random

hi. this is ryan. today i am going to post something random.

i am on my lunch break. kinda. anyway......

crap, i had a plan to post something random (not sure what) and by the time i log in and start typing, i can't come up with anything even mildly entertaining. well, here's something:

i'm feeling kind of good right now because i got my test back that i was nervous about taking last friday, and i got the highest grade in the class. i was nervous about it because i haven't studied calculus in at least 6 years. the class is dynamics. the teacher is adjunct from the u of u. he can be kind of a punk. anyway, that was good news.

i feel bad for ashley because she had to go to school today with a tummy ache. i'm sad when my kids don't feel good.

let's see, what else can i write about. ...... .. .

my wife is pretty great. i have been working a lot lately, (whats new) and this weekend i finally was able to spend some time with my wife. with all the hustle and bustle of life, school, kids, housework, and everything else, sometimes i forget how fun and relaxing she is to hang out with. she has a great sense of humor. i don't think i could have found another person on this planet that is better suited for me. she's just perfect.

i'm a happy little clam right now i suppose.

well, i guess that's it. i suppose i should get back to work. i've got to get some parts welded up and surface grind a fixture plate so i can send it out to get EDM'ed.

i hope everybody has a great day. i love you all.

-ryan

Special Guest Post

This is not Edward.

This is Natalie!

For those of you who don't know me, I've been friends with Meridth since we were freshmen in the dorm together at BYU. I'm visiting right now from the beautiful, buggy, muggy state of Maryland, and I came to meet li'l Uschi.


This is her.

And, I have to tell you, Uschi is one busy lady. She is always working on something, which shows hilariously in her face. I've never seen a newborn with so many facial expressions, although sometimes it's tricky to figure out what all her little faces mean. She has one that looks politely horrified that keeps making me giggle.

This morning, Mer called me excitedly into the room, because Uschi had done a remarkable thing. We tried to recreate it, and (amazingly) it worked. Uschi was on her front, having "tummy time," and Mer put her hands under Uschi's feet to that she could push herself forward. That itself shows an impressive amount of strength, but after pushing herself up, little Uschi was off balance, and she threw her arm up in front of her body to catch herself. It sounds like a fluke, but she actually did it a second time as well. This shows an extraordinary amount of coordination for a lady who is one month old tomorrow.

(We tried to do it a third time when Edward came home, but Uschi firmly pointed out that she is not a performing monkey puppet to do tricks on command, and politely declined.)

She also managed to stick her thumb in her mouth this afternoon. Tasty.


I've known Meridth and Edward for quite awhile, so when I was trying to come up with a gift to crochet for her, I decided to personalize it to what I would imagine their spawn would be like.

So, naturally, I made a pirate teddy bear.


It is named Cap'n Ursa, the Pirate Teddy. It's kind of dominating Uschi in this picture.

But she likes it. you can tell because she's smiling at me. 'Cause we're friends.



Bless.

Natalie

A Gimbel Family classic is now a #1 movie...

The forecast was bright at the box-office for "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs," which earned $30.1 million to lead this weekend's films. Sony's 3-D animated family comedy was adapted from the popular 1978 children's book by Judi and Ron Barrett. Despite schools being back in session, the film still was able to draw kids and their parents to the multiplexes. "The meatballs have cleared, so to speak," said Rory Bruer, head of distribution for Sony. "It really is a feature where everything aligned perfectly." That's good news for other adaptations of classic children's books on the horizon, namely the much anticipated big screen version of Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are." The Spike Jonze directed adaptation will be released Oct. 16. "It really does pave the way for a really strong opening for that film," said Hollywood.com box-office analyst Paul Dergarabedian. "It's such a beloved book that the anticipation is really high." He added that the strength of "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" showed that 3-D is proving to be a significant draw for moviegoers. The film also was released on IMAX at 127 venues, which accounted for $2.5 million, or 8 percent of its box-office.

http://movies.yahoo.com/news/movies.ap.org/39chance-meatballs39-tops-weekend-box-office-ap

Peter, Paul and Mary Saddness..

Sorry Mom, Mary Travers died yesterday. No more, Puff the Magic Dragon. No more, If I had a Hammer. No more Lemon Tree. But here they are for you. To help you remember Mary Travers.

(Nora's crying and I can't find a youtube clip of Lemon Tree...so someone should find one and post it for me).

