Yea! Fun!

We just got back from a weekend in Banff.  It is always nice to spend a couple days in the mountains and the weather was amazing!  20 degrees of niceness.  We attempted to hike (walk) Johnston's Canyon but not such a good idea.  We almost got to the waterfall through treachery in the form of ice but then it got even worse and we had to turn back due to trying to not kill Sterls.  You would hold onto the rail and just slide down the walkways because it was so freakin' icy.  It was super fun though and Sterling loved it.  PLus we got this rad photo!  The road diverts in two to go around this one lonely tree.  Isn't that just so rad?  I made Trevor stop so I could take a quick photo out of the sunroof.We went to the cave hot tub 4 times and Sterls just went ape.  He is such a little water baby.  By the second time he would start yelling and trying to dive out of our arms to get into the water when we walked into the pool area.  Here is Sterling sporting his swimsuit as King of hot tub:After our attempted hike we went a took some sweet photos of the little guy.  Check out http://alaunasouthphotography.shutterfly.com/ for more of Sterls that we took in Banff.  We added some photos under Sterling, Roamin' Gnomie and Us.  Anyways, perfect time of the year to go.  The streets were super dead and we had Banff to ourselves for once. 

This is one of my favourites....The wind blew his hair or I should say fuzz up just as I took the shot.  Love the do!SO MUCH FUN!!!  Back to normal life now.  More adventures to come this summer though!

-Alauna

Work Sucks!

So Trevor is going to start working on May 1st.  He has just been focusing on school and the fam. this semester because Sterling is more than a handful.  He decided that he is going to do his own window washing business this summer, so we are crossing our fingers that this is going to be better than another job.  I mean what is not to like, you get to pick your own work hours, you don't have to listen to a boss and you get to work outside.

We are going to Banff overnight next week just to get out of the house.  I am starting to go stir crazy here.  We used to go on vacation every 6 weeks before Sterling was born, but he has made that one impossible and I need to get out.  We are planning 3 different vacations this summer, but they don't seem to be soon enough.  We are staying in this hotel: http://www.bestofbanff.com/fox-hotel-suites/index.html . We have stayed here before and we loved it because it has a sweet hot tub (check it out) and it is newer as well.  My other requirement for going anywhere is that is has a gym to compensate for the fatness I will surely gain with my crappy vacation eating habits.   

We are also going to Medi Hat this weekend  after Trevor's finals to meet Colin and Stacey and their little ones.  They live in Saskatoon but Stacey's parents live in the Hat so we are going to meet them there and eat ROSCOE'S!  Yum Yum!  They are the best wings in the whole freakin' world and I usually don't even really eat much meat.  Ohhh, talking about all this food makes me miss my digs in Utah...We love rockin' the Gandolfo's, Kneaders and Costa Azul.

-Alauna

I Think I Am Going to Move

It seems like most of my free time is spent inside the children's hospital.  I have decided that I should move in there in order to save myself the trips.  We spent pretty all of yesterday at Children's for his clinic and the SBHASA AGM meeting, and we seem to be there at least 1-2 times a week.  Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love children's and everyone there, I'm just tired of it.  I often wonder what I am going to do with all my free time with our next child.  Sterling is so much work and time, not that I mind but I think it is going to be weird when we have our next one.  I didn't really get to see Sterling when he was born.  There were about 15 doctors and nurses in the room for my c-section so they didn't stop to show me him after he was born.  I only saw one eye and his ear as they were rolling him to NICU.  Then I saw him for 2 minutes hours later when they were about to take him to children's.  I am also not quite sure what I am going to do when I go back to work in 4 months.  Yikes, only 4 months left of mat leave, scary....I was just beginning to enjoy it and finally get a few minutes to myself each day.  If I take off all of Sterling's appointments I will never get any vacation time but I really like how informative the appointments all seem to be.  

