Kay Family Texas 2012
This
year started out with the beginning of Benjamin’s nursing career in a Puerto
Rican hospital established by the Spanish in the 1800’s called Auxilio Mutuo.
It was in this hospital that Benjamin was able to see his first quadruple
bypass surgery and they even let him control the cauterizing machine in the OR.
It was fascinating to see that during the operation after dissecting the
saphenous vein from the leg of the patient they cut it into smaller pieces and
then they direct the perfusionist (the blood controller) to “drain the heart”
and then after the bypass was complete to “fill her up”. Also when you are in
the OR it is a completely sterile environment and therefore once you start
touching the patient you cannot leave the sterile field. One of the assistants
performing the dissection of the vein from the leg did not adjust the tie
straps on his scrub bottoms tight enough and they hit the floor. For the next
two and a half hours he performed his duties in his underpants. They never let
him live that one down.
Sylvia
continued in her Headstart program this year in the same class with her teacher
named Milca. She helped all the little Puerto Rican children in her classroom
practice their English. She was loved by her classmates. Sylvia was four this
year and just recently turned 5 on December the 6th, 2012. She had
her birthday party on December 8th and she didn’t believe she
actually turned 5 until she had her party. Tía Jen, our child care gem, and Tía
Regan, her partner, constantly gave their all to make our girls develop with
confidence. They were very much a godsend for us during our Puerto Rico days.
Sylvia loves and misses her Tía Jen. For those of you who are wondering, Tía is
the Spanish name for “Aunt”. Sylvia learned to swim in the beaches of San Juan
which we frequented nearly once a week. She loved the beach and now here in TX
has substituted it for the bathtub and sometimes the local community pool.
Sylvia knows that she is a Daughter of her Heavenly Father. She prays daily for
us and for all of the family. She is very precise in her communication with
others and her vocabulary grows nearly every day. She has a preference for the
English language and is learning how to dance, play the piano and read. Sylvia
loves her mother, father and sisters very much. She tries to show her love to
her baby sister at times by picking up and nearly throwing her over her
shoulder. This we have corrected. We are teaching the girls about their
English, Swiss and Dutch roots in their genealogy. Sylvia loves the Disney
princesses and she constantly gets into her mother’s make up. Sylvia likes to
jump off everything and starts the car under parental supervision. She always
looks both ways when attempting to enter the street.
Vivian
celebrated her 2nd birthday this year (as she does every year) on
January 21st, 2012. When we moved to Puerto Rico Vivian was only 6
months old. Vivian has learned this past year to form sentences. She potty
trained quickly while watching her sister like a hawk and emulates her in
everything. She pronounces her name “Wi-ee-yen” and Sylvia’s “Diw-ee-ya”. She
has a slight stutter in English and has a hard time saying initial consonants
like s, p, and b. It is really very cute how she says certain
words (like drincess instead of princess). In Spanish she is soaking it up like
a sponge. Vivian is a skinny little thing. Every time Daddy comes home from
work she stands at the door and screams “Daddy” and runs to have me pick her
up. She prays for Mama to be good and for Papa at work and for Jed and Chris
and Zack, Grandma and Grandpa Giauque and Kay and Emily as well as her toys and
her “pood” (food). She and Sylvia started ballet and tap dancing before we left
Puerto Rico and started up again here in TX. She looks even skinnier in her
tights. We are grateful that she has a better appetite than last year. Upon
leaving Puerto Rico the friends and family that we had to say goodbye to more
heartbroken about seeing the girls leave than anything. Vivian loved her Tía
Trinidad, Tío Pedro and Felita, Tía Maricarmen and so many more friends who
were touched by her sweetness.
Shawna Marie was born on August 20, 2012. The
girls stayed with the Bishop’s family while I took Nicky to the hospital “El
Presby” Santurce, Puerto Rico’s local Presbiterian Hospital. It was a planned,
induced birth but she came four hours before the scheduled induction time.
Nicky spent a very short time in active labor and Shawna Marie was born within
just a few contractions. She is getting pretty good at this birth thing. She
spent the night alone with Shawna Marie Kay-Giauque (her birth certificate has
the two last names) trying to sleep but the neighbor in the other bed had a
mother who was extremely chatty and after 2am finally quieted down. However a
little later on had the nerve to come over to Nicky’s side of the room and
tells her to quiet her child because “Her crying is not allowing her to get
sleep”. Benjamin was not allowed to stay in the hospital because of his gender.
The next day during visiting hours Benjamin brought Sylvia and Vivian to see
their new baby sister. They were so happy and from that day they have shown her
nothing but love. Shawna Marie Kay-Giauque has grown a lot and seems to be one
of our biggest girls yet. She loves being held. She does this jovial
pterodactyl scream when she is having fun. She has gotten to know Grandpa
Richard Kay, Grandpa and Grandma Giauque, The Arizona Giauque Cousins and Tíos,
and Grandma Emily Kay. She can be seen on Shutterfly.com along with the rest of
the family with the following info: Username: nickyjuke@yahoo.com
PW: bpk19feb.
Nicky
finished her BSN degree and was given the highest GPA award as well as the
Inter-American University Honors Society award. All of this as a mother of 2.9
children. She brought Shawna Marie into the world just two months later. Benjamin left Puerto Rico a week later with
the older tow girls and Nicky stayed in Puerto Rico for three more weeks
getting things sold, given away, packed up and ready to move. Thank goodness her mom was there to help. At
that time we didn’t know if we would be in St Thomas or in Texas. Benjamin had a job offer in St Thomas and had
an interview with a hospital in Dallas the day the baby was born. In the end Texas won out. We initially went to Utah where we spent time
with family and worked giving flu shots.
Benjamin was offered and accepted the job in Texas a left with a moving
van and our newly purchased minivan in tow just a few days later. Nicky stayed in Utah for a few more weeks to
work the flu shot clinics then headed out to Texas with three small
children. Vivian ended up delaying the
plane on our second leg by about ten minutes because she wouldn’t stay in her
seat. She eventually wore herself out.
Benjamin
worked very hard as the nursing association president and was chosen to address
the Graduating Class in the Nursing Graduation ceremony. He was able to capture
the audience’s laughter and make them tear up in the same speech. He was one of
two students to receive the nursing school’s highest honor due to his example
of commitment to academic and community involvement. Benjamin passed the national nursing board
(NCLEX) in February and Nicky passed in April.
The Kay family Puerto Rico/Texas are very grateful to the following
donors to our success in completing our education: Gerry and Alice Giauque,
Richard and Shawna Kay, The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, The Inter-American University
Honors Program, The Federal Government of the United States, the faithful
members of the LDS Guaynabo Ward and San Juan Stake (our family in PR), and our
Heavenly Father. Nicky and Benjamin are
Registered Nurses. We possess a license to do much good and also to potentially
kill.
So,
the Kay family Puerto Rico became the Kay family TX within a months of Shawna
Marie’s birth. Yes, Shawna was named after Benjamin’s mother and Marie is a
family name from both the Kay and Giauque sides. There is something special
about choosing family names. Zack Kay started the trend in this generation with
his son Ethan “Benjamin”, preceded by Shawna with her son’s name Christian
“Royal”. Grandpa Giauque has to be grateful, however, that we haven’t yet
considered his gender neutral name for one of our female offspring.
We
are so thankful for this time of year to reflect on our blessings and to
remember the most wonderful gift of all, our Savior, Jesus Christ.
With much love,
Benjamin, Nicky, Sylvia, Vivian, and
Shawna Marie
