Lynne and Marc Hit the Big 4-0

They thought they were just going for ice cream with the grandkids. Then they went up the stairs and found themselves in a surprise anniversary party. Mom was so shocked and so emotional. She makes surprises fun. Dad had such a big a smile, too. Had it not been 150 degrees up there, it would have been the best thing ever. Fortunately, there was loads of ice cold, home-brewed root beer.



Some of the group slipped away for the afternoon to prepare everything, while the rest of us made sure to steer mom and dad over to the bakery / ice cream shop in old town Pocatello at the appointed time. My aunt and uncle happened to be visiting and they just about spilled the beans an hour or two before the event because they didn't know it was a surprise.



We held the anniversary party a few weeks early, gathering under the pretense of watching my younger brother T and his wife J participate in a triathlon in Burley, Idaho, not far from Pocatello.



Watching them compete inspired me enough to want to do the triathlon myself next year.

Falling Off a Four-Poster Bed

Great Falls, Montana, has the distinction of being about half-way between Calgary, Alberta and Pocatello, Idaho -- it's about 5.5 hours away from Calgary. Since traveling with a 2-year-old can be a bit slow and tiring, we decided to stay the night in Great Falls on our way down to Pocatello to see my family.



We stayed in the Collins Mansion Bed & Breakfast, a grand old Victorian place built in 1891 by one of the early business leaders in Great Falls.



We picked a room with two beds (mainly because it was inexpensive and available) so Scotty got his own little four-poster instead of a portable playpen.



Before putting him sleep, we pushed one side up against the wall and piled up the numerous pillows on the floor on the other side -- in the off chance that he should fall off the tall bed.



-- Which he did. In the morning we found him asleep in the pile of pillows and felt like terrible parents, since we didn't even stir. However, truly terrible parents would not have put the pillows there... and they would have pushed him off themselves.



The breakfast was just as elaborate as the beds, and much less hazardous. We enjoyed a good meal and they even brought something out for Scotty, even though he technically wasn't a paying customer.



We loved the Collins Mansion, and we would love to go back again.

Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man

Cool new pajamas sometimes need to be worn outside the bedroom -- especially if they are superhero pajamas.


Scotty doesn't really know anything about Spider-man, except that his older cousin A likes Spider-man a lot. That's good enough for him. Now he's a fan.

The pajamas are hand-me-downs, but they're better than any pajamas I can remember having.

comments:

A-me said...
Eman loves spider-man! He too has a pair of Spider-man PJ's. When they come of the door he immediately starts yelling SPIDERRRRMANNNNNNNNNNN!! Then he holds his wrists up and pretends to shoot things. Izzard and Eman used to have matching spider-man (Izzards idea) PJ's and she would do that.. and well Eman does everything Izzard does. :)

Have a friend who has a 2 year old who is a big fan of spider-man. I went to her house the other day and her kiddo was in the front yard in his spider-man PJ top running around. She said "you know how you would see kids running around in their PJ's at stores and you would wonder what those parents were thinking? Well.. I completely understand now. You pick your battles.. he won't take them off.. he's been in them all day. Even went to pre-school in them. I am that mom now!"

Thought it was funny :)

margo said...
so cute!

Grandma Walters said...
I think Scotty would be cute in anything!!

Eye Witness Account of Idaho Bike Delivery

I decided to buy a new bike, and after considerable soul-searching, opted to order it online in the States and have it shipped to my parents' house in Idaho. I asked my mom for a full report when the bike arrived. She sent me this email yesterday:

IT'S HERE !
It arrived about 3:30 pm and was delivered by a very nice, female UPS driver. She negotiated our driveway with ease--got her big truck turned around with no problem at all so she could go back down the driveway frontwards.
It came in a big, brown box with handhold holes on each side for easy movement of the box. I have not opened the box--thought I would let you do the honors. It is now resting comfortably in our garage. It is dark and cool in the garage, so it should be able to get a really good rest.
The weather is quite a bit cooler than the last few days--mid-70's as a high. Lovely day for a bike to arrive. A hawk was flying overhead a couple of hours before the bike got here--not sure if that is a sign, but it was fun to watch. I was the only one home to witness the hawk and to welcome the bike.

Love,
Mumsy

All Flushed on the Bow

Aside from the mountains visible on the distant horizon, the primary feature of the city of Calgary is the Bow River and its associated waterways. The Bow River goes right through the city center and I ride my bike to work on the river pathway every day. On this particular day, I rode my bike to Edworthy Park, where the family was enjoying the hot weather on the playground and dipping a toe in the water.



