Luk

Luk
Our family.

Wednesday, May 12, 2021

Nelsonville

Luk made Kai a Hot Wheels track that grew and grew into a city. Kai also made a track of some sort.
Esmei joined Fei and I on the porch. A rare sight indeed.
The boys got haircuts.  Eric is getting really good at being a barber.  Luk requested the haircuts and he got the station set up.  The funny part was coming in the room to see Luk had Kai sitting on the stool with the towel clipped on just sitting there and waiting for Eric.

Lili is doing better today.  She's in pain. Her face is VERY swollen.  She can't really open her mouth.  She's already sick of a liquid diet. 

In the big news dept. Lili gave Jia her skateboard.  Jia is full of questions about what it looks like but I haven't seen it in years.  Lili thinks it's plain black. Haha. 

Tuesday, May 11, 2021

Fresh start.

Eric told the boys that each day is a fresh start.

Ya.

Kai couldn't find his glasses this morning.  So he was sent upstairs to look.  And again.  And again with Luk.  Then Jenny puked on the kids shoes that were in a pile by the front door.  Ew.  And this is why you should put your shoes away kids. Eric and I dug through.  Kai's were fine, Jia had two pairs, one fine, one not. Luk's were full so I called him to step away from helping Kai look for his glasses to find shoes he could wear to school. I dug in their cubby and found five single shoes, no mates.  ?  Found one pair but they were the ones he complained about a couple weeks ago insisting he needed a new pair that fit.  So he can't find a pair except 'that pair', puts them on and declares they fit great.  That's great son but why did we have to make a special trip to town for the new ones?!  For school.  So they're all just covered in mud.  Sigh.  Meanwhile I head up to look in the boys room for Kai's glasses.  It is never a good idea to let me in to search.  So Kai has been in his room looking for at least 20 minutes. 10 with Luk.  I immediately rag on him about toys on the floor, snot rags on the floor, garbage under his bed.  Flip a blanket up, lift his pillow up and there are the glasses.  Sigh.

Said to Eric "guess where they were". He said "nightstand".  Close, under the pillow beside the nightstand.  Sigh.

I think Jenny may have provided a bit of reprieve on the battle to get shoes put away for a bit. I can see myself asking repeatedly if they want Jenny to christen their shoes.  Haha.  

Get to school, boys run out. Jia sits in the car refusing to get out.  Same old.  She hates school.  Why does she have to go?  The kids suck.  School is so dumb. I just don't understand what it's like. Does she really have to talk to the principal?  Sigh.  Yes darling but honestly it will likely be more of a listen situation.  She made a face about that.  We never talked about the issues yesterday.  So I ask "did you really tell the teacher we're moving?"  Jia gives me the biggest cheekiest grin ever and says "ya...we're not talking about that".  I just burst out laughing.  Sigh.  At least she seemed happy enough by the time I got her out of the car.

Lili got some sleep.  She is in BIG pain this morning.  She's at least not wobbly anymore.  I wrote her time schedule out for alternating meds.  She's back on the frozen peas.  20 mins with peas.  20 mins off.  It eats up a lot of time swapping them out.  It will be a crazy long day for her on her own.  Eric is around but his list of things to do is huge.

We're camping again on Friday.  Not too much to do for that.  The moho is gassed up, propane refilled and water replenished.  Will just need a few clothing items replaced and some groceries. Tomorrow Eric has to take Kai to Victoria to the eye specialist.  Appointment is at 9:30.  Drive is an hour in ideal circumstances.  But you can not count on that.  Malahat is a brutal drive and there are almost always delays and traffic issues in the morning.  So they'll be leaving 7:30ish.  I'm not sure how an early morning appointment made it into our schedule.  Arg.

Today, being at work might be considered a break ;)  Sadly, all of this is normal in our life but it is feeling a bit like it's culminating together a bit too much.  

Monday, May 10, 2021

Parenting

The rest of the gifts. 
Hard to see but the black wire is a hands free phone holder.  Fun idea for Netlfix watching but a bit uncomfortable so far.  No time to play with it yet.  Or watch Netflix.

So nice we had a good weekend because Monday has sucked pretty hard on the parenting front.

