Quiet books

I'm going to be making some new quiet books for Erica and Lillian. They love to look at pictures! I would like to ask everyone to post some pictures so I can download and print them so the girls can learn everyone's faces! Thanks!

Happy New Year

I just wanted to be the first to say, Happy New Year, before tomorrow actually comes. I love you all and I am glad to be a part of each of your lives. Until I see you in the future. SKT

Christmas verse

Okay, so I wrote a new verse.
Well, several new verses actually, until I found one that worked.
So, what so you think?

First comes the stocking of our LaDale
Oh, dear Santa fill it well
Bring her the handsomest guy of all
One that she can meet at the ball

-OR-

First comes the stocking of our LaDale
Oh, dear Santa fill it well
Bring her the handsomest of all men
Just make sure he has no wen*.

*a benign encysted tumor of the skin, esp. on the scalp, containing sebaceous matter; a sebaceous cyst.

-OR-

First comes the stocking of our LaDale
Oh, dear Santa, here’s the tale,
Bring her a husband, a sure true friend,
One with a current recommend.


Frankly, I think I'll keep the last one.


LaDale

Re: Up on the House Top

In all fairness David's horn was on his bike. So he only really got two things but I guess we did just love the boys more. I am waiting to hear if any of you come up with better ones for your families. We worked hard for the rhymes on these.

Look, I made it!!

So, I decided to try again today and it worked! I was finally allowed to move to the new Blogger. Hallelujah!

I just wanted to comment on the stockings...did anyone else notice that David got three things in his stocking, Samuel got two and us girls only got one thing each? I mean, talk about unfair! =) Just kidding. I know it's because Mom and Dad loved David best and then Samuel. I've come to terms with it...

Seriously, though, I just thought it was really funny. I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year! I love you all!!

Up on the House Top

LaDale, Jenafer and Keryn have all expressed an interest in the words that we made up for each of our children. It was hard to come up with them all (especially Telima because we changed it too often) but I think I have them now.

First comes the stocking of our LaDale
Oh dear Santa, fill it well.
Give her a dolly that laughs and cries
One that will open and shut her eyes.

Jenafer's stocking is next in the row
Bring her a dress with a fancy bow,
Make it the prettiest that you can
We think that's a real good plan.

Next is the stocking of our Keryn
Oh dear Santa, when you come in,
Bring her a cradle that she can keep
Someplace for her doll to sleep/

Next comes the stocking of David Mike
Oh dear Santa bring him a bike
Give him a horn that go Toot Toot
Also bring him some Cowboy Boots.

Next is the stocking of Samuel Kip
Oh dear Santa don't you slip.
Bring him a train that choo choo
Also bring him a ball that's blue.

Telima's stocking is the last
Oh dear Santa when you go past,
Bring her a pair roller skates
We think that would be just great.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!

Boxing day

Isn't the day after Christmas boxing day? If it is- Happy Boxing day and a Merry Christmas a day late. Hope it was fabulous for everyone!!!

Hello

Whew, made it!! Thanks Brad!!!


MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE- almost!

LaDale

Naming Gideon

Naming kids is a traumatic affair for me and Keryn. We put a lot of thought into the process because we believe your name gets to shape a little part of who you are. Keryn and I both liked Ezra Taft Benson as a prophet of our childhood and we know that Ezra was a good Old Testament prophet too who tried to bring Israel back to the true worship of Jehovah. While waiting in the labor and delivery room, just prior to his birth, we settled on giving the name to our first son.

When we found out we were having a girl, we tossed around a lot of names. She ended up being born on Good Friday, the Friday before Easter. That is the traditional date of the crucifixion, the culmination of the ultimate act of mercy ever performed. Since we also like the different Mercys in church history, we were able to settle on the name of Mercy for our little girl, though we didn't really get there until 12 or 18 hours after she was born. The date of her birth really had a lot to do with the final selection of that name.

Naming Gideon was a different experience. We bounced through several names that we liked and Gideon just sort of rose to the top of the list. Shortly before he was born, one of the nurses asked us what we would name him. We looked at each other, and then answered that we would name him Gideon Michael Ross. Of course, the Michael is to honor Keryn's father who passed away earlier this year.

