said send it to me.  Now, is she paranoid? and there is no way that actually happened?  Or did that really freaking happen?!.  So, Mama's what do we do?  Does she take the lead?  Do we ignore this?  Talk to the school?  The teacher?  Is this really the way kids are now?  Can I go with her Thursday and get evil eye contact with the other girls?  Do I just try to switch her to the other class?  She came home and went to bed.  Poor kid.  We soooo wanted something better for her. It's the end of September and it definitely isn't feeling like school has settled yet. Update, I emailed the teacher, told him what happened and asked for suggestions on how to handle it. Leading with switching class or staying home.  We'll see.  2nd update.  Teacher has no clue what actually happened.  Is going to watch more closely and help Jia through this transition.  He is willing to move her to the other class but wants her to try 1st.  

Yesterday was a full day.  Luk to school. Kai to speech then school where Eric had to go in and make sure he had ea support and that it wasn't Joy. Also to state the obvious about a safety issue. Kai's new class is dim, no overhead lights, Kai already full on face planted a door in there. The teacher thought he could put a lamp on Kai's desk.  EEK.  This is why the boys shouldn't be in school with new people constantly trying to learn about them.  Consistency would be so much better.  If a lamp was on his desk he would without question play with it.  We don't allow him access to anything plugged into the wall.  His safety and awareness is at age 2.  Eric said 'bad idea', I think he should have said 'dangerous idea'.  My faith is low.  I think there might be people at school wondering why it's a bad idea.  I spent half the night searching online for another schooling option for Kai.  Anyone?  Ideas? It was milk day. I worked for a couple hours. Then dropped Jia at school.  Home for lunch.  Picked up boys at 2:20 and Jia at 2:30.  I was five minutes late getting across town.  She was pretty desperate to get out of there. We took Kai to social skills group.  He put one foot through the door and yelled "see ya Mom". I guess he likes it there. Then home to meet Fei.  I visited with Lili while I waited.  She was home for an appointment.  Fei needed to do an assignment about services and programs in the community for the vulnerable so she was doing Kai's playgroup.  I drove her over and the kids were all on the Variety bus going to the park so Fei jumped on the bus to go with them.  It took 15 minutes for the bus to leave because one boy needed a lot of coaxing to get on the bus.  It was all eye opening for Fei. Her big question was "why do you want Kai there?".  We're just desperately trying to find his people.  I napped in the car while waiting for Fei and Kai.  I thought I was having a wicked allergy attack.  Home for dinner.  The girls did laundry and watched a bit of TV with us before they went home.  I told Eric I was feeling a bit lousy and my nose was running so went to bed early. He mentioned he thought Luk had a sniffle.  By midnight my throat was sore.  This morning I full on have a head cold. I'll test for covid later.  Day 2 is too early.  I don't like how fast this hit.  My whole head is pounding. Thankfully not much on the agenda for today.  Jia has hip hop later but I'm hoping Eric will take her.  Update, omg, soooo sick. Delirious, deep chill for 5 hours, dizzy, whole face is a disaster. Actually visably swollen. Eric kindly told me I don't look so great. Coughing, sneezing and a constant drip.  Good lord.  Hopefully it leaves as quickly as it hit!  

I don't see ADD

He's been at this all day.  Not weirdly hyper focused. He takes breaks and isn't talking about it or boring anyone. No frustration.  I've done the ADD assessment again today and it just doesn't describe Luk.  Totally Jia on all questions but not Luk. The only part that is totally Luk is the forgetfulness.

New tires and bearings today. Safety first.  The tires looked OK but Eric says they're too old.  We'd thought the project would be $2000.  We just went over today. Oops.  

Planned Power Outage.

BC hydro sent mail, a reminder card and a phone call. I kept the card on Eric's desk and marked it on my calendar. I was away from my desk most of last week and just sat down today to buckle down and catch up and the power went off. I knew the second it went off.  Haha.  Time to blog then.

Jia found our newest pet while we were away.  This is Bartholomew. 

Eric and I caught up on some neglected housework on Sunday.  

