The Daily Hailey

I was about to type something about it being the last day of the series, and the last kid, but I think we all know thats not the current plan, haha! She’s the most recent baby, but hopefully not the last! So we’ll wrap up this series with our littlest love, Miss Waverly.

(Hopefully this post doesn’t feel redundant with her monthly updates, but I can’t leave her out of this! At least read it for the pictures!)

Whats new with Waverly? Lots! This girl is ever changing! She is cold-free, up to date on her vaccines, and just beautifully healthy and sweet. Her hair is getting longer and longer, and there is lots of new growth around the edges and throughout. She is getting taller and thicker, but she still feels so dainty. The truth of the matter is that she’s probably up in size 6 months now, but I haven’t had the nerve to pull that stuff out yet. I’m not ready!! Lol! She’s very interactive and loves to be talked to and teased. I don’t have any big specific changes to share, I suppose, but everything she’s doing continues to progress and get better and better! Oh and she super loves to be naked, haha!

Whats the same with Waverly? Two specific things come to mind. One is that she still hates her bath. Hates her bath. But she’s totally fine 🙂 I think moving her to the big tub helped a little, but I’m suspicious that she’s going to be one who wants the bath hotter than I’m prepared to make it. So she’ll just have to hate it while I work up to figuring out her preferred temperature. The other things thats the same but I thought would’ve changed is her lack of teeth. She is teething HARD right now. I’ve never felt baby teeth SO close to the surface without them breaking through, but alas, they’re still tucked down there! So we wait. But she won’t be toothless for much longer!!

God has already used Wavy in obvious, exciting ways! I’m SO excited to see what He does with her next!

I have never anticipated a baby the same way that I anticipated Waverly, and she did not disappoint!

***

Thats a wrap, folks! I hope everyone got a little taste of each of our children in this mini-series! These posts mean so much to me, because one day I’ll be able to look back at my blog books and see exactly where each kid was at the exact same time. These are such precious times.

Kid #4, who gave us a run for our money this morning at church, Solomon!

Whats new with Solly? All kinds of things, actually! He talks in good, clear sentences. He counts a little, and sings little bits of songs. (Thank you, Cher, for showing him baby shark, by the way…) The last time we were in the van, he bellowed “I LOVE THIS SONG” when “Gone Gone Gone” by Phillip Phillips came on. He also loves “This Little Light of Mine,” but just the version with the new part in it that he can SHOUT along to. With that being said, Solly is aging juuust enough that he has a bit more comprehension and can be reasoned with! Not all the time, but sometimes. He understands cause and effect. He’s also super helpful! He’s followed in his siblings footsteps, and he likes to be helpful, but its not always actually particularly helpful 😉 But nowadays, it is! He’ll put away diapers, through kleenexes or napkins away. He can tidy toys up and knows what goes where. He can unload just about all of the dishwasher, too! Another change that I actually mentioned on yesterdays post is that he loves to play with Rowan. SO much! If Rowan sits on a chair, Solly tries to squeeze in next to him. Its so fun to watch!

Whats the same with Solly? Really, not a lot. He’s done much more changing than maintaining recently. Sadly, his most significant constant is that he’s still awful at pooping :/ I won’t go back into it, but we had some work to do to get his system functioning properly, and he was on laxatives for about six months. We ever so slowly weened him off of his treatment and within a week, he had quit pooping again. Don’t worry, I have ideas, but we have an upcoming doctors appointment for him as soon as she is back from holidays. I’m scared he has an allergy, but I’m hoping he just needs a little more fibre than the rest of his siblings. Really, beyond that, whats the same about Solomon is his delicious little demeanour. He is SO friendly and chipper and smily. He will just hang his big ole mouth open and laugh loud and happy and its just so good to hear. He sometimes plays shy but warms up pretty quickly. It doesn’t take long to get him goofy again.

He looks SO much like baby Brady, it only makes sense that he turned out to be his namesake!

I hope Solly loves life this much forever! I’m loving doing life with him!

Third day, third kid! Today is all about Rowan!

