The Park

It was only in the low 50's and very windy, but we were determined to get some fresh air into everyone today -- so off to the park we went. The kids were not cold at all. Yasmin even had short sleeves. Good for the constitution of all.

Play-doh Event

It seems like such an ordeal to get it out, but once you do, it's not so difficult and everybody loves play-doh. So that was the activity after supper on Sunday night. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed. Yasmin made an "Ele-mingo" and a "Fla-melephant" and some giraffe/flamingo combination.

Our Angel

When Yasmin was born, she was a perfectly healthy, 9'8" baby who was perfection. About an hour after they put Yasmin in our arms, one caring, expert and attentive labor and delivery nurse took a peek at her in Bob's arms. She was very calm when she told us that Yasmin's color didn't quite look right and she began to assess her a little more closely to see if a little stimulation might pink her up a little more to her expert eye. After a few more assessments, the nurse suggested that she take Yasmin to the nursery to check in with some others. When she came back some time later, she said she didn't want to alarm us but that Yasmin was experiencing a little breathing difficulty.


The expert neonatal staff put her on oxygen and packaged her in an isolette for transfer to the NICU at Saint Marys Hospital, down the street. What a scary thing to see her in that little box and have to say goodbye to her! Once she arrived at the NICU, she was placed on closed circuit tv so that we could watch her from the other hospital, a few blocks away.

The story of course has a very happy ending and 9 years later, we still like to remember our Angel, Nurse Suzanne. We try to make an annual pilgrimage to visit her and to thank her for all she did for us and for moms, babies and families everyday. We always have good intentions to do this close to Yasmin's birthday in January, but this year, as has been the case for the last couple, we have not always been able to time this so well. Last weekend we finally were able to match schedules and go to visit our Angel Nurse.














It is always so great to see her and she is such a wonderful life and love force to everyone around her. She so graciously accepts our interruption and takes an interest in Yasmin and how she has changed and grown.

Ken's Recent Surgery

This Ken was a gift from my sister, Suzanne quite a number of years ago, (before kids). His head kept coming off and the mechanism to hold it on broke and I assumed he was beyond repair. I, however, could not part with him and asked Bob to dispose of him sometime when I would not have to notice.

When I came home from work the next day, Ken was found with his head reattached, thanks to a prosthetic neck screw and with this post-it note attached to his back, "This patient had neck surgery today. Please be gentle with him. Dr. Pepper." Ken has now changed his name to "Frank," ala "enstein" and he owes his spared life to Dr. Pepper, who saved his neck.