Crazy Busy Keil's

The last few months have been CRAZY!! Between finding out we are expecting again, Eric’s school work and a busy baby I am finding it hard to keep up. I am sure this is only going to get worse come January but I will try to keep everyone updated.

Cally and her little friend Luca

Last month my parents came to visit us and it was so great to have them around to help out and to have some company. They enjoyed the scenery and walking but most of all I think they enjoyed seeing and playing with their granddaughter…..oh and seeing Eric and I also. Grandma and Grandpa were able to stay long enough to celebrate Cally’s 1^st birthday and it was so nice to have them be able to be here.

Birthday Cake!

After my parents left it was back to normal. Eric has been very busy with school and has been working so hard to make sure that he does well. Lately I have been missing him a ton as he usually only comes home for meals and short breaks to play with Cally. Cally I know is very much missing her Dad and we can’t wait to have a break in December. I know it is hard on Eric to have to be away from his family so much but he is doing what he needs to do to succeed and we are here to support him.

Cally loves her Dad, but not his mustache

Grandma and Grandpa visiting

Cally is a very smart and busy girl. I enjoy watching her explore and taking her first steps. She has just started to try and take steps with out our hands out, but sometimes gives up and goes to her bum if we try to get her to walk on her own. She can do it believe me if she is holding our hands she can boot it wherever she likes. Cally enjoys going for walks and playing with her toys. She plays very well by herself on the floor and I love watching her play and interact. Cally loves to look at books and line her stuffed toys up to play with. Her new thing is making her stuff goat trot on the floor and giving her puppy a kiss. Cally also enjoys listening to music, thanks Grandma Peggy for sending the Bobs and Lolo DVD it is Cally’s favorite. Maybe because that is the only kids DVD that we have and Cally loves it!!! .  I am in disbelief some days that in only a few months Cally will be a big sister. I know she will be a great big sister and look forward to the new adventure of being a parent of 2.

Early morning Daddy time

Reading to her all her guys

Good thing Mommy has a nice tummy to hold Cally up!

Beach time!

I took Cally to the beach for the first time on Saturday with another family. Cally very much enjoyed splashing in the water and playing with the wet sand. That was the first time that I have taken her and we had a blast. I am hoping during break maybe the whole family can go there and explore the water and relax. It isn’t a nice white tropical beach, but it was still fun to play and explore in the water. Cally enjoyed herself and that is all that matters.

Surprise!

It's the middle of August, and my first semester of Med School is over.  Hooray!  I did very well, better than I thought I would (second in my class of 90+ students on the Standardized National Anatomy Final), I hope I can continue into next semester.  I will have a different looking class next semester, as a variety of people have dropped out, failed a course etc... By the way, the passing grade for each subject is 75%, which is the highest in the Caribbean.  It means that if you can make it through Saba, you should do well on the Board exams.  We also will have quite a few people from the semester ahead of us, joining our class because they have failed a second semester course.  It's tough to see, but it's good to know that the school will give you a second chance.

We have decided to stay on Saba during my 2 week break, while the entire rest of my class have gone home for the break.  The island seems very empty and quiet.  I'm enjoying the time I have off with my wife and Cally.

Cally likes watching her Dad play indoor hoops.

Cally is becoming so smart!  She is understanding so many phrases and words, such as 'walk', 'stroller', 'bottle', 'outside', 'goats',  'chickens' and 'basketball'!  I'm sure she understands a lot more than we think.  She is pointing and waving all the time to communicate.  She is getting so much better at feeding herself too.  Her pinching skills are pretty good as well, especially on Dad's nipples....  She easily gets from sitting to crawling stance and back, but still no crawling action.  I really don't know how we are going to babyproof the house.  I'm just so proud of her development and personality.  She is usually very calm and quiet and has excellent concentration.  She still loves her jolly-jumper but her new favourite toy is her walker.  She has learned that being mobile is great for her independence.  Her new game is to move up behind Julia on the couch, pull her hair, then run away.  It's pretty funny. 