Whats new with Rowan? Lots, actually! Ro is changing and developing, and is a pretty rockstar older brother to Solly! Those two used to battle it out on the daily, and while its not necessarily smooth 100% of the time, its way better than it was last year. Rowan will initiate games with Solly, and try and teach him things.  While he has always been paired off with Laela as being the most similar kids, he’s recently been pushing harder to be his own guy, with his own say over his style. He didn’t want to wear a Halloween costume. He doesn’t like hats. If he had it his own way, he’d always be naked. He’s a funny kid 🙂 The biggest change with Ro recently is this whole lactose/milk/dairy/allergy/sensitivity/issue. We’re still working on it, and I can make a whole post about that in the near future, but so far what I do know is that swapping out his usual milk with almond milk is making a difference, and we’ve scrapped his yogurt out for apple sauce. He hasn’t fought either of those changes too hard, because he more so likes that he is the exception to the rule. I think he thinks its like treats. So thats fun! Last change with Rowan is that he can finally get dressed independently! It took that kid a long time to learn how to get in and out of a shirt! Haha!

Whats the same about Rowan? He still plays the same way. He prefers to just pick a couple favorite things and haul them around. One of them is always the stuffie he sleeps with, which is currently “Little Foxy.” Ro continues to be one of the freindliest kids I’ve ever met, chatting with random people at grocery stores, shaking hands at church, etc. He is also our must snuggly child! He got extra snuggly right around when he turned a year old. We figured it was because he was aware of my growing belly and he sort of knew instinctually that a baby was coming (Solly) and he wasn’t going to be the youngest anymore. SO I snuggled the heck out of that kid! And BEST thing ever – he snuggles never quit! He’ll happily waste the morning away sitting on my lap, if I let him. I can attack him first thing in the morning in his bed, and lay on top of him, and he just takes it. The best is, if I’m sad or having a hard time, he’ll say “I’ll feel you better, mommy” and come hug and kiss me. He snuggles SO nice. In case you hadn’t picked up on it, Rowan also still loves his long hair. I was regularly asking him if he wants one, and he was getting frustrated with it, insisting that he likes it long. So we made a deal. I told him I would never force him to cut his hair, and I told him that he can ask for a haircut anytime, and he can have one. But we both love his hair, so I’m pretty happy with that arrangement.

Rowan tends to just float where the wind blows. He’s SO innocent and free!

I love Rowan’s gentle soul and the way he pours love out on everyone. He’s already such a little man!

To continue my series of updates on the kids, we’ll go to Laela next.

Whats new with Laela? Lots! Laela is in kindergarten, and it shows. She is always coming home talking about letter sounds, patterns, songs, etc. She is absolutely loving school. I’ve been learning that, while Laela is second in birth order, she is the oldest girl, and therefore often feels like she’s the oldest. Sometimes that results in a power struggle, because she wants to be SO grown up, but it also leaves her quite responsible and helpful to the younger ones. Laela has dropped off some of her reserved nature, and is starting to let loose a little bit. She’ll sing and dance and be silly with everyone, where as she used just sit off to the side and watch. She LOVED preschool, but barely sang or did actions. It seems thats a thing of the past, as she comes home and sings for me the songs she learns at school. Its so refreshing! She’s also continued to ace her letters, learning the sounds without much help at all, and even sounding words out. If there is ever an opportunity to write a note or a card, she is ON it! Just about everything she writes is about how much she loves someone and why. Usually “Yoo are grat.” Stuff like that 💜 On a less important note, but still worth mentioning, Laela is bang on size wise, wearing the standard size 5T at age five. Her hair is suddenly quite long and noticeably thicker. And she let’s me do it! In fact, she chooses what she wants it to look like every day. She’s definitely not a little little girl anymore.

