Brady completed his fourth cycle of chemotherapy yesterday! Thats one third of the way done! Woop woop!
Yes. One third. Originally we were told it would be 6-12 cycles, but when I mentioned that to my doctor, she lovingly sent us a letter from a good while back now from Brady’s systemic oncologist, indicating she very much intends to do the full years worth. While I wish we had been informed of her decision when she made it, at least we know now, and onward we go. At least we know what we’re looking at now.
At this point, we’ve noticed a few side effects from the chemotherapy. While Brady is hardly taken down by things you’d expect (ie: nausea, severe fatigue) he has noted a change in his throat. We knew it was a possibility, and its small so far, but there is a change.
Food gets stuck in Brady’s throat now. Not all foods. But, I guess you could call them sticky foods? So far, the most noticeable culprit is macaroni and cheese. Yes yes, I know, KD is bad for you anyway, we’re aware. But it happens sometimes that its what we eat, and when we do, Brady has to take a drink every two bites or so, otherwise it all builds up and he has a full feeling in his chest.
This is small. But the possibility that it could grow in the next eight months is there. We’ve been informed that some people go through chemotherapy and spend the rest of their lives eating a semi-solid diet. That is not Brady’s ideal, obviously. So we pray God’s protection and keep pressing on!
That is truly the only change we’ve noticed. Brady is completely himself, whether on or off chemo. God knows what we need. He hasn’t left us yet, and I don’t imagine He will. So we roll…
We had our big first day of school for the older three kids last week, but Solly’s school didn’t start until today. I was hopeful that it would go smoothly, as he has been talking about his first day for a while now, seemingly excitedly anticipating it!
Solly lives in shorts, but he opted for pants today, so weirdly, that suggested to me that he felt more serious about the day. More “business.” I liked it. He picked a grey tshirt, and I zipped him into a yellow hoodie. Boom. Ready.
He ate breakfast quickly, and packed his lunch into his backpack, filled his water bottles, and organized his masks and such all without complaint. He was SO happy!
Too bad it was so sunny out for pictures 😆☀️
We all walked to school together, as we do for a while at least. Especially with a kindergartener, we want everyone to know where to go and when. Solly lagged a little under his heavy backpack full of supplies, but when I told him it was ONLY for today, and it would be so much lighter after today, he was completely fine.
I am SO happy to tell you that Solomon’s confidence did not wane, and he arrived at his door completely gung ho! There was a cute little crowd of children waiting with their teacher outside the door. Our family hadn’t been able to go to the classroom walk-through on its scheduled day, so his teacher lovingly offered me to go walk him through the classroom before everyone went in to start the morning. I took him in, showed him his chair, and we took a quick peek at the giant lego table. Its going to be a GREAT day!
Except I forgot to send extra clothes. So, no pants peeing, Solly! There are rules…
He is five. But I swear, this morning, to me, he may as well be fifteen.
So I posted this on my Instagram account a week or two ago but I for those of you who don’t follow me and/or use Instagram, I’m gonna run you through this little table I built a couple weeks ago.
Hailey and I had the thought that it’d be nice to have a little table to set our coffees on while we sit next to the fire and my first idea was that I could build it with screws and treated lumber like everything else we’ve built this summer. But then I saw a piece of firewood that Hailey had chopped in a particular way that left it almost completely flat and smooth on one side. Gather enough of those and you’ve got a table top. Kindling for legs and stretchers. Use wood joinery methods instead of screws and you got a table with character. 😊
So we began gathering firewood that could be used for the top and the legs.
Once I had a small collection and a good ten day stay at the lake ahead of us I pulled out my tools and started chiseling.
First I needed to attach all the top pieces together. So I decided to cut what’s called a half lap joint into the underside of all the tops in order to glue two pieces of kindling across the underside of all four tops.
I had a lot of fun using my chisel to smooth the kindling. I didn’t have a hand plane here so a sharp chisel was the next best thing.
Also the wood chip mess on the ground was something I definitely enjoyed.
