More Postcards From Vancouver

Ethan having a good time at Metrotown mall.

The train in Metrotown mall that Jonathan just loves.
Riding the green car, making a 'Thomas' face.

Riding the Skytrain, right in the front!

Lest we forget, Ethan is also a Canadian!

And so is Jonathan!

Jonathan getting the biggest cookie he's ever gotten so far...

-bob

Postcards From The Olympics

Pictures not in any particular order...

At the game, Team Canada hockey sweaters *everywhere*.

Go Canada, indeed.

Crowds in Granville Street

Canada Place, just a bit east of the Olympic Cauldron.

Canada Place


The Olympic Cauldron and the crowds (and the view before they cut the hole in the fence).

The Olympic Rings, just to the left of the Cauldron.

A picture of the Cauldron through the hole in the fence.

Just as you get to Canada Place.

Yes, it does...

Part of Robson Square.

The rink at Robson Square. No one was skating on it at the time as the ice was being Zamboni'd.

Downtown Vancouver

Are these great seats at the game or what?

The crowds arriving at the game. This is *inside* security. The blue fence marks the security perimeter.

Canada Hockey Place.

Just inside security at Canada Hockey Place.

Granville Street - sign on a building supporting the Canadian athletes.

Artwork on public display on Granville Street.

The largest Canadian flag I have ever seen...

- bob

Oh Canada!

"I feel very Olympic today!" - Cool Runnings.

OK - before I try to describe the indescribable, I need to thank my parents for watching the boys while Dina and I went to the Olympics. We couldn't go were it not for you guys. Love you very much!

We're wrapping up 4 1/2 days of being in Vancouver for the Olympics. It has been a blast! Everywhere you look, there are people wearing Team Canada hockey sweaters, or something proclaiming Canadian pride be it a t-shirt, coat, touque, face paint - whatever. The city itself is decked out in all out patriotism: the largest Canadian flag I have *ever* seen graces a building in downtown Vancouver, another store front proudly proclaims: "The world needs more Canada!", others show unbridled support of the athletes - I have never seen such a display of Canadian patriotism and this reporter absolutely loves it!

There is so much to see and do here that it seems almost impossible to get to a majority of it unless you were to be here for almost the entire duration of the games. In our short time here, we've seen the Olympic torch, Robson Square, Granville Street, and the Olympic Superstore downtown.

Even with the torch being fenced off and hence, your ability to get to it and view it is somewhat diminished, it is still quite a sight. From the correct vantage point, you can even see it with the Olympic rings in the harbour off to the left. The throngs of people gathered around the torch make getting just the right photo op that much more difficult but it also enhances the celebratory mood of it all.

Speaking of celebratory moods, Robson Square is a seemingly unending party with live entertainment, huge jumbo-trons, a skating rink (with skate rentals), the downtown zip line (complete with 4-6 hour line up) all framed by the downtown buildings adorned with symbols of Canadian pride and the Olympic games. This seems to extend over to Granville street - more of the same with street performers and examples of artwork on public display.

The huge Olympic Superstore is actually half of the entire first floor of The Bay. The only entrance is off the street. Even if you find yourself in The Bay (as we did riding an escalator directly up from the Skytrain station), you must exit the store and come back in if you want access to the Superstore. What is amazing is that with the games barely half over, a *lot* of things are out of stock.

I must also state that we found that the border crossing into Canada and the public transportation here in Vancouver for the games were excellent. When we got to the border we literally drove straight into a border guard station. We had a literal 0 wait time. Skytrains ran literally every minute. You really never really had to wait at all.

The hockey game itself (the event we had tickets to) was equally amazing. The match was Canada vs. Switzerland, and as can be anticipated - words are inadequate in describing the feeling of patriotism in the arena. When Crosby scored the shootout winner, and when Brodeur subsequently made the last save of the game, the crowd erupted in a cacophony of sheer and unbridled joy. Myself - I found I had almost lost my voice by the end of the night - I had shouted and cheered that much!

