It has been another appointment-heavy week, but today marked the last one! At least for now, haha! Brady took a few hours off this morning so we could go in together. But first, we did the standard morning stuff together 🙂

The kids got up and ready for school, and to the breakfast table. While some of the kids set the table, Rowan brought me his contact stuff and I got his lens in! It wasn’t our first try, but that was on me. Contacts don’t form to my finger the way they used to, but they really perch on the surface! So being that I have to see Rowan’s face in order to put his contact in, I have to tip it up, and it kept falling off my finger. Gah! But we got it there after maybe three tries, and then he sat for breakfast!

While the kids ate, we went over the days plans. One kid had skating. One kid had curling. One kid had preschool. Laela needed to be two places at once after school, both for Frozen Jr, so unfortunately I told her she needed to ask around and see where was best for her to be. It was ok with her, though. She felt like a rockstar.

After food came medicine, and all the brushing and readying still left to do. Backpacks got lunches and water bottles loaded up. Dishes got done. The little time left to spare was spent loudly in the basement, haha! And then we kicked them out!

And as the kids walked down the driveway, my mom walked up it! She was on the hook to take Wavy to preschool today so Brady and I could run in for our appointment! Thank you SO MUCH, mom! 💜

Our appointment started a little late, but it was shorter than anticipated, and we were out in time to grab coffee, and still pick up Waverly from school! So we did! We had the pleasure of watching her run nonstop with her friends, being a complete goof, as usual. She was in a very tackly mood, it seemed, and was trying to wrestle everyone! It was REALLY funny to watch, because thankfully, her friends were handling her boundless energy really well. Though I did finally step in and call to her “Wavy, please stop sitting on your friends,” at which the other parents laughed. So, win.

Brady dropped us off at home before heading back to work. Wavy and I lunched, and the morning was officially DONE! What a big one! Wow!! But it was really good too 🙂 No complaints at all! It feels good to be growing my capacity again, and learning when and where I can push myself. Thank you Lord for discernment.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a blanket pattern I’m testing for a designer and I think I’ll be able to finish it today!!!! Off I go!

Remember a couple of days ago when I said we were all done with the vision stuff for a while, and that we were just waiting on the contact? Remember how it was supposed to be a few weeks out still? Welp. I got the message yesterday that it was in, and made an appointment for the next day. Today. This morning.

First thing in the morning, our eye care centre called and said our eye doctor had to stay home with a sick kid today, but they could put us with someone else. We agreed, and the appointment jumped by an hour. So as soon as kids were off the school, we drove Wavy to grandmas and drove Rowan and I to Warman!

We got all set up at the contact counter where people are taught how to wear and remove contacts. We washed up and got our stuff, and then the staff realized that they didn’t have to teach Rowan, since it was me who would be doing all the legwork for him. He is WAY too young to put in and take out his own contacts at this point. So I briefly waited for direction before I realized that I know enough to just get started.

If you’ve ever been a contact wearer, you know that initial appointment is kind of bizarre, trying to stick things to your eyeball, really leaning into it, that funny suction sound, too wet, too dry, the whole dang learning curve. Its quite the thing. We tried a few different angles of head tilts before we found a gooder, and then the trick was really getting his eye open enough to put the thing in there!! Its an average adult sized contact, and he has little boy eye holes, hahahaha! So it was a challenge, for sure, but guys. He handled it SO WELL!!!!! It took a few tries, but we got the contact in! With that squirty suction sound and everything!!

Again, contact wearers will know thats only half the battle. And I’d say its the easy part. Getting it out is a whole other thing.

When it was time to take it out was the first time Rowan kind of sighed. He didn’t like the idea of taking it out once we finally had it in. But I reiterated the importance of practice, and he willingly climbed on board.

Taking a contact out involved the person looking waaaaay up, and the contact being slid off their iris first, and then gently lifted off the eye. And every time I slid it away, Rowan would look somewhere, and move it back into its original place. Finally, I asked him to look at his brain. He giggled and looked as hiiiiigh up as he could. And we got the thing out!

So that became the method. Look at your brain. Really look at it. Is it in there? And he loved it.

I told him we were going to go through the motions a few times, and he complied. The second time through, we got it in FIRST TRY, and got it out FIRST TRY!!! It was a HUGE success! I pushed my luck for a third round, and it took until maybe the second or third try, but his eye was quite tired at that point so I really couldn’t fault him for that, lol! At one point, he stopped me and announced “hug break!” So, we hugged, and then kept working. Man, he was SO in control, it was just awesome!!!

Of course, I dropped the ball and forgot that a doctor actually had to look at his eye while he had a contact in, so back the thing went for round four, which he tolerated beautifully. It was already getting easier at that point, in the way that it was familiar and he was more trusting of me touching his eye. Not a SINGLE tear was shed!!!