Grocery shopping has also been neglected. We're out of basics.  Lunch was homemade bread and canned fruit. Eric is shopping today when it gets to hot to work on Big Cheese. Homemade bread is the best, the house smelled heavenly.

I have blue wool left over from the blanket project I started for the old blue trailer and didn't finish.  I did finish it later and gave it to Lili.  Now starting one for Big Cheese.  Should take a few years based on how much free time I get. Haha. I have been told a few times now that I'm semi retired that I need a hobby.  Still just not really enough time for hobbies.  Still trying to catch up every day.  Semi retired basically means the kitchen is cleaned more often.  

Amazon boxes for the win last night.  

Big Cheese has a new sub floor!

Needs a vacuum. The linoleum is going down later, it's leftover from the moho bathroom.

Serious downsizing. It looks hillarious to me every time I drive in.  Doesn't everyone need 3 or 4 rv's in their driveway?  

Luk is 11.

The day started off rough.  Luk wanted us to pick him up before the Terry Fox run.  He didn't want to run.  I told him if we came and walked that it would be rude for him to take off on us.  He was pretty sulky and refusing to talk to me.  Sigh.  I wanted to cave and go get him but I really didn't want him to win by being rude and disrespectful.  So we carried on with the plan.  Thankfully he was in a better mood once we got to the school.

Jade let the staff at Milanos know it was Luk's Birthday and they brought him a treat and we sang. Kai was working really hard at holding it together.  They brought his kids meal ice cream pretty quick so there weren't any actual tears.

After dinner we went to the mall so Luk could spend his cash.  He'd asked for a big lego set but then bought Pokemon cards, Pokemon game and a ps4 game.  Love it.  

Now we're home for ice cream cake but Luk wants to save it until we're all here.  He's asked to stay up late with Jia to play the new game.  It's Friday so we're letting them. They're having a riot.  My apple and cheese for snack are NOT ice cream cake as planned though.  

We had an hour to kill before we got the girls so we went to a Value Village.  We got a few more things for the Big Cheese.  I thought 5.99 was too much for this tiny coffee press but it's just so cute.  

The window patch. 

The build has started!  

The boys bed.

Sooo Much

This cake pop was earned.  How he is smiling is beyond me.  Poked and prodded all day.  Millions of questions.  

Today was absolutely over the top.  Luk has had some personality changes. Things to note. Everyone on the team has ideas.  From depression, anxiety, medical trauma, preteen issues, shunt failure, possible seizures, neurological issues, could be just tired and grumpy and the overall consensus is that it's all sounding like ADD.  Next, his cord is tethering.  The lengths we're going to aren't enough.  We're now upgrading his afo's (leg braces) to articulated ones.  He's going from two hours a day in afo's and walking with orthotics to 20 hours a day in the new afo's.  He's doing a sedated botox injection in his calves to release the muscles and then casting for a couple weeks. Then down from 24 hours to 20 hours. He is NOT impressed. The physical therapist and orthopedic surgeon think that it's possible to avoid surgery if we hit the problem hard now before his big growth spurt.  Then the urologist wants to start cathing now so we're waiting for an appointment for an all day lesson.  Last urologist wanted circumcision first.  This one today is the team leader and after checking Luk out declared him fine to start now.  There was no neurologist in today but when I mentioned his zoning out, forgetfulness and general rudeness they considered that to be serious and brought the neurologist in.  We'd met him before.  He thinks there could be some seizing and wants another mri to rule out basic shunt failure. A request is going in to the gait clinic for a recheck.  A request is going in for a full mri.  A request is going in for a neurological assessment.  A request is going in for a cathing lesson day.  A request is going in to Queen Alexandra for new afo's.  A request is going in to surgery for the botox treatment.  I'm seeing 5 trips to Children's coming up and 3 to Queen Alexandra.  Oy.  

Overloaded!!!  Poor Luk.  

We had planned to go to the mall for lunch but I really wanted to go home.  We made it on the 2 to Swartz.  It was a mistake.  It then took us two hours to do the drive.  Much of the drive at 2 to 20 kms an hour.  So painful.  

I am not a city person.  All three of us were so happy to be home.  