Scott has the same temperature problem his old man has, which was he inherited from his mom: overheating.



You can tell by his cheeks that this boy is warm, and at the rate he's moving into that water, he's not cooling down anytime soon.



He did eventually get into the water up to his knees, but he still kept his distance from the splashing dogs... and auntie Karla.



All the cousins were there.





And Great Grandma and Grandpa W were visiting from Utah.



Fortunately for Scott and his temperature problem, when Great Grandpa W shows up from Utah, you know that there is going to be ice cream. Yee-haw.

Check Out That Horse Jumpin'

I am not just a student anymore, and I have a flip book to prove it.

You see, since graduation (actually, since the beginning of March), I have been gainfully employed as an analyst for a gas and power infrastructure company here in Calgary. Despite taking me on, this company managed to perform well enough in the 2nd Quarter of 2009 to have a company celebration at the Spruce Meadows equestrian grounds in the southern part of Calgary. Our car overheated just as we were leaving downtown, but other than that, the party went off without a hitch.


In addition to horse-jumping, a petting zoo, a Spider-Man bouncer and all the Sprite you could drink, this party had a station where you could make your own flip book. They filmed you for 7 seconds doing a goofy dance with props and then they printed out a few sheets of the individual frames and then cut them to make a flip-book. Ours was top-notch.


While I loved the flip book, Scott was more partial to the ice cream cones and the jumping horses. He really wanted a crack at the Spider-Man bouncer but I steered him away from that because there were a few bigger kids in there. In retrospect, I think it was the wrong thing to do and I feel sorry for depriving him of his Spidey-Time.


We had the radiator fan on our vehicle replaced recently, so all future company parties should be overheating-free.


Oh, the timing on this last photo was kind of unfortunate -- unless you were looking for a good rear view of a pair of riding shorts in flight. If so, then look no further.

They’ll Let Anyone Graduate These Days

I finished the last exam for my MBA program on April 22, but my graduation ceremony wasn’t until June 11 --- about 1.5 months later. It is only fitting, therefore, that I have decided to post the pictures from the convocation ceremony in mid-July. I guess I just couldn’t wait any longer.



Some of my classmates didn’t attend the ceremony – about half of them were missing. There were times while they were reading out the countless names of undergraduate business students that I wished I had not attended. However, in the end I was glad that I took an afternoon to formally mark the completion of my degree. The speeches were nice – with people telling us how great we are and how we’ll change the world – but mostly it was nice to wear sweet robe and feel like I’d accomplished something kind of difficult.


The Masters students get to wear a slightly fancier robe with fake sleeves. You have sleeves, but you are supposed to stick your arms out the slits instead. It makes you look like you have 6 limbs… kind of. It would only fool some people though. For example, I wasn’t fooled for very long when I saw them at first.


I had some fans in the audience rooting for me (R, Scott, R’s mom). I didn’t even think of sending out announcements or anything, so I don’t think anybody really knew it was coming. Heck, if I hadn’t had an email from one the other students reminding us about a post-convocation celebration, I might have forgotten it myself. Because it’s halfway through June, most people are probably knee-deep in their new lives could potentially forget about it or pass up the opportunity for these quality photos.


Not me. I am an MBA and I am a dedicated to getting sweet pictures of stuff.


Scotty was not quite so dedicated, and hurled the cap on the ground every time we tried to put it on him. We managed to snap one decent shot just before lift-off.

Favourite Treehouse Shows

Two years ago, I had no idea about kids shows, except that Sesame Street was probably still on the air and Barney seemed a little too fruity for me. Oh, how things have changed.

Our TV is tuned to channel 70 for Treehouse TV almost all day long. Treehouse TV is the network devoted entirely to programming for preschoolers like our little man. While he is familiar with most of the programming he always had some clear favourites. So have I. My favourites have stayed pretty constant, but his have changed over time as his tastes have become a little more sophisticated.


For example, in the beginning, his favourite show seemed to be The Mole Sisters -- starring two moles who mostly giggle and roll around with the help of low-budget animation. I think they are both voiced by the same lady, so the moles are indistinguishable from each other.

I thought he would be most interested in shows with singing and dancing and lots of things to watch -- something like 4 Square -- but he seemed to enjoy the idle frolicking moles.

Besides making gorilla and owl sounds, one of Scott's first recognizeable "words" was "choo-choo", and the boy has been a train fanatic ever since. Given his love of trains, you would think he would be crazy about Thomas and Friends, that classic show about everyone's favourite tank engine on the Island of Sodor. I like the show well enough, but I have to admit that the action is bit slow, since the remote-controlled trains have limited expressive ability. Still, he loves to play with his Thomas trains, so we thought he would love the show.

