Memorial Day Weekend

Once we recovered from our attempted camping trip, there was still plenty of fun to be had Memorial Day weekend. On Sunday morning, after church, we headed out to the park for a picnic with Jan and Jim.

Grandma Jan and Emily at Woodward Park.

Emily sporting her new sun hat... she's still working on filling it out.

The rest of the afternoon was spent hanging out around the house.

Emily "chillin with her homies"

Andrew and Emily napping on the hammock.



The weekend ended with a barbeque at Sam and Nan's. Emily was quite a hit with the kids... then again so was the mud...


Emily attracted all the little ones at the barbeque.

Here is Sam's daughter, Shannon, and no, that's not chocolate all over her face.

Emily's First Camping Trip

We took Emily out for her first camping trip at the lake this weekend. Andrew took off early Friday afternoon and we headed out to the lake with our friends (Amber and John) and their daughter Makayla. They were wanting to take their new jet ski out for the big weekend, and we agreed to go along for a fun weekend outside. We set up Andrew's canopy (see below), set up tents, and built a fire. Dave and Diana joined us for dinner, s'mores, and a big wind storm. The night went really well... Emily really enjoyed the great outdoors, and she slept well in the tent. We were all ready to get up and conclude our camping trip by spending the day jet-skiing, swimming, and hanging out in the shade when our trip was cut short... apparently the weatherman mistakenly called for a 20% chance of rain instead of rain for 20% of the day... well 20% of the morning anyway. After the downpour, we decided to pack it up and head home before the second round started. Before we left, we were able to catch the following memories...

Andrew and John are setting up the canopy. It consists of 5 pvc pipes, 5 fence posts, 1 tarp, and some hooks. We have to take a sledge hammer along to install it. It's quite a bit of work, but I guess it gets the job done. Andrew recently bought a larger tarp and some other improvements, so we'll have to take it out again soon to test it out.

Makayla anxiously awaiting her turn to ride on the jet ski.

Emily, Andrew, and Makayla hanging out under the canopy.

Andrew and John building the fire.

Amber and Emily hanging out.

Emily hanging out with Daddy by the fire.

Emily relaxing in the tent while we work on packing everything.

What were we thinking?

So, I don't know what Andrew and I were thinking when we decided that we were going to go to a concert in St. Louis in a couple of weekends... and I'm sure many of you are thinking the same thing. We had some friends who had gotten some molded ear plugs for their daughter when she was an infant, and had planned on just getting ear plugs fit to Emily's ears, so we could just take her along. We've since hit a bump in the road because the same place that fitted our friend's baby for ear plugs says they don't make custom ear plugs for infants, and recommended that we get her some ear muffs to wear at the concert. Well, that is after they made us feel guilty for taking our baby to a concert. We were told that "most parents just don't take their babies to stuff like that"... while in reality, I think most parents just don't worry about their child's hearing when they take them to stuff like that. So, we have purchased a pair of hot pink ear muffs, now we just have to figure out how to get her to wear them for an extended period of time.

Here we see Emily while she is content... before she realizes that she has huge pink ear muffs on her ears.

Here she is after she realizes she has ear muffs on... you can tell this is the after shot by her quivering lower lip.

As you can see, we're still working on getting her to realize that ear muffs are cool, and that she should embrace how awesome she looks in them. At this point we have about a week and a half to figure out how to do this. I'm thinking it's not going to happen, but Andrew won't give in so easily. If anyone has any suggestions (other than don't buy concert tickets when you have a two month old), please feel free to send them our way... or if anyone is planning on being in St Louis on the 7th of June and wants to spend some quality time with Emily, please let me know.

Clean Bill of Health

Last week, I met with the midwife for my 6-week check up, and I have been cleared to return to all of my pre-pregnancy activities. I started attending a "mommy and me" yoga class, which has been very nice. Basically, it is a yoga class you can take your kids to. It isn't as calm as a normal yoga class is... what with the toddlers running in and out of class and infants making their presence known as well... but it is nice to be able to take Emily along and have some interaction with other moms. Hopefully the exercise will help me fit back into all of those pre-pregnancy jeans that are waiting for me in a container under the bed.

