The Highs and Lows of July

July has come and gone and the month has had both Highs and Lows for our family.

The month has started off with the news that we were pregnant. Keeping things hush hush, we bought the sticks, pee’d on one and promptly had Akis tell me I had to pee on another cause the first one must be broken. With all the physical changes going on, I knew it wasn’t broken, and that double line meant yep, a new Koutrakos was in the making.

Like a number of Canadians, Akis and I haven’t gotten around to finding a family doctor, so a few weeks after the initial ‘stick confirmation’ I headed to the clinic to get my condition medically confirmed. After a brief discussion with the doctor there who confirmed that we were in fact pregnant, I was sent on my way and told that spotting I was experiencing was normal, but to keep an eye on it in case it gets worse. Unfortunately over the course of the evening it did get worse ~ so off Akis and I went to the Emergency Room at VGH. Arriving at 11:30pm that evening, we were finally released at 3:30am after some poking, prodding and the orders to go and get an Ultrasound the next day.

The next day was not only about me but also about Hugo who was unfortunately also sick multiple times. Not something you expect from the puppy. Worried about him, we scheuled his first of what would be 2 appointments that week to visit the vet.

I had my ultrasound that afternoon and the tech was able to find the baby and a heartbeat. She indicated that it was probably about a week younger than what the dates would indicate, but it was there and the heartbeat was as she expected. I received a report and was told to take it back to Emerg for the analysis. With Akis working evenings, Hugo was the next in line and we headed to the Vet.

With a $100 bill and 2 shots given to Hugo, we were given instructions that we were to watch how he progressed.

We then headed out to the hospital where we received relatively positive news from the doctor and were told to take things easy and monitor how things progressed. No sooner did we leave and get home, but conditions took a turn for the worse and we headed back to the hospital. I must commend the folks at VGH, as I had a speedy trip through the waiting room and within 10 minutes I was back in the treatment room and being evaluated. Unfortunately after all of the testing, the news was not positive and I did have a miscarriage. Akis and I have tried to keep positive through this experience and take away a few positive points such as a) we were able to get pregnant, b) we didn’t have to try a long time.

It was a tough few weeks dealing with the all of the physical aspects of losing the baby and then there is the emotional side. With much reading of forums, websites, talking to others who have been through similar experiences, and appointments to make sure that my body is on the mend, I think I am getting back to normal. I have been quite exhausted but hopefully this too will pass.

Here's hoping next time we have go through the experience we are able to make it all the way.

Hugo in June

We took Hugo to the beach for his first water experience. While he needed to be shown that the water isn't a bad thing, he did discover that he really loves the sand and spent tons of time ripping around the beach. It's been a lot of fun watching Hugo grow. We are constantly amazed at his milestones such as losing his baby teeth, being big enough to jump on the bed.

It will be great once the summer is over and we can get access to the sandy beach again.











Another day down at Kits beach.

And then there was June

Wahoo, June was the month to get things done.

1. Akis finished the 4th term ~ only 2 more to go
2. I finished my Master's Certificate course
3. I finally got some paperwork notorized that I had been procrastinating on for a year
4. We got the roof on the Miata replaced ~ we no longer look like the poor cousin who has to use duct tape to repair everything
5. Payments for Akis course went down by 30% ~ this one is my favourite
6. Hugo went to Doggie Daycare

Finishing up the 4th term, Akis is hitting the home stretch of his program. With only a week between sessions, I can fully appreciate that he is getting tired. It's been a year of school, homework and working part time, and without much of a break I think at times he wonders when it will end. Well, in exactly 6 months. Finishing up on December 24th, this will be his best Christmas present I think. Knowing that he will be done school, that we will be done paying tuition, the New Year should start off with a bang.

I was very elated to see my course come to an end. After 5 months of classes and homework, I can appreciate to a small extent what Akis is going through. We had a huge group project that we needed to work on and present during our final session. The project was to simulate a project and all the planning and work that must go into it. While the message of the final assignment was loud and clear, I think everyone in the group was excited to have the course over with ~ in particular the gal who came down from Prince George for each of the 9 sessions! That's a lot of flying in 5 months. With the course over, all that is left is to submit that application form and get the certification under the belt. Here's to getting this one crossed off the 'To Do' list.




It's amazing how somethings can sit on your list for a long time. One of these was to get some paperwork notorized to replace some Savings Bonds. After receiving the paperwork about a year ago, I finally dug up everything and got my act together putting the paperwork into the mail. At least my part is now done and hopefully it doesn't take them a year to send the bonds out to us!