However, Scotty surprised me again, opting for fare such as "In The Night Garden" (although I must point out that the Linky Lonk is basically a train, so you could argue that it's a show about a train... kind of). The star of the show is Iggle Piggle, but Scott's clear favourite is Makka Pakka, the short, chubby rock-polisher. In fact, Scott will frequently clap his hands together and say something that sounds like "makka pakka". He has also taken to making little humming or cooing sounds that he never made when he was younger. We figure it's an homage to Makka Pakka.

Now, personally, I prefer The Backyardigans over all other Treehouse programs, mainly because I think it's well produced and very, very clever. Scott doesn't care much for Pablo and friends, but he will occasionally humour me by watching, particularly if there is a train in the episode. He'll watch an episode of anything that includes a train.

A train episode is what made him a Dora fan. We noticed that an episode of Dora the Explorer was going to have a train in it, so we recorded it. He probably watched nothing but that for a few days straight. That's how he is with things he likes. He wants nothing but that until he wears it out. I think he gets that from my side of the family (ie: Grandpa and motorcycles, uncle J and remixes, etc). He also became a Diego fan, but it was Dora first -- thanks to Azul the Train (does anyone else wonder if the blue train was a ploy to win over Thomas fans? I suspect so).

With all this talk of train shows, there is one that we have left to the end -- and for good reason. This show is like a part of the family. While interest in others have waxed and waned, this one has stayed strong through it all. This one is Chuggington. We have changed diapers to this show, brushed teeth to this show... it is part of the daily routine. We have our PVR set up to tape the latest episodes every Saturday and Sunday, and I am not surprised to see that we have more than half of the 52 episodes recorded. I think we may have deleted that ones that were kind of boring, but we never get rid of any that have that superhero of the train world, Action Chugger.

The day will come when Scott grows out of Chuggington, and that will be bittersweet.

First Nightmare - Monkeys

We woke up at 2:30am yesterday to the sound of Scotty screaming. When we got to his room, we found him wimpering and still partially submerged in what must have been a nightmare. As his speech became more defined, we heard him moaning, "Too many monkeys. Too many monkeys. Monkeys too big." We're not sure what else was happening in the dream, but we certainly understand how a surplus of oversize monkeys could make someone very uneasy -- especially somebody as little as Scott.

comments:

the mama said...
Poor little guy ! I remember when my brother, D, was having a nightmare about bats--he thought they were chasing him. He came down the hall into my room in the middle of the night (still asleep) ducking and swerving because he was sure they were after him.

Tara said...
I've been having the same nightmares, but with cockroaches. I know Scotty's pain.

Eric Jakob said...
That is great. Its fun isn't it?

David and Cheryl said...
Our kids are forever tormented by "Crazy Frog" in their slumbers.
As for poor little Scotty, Bruce Wayne used to have nightmares about bats and that became the precursor for him becoming Batman. Looks like you may need to accept the inevitable.
If he asks for a utility belt this Christmas, it is a done deal.
- The Walkers

D said...
So, he's destined to become MonkeyBoy, avenger of evil? I doubt the wardrobe would be even half as cool as Batman. Fur accessories are not typical superhero fare.

Grandma Walters said...
Okay, which one of you have been reading him his bedtime stories??? My nightmares were always bulls chasing me. I still cringe to even see one in a pasture way off!

Last Recital?

As with every spring since about 2003, R had a singing recital last month for her voice students. This time was a bit different because it was probably the last one for a while -- she's going to take a break from teaching with the baby coming. R is excited for the break, but I know it was sad for her turn her precious students over to someone else (he has referred several of them to a friend of hers who is also a teacher). We'll see if she misses it enough to come back to it in a few years.

The Ultimate Roller Coaster Ride

This blog has been silent on the topic of additional children for a long time, and it has been completely idle for the last 2 weeks. Silence might mean one of two things:
-You have nothing to say
-You have too much to say

For us, it is a case of the latter. The last few weeks and months have been full of changes, but nothing compares to the last two days, when our little apple cart was roughly upturned.

When I started my masters program, R told me that there was no way she was going to have another baby until I’d graduated. She wasn’t explicit about whether that meant she she could be pregnant before graduation, as long as the baby didn't come until afterwards. For reasons beyond our control, there was no baby and no pregnancy until all the exams were over.

Not quite a year ago, we asked our doctor to refer us to the Regional Fertility Centre to help us to have another child. She faxed a request to them and we were told that we would be contacted. Several months passed with no word.