It wasn't until later, while talking to a social worker in Primary Children's, that the appropriateness of the name Gideon really struck me. She asked what his name was. I told her it was Gideon. She said it reminded her of a faithful Nephite warrior. I told her that Keryn too most associated the name with the Book of Mormon character. I mentioned that I liked the association with the biblical Gideon. She couldn't think of the story right off, so I started to tell her about Gideon raising an army to fight for Israel.

Many men joined the cause, but the Lord didn't want them to believe that they would be victorious on their own strength alone, so he reduced their number through various tests until only 300 remained. With such a small group, they wouldn't be able to rely on their own power, they would need the help of the Lord.

And then it hit me how similar that story is to my own little Gideon. He is facing his battle at a natural disadvantage and he will be required to lean on the Lord more than he otherwise might have. And that won't be a bad thing. We're so blessed to have him join our family.

Switch Your Account

I finally figured out how to switch your account from the old Blogger login to the new Google login so that you can post to the blog. Just visit http://www.blogger.com/migrate-login.g (there is a huge link to it on the homepage that I totally missed) and you will be able to sign in with your old Blogger account and then choose a Google (often gmail) account that you'd like to use to sign into the blog in the future. Let me know if you have trouble with it.

Canda and Nathan Stasney

Guess who I ran into in the hallway here at PCMC? Canda Peay Stasney! I was surprised to see her, to say the least, although I had heard that her newborn daughter was born with Down's Syndrome, I hadn't heard that she was having trouble.

Sadly, Sophia is having a lot of trouble. She is having trouble digesting her food, she's having trouble breathing, and she possibly has a heart problem. So she was flown down from Logan to PCMC about two weeks ago, and is in the NICU.

This is the fourth daughter born to Canda and Nathan (their oldest is almost five, and then they have 2.5-year-old twins), and they are in the process of moving to New Mexico to start Nathan's new job in late January. So things are really hectic right now. Laura Marx was with Canda, but she has to return to Vegas tomorrow, and Nathan's parents are going into the MTC on January 1st to serve in Boston.

So, if you could, remember to keep them in your prayers. It's hard to be here at PCMC with so many sick kids, and even more heart-wrenching when your own little one is doing so relatively well.

Visiting Santa

We went to see Santa between the wedding and the reception on Saturday. The line was actually not that long, we only had to wait for about an hour fifteen minutes. As you can all probably see, Lillian was not in the mood to visit with a strange man in a beard and red suit, Erica all but ran and jumped in his lap to visit with him, Jacob enjoyed seeing him, and Heather and Benjamin humered Mom and Dad.

Heather's Baptism

These are some of the pictures we took at Heather's baptism. We'll see how many they let us upload at a time.

Giant Squid

There is now an actual video of a giant squid. You can see it at http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/scp_v3/viewer/index.php?pid=16598&rn=49750&cl=1516383&ch=61492&src=news. Oh, and the space shuttle landed at Kennedy Space Center. http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/scp_v3/viewer/index.php?pid=16598&rn=49750&cl=1516383&ch=61492&src=news as well

White Sands, New Mexico

"Didn't a space shuttle land in some place called White Plains?"
"Tish, White Plains is in New York."
"White Sands, New Mexico! Columbia of '82 landed there after missing Edwards!"

The Discovery might have to land in White Sands today if weather doesn't clear up at Edwards and Florida. Although the SpaceCampers landed there in the movie, there has only been one landing at White Sands, the aforementioned Columbia of '82.

Gideon our "strong fighter"

I will never allow anything negative to be said of Primary Children's Hospital. Not only are their nurses, doctors, and staff AMAZING, but they have free wireless internet. Now that is hospitality.

This first picture is of me just before Gideon's birth. Lovely, I know. It wasn't so easy of a birth--the pushing was extremely hard, and his elbow got stuck. Ow. Anyway, we made it through, and they whisked him through the window into the NICU. As they were finishing me up, the NICU nurse stuck her head through the window and told us Gideon's apgars were good (means his breathing, color, etc were good), and that he was breathing on his own. Brad went over to check on him and got to touch him for a second.

