Someone tell me how to clone myself so I can do all the things I want to do in the timeline I want to do them and as well as I want to do them (which is perfectly of course...)! Things have been going well around here! School is out next week (I cannot believe it). I have had some calls with specialists, clinics and radiologists about next steps for my health which is great. I am feeling excited and nervous about the summer--nervous about the burnout I experience, but excited because we are in a different stage of life than all the other years. Dave and I have been working more together and juggling things with little childcare the last few weeks so that's been interesting. Emilia dreamed up and planned and executed a bake sale to raise money for horseback riding that was incredibly successful. We celebrated my half-birthday at Published on Main which was an experience that really deserves a post all on its own!!
I can't wrap my head around writing this blog in themes or story like I want to, so it's just going to be a day by day since my last post.
Wednesday May 29 we went to my parents' house for dinner. Don Noot, a family friend from WAY back in the day was there visiting too, so it was fun to catch up with him! He is a big Oiler's fan, and there was a game that night, so he and Dom bonded over that of course haha.
We went to the playground and Eva was at the top of a netted play structure and fell down right through the middle onto her back. It was probably a good 9 foot drop. Poor thing. I almost got there in time to catch her. She was winded, and kept saying her body was hurting, but by the next day she was feeling a lot better. Sheesh. Toddlers.
Thursday May 30
Emilia dressing herself. She's a great mix of fancy with her dress, casual with her sweatpants, and practical with her fleece sweater haha. She's happy, so I'm happy. Who cares what they wear to school, really. I'm much more concerned about practicality than fashion (surprise...!)
In the afternoon on Thursday I had an appointment with a Jim Pattison Outpatient Neurologist. This is the follow-up from the referral that was sent to them from my Emergency visit to Langley Hospital back on April 12th. So over a month and a half later I received my very first follow-up... I cannot express enough how grateful I am for the care I received at VGH and how everything was literally figured out in one day, just a few days after my initial emergency visit.
I was the first Pulmonary AVM patient this Neurologist had seen, so the appointment was mostly her saying, "Interesting..." and me explaining my story. I had a moment of reality when I had to check off "TIA or Stroke" on the Medical History part of the intake form. Normally I just breeze over those things. I still feel like all of this happened to someone else.
The latest on all of this... I am getting the bloodwork on Monday June 17 for testing for HHT (genetic condition that can cause malformations of arteries and veins), as that was finally approved by the government. Blood samples have to be sent abroad and it's very costly, so it took some time to get that approval. I don't think it's likely I have HHT. I am still on a waitlist for a liver MRI to see if I have any abnormalities in my liver too (again, I don't think so, but who knows!).
I got a call from the radiologist to go over the embolization procedure and to confirm that the plan is to embolize/coil the AVM which will block it off and basically mitigate any risk of another stroke happening. That should be booked within the next 4-5 months(!!).
Dave and I were chatting and I wanted to have some wine and Dill Pickle chips. I opened this one that I got at the Hope International fundraiser silent auction by accident (didn't expect to win two things...). We took a sip and were like woah.. this is amazing! Looked it up and found out I had opened a $60 bottle of wine to drink with my PC Dill Pickle Chips hahaha! Oh well. Not fancy, but I enjoyed it.
Friday May 31 Eva and I joined Emilia's class on their outdoor Friday to Unwin Park. The plan was to play in the waterpark, but it didn't come on until after Eva and I left. It was my first big outing since potty-training Eva, but she did great. She's such a champ!
I can't with their friendship. They are the sweetest!! <3
Eva just hangin' with the big girls
Finally some kids that will pose in one of these for me! Haha. Normally it's like pulling teeth if I try to get my kids to do this.
I picked the kids up a little early after school so we could drive out to Frank Hurt to watch Dave play in an Alumni vs. Senior Team basketball game. I haven't seen Dave play in many years. Had to share the floor time with a lot of guys, but it was fun anyway! Also the Alumni won!
Emilia understood the assignment :)
Dom is at the age where pictures are often a no go. I'll respect that haha.
On Saturday June 1, we dropped the kids at my parents' place and went to Surrey Christian Secondary School - my old stomping grounds! Dave is filming the promotional video for the school, and I was being interviewed for it. Double-duty as assistant and interviewee.
We took a family trip to the library in the afternoon and Dom taught us all about space. After a stop at the playground, we went home and after dinner I remembered we had this little solar system model kit that was given to us by a neighbour. Dom spent a long time meticulously painting and assembling it. He's obsessed!
Did you know Mercury is not the hottest planet?
Venus is, because of its dense atmosphere!
Painting Uranus. Dave and I tried to be mature, but when he comes up to us and says things completely innocently like, "Uranus is still wet," or... "Uranus has a crack in it," the maturity wavered haha!