Several more months passed. We asked the doctor if she’d heard anything, since we sure hadn’t. She contacted them again for us. Finally the RFC contacted us for a consultation. Because we had moved from Ottawa and had changed clinics, we couldn’t jump back into another treatment cycle without stepping through their procedures. Tests were ordered, time passed, and we had another meeting with our doctor. While the RFC generally recommends IVF (because of its higher success rates), we pushed to do IUI again, since it had proved effective for us before. The waiting times for IVF are several months, but we were able to go into an IUI cycle immediately.

In our experience with fertility treatments, this was probably the first time ever that the waiting period for something was shorter than we expected.

We began a cycle in April and after several weeks of self-administered shots and frequent trips to the radiologists, we were faced with a difficult decision. The hyperovulation medications had been overly effective, and R had 3 full-size follicles poised to release (desirable) and 3 more medium-sized follicles that could also release (undesirable). In these circumstances, the chance of a multiple pregnancy was about 1 in 3, approximately double the average rate for IUI (15%). Having been informed of the risks, we decided to ahead with it anyway.

Few children can say that they were present for their siblings' conception. Scotty may get to be one of the few, since he came along to the clinic on the big day – May 11.

You are supposed to do a home pregnancy test 17 days later and call the clinic with the results. We did a test 13 days later with the most sensitive home test that I could find. I remember it was a quiet Sunday morning. R came out and gave me the tester because she didn’t want to look at it. A negative test is one pink line – a positive test is two pink lines. I saw one thick pink line and one fairly faint line.


Yup. Pregnant.

It’s hard to compare our reaction this time around to the first one back in September of 2006. I remember R calling me at work back then and the sudden blast of relief that gushed over me. It was so wonderful. This time was weird. We just looked at each other and we said something like, “OK, but how many are in there?” Your standard test kit doesn’t have an additional little dial that says “Singleton – Twins – Triplets – Quadruplets – Madness.”

We were excited, but mostly we were uneasy. Optimism crept in with time, but we still felt like we should refer to the unborn as “the baby or babies."

It turns out our unease was warranted.

Producing too many eggs in one cycle can make a woman feel quite ill. In fact, there is considerable danger if the symptoms of Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (OHSS) are quite severe. R experienced a mild-moderate case and some symptoms may persist through the first trimester. Then the pain in her side started.

The pain has been kind of mysterious, but she was quite worried that it might be an ectopic pregnancy -- perhaps a tubal pregnancy. She was frustrated that the RFC was not particularly interested in following her case because they have set up all their schedules for IVF and IUI doesn't quite fit in. For example, the clinic does an early ultrasound for all IVF patients to check for ectopic or multiple pregnancies, but they would not requisition one for R, even though her risk of these conditions was roughly equivalent.

Finally, our family doctor came through for us with a requisition to get an ultrasound for a date that fell just after the 7 week mark. That date was the day before yesterday. I came to the radiology lab to attend the appointment, but their policy does not permit guests into the room to see the monitor until the exam has been completed. After 25 minutes of sitting in the waiting room, I started to get uneasy. Suddenly, instead of getting called in to witness the little heartbeat like 2006, R came walking back out.

She wouldn't tell me anything until we could get out into the hallway. My worst fears swelled up in my throat, but she seemed composed. When we were beyond the glass doors, her composure disintegrated.

Through tears, she told me that they hadn't called me in because the case was too complicated and they were going to have to send the results to our doctor, and we would get the information from her. However, after some prodding the technician had confirmed that three implantations had been observed, but there appeared to be an empty sac and another measured a week smaller than it should have with no observable heartbeat.

We left unsure how many babies, if any we might expect. R was in confused devastion and I was following a close second. You see, the technician had congratulated Rachelle on a pregnancy, but she hadn't given any details of a successful implantation or mentioned a heartbeat. We needed more details before we could completely pass judgement on the situation.

I went back to work and R went home to a restless afternoon as she consulted with her circle of confidantes. At about 5:30, she called me to say that our doctor had just phoned her with the results. The doctor reiterated the report about empty sacs and the phrase "no sign of gastrovascular activity."

No heartbeat. By week 7, you should certainly have a heartbeat. The doctor recommended another ultrasound in 2 weeks to follow up, but she made it clear that the probabilities were low that the test would reveal a viable pregancy.

That was it. As far as R was concerned, she thought that it was over.

I still hadn't given up -- but that is typical for me. Things just didn't add up. The technician had congratulated R on a pregnancy and had mentioned three implantations, but all the embryos were described as being inviable. Why would you congratulate someone on an inviable pregnancy? Needless to say, it was a somber mood in our home Wednesday night.

