A regular update

 I've been busy with dog-walks, house stuff and the kids stuff. Let's see if I can remember what has happened since October.  

I'll start with school stuff.  Bert has done very well with the transition to middle school.  The only class he consistently has homework in is Advanced Math.  And that was the only class he seemed to really have to "work" at.  The rest come without much extra effort, and no extra studying.  And as such, he got As in all his classes, except math, which he got a C.  We weren't disappointed though, because he worked hard for that C.  And he made honour roll, which he was really proud about.  He made a new friend, Julian, as well.  Mostly, though, it's all the same kids from elementary school, which is good too.  I'm very happy he has a good group of boys to be with.  My only beef is: he is (apparently, I haven't confirmed) the only one in the group without a cell phone.  6th graders don't need cell phones.  Especially smart phones.  Anyway, this semester is almost 2 months in, and he's doing well again.  As in everything except math, which is currently a solid B (84%).  So far, so good.

Bronwyn has been hit or miss about school.  Nearly every morning is a struggle though.  She doesn't want to go, she needs a mental health day, etc.  She doesn't want to get dressed, or go out the door.  Occasionally, the stars align and she is pleasant.  Once she's at school is hit or miss as well.  Some days she does a lot of work, she participates, and is happy to be there.  Other days she does little to no work, is grumpy or disruptive.  She is hitting all the goals, testing wise, except writing.  She is a little behind in that.  She signed up for the after school ceramics class at the beginning of 2026.  Bert took the same class when he was in 4th grade, I think (maybe 5th).  She's really enjoyed in, and has some talent in it as well.  I think she could be very artistic, if she let herself.  But she has a lot of issues with perfectionism, which doesn't let her try.  

More on Bronwyn.  She was formally diagnosed with ARFID, which is a restrictive diet eating disorder.  We were not surprised, though, it took a long time to get the diagnosis.  And anorexia was a possibility for a bit too, which was scary to think an 8 year old could have those kind of body issues.  We certainly never talk about being fat as a bad thing (not that she is anywhere near fat either).  In her psychology appointments, she's been working on food exposure exercises and trying new foods.  It's a VERY slow process.  We're supposed to be practicing at home too, but she refuses. I found it a little funny that the dietician/nutritionist was way less helpful than the psychologist has been, but I guess it makes sense. 

Bronwyn has gotten into roller skating.  We found a sports complex in South San Jose that does open skate on most Friday and Saturday nights.  So most Friday nights, she and I go and skate for 45-55 minutes.  (The session is 90 minutes, but we get tired).  We went as a family once, but Bert couldn't believe Bronwyn bested him at something, and vowed never to skate again.  And so far, he hasn't been back.  Thus far, knock on wood, I haven't fallen yet.  With the exception of the first time I put my skates on at home.  

She in currently doing social skills once a week, and ABA once a week.  They're trying to add in another day of ABA, but there isn't a BT that fits our schedule yet.

Way back in July, I had a deep cleaning at the dentist, which caused/quickened a tooth breaking.  It wasn't bothering me, aside from the fact that it was broken.  Amazingly, it didn't hurt at all.  I went to the dentist to get a referral for an oral surgeon.  But when they were looking at the tooth, discovered the one in front of it needed a root canal.  I dragged my feet on that a bit, but eventually got the root canal in September.  I kept the temporary crown on longer than I should have because, as you likely know by now, I HATE dental work.  But again, it wasn't bothering me.  Eventually the dental office called me and said we need to get that crown on.  So I did that.  My old dentist retired suddenly for health reasons and a new one (Dr Reza) took over the practice.  I like the new dentist.  I'm starting to suspect maybe I do numb up ok, and my previous dentist was not exact enough with his shots.  Anyway, I got the crown done, and at that appointment, they x-rayed all my teeth.  The results were bad.  My jaw bone looks way older than is should.  Which means, I have bad genes, I have bruxism, and/or I don't take care of my teeth.  I know I have bruxism and bad genes, and I do care for my teeth.  Even when we didn't have dental insurance, I still went every 6 months.  Aside from the deterioration in my jaw, I had tooth issues as well.  One with a broken root.  The original broken tooth and 2 possible other candidates for extraction.  I have receding gums, with deep pockets.  I have a cavity that needs a filling.  My dad had very similar teeth issues at a similar age.  So far, for this year, I'll have spent $1250 on my teeth.  I haven't gotten the bills yet, just the EOBs.  This doesn't include however much extractions and anesthesia will cost.  And I imagine I'll hit my yearly max before too long and have to push things back to next year.  (It's only February!)