Before they took him over to the Infant Unit at Primary Children's, the Life Flight transport team brought him by my room. He was in this amazing bionic contraption--a full Life Flight stretcher with an incubator on one end and all the electronic equipment on the other end. Very intimidating-looking, and sort of funny when you consider they were transporting him all of five minutes away through heated hallways. But they just treat all transfers the same, I guess. But they opened the side of the incubator and let me stroke him and touch his little head and feet and all. I was super-glad they let us do that, because it was after ten pm before they let me go from my hospital room over to Gideon's.

His little feet are definitely deformed, his little back had the mylomengiocel (don't quote me on that spelling), but he is a beautiful little boy. His hands are precious and perfect, his little face bruised but beautiful (he got pretty battered during the birth).

Gideon's surgery was yesterday morning, and it went very very well indeed. Couldn't have gone better, in fact. The doctors basically took the "bubble" and pushed it into his back and sewed it back up. The scar on his back is certainly not cosmetic in any way--it's big and ugly--but really, who cares? Not me.

Now for the news on the movement front: he has movement in his hips, his knees, his thighs, and his calves. We don't yet know how much in terms of percentages, but he is constantly moving moving moving those legs, so we know it's there. (In fact, at some point in time during this pregnancy, he did a complete flip though the umbilical cord, which had a perfect knot in it. The head doctor was showing it off to all his residents, so Bradley took a picture.) The physical therapist couldn't detect any movement in his ankles or feet. This is all very excellent news. As far as bowels and bladder--they work, but he'll be having tests (likely tomorrow) to see what extent his control and abilities are. All of this is preliminary and subject to change, but on every single front the prognosis is as good or better than we hoped. It's been a MARVELOUS couple of days.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to you, Gideon Michael Ross, Welcome to the world! Congradulations, Keryn and Brad. Good luck today!

Many happy returns!

Happy happy birthday, Ephram, you big three-year-old.

ummmmm, Keryn?

Not to nitpik or anything, but Benjamin is 10. I know, I know, I just can't believe it myself!!!

Happy Birthday Benjamin!

Happy Tenth* Birthday, Benjamin!

*Well, don't I feel silly now. Sorry, Benjamin, for originally shaving a year off your age. I love you!

Blog Changes Completed

I just migrated the blog over to the new back end software. The next time you log in to post, you should be prompted to switch over to a Google account. Let us know if you need help making the transition. Hopefully things will be more stable (ironically) now that we are using the new Blogger Beta.

Re: Movie QOTW

So I have thought this one through and I am determined that, not counting the time when I worked in the theatre and watched all the movies every day, Spiderman would have to be the movie I saw the most in the theatre. Granted, I got in for free because I was working at the theatre but these viewings were not at my theatre, so I was not working at the time I saw them. I think I saw it 3 times. A few close seconds for viewing 2 times in the theatre are: Antz, Ever After, and Titanic. These were seen on dates and I think with different people with each different viewing of the same movie. What can I say? ;-) That's all for now. SKT

Will the real Dule please stand up?

So I thought I would have a go at the potential name of the child formerly known as Dule. I think his name ought to be Aragorn Shacklebolt Ross. There you go, a fitting name I think. Love you all. -SKT

My life

Sorry for allowing more then 2 weeks since my last post. To my defence, it has been only 15 days. So here is the update.

School is over until January. Grades are in and I did well. Now I have more time to focus on research. This includes making more nanowires and sending some to a colaborator in Buffalo, NY. What fun. We are giving him a Christmas present of samples. I do enjoy my work, which is a good indicator that I picked the right profession to go into, I guess.

As for the family, Adam is also out of school until January. We are currently playing phone tag with multiple people to get Adam more speech help. We hope things will take off more in the new year. Kip is growing great but also seems to show some signs of delays speech. But he is under 3 years old so we are getting help now for him.

That's all for now. -SKT

Sorry!!

I am so sorry that it has been a while since my last post. I have been so busy!!! There have been days when I am literally never at home. I can't even keep my house clean right now! Things should slow down after this weekend, so I will plan to write long posts about Heather's baptism and Benjamin's birthday and such.

Mom. The headstone looks WONDERFUL!!!! I want to go see it for myself, next time I am in town.

Headstone

I guess my pictures were too big because it wouldn't let me do more than one so here is the front of the headstone.