Happy news! His contact is a PERFECT fit. It rotates that little bit that its supposed to. It lines up right. Suctions right. His vision is where it was expected to be. He wasn’t uncomfortable or in any pain whatsoever. No notes! Boom!

Basically, Rowan killed it today. It is just unreal how smooth it was. I can’t believe it. The eye doctor we saw gave us a solid explanation why the contact is a BETTER choice for him, and I hadn’t realized just how much smarter it was for him. Thats a very long explanation, but it makes perfect sense to me, and a contact he shall wear!

The boy earned a treat. There was no question about that. This boys self control is BOMB!

I have since dropped Rowan off at school, and Wavy is at Costco with grandma. What a whirlwind of a morning! Man! It was full, and hands on, and a total success!

As we drove home, Rowan said to me “I’ve had a very successful day so far!” And he was not wrong. I am incredibly grateful for his heart 💜 What a special one-on-one morning. Thank you Lord.

Yesterday was a little scattered for a bit. The Access guy came in the morning, which was SO nice! However, the lines were all frozen solid to the ground, and when he did manage to get even a piece of one, they wouldn’t tone. He tried everything and discussed a lot with me. I remembered back when the fence was being dug, the guy accidentally ripped out all of our lines, including the Access line. If that line wasn’t replaced properly at the time, its going to be a pretty decent undertaking to get to it and repair it. And that has to wait for the ground to thaw :/ So thats disappointing, but c’est la vie. At least we still have some signal, and lots of phone data when the wifi just cannot manage. So we have lots of options, and I am very grateful for that!

Since Access came and went in the morning, I could get in touch with our eye doctors office aaaaaaand… make an appointment to pick up Dekker’s glasses! Because they finally came in last week, but we couldn’t get there! We were notified Thursday after closing that they were there, and then we were at the Dahlsjos on Friday and we were on the road before the eye place opened. So we needed to wait for Monday. Assuming Access had already come and gone. You get it. I’ll stop jabbering.

Aaaaanyway. They came! And Dekker is SO happy with them!

Dekker got exactly what he wanted! He wanted black and square like his last pair. The last pair he had chosen that broke, leaving him in the older pair of round ones, anyway. He wanted what he used to have. And he most definitely upgraded!

He looks so much older. I’m not ready.

It was complete chaos while picking them up. Never have I see that many people shopping for glasses at once in their small show room, and then I added myself and my five children who, while being quite well behaved, still did kid things like sitting on the floor, meandered where they didn’t need to, and touched every inch of every surface. *sigh* We were not subtle.

But they’re super cute so that helps!

So. All of my glasses kids have glasses now. Wavy isn’t far behind, we’re all quite sure. Rowan is still waiting on a contact to try. But the glasses leg of the journey is settled for the time being, thank the Lord.

Onto the next!

Guys. The BEST thing about today is the fact that it was light out this morning! Ack!!!

You know how I’ve been waiting for this!! We spent most of the week off sleeping, but now that we’re getting up for school again, I could really notice the difference. And I am SO thrilled! Its basically springtime now, right??

Why yes indeed, it is springtime! At least thats what we’re going to tell ourselves!

Kids are getting ready for school. Dishes are being done. Wavy is tucked into the couch, reading a new-to-us book about a little boy streaking around town. I have one kid skating today, and one skating and curling. So I need to remember that. And I don’t think anyone has Frozen practice today. Oh I wonder when they’ll announce who the crew is! And when skating is over for the season. I’m getting ahead of myself, hahaha!

The main goal of today is to write out the March calendar so I feel less upside down going into it! Also, NEW INTERNET!!! We are officially giving up on SaskTel today and jumping on the Access bandwagon! So I’m a sitting duck until he comes. If he comes during school, I may take the kids to Warman after school to pick up Dekker’s glasses! Assuming the van starts, unlike a few days ago when it bailed on us…

I’m not scattered, you’re scattered! 😆😩🙃

Happy Monday!

After a really fun, really full end of the week, we’ve spent the last couple of days tying up loose ends, doing some chores, and trying to rest up a little. Today, we opted to have a big oatmeal breakfast and spend some more times on a few jobs, all the while sipping coffee and keeping it low key.

We were gifted two giant boxes of books this week, so we spent the afternoon digging through our bookshelves, purging what we could, and adding in all the new fun stuff. SO much fun stuff! It was a large job but it was pretty awesome to get it done! Thank you, mom, for all your loving help!

Now that the dishes are done, and the littlest ones are down for the night…

…I’m running a bath! My body is pretty good and achy, and it needs to be strong!! I believe we have four appointments over the next two days 🙃 so my body needs to be up to snuff!

I hope you all sleep so peacefully tonight, as there just happens to be another Monday tomorrow!! Try as I might, those suckers just keep showing up. So bring it on, Monday! Do your worst!

