Darren found this and shared it with me, and we've been desperately casting about for others to share it with. Finally, we decided to blog it.
Neither of us has ever seen Buffy, although we did watch about half of the original 1980s movie. Darren wants to see Twilight -- he actually LIKED the book, unlike the other half of this blogging team. We know enough about both to appreciate this splice of the two:
Buffy vs Edward
Vast improvement over the original story, not to mention an upgrade from angsty, whiny Bella.
-- SJ
Friday, June 26, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
What's In a Name, Pip?
One of the fun things about having a new baby is that you get to try out the new name over and over. Eventually it will settle into ordinary, handsome Phillip. But when he's still only twenty inches long, you can twist up the name in all kinds of cute ways:
* Flip
* Pip
* Phillipe
* Silly Philly (actually, that was only once. The older kids enjoyed it so much that I decided to retire it from circulation lest it stick.)
* PG (on his 13th birthday, he'll be PG-13)
* PJ ("PJ! I like that! Do you know I do? PJ! Hiss, put it on my luggage. PJ!")*
(Just before Phillip was born, Darren briefly suggested incorporating both the names we liked: Phillip Isaac Gabriel Jones. Until he realized that the initials would be PIG Jones.)
Deidre and Katie really want to call him Flippy Pip, but they have to whisper it slyly under the dark disapproval of the father.
Phillip's grandpa, also a Phillip, never mentioned what a very versatile name it is!
-- SJ
* And the quote is taken from....?
* Flip
* Pip
* Phillipe
* Silly Philly (actually, that was only once. The older kids enjoyed it so much that I decided to retire it from circulation lest it stick.)
* PG (on his 13th birthday, he'll be PG-13)
* PJ ("PJ! I like that! Do you know I do? PJ! Hiss, put it on my luggage. PJ!")*
(Just before Phillip was born, Darren briefly suggested incorporating both the names we liked: Phillip Isaac Gabriel Jones. Until he realized that the initials would be PIG Jones.)
Deidre and Katie really want to call him Flippy Pip, but they have to whisper it slyly under the dark disapproval of the father.
Phillip's grandpa, also a Phillip, never mentioned what a very versatile name it is!
-- SJ
* And the quote is taken from....?
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Baby Shower
Here's the group picture from my baby shower. Photo taken by Deidre's six-year-old daughter, Gracie:
Back row, l-r Erin, Kim, Kara, Debbie, Barbara (all church friends), and Mom.
Second row, l-r Addie, me & Phillip, Nina, and Deidre
Front: Liana
Foreground: Addie's shoes
See me so happy surrounded by friends. Also wearing the new shirt Mom bought me.
-- SJ
Back row, l-r Erin, Kim, Kara, Debbie, Barbara (all church friends), and Mom.
Second row, l-r Addie, me & Phillip, Nina, and Deidre
Front: Liana
Foreground: Addie's shoes
See me so happy surrounded by friends. Also wearing the new shirt Mom bought me.
-- SJ
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Mundania 23
* Daphne insisted on playing Charades the way we'd all played it one rainy day -- complete with "you spraying on my hair." To my relief, Mom realized that she wanted me to whisper in her ear.
* While I was in the hospital, Darren took the kids to Home Depot to get some A/C filters. Ha, that was ironic. Anyway, while they were there, the kids spotted some of those energy-saving spiral lights... in different colors. And Darren bought them. So Stuart has a sickly orange light in his (purple, remember) room, and Addie has an all-pervading green light in her pink room. We held out for a week, but finally Darren put in white lights along with the colored ones. It was the only way we could stand to go in the rooms.
* Why is it ironic that Darren bought filters for our air conditioner? Because it stopped working the day Phillip was born. It was out all that week. The A/C man came on Monday of the next week and said that it was iced over and he'd have to come back the next morning to do a leak test. Four days later he finally showed up, put coolant in the unit, and said he'd have to do a test later.
* Here's a good time to mention that the weather this past week was rainy and cool, simply perfect for, say, a family without an air conditioner.
* Other fun electronic upsets include: the phones going out one afternoon (turns out the jack in our room simply stopped working); and our computer finally and definitively dying. But the air conditioner is cooling again.
