one relaxing day at home

hi everyone

it's me Maarten, I am writing today. I woke  up today at 9:30 am.then i played a little bit of video-
games. most of the day i watched the great british bake off on tv then i went with my mom to Kathy's
corner and bought lavender and pink honeysuckle, i snuggle with Beatrix and Elisabeth[or Charles the rooster] took a bath with my dad ,made a quiche[see photos before and after oven for what it looked like] now i am watching chef's table

this is my buddy Earl the squirrel

bye! maarten

Another week at home

Hi all,

Another week has passed and a lot of things have happened. First of, we went to see the medical team at Seattle Children's on Wednesday and they told us that they had prepared a radiation treatment plan for me to start at the end of June.
It was a long day at the hospital again, and I wasn't really in the mood to talk business with the doctors. Luckily, our friend Johanna had come along and she had brought this awesome mask that I practically wore all day long!

The next day my 'tante' (aunt) Astrid came for a visit, all the way from Holland! We brought her to KVI, center forest, Fern Cove and had a couple of wonderful days together.

Unfortunately, after all these upbeat days, I am feeling very tired. I think my body is telling me to take it easy! So, these last few days I have been relaxing at home, reading the books that my friends have dropped off, playing a game or two with my parents (today we are playing 'natural parks Monopoly' and I am winning), and I will probably watch a few good movies this evening. Busy busy, I mean, easy-sneezy.

Hope you are all well!

Maarten

Sunny times at home

Hi all,

We spent a nice weekend at home. It would have been too quiet for me if it wasn't for the steady stream of friends passing by throughout the weekend. Thank you so much everyone for coming over to play!

Today, Monday, was yet another sunny day at home. I worked in the kitchen and prepared dinner for my parents. We grabbed the picnic basket and had dinner watching the sunset on the west side of the island. We saw an osprey, bald eagle, great blue heron and little Canadian goslings.

We hope you are all enjoying this stretch of nice weather,

Love, the Ribalet-Coesel family

We meet again

Today, I went outside to see the chicks who are temporarily staying at the neighbor's chicken palace. It was so good to feel the wind in my hair and the sun on my face.

My favorite chick is a speckled Sussex and her name is Cleopatra. I held her for a long time and I could feel how happy she was in my arms. She was practically dozing off at one point. She is the smallest of the lot and likes to go her own way.
We think that one of the other chicks, named Elizabeth, is actually a rooster. She is growing a red crown and wattles and is bossing everyone around. The question is, should we still call her Elizabeth, or should we change it to Charles?

Another relaxing day on Vashon!

Home Sweet Home!

Oh, how much better it feels to be back home!
The three of us, plus Bernie the cat, are 'glamping' in the family room. There is plenty of space in the bed for the three of us. Only Bernie is sleeping on the blankie we got at the hospital that we put right next to the bed, to his great disappointment.

I feel so much better now that I am home. It is interesting to see how much our minds control how our bodies feel. A change of scenery was what my body needed!
My parents told me I could choose a present, anything I wanted, so I chose the largest Lego Ninjago set I could find! My friends Alia and Avery helped me get started on it yesterday, it is still a work in progress today as well!

Thank you everyone for all your support! Keep visiting us, we enjoy so much the company of people we love!

Vashon, here we come!

Did you know that hospital beds feel less and less confortable the longer you stay in them? Luckily, my doctors are all very impressed with my recovery and they finally let me go home! I apparently broke the record by being able to go home 5 days after such surgery. Although my head still hurts and walking is difficult, I want to be home so all my friends from Vashon can visit me!

Today is packing day for my parents. It's ridiculous how much stuff they have accumulated in only 5 days. In the meantime, I am looking at Google Maps on the computer (did I already told you that I LOVE maps?) and reply to the comments you posted on my blog.

Day 5

Some more news here from the hospital.
These last 2 days have been geared towards recovery. The sooner I can get up and about, the sooner I can get home! During the day, we have a couple of visitors, not too many, but just enough. Those visits really cheer up my mood!

Last night, when all the visitors had left, my mom and I went on an adventure. I hauled myself in a wheelchair and we wondered through the empty hallways, in search of new places. We found some interesting elevators (named 'rabbit'), with colored lights lightning up. These elevators lead up to a roof garden on top of the building. The roofgarden is very zen, with wild flowers and trees and far away views of downtown Seattle.

Today we heard that we maybe, just maybe, be able to go home tomorrow! I guess, my midnight stroll impressed the doctors. We will let all of you know tomorrow whether we really will make our way home. In the meantime, I am relaxing in the bed, watching Charlie and the Chocolate factory.

My parents and I want to thank all our amazing friends for taking such good care of us. It makes us feel so much loved. We love you too!

Day 3

Aristy, my favorite teacher in the whole world, came to visit me this morning at the hospital. She brought so many drawings and letters from my friends at school, and read them aloud, I LOVE IT! My dad hung them all on the wall in front of my bed, so I can look at each of them whenever I want.

The aim of this weekend is just to relax and recover from the surgery. I had a good night sleep and hopefully I will soon feel well enough to get out of the bed and roam around the hospital, because that is what I really want to do.
This place is huge and it has really changed since last time I was here, and so many new places to discover. The hospital is made out of many different buildings that are connected to each other by bridges and tunnels. It is a bit of a maze, honestly. The different buildings have different names. For example, I sleep now in 'River'. River has different elevators with different names as well, such as 'salmon', 'bear', and 'frog'. The 'frog' elevator  can bring you to the 'Forest' building where I was staying yesterday. From there you can walk all the way over to 'Ocean' and 'Mountain'. Confused yet? Not me, I have a map (I LOOVE maps)!

Back at the hospital

A few weeks ago, I started to have neck pain. And while my little friends (here Cleopatra, my favorite chick) tried the best they can to massage me, I asked my parents to seek the opinion of our great team of doctors at Seattle Children's hospital. The MRI revealed that the neck pain was created by a brain tumor that was pushing on my spinal chord. A lot of complicated words, but well, I am 8 year-old now so I understood what was happening.

Yesterday, I went through the same long surgery than when I was 3 months-old and the doctors succeeded to remove the tumor. Great news.
I am now recovering from the surgery with my parents at my side. It is not very comfortable here and I miss my friends at school, but I do get to watch a lot of great movies.
We will work on this blog every now and then to keep you all posted.