Or, don’t, because I’m very tired and there is a lot to do…..

Bath time! 🛁

We had SO much fun at the Dahlsjos yesterday! Man. I LOVE that family just SO much. We didn’t manage a group shot this time, but you’ll have to take my word for it. The kids were SO happy to be back in the same space. They drove RC cars all over. They rode scooters through the house. Dragged each other around on big stuffed animals. They shot nerf guns. They talked and joked and pretended and played hard for hours. We ate delicious hot food and snacked all day long. Then the adults sipped coffee while the kids snowmobiled and skated, despite the frigid cold. We crocheted, and visited, and rested, and bundled/unbundled/rebundled the kids.

This isn’t everybody, but I assure you the gang was all there and all happy 💜

We dragged our butts out of there around 8pm. We had a drive ahead of us, but we wanted to see all of their beautiful yard lights first! Do you think we thought to take a picture? No, we did not. But they were just awesome, and worth the later departure!

The drive had its bouts of action and peace, but I’m surprised at how few of them slept! Wavy did, for sure, once we hit the highway. Solly nodded in and out for a bit, but when we stopped in Rosthern for gas, he woke up and stayed awake.

We made it home shortly before 10:30. It was absolutely freezing out. The kids rushed into the house with the bare minimum – jackets and full blown easter baskets, because the Dahlsjos always come bearing treats – and I got Brady’s wheelchair inside and assembled. Meanwhile, the kids were zombies, completely unaware of themselves. A few were wandering aimlessly. One was reading on the couch. One was sitting in their doorway, staring straight ahead. Not a soul was getting ready for bed. Dark eyes and quivering chins told the tale, and we got everyone moving quickly. No glamorous bedtime routine. Pees and beds. Dekker stumbled up the stairs in his gitch, bleary eyed, asking if we had to do bedtime stuff. I said no, straight to bed, and he said “Whew! Good!” and went back downstairs to bed. Everyone was done with the day. Guys 🙌 Same. It was AWESOME. And we were all TIRED.

This morning I have had the true pleasure of emptying our van of all kinds of beautiful things. Thankfully, I remembered to bring in all the delicious food the Dahlsjos sent home with us! Today I unloaded the bags of handmedown jackets and boots, as well as the two GIANT boxes of books they passed down to us! I think tomorrow will be a day of gutting bookshelves, putting series’ together, and organizing what goes where. Luckily, that is a crazy fun job! Even Dekker and Laela really enjoyed the sorting of it all last time, so I like to think there will some willing helpers!

Since unloading the van, however, I am absolutely frozen and cannot shake the cold from my body. So I’m hiding upstairs with a heating pad, writing this, and thinking a soak is in order. This season is just not my season hahaha! So funny how this break has been just so stinking cold, hey? Not must outside time during the week off! But if it warms up in time for school next week, I’ll take it!

Happy Saturday, friends. I hope you can stay inside today and be SO warm!! And if not, guess what. Its almost March. Which means almost almost April. Which means almost spring!!! ☀️😎

Today is the daaaaay!! We are overdue to go see our dear Dahlsjos, and since Rowan’s bday was just yesterday, it felt like an appropriate time to get the families together and catch up!! Plus, we got to see Jaxon right around his bday, so this is only fair 😉 

Its been a long time coming, so we’re loaded up with snacks and sleds and heading out for the day. It would be cool if it wasn’t so miserably cold outside, but very little is going to get in our way 💜 

Anyway. I’m clearly writing this is advance, so I’ll leave you with my favorite picture of our crew all together from summer, because it is the best.

As are the Dahlsjos.

Remember when we were tanned? *sigh* We’ll get there again. Someday.

Our dearest Rowan Toby turns EIGHT today! WOW! Eight years. I cannot believe he is already so OLD! I feel like time has picked up speed recently, and Rowan is suddenly halfway to adulthood. Which he is not at all, but he is one of the oldest kids in his class, so maybe thats part of it. He seems WAY too grown up to be in grade two. 

The last few months with Rowan have been an absolute treat. We have worked for literal years to try and help Rowan live easier. We went down avenues to check his physical health, get him some extra help at school, get him sleeping better, and being frustratingly patient with things we never thought we’d tolerate from one of our children. We worked HARD. HE worked HARD. And we stayed close, thank the Lord.

After speaking to our family doctor at length, as well as my counsellor also at length, we decided to finally start him on a medication in December. And guys. That kid changed. He didn’t become some zombie, free of emotions or thoughts. He became the exact kid we always knew he was, but seemed to have a wall around. It became clear, I kid you not, THAT DAY, that he was absolutely burnt out. At age seven. Probably way sooner. 