Whats the same about Laela? She’s still super girly. Loves to play with makeup and jewelry, pick her own clothes, etc. She still eats just little bits, and at a snails pace. She still loves babies, haha! Her siblings are cool and all, but the baby always wins. She’ll speak to her younger siblings in an extra-high, squeaky voice, which is hilarious if you’ve ever heard her normal voice. Its already SO high, her “baby talk” voice is most comparable to a dog whistle. But its SO sweet! Laela continues to be our child that pushes back against some of our rules, but I like to think it’ll be an amazing quality as she gets older, where she’ll hold to her convictions and not back down when she truly believes something!

She’s not as quiet as she pretends to be 😉 This girl can PLAY!

I LOVE this little girly so so much! I can’t wait to see what she does next!

My school kids have a five day weekend! I thought it would be nice to throw out an update about each kid over the next five days! Its kind of an odd time to put together a little series like this. Normally, a Monday-Friday schedule would make more sense. However, I’m going on a retreat next week, from Thursday through Sunday, so I wouldn’t be able to finish it. So, Thursday to Monday it is!

I was going to start with Dekker, in order of age, but I remember that sometimes feeling annoying, as the youngest child. My next thought was to go in alphabetical order, but weirdly, thats the same order! I never realized that. We’ll definitely mess that up with the next one, haha! (NOT because the next one is on the way, but because none of our baby names start with X, Y, or Z) Rather than getting a whole lot more creative than that, we’re just going to roll with it this way. Starting with Dekker.

Whats new with Dekker? He’s excelling at school, and continuing to move up in his reading levels. He’s braver in the gym and on the playground. He says his favorite subject at school is math, yet he admits its the most challenging. I LOVE that he likes it, even though its not easy for him! That right there says a lot about his character. He’s very responsible, and loves to be given responsibilities. He walks with Laela to and from school on her school days, and while I thought he might, he hasn’t forgotten to go get her even once! Haha! He’s actually admit he’s gone to pick her up occasionally, and realize upon arrival that its not her day! But he can laugh at himself while he tells me about it later 🙂 He loves to be silly!

Whats the same about Dekker? His size, haha! He’s growing up, but not yet growing up, if you know what I mean. He’s still one of the shorter kids in class, having yet to hit a solid growth spurt in the last year or so. He’s “sit in the front row of the school picture” short, but he’s built like a tank! He’s “grade two football team” tanky. These are very technical measurements, so pay attention, lol! Also, his willingness to help and to do jobs hasn’t changed. I used to fear that I was “making” him do too much, but he often offers all on his own! Just today, I said to Dekker “Honey, thats not a job for you. I’m happy to do it.” And he insisted! He wrapped up a dirty diaper and ran it off to our diaper pail. “I don’t mind, mommy. I’m already up.” I am SO grateful that he’s like this, and puffy proud of him that this is how he’s basically always been.

He wouldn’t tell you, but he’s secretly a leader.

I LOVE who Dekker has been, and I LOVE who he’s growing into.

In a special turn of events, Jerilee came out to visit for the afternoon! We usually hang out about once a week, watch trashy tv, and eat delicious food. Its so fun. I love our tradition. But a day date, free of tv, is so refreshing, and felt much needed today.

We just sat, in a quiet, kid-free, living room, and caught up. It feels like its been a while. We both had fun things to talk about, funny stories we had missed sharing, a few more practical things, and some discouragements. It was a full conversation, and it felt great.

I miss those days. We used to have day dates all the time when we lived in Radisson, believe it or not! She would show up with a tray of Starbucks drinks, one for me, one for her, and two empty cups, complete with lids, sleeves, and the little spout pokey things. Dekker and Laela would head right for her and accept their bevvies, and we would enjoy ours while they played. This felt like that.

While my afternoon was so lovely and uplifting, Dekker came home struggling hard, and has been a ball of tears for most of his time here at home. Lots of needing to go take a break on his own accord. Lots of big emotions. It sounds like some days home from school are timed just perfectly for our little group over here. If you’re looking for us, we’ll probably be at home, in our sweats, watching Christmas movies. (YES! Christmas! I said it! Leave it alone!) I think the doctor ordered some R&R for our group, so I think I’m going to let that happen.

Bring on the snuggles!

This is going to be a pretty weird one. Hope I don’t regret it! Hahaha!