Used up the last of my Chopped Leaf gift card for dinner. Such a gift! Meals, people... If you don't know how to help someone, meals!!
Sunday June 2, I took the girls to church, and Dave and Dom went to the Cars & Coffee thing at Porsche Langley. Dom brought his little camera which was adorable, and Dave got some really cool shots!
Tuesday June 3 was Emilia's first time back to horseback riding after the debacle with French Toast running off with her and throwing her off into a mud puddle. She was given Blue, and she crushed it. She's amazing. Blue is a bit of a stinker and a corner cutter, so even though he is her favorite, she asked for a different horse next time, because she wants to continue working on her skills. Go girl!
Wednesday, June 5 I worked in the morning, and then met Dave at the school after we picked up the kids. He was filming another interview, so as his assistant, we had the three kids with us while he set up. Having 3 energetic kids around thousands of dollars of camera gear/equipment is not for the faint of heart. We're getting more efficient with the set-up though and working together.
Looks peaceful now, but this is after I had to take away a soccer ball he was trying to kick around in the room...
Lighting/framing model. Don't know what he'd do without me... we should get a mannequin for him to use haha!
Almost every night Emilia reads a Piggie & Gerald story or two at bedtime. Kids learning to read amazes me. For some reason I wondered how she'd do with it. I wasn't concerned, but Dom picked it up so quickly and they're very different, so I wondered if she'd struggle. So far, she's doing absolutely amazing! I definitely don't think I could read like this in Kindergarten...
Ashley and I got out for a glass of wine! It's been far too long. It was great to catch up and be intentional :)
Thursday June 6, Dom's grade went to the MacMillan Space Centre (Planetarium) in Vancouver. I signed up as a volunteer because why not! I was not as brave as many of the other parents, and I opted to drive myself instead of taking the bus with 60 first graders. The drive was just over an hour, and I listened to my music as loud as I wanted and it was glorious. I got there early and went for a walk along the water, and then Dom and I went for another walk before driving home after.
Kids are so funny when you go on their field trips. It's like you can tell they're happy you're there, but they also don't know how to handle the dynamic of being with their friends and teachers, but also their parent.
He and one of his best friends, who I adore, sat in front of me and his friend's mom at one of the presentations. They felt so special and important sitting in a row "on their own". Also the presentation was super interesting about what it's like to live on the ISS.
Taking in the sights. He's getting so tall. It's freaking me out.
I made some Old Fashioneds (how do you pluralize old fashioned?) for Dave and I with our dinner that evening. This is very out of the ordinary for us haha.
Wanted a selfie with me after seeing me and Dad take one.
Dom coloured and cut out all the planets and we taped them to his ceiling with the light as the sun haha. I love it.
Some kids read before bed, this kid sneaks his goalie gear upstairs and plays hockey by himself in his room for an hour and a half. He's so often awake until 9pm and then up at 6. That's not enough sleep for a 7 year old is it?! He just gets carried away with his quiet time and gets so busy doing things.
Friday June 7, I had a board meeting downtown and we went to Notch8 for lunch afterwards. We were supposed to go to Joe Fortes, but they couldn't move our reservation earlier so we ended up here. It was very beautiful.
That day was Dom & Emilia's Falcon's Fest at school. Dave was filming for the promotional video again, and we didn't have any childcare for Eva, so she had to follow him around all day. Apparently she did amazing. Emilia was really nervous about Falcon's Fest, which I remember Dom being like last year too. Dom's team was the "Rockin' Blueberries", so Emilia made the below poster for him haha.
Dom Fokin Fest <3 Fokin Falcons haha
Friday was busy! After bedtime, we had Michael and Matt over for drinks and snacks. We had to reschedule last time due to my stroke and it took way too long to reschedule. We always love hanging out with them and laugh way too hard!
Saturday June 8 Aunty Lasagna came over again for a second day of baking to prep for Emilia's bake sale! Dom went to a playdate while we made M&M chocolate chip cookies, rainbow sugar cookies with Jello flavoring, and baked & iced some sugar cookies!
Eva says, "It's dancing with a dress on!" because of the way the royal icing flowed while it was being mixed
So beautiful!!
Emilia loaded up her wagon with rocks and set up to practice for her bake sale haha.
Jesse & Kirstin got this weird inflatable dinosaur sprinkler that shoots water out of its... somewhere between its nose and mouth haha. Strange but fun I suppose!
Sprinkler hop scotch! Nate is at such a stinking cute age <3
June 9 we decided to skip church due to the busy days we'd had. Emilia was also really excited to decorate her iced cookies. We had some edible pens so she wrote and drew messages on the sugar cookies to sell! Very cute.
Emilia drew a lasagna on the one on the right haha!
She was very excited, so we hung up posters for her bake sale around the neighbourhood! We were hoping for good weather on the 15th, but as the day approached it was clear that wasn't going to happen, so we had to pivot. More on that below.