Here is a picture of Emily with my midwife, Ruth Cobb, at my 6-week check up. I just wanted to introduce everyone to the woman who helped us bring Emily into the world. She helped us to have an amazing birth experience. Many people have asked about whether we would choose to have another baby at home after the last experience, with Emily getting sick and all, and the answer is absolutely... after talking to everyone in the hospital, from the doctors to nurses, they all said that she would have gotten sick even if she was in the hospital. Plus, since her breathing was a little fast right after she was born, she would have probably been whisked away to ICU and we wouldn't have gotten to spend any time with her right after the birth.

People have also asked me whether I want to have another baby at home after experiencing childbirth without any drugs, and to that I say absolutely as well. I had always been told how awful and painful labor was, so I was really scared going into labor that I wasn't going to be able to handle it. When my labor started, I remember thinking that I wasn't sure I was really in labor because it wasn't as bad as everyone had described. Andrew and I had worked on our relaxation exercises almost every day for the second half of the pregnancy, and I really think that helped me to deal with it. I also heard that being at home can help a lot because you are in a familiar setting and it makes it easier to relax, not to mention that you don't have people offering you drugs constantly. Of course, that only works if being at home makes you comfortable, if you're freaked out about it, I'm sure it would have the opposite effect. The other thing that I think helped me get through it was accepting what was happening... knowing that each contraction was bringing me closer to having my baby... knowing that all of the pain was happening for a reason... and knowing that each contraction would only last for a short period of time and when it was over, the pain would go away... until the next one at least. If anyone is interested in reading more on natural childbirth and the methods we used to cope with labor, I found the following books invaluable... Husband Coached Childbirth by Dr. Robert Bradley (I just saw that they have a new updated version out), Hypnobirthing by Marie Mongan (some parts seem a little hokey, but it helped me), and Ina May's Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin (full of great information). Sorry, I just had to give a plug to some of the information that helped us to have such a beautiful birth experience. If you have considered natural childbirth, I would tell you to do some more research and go for it, and if you haven't, I would say you should think about it... at least read a little bit to see what it's all about. I could go on for hours about it, but I won't. If anyone wants to talk more about it, let me know... I'd love to.

Multi-tasking...

So I guess one of the first things most new parents learn is how to multi-task... I think my most impressive achievement in multi-tasking was the night Andrew was running late getting home from work, and I was making dinner while I was feeding Emily. I'm afraid I don't have a picture though... I'm still working on taking photos, while feeding Emily, while cooking dinner.


I have also witnessed some pretty impressive feats performed by Andrew... you can see them below.




When Emily is cranky and fighting sleep, she likes to hang out in her sling and bounce around. As you can see, Andrew doesn't let this slow him down... he's still able to hijack cars and take down the Russian mafia while he puts Emily to sleep.

Here we see Andrew's ability to care for baby without interfering with his ability to wine and dine.

I am sure as the months progress our ability to multi-task will increase as well. Maybe I'll learn to keep up with the blog better in my day to day activities as well... no promises though.

The Many Faces of Emily Capri

Over the past week or so, Barbara and I have been taking many pictures of Emily. For those that aren't around Emily a lot (or at all), you only get to view Emily through the few pictures of her that are posted on this blog...and you don't get to see all of the many face and expressions that she makes. I've tried to compile many of them here for your enjoyment...so enjoy!!

One of my greatest joys is when she smiles...

...one BIG smile...

...two BIG smiles...

...and then the HUGEST smile of all!!!

"Oh my god...I crack myself up!!!"

Here we see the ever-elusive "Stop shaking me" look. As you can see (or not see), we are still working on trying to capture this look.

Here we have the very famous "Get away from my boob" stare. This one happens quite often around here.

Here we see Emily not-smiling...not-crying...not-screaming...not-sleeping...I'm not really sure what to call this, except maybe the "normal" look. This one doesn't show up very often, as it is usually replaced with one of her many other looks.

"Whatcha talkin' 'bout Willis?"

"Woah...you're freakin' me out."

"Oh...my...gaaaw. Look at her butt! It is sooo big!"

"Are we about done with all of this picture-taking business?"

"No...seriously...I'm not kidding."

Baby Bash

Last Friday Andrew and I threw our first party since baby Emily was born... Andrew named it the baby bash... but not to worry, he was very clear in the invitation that bashing the baby was not allowed. It was a great chance for our friends who hadn't gotten to meet Emily to come see her... not to mention giving me a chance to see some people I don't get to see as often any more. I would like to thank Dave for all of the great photos... he commandeered my camera for most of the night.

The culprit...

Our house

I also wanted to give everyone the recipe for the dip I made... I had many requests for it, so I thought I would share.

