Rowan: I wanted to get my little guy katanas! But we aren’t. And thats ok! Because we’re not a very violent family.
😅
It’s already been quite a morning, haha! That was a light spot, I promise, lol!
So far this morning, three of my children are angry at me. Ready?
One child is mad because yesterday, they lost a privilege, and this morning I would not buckle and go back on my word. 🤷🏼♀️
One child is mad because I reminded them to wear deodorant. 🤷🏼♀️
One child is mad because I reminded them to brush their teeth. I heard them mourn from the bathroom “I never get to do anything.” though I had not stopped them from doing anything when reminding them. 🤷🏼♀️
Thats three kids out of eight who are mad at me. I believe math would tell us that is technically not half bad.
The island is not finished. We’ve made headway! But its not all the way done. Here is the sitch.
We built the island and got it all prepared to have the stovetop plunked on top.
We realized late in the game (our fault) that the stovetop was 8″ tall.
We modified the cabinets to make it work.
The plumbers saw the stove and pivoted a little. Which makes sense because the thing is a total monster.
Gas inspector came and went through the manual. Decided what was needed to properly install the stove. The nicest inspector I’ve ever come across.
Everyone decided our lack of ventilation in here does not, in fact, grandfather over. Especially with a 16,000 BTU stove.
We’ve spent the last couple of days looking at range hoods in all different shapes and sizes. Flush mouth. Chimney. Ceiling. Island. Forget the wall mount and under cabinet options – those don’t work here. I had NO idea what CFMs were and how many a person needed and how many a person couldn’t have, but I sure know now! And finding a range hood that was large enough to cover our stove that did NOT have crazy high CFMs that didn’t cost 3K has been an enormous challenge.
And today, I do believe we finally got our range hood locked. We found one on a beautiful sale online that just so happens to be an appropriate size for our stove top. The CFMs were WAY too high, but being that it had different settings, the first and second settings are appropriate for the house and the current system we have, so it will just be installed in a way with the highest setting disabled. We ran it by our plumber, who approved it for the home. Its officially on order, and now we wait!
Once the thing comes, we can get it installed, and work on getting the rest of the ductwork. In the meantime, we have to find a way to enclose the open space at the back of the stove to accommodate combustible material clearance. Hoping to get a piece of stainless steel moulded to the right size and shape, and just stick it between there.
Ok. Whew! Thats the update! What I can tell you with confidence is that its already a really fun setup to cook supper in 🥰 I’ve finally uncovered the island top and started using it. I’ve cooked on the stovetop, and the burners heat SO fast and SO good!!! When I pull stuff out of the oven, I can set it on the stove just to put it somewhere, and I can keep cooking on the stove. Its just amazing. I have no regrets.
However, this might be our only renovation this year 😅 This definitely has gone far beyond some new cabinets and a stovetop…
I was going to title todays post “Dekker Got Punched in the Face” but it felt clickbaity. Though it is actually true, it’s actually a funny story, not a mean or mad one.
Yesterday was quite the busy day, and I got home for the evening as Dekker was leaving for a school thing. As I passed him in the house as he was about to rush out, I noticed a bandaid across his cheek. I stopped him and pretty well demanded an answer 😅 I wasn’t mad. I was kind of shocked! He immediately smirked and said he would tell me later. And I said heck no, tell me now, so I got the short version.
Apparently one of his friends wanted the celery out of Dekkers lunch, and when he went to make a grab for it, he accidentally punched Dekker in the face and Dekkers glasses cut his face.
Dekker thinks its hilarious, and apparently even thought it was funny in the moment, which is saying something, lol!
The conclusion we came to was that people need to send more fresh veggies in their kids lunches so they stop punching each other in the face. This particular kid clearly needs some celery in his life.
I’d put a celery emoji here, but it doesn’t exist. Because, water with hair.
First thing this morning, I got a call from our plumber. She said they had an opening this morning, and asked if we would like our stove put in today. YES PLEASE!!! Of course, none of the things I put in place for the installation tomorrow were in place today, but thats totally fine. I would take a slightly more challenging day with the babies if it meant I got my stove! Not only am I stoked to have a new stove, but I also just really miss having one at all 😅 It is a nightmare fun challenge to feed all ten of us without a stove! So I jumped at the opportunity.