I decided to prolong our stay to late Sunday so that I could watch the Canada vs. USA game. Knowing just how bad the NBC coverage of the Olympics are, I decided I wanted to watch such an important (and surely to be a very entertaining) game on a real professional broadcast.

And if you can't get tickets to such a hockey game, surely the next best thing is to be watching the game and talking hockey with your dad at home.

- bob

Gong Hay Fat Choy!

Happy Year of the Tiger everyone!

- bob

Front To Back

Ethan finally rolled front to back today. He's already rolling back to front which I think is the harder way to roll. Maybe he likes tummy time now???!!! When he was younger, he really didn't like tummy time, but now he seems to do a little better when left on his tummy, even if it is only for a short time. Jonathan didn't like tummy time either. I also think his g tube is still a bit sore too, so tummy time hasn't happened much over the last several weeks, so he hasn't been able to practice this rolling milestone.

-Dina

NBC - EPIC Fail!

It is simply inexcusable and the absolute height of utter and sheer *stupidity* for NBC to show the Olympics on a time delay while in the same time zone as the event itself! The opening ceremonies started at 7PM but NBC - being the #$@%ing morons that they are, didn't start their broadcast until 8:30PM. They opted to fill the hour and a half in between with useless drivel.

Words simply fail me (at least non-four letter words) as to how asinine this is!

I'm actually thinking of having my folks set up the webcam in front of their TV so I can watch REAL Olympic coverage LIVE via Skype rather than that delayed garbage NBC peddles.

Oh, how I long for the days when I could just turn the channel to CBC and watch a PROFESSIONAL broadcast! Alas - no CBC because they were outbid by CTV for the Olympics and Comcast (oh, how I HATE them too - for so many other reasons!) doesn't carry CTV...

- bob

Ethan's First Official Playdate

Ethan, Jonathan, and I went to our first playdate with a new group of mommies today that we met at Evergreen's parent baby class. Ethan and I have been going since he was 6 weeks old and we have been having fun and learning a lot. Now, we are finally getting to know some other moms with babies Ethan's age. Today, we finally were able to join them at Bastyr University for lunch and then took a walk around the campus. Jonathan had a great time walking with us and all the mommies were commenting on how good he is. After this playdate, we went to a second playdate with another group of mommies that we have been getting together with since Jonathan was 4 weeks old. This group has gotten smaller as several of the mommies have moved away, but I love these ladies who have been supportive of us for 3 years now. I look forward to building the same close relationship with this new group of mommies!

-Dina

Still On Track For May Surgery

We got a call from Children's the other day to confirm a pre-op appointment on April 26. So we are still tracking for a May surgery date.

- bob

Potty Training Success!

Jonathan has gone pee pee in the potty before, but we have not really been pushing the issue much. Lately we have been having him sit on the potty more frequently, but it usually turns out to be a long sitting session with no result. Last night, he finally peed again in the potty. Well, it was a drip, but still success. We made a big deal over it. Today I took off Jonathan's diaper and told him to go sit on his potty. While he went into the bathroom, I went to throw away his diaper. When I got into the bathroom, Jonathan pointed to a puddle on the floor and said, "Momma clean it up". I told him to sit on the potty and that next time his pee pee should go into the potty. Eventually he stood up and said he was done so I started to put on a diaper when I looked into the potty and saw a pile of poop in there. I said, "You pooped in the potty!" He looked happy, but a little surprised. I wonder if he even knew he went?! We called daddy, grandma, grandpa, and gung gung and po po. So proud!

Rolley Polley

Ethan has been rolling onto his side for a while now and has rolled over before, mostly when he's been lying on the couch. Today he actually rolled over onto his stomach from his back on a completely flat surface. I think rolling from your back to your front is harder than learning to roll from your front to your back. Jonathan was able to roll from his front to back way before he could roll from his back to front. Ethan is again doing things differently than Jonathan.

-Dina

Happy Birthday, Dad!

We drove up to Vancouver for dad's birthday (Saturday). The border crossings both ways were really fast and easy. It was nice to see ALL lanes of the crossing into Canada open in preparation for the Olympics.