Totally jealous.

So the Art Institute of Chicago is going to have Caravaggio’s The Supper at Emmaus on loan from the National Gallery in London, from October 10, 2009 to January 31, 2010. This painting is suppose to be one of the most influential and well respected paintings coming from the canon of Western art. I was able to see it while I was in London, but it really is phenomenal to see in person. I'm super envious. I wish we lived nearby, I would love to sneak another peak.

Updates in Inanity!

Are you sick of my baby yet?



Me neither. But if you didn't want to see an update or don't want to have a look at a video of mi hija and mi perro, don't bother clicking here. But if you do want to, do.

Thanks!

For those of us who have a hard time following:

Love, The Chard

Uschi Day + 3!

I'm turning into one of those new parents who posts every single picture ever taken of their child. Yuk! But since a lot of people have asked about the grim and gritty details of the labor and all that, I thought I'd chime in to correct any of the inaccuracies Meridth has perpetrated in phone conversation. It's not that Meridth is dishonest, just forgetful. The story is correct in broad strokes but I think I can improve on the sequence of events.



So on Tuesday night I had to conduct at the local cub scout pack meeting. It was a good time and I brought Meridth along because of her advanced state of pregnancy. Meridth had been feeling random contractions throughout the day and we thought that it might happen that day. We did go in Sunday night because Meridth was leaking some fluid that we thought might be amniotic in nature, so we wanted to be cautious. After the scout meeting on the way home I bought Meridth a frozen delectable from the 31 Flavors (which she ended up throwing up two hours later) and we started writing down the contraction times. 8:17, 8:22, 8:27, 8:31 they were getting to be exactly five minutes apart. By 9pm we called the Birthing Center at the hospital and they asked Meridth about her birth plan. Meridth was non-ideologically interested in having a natural birth (just to see what that was all about) so they told us it would be best to wait until she couldn't stand it anymore before coming in.

It was exactly at 10:54 that Meridth decided she couldn't stand it anymore. I called the Birthing Center and grabbed the last bits and bobs we needed and by 11:06 we were on our way. Now I wasn't entirely sure we were going to have Uschi that night because we were still about two weeks out from the due date so I called my work and let the know I probably wouldn't be in the next day.



At the hospital we were taken to one of the birthing rooms and Meridth sat on the bed and had everything checked. And I put Tim Burton's Beetlejuice in the DVD player. Tuesday morning Meridth had seen the doc and he had said she was only dilated to a 1.5 so she still had some distance left to go before 10. Since Meridth had been suffering since 8pm, we figured she'd be up to at least a four. No dice, the nurse said she was only dilated to a two. Boo to that. Fortunately Dr. Walker was coming by for another patient at about half-past eleven so he peeked his head in, noticed Meridth's very regular contractions (like you could set your watch by them) and said we probably shouldn't go back home tonight. Just to speed things along he also decided to break Meridth's water.

And speed things along it did. We had 8cm to go until 10 dilation was reached and the doctor estimated that would take until 8am Wednesday morning, about a centimeter an hour. In fact, Meridth was fully dilated by 4am! But to go along with that speed, Meridth had to endure pretty intense contractions. By maybe 12:35 she asked for her first 'hit' and the nurses gave her a med designed to relax the mother and treat the anxiety more holistically. This was not even close to enough. By one in the morning, Meridth graduated to local injected anesthesia but only a single contraction went by before Meridth said "Y'know? I'm ready for an epidural." That wife of mine doesn't mess about.



So the anesthesiologist rolls in and we sign the forms saying that it's okay if Meridth dies from it and Meridth is sitting up and I'm in front of her and all I can think about is how much I want to see this huge needly-thing injected into my wife's spine, but I don't want to get in the way. I'm very interested in the dirty details of medical procedures, but in this case I had to settle with the salad-plate sized blood stain when the doc was finished taping all the kit down onto Meridth's back.

Anyway the epidural made my wife as happy as a clam who suffers from uncomfortable numbness and manageable pain (the sort of clam with a decent HMO) and she was able to doze for about an hour before the pushing started. Me and Meridth were ready and refreshed for round two. 5am! Fully dilated! Ready to push! We went at it for a half-hour then the nurse gave us permission to rest again. And by 5:45 the Dr. Walker showed up for the main event. Pushing pushing pushing pushing pushing pushing pushing! Curl up toward the fetus! Push were my fingers are! PUSH!

