Countdown: t-minus six weeks and counting.....

Tonight Rob finished his last paper for his 14th course of his MBA with the University of Phoenix. Tomorrow he starts his 15th and final course. This course will take 6 weeks and then he will be finished his degree. It's a good thing too because I don't know how many more nights of being up till 12:30 or 1 am writing papers we can handle.

Mark's Easter Egg Exploration

This was what Mark did during the kids' Easter egg hunt. I thought it was pretty cute.

A Happy Easter Break

This year, Easter was at the beginning of Spring Break. Rob and the kids had the week off and we had a great relaxing time as a family. On Good Friday our old friends the Vadnais who were in Southern Alberta for the holiday came to visit. We had a fun day with them. We hadn't seen them in years, but we have kids similar ages and they didn't seem to have any trouble hitting it off. On the Saturday we had our Easter Egg hunt in the yard.

Easter Sunday we had a nice dinner with Rob's family. During the week off, we got our lawn rotoraked and watered, our garden rototilled and peas planted, spent a day in Lethbridge, wrote a paper for Rob's university, did lots of piano practice watched lots of movies, had friends over, went to the temple, and generally enjoyed some pleasant relaxing time together. We had mostly agreeable weather, too.

It was so nice to have the family around me for a week. They are the great joy of my life.

Mark's New Glasses

Over spring break I took Mark to the Children's Hospital to see the Pediatric Eye Doctor. They prescribed glasses for Mark for astygmatism and far sightedness. I am surprised at how well he has been wearing the glasses. They don't seem to bother him at all. In fact, he gets very attentive when we put them on and seems to have more visual interest. We all think he looks very scholarly with his new glasses...and not only are they good for seeing, they also make an excellent chew toy!

Mark's Medical Update

Mark has had several appointments at the Calgary Children's Hospital recently. His reduced mobility/weight bearing as well as the ketogenic diet for seizures both combine to prevent proper calcium absorption, and make for weak bones. His bone density was recently tested and he also had spinal Xrays. It turns out that infact his bone density is very low and that he already has 2 compression fractures in his spine. This past week we started a treatment to improve bone density. There is a medication--pomidronate--that they give by IV infusion every three months that strengthens bones. He had his first infusion on Thursday and hopefully in time, he can achieve better bone density and restore his spine to its proper structure.
Also, as you may know Mark had hip surgery in November 2007. His physiotherapist identified reduced range of motion and pain in his left him and so we arranged a visit with the surgeon. It turns out that despite the surgery his left hip is again coming out of the socket and will probably need to be operated on again...though the dr. said we could wait a while. In addition, the hardware from the last surgery seem to be rubbing and causing pain. Its all very frustrating
Mark has been on the ketogenic diet for over 5 years now, and it has mostly controlled his seizures. In particular, in the last 18 months he has been seizure-free. His neurologist now wants to wean him off the diet. Some kids are able to come off the diet and remain seizure-free while others are able to come off the diet and have their seizures controlled with one or two medications. Since Mark is experiencing significant side effects in terms of bone strength, the neurologists feel it is time to try these other options. We will probably start weaning the diet in the next couple of weeks.
There is an irony with a child like Mark. That is, that although he is making developmental gains--albeit very slowly--over time, the effects of the brain injury on his physical body increase. He is such a sweet little guy and we love him a lot. May God have mercy on this child and minimize his suffering in mortality.

His 'n Hers Matching Report Cards

Alyssa and Austin got their report cards last week. They are graded from 1-5 with five being the highest and indicating "above grade level." Rob told the kids prior to report card day that for every non-5 they got they would have to run 10 laps around the house. On report card day morning, Austin was considering running away from home because of this. However, as it turned out, Alyssa and Austin got identical report cards, both getting all 5s except for one 4 each in writing. They also both got excellent in all the work habit categories. This report card is typical for Alyssa, but represents a significant improvement for Austin. I was proud of them for hunkering down and getting to work this last term. Staying on task that way is especially hard for Austin. I don't even think we made them run around the house, afterall. But, I am starting to push journal writing for both of them as it is a good thing to do for many reasons, but should especially help their writing abilities.
Good Work Alyssa and Austin!

Transitions

This morning when I walked up to my front door after running errands I made a startling discovery. Tulips are poking their way above the soil. I am stunned by their bravery and heartened by the promise of spring. Our snow is mostly gone and with at least 3 double digit (Celsius) days beginning tomorrow, I think it will be completely gone...not that it won't snow again, but I think the pattern will now move toward spring with winter heaving a few more death throws.

We are also on the verge of the end of basketball season. Both of Magrath's teams play in provincials this weekend and Rob is taking the kids to Red Deer to watch the boys and then way up to Hinton to watch the girls. They will be gone from Thursday until Sunday. After provincials we get a little break before Soccer season starts.

It is a transitional time for Preston too. His birthday is this Sunday, and he will be 4. I just signed him up for preschool which starts in the fall. When he starts preschool I will have my first limited experience with having all my kids in school and I sense the beginning of a totally different era. At the same time, Alyssa will start junior high and Young Women.

On Monday Rob finished his 13th of 15 university courses for his MBA degree with the University of Phoenix. He has now started course number 14, and if all goes well, he will finish his degree on June 8th. Last weekend Rob and I made a quick trip up to Rocky for the funeral of one of his former student athletes and we talked about life after Master's degree. It is hard to imagine having that weight lifted.

Even though these changes are not all happening in the next few weeks, they all make me think of spring and hope and progress. Here's to change for the better!