10km done!!!

So I ran the dreaded 10km race this morning.  It wasn't as bad as I expected but in some ways it was worse.  At 1 mile I couldn't believe I had already ran that far because it seemed like I had just started a couple of minutes ago.  The whole middle was just pure hot sunny torture.  But by km 7 I was in rough shape.   I saw a $5 bill on the course and I was so tired I couldn't even dream of bending over to pick it up.  The last km I realized I had some energy that I had been saving so it wasn't so bad, but it made me kind of sad because I had been saving it and realized I had more than I thought so I think I could have done it 5 minutes faster.  OH well!  My goal was just to finish it and run pretty much the whole way so not so bad.  Next time I will know where to expend my energy.  Props to Dana who ran the race 21 minutes faster than me.  Hardcore I must say!  I must tell you that the last 3 km's I was thinking I wish I was Dana so I was done this freakin' thing.

But I have decided I am a masochist because I just signed up for two more races this summer.  I signed up for the Race for Pace 10km at the beginning of July because I know I can knock a bunch of time off my last time because I had so much energy left at the end.  I even walked around downtown for two hours after I was finished and I feel like I didn't even run a 10km today. The race for pace is a charity race for kids with motor disabilities (like Sterling who can't move his legs).  So the money from the entry fee goes towards that.  I also signed up for the 8km Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus race in Edmonton.  All the money goes towards that cause which of course I couldn't pass up an opportunity to get a run in and help with a great cause that has affected our family.  It is mainly to raise awareness in the community about these causes.  Love it and even Trevor and baby Sterls are going to do the 5km walk and wheel at the same time.  I am pretty excited to see all the little ones that are in wheelchairs.  They always make me smile to see 2-7 year olds with smiles wheeling around like nobodies business.  

So yeah, proud to be done my first 10km and excited to see how the next two turn out!

-Alauna

Pretty rad week for me!!!  I went to a bunch of antique shops in order to find myself a pretty rad and unique table that is high enough for a wheelchair, which turns out is impossible.  So I came up with a new idea.  We are going to change this antique door into a table (with a ton of work I might add).  I will try and explain what we are doing but I am probably not so good at it...so in a week or two I will post the pics of our new table.  We have taken the whole door apart as it seperates into 11 different panels.  Trevor and I sanded the whole thing today which took forever to sand really old stain and paint off of it.  We are going to put it back together minus the trim in the panels and add another piece horizontally across the front so there will be 6 even panels instead of four.  We are staining it this really dark drown then I am going to add a layer of black paint over the stain and distress it so the stain shows through. Then I am going to tile the inside panels with this sweet tumbled marble I found.  Add a frame and legs and call it good.I am also pretty excited for the other two antique buys we found.  I got three of these panels below, which I already sanded before I took the pic and I am filling them with the same tile for end tables for our living room.  We are staining it the same super dark brown and adding a shelf to it.
My last rad antique shop buy are these really old pepsi crates used to deliver bottles.  I loved them so much I bought a bunch of them.  I am making a bookshelf out of four of them.  We will see how that turns out.  I have alot of work ahead of me, so will post as they get done.

On other news...Dana and I went and got our running package for our 10km on Sunday.  I am not so excited about this.  I decided that I really hate running so this is not going to be good.  If I do an alright time I will let everyone know, if i don't, it is because I sucked it up, which is totally possible.  This last two weeks I have not run at all and I rode my bike instead for my workouts.  On the bright side, Dana tells me there is good food at the end of the run so that might make it worth it or at least keep me running because I will have something to look forward to.

I have to show you this vid.  Sterling has this fear of the vacuum.  He isn't afraid of any other random object except this.  Any time I bring it into the room he starts whining and he can't keep his eyes off of it.  He will stare the vacuum down to make sure it isn't doing anything shifty.  We started taking him in the other room while we vacuumed but he hears the sound and starts freaking out.  We thought maybe it was the loud sound but we used the sander today which is louder and he didn't even blink.  Who knows?  So of course we had to torture the poor little man for our own entertainment.  

