CLARENCE

Papa and I really wanted more children. My doctor told me definitely and emphatically that I should never have another pregnancy (and unless I took serious preventative measures he would not see me as a patient). We discussed it and got a second opinion. After a careful review of my health and health history Dr. Westcott, a new OB/GY in Lethbridge, decided that if we really wanted one more child that we should immediately try to do so. He thought that with careful supervision, preparation, planning, interventions and treatments that we might proceed. What a circus! Planning, preparation and supervision indeed - every day for months. He wanted to know the instant I might become pregnant and started a regime of daily shots that tapered off to weekly for several months. Oh my aching pincushion hip!

My sister-in-law was expecting at the same time. I remember the smart remarks about our profiles when this photographer suggested we smile - so we posed - and let it all hang out! This was taken in December 1985. What a nice portrait of Sonya and Clarence. They didn't do ultrasound portraits way 'back in the day' the way they do now.

Clarence arrived safely and on schedule but not without some time on bed rest for me - yuck - that wears thin real fast! He was a gregarious baby that seemed to always be smiling. He learned every trick his siblings could teach him and then invented a few more.

Clarence loved music and rhyme - and baby swings were a nice innovation! When he learned to talk many were the times he had to be taught that all letters should not be used for rhyming games.

His special blue tricot blanket went everywhere he went. He did not sleep without its cool silky touch on his face. If you see it in a picture without him, rest assured he is nearby somewhere.

This was taken in the spring of 1986. He made eye contact and looked around at his world from the moment he was born. Notice the stiff straight legs - this was his first line of defense around his siblings and cousins. He could stick those legs out so fast and push someone away in the blink of an eye - and yes even pin an unsuspecting brother to a wall if it were close enough.

He was prone to ear aches and so usually wore a hat. He went visiting a lot. This picture is likely near April 17th as we sometimes went to visit my grandparents for Grandpa's birthday and to take Nena to see him. He often wore those same gray overalls the way Grandma wore an apron.

He was my chubbiest baby and grew rolls and jowls that made me laugh to see them. By the time Cla came along we had discovered that 'school photographers' would take pictures of siblings when they weren't busy with a class so we usually had pictures taken at the schools in the fall. This would be the fall of 1986.

We would try to get a family picture once a year. We did not have and could not afford a camera but would dress up and splurge (about15 dollars) each year and get some pictures taken to try to make sure we recorded 'the way we were.'