On top of this dental mess, stuff is happening at work for Aaron.  There were a round of lay offs.  He didn't get laid off per say, but his position will likely be taken by someone else, and he'll have to change to a new job code.  Somehow, 10 years seniority isn't enough.  I don't quite understand all the moving parts.  And it'll be a couple weeks before we fine out what his new job will be.  He is bummed because he likes his job, team, and boss.  I am optimistic because I'm hoping he'll get moved to a closer office.  Right now, he's about as far away as one can be (13 miles, which can take up to an hour each way, but is typically 45 minutes).  He's previously worked at offices that were about a 20 minute commute.  (Really, he's practically in Milpitas at the current office).

Bertram's birthday is on Friday.  We're having a friend party at the bowling ally/arcade in Eastridge.  Then the family party on Sunday.  I can't believe he's going to be 12.

Last January I was 218lbs, I am currently down to 184.  I am no longer obese!  Woohoo!  There is a long way before I'm in the normal range, according to BMI, but I'm happy with the progress.

Snow Trip

(I wrote the majority of this entry when I couldn't sleep during the trip)

 Bert was not enthusiastic about the trip from the start. The drive was mostly unremarkable. We stopped in Sonora, which is the foothill to the mountain. We went to Walmart to buy a scraper/brush for the car. When we started back up the mountain, a wintery mix was in the air. We had to stop about 5 miles from our destination to put chains on. It took a while to get there, since we had to drive slowly with the chains and the slush on the road.

When we arrived there was a backhoe plowing the parking lot, and a good amount of snow on the ground. We figured we'd stay for the rest of the day, and tomorrow go out and do the fun things. We realized we had no cell reception at the hotel AND their Internet was down. (Minor to big problem). We parked the car, brought our stuff in and the kids went to play in the snow. There was probably 2 ft-ish on the ground. They enjoyed trying to knock icicles off the gutters.  

I realized I neglected to bring a few things, namely, things for me to do. I didn't bring a book, sudoku or my sketchbook. I didn't download any tv episodes, as there was supposed to the Internet. I had assumed we'd be busy, and I wouldn't need those things. I also didn't bring any drinks (fizzy water, diet coke), because I assumed we'd be in and out everyday, and we'd get drinks. I did think to pack food, mostly snacky things, cinnamon rolls, muffins, a pack of spaghetti and sauce. So we had dinner. Kids were bored off and on. I was bored. I had a lot of time, and nothing to do. And because the hotel Internet was out, the TVs in the cabin also didn't work. I didn't think to bring games aside from cribbage. Aaron and I played a lot of cribbage. And some gin, as well. We went to bed fairly early, with plans to go to the snow park in the morning.

However

It snowed overnight, probably 8-10 inches. So we said, well that's ok. The plow will come and we can leave the parking lot and go to the snow park. At 11 we asked when the plow was coming, and he'd been called. We waited. I did a lot of napping, for lack of other things to do. The kids were in and out. Around 2, Bert started panicking. We were never going to be able to leave. By the afternoon, we'd decided once the plow came we would just go home. It was getting too late for the snow park, and everyone was bored. So we waited. Bert panicked more. At 4, Aaron went back to the office to ask about the plow. We were told "any minute now". We packed the car. Aaron tried to see if he could get out without the plow. Then one of the chains broke (you had one job). So we waited more. Is started getting dark, we unpacked the car. At 6pm the plow showed up. Fortunately by then, the snow was nearly done, we only got 1-2 inches after that. We had snacks for dinner, since I only brought one real meal, assuming we'd be eating out most of our meals. We went to bed fairly early, 830 ish, because there was nothing else to do. Which brings us to now, 3:46am. Bert and I can't sleep, so we're in the living room. Oh, and we woke up at 2, because Monty was barfing. So, fun trip.

840. Aaron successfully extracted the car. We are nearly packed and ready to hit the road. I'm ready for this to be over 

During our de-brief after we'd been home for a bit, we talked about what we'd do differently next time.  Bring more "just in case" food, and/or stop at Walmart on the way up for things like a frozen pizza, milk, yogurt etc.  While at Walmart, buy snow things for the kids, shovel, sled etc.  Bring more things to do: family games, download tv episodes, more books for me and Aaron, art stuff.  We would buy chains from the auto store, not Amazon (even though they had good reviews).

As of Late

 The kids will be done with school next week.  It feels like the school year went very quickly. I think mostly because Bertram, who yesterday was a tiny NICU baby, is going to middle school in August. He got placed in the accelerated math class for 6th grade.  I'm worried I won't be able to keep up, to help him with homework.

Bert did most of the year sans Adderall, which either speaks volumes to his teacher, or he's tamped down his behaviour some.  I think it's more the former. But I told him, if I hear about behaviour issues, we'd have to talk about restarting medication for him. He did very well.  His writing has come a long way.  He still doesn't have the times tables memorized, but somehow that doesn't slow him down too much.  Maybe we can work on it over the summer.  

