One Step forward and two steps back...

The past few months have been full of adventure! We celebrated Boy kid 2's belated birthday in Disney Land which was crazy fun. He LOVED the Peter Pan ride and since I was in a scooter while we were there, we were able to use the disability line and not have to stand there for hours on end. 

It was the last time our family will make the Disney trip as it has always been our tradition for the 5th birthday only. It was a little bitter sweet to know we are out of the baby game 

but after four kids up to almost 24 years old we should be out of the baby game. 

We enjoyed a fun character breakfast on our last full day which was enjoyed by the whole family.

After our birthday vacation, we enjoyed a week of Girl Scout Day Camp. The kids and I have been doing this for years and it is always exhausting and wonderful at the same time. I was off of crutches for the first time in a very long time but I can say walking was very difficult. I had a lot of things that I couldn't physically manage but I did my best. My DRG certainly helped with the pain but my legs became incredibly weak from being down and out for so long.

That led me back to Physical Therapy. I have had a great team of Kevin as a therapist and his assistant, Ernesto. Those guys are rock stars and really have worked to help me gain strength, range of motion, and stamina. PT with CRPS can be difficult. Some days I can really push through but if I push too much then it leads to days of increased struggle. I have worked up to 15 minutes of continued cardio on the upright bike or treadmill. The first couple of weeks I could barely do 5 minutes on the recumbent bike and then I would be unable to do anything else the rest of the day. I still struggle with leg lifts on the right left and can't manage a set of 30. I still need to break it up into 3 sets of 10 reps and alternate with the left leg. I have been increasing my activity level throughout the day and I am absolutely exhausted by the end of the day. The reality is that I am stronger and have better endurance today than I did the day of my surgery so I have to take the wins however they come to me.

The new school year has begun and it has had some challenges for Boy kid 2. Kindergarten has been a rough transition that has required calls from the school at least three times in as many weeks. The entire school participates in an exercise program in the morning. The kids hates it! So, I do my best to do it with him. Three days it is run by teachers at the school, one day by the district PE teacher, and one day by a local Zumba instructor which happens to be one of my book club buddies. 

Let's just say between the Zumba moves and the sport team warm up inspired moves from the PE teacher...I am not able to do a ton of the program. I lack the strength and balance but I modify all I can to help the kiddo through it. Then we do the Pledge of Allegiance which he also finds boring so we are trying to just teach him patience and respect at this point. He is at least standing the whole time and not being noisy inappropriately.

The other kids are doing great at school. Girl Kid 1 and Boy Kid 1 are both at the same university and commute from home each day. They are both working almost full time in addition to a full time school schedule. In addition to that, they are awesome with helping at home. Before school started, I tasked the oldest three kids with doing their own laundry, and cooking for the family one night per week. They do their own grocery shopping for ingredients and then prep the meal. They are trying different types of meal which has been fun for me seeing them learn so much. I think the future will be bright for them when they will be able to handle themselves in the kitchen. I am also having them take turns with cleaning the bathroom. Everyone takes a week and then it rotates. I have Asthma and allergies and by recommendation of my physician, I can't clean the bathroom due to chemicals. The kids have been doing a great job at learning how to do it. I should have had them on that years ago. 

Boy Kid 1 officially earned his Eagle Scout Rank and boy are we proud. He wants to wait until December for his Court of Honor so that his friends that have left for college can attend. It is a huge deal so I am more than happy to oblige. I can't wait to see him publicly honored for all of his hard work.

Girl Kid 2 has officially submitted her Silver Award paperwork. Now we wait to hear back from the Council. Fingers crossed all is well. We had her bridging from Cadette to Senior level and true to her Late Lucy status she didn't present for badge sign offs until the last few months. She received a ton of stuff which means I will be busy with badges for a while. No big deal though. I am really proud of how hard she worked both with her troop and individually. She has big plans for this coming scouting year and she can't wait.

So now for the ugly of everything. Last year when I sprained my ankle it triggered CRPS. Not a super common thing but I am right in the middle of the unlucky demographic for this ridiculous condition. I had the DRG implanted in May and it has helped me to live with a manageable level of pain, walk more, drive, and just try to take my life back. The generator that is implanted in my buttock has been shifting position and a couple of weeks back it malfunctioned. An x-ray determined it has been turning around and coiling the leads and thus pulled out the L4 lead from the generator. That lead was turned off so it would stop shocking me and now I need to have surgery again. I have been going nuts getting things settled for another recovery period. Boy Kid 2 will need to do before and after school care and his siblings will need to drop and pick him up again so he can attend school. Girl Kid 2 will have to take the bus home since no one will be home to pick her up. She is being a trooper and since she has new hearing aides with volume control she feels she will be able to handle the in-stereo volume on the bus. The older kids will be the house chauffeurs again and I am lucky that they view it as just something families do for each other.

Even with all of that though I am super excited about this last bit of news. Big Daddy has been working oh so hard on the new run and chunnel situation. He has done a fabulous job and after several months of almost every week end in the back yard he is finally done. Several of the hens have tried out the new system and seem ok with it. I am hoping to look out my bedroom window tomorrow morning and see girls in the new run. Here are some pics of the progress. Boy Kid 1 primed the run while I painted it. I then painted all of the chunnels before the hardware cloth was added. This was a huge undertaking and I am a lucky lady to have a hubby that works so hard for me...his Queen (his description..not mine). I hope the girls love their new digs and not only will they be safe from predators but also we will be able to take back our back yard from all of their poop. Woo Hoo!

Here are the some of the girls enjoying some treats in the coop attached run.

Here is the new run. It is plenty large enough for us to enter it but not stand up...except for Boy Kid 2 he can stand up in there. The chunnel (chicken tunnel) links up to this run. Lots of ventilation and later I will plant a nice chicken friendly bush for added shade for the ladies.

Big Daddy calls this a train. It has a door on the top so that we can access the chunnels in case an egg gets laid in there or a hen is in need of rescuing. Big Daddy is able to fit inside which he had to do to connect each of the three trains to each other and then to the coop attached run as well as the new run.

Here is big daddy securing the first train to the coop attached run. 

The length of the coop is the same as one train. Two more trains connect to the first train and then to the new run.

Here you can see the second train lines up with the front of the coop. The coop has plenty of space for up to 12 hens which is all that our town allows. We have two doors one leading into the coop and then another into the attached run.

Here you can see the new run. This pic was taken outside but this is what we will see from our bedroom window. It is still attractive and I will be able to see the girls when I get up and every time I go in my bedroom. You can also see the play structure which allows Boy Kid 2 ample opportunity to chat with the hens when he plays in the back yard.