Scrap Book

Heber Alexander Ross

noreply@blogger.com (Bradley Ross) — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 03:31:00 +0000

We welcomed Heber Alexander Ross into the Obamanation (one day after Election Day) at 5:50pm, November 5, 2008. He weighed in at 7 lbs. 15 oz. and 19" long. In the Ross tradition, he is the cutest baby ever born at this hospital!

Ross Kids Star in the Super Spy Adventure

noreply@blogger.com (Bradley Ross) — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 03:28:00 +0000

We made this movie for our ward's home movie night. Enjoy!

Christmas Joys

noreply@blogger.com (Keryn) — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 23:52:00 +0000

BEE Careful, or The Trip Missoula

noreply@blogger.com (Keryn) — Mon, 21 May 2007 05:16:00 +0000

One great thing about traveling is how it broadens your horizons--you can learn so many things when you step out of your home comfort zone and seek adventures in new places. Or, you know, when you and your three small children accompany your husband to a conference in Missoula, MT. For instance, I learned that Missoula has one of the fastest merry-go-rounds in the country, that children can be just as happy in a little neighborhood park with one slide and gravel as in an elaborate dragon-guarded two story wooden castle, that I have the cutest kids in the world (oops, I already knew that!), and that honey bees get really mad when the semi truck hauling their hives leaves a rest area.

While Bradley labored away in his Portlets conference at the University of Montana, the kids and I explored Missoula. The Clark Fork River runs through the city, and our motel was just two blocks away from the network of trails running alongside it. On Wednesday we found the Wal-Mart (I forgot to pack diapers! What a ditz!), and on the way home we stopped at a pedestrian bridge spanning the river and just dawdled there for a while:On Thursday we found the Dragon Hollow playground--the above mentioned wooden castle: It was within three blocks of our motel--easy walking distance--and was built in just nine days by volunteers. It was amazing! Ezra and Mercy could have stayed there forever, and I have to admit that I wished I was about twenty years younger, so I could run around and imagine and holler and play. We spent a good hour there on Thursday, and on Friday we returned early in the day and spent two hours playing--the first hour nearly alone, which was very very nice. Gideon was a bit bored, though:Right next to the Dragon Hollow playground is a gorgeous old-fashioned merry-go-round, with hand-carved wooden horses and a band organ. Mercy and Ezra were entranced with the horses ("Horses, Mommy? Horses?" Mercy said constantly while we watched them on Thursday). Bradley's conference ended at noon on Friday, so he met us at the park and stayed with Gideon as Ezra, Mercy and I rode the carousel three times! (I think I had the most fun of all. Those horses were fast! And although I never managed to get it, I really enjoyed trying for the brass ring.)On Saturday we started home. We stopped at a pretty little rest stop on a river to feed Gideon and stretch our legs. At the rest stop were several large semi trucks--nothing unusual about that except one of them seemed to have a ton of flies swarming around it. As we looked closer, however, we realized it wasn't flies--they were honey bees! I've heard of commercial honey beehives trucked around the country for farmers to "rent" to pollinate their crops, but I'd certainly never seen one. It was fascinating! We didn't get too close, obviously, but the bees were totally calm and not scary at all. We took a little video of it (no pictures, sorry), and started to strap the kids back into their carseats.

And then the truck driver, finished with his break, started his truck and pulled out of the rest area. It was like a switch was thrown. All of a sudden the air was full of angry bees, swarming around us! Brad and I--outside of the car--slammed the doors shut to keep the bees from getting into the cab--fortunately all three kids were in the car, although Ezra wasn't buckled in. And then a bee landed on my jaw and stung me! OWWWW! I've never ever ever been stung by a bee or wasp or yellow jacket or anything before, and I admit I totally panicked. Plus, there were still a ton of bees swarming around me (Bradley says it was only three or four, but, c'mon, there had to be more than that, right?), and at least one in my hair. Yikes!

Anyway, we finally batted them away long enough to dash into the car. And although the bee sting hurt (I had to pull the stinger out), it was only for a little while, and now it just feels a little bruised. But if you think I didn't flinch every time my seatbelt rasped against the holder (making a little "buzz" sound), well, you're crazy. Of course I did.

We stopped in Idaho Falls for a couple of hours to see the Ink and Blood exhibit at the Museum of Idaho. It was pretty amazing, with ancient clay tablets, fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the most amazing collection of ancient Bibles ever. It was really fascinating, and a nice way to end the trip. Even the kids had a great time, because there was a children's room with log cabin, puzzles, teepee, and animal skins to look at--Bradley and I took turns in the main exhibit, so one of us could watch the kids while the other could concentrate on the artifacts. All museums should invest in such a room.

The Last Cast

noreply@blogger.com (Keryn) — Wed, 09 May 2007 03:12:00 +0000

This Thursday Gideon will have his last cast removed--HOORAY!!! In honor of this blessed event, I let Ezra and Mercy decorate the cast.

They had a wildly fun time:
Gideon patiently enduring the process:
The finished product:
Down to the (upside down) happy face Ezra drew on the side:

Cast Art

noreply@blogger.com (Bradley Ross) — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 17:25:00 +0000

Keryn has had way too much fun working on decorating Gideon's casts. Here are photos of the different casts. Basically, Gideon gets a new cast each week, so each week Keryn gets a new canvas. She has tried to keep the designs simple and small. She doesn't think a large image will wear as well on the plaster. Click any image for a larger view.

My Big Gid

noreply@blogger.com (Keryn) — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 23:37:00 +0000

Gideon had two appointments up at Primary Children's on Thursday--a bladder study and an orthopedic doctor appt. Both appointments went well, and we have further evidence of the Lord's mercy on our little boyo. He truly is doing better than we could have ever hoped.

The bladder study was pretty uncomfortable (he yelled the entire time, but not with pain, he was just ticked off), but the results were very comforting. Many children with spina bifida experience bladder reflux, when the urine is pushed back into the kidneys. If there is any bacteria in the urine, then serious kidney damage can occur. Aaron Fotheringham lost the use of one of his kidneys this way. Gideon's bladder, even when full of fluid, didn't reflux. Yay! Now we can take him off the precautionary antibiotic he's been on since birth. We get to do this all again in six months, but for now, we don't have to worry about his bladder/kidneys at all. (By the way [John! hee hee], this test really doesn't say anything about his ability to be potty-trained in the future, but we're just taking this one step at a time.)

The orthopedic doctor decided that only Gideon's left foot needed to be casted--the right foot should be okay with a lot of physical therapy. All the bones seem to be in the right spots, and we have a pretty good chance of being able to correct his club foot with the casting--although club feet on spina bifida kids don't respond as well to casts as other types. If it doesn't work then we'll have to explore surgery options (yuck). But for now, Gideon has a huge cast from below his toes to the top of his thigh--they get much better results if they cast the whole leg. This is what it looked like when we got home Thursday evening:
And this is what it looks like now that I've had a chance to decorate it:

Gideon gets a new cast every week for the next four weeks, so if anyone has any great decorating ideas, speak up! I'm thinking I'll have to go invest in colored sharpie markers so I can do trains next time.

Gideon, Our "Strong Fighter"

noreply@blogger.com (Keryn) — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 18:29:00 +0000

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.