Thursday was a dark day. The plumbing company that was supposed to come back and fix a leak in some earlier work that they did for us got their appointments mixed up and left R hanging around the house all morning for nothing. She was not impressed when I spoke to her on the phone. The plumber finally did arrive in the afternoon.

I called her to check how the work had turned out, asking if she had given the plumber a piece of her mind. To my surprise she dismissed the issue completely. She said, "I don't really care about the plumber, because I just had a wonderful phone call."

My heart jarred to life suddenly.

R had engaged the services of a midwife when treatments started, to see her through the pregnancy and to be her advisor and advocate when the system leaves her uncertain. Her midwife obtained the ultrasound report and clarified everything. Embryo #3 showed a healthy heartbeat of 155 beats per minute. Size was right on target.

This phone call was exactly like 2006 -- all the relief, the jubilation. I was very nearly overcome with all. Over the course of 24 hours we had been through quite the rollercoaster:
-pregnant (need a bigger house)
-pregnant with triplets (need a much bigger house)
-probably miscarrying multiples (don't want to think about houses)
-pregnant with 1 (need the bigger house again)

With each piece of news our life looked to be taking a new direction. We anticipated that this would likely be our last pregnancy, since the treatments are quite a long and painful process. Faced with a miscarriage, we really didn't know where to go next. Suddenly, the way had opened up for us again.

Personally, I have had to mourn those other two embryos as the #3 and the #4 children that I'll probably never have, but I am so, SO happy to have that one little heartbeat in there. Hopefully, they'll let me see you next time, little buddy.

comments:

Linz said...
Ultimate roller coaster ride is an understatement. I was just on it with you reading that post. Oh my goodness oh my goodness. I am so very happy that you are pregnant.

the mama said...
Your dad and I were SOOOOOOO happy to get your second phone call with the wonderful news ! We had been so sad for you both the night before. Oh, what a difference a day makes !! CONGRATULATIONS !!!!

Lisa said...
Crying in Naperville...we are so happy for you! Love to all!

Jennie & Jeff said...
WOW, you guys must be emotionally drained. CONGRATS!! We are excited for you.

Julie Airmet said...
Congrats guys!!

ReeSesPcS said...
Wow! I'm amazed at all you have had to go through. Congratulations! That is SO exciting and I hope R doesn't have to go through too much pain for it all. You guys are an inspiration! We're happy for you!

Kage said...
We are thrilled for you, and sorry about all the drama. I had to read your post a few times to completely understand......

Jamie said...
What a relief. The ups and downs can be the hardest thing in the world to endure. Sounds like upward and onward! We're SO happy for you!!!

Jessica said...
Congratulations!!! I am so happy for you guys. Keep us posted and keep blogging!

margo said...
wow...crying in mccall as well. We are thrilled that it turned out like it did. we've seen those ups and downs and our heart goes out to you. so happy that it had a happy ending. :)

jenjakob said...
Congrats D and R!!! So happy you'll have another little munchkin. Can't wait for all the updates for this one!

David and Cheryl said...
That's wonderful news for you three to have a new addition to your family! We're extremely happy for you.
- The Walkers

Anonymous said...
Congratulations! What wonderful news and what a lucky baby on the way to have you for parents. Scott is such a handsome little boy too by the way.
Wishing you an easy breezy pregnancy. You'll love the midwifery experience.
-Olsens in Ottawa

Grandma Walters said...
Derek, thanks for sharing that most tender, spiritual, and finally uplifting narration on this new little baby. I hope you do get to "meet" that wee one on the next visit. We know how dear Scotty became to you both over all the blogs over the months! Please keep us all posted again now that "it" is really on the way. We are so happy for you! Love, Grandpa and Grandma Walters

sheri said...
GREAT NEWS!!!! So happy for you three!!!
(P.S. my word verification says "diesheri". Why would somebody want me dead?)

Planes and Trains At Calaway

This is why we moved back to Calgary

(to be with family, not just for Calaway Park).

June in Calgary

Everywhere I have lived, people have claimed that their particular city of residence has the craziest weather ever. I'm got going to go so far as saying Calgary is the craziest, but I am not going to say that it has the best weather, either.

Weren't we just swimming two days ago?

A Boy And His Backyard

Summer is SO much better than being cooped up a tiny house all winter. It's too bad the water from the house is cold as ice. We have to fill the watering can with hot water from the bathtub to stave off hypothermia. Maybe if we left it filled with water a bit longer, it would get warmer. However, the pool is usually filled with dirt and leaves by the time Scott is finished playing in it.



Cute, cute, cute.