I had anywhere from 2-4 guys in my house all day. They came and went, and worked like crazy. The new stove is vastly larger than the last, and WAY more powerful. So they needed to put in a much wider gas line. They were all up in the basement ceiling, in the backyard, and in the kitchen. Leah the Plumber’s employees are incredibly easy to have in the house. They work really quietly, super respectfully, and they are incredibly polite, informative, and patient. They never breathed a word down the hallway during naps. They always had smiles for the babies. They answered questions and made sure I understood all along the way. I could not endorese her more. LEAH THE PLUMBER, guys. They are amazing. And without being weird about it, as a woman, having those guys in my house felt totally safe and comfortable.
The job is not done. We’re asking a pretty large thing of them, changing the teeny little stove top to a behemoth. But after a days work, the stove is IN! Its in place. We can use it, safely!!! The proper venting is still to come, but it won’t be long before the whole shebang is done with!
So this evening, Brady and I toasted to the new stove, and to break it in, we’re having late night poutine supper. Because now, we can make gravy 🤣 And let me tell you. It cooked up SO FAST.
You guys probably know my ideal balance. I talk about it a lot. The balance between productive and restful. When I can have a day where I get lots done but I also rest and enjoy things and let down a little, I feel the most human.
Today was one of those days.
I have to be careful what I post on here. After yesterdays post talking about house projects taking a little longer these days, Rae and Tom decided to offer to take the kids for a large chunk of today! What a HUGE gift! They took all eight of the kids from about mid morning until 3pm.
While they had them, we got to work! Brady did all the wiring in the island, for both the stovetop and a couple of outlets. I took all the drawers out so he could detach the cabinets from the kick box, as well as detach the countertop. He did lots of the fussy work, and I was the one who heaved the whole dang thing over a few inches.
While I wasn’t islanding, I worked on a wildly intricate blanket I’m making for this summer’s auction at Kinasao. Its probably my most challenging blanket to date, and its going to take absolutely forever 😅 Ive finished 11 rows! Only 249 left 😳
We spend the evening with the kids and my mom, as we often do on Sundays. We had macaroni and nuggets in celebration of our Lemon Drop 💜 Did you know we have a leap year baby?? We do! So happy belated birthday to that adorable little sweetheart. To know LD is to love LD.
Naturally, the new peanut has napped for the last four hours and is only waking up now, sooooo 😬🤞 wish us luck for the night!! Tomorrow brings the new week of school, appointments, visits, etc. I’m ready!
Brady had a few jobs to work on today. Definitely more him jobs that me jobs. Which actually kind of sucks. Bradys mobility has dropped off recently, which has been unsettling to say the least. I don’t normally share much about this kind of thing until we’ve gotten at least somewhat close to the bottom of it, or we have a plan. We are still working on both of those aspects of the situation, but it needs to come into conversation because, if you’re around it, you’ll notice. All is not lost. Just pray. We are hopeful, and God is sovreign.
So. Jobs. One job is still pertaining to our island. We had a setback last week, but the stove top WILL be installed this Tuesday. But before it can be, Brady needs to modify some cabinets, part of the countertop, and we have to shift the entire thing over a few inches. I know, it seems a bit dumb to move it all for such a small amount of space, but part of redoing the island was also to make a bit more room around it for Brady to function easier in the kitchen. So, more work now, but worth it in the long run.
Something that has been challenging recently for Brady is getting his wheelchair out of his van for work. He has a pretty good setup, but he still has to rely on strength in his legs to a degree, and right now, that is risky. Winter ice makes it all the more sketchy. So yesterday, I went to Princess Auto and I bought a hydraulic crane. This afternoon, Brady and Tom worked together to get it bolted into the minivan. This will provide a way safer way to get in and out of Bradys van. It is not a perfect system, but it definitely beats the total lack of system we have now!
With the change in mobility, jobs that rest on Brady are taking longer, obviously. I think we likely won’t make it to church tomorrow, because Tuesday will be here so soon and we have to get the island taken care of by then! If that was all we had to do, we could easily do it together and it would be over with. But our life is not that simple, perhaps you’ve noticed 😅 So we need to afford ourselves a bit more time for things right now.