Cally in her favourite toy and second favourite jersey

Julia is also doing well, she's pregnant again!  We'll come back to that.  She has adapted well to island life, except for the temperature.  It's hot here, especially in the house (usually 28-30 degrees).  And using the air conditioner racks up the electricity bill like crazy.  Electricity, groceries, internet are very expensive here.  She has been terrific as a stay-at-home parent.  She makes sure that both Cally and I are fed and happy.  I am so thankful for her.  However, Julia does get a bit lonely sometimes when I'm busy with school.  There are not too many other spouses living in The Bottom right now.  Despite the size of the island, it is quite hard to travel with a baby.  It's so hilly and rocky, and hitching to Windwardside can be difficult.  I am hoping that some of the new students and their families will live in The Bottom and that Julia can make some closer friends.

Updated Family Portrait

So I knocked up Julia.  Surprise!  We are kind of in disbelief, because of our fertility issues in the past.  But it's exactly how we joked about how it probably would end up happening.  We figured that we conceived just before school started, two weeks after we got here.  Julia had just stopped breastfeeding and it was obvious that her hormones were recovering back to normal levels.  I was concerned about how she was feeling, and we decided to start her back on birth control to regulate things.  We were dumb.  She was already 6 weeks pregnant when she began taking them again, which is a HUGE no-no.  The first ultrasound shows no physical abnormalities, but we will find out for sure in a few weeks when an Ob-Gyn is visiting Saba and will repeat the ultrasound.  We are also very surprised about how far along she is.  We had thought that the pregnancy was only 10 weeks along but the ultrasound showed that the baby was much older and that we are closer to 18 weeks pregnant.  Which puts the due-date in mid-to-late January.

17 weeks pregnant (not 10)

Computer time with Dad on his birthday.

That means that we will not be coming home for Christmas because Julia will be 36-37 weeks pregnant and won't be allowed to fly.  We are keeping in contact with family and friends via Skype and Facebook (if you are reading this, please get a Skype account and call us sometime, Cally loves to talk!).  Julia's parents are coming for a visit in October for three weeks, which is going to be awesome!  Julia's mom, Lynn, has also said she will be coming to stay with us when the baby is born for a few weeks.  I can't explain how much of a help that is going to be for us!  We are so thankful for the support that Lynn, Kerry and the rest of Julia's and my family has meant to us.  I would not be able to pursue Medicine without them.  Thank you guys!

Rainy Season

Here are some various ramblings I am having at 6am on exam day.

I haven't posted for awhile, Med school is taking up a lot of my time.

Things are going well for us here on this secluded, rocky island nobody has ever heard of.  It is so steep walking here, seriously.  It gets your legs into shape really fast.  Not that I would know...I've been only walking back and forth between the house and school, down the scary looking rainforest pathway.

Goats aplenty, everywhere you look.  Cally really enjoys watching them, but not actually petting them.  She gets scared I think, because she can feel the goat's apprehension as well.

I found one of our garage bunnies dead in the driveway a couple of weeks ago.  I put it in a garbage bag and then the garbage wasn't picked up for 10 days....The area around the garbage can still smell like death.  Also, we've found a couple dead chicks around here.  There are approximately 15-25 chickens that live in our backyard vicinity.

There is a banana tree in our backyard, although I feel we would be stealing from our neighbour if we ate some of them.

We are missing friends from home, and family.  We can't wait for Julia's parents to come in October.

Cally is becoming an independent-minded, funny, special girl.  She can become interested in little things and concentrate on toys for longer periods of time.  She sits up on her own very well, and she will be crawling in no time, although she hates being on her tummy.  She is drinking on her own from a sippy cup and is eating some soft finger-foods.  She gets excellent vertical in her jolly-jumper.  She thinks dad is hilarious, and that means I have to be "on" all the time around her.  She is a very easy audience for my routines, however.

I've been dealing with ankle issues the past couple of weeks.  I played basketball maybe four times in one week against more youthful people, and that did them in.  Pitting edema, tendinitis and osteoarthritis set in.  Then I sprained my bad one on the scary-looking path after.  Sigh.  I need better drugs.

The rainy season is upon us.  Our fresh water supply comes exclusively from rain and stored in the cistern in the backyard.  There are lizards that go in there and minnows swimming in it, but it good for drinking after boiling it and filtering it.  We were without water from our cistern for four days a few weeks ago, because the pump had malfunctioned.  Don't worry, the "Technician"finally came to fix it under supervision from my landlord.  The "Technician" as he has referred to himself as, is also the cable guy, and never has the tools/supplies he needs to do his job.  My landlord apparently used to be the Governor of Saba back in the early 90's.

Typical lizard that you see everywhere (including our house)

Our garage bunnies (the one on the left has passed on.)