Eric and Jia were still camping.  I forgot the convertible needed to be at Canadian Tire this morning. Lili drove the car last and had the seat up as close as it goes. Then it was stuck there.  Confirmed today the motor was indeed stuck. Sigh. A bit of a car shuffle this morning, trying to find keys, opening the gate, all Eric jobs. Eric typically gets the boys ready for school and I prod Jia along.  Then, the boys chose today to lie to me. And even when confronted with evidence and 4 attempts each to come clean they both held firm to their lie.  I can put up with a lot of kid weirdness, noise, mess, damage,  inconvenience etc but I hate being lied to. So the boys have lost all privileges.  Then at school found out Jia told her teacher she wouldn't be back at school for grade 7 because she was moving. NOT. Oy. So I was late getting the car in. Sigh.  

Jia has a kid in her class causing extreme stress for more than just her.  Big issues. Racist comments, belittling, divide and conquer type things. It's been on going for a long long time.  Clearly if she's saying she won't be back for grade 7 then it's gotten more serious than we thought.  So.  A chat with the principal.  That went well.  I don't  believe anything can be done to actually make change but at the very least Jia seems relieved to hear she isn't to blame, she's not in trouble and that the adults in charge are going to try.  I just want summer really badly.  It's time for a break.

And, AND, in amongst all the drama today, Lili had to have dental surgery in Nanaimo today.  She picked me up at Cdn Tire and we went to Wal-Mart to get Boost, pudding, yogurt and a couple things for school lunches. Home to put away the groceries and pick up Fei.
She was really drugged.  Poor muffin.  She came out sobbing. They said she'd be really emotional.  Understatement.  She sobbed all the way home.  So much blood.  She's in pain.  Alternating frozen peas on her face every 20 mins.  Penny told us to use a pressure bandage to tie them on her face.  Thanks Penny!  Works great.  So timing meds, helping her walk and doing a lot of fetching.  We might need to remove this picture later.
Lili might want this one down too.  We'll see.  Honestly, when she came out it was a bit shocking.  From the side she looked like a Simpson's character.  Yikes.  Scared of the swelling and bruising to come.

After picking her prescription up from Walmart  and dropping her at home with Fei I went to get the boys from school.  Eric and Jia had just come home and when we came in the driveway Luk was horribly upset to the point of tears that Jia didn't have to go to school.  No logic there on that one.  Boys had no privileges.  Which means they're underfoot.  They were supposed to turn over all of their electronics but Kai couldn't find his ds.  So Eric went to look and found all of the wii disks scattered around the toy room.  Sigh.  When asked about it Kai denied it.  Another lie.  It didn't go well for him.  He was given MANY opportunities to admit but he held super firm to his lie and was finally sent to his room.  Where he felt it was appropriate to scream a really, really, really long time.  I finally told him if he didn't stop there wouldn't be dinner,  he stopped immediately.  I'm not a big fan of tantrums.  Meltdowns I can deal with but tantrums not so much.  There is a really, really big difference between the two.  One is manipulative and selfish the other is genuine pain and confusion.  So now we've removed toys, lego and puzzles too.  He's down to books and drawing.  Not his best day ever.  Thankfully bed time is soon.  

So, three of the kids in tears here.  Told Eric if I tried hard enough I was sure I could make them all cry.  Sigh.  Mom came over and the dogs all barked except Finn doesn't understand why the barking is happening and gets scared and moves into howling.  Poor Lili isn't getting any actual rest around here today.

My pain level is through the roof today.  I don't have time for Crohns today.  But it is what it is.  I just want this day to end.

It's 6:30 now.  Boys to bed in a half hour.  Might write down instructions and times for Eric to take care of Lili and high-tail myself to bed right after the boys.  Sigh.  

Keeping the blog real.  

Update.  It's 9 and I'm just heading to bed.  Kai has plugged the main floor toilet AGAIN, Eric found it and I leave Eric dealing with that.  He deserves hero cookies.  More than a roll of paper adding to the problem.  He just went past me saying we need an out house installed for him and have it pumped out once a month.  I know he's joking but it sounds like a thought worth considering.  We had a wee issue last night with Kai and water again.  After his bath he threw his bath sheet into the water. We don't know why. Luk tried to get it out but it was heavy and too much for his little hands to wring out.  There was a fair amount of water on the floor by the time I got there.  So my request of a separate Kai only bathroom built outside of our house is definitely gaining some popularity. Also, Jia is upstairs, working on an online project with a friend and she needs a haircut and a shower so it's time to start prodding her along.  