Avacado Goat Cheese Dip

• 3 ripe avocados, peeled pitted and cut into chunks
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon salt, plus more, if needed
• 3 tablespoons lime juice
• 4 ounces cream cheese
• 4 ounces goat cheese

In a bowl combine avocados, garlic, cumin and salt. Use an electric hand mixer to mix ingredients together. Add lime juice, cream cheese and goat cheese pulsing until smooth and blended well. Add a bit more salt, if necessary.

We're looking forward to the next big shin-dig, which I believe will be the infamous PSB (pre-summer bash) held at Dave's house. Of course, this will be Emily's first PSB...so who knows what wild and crazy things might happen this year.

Brand-New Baby Blog (...and other exciting things)

Okay...so we've finally gotten around to starting a blog for our newly modified family. We're both awful procrastinators, as well as behind the times with these new fangled "personal web-page" thingies...Blogs...MySpace...Facebook...Youporn (I mean Youtube)...there's just too much to keep up with.

So it's Barbara's first official Mother's Day as a new mother. We celebrated with flowers and chocolates and a trip to my mother's house for lunch. We followed that up with a trip to the baby store as well as the mall...with the best of intentions of buying stuff for BARBARA...but who do you think made out with all the goodies...Emily of course.

Since we're now five (plus) weeks in to this whole baby thing, we'll start by posting some pictures that have piled up over the past weeks. And then we can start fresh with current blogs and picture updates as the days, weeks, and months go (if we can make ourselves keep up with this thing).

Now to warn anyone viewing this blog, you do need to be at least 18 years of age, as there could be the occasional breastfeeding shot or nude baby photo. So don't come complaining to me later if you see something inappropriate. I also want to warn everyone that we are not professional (or even non-professional) photographers...so don't expect to see award-winning photos here. We're gonna do the best that we can with the camera (and lack of photographic-eye) that we have.

So...on with the show...




Our first family portrait...taken shortly after Emily's birth in our bedroom. Despite the fact that it has been over 24 hours since we have slept, we are too excited to think about sleep yet.





Here's the ever-glowing mother with her brand new baby Emily Capri Stuart. Who knew that pushing out a 9 pound baby would cause all of the blood vessels in your face to burst. It looks like she has red freckels...





And here's the proud pappa holding the baby while mom gets stitched back together in the bedroom. At this point, we are still oblivious to the fact that Emily has an infection and will shortly be required to go to the hospital.





And here we are in the hospital PICU. You can see the thousands of cords that they had hooked up to her while they monitor everything from her oxygen level to her daily poopage.





Here is mom with Emily on her first day with jaundice... she had to wear a billi blanket, but because of mom's insistance (and a few tears), we still got to hold her while she wore the blanket.





Awwwwwww...how sweet.





Baby's first bath...here we are, just before the cries of terror started.





Baby Emily with her ultra-cool shades in her very first tanning bed. After the billi-blanket didn't lower her jaundice level, they had to resort to the billi-lamp. While she was under the lamp, we could only hold her while she was eating. Luckily, she was better the next day, so we only had to endure one day of looking at her in her bed.





And after her IV was no longer working in her leg, they had to resort to putting it in her head...a look she managed to pull off quite well. I think it complements the medical tape mustache quite well. The hours were beginning to wear on daddy, as we can see by his "I neeeeeeed sleeeeeep" look.





Emily quickly learned where milk comes from...little plastic bottles.





And after just over two weeks, Emily finally gets to go back home...here she is being wheeled out of the hospital, inside her crib, insider her car seat...silly hospital policies.






Warning...BEWB SHOT AND NUDITY!...make that double-bewb shot. Daddy's first bath with Emily.





...Bunny-wabbit Emily





After another couple of weeks, the boys finally got to hold Emily.





And here Emily is raging the guitar hero with her death metal screams...





...and then she decided to eat the guitar instead.





Josh was probably the best baby-entertainer I've ever seen...using every single one of Emily's stuffed animals.





Either Emily just found her thumb...or she's saying "nanny-nanny boo-boo".





...such a nice pillow.





Emily's first happy-hour...as you can see, she can definitely hold her own at the bar.





Tummy-time, take one...




...but she didn't last too long before passing out.

Tummy-time, take two.

And here Emily is trying to steal Daddy's dinner.

Bath time in the kitchen sink is great...but next time we'll have to try not pooping in the bath water.