There is a great outdoor court here.

Family photo op by the ocean.

Bathtime for Cally!

My scary path to and from school everyday.

Cally and her passion. And Sock Monkey!

Crazy baby goat moment caught on camera.

Anyways, I better shower and get into exam-writing mode.  Take care everyone and feel free to email us or Skype us....Julia needs more adult interaction, as she is pretty isolated taking care of Cally everyday.

Taking care of business

Well the Keil’s have been in Saba for a month and what can I say…..I love it!!

Saba in gorgeous and I love the weather, sunny usually every day, we welcome rain,  and the people are very nice. It is very different all so. Things are much more expensive here and when you need something you would really like I can’t just go to walmart and get it, funny how you can deal with just not having it when back “home” I would just run out and get it because it was cheap. Who knew I would miss dill pickle chips…I have yet to see a bag. All I can say is thank you for all the care packages from family and friends back home .

Cally and I usually start our day early, as the roosters still get us up and we are awake about 6-6:30. Sometimes we are sleeping till 7 but that has been very rare. Eric is usually out the door for school around 7am and comes home about 12:15 for a 45minute lunch break and then it is back to classes. Eric will then return for some supper around 5-5:30 and hang out for a bit and then head back to the school for another couple hours of studying. I am trying my best to make sure Eric is taken care of by taking care of things at the house so he has one less thing to worry about and of course making sure there is cold beer in the fridge when he gest back from school or studying! :)

I am very proud of how dedicated Eric is to this program and the work ethic that he is showing. I do wish that we got to see him a little more but I know that the time we do get is precious and he is doing this for his family and we are very supportive and happy.

Cally and I do many walks around the neighborhood and to the store around the corner where everything is very over priced but we deal with it. I have yet to see more fresh fruit and vegetables as most of it is frozen and the only fruit I have seen is apples and oranges. Wednesday is when the goods come into the store so that is when Cally and I venture to the store around  11:30-12:00pm and get stuff before it is all been picked through when the students go on there lunch break.

Last Friday Cally and I went to Eric's white coat ceremony at the school . We pretty much listened to faculty talk and then everyone went up and introduced themselves from the class. After there was a pot luck supper and everyone mingled and introduced themselves. I know Eric will do well and we are here to help him achieve his dream.

We have only eaten out once and that is when we first got here. Can’t say that it was awesome it was a very over priced burger and fries at a pub in windwardside. I have ventured to windwardside only 1 other time to meet up with the sos group but plan on doing it a bit more. It is very easy to hitch rides from the bottom to windwardside but I was warned not to do it at night by Sally (the leader of the sos group).

I have joined the SOS group (significant others of Saba) and we met up for milkshakes last week and there is a welcome dinner for Cally and I on Friday. Everyone is very nice in the group and had lots of information for me about stuff in Saba. The group usually gets together once week to sew (quilting) but I have yet to join them to do that. Maybe that is something that I will start but as of right now I don’t feel like starting at 7am! . I will join them for other outings that are organized.

Most of our evenings are spent hanging out as a family once Eric returns from studying. Eric usually gets in his Cally snuggles while I get dinner ready. Cally has been hanging out and enjoying the NBA playoffs with Dad and Mom. Well maybe mom and dad are enjoying it and Cally doesn't mind hanging out on our lap watching too.

So that is what we have been up to the past little bit. I will try to keep the updates coming when I have the time to write them. 

We Made It To Saba!

Before we departed for Saba, we spent a couple of weeks in Phoenix relaxing.  I had to tie up some loose ends in Saskatoon as well, make some address changes, etc...  I hired a homewatch service for our Phoenix home, as well as installed new smoke alarms as the old ones had become a huge problem by alarming constantly.  I also hired some very hard-working Latino people to weed the entire yard, $130 for three men to work for five straight hours.  I also drank lots of beers, delicious Rollin' Rock!

We spent a few days packing for our final move.  We shipped three boxes ahead, which still haven't shown up.  We packed six full suitcases, three full backpacks and three smaller bags.  Plus we had Cally's stroller and carseat.  So needless to say, we required some help at the airport.  We expected to only have to pay for one extra checked bag each, like we were told when we booked the tickets, but we found out that was a lie.  The lady at the airline check-in counter was originally going to charge us $460 extra because all Cally was allowed was her diaper bag and stroller/car seat.  I had a bit of an angry moment but composed myself.  She then checked two backpacks for free, calling them infant medical supplies.  So we still had to pay $260 at the counter.