It has been a while since the zipper on the rear window has functioned well. I think I may have still been on the ship when the zipper first 'caught' and undoing the window became an issue. The challenge with a bum zipper is that it seems once the teeth have been 'compromised' whether you are doing up the window or taking down the window, there is one part where it just doesn't work well. This was now the case and every time we zipped up the window, the zipper would split, and as you can imagine, this makes the zipper less than effective. So I inquired as to the cost of fixing the zipper. Well at a jaw dropping $400, I figured at that rate we should check and see what it will cost to replace the whole damn thing. Perhaps because I haven't needed to do much in the way of repair work to this car, I was equally, if not more stunned to discover that the replacement of the roof would be 3 times the cost. WHAT?? So I decided to live with it. Living with it meant that everytime it rained and the car was parked outside, I would need to strategically place an object such as a Kleenex box against the plastic window to hold it into place. With everything positioned just so, I would carefully close the car so as not to disturb the bracing. There were some instances where the 'propping' was not adequate and as a result the water pooled in the back window. A careful lift would dispell the water, however this was not a permanent solution. I finally made it in to have someone look at the roof to see if the zipper could be repaired ~ go figure, they said that replacing the zipper would only put holes in the roof as the material was too old, so a new roof it was. That said, I don't think it has rained since the roof has been replaced. Had I known that good weather would be the outcome, I would have replaced it in May and brought summer early!

I used to mock people that took their dogs to Daycare. I wondered why on earth would someone need to take their dog somewhere for the day? Would they not just play with their dog when they came home? These thoughts were ones I had until we had a dog that is crated during the day. Unlike when I was little with Woofer, Hugo doesn't get free reign of the house during the day. At 5 months, we keep him crated, so while we are away, he sleeps. This makes for one energetic dog when we get home. Unfortunately my energy level doesn't quite match Hugo's and his desire to play, run and fetch is met with mediocre enthusiasm as I try to get him to indulge in contained activities like chewing on his sticks. Hugo is not proving to be the most social of dogs, so it was recommended to us that we get him to a Groomer sooner rather than later to introduce the experience. I opted to take him to a place where they offer grooming and Doggie daycare which would allow him to stay for the day and hang out with other dogs. Not being great with others, this proved to be a good experience for him. He has been a few times and while he doesn't jump around and hang out with others all the time, we have noticed that he is more willing to approach others and play in the park. So I guess this is when you need to admit that I am now one of those that I used to mock, cause Hugo will be heading back to Doggie daycare.

The month of May...

Wow, it seems to be somewhat challenging to sit back and remember what we did in May. Perhaps that is in part a result of settling into a more common routine ~ work, housework, course, sleep ~ no jetsetting to various ports of call to discover new cultures. That said, there is something nice about routine. I just wish the routine included having Akis home at night for dinner. With school and work, it seems that we don't get to spend a whole lot of time together and it makes us both excited about reaching the end of his program where he can go back to having a single focus rather than having to split between work and school.



Beth was back in Vancouver for her last visit before Westy made his appearance. I did manage to pick her up in the wee Miata, but I can tell you this will be the last time she travels this light ~ one small suitcase and a Lululemon bag. I'm sure motherhood will change the packing habits of the Tacchis, at least in the short term. We had a small shower for Beth with another pregnant mom in attendance. Suzanne, pregnant with twins and I think 37 weeks at the time, made a huge effort to be there. She has since delivered 2 beautiful girls. Maggie and Janet hung out as well as the girls gabbed over food and surprisingly enough, no wine! Bad planning on my part, and there were no photos. I should check with Suzanne and Janet to see if they snapped some good shots.


Hugo 'graduated' from puppy class. Not sure that graduate is the correct term as it doesn't seem to matter how well or poorly you behave, you show up, you get the certificate. Either way, I have learned a few tips/tricks but have fallen off the wagon as far as consistently providing him with training. He has grown a lot and it is surprising to reflect and realize a few months ago he used to fit in my 2 hands.


The other comical outing was the Arbonne party I went to out in New West. Yes, travelled out of Vancouver proper, even took public transit as Akis was working. The experience on the skytrain was almost enough to make the evening ~ heading out to New West, got on the train only to discover one of the passengers in her white summer skirt was sporting some very colourful undies. Later came to discover that it in fact tattoos and it made me ponder, as I always do with tats, is that something you want to have when you are 80. Regardless, watched as a fellow rider seemed to be very taken by the tat gal with the white skirt and proceeded to secretly take photos with his iPhone. While I appreciate that everyone snaps photos here and there now days, what seemed a bit more creepy was the flipping through of the photos and subsequent attempts to take better photos. Jeez, guess this means you need to be on your best behaviour as you just never know these days who is out there lookin' at ya.


With only 2 more sessions of my course to go, I was also looking very forward to when I could wrap up the Master's Certificate course I had been taking. In conjunction with the course I was pulling together details for my PMP (Project Management Professional) application. In the application you need to document 4500 project hours and that just seemed like such a daunting task. As it turns out, it was kinda like your taxes ~ it sucks to do, but at some point you just need to sit down and do it.


So that was May in a nutshell ~ seems I'm getting the hang of this 'routine' bit.