Yesterday we went to Alberta Children's Hospital for Sterling AFO (Ankle Foot Orthotic) appointment. They spent three hours forming this aquaplast perfectly to his feet and ankles to make sure his foot was at the proper angle. They said he was the only person in Calgary with green boots because they are supposed to use white because it is cheaper, but Sterly beans is a pimp baby so they splurged on him. At first he wears these little 'boots' for 40 minutes a day. But we have to slowly work him up to wearing these all day long. They help to make sure that his feet do not grow improperly and deform. They also help that while he is in his standing frame and other things that he does not break or jam his little ankles. He is kind of harsh on his legs because he doesn't have feeling in them. When I do not pay close enough attention to him, he will bite his toes so hard that they get huge bruises or even bleed. It is hard because he absolutely loves biting his toes for some weird reason. At any rate, he got really mad by the end of this 3 hour fitting session because they kept making him go in weird positions and take them on and off on and off. I think they are super cute though! How many little babies have super cool 'moon boots'. Here the sweet boots are:
He can still wear normal shoes but he has to wear them a size too big. Which isn't really an issue because he was still in newborn size shoes at a year old. Now I have to go find socks that fit perfectly and go up to his knees. If the socks have wrinkles in them, he will get pressure sores on his legs and feet. I love his chucks with his AFO's!

When Sterling turns two they are going to make him these sweet new AFO's. They cast his foot and then make these custom afo's that fit perfectly. They cost the $1000 to make and he has to have them made frequently because he is constantly growing. Luckily, we only have to pay the first $500 a year and the government takes care of the rest (this is for all his equipment that he uses).

I will eventually get to taking pictures of the table, headboard and side tables I made. I just do all the work and then don't feel like making an effort to take the photo.

-Alauna

New Bed!!!!

So not much excitement going on these days. I have been back to work for almost 3 weeks now and it kinda sucks! I miss Sterling tons.

We went to the Spina Bifida Wheel and Walk event in Edmonton a couple of weekends ago. It was alot of fun but kinda of far to drive just for that. The picture is us coming across the finish line. Notice the little rat baby is being carried across and not in his stroller. He will sit in his stroller in a mall or busy place but not outside. He hates it! The run was at least informative and will help us plan next years run in Calgary. Plus it was nice to see what the Northern Alberta Spina Bifida association was up to.

We bought a King bed last week!!!! So exciting. I never thought I would want one but the little baby is such a bad sleeper that sometimes I just have to bring him into bed to get a night of sleep before fighting with him in his crib for a week. However, we moved our queen bed into his room and now he has a whole queen to himself. Lucky little goat! We had a headboard and nice set for our queen but not for our new bed. So I decided instead of paying $500 for the headboard I wanted to make one myself. Actually turned out looking really good and was only $50! Killer! I took a solid wood 5 panel shaker door like the one pictured below and painted it black. Our new duvet set is black and white...Also a picture of it below. So I wanted black furniture to compliment it. We added a frame to the bottom so it could bolt to the bed and voila! Instant headboard and for a good price. I will post a picture of this when I get a chance. I will also post a picture of the table I made way back when and keep forgetting to post pictures of.

Anyways, on lunch at work, so I should get back.

Oh yeah, in other super good news. My Mom's pharmacist adopted 2 children with Spina Bifida and had an extra wheelchair that their children had grown out of. He heard about us and has given us this extra wheelchair. That is great news because most people say that you need 2 wheelchairs but the government is only really willing to help you out with one of them. So my brother's wife's aunt who lives in Calgary took it all the way from Utah here for us!!! There are so many great people out there willing to help us...I am really grateful to everyone.

-Alauna

SOOOOOO TIRED!

I am so freakin' tired this week. Sterls got croup last Saturday, yes when he had his birthday! I think that Trevor and I have gotten about 2 hours a sleep a night since then. Trevor had to take Sterling to the hospital at midnight on Sunday night because Sterling was having a really hard time breathing. He was crying because it hurt too much to breath. So they gave him some steroids to open up his lungs and luckily he slept with only waking up 4 more times that night. I would have went but Monday was my first day back at work. Yuck! Last night was about the worst night of the whole experience. Sterling woke up every 15-20 minutes and cried for about 10 minutes because when he laid down he was drowning in his mucus. Finally at 3:30 am Trevor had some mercy and went out and watched tv till I had to wake up a couple hours later for work. I am think I have been on autopilot this whole week at work. I am so tired and I can barely think but some how things are still getting done. I bet they are wondering what is wrong with me and what having a little midget did to me.


So work....Hurm. Sadly, work is as boring as I remember. Lucky for me I have a job where everyone pretty much leaves everyone to do their own thing. I have only had someone in my office for about 5 minutes this week to explain the new changes in the accounting system. In some way I enjoy my job because I get my own fancy office, I get to be alone all day and I just listen to my Ipod and chill out. But then I remember it is work and I miss Sterling so much. I can't believe how much I miss the little guy. I sure can't wait until I get to stay at home with him again.


Got this vid this week of the little guy dancing out. He loves to dance and every time we turn on music he starts doing a little jig.