Our Luggage (minus stroller/car seat)

The actual flight to Miami went great.  Cally is an excellent traveller and she's very cute to everyone.  We got a lot of compliments about how good she was.

We also found out that our checked bags had to be picked up in Miami and checked in again the next day.  We were not happy about that at all, because that meant we had to lug all of our things through the airport two more times.  We ended up paying guys to transport them to and from the luggage storage service area, aka: home of the bitchiest woman in Miami.  Sorry that you hate your job, but since you are charging an arm and a leg to store bags, I think that I have the right to choose which ones I'd like to leave with you.  Sorry, also, that I did not already know the exact procedure of tagging and identification that your department has and that you needed to explain it to me.  She did not have any courtesy towards an obviously overwhelmed and tired family.

We spent a nice afternoon and evening in Miami.  Our crappy, small hotel room that barely had enough room to hold the things we did bring, was cool and comfy.  We were able to prop the shower curtain just right so we didn't hear a constant drippy faucet.  That was a big victory.  We did have a short walk around the airport neighbourhood.  We also ate at McDonalds...twice.  It was 99 cents for 6-piece Chicken McNuggets day!  We had to get our last junk food fix before moving to a country that did not have such a place.  The three hour time difference made it okay to go to bed very early.  Cally slept in her stroller the whole night.

So we had to again visit the bitchiest woman first thing before checking in.  She found our bags without saying a word because I paid her first.  We then spent the next 45 minutes at the counter while we went through the same check-in process.  Thanks to the lady from the day before, we did not have to explain about our luggage situation very much.  She had put a lot of information on our profile and we did not have to pay any more money.  We arrived very early for our flight and spent over three hours waiting at the gate.  Cally was happy the whole time and played on the floor.  I also was able to arrange for us to be seated first along with other priority passengers.  I was surprised that it was not their normal policy anyways.  We had three seats for the three of us and we enjoyed a relaxing flight to St Maartin.

I was so glad that we did not have to pick up our bags prior to going through customs!  We again hired a man with a cart to carry all of our things and get us a good cab.  We thought it was going to be a short ride to the docks, but it was a lot longer, and scarier than expected.  The cab driver thought he heard we were going to the St Bart's ferry, not the Saba ferry.  Thankfully they were very close and he did not have to drive us to the other side of the island or something.

Dawn II, Ferry to Saba

Happy Family Pic Before Departing St Maartin

The ferry was smaller than we thought.  The seats were also below the deck.  We were in good spirits, however, because we only had one more leg left on our journey.  We were asked about our baggage allowance again, and then the captain said to forget it.  He could recognize a tired and overwhelmed family.  He even gave us a beer before we left.  BAD IDEA.  I was sick almost immediately, Julia almost made it to Saba before puking.  Cally was totally fine.  We were greeted by friendly Dutch immigration and customs people.  Two women from the Spouses of Saba Students and Faculty met us there and welcomed us to Saba with a gift of a bag of groceries.  Anne and Ashley were very kind indeed!  And Ashley had her ten-month old son, Luca, with her.  Cally liked Luca.  I had to call my landlord, Mr Sorton, a few times to come as well.  He finally came, and it only confirmed my suspicion that he is a constant procrastinator (he has further strengthened this trait this week).  We piled all our things into two cars and after a windy five-minute trip we arrived in The Bottom, at our home for the next twenty months.

Our New Home

The rather large, two bedroom cottage was recently renovated for us, we were told.  I have said before that our first house was my practice house for all my amateur renovations.  This place had been amateurly renovated several times over.  It had uneven tiling and flooring throughout. It also had a weird layout; the bathroom had been added well after the house had been built, the fridge is in the dining room and Cally's room has three doors.  We are very glad to have found it.  It is a three minute walk to the school and grocery store.  Nothing is very far on Saba, but the mountainous roads are hard to climb, and it takes you a lot longer than you think it should.  We are settling in this first week and adjusting to the island climate and pace.  And we have began to drink a lot of Amstel Bright beer along with Heineken, both from Holland.