Eric managed to do some work on the Big Cheese while we were away. The broken window is out. Patched with a plastic board and the roof is prepped for the solar panel. It's not pretty quite yet.  I'm still looking for artistic ideas to cover the old window hole on the inside.  We could put up the existing curtains but I'd rather it doesn't look like a fake window.  Something more purposeful. 

Little shake up at school with classroom placements, teachers and ea's. The boys aren't fazed at all.  

Whales

We're on the ferry.  Headed to Children's. They announced Humpback whales on the port side.  My children had zero interest in leaving their lunch to go see.  You know you're a Vancouver Island resident when whales no longer hold any appeal!  

My eye is ok!!

Long day.  Up at 7, boys to school. Eric and I to Victoria. We had time for a McD's breakfast.  You can add fresh cubed pineapple to your meal now.  It's lovely.  If I'm missing I'm in line for more pineapple. Then to the eye specialist.  The spot is not cancer! It's an abnormal blood vessel that is frayed and bleeding a little.  Minor. No worries.  If it swells or gets worse it's easily treated with injections.  Phew.  I told Eric I was relieved to stop pondering a prosthetic eye or an eye patch anymore.  He said he'd always wanted to date a pirate.  Dreams dashed. We'd hoped for lunch at the Malahat Chalet but they were closed. So we carried on to Duncan.  We went to Home Depot to look for countertops for the Big Cheese.  My wish was flat edged butcher block but I was open to lots of options.  They had teak counters!  So exciting.  They cost more than I wanted but we were celebrating. Grabbed a quick burger.  Picked up the boys.  Met Luk's teacher.  Love her. We took Kai to his first social skills after school program.  He tried to boss everyone around and be in control.  Our goals there are for him to try riding a 3 wheel bike without screaming and to keep his body to himself.  No cuddling. Cuddling is for family.  His safety and awareness is VERY young.  Then we met a lady in Chemainus to buy a cooler for Big Cheese.  A mini fridge just won't hold enough.  I had a Coleman Extreme picked out on Amazon.  Facebook Marketplace let me know one was listed.  I do love the smart phone help. Amazon delivered the cutest little sink and folding taps today. We picked up pizza for dinner. Then we went back through town to the farm for our milk. To Bight Angel for a potty break. Back to Clements via back roads to pick up Kai and finally home. I said to Eric "you've been driving all day" and he said "ya, and I'm no where near Disneyland". Which got Luk asking for a road trip.  

Love it! The project is coming together.

He was thrilled to be back.

Around the corner is a lego room. There is tons to do. Three giant playrooms.  Movies, arts and crafts, computers, video games, lego and a music room. Plus outdoor space and equipment and lots of games to appeal to older kids. I think Kai will be looking forward to Tuesdays.  The staff all remembered him.  I don't think he remembered much at all.

We need all the pieces first so we can get the heights right for the building part. Apparently ice will stay ice for 5 days in this one. 

It folds.

Folded. It means our counter can be a bit higher.

If a sink can be cute, this one is it.  Luk wants to know when our first road trip is ;)  Me too.

Since home we've dealt with back packs, ate pizza, cleaned the kitchen and did critter care.  Then Eric washed my car for tomorrow's trip to Vancouver/Children's while I packed Luk, Jia and I.  They physically did their own packing but I directed.  

Oh, and Jia got her school days.  Tues/Thurs in the afternoon.  She's pleased.

Time to rest.  My body is exhausted. 

Kai's Heart

The light bulb went on this week. Kai made the connection between the lego book and the lego build. There's a lot of extra pieces and Luk helped a little. He's pretty excited about this one.

We were off to Vic General for cardiology tests. 70 pictures taken while he watched Wreck it Ralph. An ekg and then his heart was declared perfect.  He doesn't have to go back for five years.  Yay.

Silas is loving the green car.  So nice to see it still in action. That smile :)

The girls met us for dinner.  It was tuition time. Followed by an air in tire lesson from Dad. 

I'm DREADING tomorrow's eye appointment.

Last camping of the season.