It was a productive day 💜 A different level of productive than we’re used to over here, but not an instant burnout day, either. We’ll take it! Thank you, Lord, for carrying us through these uncertain waters. The ripples are getting higher, but You continue to point our chins up to the sky, keeping our heads above water and our eyes on You.
Our latest little peanut gurgles and rattles like a broken coffee maker. Not to the same level as the Morsel did, but, approaching. So we went in today. And it was oddly comfortable? I can’t quite explain it. But it was familiar, having been there with the Morsel and eventually graduating out from the feeding program after such great success. The feeding therapy team holds a very warm place in my heart.
So today, we found our way there and got into the appointment a few minutes early. In we went, and we went over the very minimal history I could offer on baby’s behalf. The therapist took the bottle and started the feeding, assessing every move made. We tried a different flow of nipple, and it made one detail better but another one worse. There was much burping, many breaks, and lots of brainstorming. We settled one some small tweaks, but with a swallow study to come. Hopefully next week already.
We left, and as we waited for the elevator, we were joined by a group of three. It seemed to me to be a husband and wife, as well as someone from the hospital transporting the husband in a wheelchair. He was in hospital jammies. They commented on the baby’s hair, of which there is a lot, and then the wife lovingly rubbed her husbands hair. He looked at me and told me he had phantom hair. I chuckled and asked him what that meant. Turns out he had a brain surgery, and now his nerves were all funny, and it feels like he’s wearing a toque at all times. I told him my husband had also had a brain surgery and he could relate to nerves doing funny things while they healed up, and that the numb spots are really strange. As we rode the elevator up to the main level, they mentioned brain surgery haircuts and how rough they are, and they laughed when I told them Brady was super concerned at the idea of having his beard shaved for surgery. When I said he was more concerned about his beard than his breathing, the man snort laughed. I got off on the main floor, and I heard them say they were heading up to the sixth. Thats neuro.
Oddly, the whole visit to the hospital felt kind of nice. Close to home, but not in a bad way. In a familiar way. Feeding stuff can be pretty tricky, but I feel like I know my way fairly well. And then to have a short interaction with people who have gone through brain surgery recently, and to be able to relate in some ways, it just felt like a reminder that God uses all our messy stuff for GOOD, if we let Him.
I had some ideas of things I wanted to do today, but the babies began alternating naps. This is a double edged sword, because I LOVE when they all nap at the same time, but also, when the newest little peanut naps, the others are a lot more self sufficient and can play and be busy without my needing to rock them constantly. And with that, if the older ones are napping and the little one is awake, its only one baby, which feels pretty easy. So there are good things about alternating naps as well.
Except nothing would work for more than fifteen minutes, lol! So after a couple times of getting set up for a larger plan, only to have it dashed the moment I got into it, I put the big stuff away and settled on small things. Very small things. As in, the first thing I “worked” on was watching a crochet video I saved a while back. I watched and rewatched it while I bounced the peanut, and from it, I learned! As soon as I could be hands-free, I grabbed some yarn that was laying around in the bookshelf (yup) and I practiced my new skill!
A little while later, I grabbed a blanket I have just barely begun working on that I know is going to be a long project, and as I re-familiarized myself with the pattern, I saw a section where the creator talked about a method she uses when she crochets this blanket, and I figured, what the heck. Why not? If it makes it better, all the more purpose it’ll serve! So I got into that and got a whopping 3/4 of a row done before I had to throw the towel in yet again, thanks to you know who.
However, while today was grossly unproductive in a tangible way, it was productive! I learned two new crochet skills that I definitely think I will use plenty when I’m able to make time to work on my projects! Hopefully they’ll bring my mosaic crochet up another level! 🙌
Today was the long awaited eye appointment for the kids! They really like eye appointments because they like new glasses. Who doesn’t? I get it. The four kids got glasses two years ago, and last year three of them got new ones yet again. Not Rowan, because his contact is a lot more important than his glasses. So going in today, I had six kids with me, and we were all curious how many of them would come out with glasses, especially new glasses!