* My older sister sent up a baby monitor for us. We've never used a monitor before because we always put as much space between us and the new baby as possible. But since Phillip's bassinet is out in our living room and we can't be sure we'll hear him crying, we set it up last night. Once we'd turned it on and settled down to sleep, I heard an odd noise. "What is he doing?" I asked.
"I think that's his breathing," Darren answered.
It was. The monitor was picking up his BREATHING. I went out and moved it. I want to hear the child's crying, not his every breath.
* My friend Deidre threw a lovely baby shower for me this weekend. I've had a baby shower for all four of my children, but this one was the first one that I haven't shared with someone else. There's nothing quite like the feeling of knowing that everybody in the room -- not to mention the person who headed up the whole shebang -- was there because she liked me and wanted to welcome my new son.
* Addie was asking Mom questions from a set of "conversation cards." She found one that said, "Would you rather be an artist or an athlete?"
My mom replied that she'd rather be an artist.
Addie said encouragingly, "Good choice for someone your age, Mam!"
-- SJ
* While I was in the hospital, Darren took the kids to Home Depot to get some A/C filters. Ha, that was ironic. Anyway, while they were there, the kids spotted some of those energy-saving spiral lights... in different colors. And Darren bought them. So Stuart has a sickly orange light in his (purple, remember) room, and Addie has an all-pervading green light in her pink room. We held out for a week, but finally Darren put in white lights along with the colored ones. It was the only way we could stand to go in the rooms.
* Why is it ironic that Darren bought filters for our air conditioner? Because it stopped working the day Phillip was born. It was out all that week. The A/C man came on Monday of the next week and said that it was iced over and he'd have to come back the next morning to do a leak test. Four days later he finally showed up, put coolant in the unit, and said he'd have to do a test later.
* Here's a good time to mention that the weather this past week was rainy and cool, simply perfect for, say, a family without an air conditioner.
* Other fun electronic upsets include: the phones going out one afternoon (turns out the jack in our room simply stopped working); and our computer finally and definitively dying. But the air conditioner is cooling again.
* My older sister sent up a baby monitor for us. We've never used a monitor before because we always put as much space between us and the new baby as possible. But since Phillip's bassinet is out in our living room and we can't be sure we'll hear him crying, we set it up last night. Once we'd turned it on and settled down to sleep, I heard an odd noise. "What is he doing?" I asked.
"I think that's his breathing," Darren answered.
It was. The monitor was picking up his BREATHING. I went out and moved it. I want to hear the child's crying, not his every breath.
* My friend Deidre threw a lovely baby shower for me this weekend. I've had a baby shower for all four of my children, but this one was the first one that I haven't shared with someone else. There's nothing quite like the feeling of knowing that everybody in the room -- not to mention the person who headed up the whole shebang -- was there because she liked me and wanted to welcome my new son.
* Addie was asking Mom questions from a set of "conversation cards." She found one that said, "Would you rather be an artist or an athlete?"
My mom replied that she'd rather be an artist.
Addie said encouragingly, "Good choice for someone your age, Mam!"
-- SJ
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Wittle Eyes Open
We were dreading Daphne's transition from Baby of the Family to Big Sister. Daphne considers herself practically an only child anyway, with Addie and Stuart -- particularly Stuart -- just taking up valuable space most of the time.
The first time she saw Phillip, she called him a "cute wittle baby." She told everybody on the maternity floor that his name was "Phiwwip Gabwiel." She's learned the Phillip Song (all our kids have their own customized song) and asks to hold him. To our utter surprise, she thinks Phillip is pretty neat.
(Meanwhile, she's been transitioning from a demanding two-year-old to a loud, demanding, melodramatic three-year-old -- but that would have set in regardless of the new baby.)
Here's a picture of the way Daphne most likes Phillip -- with his "wittle eyes open":
Also, here's a picture with me as scale to remind you how tiny we all start out:
This baby definitely arrived to general and enthusiastic acclaim, even from his territorial two-year-old sister. But how could he not? His wittle eyes are open! And as Kristen R also pointed out, look at his wittle feeties!