Headstone

I was finally called last week to let me know that the headstone is here and set on the grave. i went out and looked and then went back with a camera and some flowers. Here are a couple of pictures. I think it looks good.

What about December 20?

If baby boy stays put that long, that is. Induction is scheduled for Wednesday, December 20th, at 7:30am.

He does have a name, too. Not that we are going to tell anyone yet! But you are welcome to guess if you want. If anyone gets it exactly right, you get a...a...warm feeling inside that you are so clever. How's that?

I love you all!

Blog changes coming

Some of you have noticed some flakiness getting your posts to "publish" occasionally. Google is currently in the process of moving all Blogger users (like us) from the old system to a new system that has fewer problems and more functionality. We'll be forced to switch eventually, so I thought it would be better if we did the switch on our own timetable.

The big change will be the login name for the site. You won't be able to use your Blogger login after we make the change; you will have to use a Google account. If you have a gmail account, you can use that. Otherwise, you will have to create a Google account to be able to post.

To create a Google account, check out the instructions here. You can use any email address to create a Google account. Your login will be that email address and a password of your choosing. If you'd like to get a gmail account to use for this purpose, let me know and I will send you an invitation to sign up for one.

We'll give everyone a week or so to create an account with Google and then we'll pull the switch to start using the new system. I'll put up another post when that actually happens. In the meantime, you can continue to post as you normally would.

Crickets and a new QOTW

Chirp, chirp.

Nobody has anything to say?

Okay, then, I'll talk. We're not exactly a movie-obsessed family, but we do like our movies. So, how many times have you seen a particular movie before it was released on tape (or DVD, as the case often is)?

Although I've seen a very few movies twice in the theater (Little Mermaid, Lion King), the movie I saw the most in the theater was...wait for it...Dante's Peak. Of course.

I went four times to see it in the theater, and once on pay-per-view in Florida on a geology field trip. Five times before it came out on tape.

My guess for LaDale's answer? The Return of the King.

Re: Request

I'll change that tonight, Telima.

FYI, LaDale is computer-less for the time being. We're doing everything we can to get it back up and running with power, but it may be a week or more (GASP!). She's a brave woman to face this challenge.

And Samuel, a joke for you (you've probably heard it before). Yesterday was Werner Heisenberg's birthday (Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle):

Werner Heisenberg, out for a drive, is stopped for speeding by a policeman. 'Do you know how fast you were going?!,' yells the irate cop. 'No,' replies Heisenberg, 'but I know exactly where I am.'"

I love that I know barely enough physics to get this joke. Hee hee.

Re: Request

The email that's on the side bar isn't right. That's from when I was working at IT-Training. My email address is telima_smith@yahoo.com. Thanks everyone!

Re: request

Hey, Telima, I actually think it would be better if we all sent you our numbers through email. Not that I think anyone is reading this blog besides us, but it's better to be safe than sorry. Is your email correct on the sidebar?

Speaking of which, David, would you send me your email address? The one we have up is the Wells Fargo one, and we should change it.

The Plan

(Subject to change without notice)

At one day less than 37 weeks, I am 50% effaced and 1.5 cm dilated. Pretty normal for me, especially with baby #3. He's in a good position--head down, not fully engaged yet (good, good). My OB is totally okay with us waiting until the 18th or 19th (Ephram's birthday or my nephew Jack's birthday!), as long as we spend the weekend before in South Jordan to be closer to the hospital. So we are going to stay with Kim and Steve starting the night of the 15th (Friday).

My perinatalogist gets the last say, though, and we meet with her on this Friday morning. We'll do one more ultrasound and she'll decide if we have to do an amino (my OB thinks we're good without it, but that the perinatalogist gets to decide). I think she'll be all good with the 18th or 19th induction.

Here's the really freaky thing: Um, that's less than two weeks away. TWO WEEKS. TWO. WEEKS.

Yikes.

request

Hey everyone! So, my cell phone's screen has died. I'm not sure why, but the phone still works fine, I just can't see anything on it anymore. That means I can't see any of my phone numbers stored in my phone book. We're getting a new phone (but same number) at Christmas, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to get my numbers off the old one. Just in case, would you all post your phone numbers here? I don't anticipate having to use them soon, but just in case I want to talk to anybody, it's nice to have numbers. Thanks! I love you all!