The Spoonful doesn’t need glasses. So that wasn’t as exciting as the kids had all hoped. Sorry, Spoons!
Wavy also doesn’t need glasses. She was so bummed, hahaha! She wanted glasses! But the feeling is that she will eventually need them. We all think she’ll go nearsighted in time. But, we’ll see. No glasses for now. Sorry, Wavy!
Solly’s prescription stayed mostly the same. No new glasses for him! Sorry, Sol!
Rowan’s prescription improved, which is AMAZING, as his vision is the wildest of them all. However, his contact is what is changing, not his glasses. So the poor guy, yet again, doesn’t get new glasses. His are still in perfect condition because he virtually never wears them. Sorry, Ro!
Laela’s prescription also barely changed! One detail that changed is that her eyes really struggle to meet in the middle. When the eye doctor moves her pen around and you’re supposed to follow it with your eyes, and then she moves it in and boops your nose with it, that was where Laela almost couldn’t get it to work. Her brain would switch one eye off so she would just use one. So that was noteworthy, but nothing can be done about it at the moment. If it starts to present a problem, there are cool new vision therapies that can be done. But we’re not there yet. No new glasses for her, either! Sorry, Laela!
Dekker had the same detail as Laela, where his eyes don’t want to meet in the middle. However, his prescription did change. For the better!!! His eyes have improved, which is likely thanks to aging and growing and approaching puberty and all that good stuff. But he was the lucky one. HE got to pick new glasses. He branched out a little in his Dekker way, still coming out with black plastic frames, but older, more mature looking ones, with a new shape. They’re cool, I won’t lie. But a big yay for Dekker! NOT sorry to him!!
I will admit to being a little bummed that more kids didn’t need new glasses. There were so many fun kids glasses in stock this time around. But there will be more when the time comes, and that will likely be in a year or so.
All things considered, it was a successful afternoon of appointments. I’m happy some eyes showed improvement, and I’m happy no one was in any kind of desperate spot, vision wise. I’m very grateful for our health.
Thank you, mom, for keeping the other two babes so I didn’t have absolutely everyone along 😅 Six felt like enough. Only one of them cried. It sure would’ve been more than that if we had the whole group! I appreciate you 💜
Ok. Clubs are done. Kids will be home any minute. To bed they go! And then to bed I get to go, also!! After falling asleep in the recliner this afternoon, I am ready to tuck in for the night!
Today held an awesome plan. Rae offered to take the babies for the day, which was a HUGE gift to me! Not only is a total treat to have a day to do things that are a lot harder to do with the babies, but it was also stove top day!
Except it wasn’t 😩
So here’s the thing. Our new stove is a behemoth. And our plumber is hesitant to put it in as is without really making 1000% sure its done to code and in a safe way. So this morning, instead of a couple if plumbers coming to install our stove, she came with a gas inspector. The manual they could find online was specific to the bran but less to the exact model, so we ended up unwrapping the whole thing in an effort to find the exact manual that was actually ON the appliance. Back inside we went, and Brady, Leah (our plumber) and the gas inspector, Kurt, combed through the pages, line by line. It was a long, drawn out process, but all four of us are determined to make this work. We want it to be safe, but we also want it to work. We know its going to cost more than we had hoped, but if this is the only real renovation we do this year, then so be it. I am still completely thrilled about our new island and stove top. Just have to get it all done!
Once Leah and Kurt cleared out, Brady also went back to work, and that was my morning gone! 😅 Goodness time goes by fast!! I had big work goal, but with that long meeting, paired with some unexpected drama waaay too early in the morning as well, I was BEAT. So, rather than working on things that are slightly higher on the priority list, I crocheted. It was so peaceful and lovely.
And then of course I got everyone out the door, picked up the babies from Rae (Thank you SO MUCH for such a lovely day off!) and headed into the city for a visit! We managed to get everyone fed, Brady to the chiropractor, and even managed to get Dekker a spring jacket and Wavy winter boots at Value Village before the evening was over.
What a huge day. I am pooped. But! Our latest addition SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT last night!!! If we could have a repeat of that…