-Alauna

1-YEAR-OLD!!!

My little guy is a year old! I can't believe it. It has already been a year and I don't know it went by the fast. It was the longest year in history but it went so fast. His Birthday was yesterday but we had our family shindig today. Also, today is the one year anniversary of his huge 9 hour Meningocele surgery to close the lesion on his spine that he had at 24 hours old. What a little trooper, three major surgeries in his first year. Lets hope that it was his worst year and things will look better.

Here are some photos from the little guys party:

Him not too impressed with all the work I put into his pirate cake...

The cake I made for Sterls...Never turns out the way your picture them, does it?

At Least he seems to be enjoying the cake!

Him and Papa opening the gifts. I think I should have just got him paper for his birthday because he was also unimpressed with his gifts and stoked on the paper.

I always thought I would be super sad about him turning 1 but I think the prospect of my looming restart of work after my 3 months of disability leave (I had Kidney Stones and they wanted me to take it easy so the little guy wasn't born early because he needed major surgery) and 1 year maternity leave has left a rainy cloud over me. I am pretty super depressed about going back to work because the poor little guys needs extra attention and work than most children. I feel really guilty that he wont be getting it from me. I am also upset that I cannot go to all his appointments. I like be informed and updated directly from his doctor's about his status but I can't miss that much work or else all my 3 weeks of vacation would be used in a snap. I am hoping that after Trevor finds an auto-body apprenticeship I will be able to quit in a year or two and just focus on helping Sterls. Well, that sums up our life of late. Little guy is tuckered out from all the excitement and needs to go down for a nap.

-Alauna

I Think I am Done for a while...

Sterling in Saskatoon in a sweet Canola field a minute from my brothers house....
Not my brightest idea...I had a really bad headache and Sterling was whining because we had been traveling for a long time. I decided to give him half a 100 calorie milk chocolate bar to get a little bit of quiet. I ended up spending 30 minutes getting the chocolate out of all the nooks and crannies of his car seat and fat folds on windy roads in BC. YOu can't see but there is more chocolate than appears in this tiny photo.
We collect photos of large roadside attractions all over. THis is a penny in Salmo, BC. Not one of the finest roadside attractions, but it had to be taken none the less.

So we just got back from yet another vacation...In June we spent 3 weeks driving everywhere. We went through BC and stayed in Seattle area a couple days, then went to Ocean Shores, Wa for a week. We then decided to do an impromptu trip to Utah to see our fams for a week. We got home after being away for almost 3 weeks and about 3 days later headed to Saskatoon to spend a week with my brother. Well, after we got home from that trip we decided we needed to take our token BC trip (we go to BC every year because we love it so freakin' much). We left about 3 days after our Saskatoon trip and went to BC for a week. It was by far the funest trip we have had this summer. In two months we have put about 15,000kms on our car and I think Sterly is all traveled out. We went to Rossland, BC for a few days. My brother Ryan and his wife Kaylee live there. We had a good ole' time hanging there. We went on a hike every morning, which was only a 30 second walk from their house. Picked tons of huckle berries and ate them until we were sick and full of berries. Swimming in the river in Trail because it was 42 degrees Celsius there, wow it was hot. Kaylee is the best hostess around. She fed us lots of food and made us smoothies every night. Which got me hooked on them. As soon as we got home we bought a ton of fruit and yogurt to make smoothies. YUMMY!!! She has some pretty sweet earrings , check out her esty page at: kayleefish1.etsy.com

We found out that Stacy had to work in Kamloops for the week so we decided last minute to crash the free hotel for a couple of nights and invade their space. THe drive there was super crazy. There are tons of wildfires in Kelowna right now and it was a windy stormy day so it blew all the smoke from 40 minutes away into Vernon. We could only see 5 feet in front of us when we were driving. Apprently, we went through there on a day that it was the smokiest it has been in 50 odd years. Kamloops was a ton of fun as always. The power was out in a bunch of Kamloops when we got there and it was kinda rainy so we just kinda chilled out and ate lots of food, which is always good. THe next day we had a picnic lunch at Paul Lake which didn't turn out as planned. The lake has swimmer's itch and leeches so we decided to skip the swimming for now. We went back to Kamloops and spent the whole afternoon swimming in the river and splash park near by. Got a wicked tan which I have been trying to achieve all summer. Sterling absolutely loves water so he had a good time.

Headed back through Vernon, which was empty of smoke because the wind had shifted and went to Fauquier, BC. My sister owns property there on lower arrow lake. It was kinda rainy that night so we just settled in a watched a movie. THe next day we spent the whole day beach lounging. I was smart enough to put the sunscreen on my son and set him in the shade but not myself. I ruined my wicked tan with a gnarly burn to my shoulders. I never seem to learn, not matter how old I get that I am a burner, I rarely tan. Arrow Lake was by far the warmest lake I have ever swum in. It was so warm it didn't jolt you when you got in and only took 20 seconds to adjust. Tons of fun. Sadly, we headed back home. I had a doctor's appointment or else we would have stayed for another week.

I am headed back to work in two weeks. UNbelievable!!! Sad cloud for me.

-Alauna