Babysitting

To set the scene: Tyler and I are babysitting Ezra and Mercy while Keryn and Brad go to a Primary teacher party. I was feeding Katy in the front room and Tyler was with Ezra and Mercy in the TV room watching Bug's Life. Okay, got it? Now, how cute is this? Ezra came out holding a tape measure. I told him to go ask Uncle Tyler to tell him how tall he is by using the tape measure. In the other room, I hear Tyler tell Ezra to stand next to the tape measure and then he said "You're 37!" A moment's pause and then Ezra replied with, "No! I'm 3!" I laughed so hard. The really funny thing is that 37 inches is one inch over 3 feet. So, he's right on all accounts! He's 3 years old and he's 3 feet tall!

As a side note, I accidentally made twice as much rice cereal as I usually do for Katy tonight and she ate every single bite! She's just growing so big!!!

Re: Kids

Oh, the things to look forward to. I just can't wait! Oh, wait...maybe I can. =) Tyler and I were talking about how we would protect the tree next year and decided that we would just deal with that next year. This year, Katy still isn't mobile enough to do any damage at all to the tree.

Keryn, it's Ephram. I know, it was hard for me to remember for a while, but I've got it now!

I love you all!

Re: Kids

Wow, Samuel and Caren! I'm impressed that you were able to find your diamond--not bad. I live in fear of Ezra or Mercy doing something like that--I try to put my rings up high when I'm not wearing them, but when it's late and I'm already in bed...so more often than not the diamond ends up on the bedside table. Maybe not anymore.

What are your Christmas plans? I have heard that you will be spending Christmas in Logan--are you going to make it down to our neck of the woods? Or at least to SLC to say hi to Dule? (I understand if you do not, holidays get busy.) Just wondering.

And can somebody tell me how to spell David's second child's name? Is it Efram or Ephram? It's driving me crazy that I can't remember.

Random musings of a woman great with child

I know where Darcy the Dragon lives. I really do. He either never talks in the forest, saving his conversation for when he goes into town to terrorize the populace, or he lives in an Oregon rain forest. A very very very very wet rain forest.

What is up with Sleeping Beauty's mom? (At least she exists, which is more than we can say about the Swan Princess's mom.) She has exactly one line: "You're not offended, your excellency?" She has no name. She is an afterthought, essentially--"Oh, poor King Stefan, and the queen." Oh well. At least she doesn't die young.

Speaking of Sleeping Beauty (can you tell what we've been watching lately?), I am convinced more and more that Merriweather is the only one of the three fairies with ANY sense at all. I used to feel resentful that I had to "be" the short fat one (LaDale was Flora, Jenafer was Fauna, etc...at least in my memory. It's possible I made this up, though.), but now I think that if I had to be associated with any of them, Merriweather is the best. Take a look at these lines of dialogue lovingly transcribed from the movie (which I have seen approximately 128 million times in the last two weeks):

Merriweather: "Live like mortals? For sixteen years? We don't know how...who will wash, and cook?"
Flora: "Oh, we'll all pitch in."

At first you think Merriweather is just complaining. But given what is said sixteen years later...

Flora: "No magic!"
Merriweather: "But I've never baked a fancy cake!"
Fauna: "Oh, you won't have to, dear! I'm going to bake the cake!"
Merriweather: "But you (Flora) can't sew! And she's (Fauna) never cooked!"

Yikes! If Fauna has never cooked and Flora can't sew, who in the world has been doing all the work? Merriweather, that's who. No wonder she objected 16 years ago--she knew who was going to get saddled with all the work.

And do you think of Christmas when you hear the music from the "Nutcracker Suite"? Especially "Dance of the Sugarplum Fairies"? I don't--I see goldfish dancing coyly and little mushrooms doing Russian leg kicks.

Did you ever realize that "A Bug's Life" is similar to "The Three Amigos"? Bug's Life even has a direct quote or two from Three Amigos, in homage.

And just exactly how is a mother of two toddlers supposed to go shopping when she isn't supposed to pick up the older of the two? Hmmmm?

That is all.