The SBHASA AGM was really interesting to go to.  Sterling's PT and OT went to a world conference in Florida and they heard about all the new research and studies currently going on.  So fingers crossed that some of these studies make it past the research stage.  They are currently doing a study where they attach a nerve above their lesion to their bladder (All the nerves below the lesion do not grow properly because the spinal fluid was unable to get to these nerves...so they do not function below the level of their lesion).  At any rate most kids with Spina Bifida need a catheter to go to the bathroom because their nerves aren't developed correctly.  Lucky for us Sterling doesn't need a catheter, just makes things easier.  BUt in this study the nerve seems to regenerate the bladder control and these kids can now have the feeling to go to the bathroom properly.  But, still a study and not totally having complete desired results.  They are also doing some more studies with pre-natal surgeries.  They are trying to fix the lesions before they are born in hopes that this lessen effects of this defect.  Pretty interesting stuff going on in the world of medicine.  I must say I was kind of ignorant to alot of things until I had Sterling.  I didn't even know what Spina Bifida was when they told me at my 18 week ultrasound.  I am pretty committed to educating everyone that I know about it and how to prevent it.  SOOOOO....anyone who is trying to get pregnant.  MAKE SURE YOU ARE TAKING ENOUGH FOLIC ACID, before you are pregnant and even if you aren't trying.  50% of pregnancies are unplanned.  That's right 50%, I am a testament to that one.  But you can also just have a run of bad luck, I was on prenatal vitamins and it isn't genetic in my case so they were perplexed why I would have a child with SB.

So it was finally nice enough to go running outside again.  I attempted to go on a nice long jog to try and train for my 10km run in a month and a half but I had a cranky baby on my hands.  As soon as I started jogging my baby went ape and screamed for 20 minutes straight.  I finally headed back home because I couldn't handle all these people looking at me like I was the devil incarnate.  Wouldn't you know it, the second I hit the pavement in front of my house Sterling was fast asleep.  Then when Trevor got home from school I decided I needed to make up for my lack of exercise, so we went out for a walk on the bow river pathway.  Sterling usually loves walks but he cried pretty most of the time again.  He is determined to keep me unfit.  So I am determined to make the most of this week and try it again tomorrow.  I am really hoping that one day I will like running and that it will be a nice release.  But it just seems to be more painful than pleasant. Wow, was anyone as excited about today as I was?!?  I love being outside and I am pretty much outside everyday as soon as it get to be 5 degrees or warmer.  I can't wait, going to be a good summer.  We are planning on going hiking in the mountains once a week and it really needs to get warm.  

Hurm...Seems I must be really bored tonight.  I just wrote a novel. 

-Alauna

Update.

I am working on an essay its 11:23pm and I need a bit of a break. Forgive me if I make no sense, but I am trying to write my version of why hybrid vehicles aren't as great as everyone thinks. So...an update on the little one. It has been about two weeks since his surgery. Today we went to his clinic. It's basically one long, multi-doctor appointment that is super organized in order to collaborate between all of the doctors he sees, and also put less stress on us by having them all at different times. The past few days he has had a stuffed nose, cough, fever, teething, and significant vomiting. We took him to emergency Saturday night because we were worried it was his shunt. They do have a higher risk of malfunction or infection within the initial stages so it was a legitimate worry. The doctors in Emergency basically did nothing, and told us to keep him on tylenol and he would see nuerosurgery on  monday. In clinic today  he had a "fast MRI" to check on the shunt. A "fast MRI" is just a series of quick pictures, and rather than putting him under they just strap him down. We headed back to nuerosurgery and they let us know that it all seems pretty normal. So at this point we are thinking that his fever could be due to his cold, his teething, or it could be viral which would explain the vomiting as well. When he isn't feeling pukeish or overly hot he is pretty much his normal self. Just a little irritable but you show me a post-op, teething, feverish, stuffy, coughing, puking baby that isn't. So you have to admit he is doing quite well considering. He still finds time to smile and be himself. Tonight we went to the Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Association of Southern Alberta General Meeting. Lots of good information on all sorts of topics. Post more on that later...Here is a picture for you of the little guy in his flamin' baby legs.:

Back to the essay...

-Trevor