A Visit From Aunt Ali

Aunt Ali is in vet school and unfortunately, that means she can’t pick up at a moments notice and drive to Texas, even when her favorite niece is born.

We are so excited that she took a little break from school and came to spend a few days with us. We had such a great time and Emme Clare was so glad to finally meet her.

I would love to show you pics of all the fabulous restaurants we went to and all our shopping steals. But I’m pretty sure our days revolved around one sweet, little baby. We had takeout and watched Emmeline.

We apologized to Ali for the lack of excitement, but she said- she got what she came for- quality time with Emmeline Clare!

Happy 1st Easter!

Several weeks ago, I wondered if ECW would make her appearance in time for this Easter. Little did I know, she would be 2 weeks old!

We had the pleasure of hosting my family for an Easter celebration, complete with ham and an egg hunt. I’m so glad that Em’s first Easter was so special.

A friend from Peru, Jacke, was visiting my parents and she got to participate in the Easter fun. I think she enjoyed learning about the American Easter traditions.

After lunch, we headed out for the Egg Hunt. Although most of the hunters were adults, don’t think it wasn’t an intense search for eggs. One person even took a tumble (I’ll not name names) and no one is sure if the fall was a result of aggressive reaching or if they were purposefully tripped (again, I’ll not name names).

Uncle Big E offered to take Emme’s basket and get her Easter goodies. Oddly, there was not a single prize egg in her basket. Hmmm.

Such a fun day with family and friends. Happy Easter!

FOUR Years

Amidst this craziness of becoming first time parents, Jeremy and I celebrated our anniversary!  FOUR years.  Time has flown and it's so surreal that we have an extra person celebrating with us this year.

I didn't expect much for this anniversary- things have been so crazy.  And we are hoping to limit Em's exposure to germs, so we are trying not to take her out until she's 2 months old.  Plus, it's a successful day around here when I get a shower, but Jeremy made it so special.

First of all, he made beignets for breakfast.  We took a trip over the summer to NOLA and had the delicious beignets from Cafe du Monde.  He duplicated those at home and they were amazing!  I was beyond impressed.

I had been asking him for a while to try and take off of work on our anniversary.  He doubted that he would be able to do that, but he handed me a card first thing that said- I'm spending the day with you and Em.  I was so glad!

For most of the morning, we spent time together- pretty sure that time was spent napping.  And then, we had to take Emme to her 2 week doctor's appointment.  All was good there and J took me to get a much needed manicure (see to do list from Em's birth day).

Then, he served up a delicious dinner (with the help of Central Market).  It was so nice having help with Emme all day and spending time with the two people I love most.

I recently read an article about how a lot of marriages fall apart after the birth of a child.  While  it's definitely a challenging time, I know that I love Jeremy more than ever.  Seeing him as a dad, makes my heart melt.  He loves Emmeline so much and that is priceless.  I'm so fortunate to have such a wonderful partner in this adventure.

Happy anniversary, Jeremy!

I love bath time!

Our Trip Home

In keeping with my theme of honesty, I was so scared to leave the safety, security, and comfort of the 3rd floor at the Women’s Center. Sure- I wanted to get some sleep without nurses taking my vitals and dietary bringing in my food tray at 7am. But things were so safe there! I knew ECW was in good hands and I had a number of experts on hand to help with any little problem.

But by Sunday afternoon, we were definitely ready to be in the comfort of our own home.

Getting ready to go home

Family of 3

Checking Em out of the nursery

 

First time in the car seat

Also, the pediatrician was a little concerned about jaundice. We had to have home health come and drop off a light “blanket” to help with her levels.

And when we got home, we realized our air conditioner was broken and it was HOT. I’d like to say I handled the blanket situation and no a/c like a champ, but not so much. I definitely cried!  Let’s blame it on those post-partum hormones.

Your eyes do not deceive you- we brought our first born child home to sleep in the pack and play

Our little glow worm

Ivy and Win were not sure what to think about the ECW or the light blanket

Despite the fact that she didn’t have a crib or beautifully decorated nursery (or air conditioning), Emme settled in nicely to her new home.

And luckily, we had help from Gram and Pop Pop to get the car unloaded and adjusted to our first night as a family of 3.

Lots of Visitors

So many visitors couldn’t wait to meet Miss Emme Clare! She was one popular gal!

And she loved all of them!

Gram and Pop Pop

MaeMae

Doc

Amy

Melissa

Brinley (with Amy)

Great Uncle Randy and Great Aunt Tina

Great Aunt Lisa

Cousin Delancy

Uncle Big E and Aunt Sarah (stay tuned for a name change or feel free to submit nickname suggestions for Aunt Sarah!)

Well, hello!

