Civic Engagement

I am NOT a political activist. I ignore any and all references to elections, parties and politics... as a general rule. I know we've been encouraged to be involved in civic affairs, but I've never fostered an inclination do so.

My brother-in-law, Aaron, asked if we'd be willing to put up a lawn sign for the mayoral candidate he was supporting. I said I'd have to research his platform first. I put it off (just a little bit ;) ) but finally looked into Naheed Nenshi, as well as the other major candidates. Right about the time Nenshi gained momentum, soon entering a 3-way tie with the other front runners, I decided that I whole-heartedly endorsed his candidacy. Shawn followed suit and we invited Aaron to put a sign on our lawn. :)

If Shawn thought he was surprised at my "passion" for Nenshi, I was doubly surprised at the advocate I had become! I engaged in discussions with family, friends and co-workers about the reasons I was voting for Nenshi. I even participated in a "wave" on the Anderson Station pedestrian bridge over Macleod Trail on Election Day! So fun!

I'm thrilled to say that Nenshi stunned political observers with his come-from-behind WIN against the shoe-in alderman and the popular news anchor!!

Here's me and Calgary's new mayor!!

Hobbies for Toddlers

We had a wonderful family day on Saturday, taking the children to the zoo (we have annual passes) and then to dinner at Denny's. This was a treat from Shawn in honor of his 1st paycheck at his new job (1st year plumbing apprenticeship), since kids eat free on (Tuesdays and) Saturdays. :)

The children were actually quite good but what impressed us the most was what kept Ella occupied for so long... Peeling the wrappers off of the straws!! Bit by teensy bit, the paper pile in front of her grew. When she finished one straw, we'd hand her another. It was so cute!

Now on to the pics!

Several birds aided us in cleaning snack leavens off of Ella's stroller. ;)

 Ella's forehead looks so cute mushed against the window! You can see Shawn taking the pic in my sunglasses...

 This pic is soft but the kids look so cute!

 Looking at ???

 I didn't notice until now that Taylor has his hand over Avi's which is on his lap! Awww!!

 Ella loves to pose nowadays. :)

 Ella and mommy.

Avi Eye Update

Averi has been scheduled for an MRI to determine the location of her eye muscles. The surgeon would like to continue to correct Averi's eye(s), if at all possible, but can't pronounce the prognosis until she gets a look inside. She said she doesn't like surprises... like Avi's 1st surgery! ;)

I don't know why, but I was actually surprised that Averi may have more surgery(ies) for her condition. I mean, obviously, her eyes aren't fixed but ... I guess I thought that that was it. Hm. Well, Averi did so well the first time that I'm optimistic if she has more work done. I just want to do right by my baby...

Birthday Antics

The kids and I recently attended a birthday party for my friend's son, Seth, who turned 3. As always, Stef's party boasted more food than could possibly be eaten and so it was no surprise to me when Taylor slowly waddled over to me, dramatically emphasizing how FULL he was. He then plopped on the couch beside me and perked up, asking, "Can I have some cake??"

Averi added her own brand of entertainment by singing "Happy Birthday to Seth-ers!!!" throughout the party. ;)

Fall Perfection

An irresistible moment in time... And I had the camera!!

Avi Goes to the Hospital... Again

I got a call at work this last Wednesday saying that I needed to pick up Averi and take her to the doctor. She had excruciating lower abdominal pain and a fever. She had been up several times throughout the night before but her general complaints of sore tummy had me administering some Tylenol and putting her back to bed. At least I'd had the frame of mind to warn her babysitter.

I took her to a walk-in clinic where she was immediately seen and then referred to the Children's hospital. Suspicion? Appendicitis!

The ER doc (resident) was fairly certain it was appendicitis and moved Avi to a different bed within the ER to await blood work and a surgical consult. She had an IV started (the nurses wrap the kids up in a blanket with only the necessary limb extruding!) and the surgical resident echoed the ER doc's opinion. So we waited for the "big boss" to come and examine Avi but it turned out her white count was normal (not indicative of bacterial infection).

The surgeon indicated that the pain was in the right place for appendicitis but Avi's age worked against the diagnosis. An ultrasound was ordered despite the late hour. It turned out inconclusive, of course, as pertains to her appendix though there were remarkably HUGE lymph nodes within her abdomen as well as fluid in her bowels even though diarrhea was not amongst her symptoms. This explained the pain, to my thinking, since Avi didn't seem to localize her pain to only the right lower quadrant of her abdomen. The entire width of her lower abdomen was the culprit. (The ultrasound tech mentioned mesenteric adenitis, but again, no nausea, vomiting or diarrhea were present.)

Averi was admitted overnight for observation. Her condition did not worsen, in fact, her fever disappeared. The abdominal pain remained but had lessened enough that Avi could move around. This ruled out the appendicitis but, unfortunately, we did not leave the Children's with an actual diagnosis... It will probably be attributed to a viral gastroenteritis, despite the lack of typical GI symptoms.

