6 Months Old Today!

Today, the babies are six months old. KVUE, the local ABC station, came over and shot some video that was pretty good. KEYE, the local CBS station, also came over and videotaped something a few weeks ago and that is supposed to air a week from today. The KVUE one is below. Check it out because those babies are pretty cute:

http://www.kvue.com/news/top/stories/013108kvuequintsupdate-cb.7926d68a.html

A great man

Last night, Gordon B. Hinckley, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, died. He was a great man. Here is an article about him: article.

He was 97 years old and was one of the best men I have ever had the chance to be in the presence of. The reasons why he was great are many. One of my favorite was that he was funny. Anyone who knows me knows that I really value humor. In our church, we have a biannual conference that we usually watch on TV where various people from the leadership of the church speak. With President Hinckley, you were almost always guaranteed to have a really good laugh some time during his talk. You were also almost always guaranteed to leave the meeting with a desire to be a little better or try a little harder. I had the opportunity to hear him in person several times and he actually seemed to have a light about him. His humility, his love for people, and his amazing wit were a few of the things that were really inspiring about him. If everyone could be like that man, our world would be a much happier place.

I just wanted to mention it today because I feel like, nowadays, there are very few people in the public spotlight that are really heroic and deserving of respect and serious admiration. Most popular or famous people lead lives that are filled with really bad stuff. Gordon B. Hinckley was someone that we could truly look to for an example of what a good man should do. He loved his wife, he loved his family, he loved God and was true to what he believed. I will forever remember the things he taught me through his example and his service.

Here is a video of Glenn Beck's tribute to him:

Some non-baby related sad events and an update on the sleep training

Well, I don't have a new video yet but I do have an update on a few things. First, I want to devote a few lines to my Grandpa Wilkinson who died yesterday. I think he was ready to go but I was a little sad that I didn't see him more often before he died. He is actually the reason why my first name has a 'y' in it (his first name was Jay). Anyway, I really think he is a lot happier now so that is the good part.

Another thing I want to mention is that my Uncle Ken, my aunt Victoria's husband and the driving force behind a lot of the donations we have received, recently found out that he has cancer and will began treatment very soon. We are all praying for him and he is writing a blog that you can read here at http://kennethcarlson.blogspot.com/.

Next, I would like to give an update on the babies. I mentioned in some of my last posts that we are doing sleep training. This was a very unpredictable task for us since there isn't a whole lot of data or books out there to tell you what to do with 5 babies. However, things are going pretty well. We started off in December with just doing a strict routine and putting them down at night awake and letting them fall asleep on their own. This took a few nights but now is very nice. In the beginning, a few of them, Ryder in particular, cried for a few hours before finally giving up and falling asleep. Over time, they cried less and on the third or fourth day, there really wasn't much crying at all. Now, we just do the big routine and then put them in their beds with smiles on their little faces and they go right to sleep without making any sound and without us doing anything more.

The next big step will be to actually help them sleep all the way through the night. More on that later...