Next was gluing the top together. I only had three clamps so I had to glue one side at a time. Lots of time to sit and watch the fire. 🔥
Once the top was glued together I started working at notching out the tops of each leg in order to glue them to the underside of the table top.
My next step was probably the most challenging and time consuming of the whole build but also the most rewarding as well. I decided to add the stretchers aka little cross pieces by cutting round through tenons and drilling holes in the table legs to slide them through. The tenons were cut by hand with my chisel. Eight of them took me close to six hours but I had a blast!
Once all eight joints were cut I took it apart, added glue and then ‘clamped’ it together for the night. 💪
Once the glue had set and cured all I had left to do was trim the legs even and level. That took all of 15 minutes and it was done!
Ready to take its place and serve its purpose. 😊
Side note, as I was waiting for the glue to dry in the legs I made a wooden mallet from firewood as well. Which, from what I understand, is a right of passage for new woodworkers. I’d say not bad for my first mallet. 😊
You can probably guess by the title that you’re in for a shorty photo dump. Too many cute things that aren’t quiiiiite enough to be their own post. So. Behold.
Wavy is approaching ponytail status 😍 I’m so stoked about it!!
She is still be unceasing bathroom buddy. She cries if I don’t take her along.
I don’t know about you, but this is SO relatable to me! 🙌
Wavy was helping chop wood the other day and wanted to be photographed but it was just too sunsetty 😆
This was a super unsettling find while collecting firewood 😳 looks pretty abandoned, but still.
Our site is just a picture of welcoming, if you ask me. Home away from home.
A solid explanation of where “lucky duck” came from, perhaps 🦆
These two hiding out. Reading books in the morning.
Preparing for winter already 😩 Dekker wanted an ear flap two years ago and I finally got there, lol! He’s happy!
Never a dull moment here. Except there are LOTS of quiet, restful moments. For which I am so grateful 💜
If you’re on my Facebook, you may have noticed the GIANT ego boost I received yesterday about my crocheted blankets. That was wildly unexpected and so appreciated 💜 I am completely flattered with all the complements. What confidence you all instilled! Thank you!!
I started crocheting when I was around twelve. I remember my mom giving me a small crochet hooks that she had it her sewing kit. It was a small size. Kind of a pink/nude color. She had one ball of variegated yarn that she gave me. She showed me how to chain and do a singe stitch. And then she left to make us all supper. I sat in my room and played around with it, occasionally surfacing to the kitchen, having completely forgotten the stitch. She’d patiently show me again, and I’d take off to go see if I could make it work.
I’ve come a long way since making those crooked flat topped toques for everyone I knew.
Crocheting has now become a bit more of a need than a hobby. When Brady left for his surgery, I had crochet plans! I figured I’d have ALL this spare time; and I was going to crochet everything in those days. But as it happened, I couldn’t squeak out a single project. I had NO gumption. No passion.
Very quickly after my husband was back home safely under our roof, my anxiety bug bit HARD. Conveniently, so did the crocheting bug! I bit back and began working on projects way beyond my comfort zone. Crocheting kept my hands busy, and instead of picking my poor destroyed shoulders, arms, and fingers, they created beautiful things. When my brain got too swirly and scared, I could think about counting stitches and watch progress in a positive way.
Since Brady came home, I have completed six full sized afghans, two baby blankets, and I’m halfway through another full sized one. I posted some on Facebook, but I’ll put them here too, in case you missed them.
The first two, I actually managed to make for Christmas gifts last year, and the bottom one was from this year. I have more I’m excited to share with you, but they get their own post another 😘
As if I haven’t said it enough, I greatly appreciated your support yesterday on Facebook. You encouraged me in my work abs creativity. It’s exciting to see something from my childhood aid in my healing and end up making beautiful things.
It’s the long weekend! We’re officially through the first stretch of school to settle in the three older ones. Solomon starts next week! But for now, he’s been walking with us all to school in the mornings, getting to know the route.
He is terribly cute 😍 so is his little sister. Goodness these kids!
While the kids were at school, Brady, Cher and I got things ready for the lake!!