Eric, the boys and I set out on a walk, Luk needed to turn back.  Eric told Kai and I to wait.  We didn't wait. Then I had to call Eric and say " as could have been predicted, Kai and I kept going and we're lost". Kai didn't care. We turned back and met Eric along the way.

We were headed to see the bikes at the toy run. 700 plus bikes gathered in the day parking of our campsite.

It was pretty impressive.

We all enjoyed the event.

Kai was delighted to see Santa.

Knowing there was a good possibility of Kai freaking at the cannon start and the sound of 700 plus bikes starting up at once we wandered a good distance away and settled on a curb to watch. The cannon was super loud. After that the bikes seemed quiet in comparison. So fun!

Big girls came out.  Hannah and Fei got to catch up in person.  We camped with Penny and Brad.  

That's me trying to stay warm.  It was definitely cold in the evenings.

It's so sad that this was our last trip of the season. Eric wants to redo the exhaust system and upgrade the solar panels before it's freezing outside.

I did some online shopping for the Big Cheese. The stove came in today.  So pretty. A pop up potty privacy tent arrived while we were away.  It pops right up. Folding it up wasn't quite so easy. We had to watch a YouTube.  Haha. What did we do before YouTube?!

Eric found some metal pieces he wanted from Demx. Getting ready to attach the solar panels. It's all coming together nicely. I can't wait for the 1st road trip!

This coming week is our brutal schedule of appointments.  

Sept happenings.

It's that time again.  Eric and I stopped in a neighborhood thrift store looking for a bar sink.  They didn't have one.  The store is super packed and no prices on anything. Eric asked what I needed to complete the new trailer kitchen. I rattled off big pot, small pot, and a kettle.  We found those, plus big chip bowl, wire hanging baskets for bread and bananas, a metal container for utensils and a costume for Luk.  It all came to only $22.  It was so much fun.  I've never shopped like that.  They have a huge section of tools and bits.  Eric likes to poke through so he knew about this fun experience already.  

The name Big Cheese seems to be sticking. Eric gave her a bath. When you use a power washer on the seams a fair amount of water went in.  It came decently clean.  

Working on wiring. The storage box was green with gunk I wasn't sure it would come clean!  I was planning to use it as a big tent. Eric has other plans.  It's going solar.  He's upgrading the moho's system and putting the current panels from the moho on this one.  We're putting a tiny kitchen back in, sink with power pump and a two burner propane.  The furnace is going back in and we're going to use a cooler.  The fridges are too small and don't have ice.  We're debating hot water.  I think boiling water to wash up is totally reasonable.  Mr is trying to create a real rv.

Demo.  He loves it.  We're going to use the previous owners plan but redo it all because that's easier and we can fine tune some details.

Moving the water tank and creating an outside storage bin.  

We're making two permanent beds on each side. This fold out couch was brilliant but the boys will need it to go all the way as they grow so out it comes. Jia will have to squish in with us.

We delivered the kids old green car to Shannon and Ken for Silas and then motored into Victoria to pick up a new rv mattress.  Someone was selling it still in the plastic for $200. Rv queens are smaller.

I have been shopping in Marketplace looking for bits and pieces for the inside.  I found an old gutted TV cabinet that was the right size for my kitchen.  We went yesterday to look.  The doors hinge out so that will be great for the tiny space. $20.  However, the place was a SERIOUS hoarding situation.  Wild.  We found a folding table in the mile high cramped space.  She said everything was for sale but then started pointing out all the stuff she wants to keep. I feel much better about our own hoarding situation.  Haha.  

We're not keen to take the moho on long trips off island. Old motor and the price of gas. So the Big Cheese is going to offer up some great road trips!

We're camping with Penny and Brad this weekend at Qualicum Falls.  I love it there.  Really looking forward to some down time. We shopped and packed yesterday. Jessica is coming for the dogs so today we just need to clean house for her.  

Monday is Vic General for Kai's cardiology appt.  Tuesday back to Victoria for my eye appt about the spot in my eye. Wednesday to Vancouver. Thursday to Children's for Luk. 10 appointments in 5 hours. Phew.  We'll be home late.  Friday is Luk's Birthday.  Next Saturday I will be on the couch.  All day.