And just like that I started seeing a tennis-ball sized hairy lump appear from points unknown. Hmmmmm... I thought to myself, that's a real small head for a full-term baby. And suddenly Ka-boom! There was her head! I'd only seen the point of her little cone-head, so it looked smaller coming out that way. It was pretty out-there.

So the shoulders. And the rest. And the placenta. And there it all was.



When the doc was stitching up Meridth she started saying, "Uhhh...should I be feeling that?" Turns out that the tip of the epidural had worked itself out despite all the tape and what-not. So the doc tore it off and left it on the floor and treated the stitchy-region locally. Dr. Walker's pretty sure that it came out before the major pushing started so you could say that Uschi was born naturally. If you were so inclined.

Now you might be wondering why Uschi was in the hospital for two whole nights. I guess she had a poo on her way out that morning and had swallowed some of it, which wasn't good for her digestion. So throughout that first Wednesday she was burping up black bile. Late that night she had her innards suctioned out and the next day we just checked her diapers for the right colored poo. Friday at about noon the stars aligned and the poo-colors were spot on and we went home.



RADAR has been so good with the baby, it's pretty amazing. He's been mellow but curious about his new sister and has gained an undisclosed amount of weight while he was hanging out with the neighbors. What a great dog!

And that is that great friends! Thanks for all the millions of metric tons of support you have given us in the last ten months and we wouldn't dare have a baby in a world without people like you. Pat yerselves on the back!

Uschi Day + 1!

More pic? Yes please.




We're both pretty tired here.

My chin is HUGE!

Mommy's tired. We wanna go home.

I'm too cool to poop.

Being a dad is cooler by the day.

Uschi Day!

(For details, see mum's post below.)



Whatta team!



That's Dr. Stephen Walker. He apparently has a beard.



Warm...



...and cold.

More pics to follow. See 'em here first.

Welcome Baby Uschi

Meridth delivered a beautiful baby girl this morning around 6:45 California time. Ursa Adriana Gimbel was 20 - 1/2 inches long and 7 pounds - 13 ounces. No pictures yet, as Edward is still at the hospital with her and Meridth. They'll be coming home around noon tomorrow. It sounds like the birth went well, and baby and mother are doing just fine. If you want to call and congratulate the new parents, Rusty has his cell phone, and they are in a room where they actually have pretty good reception.

Ursa was born two days after her second cousin, Jack Marquardt. With all the excitement of school starting, we forgot his birthday, and will have to make amends. We hope to see the Illinois cousins when we go up to Wisconsin for Alyssia Youngquist's wedding on September 5th.

She will also have a birthday only five days away from her cousin, Ryan Chloe! Families are such a great blessing!

Love you all,

Claudia

Party Girl

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHLOE!

We are happy to report that Ms. Ryan Chloe Gimbel is an offical SEVEN year old. Three cheers for Chloe! HIP HIP HOORAY!!!!

Christmas Swap

Hi Family! I know that I'm getting a bit of a jump start on the Christmas gift exchange, but I was hoping to make a few things this year and wanted to get a head start.

I decided that it might be easier to give couple gifts this year. What do you people think? Would you rather do it like we did last year (see below) or couples assigned to couples?

LAST YEARS SWAP ASSIGNMENT

Ryan gives to Richard
Casey gives to Betsey
Margie gives to Emily
Brandon gives to Meridth
Betsey gives to Margie
Richard gives to Karl
Edward gives to Casey
Meridth gives to Ryan
Karl gives to Edward
Emily gives to Brandon

IDEA FOR THIS YEAR SWAP

Ryan/Casey give to Margie/Brandon

Margie/Brandon give to Betsey/Richard

Betsey/Richard give to Edward/Meridth

Edward/Meridth give to Karl/Emily

Karl/Emily give to Ryan/Casey

Any thoughts? Thanks family!

First home

Here are some photos of Karl and Emily's first home. If you would like to get a closer look, you should come and visit us!

Our bedroom
The ONLY bathroom
Another bedroom (where you would stay if you visited... hopefully we will have painted by then).
Living room (from front door).
Living room (from corner you just saw)
Kitchen
Screened in porch
First mail received at the new home... it will be framed.