Rowan has ADHD! Even on just half of the medication dose a child his age/size would normally be on, he became so much lighter and more reasonable. He still has all the feelings, and gets frustrated, and sad, and overwhelmed, and every other feeling humans have. But now, he can think at the same time. He can comprehend what makes sense, and best of all, he can think about what he needs!! Sometimes its space. Sometimes its company. Sometimes its physical pressure or exercise. Touch is almost always part of it. Being held or scratched comforts or grounds him, it seems. 

Sometimes he is still very loud and yelly, but he will express himself so clearly that I can absolutely get past the volume and take the words for exactly what they’re worth! I LOVE communicating with Rowan! 

Since starting medication, Rowan has WAY more mental energy than before. He has a whole different capacity. Previously, we would see how warm and loving he could be, but it was hard to get past the fear of him exploding. Now, he is soft and warm and loving probably a confident 95% of the time. Its as though everyone can breathe out again. We all feel the relief, himself included, and everyone has embraced Rowan, not holding anything against him from the struggles of before. Its been incredibly obvious how much better he feels, and by default, we ALL feel. He has FUN now!

Very shortly after Rowan’s diagnosis, we found out about his poor vision in the one eye! Crazy!! And thank goodness our discoveries went in that order, because I imagine patching would’ve been SO much harder before his struggle was managed. Rowan rolled with those punches and patches, and continues to, so very smoothly. He feels so much better, and it is SO clear 💜 

Now that Rowan’s brain has so much more room, he loves so many more things! He reads out loud to Wavy and Solly.

He builds more elaborate lego. He sings along to the music. He plays rowdy without anyone getting hurt, and the rare time someone does, he apologizes immediately and tries to help. He helps in the kitchen, does dishes, takes out the garbage, and even tries to do jobs that are over and above his capability. It is so clear how much was within him that couldn’t come out before.

Rowan is taller and heavier than Laela. He likes to have a buzz cut and to wear sunglasses. He would wear a muscle shirt every single day. He lives for summertime. He loves his friends, the morning, and soft snuggly things. He is a VERY good friend, and my only kid who asks me every single day how I slept the night before. He is an excellent specimen of a little boy, and I am SO proud of how strong and courageous he is! 

Rowan, I hope you have the best birthday today, and that you enjoy being thoroughly enjoyed!! You are DEARLY loved, sweet Ro. I hope you always stay close to home, unless you’re off being a surfer somewhere hot 💜 Both of those mental pictures are totally your scene. I can’t wait to see where you end up! 

Happy birthday, Rowan Toby!!! I love you!!!

We’ve had some quieter days, and the fun starts tomorrow! So today is a day for a few more worky things. I didn’t get everything done yesterday that I wanted to do, so today I cut up granola bars, and I will wrap the gift I need to wrap. I need to pre-write a blog or two. Brady worked on the van a little bit. I made party mix this morning. I had to go steal ingredients from a friends’ panty though, hahaha! Whoops! I’m very grateful that we have what I call “cup of sugar” friends.

Brady and I are working on some important things on the computer, but MAN the internet is horrible these days!!! We finally bit the bullet and decided to switch internet providers, so that will hopefully be installed on Monday.

We have a parcel being delivered at some point today, and the big kids are ducking out for a short trip with grandma. I completed my crochet project from the other day, and plan to start another one. We have a drive coming up in the next couple of days that I’d hate to have idle hands for! Eek!

This week off has been really nice, with some slow days, and then some fun to look forward to! I’m so grateful for the balance, and the fact that we have Brady home with us 💜

Off to pre-write some blogs!!

This week is OFF school for us here in Saskatchewan, and thanks to some banked holidays from last year, Brady was able to take this week off of work as well! I am SO grateful for this opportunity to have a week of holidays all together during our heaviest month. I feel like we’re over the hump of struggle, and my body and brain are feeling a bit stronger than they were over the last couple of weeks. This week together came at the perfect time 💜

The week holds a little bit action towards the end, but first we have a few lax days, and today is one of those days. There are still things to do, of course, but nothing pressing or large. I need to cut up granola bars I made yesterday. Brady is gutting the bottom of the freezer. I wrote an important email, and I’m (ready?) blogging. I prepped for a blog for later this week, all the while having Frozen Jr pumping for Laela’s benefit. I have to wrap a gift, and I’d really like to finish up my current crochet project. I have a few on the go and this one is well within my grasp to finish in one day.

So you see, there are things to do, but they’re all very low pressure things. No one feels rushed or locked into anything. In fact, its quite peaceful thus far. Rowan set up his spirograph, in kind of a weird location, mind you, and started making everyone necklaces.

There is also lego and colouring spread all over the table and island, and I am LOVING it.

We had things that needed doing during afternoon quiet time, but they are temporarily on hold, so thats off the list too! Even one less thing to do today! Lol!

Whether you’re at home, work, school, or somewhere else, I hope you’re all having beautiful days 💜