Saba, Dutch Caribbean

Getting to Phoenix

After finishing packing and getting our house ready for the next owner, Julia, Cally and I stayed at Uncle Bill's.  On March 28th, I picked up my two friends, Adam and Anil, and we left Saskatoon at about 5:40am.  The van was towing the biggest UHaul trailer that was loaded all the way full.  We even had to spend about ten minutes figuring out how to get Adam's golf bag into it before leaving.  The van is only classified as being able to tow 2000 pounds, which was what the trailer weighed empty.  Needless to say, we were very concerned about whether or not the van could tow this thing over any sort of incline and also whether we could control it going down a hill.  We would find out that it had just enough power to make it.

I had done a lot of research about what the roads were going to be like in Saskatchewan, Montana and Wyoming.  It looked like most of the roads going south were unadvisable for travel, and several roads were closed in Montana, after the border.  The first leg of the trip was okay, some slippery sections but we made it to Rosetown in just over an hour.  As soon as we turned south to Swift Current, we had second thoughts.  I drove about 60-70 km/hour to Swift and it was very scary.  Anil and Adam were regretting their decision already.  Most of the highway was a sheet of ice.  It took over 2 1/2 hours to finish that leg, and it was mentally draining.

We filled up at Swift Current, and were going to eat but did not find a place along the Trans-Canada, so we said we'd wait.  My friend PJ helped us along the way by providing us up to date highway conditions for our next leg to the border.  He said that there did not look like there was any favourable conditions in Saskatchewan or Montana and to try to go south from Medicine Hat.  We took his advice and went south through Cypress Hills.  The roads were great for Adam on the Trans-Canada and we were hopeful as we turned south.  The conditions turned incredibly bad.  There were huge snow drifts, some reaching over ten feet along the highway.  They highway turned to mostly packed snow and one lane mostly for the next two hours.  Adam's hands cramped from gripping the wheel so tight, and his face became bright red from the stress.  He also did not have sunglasses and was squinting the entire time.  Anil wanted to turn around.  Then we reached the US border finally.

They talked like they were going to make us drive back.  Very unfriendly border patrol.  I admit, it looks fishy when a van with three men towing a large trailer into the US.  How could I get them to believe that one of us was not planning on moving there illegally?  I produced all the paperwork that they required.  They were not at all concerned with Anil or Adam.  They were grilling me: about my program, why I did not get into a program in Canada, why didn't I apply to the US, where is my wife and child, when are they coming down, what is stopping them from living illegally in the US, what is my plans with the van, etc...  They even went so far to insinuate that the person in the backseat, Anil, was really my wife.  WHAT?  They were crazy.  They didn't make us open the trailer, which we were just hoping they wouldn't search it and make us pack it up again.  After about half an hour of explaining and getting a lot of sarcasm and flack from the border they let us through, and boy we were hungry!


View Larger Map

The roads were never again an issue after the border.  We made it to Havre, MT and ate Subway.  Our spirits were high and we completed the next 11 hours without a hitch.  We made it to Pocatello, ID at just after midnight after a very long, eighteen hour drive.

The next day was long, but much less stressful.  Adam drove the first five hours past busy Salt Lake City.  Anil drove the very mountainous, 6 hour leg just before we hit Arizona.  And I drove the last five hours through the descent past the Grand Canyon and up again through Flagstaff and finally into Phoenix.  On one pass, when Anil was driving, the van barely made it up the hill and I don't know what we would have done had it not make it.  When it was my turn to drive it was late afternoon and Anil decided to buy some beer to celebrate that his turn was over.  Adam and Anil guzzled three beers each in about fifteen minutes, all the while telling me how good it tasted.  Jerks.  And I was nice to them by stopping at the side of the road near Tuba City, so they could relieve themselves.  They deserved beer for what they had done for me.

We got to Phoenix at about 10pm.  The original idea of unloading the trailer was quickly put to rest after we came inside and enjoyed some more cold beverages.  We needed a long sleep.

Our Journey

I can never repay Adam and Anil for helping me along this journey, I can only thank them and I hope that they know they can come down to our home in Arizona anytime they wish, free of charge.

Packing Up Our Lives

Julia and I decided to sell most of our possessions before our move.  We posted things on Kijiji.com and were happy to find that lots of people buy a variety of used goods off there.  We sold things so easily that we decided to post our house on there.  We sold it within a week.  Hilarious.

So, while Cally was growing older everyday, we worked hard at selling our stuff and packing up the rest.  I stole about 30 boxes from work, was that wrong?  Procrastination ran rampant.  But as the day I was leaving approached, we still had lots to do.  Our accommodations in Saba was still up in the air.  I needed to get the van tuned up and a trailer hitch installed.  The usual moving stuff, you know?