Today I’m going to share with you ten-ish random fact/stories about ME that you may or may not already know. Some of them will depend on how long you’ve known me, or how long you’ve read my blog, or just maybe you’ve just heard them casually in passing. Usually people’s “get to know me” posts are a bit different than this, but I think “different” is a pretty good word for me 😉 I know, by blogging, I put a lot of things out there, any many people feel like they know me very well! Maybe there will be some surprises in here! Who knows! So hopefully this brings us closer together in a somewhat unconventional way.

1. I was born with crossed eyes. At nine months old, I had eye surgery. The same surgery Dekker had, actually. Apparently, post-op, I was an entirely different baby who loved to giggle at herself in the mirror. Around 18 months old, however, I believe I got a fever that messed up my eyes a second time. As far as I know, a second surgery wasn’t presented as an option, so I got glasses, and they helped straighten my eyes. Still to this day, if I don’t wear glasses for long enough, and I get overtired or sick, my left eye wanders in. 
2. I am always cold. I know lots of people can feel with me in this. I’ve always been this way, but I used to be much more of a schmuck about it, wearing flip flops in the snow, wearing capri pants well into winter, never wearing socks, etc. No wonder I was cold. Nowadays, I can wear pants, long sleeves, and socks pretty much every day in my nice warm house, and I’m still chilly. People assume that being pregnant in summer is the most uncomfortable thing but I LOVE being hugely pregnant in summer! I love to be warm.
3. I hate the shower. HATE the shower. I didn’t take a shower for legitimately our first year in this house. I hate when my hair sheds and sticks all over my body. I hate having water on my face or in my eyes. I hate getting out of the shower and being cold. I love my big soaker tub, and have a bath pretty much every single day, so I’m clean. I used to wash my hair in the kitchen sink when I needed to, but thats gotten tricky as my hair has gotten longer. Also, the bright color runs when I wash it, so it only took one time spattering my white kitchen cabinets with purple color for me to give in and *sigh* shower. So I do that now. But not very often. My hair is very used to not being washed, and therefore doesn’t produce as much oil as most. Let’s just say, if I wash my hair every week, that’s pretty impressive! (pats self on back)
4. I never thought I moved around a lot, but looking at it now, turns out I have! I was born in Morden, MB. and moved to my hometown in Saskatchewan when I was one. When I was seven, we moved across the street. Yup. We did. After I graduated high school, I spent the summer at a camp by Swift Current, and then moved to Hepburn, SK for the year. I spent the four months after school at Waskesiu, and then moved to Winnipeg. I lived in a house with a bunch of girls there, before moving to my own apartment. Winnipeg didn’t last long, and I came home after five months or so. I moved in with my parents until I got married and moved into Brady’s apartment in Saskatoon. He and I moved to Radisson and stayed for six years. When we moved, we lived in an acreage south of Saskatoon for a bit, and then a little cabin in Lawson Heights area for another little bit, and NOW we’ve made it full circle, back to my hometown 🙂 I can’t promise we’ll never move again, but I plan to be in this town as long as humanly possible! 
5. My biggest physical insecurity is a little mole that hangs out just below my nose. I super hate that thing. I literally had to look back in pictures of my high school years to see if I’ve always had it, and sure enough, I did, but I was vastly unaware of it. I had no idea it existed until someone made a joke about trying to pick it, because it “looked like a booger.” I’ve tried pretty hard to pretend its not there and not be too petty about it, but since having kids and having more colds, I blow my nose a lot more, resulting in it drying out, and occasionally bleeding. I think I can finally justify getting it hacked off. I’m over having it on my face at all, but also over having it bleed like crazy when I blow my nose. Ugh. 
6. I wasn’t allowed to date growing up, yet I still managed to be part of a plethora of weird relationships. The stories were pretty amusing, if I do say so myself. I used to imagine writing a book about them, where each guy would get his own chapter. He’d be under a different name, of course. Along with the book would come the “soundtrack,” as I had realized I had a song that I associated with every single guy! Lots of the details are rusty now, but at the time, I thought it was SUCH a good idea!
7. You guys know I go for a nail/wax appointment every month or so. I do those things for very specific reasons. I get my nails done because otherwise I chew my nails and the skin around them like no other! My thumbs are scarred so badly that, when my hands get any kind of tan on them, the skin around my thumbnails stays pink. If not for that reason, I wouldn’t put the time or money into doing my nails. But I need them. Pretty sure I can credit them also for not getting sick as often this fall! I wax my legs because for YEARS I tried to shave in the tub or in the shower, and while everyone I knew could stand in the shower for five minutes and come out flawlessly shaven, I would spend 30 minutes and come out just bleeding like crazy. I was HORRIBLE at shaving, and it never improved. And I wax my arms for vanity, if we’re being honest. I held out for a long time, trying to come to terms with being a hairy girl with long, dark arm hair. When I got my wedding pictures back, my photographer had used a filter that left my arms looking dirty, and that was it for me. No more of that.
8. I always knew I wanted kids. My poor guidance counsellor at school just couldn’t handle the fact that I had no real post secondary plans. I just wanted to be married and have kids. Very naive, for sure, but true. And thank goodness it worked out that way for me! Whew!! But my plan was seriously flawed. I “planned” to be married super young, and have a good handful of kids. Four-ish, I figured. But I was going to be done having kids at 25, and I was NEVER going to drive one of those HORRIFIC minivans! 😆 Its possible some of these things have changed…
9. When I graduated high school, I had hair down to my waist. I was NOT girly enough to care about my hair, but I had made bets with a few friends to try and grow out our hair until grad. But I hated having long hair. I made an appointment with our local hairstylist at the time, and the day after graduation, she chopped it ALL off for me into a cute little pixie cut. When I went to school to pick up my report card the next day, no one recognized me. They did eventually, of course, but it took a SOLID double/triple take. I super enjoyed that, and never thought I’d go back to long hair. That being said, my long hair now was entirely accidental. I had a very short style, longer on the top, shorter on the sides, not that long ago. At one of my hair appointments, I suggested we let one side grow a bit and keep one side short. And the rest is history. Unlike most people who have long hair and shave one side off, I grew it out from a shorty cut! The shaved side, and the color, has kept it interesting enough for me to not hack it all off yet, and suddenly, its LONG! 
10. The last story for you today is how I got my guitar. I have a black acoustic guitar that I purchased for $120 out of a pawn shop in Winnipeg when I was 15. It is a Segovia, which no one has heard of, because I think its exclusive to Winnipeg. Or it used to be?? I’m not sure. It has a beautiful, FULL sound, and is pretty much the perfect campfire guitar. I named it Nigel Bogey Lowenstein Friesen. When I got married, I hyphenated his last name to Friesen-Born, but soon thereafter decided to drop Friesen, because I’m not about that.