That’s right, folks, we’re back at Kinasao this weekend! Rain or shine, we’re there!! Sooooo excited!! Veggies were chopped, clothes were packed, lists were made, etc etc etc. Thank gar I can tell is there are different factors that made it easy.
One is the fact that Cher did most of it 😏 She’s a nice lady.
The other factor is that we’ve packed for ten day stays. Where packing for a weekend used to wipe me out, now a long weekend is a piece of cake! It felt like we barely brought anything! It was easy! We did it last minute, even!
To me, this is progress. Victory. Thank you Lord for the opportunities you’ve given us.
I had one of those awkward bad mom moments where I realized way too late in the game that my kids did not have school today. Whoops. Because of the staggered start, the second half of the alphabet got their shot at school today, and everyone goes tomorrow again. Except kindergarten. But thats a whole other thing.
Joke on my mom, who was anticipating watching two kids during the and had five instead! Hahaha! She was super game and gung ho about it, as you’d expect, and Brady and I were out the door by 7:30am. Barf.
We dropped his wheelchair off at Golden Mobility and went to get some breakfast. We haven’t eaten IN a restaurant in a very very long time!
At one point, I was assess Brady’s hair and pulled a hair out of his beard that seemed like a different color. Not only was I right, but I got a BIG root. So big that I actually made him bleed! Ack! Its ok, he took it. Its not bleeding in this picture, but I’m getting the eye. See?
After breakfast, I was dropped off at my salon to spend FIVE hours with my hair girl. This would not have happened if not for my cousin, Elise, aching to pamper me somehow from a distance. She succeeded, and paid for me to get my hair redone, which has not happened since before Christmas.
I was aaalmost tempted to keep it blonde…
But color always wins 😉
I feel refreshed. I feel like a lady. I know my person doesn’t depend on my hair, but I feel cared for, thought of, and loved.
Normally, my fresh hair gets its own post, but today there is something more exciting to show you! While I was at my appointment, Brady went and ran errands. By himself. Without his wheelchair.
First, he went to the cancer centre to pick up his next batch of chemotherapy. Yay for chemo. *insert gigantic sarcastic eye roll here*
And then he went to a lumberyard. Because he refuses to quit. Because he is amazing.
Aaaaand because lumber prices are reasonable again. Thank goodness!
He’s building me something 😁 I’m excited!! This has been promised to be for a good few months now. Its tiiiiime!
There were definite victories today. I am SO grateful for our opportunities, capabilities, and continual overwhelming support. Some of this SCI stuff feels very isolating and lonely, but I know I am never, ever alone.
Our line up for this upcoming school year iiiiiiiiis… *drumroll*
Rowan Toby in grade ONE!!!
Laela Hazel in grade THREE!!!
Dekker Thomas in grade FIVE!!! 😳
These three beautiful offspring are in school FULL TIME!!!
We have one in our lineup who is a half-timer. Solomon Brady in KINDERGARTEN!
More from him later, as this wasn’t his first day yet. Thats next week.
Aaaaand our final member from the home team! Waverly Violet is THREE, and at HOME!
Days ago she asked “How long before I’m in high school?” Ugh. I’m not ready.
The most beautiful group of children right here 🙌
This smooth morning would NOT have been possible without our people. My mom catching up our laundry after the lake so the kids had underwear, and buying us a stack of groceries so we had good packable lunch food. Cher putting in HOURS upon HOURS of work on purchasing, organizing, labelling, and packing the kids school supplies. It was a team effort, and I am SO appreciative of our team.
We walked the kids to school and picked them up. Everyone was happy and lively and completely content both getting to school and upon pickup. What a huge relief. Thank you to their beautiful teachers for all the effort put into them already! Its going to be an amazing year.
I lied yesterday, clearly. There are more pictures to share! And here they are!
Our beautiful children were invited to a late movie night with some other beautiful children 💜 They brought a projector, snacks, and Toy Story 4. Somehow, ALL NINE KIDS stayed awake!! But it was a total blast 🙂 Kids at the other site, watching a movie, and adults at our site, sitting around the fire.
These kids have only gotten close and closer through this last stretch 💜 My heart is SO full.