-- SJ
The first time she saw Phillip, she called him a "cute wittle baby." She told everybody on the maternity floor that his name was "Phiwwip Gabwiel." She's learned the Phillip Song (all our kids have their own customized song) and asks to hold him. To our utter surprise, she thinks Phillip is pretty neat.
(Meanwhile, she's been transitioning from a demanding two-year-old to a loud, demanding, melodramatic three-year-old -- but that would have set in regardless of the new baby.)
Here's a picture of the way Daphne most likes Phillip -- with his "wittle eyes open":
Also, here's a picture with me as scale to remind you how tiny we all start out:
This baby definitely arrived to general and enthusiastic acclaim, even from his territorial two-year-old sister. But how could he not? His wittle eyes are open! And as Kristen R also pointed out, look at his wittle feeties!
-- SJ
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Book Meme
From "Visions of Arhyalon"
Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.
1. Lord of the Rings - Tolkien
2. Riddlemaster of Hed series - Patricia McKillip
3. The Dark Side of the Sun – Madeleine L’Engle
4. A Swiftly Tilting Planet – Madeleine L’Engle
5. The Well at the World’s End – William Morris
6. Narnia books – C.S. Lewis
7. With Fire and Sword – Sienkiewicz
8. Merlin – Stephen R. Lawhead
9. The Younger Evangelicals – Robert Webber
10. A Little Princess – Frances Hodgson Burnett
11. The Lost Prince – Frances Hodgson Burnett
12. The Practice of the Presence of God – Brother Lawrence
13. The Divine Romance – Gene Edwards
14. The Golden Gate – Alistair MacLean
15. Cloak of Darkness – Helen MacInnes
--DJ
Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.
1. Lord of the Rings - Tolkien
2. Riddlemaster of Hed series - Patricia McKillip
3. The Dark Side of the Sun – Madeleine L’Engle
4. A Swiftly Tilting Planet – Madeleine L’Engle
5. The Well at the World’s End – William Morris
6. Narnia books – C.S. Lewis
7. With Fire and Sword – Sienkiewicz
8. Merlin – Stephen R. Lawhead
9. The Younger Evangelicals – Robert Webber
10. A Little Princess – Frances Hodgson Burnett
11. The Lost Prince – Frances Hodgson Burnett
12. The Practice of the Presence of God – Brother Lawrence
13. The Divine Romance – Gene Edwards
14. The Golden Gate – Alistair MacLean
15. Cloak of Darkness – Helen MacInnes
--DJ
Saturday, June 13, 2009
FAQs
Not that I got asked all these questions in the past week. I don't think I've seen anyone I'm not actually related to since I left the hospital. But these are questions I'd want to ask, so I assume others are equally nosey. Curious. I meant curious.
How did you choose the name?
Well, primarily the way we chose all our kids' names: we like it. I had it on my mental list long before I got married. The fact that it is Darren's dad's name sealed the deal. Our runner-up name was Isaac, but when we met him after the birth, we knew that Phillip was the name that suited him.
Gabriel is the match to Stuart's angel middle name, Michael.
This was your third c-section. Any more to come?
Surprisingly, after going my whole pregnancy with hardly any questions about my family planning, I got asked this question four times in the hospital. As I lay recovering from major surgery, strapped to IVs and on morphine to kill the pain, people asked me if I planned to have any other children. My answer, "Not for the next nine months, anyway."
How did the birth go?
Someone asked this, and I thought, "It was a c-section. That's how it went." Then I realized that lots of women don't have sections, so have no idea how they "go." It's a little nerve-racking walking deliberately into surgery, knowing that the IV in my wrist is only a warm-up for the spinal block in my back. But my body responds very well to anesthesia, I don't have a particular fear of needles, and the entire surgical team was cheerful and sympathetic. There is very little actual pain. The surgery began at 7:30ish, Phillip was born at 7:55, and I was in recovery by 8:30.
How do Addie, Stuart, and Daphne like Phillip?
They think he's pretty cool. Addie gets sporadic bursts of maternal feelings, Stuart thinks it's hilarious when I make the baby dance and talk, and Daphne coos over him and wants to hold him.
How are you doing?