Sunday afternoon we went to Scott & Ashleigh's for our first dinner together at the new place! The kids played hard on the trampoline and we had delicious food and drinks together. Their place is beautiful! Great spot to raise a family :)
Tuesday June 11
Horseback riding makes every week's blog because I love it haha. I am absolutely falling in love with horses. Not that that was a big ask for me, but I am just finding myself connecting with them and understanding them more and more.
Anyway, horseback riding last week. We weren't sure who she'd be riding, but she was hoping for Picasso. We got there and saw that she was going to be riding Holly. Her last Holly experience wasn't great. Holly was known for being irritable and agitated during grooming and tacking. She was only to be handled by advanced staff, and would often posture and threaten to kick and bite. She was known for being great to ride, but that stuff leading up to it was a challenge and very intimidating. She was abused by a past owner so was carrying a lot of fear.
Emilia's last time riding her was way back in maybe November? December? Holly was being Holly before the lesson, and it was Emilia's first time witnessing that and she totally shut down. She was terrified and took such a long time to even just get her on the horse, and then wanted to quit horseback riding.
Obviously Emilia has more experience now and was willing to go see Holly and give it a go. I don't know what changed in the last 6 months, but Holly was a completely different horse! She was calm and affectionate and was licking me and loving on Emilia. We got help tacking her, but were able to untack her on our own and she showed zero signs of agitation. She was absolutely lovely. <3
The size difference here is not lost on me haha! There is no forced perspective. Emilia's just the size of this horse's head haha
Wednesday at the end of the day we were invited to Dom's class as the students were reading the stories they'd written. Dom wasn't expecting us, so he was very pleasantly surprised. His story was about the cabin and the missing swing chair! I loved the details he remembered about the cabin.
Mom & dad's for deeelicious California Roll bowls for dinner!
Thursday Dave was filming yet another interview with the school's superintendent and then filming a bunch of b-roll at the elementary campus. Again, I was the assistant because we work really well together. Only problem was that we were there working for 4+ hours and did not have anyone to watch Eva. She was an absolute champ. She read books, sat quietly and just followed us around and observed the whole time. Amazing.
Friday I decided to take care of teacher gifts. Inspired by a few other moms in my life, I made sourdough loaves and a handwritten card for the teachers. It was a bit of a mad week, but I got it done!
Not perfect, but it'll do :)
Friday we were also eyeing the weather on Saturday for Emilia's bake sale (raising money for horseback riding). Aunty Sonya was planning to come help me do some packaging Friday morning, so that morning I woke up early and Dave and I made the call. Let's do the sale TODAY! The weather looked like it was going to be nice, and we'd catch the after school rush.
I picked the kids up early from school and we went to the park at 2:15 to set up. By 4:00 we were closing up shop and oh my gosh. She received SO much support from the neighbourhood and our community/family/village. Thank you for blessing us/her in this way!
Thank you card for Aunty Lasagna (Atee Lzona haha!)
She does deserve some serious thanks though. Honestly if it was up to me it would have been chocolate chip cookies on a plate. She came with bags and ideas and plans for packaging and baking, and it all turned out so beautiful! <3
These were the first things to go
Helping me finish up some of the packaging
Her second customers. She and Dave flagged them down as they drove by and they initially said no thanks, but then pulled over up the road and came back. They were very generous. Emilia made more in the first 6 minutes of her sale than I make in an hour of Executive Assistant work haha.
It helps that she's raising money for her horseback riding lessons, and one of the men used to own and raise horses.
We had to empty her jar half-way through... I thought she'd MAYBE bring in $200 if we were lucky just because she's cute, but... what the heck.
Near the end. Not much left!
Great Opa & Great Oma stopped by which was a surprise. A sweet hug for Great Opa <3
Right after the sale we had Jeff, Marta & O over for lasagna for dinner. I know Marta's pregnant self has a soft spot for the PC lasagna, so I buy it when it's on sale with the intention for sharing it with them if/when it works out! Haha
It got too quiet and we thought these two were up to some mischief upstairs. As it turns out, they were quietly sitting together on the door sill eating their freezies.
Yesterday we went to Published on Main for my birthday, but that truly is going to get a post to itself.
Random Moments.
This boy is such a cutie!
So is this boy.
And this boy. Finally the horses are out in the field at the bottom of our neighborhood! I stopped to look on my walk and he came all the way from across the field to say hi. Lovely big guy :)
Dave made the best chalk track yet for their scooters and bikes!
Eva serenaded the whole neighborhood with some made up songs. This one she was yelling/singing, "I'm so sad about my giiiiiiiirlllll." And as she mused off the balcony it felt very Romeo and Juliet to me.
She let me put a messy bun in her hair! <3