The wood splitter became a pretty popular item over the summer. Everyone wanted a chance. Which was actually a lot of fun, because there was NO shortage of kindling!
No shortage of piggyback rides either!!!
So thaaaaats what teenagers are for!
I was SO grateful to have a happy site where kids gathered! And SO happy they had another site to frequent with more amazing people!
Some of their girls crocheted, and when we discovered that similarity, it was aaaaall over! Crochet and pompom making parties, day in and day out!
Don’t worry, when our friends had to leave, siblings still did the trick!
We still had some good laughs…
some good snugs…
and even got some work done!
It was such a beautiful time. Ten days at the lake. I am overwhelmingly grateful for our opportunities. To be SO happy at the lake, and SO happy at home. I even got to be the passenger on the drive home, and finished up a crochet project!
I’d call this summer a great success 💜Thank you Lord for all You have done for us!
From Laela
Its not over over for the summer, but school does kick off this week! So we say goodbye for now 💜And see you soon!
Ok, so this isn’t all the pictures from our last trip to Kinasao, but its a bunch of them! If you hadn’t noticed, we had SUCH a blast out there that I didn’t want to take mountains of time to write long, detailed blogs. So now, after the fact, here is your standard pic dump with captions! I make no promises that anything is in order!
When we got to the campsite on our first day, it was SO beautiful. All the levelling, shovelling, raking, and fuss we had put into it the weekend before had packed down and it looked just SO nice. I was so happy.
There was even proof that some squirrel friends had used our chopping block as a snacking ground for their chestnut feast. I really liked that, lol! It made me giggle. 🐿️
The kids helped unpack before they ran off to have their own fun. Don’t judge us for the beer! We are NOT big drinkers! But goodness, this little girl is STRONG!
Shameless selfie 😬 Ok, maybe a little shameful. But it was a peaceful selfie.
Some days, the kids played so hard with their friends that they forgot to eat lunch! So they would have occasional apple breaks here and there. Sometimes in the rain.
We needed to wire up our lights a little differently, and suddenly Brady was standing on the cook nook 😳 “Disabled” my ass.
Dekker had a birthday during our trip, as you know. It was such a happy day! As you can see here, part of his gift from my mom was a date! And they are making it COUNT, today, at the Regina science centre and the iMax!
I show you this drink because I really really like it. I am a big fan of Pure Leaf raspberry iced tea, and this is the boozy version. Its SO yummy!
There was ONE bathing suit day. ONE. It was a pretty cute one, though.
I suffered a great fatality at the fire. My cute pink sweater now has two burn holes in it and I’m SO bummed.
We had a LOT of fires.
My mom came out for a day or two, which was SO lovely! In this picture, Laela had had her feelings hurt by a kid at camp who told her she was his best friend, and then immediately threw a bit of a psych at her and said she wasn’t. And she was SO hurt. Poor sweetie. 💔
Don’t judge me. Purple fungus!!! Its SO pretty!!! Its possible I have these pieces of firewood set to the side because they’re just too pretty to burn.
On one particular rainy day, Waverly helped haul all the chairs in. I was still playing with the fire, because as you know, I love the rain. And Wavy came out to join me. I loved that.
A couple of my sweet boys 😍😍
Waverly always wants the last drop of the coffee 😆☕
I sent Dekker and Laela on an adventure in the rain one day. They were gone for about an hour, and the rain had stopped by the time they were back, but they had had a really really good time! I’m excited for them to be better friends again once school is back in!
Aaaaall five in a row!
More fires, and beetle paths!
We were invited to join a family for their daughters birthday fireworks! The kids had SUCH a blast! Ha! Pun.
Cher came and sneakily stayed for a couple of nights! It looks like a mess but she insists she was SO comfy!
Wavy ended up rocking one of Solly’s long sleeved shirts at one point, and Cher’s shoes were a nice touch, too!
Brady began and completed a project!! Eek! I’d tell you ALL about it, but I want him to!
Whew! This is a LOT! I think we’ll make a part two for tomorrow! You’ll get to meet some of our friends 😉