Bronwyn moved back to a GenEd class after Spring Break.  I think she was ready.  She still has the 1:1 aide, Mrs. B. But she is doing very well.  She seems to be having fewer outbursts, and for the most part, is actually doing the class work.  She participated in the Spring dance performance, after previously saying she wouldn't. That would have been fine, because I know performing isn't always her forte.  But in the end, she decided she wanted to.  And she did a great job.  I sat there like a goon, wiping away tears, because she's come so far.  And is doing things I wasn't sure she'd ever do.  Not to say, she doesn't still have issues, but she is making great progress. 

I wrote about the snake, Sneak, in the last entry.  Ever since Julius died, in January, Bert has been asking for another cat.  Using my own language of "There is a cat shaped hole in my heart".  This was probably true.  Though, in his later years, Jules adopted my in-laws, in Bert's younger years, Juli was very much his cat.  They snuggled and Jules was always patient with Bert, even if he wasn't with everyone else.  He was a lovely cat.  And in the back of my mind, since Shy Guy became pretty much an outdoor-only cat (by his choice, not mine), I'd be thinking we could take on one more.
I was a PetSmart a couple weeks ago, dropping off paperwork for Curie's pet hotel stay, while we'll be on vacation. And in the Adopt Us section was a variety of cats.  So I stopped to look at them, like one does.  And one came right over to the glass and started interacting with me.  I kept thinking about her the rest of the day, and asked Aaron if we could get her.  Once he was on board, I excitedly told Bert about the cat.  And the next day, we met and adopted her.

You can tell I was quite taken by her personality, because this colouring is my least favourite.  But she actually looks like a small version on Shy Guy.  She is about a year old, and the name she came with is Wednesday.  We all liked Wednesday (except Bron, who still talks about changing her name, sometimes).  She has fit in quite well.  She is very friendly.  She gets along with Oona and Waffles and with Monty.  But she it still scared of Curie, though, Curie isn't allow in the back of the house, so they don't really interact.

I've been on Ozempic for about 4 months.  So far, I've lost 13lbs.  I had hoped it would go a little faster, but I'm not unhappy with the progress.  And I'll take anything I can get, since I couldn't lose weight before.  8 more lbs and I'll be at my pre-pandemic weight.  But in 3 more lbs, I'll be at my first goal, which was 5% of my body weight.

It's been a minute

 I didn't realize I hadn't blogged for 6 months!  Oops.

I guess I'll start with Curie, since I left off with her. Her birthday is next week!  She'll be one, still a big baby.  She still has a lot of energy.  She did 2 training classes: puppy and intermediate.  She passed the first, but not the other.  We'll retake it at some point, when she's calmed down a bit more.  She love running zoomies in the back yard.  And digging!  This is the diggingest dog we've ever had.  She loves Bronwyn, that's her person.  Bron will grab Curie and hug her, and her tail goes nuts.  In the fall, she cut her paw on something (we never figured out what) and needed stitches.  I think that was $1100 we weren't planning on.  Prior to that she got spayed, which was fine, and the adoption agency paid for it.  She's learned a few commands: sit, paw, down, go to bed.  She loves Monty and the cats. The feeling isn't mutual, except from Waffles.  She likes Curie.  The dog also love boxes!  Well, destroying boxes.  

Speaking of dogs, my dog walking gig is really taking off. I have 2 semi-regular "as needed" people, and 3 weeklies.  Miso is three days a week, Allie is three days, Eddie is 2 days (but his walks are an hour long), and Munch is once a week.  I'll be adding a new dog to the rotation called Enzo, they just live a few blocks away, and he'll have 4 days a week so it's a nice addition.  I had a few one-offs as well.  All in all, I made more that $2100 last year.  I feel really proud of that.  It's been so long since I earned any money.  (While my job, domestic engineer, has a high value, it's unpaid).  I was able to pay for Curie's stitches with my walk money.  I had 2 cat sitting jobs over Christmas as well.  They are the easiest, as they pay well, and they're quick.  Half the time, the cat never comes out.  

Another thing for my last 6 months was tattoos.  I got a matching on with Jessica in September (a silhouette of a cat sitting atop a book) and after that I added on to my flower arm piece (marigolds for dad, lilac for mom, gardenia for Grandma Street and a gerbera, just because I like them.  I got the lines done in one session.  And some of the colour (marigolds) done.  But then Curie got hurt, so I couldn't afford to finish.  After tax time, I'm going to make an appointment to get it finished. 

Last year I read/listened to 109 books. A new record!  If the kids are in school, I can finish the average audio book in about 2 days.  I like podcasts too, but I don't listen to them as often.

