< 14 > The parts we left behind

The last time I shared my world with all of you, I never would have imagined my life to look as it does now.

We've been through the ringer and we've grown and welcomed new life. It's been a rollercoaster (but that's life, right?) and we've made it this far, so I know we can make it through anything.

Last we spoke, was April 15/22 - Riven wasn't quite 18 months old and now he's 3! We had just purchased our home and hadn't even returned to Winnipeg, which we've now been to twice!

So… let's catch up!

Now, we're back at our home in Costa Rica, we have two beautiful babies, and my business is (finally) starting to take off! I knew that these things can take time but I was desperate for it to be different for me because living off a single income is damn near impossible. I started my online business in 2021 shortly after arriving to CR and spent that whole first year (Dec 2021-2022) learning everything!

Let's back up a little (a lot).

April 2022 - January 2024 (whoops!) Let's break it down…

Makó had just passed away and we had Lazarus; Riven was nursing and in diapers and we were just getting to know our new property. Now he's 3, completely potty trained (he did it himself!) and definitely misses nursing.

In July we hunkered down as we prepared for Hurricane “Bonnie” which ended up being 3 days of heavy rain and not much more, though we did end up with a new furry friend! The first night of heavy rain we discovered a cat taking refuge in our sheltered patio and decided to feed it (how could we not…) and in the morning he let himself in. 

We named him Cane (hurricane) and he fit into our family like he had always been with us. The vet said he was between 3-5 years old (was an adult) and was so gentle and well natured around Riven we decided to keep him! Cane and Laz quickly became brothers, often found cuddling, cleaning each other and generally together; Nox couldn't have cared less about this other cat (or Laz) and preferred to hang out in the tree beside our pool, or cuddle us.

We now had a dog and 3 cats (again!) We knew Laz wasn't our “forever doggo” and cared for him until we found a family worthy of his love, in May 2023. We were given Laz as a puppy only 4-5 weeks old, too young to have been separated from his Momma but she had eaten the rest of his litter, so we obliged - we rid him of his fleas, healed his wounds and loved him dearly. We waited for the right fit and it happened shortly before we left for Winnipeg; a woman in a Facebook group I'm a part of was looking for a doc with his EXACT specifications: small (under 20lbs) dog, not a puppy, good w kids and cats, good recall (able to be off leash), enjoys the beach and doesn't bark a lot. Their senior dog had passed the September prior and their 3 year old kept asking for a dog; so they picked Laz up and brought him with them as they collected her from preschool. They sent me the most heart warming video of their meeting and I knew he was meant for her. 

Our furry family has dwindled in size.

Nox, who was born under our deck in Winnipeg and brought to Costa Rica (we found him & his litter mates when Riven was 5 months old!) has since disappeared. In Winnipeg, he would escape to be outside and once here - he couldn't be contained as he busted through the screens on ALL of our windows, as well as the screen on our patio door. (I still have to fix our screens on our windows!) He loved hanging out in the tree by our pool but always came home at sunset for love, food and to sleep - one day he just never came back. Laz, as you now know, found a new home and Cane, our hurricane kitty who adopted us, also disappeared while we were in Winnipeg this past summer (2023). We think because we were gone so long, he decided to move on - and having been an adult when he found us, well, maybe that's just who he is?! We hope him and Nox are alive and well somewhere, our fingers are crossed they come back some day (soon).

Für, my first ever cat (of my own) has managed to stick around. She's 11, has been through some sh*t and I'm so freakin’ glad she has made it.

In August of 2022 I shaved the side of my head randomly one day to see if it would make me less hot- it didn't. In September, Chase woke up one morning to a strange (painful) mark on his inner arm that we believe was a spider bite - of course, the one with arachnophobia… I think he closed his arm on said spider and it bit him on each side of his closed arm; this bite swelled, was red, ugly and got to a point where I was drawing lines around the area to see how fast/ far it was spreading. He had no signs of illness so we let it be, I treated it with 11.5pH water from our ionizer to draw out the venom and 2.5pH water to clean the area. I remember saying “if it's not better or is worse tomorrow morning, you're going to see a doctor” and the next morning the redness had retreated and the swelling was going down.

Shortly after we had our anniversary and friends of ours had a birthday September 9th as well, and they had planned to go to Riu Guanacaste (an all inclusive resort) so Chase bought me a ticket as a gift! It was my first time being away from Riven (he was almost 2!) and I enjoyed being around adult company, eating delicious food and drinking way too much. We went on crazy water slides, I got a sun burn and sprained my knee- it was tons of fun.

In October we went to Winnipeg! Friends of ours were getting married, so we made the trek back and within days we all got our first positive ‘rona test. Riven had a fever for a day and a half, puked a handful of times and recovered quickly; Chase had debilitating exhaustion and slept for 28 hours straight and then was completely fine and I had a light head cold for about a week. Fortunately we recovered in time for Brett and Emma's wedding because it was so fun and refreshing to be around our friends, and celebrating two people we love dearly. We were there for a few weeks before returning to CR and in that time we got to see everyone we love and had a 2nd Birthday party for Riven!

Back in CR, we spent Christmas at the beach and Riven started “reading” - he memorised his books and would tell me what the words were! We picked star fruit from a nearby tree and celebrated the new year in our small town of Palmira with friends. 

January of 2023, Juniper started her journey.