Sooooo thats all a little transparent, some more important than others! Feeling just a little awkward putting some of these things out there, but it would make me feel less that way if other’s shared something random about themselves in the comments!! Anyone want to add to the awkward madness??

This weather has me like…..

Anyone else? This is always a challenging time of year for me. Its so dark, leaving me so tired, and usually a bit downtrodden. Its nothing I can’t handle, of course, but today, true winter hit in full swing. It rained yesterday, and now today its below zero (not by much all on its own) but the wind is bananas, gusting over 50 km/hr all day long. I drove Dekker to school for the first time this school year. He’ll still walk in winter, but this wind is unreal. And the wind combined with yesterday’s rain and todays snow is leaving things suuuper icy.

We need our winter tires on. But this week is the week we’re finally getting our bus in for hail damage repairs, and since our bus is the size that it is, its not going to be a super quick fix. We’ve been told to expect it to be gone through the entire work week. The auto body shop has told us they can rent us a vehicle for about half the cost anywhere else, which is appreciated, but will be interesting. They’re giving us a minivan. Which technically fits everyone, but I’m not confident it’ll fit everyone’s car seats. We called Driving Force, where we got our van initially, to see what they had to offer us in terms of rentals, and to get something like our bus would set us back almost $200/day! We obviously can’t justify that, so we’ll hope for the best with the minivan!