Bron just had her annual IEP meeting.  She's doing really well.  The goal, for never year, is to do gen-ed with RSP, and no SPed.  I think that will be a good fit, as she is getting irritated with some of the kids in SPed. And she's doing quite well in the mainstream class.  She is moving into 3rd and 4th grade math on the computer.  She's been in ABA since May, but I haven't seen really any progress.  I was hoping for a little, but it's not doing much for her at the moment.  And, also, we still haven't received a bill for any services.  So that will be a  heavy hitter, if it ever shows up.

Over the Christmas break with dealt with lice for hopefully the only time.  Bron likely brought them home from school.  And somehow, despite very often sharing a bed, I didn't get them.  No one else got them, but her.  We tried for a week, to get rid of them, but kept finding more.  We ended up going to a lice clinic, and $270 later we were lice free.  (fingers crossed)

I spent most of last week sick with a stomach bug.  I had to cancel a couple of dog walks, which I've never done before.  I was so tired.  I forgot how much is sucks to be sick.  And I lost 4lbs.  But I'm sure it's all back now.  Bert had the bug too.  I'm pretty close to well, but he's still not 100%

Vacation 2024

The pictures loaded in reverse order. So we'll go backwards.

As a bonus of doing a bunch of somewhat complicated one-way flights, the kids and I were able to fly direct without layovers to all the destinations. (When Aaron flew alone, he did have a layover).

The last day in Minnesota:

We flew Sun Country, which, for unknown reasons, uses the international terminal at SFO. My dad parked in domestic (which was fine), but didn't take careful note of where his car was. Because it's the international terminal, it has its own domestic baggage carousel, which is well hidden in the bowels of the building.  I was trying to describe where we were, but Dad was getting more turned around. It didn't help that it was after midnight, and the airport was relatively empty. Eventually, he found a cop who directed him to us, just as the suitcases were finally coming out.  Then we had to try to find the car. And oh, was it an adventure. A helpful janitor told us to take the airtram. We did that an eventually arrived at domestic parking. Dad insisted he parked in 2L14. The letters only went to G, and we were in the 30s.  I assumed he meant second level 14. (There are 5 levels). So I was hoping for the best, as it was now nearing 1am and Aaron was losing his cool. We wandered towards the lower numbers (and letters) and Dad started clicking the horn button. Lo and behold, there was the car in 2nd level C14.

Bron wasn't feeling 100%. And was asleep.

We changed gates THREE times before finally boarding, an hour late.

Bron, asleep at 7pm

Earlier that day, we went bowling. It was Bron's first time, and Bert couldn't remember the last time he went (Bron was a baby). Bert did great. Bronwyn rolled 2 frames, then gave up. We let them play arcades while we finished, but Bron had a meltdown.

Before the bowling fiasco, the kids caught frogs with Bufu

Day 3 MN

We played mini golf

Rocks near Minnehaha Falls

Us, at Minnehaha Falls

Day 2 MN (the Children's museum)

Both kids had a good time.

Day 1 MN

(Trish and Rob's house, Mall of America)

We were hoping to spend time wandering the Mall of America.  (Aaron and I had been there before having kids). We thought the kids would like it. But once they went to the Lego store (our first stop), they had enough MoA. So it was a short trip, fortunately, it's only 20 minutes from Rob and Trish's house.

Lego store at MoA

Lego store

Playing pool was a favourite for Bron.

Last day VA

Watching sparklers

Trying to take a decent picture with the grandkids. It didn't go great.

At girls day out

Aaron and nephew at Rebecca's pool

The kids at Mrs. Howard's pool

We found a frog in the filter

Science museum 

Outside the science museum 

At Kid Empire

One of the days before Aaron arrived we went to the zoo. Bert was a grump for 70% of the day, but perked up at the end. Bron had a great time, but was afraid to feed the animals.

The Zoo.

Ill-fated Richmond Children's museum trip.  Bron was upset almost from the outset. I'm not sure what set her off. It was loud, but she had her head phones. But it wasn't what she expected. Even the splash pad couldn't tempt her. So we left. And waited int he car for Nana and Bert.

The day of the nuclear meltdown. 

It started off great. We played mini-golf with Nana. It was hot when we finished, so we got treats from Sonic.  Then we drove over to the trampoline park. While we were there Bronwyn stated to get upset because there were "no kids to play with". There weren't a ton of kids, but enough. I told her to ask to play with the one's that were there. When the jumping time was up, both kids wanted to play air hockey. It was only $2, so I said they could play 2 games.  Bert won the first, which was fine. The second game was tied at 4-4, before Bert made the winning shot.  (In my mind, I was telling him to let her win, I should have said it in real life too). That was the end of the fun times. She was screaming, crying, hitting, kicking.  "I should have won! He shouldn't have won! It's not fair!" All the way back to the car, through the drive thru. Once, she was nearly calm, Bert tried to be helpful and told her she played well and it was a close game. That set her off all over again. She took a long nap that afternoon.

Leaving San Francisco