-Alauna

Sliced Finger....and Jeans

On friday, I was out working cleaning windows. While I was removing the screen out of  a bedroom window the spring loaded track fell out. I finished cleaning the windows and then I attempted to put the track back in place. Anyway, long story short....It sprung back on me and sliced my finger popping a couple of blood vessels. It wasn't too deep but it wouldn't stop bleeding. Meanwhile the woman that owned this home is going crazy with worry and queasiness. So I went to the ER and got three stitches...I spent the rest of the weekend trying to get a tetanus shot because for some stupid reason the doctor who stitched me didn't give me one. The part of the track that cut my finger flung back into my thigh and scraped it...however, it went through my jeans leaving a decent hole. This is what my loving, caring wife was worried most about. She made sure to tell me that my jeans aren't as fixable as my finger. :D I  am so loved. :DI am a big fan of our Mazda. Based purely on looks, I would rather have this older, more outdated Protege 5 than a brand new Mazda 3. It is nice to have a vehicle that is somewhat good looking. Especially for $12k. I got it tinted earlier in the year and I think it turned out rather nice(as seen below). I don't plan on doing much more to it. However, this year, I want to paint the brake calipers red, paint the front and rear badges matte black, polish the headlight lenses and hopefully get vinyls put on the taillights to give them that smoked black look. I also haven't decided what to do about the amber side markers. I think when I get the tails vinyled I will ask about them...if not, there are other solutions like trading them for Celica side markers. I just love the look of these cars....I think they are better looking than anything else in it's car class(old or new). 

Sterling is getting cuter by the minute. Everyday he does something different. He loves to play and laugh and giggle. I love him so much I can't even begin to describe it. We are beginning to look for a house and I am starting to realize all of the work that it is going to require to make everything accessible. Stair-lifts, ramps, elevators, roll-in showers, low mount sinks, 5-foot radius'. It all needs to be taken into consideration when buying a house. We shall see how it goes. 

-Trevor

I have said this before and I will say it again. I love everything about Alberta Children's Hospital (Amazing world renowned doctors, one of the most high tech hospitals in North America and just a million nice and warm people that work there and they are just so awesome about being proactive with kids with Spina Bifida) except for some the receptionists. I have had so much grief over stupid things with them.

Sterling's shunt March 26th (right after surgery)

Sterling's shunt May 14th

Sterling had to go in for a fast MRI to make sure his shunt (for those who don't know what a shunt is, check out my blog on March 14th labeled 'Shunt Surgery', I explain his whole situation better) is functioning properly and that the cysts of fluid in his neck are decreasing. With a fast MRI you don't need an anesthetic to get them. So that went really smoothly and I was in and out in 10 minutes flat which is great. Sterling has a shunt that is magnetic and the MRI is also magnetic so it always resets the flow of fluid from his brain into his tummy. I took him to the neurologists to reset his shunt and I ask the receptionist, "Can you ask Dr. Hadar if he needs his shunt reset now or if it can wait until his 2 pm appointment today?". I sit there for 40 minutes waiting for my answer and I go ask what is taking so long. She tells me that she has completely forgot about me and didn't ask. She then goes and asks and then says "He said to wait". I ask"To wait until his appointment or wait here right now?" She tells me "I think right now, I don't know, I guess you will see if he doesn't come and get you" then she walks into the back and ignores me. I sit another 40 minutes and ask what is going on, by then pretty irritated that nothing is happening and I have been waiting an hour for a 20 second procedure to be done. She then asks me "Why would you be upset at me, I didn't do anything". She was right, she didn't do anything (to help me!!!!) and that is why I am upset. So I finally get in after 1 1/2 and he resets the shunt and I am on my merry way in just a couple of minutes. Apparently the doctor didn't even know I was there the whole time so he didn't come and get me. How irritating! I usually don't have to wait over 10 minutes to get into any appointment. I think I am all irritated out now and can continue onto different avenues with this blog...