It was a good if not short trip. I always enjoy going up and visiting my parents and spending time with them and now with them living in Vancouver, it's so much more convenient. Much more preferable is the 2 1/2 hour drive up than the old 4-5 hour ordeal of not just the flight to Edmonton (itself only 1 1/2 hours), but of sitting, waiting at the airport, going through customs, more waiting, baggage checks, security checks, arranging for rides to and from the airport, etc, etc, ad nauseum. And even more so now what with all the gear we have to bring with Ethan.

We had dad's birthday dinner at Sun Siu Wah in Vancouver. It was truly excellent. I cannot describe how tasty the (gigantic!) oysters were, or how tender the sweet and sour beef was or how attentive the service was. A pity that no one thought to whip out a cell phone to take any pictures of the food! Big thank you to Perry A. for the recommendation! We vowed to try the Richmond one next time and hopefully make it for dim sum.

Since Vancouver has gone into "lock down" for the games (i.e. you can't really even drive into downtown anymore), we took the Skytrain into downtown and this was Jonathan's first real venture on this train (he was too young to remember the last time he took it). He just loved it! We managed to get the front car on the trips so he could look out onto the track and see other oncoming trains on the other tracks. He spent the whole time making "Thomas" faces and whenever an oncoming train approached, he gave it a 'Thomas' name (like James, or Gordon, or Henry).

Just before we boarded the Skytrain, we were at Metrotown mall to do some quick shopping/lunch, and ride the little train they had in the mall that Jonathan rode 5 times at Christmas. Alas, we arrived *just* in time for it to close for the afternoon break. Jonathan looked so disappointed. But I then told him that we were going to go ride a "big train" and he perked right up. I'm glad the Skytrain delivered!

We picked up our tickets for the Olympics (men's ice hockey: Team Canada vs. Team Switzerland - go Canada!) without a hitch and now anxiously await our return trip in about 2 weeks when Dina and I will attend our first ever Olympics.

- b

Mommy Loves Her Boys!

It is Monday evening and I have been staring at my sleeping boys. Jonathan has been asleep for a couple of hours now (a long nap for him) and Ethan is asleep on the couch after bottle feeding for a bit and then falling asleep. He is now finishing his feed through his G Tube. I love them so much! I can't believe how much the Lord has blessed me with such beautiful boys. Thank you God! I often just sit and stare at them whether they are awake or not and feel so much love for them. When they smile at me or when Jonathan says he loves me, I know they love me too. I cherish the times when I can spend one on one time with Jonathan now. Those times are so few and far between with Ethan being so needy, but that has slowly gotten a little better and I have been able to spend more time with Jonathan over the last few weeks. I cherish every opportunity with him now, especially an uninturrupted one. Now that Ethan is doing so well, I feel better about leaving Ethan to play for a bit by himself so I can spend time with Jonathan. Just the fact the Ethan is doing so well and the docs are so pleased with his progress and growth, I feel like all our hard work over the last 5 months has now paid off.

When I look back over the last 5 months, there were some really low times that's for sure. Ethan being born with birth defects had to be one of the lowest points in my life. The slow growth and the constant crying for weeks on end really tried both Bob and I and i'm sure Jonathan didn't enjoy it much either. Staying faithful though and thanking God for the positive things and thinking about the positive things in such difficult times has really helped get me through the last 5 months. I know that in the long run, all this love and hard work with Ethan will have paid off. Like I said, it already has and I know it will only continue to get better.

Whether I run my hand through Jonathan's hair or hold him while he sits in my lap or listen as he says "Please Momma or Thank You Momma". Whether he comes over to grab my hand so I can dance with him or when he calls my name to watch him copy a video he is watching. As I softly wipe the milk away from Ethan's cheek or gently clean his wound. Or as he smiles at me and laughs or just sits there and tells me a story. I am reminded of how much I love my boys. Who can resist these beautiful faces. This is my favorite picture of them. I love you Jonathan. I love you Ethan.

-Dina