I'm sore. I have to learn, yet again, that recovery doesn't mean taking pain pills and then going about like normal. It means lying around and doing practically nothing at all. Mom and Darren are running the household, meaning that the kids aren't running wild, and they have to remind me every twenty minutes that it hasn't yet been a week so would I please sit down and put up my puffy feet.
What's it like having four children?
It's a jolly little crowd. We love it. Thanks for asking.
-- SJ
How did you choose the name?
Well, primarily the way we chose all our kids' names: we like it. I had it on my mental list long before I got married. The fact that it is Darren's dad's name sealed the deal. Our runner-up name was Isaac, but when we met him after the birth, we knew that Phillip was the name that suited him.
Gabriel is the match to Stuart's angel middle name, Michael.
This was your third c-section. Any more to come?
Surprisingly, after going my whole pregnancy with hardly any questions about my family planning, I got asked this question four times in the hospital. As I lay recovering from major surgery, strapped to IVs and on morphine to kill the pain, people asked me if I planned to have any other children. My answer, "Not for the next nine months, anyway."
How did the birth go?
Someone asked this, and I thought, "It was a c-section. That's how it went." Then I realized that lots of women don't have sections, so have no idea how they "go." It's a little nerve-racking walking deliberately into surgery, knowing that the IV in my wrist is only a warm-up for the spinal block in my back. But my body responds very well to anesthesia, I don't have a particular fear of needles, and the entire surgical team was cheerful and sympathetic. There is very little actual pain. The surgery began at 7:30ish, Phillip was born at 7:55, and I was in recovery by 8:30.
How do Addie, Stuart, and Daphne like Phillip?
They think he's pretty cool. Addie gets sporadic bursts of maternal feelings, Stuart thinks it's hilarious when I make the baby dance and talk, and Daphne coos over him and wants to hold him.
How are you doing?
I'm sore. I have to learn, yet again, that recovery doesn't mean taking pain pills and then going about like normal. It means lying around and doing practically nothing at all. Mom and Darren are running the household, meaning that the kids aren't running wild, and they have to remind me every twenty minutes that it hasn't yet been a week so would I please sit down and put up my puffy feet.
What's it like having four children?
It's a jolly little crowd. We love it. Thanks for asking.
-- SJ
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Look! Pictures!
Many thanks to Nina, who let me borrow a "cup of computer" (as my mom put it) while ours is still sick.
First off, our pleasure to introduce Phillip Gabriel Jones:
His sisters and brother were pleased to meet him too:
When it came time to bring the baby home, Stuart and Addie dressed up for the occasion:
And now there are four:
First off, our pleasure to introduce Phillip Gabriel Jones:
His sisters and brother were pleased to meet him too:
When it came time to bring the baby home, Stuart and Addie dressed up for the occasion:
And now there are four:
Monday, June 08, 2009
The New Arrival!
Darren and Sara would like to announce the arrival of Phillip Gabriel Jones, born today at 7:55 a.m. He weighed in at 7 lbs. 4 oz., the exact weight that big brother Stuart had predicted. Both Phillip and Sara are doing very well.
Pictures will follow. Comments are welcome :)
--DJ
Pictures will follow. Comments are welcome :)
--DJ
Thursday, June 04, 2009
Psychology
The other morning, I sent Stuart to his room to get dressed. He drifted back out later, dressed, and said casually, "I'd like to play church outside today." He'd already tried this line with Mom, adding that he wanted to "read his Bible." Mom and I came to the same conclusion: the first clothes he found were his church clothes, and he didn't feel like searching for play clothes.
***
Darren was telling me about the reception held at the office for Leah, who is leaving later this month for a year in Africa. "We had German chocolate cake," he said.
"Oooh," I said. "You shouldn't have mentioned German chocolate cake. Now I want to bake one."
Darren proceeded to detail the reception. He managed to fit in the words "German chocolate cake" about five more times.
-- SJ
***
Darren was telling me about the reception held at the office for Leah, who is leaving later this month for a year in Africa. "We had German chocolate cake," he said.
"Oooh," I said. "You shouldn't have mentioned German chocolate cake. Now I want to bake one."
Darren proceeded to detail the reception. He managed to fit in the words "German chocolate cake" about five more times.
-- SJ
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