I had a long list of to-dos for the latter half of this week and the weekend:

• Get car seat checked . . . check
• Haircut . . . check
• Breastfeeding class . . . check
• Manicure . . . nope
• TX driver’s license . . . nope
• Crib . . . nope
• Clean out some closets . . . nope
• Finish 5 blog posts I started . . . nope
• Pack hospital bag . . . nope
• Returns on a few baby items . . . nope
• Make meals to freeze for post-baby . . . nope
• Finish up thank you notes . . . nope
• Lots and lots more to-dos . . . nope

Notice anything not on the list? Have baby! We never saw this one coming! Ha!

On Wednesday evening, I went to a breastfeeding class from 7:00-9:00pm at the hospital where we planned to have Emme. Unfortunately, Jeremy got stuck at work and was not able to attend the class. You can just imagine how bummed he was about that! Ha!

I got home a little after 9:00 and Jeremy still was not home. To be perfectly honest, I was a little annoyed. Annoyed that he missed the class and that he wasn’t home yet. He finally rolled in around 10:30. I also wasn’t feeling my best. In fact, my back was really hurting. Probably the uncomfortable chairs at the class.

The back ache continued and seemed to hurt pretty bad, then stop, then start again, then stop. I started thinking about it and around 11:30- I told Jeremy- honey, this might be it! We were both in shock and totally not prepared. I wasn’t really sure since it was all in my back.  And most of all, I knew we just were not ready.  We didn't even have our bags packed.  It was just by the grace of God that we even had the car seat properly installed.  Good thing He is in charge!

We went to bed around midnight and by “we,” I mean Jeremy. I took a shower and tried not to worry about that really long to do list. Finally, around 2:00am, I told Jeremy we should probably go to the hospital, since contractions were about 4 minutes apart.

At the hospital, they monitored me for 1 hour and said contractions were regular, but not quite intense enough. Just what every pregnant girl wants to hear!

We trekked it back home and again Jeremy went to bed and I was yet again unable to sleep. I had contractions on and off all night and the next morning. We though it might be time to head back to the hospital around 3:00 on Thursday afternoon. Again, they monitored me for an hour and then, they let me walk around for an hour, which really helped things progress. Around 5:30, they decided to admit me and get us a room.  I requested pain meds- stat!

It was a long night and 2 hours of pushing, but Emmeline Clare arrived at 6:10am. We were so overwhelmed and in awe of this little miracle. She was perfect in every way!

She’s here!

A little sooner than expected, but more precious than we could have imagined!

Emmeline Clare Walker

April 8, 2011

6:10am

5 pounds 11 ounces

16 ¾ inches

Babymoonin'

babymoon- n. time spent by parents without their baby; (hence) a vacation or holiday taken by a pregnant woman and her partner



I'm not sure if it could count as a vacation or holiday, but Jeremy and I did take some time away to enjoy the just the 2 of us (+ Ivy and Win).  We didn't really make it too far out of our backyard- the downtown Fort Worth Sheraton.  We really enjoy this hotel and it was fun to spend the night away and focus on relaxing and being together.
 
We had spa treatments scheduled for the afternoon and it was fabulous!!!  I loved every second of it.  And we finished off our night with an 8:45pm reservation at Eddie V's.  An 8:45pm reservation!  I don't see too many more of those in our near future.  The food was so amazing- some of the best shrimp I've ever had. 
 
We tried to imagine how different our life will be as soon as we have a little baby girl to take into account.  Not matter how hard we try- I think we will still be in for a shock once she gets here!
 
We considered leaving Ivy and Win at home, but we thought they probably deserved a babymoon, too.  They LOVE staying in hotels.  They just prance right through the lobby and hop on the elevator.  While they are SO good at traveling, I don't know how many hotel stays are in their near future.  Traveling with a newborn and 2 little white dogs seems daunting to say the least.  At any rate, Ivy and Win are in for some BIG changes! 
 

 
Our babymoon was the perfect weekend and I'm so glad we have this memory of just the 4 of us!

Breakfast Snack

Since Jeremy's work was so generous in giving us a baby shower, I decided to make them a Friday breakfast snack to show our appreciation.  I made Monkey Bread and sausage balls.  This Monkey Bread is not to be confused with the homemade Monkey Bread rolls that are very popular in the Moore Family.  I'm not sure how they each got their names, but they are not really similar at all (besides being of the bread category). 

This recipe is SO easy and it's perfect for weekend guests or to bring to a breakfast event.  It transports very easily and you can make it the day before you serve it.  It really is best served warm, but that's not always an option.

Monkey Bread

3 (12 ounce) packages
refrigerated biscuit dough
1 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup margarine or butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease one 9 or 10 inch bundt pan.


Mix white sugar and cinnamon in a plastic bag. Cut biscuits into quarters. Shake 6 to 8 biscuit pieces in the sugar cinnamon mix. Arrange pieces in the bottom of the prepared pan. Continue until all biscuits are coated and placed in pan.

In a small saucepan, melt the margarine with the brown sugar over medium heat. Boil for 1 minute. Pour over the biscuits.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-35 minutes. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a plate. No need to cut- the bread just pulls apart.