Nothing but glamor here.  









Sunday, May 9, 2021

Mother's Day Camping Weekend.

Just about ready.  1st trip out for the season and we didn't forget anything.  Yay us.
Stopped in Courtenay on the way for lunch.
Making wishes.
Too cute.
Dolewhip!!
Dolewhip made the drive worthwhile. Looking plump here with Finn napping in my coat :)
Maxin and relaxin.
Eric set up outside and the kids sat down right away.  They used to want to explore.
Finn just crashed right in with the girls.  He did fabulously in the moho and with camping in general.
Zoey doesn't look thrilled here as Jia takes over her skateboard.  Haha.
Luk got a new moho bed.  
Jia's new passion. Pretty sure we have to buy her a skateboard of her own by Friday ;)
Fei missed her babies.  She was happy to take over. Lili, Fei and Deanna drove up together to see their Mom's a bit on the Mother's Day weekend. 
Cuteness overload.
Stroller buddies.
Too many of us in one spot during covid. Stupid rules.
Men folk.
Family picture at Miracle Beach.
Cropped.
New jammies, treats, lovely art and beautiful words.  
Kai man got oreo smores on his own with us.
Jia and Luk went to Shannon and Ken's site for fire with their friends.
Two puppies having a Bliss nap in the sun.  
Home for dinner out with my Mom at the Rock Cod. Lili and Fei were both working. Eric and Jia stayed camping for another night.  

Wednesday, May 5, 2021

Cinco De Mayo

The family together for a Tayrex dinner at Transfer Beach. Celebrating Fei.  Still all hyped about her fabulous news.
Jia's submitted a story to the Young Authors Conference.  She's published  :)  So fun.  They didn't get to go to the conference this year.  It was zoom. Damn covid.  The kids did get pulled out of class.  There was pizza, donuts and pop involved so she was happy.  


Tuesday, May 4, 2021

Fei got in!!

Miss Fei got into the practical nursing program she wanted!! Wahoo.  So exciting.  Hundreds of applications and a limited number of spots.  Honestly, we weren't confident this would happen.  She got an email conditional acceptance today.  Then waited for hours to share the news with us together.  I'm so proud and a little veclempt. Of all of our kids Fei has had a lot to overcome.  She's worked hard for this.  She is impressive.  She's online now paying her acceptance fee :)  

Sunday, May 2, 2021

Getting Ready

Camping starts next weekend.  We're not ready.  I just started today.  Gathered what I could from the house. Put an order in with Walmart to pick up supplies.  Have a meal plan and grocery list.  Eric organized his guy bins. I helped with family cubbies.  By help I mean I mostly sat in a chair and supervised.  We did nothing inside.  I have to organize the shoe bin.  I hate the shoe bin.  Will pack clothes later in the week.  Phew.  1st trip out is always the most work.  
Tayrex is back af Transfer Beach.  Eric was so happy.  Haha.  Lili and I did a Costco run on Saturday.  We met Eric for lunch on route.  It felt a bit like cheating on the family being there without the others. 

Lili has been extremely isolated.  She was NOT impressed with Costco.  Too many people.  She double masked and spent time ducking behind me when social distancing was impossible.  It is simply gross how many people are not social distancing.  Hundreds of people in there and we're out here discussing if it's OK to camp out of our town.  Stupid rules for sure.  Ok to shop with hundreds but self contained in our own unit  outdoors is questionable. Off my soapbox again.

Eric got his vaccine appointment today. May 17.  We're getting there.
Fei sent me this one.  So stinking cute.
While not a flattering picture of either of us it does show off a pretty sweet moment.  Look at his little paws.  He fell back asleep after Eric took the picture.  He is such a squish.  When he's not biting. A third Chihuahua although crazy has certainly been fun.  What Eric missed in the photo was that Sasha is wrapped around my head and Coco was between my legs.