I was given a list of symptoms to watch for and she was sent on her merry way.

She has completely recovered but I will always wonder what happened to my girl!

[Edited to add: Most Responsible Diagnosis - Mesenteric Adenitis]  ;)

Taylor's 1st Day of School

As I indicated in Averi's surgery post, Daddy accompanied Taylor to his first day of Kindergarten at Bridlewood Elementary School on Thursday, September 2nd. We are entirely blessed to have the school only half a block from where we live!

Here are the pics:

 Taylor and Ella leaving the house.

Taylor and Ella at the Kindergarten entrance. I love the expression on Dude's face!

The three of them!

The first day was just an hour long. When asked about his day, Taylor only said that they didn't play with toys and they didn't eat! ;) His first real day wasn't until Tuesday, September 7th since the morning and afternoon K classes alternate Friday attendance and then there was the Labor Day Monday.

Taylor was holding a girl's hand when I picked him up for the first time on Friday! According to him, he had been hurt in some activity or other and she held his hand to comfort him! How sweet!

Taylor hasn't had a problem with being dropped off or picked up. So what's the difference when being dropped off for Primary? Perhaps things will change now... ;)

I will have a separate post on Taylor's backpack once I get a picture!

Avi's Surgery

I realized recently that I haven't posted about Avi's surgery... A rather significant event!

Thursday, September 2nd was not only Avi's surgery date but also Taylor's 1st day of Kindergarten. After some discussion, it was decided that I would take Avi to surgery and Daddy would take Taylor to school--with the understanding that several pictures must be taken (see next post).

Averi did very well with getting her blood pressure taken, etc. She looked so cute in her little hospital PJs! Unfortunately, since Daddy had the camera, the only pics I got are on my cell phone. :(

The hospital staff loved Averi, of course. She was so full of sunshine and energy. This blond little head could be seen bobbing all over the Day Surgery unit because she insisted on playing at every toy station we could find. We then had to content ourselves with wheelchair rides.

Finally, the porter arrived to take Averi to the surgical unit. She had seen other patients taken out on their beds and so, even though it wasn't necessary, Averi finally got to have her "ride" on the bed.

I got to hold Averi while the anesthesia was administered (Dr. Stuart Neil). She chose the "strawberry" scent which is administered as some drops within the mask. Avi and I held the mask to her face together, but eventually the smell of the anesthetic becomes stronger than the strawberry and she kind of fought the mask. Soon, she relaxed and her eyes closed. At this point, Avi was transferred to the surgical bed and I had to head towards the Day Surg waiting room--my home for the next 3 hours.

I watched many doctors enter in to inform parents of results so the wait seemed interminable to me. When Dr. Linda Cooper and her assistant, Dr. Wood, finally approached me, however, I was caught unawares. Averi was fine, Averi did well. They operated on 2 muscles in her left eye and 3 in her right. One of the muscles on her right eye, unfortunately, was anomalous and so they were unable to fix it. Apparently, this happens about 1 in 100 patients. What does this mean for Avi? Her right eye will still turn inward a bit. There was also quite a bit of intraoperative bleeding so swelling and bruising would likely be significant.

I was informed that it would probably be a half hour to 45 minutes until she revived but I was called in sooner due to her agitated state. I was told that it was quite normal for children of her age to be angry and confused when awakening since they don't really understand what's going on. She was quite vocal and spit out her codeine and ripped off the small towel they had taped around her IV hand so she couldn't pull it out. They suggested I sing to her and I knew that that would probably work since we sing to her every night. The singing helped a little. The saddest thing ever was Averi's bloody tears. :(

She continued to be vocal while transferring her back to the Day Surg unit from PACU (Recovery) but soon fell asleep after arrival. She slept in my arms for a good few hours. Dr. Cooper arrived and explained that she would awaken in much better spirits and promised to return soon. This proved to be true and I was amazed at how well Avi adapted to not being able to open her eyes. "Never underestimate the power of sleeping in mother's arms," is what Dr. Cooper said. ;)

I have to mention how amazing Averi's Pediatric Ophthalmologist is! She called every day over the long weekend to check on her patient, saw her immediately in the Vision Clinic when we had concerns about her swelling and called again yesterday to check on her. Shawn did take her in to the Ophthalmology Clinic at the Rockyview today, where Dr. Cooper told us she was on call, to ask about inflammation on the eye. She responded in her usual exuberant and dedicated and considerate way, examining Averi in the hallway whilst between destinations.

After waking up, she was hungry, of course! My hungry little Avi! She was only allowed jello, crackers, arrowroot cookies, apple juice, ice chips and popsicles. Unfortunately, since we used a popsicle to get her to open her mouth for the codeine in PACU, she refused them ever after.

On the way home from the hospital on surgery day, Avi wanted to listen to Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" over and over again! She's so cute! As of this writing, she can now sing along with parts of it! ;)

Averi's first day postop was probably her toughest and, almost, our easiest! She couldn't open her eyes and so relied upon us completely for all her needs. It also kept her out of trouble! ;) I was completely amazed, again, at how easily a child adapted to temporary blindness!