It feels like a bit of a weird time to me. Just the changing of seasons, I suppose. I’m not going to push, though. I won’t pretend I love winter. But I’m not going to be a whiner either. Instead, I’ll hang out in cozy clothes in my cozy house with my cozy kids, and drink cozy coffee and eat cozy muffins and wipe everyone’s noses with cozy tissues. Because winter.

Maybe I’ll do a little online Christmas shopping while I’m at it. Assuming Canada Post isn’t on strike for the next two months, that is…

Solly has begun pretending. Today he brought me some duplo and told me it was cake. I “ate” the “cake” for a couple of minutes, marvelling at how delicious it was, and I suggested he offer some to Brady.

Me: I bet daddy would like to try some. He loves cake.
Solly: Ok! (gathers his cake and “spoon” (Barbie hairbrush) and headed to the kitchen) Daddyyyyy!
Brady: Yes Solly?
Solly: Have a bite!
Brady: A bite of what?
Solly: A bit in the mouth!
Brady: What am I eating, Solly?
Solly: (incomprehensible babble)
Brady: (stares)
Solly: (stares) IT’S CAKE!

Not only is Solly talking more and more, but he’s pretending so much, and its SO fun! Once he was finished with his game of serving us cake, he switched gears and travelled to the “sea park,” which usually means doing laps from the living room, to under the dining room table. He likes to pretend to clean, and to play guitar. His games are just so innocent and sweet. I feel like all of my kids started pretending with food. Anyone else?

Guest Post!!

So Hailey has asked me to write out the story about how my last work van came upon its very, VERY timely demise. I don’t remember how much Hailey has written about my Chevy Astro so I may be repeating what some of you already know but please bear with me.

That Astro was a lemon from the get go. Unfortunately, the van I had before it, started to burn oil in a significant way sometime around when it was getting really cold and starting to snow last winter. Thus began the hunt for a new work van. Unfortunately we were coming off a bad slump with work and DID NOT have money to spend on any kind of vehicle. So the search was restricted to anything under $1000 which meant that our options were sketchy at best. I ended up finding this Astro for $800, however, the seller sold it out from under me and another guy to college student who used it to move a friend over the weekend and then put it right back up for sale on Monday for $900. That should have been a huge red flag but unfortunately I get really bad tunnel vision when I’m looking at buying a vehicle and I just honed in.

We went to look at it in the middle of a blizzard but that didn’t stop me either. I checked it over as best I could with a foot of fresh snow on the ground and wrote off the issues I found as manageable ‘because it’s old and cheap.’ I bought it, and before we even got it home I was having buyers remorse.

It was a Piece. Of. Junk.

The seller also roped me into getting rid of an old couch he had left in the back. Which I did because tunnel vision. *facepalm*

In an effort not to ramble on and on about my regrets here’s a list of the things that were wrong with it when I bought it.

~ Tires were bald (remember the blizzard)

~ Needed an oil change

~ Needed a new Air Filter

~ Hood wouldn’t open

~ Rear Door wouldn’t unlock

~ Exhaust pipe was separated from muffler and dangling below the van

~ Driver and Passenger doors wouldn’t open from the outside (I had to climb in through the sliding door)

~ Battery wasn’t strong enough to start the van below -20*C

~ Heater fan didn’t work

~ Multiple front suspension parts were in need of replacement (to the point that my tire shop refused to do a wheel alignment)

So you get the picture. It was a solid, reliable, built to last work van with only 309,000 kms on it. *faceplam*

What was I thinking?

I have to say that Hailey was the picture of a loving, supportive wife through every step of this process. She talked things through with me and gave me space to make the decision and didn’t say anything when I started kicking myself later that week.

Thanks Honey! I couldn’t imagine a better partner in crime! I love you.

