The Mooney Clan

WOO HOO RIDERS!! I've decided that Justin is our good luck charm. Every time he goes to a game the Riders completely dominate (even when its against his own team the Stamps). Poor Justin. But YAY for the rest of us. Anyway - we went to the game with the Pippus clan who were here hanging out with us this past weekend. We had so much fun and managed not to melt!! Caden couldn't come to the game (thanks to Crystal for hanging out with him while we were gone!) but he was cheering anyway.

Today is the birthday of Louise Brown, the first baby born out of the IVF procedure. She is 29 years old. Her parents had tried to have a baby for 9 years and when they went for IVF they didn't even realize that there had been no successful births as of yet. Well, they ended up with 2 babies from IVF and since then Louise has had a child of her own (with no assistance) and the number of 'test tube' babies has grown beyond counting. I cannot imagine what it would have felt like to be going through this stuff 25 or more years ago. There was so much that they didn't know. Now we are at a time when there are so many successes to look at, the rate of success is 40 & 50% and it is better understood even outside of the 'community'. Even though we don't know each other, we live in different countries and our babies were born 28 years apart, I feel some kind of wierd connection. Maybe it's because someone had to be first so that we could be thousandths late...

What does my family decide to do when it is 35 degrees outside? Let's ..... build a shop!! Well, actually, the plan to build came before the weather forecast so we were stuck with it but it all turned out pretty good. Chris and Adam were there as well and the guys got the walls up and mostly sheeted and the roof trusses on. That was what my dad needed them for the most so it worked out well! Caden came out to see what was going on every once in a while but it was too hot to be out for very long. Here he is hanging out with grandma. We spent most of the day in the air conditioned house. Caden and Jaiden liked spending time together. It was cute, Caden kept following him around. In this pic Caden is whapping his head against the chair to make it rock and then laughing hysterically.

So today I went to the chiropractor. My back has been bothering me; enough that I am losing sleep so I decided to check it out. On top of that I've had a cold and am feeling kind of yucky and tired. I ended up getting scheduled with a woman dr. which is what I had kind of hoped for - more comfortable for some reason. So she walks in and she comes across right away as really friendly once I get past the cute round little belly sticking out from the center of her. Yup - my chiropractor looks to be about 5 or 6 months pregnant which is what I would have been had our first transfer been successful. So sweet right? ya - it is. My first emotion is unbelief at the irony and the urge to cry. But then I tell myself not to be ridiculous and that it has nothing to do with me. Anyway - it was all good. I mentioned that I had back problems when I was pregnant and that my kid is 25 lbs and I lug him around. So this bonded us and she talked about pregnancy and prenatal classes. So, what I did was...

Caden had so much fun with his uncle Adam, auntie Trinda and cousins, Gabby, Jaiden and Zack last weekend. We had a pretty good time with them ourselves! We did so many fun summer things that I felt like a kid again. We went for slurpees, went to the park a couple of times, went swimming, stayed up late watching a movie and just did lots of playing and eating and laughing. These are the times that we'll grow old and call the good ole days. I'm trying to soak it all up because these kids will just keep getting bigger and things will keep changing. And aren't they all just so cute?!

I have written a little bit about our struggles with infertility (but very little) and I realize that it may make some people uncomfortable. One of about a thousand issues that has to be dealt with when this happens is who to tell, when to tell and how much to tell. It is different for everyone. If you don't want to know - don't read this. We have tried it both ways and it was so much better to share. Don't get me wrong, when you keep it to yourself, it is easier in some ways - people aren't going to have to get their hopes up and then feel disappointed for you (that becomes one of the things you dread - having to disappoint people because you know they want good news for you), you can deal with disappointment in your own way and you can avoid the topic for the most part. Why we decided to be fairly open about it is because we believe that God gave us each other for times like these. Our friends and family are our support system. One of the things you have to ha...

I just got back from my first yoga class and I loved it. There's just such a positive atmosphere around yoga. I really like that. Plus my back is always bothering me so much and I look forward to that getting better too! So - I'll continue going. It feels good to do something for myself too. I have been doing yoga at home for a long time but I have been wanting something that is just for me. I think I'll really enjoy having something that I can Go Out to, you know?

I love summer! There are alot of things I like about summer and one of them is hanging out with people you like! My brother Adam and his family were here for the weekend and we did lots of fun summer stuff. We went for slurpees, went swimming, went to the park (a couple of times). We cooled off by going to the museum for a bit which everyone seemed to enjoy. We had lots of fun and just made the most of the beautiful weather and the time we had together. I felt pretty lucky to be able to spend that kind of time with family. It was really special. Maybe because I have been low this past week I felt especially grateful to have them here. Life is so good - even in the midst of troubles. I plan on posting some pictures later so check back. Tonight though I am about to try a yoga class for the first time. I've done it at home a bunch but never in front of other people! Yikes. I'll let you know how it goes.

Sometimes I wonder what it means to 'have faith' that something will happen. I don't really believe that I can just pick what I want to have happen and then 'have faith' that it will. I think what it means is 'have faith' that whatever happens, even if it isn't what I want, that God is there and He is in charge - therefore it'll all be the way it should be. And that kind of faith is hard for me to find right now. I am sure everyone has felt like this about something. I'm sure everyone reading this has hoped very hard about something. Maybe to graduate high school, maybe to find the spouse of their dreams, a good job, a stable future. I am at the point in my life where children and having them are at the forefront of my dreams. Actually I have been dreaming about that for 10 years now. Most of you know that we needed In Vitro Fertilization and now I am so incredibly fortunate that after all that time I have had a beautiful son. It still amazes me ...

Caden wiped out today. A big one. He didn't get too terribly upset thankfully but he's showing his battle scars. You can see the bruise and bump above his eye and the scrapes above and below his nose. If you look even closer the top and bottom scrapes are connected by a smaller series of scrapes going all the way down his nose. Poor guy. OH and he also has another bump and bloody scrape on the top of his head. We were in the back yard and he fell and scraped himself down the bricks lining our sidewalk. He'll survive of course and move on to his next injury and 'learning experience'. Can you believe you were ever one and didn't care that you were walking around with great big scrapes all over your face? What a lovely age :)

Happy Canada Day Everyone!! We went to Wascana Park for a bit and checked out the people there. It was a beautiful day. On Monday we took Caden to the beach for the first time and he really had fun. He loved playing in the dirt and being in the water. I am really enjoying how doing things with your kid is sort of like doing them all for the first time again yourself. I am also enjoying the hot summer sun. I've been waiting a long time for this season. Now I hope to make the most of it.

Here's a pic of Justin's brother James, his wife Nicola and their new baby girl "Maggie". She is 4 days old here. We got to meet her on friday when they were able to go home. She is a sweetheart! We had to get home so we had to say hello and goodbye at the same time but I guess that just means we'll have to make a few more trips out to Alberta now!!