Cally was busy organizing our move

We also needed to give up Michael and Dumb, our cats.  We had originally thought that we could bring them to Saba with us, but that didn't work out.  I've had both of them since they were kittens.  Michael is nearly 13 and Dumb is nearly 9.  Our friend Jay bailed us out, and we thank him greatly for it.  We had taken care of his cat Rand for several years while he was in Toronto, so I guess he felt he owed us.  We both had several tearful goodbyes for the cats.  I think I was more sad giving them up than saying goodbye to anyone else.  You can keep in touch with people through email, telephone, Facebook, etc..., but not pets.  I miss them already.

We are really going to miss them

After getting some motivation from some close friends, we finished packing/getting rid of the rest of our things.  Thanks Terri, Brennan and Jay!  We needed that kick in the ass.  The next step was renting a UHaul trailer.  After looking at the amount of stuff we still had, I came to the decision that the trailer I booked wouldn't be big enough.  I called the UHaul place to see if I should just rent a truck and haul the van behind.  It would mean a lot more money needed to be spent, especially on gas.  But the UHaul guy told me that our van should be able to tow the trailer that holds double the original volume.  It also weighed twice as much, more than what the van's limit was.  But since I'm cheap, I decided to risk it.

Stay tuned for the story of our trip down to Phoenix.

Tonsillectomy and Vacation Time

It's been a while since I've posted so let's get you up to date.

While on parental leave for our special baby Cally, I finally got an appointment to see Dr Kirschgezner in Humboldt regarding my tonsils.  They had been bothering me for 6-7 years, ever since I had a Strept infection so bad that a peri-tonsillar abscess developed and ENTs considered lancing and draining it.  They had become very scarred and cavernous and harboured half-digested food particles that caused a lot of discomfort and halitosis.  Anyways, Dr K is a weird, old GP who has been performing this surgery for years and agreed to do mine.  I had been told that adult tonsillectomies have a long, painful recovery time and that's why most ENTs won't do it unless absolutely necessary.

One last snuggle before surgery

I had some fun while being an inpatient at the Humboldt hospital.  The Drs and RNs understood my knowledge base regarding anesthesia and medicine in general, so they gave me more freedom to do as I wanted while being a patient.  The anesthetist who was putting me under was performing his routine of relaxation by asking me what type of alcohol I liked to drink.  I responded by saying that I really preferred Propofol.  He then stopped his routine and I was out.  I was able to read my anesthetic record later and learned that I was an easy intubation (Grade I view)and had a #7.5 ETT. Drugs that I received: 2mg Versed, 100mcg Fentanyl, 100mg Propofol and 35 mg Rocuronium as well as inhaled Sevoflurane and 10mg Morphine.  I spent the night in the hospital and since they kept me on an IV infusion, I was peeing lots!  But it was such a pain bringing the IV pump with me, so I just kept disconnecting my IV myself to leave my room.  I was a bit pukey, and threw up the next day on the drive home.

So my leave from work was extended another two weeks in December while I recovered from surgery.  It was a tough recovery.  The first couple of days weren't so bad, but once the scabs sloughed off and the healing began, I was in constant pain.  I couldn't eat hardly anything, creamsicles, pudding and broth were about all I ate for 2 weeks.  I lost 10 pounds.  Painwise, it was rough.  Dr K did not prescribe any narcotics and said to take 1g Tylenol every 3 hours, which is a ton.  It wasn't enough pain relief for days 4-9.  Luckily Julia and I had leftover narcotics from previous ailments which I used for breakthrough pain relief.  In the end, the procedure was worth it and my pharynx is not so bothered all the time and Julia says my breath does not smell like death so much.  Nice.

Throughout this time Julia had been struggling to get Cally to gain more weight.  She was stuck at just above her birth weight for most of the month of December.  Pumping really helped, especially once Julia started using an electric breastpump that sucked way harder.  But Cally was lazy on the boob and therefore Julia's total milk supply was low.  Julia had begun to really stress about it and we decided to start supplementing with formula. Julia would still pump as much as she could and give that to Cally first, but when the well was dry, we gave the formula.  It worked like a charm!  Cally was not as fussy at night and she grew and gained weight easily.  It was still not what had hoped for, but it was the right thing to do for both Cally and Julia.