 Sorry this one's blurry... This is post op surgery day...

All she wanted post op (in hospital and at home) was fishy crackers!

Her IV bandaid.

Avi making a pouty face! ;)

Avi and Mommy. You can see some of the postop swelling in her right eye.

I have to say that I will never forget how magnificent it was to hold Averi in her post op slumber for those hours in the hospital. I love my beautiful little sweetheart!

Avi's 3rd Birthday

I still haven't finished putting up pics from my trip but I'll get to it!

A quick interlude for Avi's 3rd birthday pics...

Her lovely Cricut-made tiara (details here):

Her cake (made by Omi):

Avi blowing out the candles:

One of Averi's presents was sidewalk chalk (you're a genius, Stef!!) and everyone was out playing with it as soon as cake was done!

Remember that you can click on any of the pics to zoom in...

Happy bday, sweet girl!!

Beck's Daughters

Becky has 3 daughters, Lindy and the twins, Jolie and Callie. One of our favorite stories from Becky was this following quote from her daughters:

Let's play "sisters!"

The girls were so cute while we were there. They gave us hugs and included us in their play and conversations.

Our favorite line from Lindy came to us while we were driving back from the mall. It was well past their bedtime and they were eager to go to sleep. At one point, I saw a Big K and mentioned it to all. Lindy exclaimed, "Don't get any ideas, Dana!" Or something like that. lol! Like I NEED to shop at KMart.

Trip to Nauvoo, Illinois

Kyle went through the trouble of finding a sitter for the girls so that Becky could take us to Nauvoo on Wednesday, July 28. Thank you!!

Here are the corn fields rushing by...

Welcome to Illinois!

Welcome to Nauvoo!

The temple!

Our shots in front of the temple:

The sculpture denoting Joseph and Hyrum's last ride:

This is the first time I've seen this type of flower anywhere but on a stamp set!

We then headed for the Visitor's Center. When I saw these HUGE flowers, I had to have a pic! Beck is there to show scale...

After this, my camera died. :(  I await pics taken by my comrades.

We attended the Nauvoo Pageant which was somewhat tainted by the well-meaning (?) anti-Mormons distributing literature at the entrances. A high point, however, was getting to shake the hand of Elder Neil L. Andersen and getting a pic with him and his wife!

I forget to charge my batteries until after our first day in Chicago so there's a bit of a jump... Can't wait for those pics!!

Trip to Iowa: The 2nd (Full) Day

It was decided that we would take the Water Taxi up and down the Miz'ippi River. Despite heat and humidity, we took it upon ourselves to walk there since Becky was awaiting delivery of her new gas stove and had more kids than seats in her van.

Our walk began pleasantly enough. I found the sign on this dumpster to be amusing...

Beautiful flower bush:

I liked the street lamps in Bettendorf:

Our first glimpse of the bridge between Moline and Bettendorf (well, we had crossed it on our way to Beck's from the airport, but first glimpse on our walk):

I took this pic of the water taxi marker before noticing the sign taped to it:

The sign basically stated that the water taxi wasn't running until future notice due to the dangerous level of the Mississippi.... Argh!!!

By this point we were hot but decided to do some exploration.

This is the Isle of Capri casino that we took a quick look of inside:

Another bridge shot:

And yet another bridge shot:

Jenn and Marie at the Captain's Wheel:

Marie and me at the Captain's Wheel:

The 3 flags that locally identified us: Bettendorf, Iowa, United States...

The walk home was literally painful as Jenn and I fought blisters and foot wear. I took my flip flops off on occasion only to experience burning soles. We all fought heat stroke but Jenn got the worst sunburn of the 3 of us. The only thing that kept us going, as if we had an alternative, was the promise of Becky's air conditioning. We had, of course, brought water with us.

At least Becky got her stove!

Trip to Iowa: The 1st (Full) Day

After playing games and talking long into the night, we all slept in the next morning, with the exception, of course, of Becky who still has real life to deal with.

About the only things we did today was go to a SUPER Target and eat at Sonic. We were going to go to the mall but it didn't work out. Perhaps tomorrow. Marie really wants to go on a Mississippi boat ride and I'm really looking forward to it!

Trip to Iowa: The Plane

If I don't blog this as I go, it may never get done!

As prescribed, we arrived at the airport in Calgary 2 hours before our international flight.... And barely made our plane!! Security was backed up all the way to Customs! Eventually, personnel pulled out people with departing flights but while Marie and I got through in separate lines, Jenn disappeared. Thinking that perhaps she had checked on the plane already--they were calling out final boarding--we dashed to our gate, only to discover she had not made an appearance. I checked in and Marie went in wild search for Jenn. After two very serious final boarding calls that mentioned the Hunt party by name, as well as seat withdrawal and baggage removal, Marie and Jenn came dashing down the hall and we all made it onto the plane.

What a way to start the morning...