Dream feelings #18 - critters and unfamiliar spaces

This dream was probably a compilation of things on my mind: me staying at the hospital for the ice storm, speaking to a friend about the limited amount of contact I have had from my kids, and thinking about my home and future living arrangements.
 

my home away from home, the call room

I slowly realize that I am in a new home/apartment sitting across from where I see two small beige caterpillars making their way zig zag across the wall.  They start growing - start to look like slugs.  Gradually they turn into some kind of slimy lizard that is pulsing a glowing blue, and leaving streaks of blue and green slime across the walls.  I get the sense that my children are here with me - much younger.  An apartment maintenance crew? exterminators? come to deal with the issue and while they are there they notice other animals in the house, including a cat with sharp fangs.  They catch it and sedate it and we (the kids are crowded around now) notice that it is a baby lion.  It had been in one of the boys' rooms and they knew about it. (my sense was that it was Grayson's)   I look over off to my left and notice I am in the entry to a linoleum-floored kitchen that has all kinds of unusual devices on the counters and looks both futuristic and outdated.  I don't know how to use the items or even what they do.  One of the kids comes in and attempts to answer my questions (Dylan?).  I think to myself "why didn't I come home sooner and get a handle on this situation?" I got the sense that they had moved in a while back, without me.  But Chloe and Spencer did not appear outright, and I knew Mark wasn't there. 

And that's where the dream ends.