On a happier note, I must say that I love laser hair removal. Why did I not think about doing this before I had children?!? I guess that is due to the fact that I used to actually have time to take care of myself in all sorts of ways and now I don't do 90% of what I used to. I just started being able to have regular showers again instead of sporadic ones because Sterls wants to be held 24/7. I have only gone in for one treatment, I still need 5 more and already getting awesome results. Plus, I was terrified of how much it was going to suck and be painful and it didn't even hurt, just really uncomfortable, but I can handle that.

Sadly, today is the last day that Sterling meets with one my favourite hospital workers. Sterls' Physio Therapist Chantal is going on her year Maternity leave and we are going to miss her so freakin' much!!! She is so great and so good with Sterls'. We will at least get to continue seeing her at the Spina Bifida Association board meetings each month that we are both volunteer on the board of directors for.

-Alauna

Sweet!!!

Trevor has been doing his window washing thing for a couple weeks and things are going really good.  We put up a bunch of flyers and quite a few people have called to get their windows done.  It is really a good little summer gig that we have going on.  Trevor makes $40-$60 a hour depending on how fast he works.  So we are pretty happy with the way things are going.

Got a new couch.  Well actually two new leather couches.  I know that I must have a pretty boring life when I am super excited about my new couches.  WE have been using this inexplicable old green sofa couch which we for some reason never replaced.  Sterling has problems with vomiting and it isn't a day until he has done it at least 2 times.  This couch wo

uld suck it up and the

 vomit would just disappear.  We thought it was time to move on to leather so we are not sitting in our sons vomit on a daily basis.  We are going to be moving

 to a new place in around the next 4-6 months so I am trying to start my furniture collection before we have to buy it all at once and it hurts more.  We are going to hit up all the garage sales to try and find a super cool table and chairs that I can use for our kitchen.  Does anyone know where to find sweet old kitchen tables that need some work?  

10km in a few weeks.  So nervous and not excited about this.  I have been slacking and I have not run for a week so when I went to run tonight I almost died and had a heart attack.  Wish me luck because I think that I will not be around after this 10km.  I am alright for the first 5km it is just after that, that everything starts to go downhill.

Sterls has his follow-up appointment and MRI on Thursday so we will know how he shunt is functioning and if all is going well.  He has been having problems with his gag reflex since his shunt surgery and has been throw-up even more than usual.  So fingers crossed that everything is good. Got a sweet vid of the little guy that I will post when I am back on my other computer.  Late!

-Alauna

Disappointing

We went to the Cerebral Palsy Expo today but it was pretty disappointing.  The workers at the hospital told us about this expo that they have every year that showcases wheelchairs and a lot of cool adaptive things for kids with Cerebral Palsy.  The Spina Bifida Association doesn't have anything like that so we the hospital workers told us that this would be good to check out.  There were 4 vendors there for adaptive goodies but most of the things weren't really pertinent to kids with Spina Bifida.  The wheelchairs were completely different than the type Sterling is going to get and the cool toys and things weren't really compatible with him either.  There were a bunch of camps and things like that for kids with disabilities but he is still too young for any of those.  So we went across the city for pretty much nothing but Olive Garden.  I really wish they would open more of those in this city.  We always have to wait for a table.  I did however see this is person (I have been wanting to see one of these in person for a while):

This is a dynamic stander and they run about $2000-$3000 depending on size xs - xl.  Sitting all the time makes all our internal organs not function properly and causes serious damage.  This is a sweet wheelchair that I really want to buy for Sterls in every size.  I have a health spending account from my office that gives us $4000 a year in extra expenses that the health care system doesn't pay for.  Considering my health care is amazing we have never had to use this for anything until this little device, we will be able to swing it.  I am pretty stoked for it!!!   The government does not supplement these which is really disappointing but I really can't complain.  If I lived in the States I wouldn't get most of what I get paid for here.  Two of Sterling Neurosurgeons worked in the U.S. and they told me that if I lived there, Sterlings' life time medical expense to us personally (with good health care) would be about $500,000 or way more depending on severity.  So you can imagine what a benefit living here allows us as we have not paid a cent minus parking.  That is my cool device of the day...I was sad that I didn't get to see an adaptive bike though.  If anyone oddly knows of where to find them give us a shout!!!  Anyways, the laundry is calling to me....out!

-Alauna