So over the course of the last year I was able to fix a number of the issues without pouring too much money into it. I still spent more money on it than I should’ve in hindsight. And it worked decently well once spring and summer rolled around, however, I could tell it wasn’t happy moving back into fall and towards winter. It was starting to act oddly in bad weather and running rough from time to time. But I tried to be brave and live with the bad decision I made a year earlier. Maybe we could think about a new work van next year sometime.

But then came that ridiculous Tuesday.

I ran a few errands after work and started making my way home for supper. As I was getting out on the highway and accelerating I heard a small ‘Pop’ and lost power little a bit. I could still make the van drive but it wasn’t driving normally at all.

I pulled over and walked around the van, looked underneath and as far as I could tell, nothing was broken or leaking. I started thinking to myself that this was probably the Astro’s last day but I figured I’d try to get home anyways. Most likely something was up with the transmission and it wouldn’t be worth trying to fix it.

I got back on the highway and managed to get it almost up to highway speed so as not to be a hazard. I limped it about half the way home and got to the turn off towards home where I was only about 10 minutes away. I started accelerating again, this time with a little less caution. I was about a kilometre towards town when I heard…

BANG! ThwackThwackThwack! Thwack! Thwackthwack!

A scattershot of parts hit the underside of my van, all power was lost, smoke started to fill the cabin. I slammed on the brakes and pulled off into someone’s driveway. Oddly enough, our across the street neighbour happened to be behind me on her commute home and had to swerve to avoid me. (She told us later that she didn’t recognize my van and thought someone had just blown a tire in front of her. HAHAHA)

So I left the van running and jumped out as quickly as I could to look under the van. Transmission fluid was pouring all over the ground so I shut the van off as quick as I could. The pouring fluid seemed to stop so the panic was over for the moment. I walked around to the passenger side, out of the way of traffic, and got down on the ground to see what had happened. With the help of my phone flashlight I could see INSIDE the transfer case.

For those who don’t know, a transfer case is a box of gears that takes the rotation of the shaft coming out of the transmission and sends it rear wards to the rear wheels as well as turns it around and sends it forwards to the front wheels. It’s a necessary component of any four wheel or all wheel drive, of which my van was the latter. Hopefully that helps. For the record, my dad taught me what it was when I was 11 or 12 so please don’t hate me for my mansplanation.

So the transfer case had ripped itself apart, and as I was marvelling in the destruction my Astro had bestowed on itself, I looked a little further forward at the transmission and noticed …

A small flame. About 2″ tall. I watched it for ten seconds or so to see if it would put itself out.

It didn’t.

Panic! Fire! Expletives!

I jumped up to grab my fire extinguisher from under my passenger seat but the door was locked. So I had to run around to the driver side again, careful not to run into traffic, grabbed the extinguisher and sprinted back around to the passenger side. I dropped to the ground. Pulled the pin. Looked to see if the flame was still there, it was. And, for the first time in my life, pulled the trigger on a fire extinguisher.

It put the flame out instantly. As in, annoyingly fast. I was kind of hoping to have to ‘fight’ the fire. Is that bad? Oh well. I put out the ‘fire’ and as I was taking stock of the situation I saw my friend/neighbour backing up to me in his work truck.

After a brief explanation of what had happened he offered to tow me home. Which I graciously accepted. Haha

He hooked up his tow rope and after a brief issue with me forgetting that the emergency brake was on, we were off towards home. Thus began the most nerve wracking part of the day.

We were doing about 60-70 km/h which doesn’t seem that fast, but when you’re forced to go that speed and tailgate someone at about 15-20′, its a a scary experience. Keep in mind my van was not running so I didn’t have full brakes either. I was terrified to slam into the back of my friend’s truck if he had to stop suddenly. 70 km/h was our agreed upon speed, however, so I can’t complain too much.

But we made it home! He towed my van up to a spot on the street in front of our house and I threw on the emergency brake.

It was over.

Not my scariest commute, I’ve definitely had scarier, but not a relaxed one either.

So of course you read the rest of the story about how we found a new van and how much better it is. Haha But today was the day that the Astro was taken away. I called an auto wrecker to come tow it away and they even paid us a little for it. YAY!

Goodbye Ass-tro!