Christmas came and went fast.  I worked for about one week around Christmas.  Things had changed in the ICU and I had to re-orientate myself to where everything was.  We spent Christmastime at Uncle Bill's home.  Very relaxing time, but lots of dogs!  I didn't get to hold my daughter as much as normal but it was understandable.  The best present we received was a box set of all 15 seasons of ER.  We were also getting ready for our big trip to Phoenix and then Cranbrook.

We left right after a night shift on Dec 31.  We had the van packed up full of luggage, baby supplies, dog supplies and other things we needed to bring down.  Julia sat in the back with Cally and tended to her as I drove.  Ruby sat up front with me.  Both Cally and Ruby traveled well.  Cally would sleep for 2-3 hours at a time then wake up mad that she was wet and hungry.  We would have to stop at the side of the road to change her and cuddle her.  Ruby would need pee breaks as well.  So that's how we traveled the 2700km over three days.  We stayed in Motel 6s the entire way there and back.  We stayed in Helena, MT, Nephi, UT on the way there.  The bad roads were early, mostly in Montana.  On the way back we stayed in Ely NV, Ontario OR, Spokane WA before going to Cranbrook.

We stayed in our home in Phoenix for 10 days.  We watched a lot of ER and went for walks with Ruby and Cally.  We went to 4 NBA games, which we found were much to loud for newborns.  Poor Cally was startled over and over the first game.  So we devised a set of earmuffs for her out of bottle nipples, cotton balls and infant headbands.  They worked well, but Cally did not enjoy wearing them.  We did hardly any shopping, we realized we don't really need anything before our big move.  We did visit the Phoenix Zoo, which was pretty fun.  Cally slept mostly.

Family photo in northern Nevada

We made our way north on the western side of the Rockies, which made for higher temperatures and very easy driving.  We stayed in Spokane for a night and it was so great to see Uncle Ted and Auntie Bev who loved meeting Cally.  Those cabbage rolls Bev made were SO GOOD.  On the way to Cranbrook the next day, the weather was bad with rain and wet surfaces.  We were almost in Cranbrook when we had a small accident, nothing serious at all, but was kind of scary nonetheless.  We were pulling into a litter turnout to change Cally and when we hit the turnout, it was a sheet of ice!  We slid across the length of the turnout and hit a large snowbank that was guarding a dropoff.  Nothing was damaged, really, and everyone was okay.

Cranbrook was fun.  We stayed with my brother's family again.  My sister Rebecca even came down from Calgary with Sophie, so we had all five children down at once!  It was a rare occasion indeed.  Dinners and lunches and catching up with Trevor, Jon and Liz, Leah and Mom, Dad and Enri was great.  All five granddaughters got their photos done together.  It was good to visit all my nieces. I ended up volunteering to take Taryn and Nicola to 'Toopy and Beanoo Live'....at least 27 children's songs.  Belle and I had fun playing with her dollies.  Sophie showed us how she can roll over.  One main reason we came to Cranbrook was to drop off Ruby, who is now living with Jon and Liz and the girls.  Ruby fit in right away and we could tell that this was the right decision.  Liz looked to really like having a constant companion to go for walks with and run errands with.  We miss her!  Whenever I'm about to leave to go run an errand, I'm looking for Ruby to come with me still.

Cally looking at her twin, her father when he was her age

We stayed in Cranbrook a few days then made our way back to Saskatoon through Calgary.  Rebecca came back at the same time and we stayed overnight with her and Nate, whom we were able to track down finally. Sophie and Cally had lots of fun playing on the floor.  You could tell that Sophie is happiest at home with both her parents, and her jolly jumper!  We are going to see them at the end of February when they come to Saskatoon for one more visit before we leave to Saba.

Since we have been back in Saskatoon, we have been busy.  Julia has been busy with Cally and her appointments and Kijiji.  I've been busy with work (not really) and getting our house ready to sell.  We had made the decision to sell as much of our furniture before we move.  It will save us a ton in moving expenses and we already have most of we need in Phoenix anyways.  We have been selling things left, right and centre off Kijiji and we found out on Tuesday that we have also conditionally sold our house as well.  Hilarious.

Julia's family has really missed Cally over the past month and it's been great to have them come to visit.  Julia and I are going out on our first date since Cally has been born on Feb 5, to ABBA-Mania.  It should be fun.