Brown Bear, Brown Bear

Today had to be a very quiet day for those at home. Daddy was back at work today. Well, technically he was back at work last week, but today he went to the office. Before going to the office though, we all made a trip to the pediatrician. He says that Emma is doing great. The highlight of the experience was that
Emma has passed her birthweight of 7lbs, 1oz! She is 7lbs, 6oz. YAY!

Mommy started a fun daytime activity today called reading. Brown Bear, Brown Bear was the selection of the day. And it was the so much fun that daddy had to give it a go when he got home.

Later on that night Alexis Newton came by with Jackson to pay us a visit and bring some king ranch chicken. I think Emma has a new friend.

Today is a good BBQ day

So today we put papa to work and he did so in the most glorious way,.......by cooking steaks. MMMMMM so nice. The rest of the day was filled with visits and photograph sessions that lead to some of the best family photos ever taken.

See what I am talking about!

Check out some of my favorites here

Papa is in town

Emma's papa, Tommy Strealy, is in town. He had his birthday on the 20th, during Emma's first week so he got a great present from us! Unfortunately he had to work the next week so this was the first time that he has had a chance to see Emma since then.

Fortunately, for him, he gets his wish today and gets to see his grand daughter. Fortunately, for Emma's parents, he gets to take his wife home with him tomorrow

That means you Aurlie!,..........Love you =-)

Another first was captured on camera today and that was Tommy getting to feed Emma for the first time.

In other news, mommy totally got Emma some new jeans today.

WOW THOSE ARE HOT

Maggie got jealous

Finally, I made a stop by Apple to assure them that I did want to continue working there and everyone was very congratulatory. People there are awesome.

The belly button is no more

Well we have reached a milestone today. Emma's little belly button fell out....

She has an outie.

No pictures because that little belly button thing is gross.

Would you like to comment?

Seems there was an issue with the comment board.....

That issue has been fixed! Big thanks go out to Katie Winarsky for catching the error. By the way, she has a blog that specializes in awesome! It is called Notes from the Kitchen Sink and I highly recommend it.

Meanwhile, this is what Emma has been doing:

Looks like we both have gotten a lot done today!

Lost his man card

So this morning while we were waiting to see the lactation consultant, I decided to sit with Emma for a second.

Then my arm got a little tired, but Emma was comfortable, so I asked Amy to bring me the Boppy.

Next thing I know, Maggie wanted to sit with us as well. So, we put her up on the chair and she proceeded to find the warmest spot.....
between my legs.

A few minutes passed and the The View came on and before I knew it,.....

I HAD LOST MY MAN CARD

I knew this would happen

But can you blame me when you're looking at something like this?

Visits and Videos

Yesterday we had another visitor. Heather Wesseling made a stop by on her day off to pay Emma a visit. She, of course, immediately fell under the spell of Emma Byrd and attempted to take her home. She will deny this of course, but don't believe her for a second. There is no denying the cuteness factor.

Later on that day I filmed the best video ever:

Enjoy! Oh and if you want to see more videos then check out the Emma's Videos link over on the side bar.

Busy Bath Time

It was bath time again today. Emma doesn't particularly like bath time right now because it is just cumbersome (got to protect the belly-button from water!). Later on I am sure that she will begin to enjoy it more. We had grandmother photograph the entire ordeal, but judging by the picture below I think she got a little carried away:

Get used to it Emma...

Get used to it

New Look

We decided that Emma's blog should be as pretty as she is. So we have changed the look. Of course we have failed miserably as no stupid page could EVER be as good-looking as our daughter. It looks a little better though....

Daddy feeding Emma

This photo was worth posting as the cuteness factor was off the charts. This is what days have become. Feeding and pooping. That is a-ok with us.

THIS IS RIDICULOUS!

LOOK AT ME!

LOOK INTO MY EYES!

THESE "PEOPLE" I LIVE WITH HAVE LOST IT.

I demand respect and fear and treats from my subjects. This baby is a distraction that has gone on long enough. This post is very difficult to type with my paws so I will keep it brief:

DO NOT BELIEVE THE HYPE. I AM YOUR ONE TRUE PRINCESS.

Maggie

Super (Tired) Baby

So while we were waiting for Emma to wake up to eat last week we decided to have a little fun with her!* We were very tired at this point so don't judge.

*No babies or parents were harmed in the making of this film

Emma is eating well

So we had a little issue creep up on us last night that we solved today with the lactation consultant's visit. Turns out that poor little Emma was too tired to eat with all that bilirubin and wasn't eating enough when it was time to eat. Well after the consultant's visit today we learned some techniques that have her eating well enough to make her smile!

A big "thank you" goes out to Angela Lierman!

Consultants

We got word back already from the blood work done this morning and her count was at 16.5. She left the hospital with a 9.6, but the doctor says that it normally goes up and then down. We have made the call to get a lactation consultant out here today at 4PM to see if she can give us some pointers on how to get Emma to eat enough to push all that bilirubin out of her system. Again this is quite common and nothing has happened that needs to worried about as long as the count stays below 25. We're just happy that we get to do more sunbathing!

Blood work

So after I made a pit stop at work to assure them that I would be
coming back, I met up with the gang at the pediatric's office just in
time to escort them over to the hospital for some blood work to be
done. We're simply checking on how the jaundice is doing. The
pediatritian isn't worried so niether are we.

Once again though the early morning activities warrented a stop by
Round Rock Donuts.

Photos are back up!

Sorry for the inconvenience if anyone wanted to see baby Emma today but wasn't able. I have created a new collection of photos on Flickr that will be the place to check.

Again, this first week was sort of a whirlwind, but we have felt very loved and cared for with all of the support received and the thoughts and prayers sent. Emma and the family look forward to meeting all those that plan to make the trip and we will be coming to see the rest as we can!

Love from everyone
Even Maggie

Photos will be back

Emma's photo pages will be down for some re-organization this afternoon. All of them will be available again shortly.

The visitors keep on coming

Last night was party time for Emma. It all started when Stephen, Emma's uncle showed up. This was his first chance to see her and she proceeded to greet him with a huge dirty diaper. Nice work Emma.


Next to make a stop by were the Garners. Fresh off of their trip to Costa Rica they immediately took to making Emma their bestest new friend.


Finally we all got a chance to sit down to Great Uncle Greg's chicken enchiladas and Aunty Vicky's piping queso! Love it! This was a welcome treat.

Emma would like to thank everyone who got a chance to stop by during her first week and for all of those that send best wishes online and by email. She knows that she is loved.

Back to the Doctors

So we had another quick visit to the doctors office today. Emma is getting better at not looking like a Simpsons character. She gained a little weight from all the feeding that she did last night. Yesterday she weighed 6 lbs, 7 oz. and today she weighed in at 6 lbs, 13 oz. Yay Emma! The prescription is more sunbathing (and cowbell). I think she will be a-ok with that!

We had a little treat today though to make up for having to change a diaper in the doctor's office......Round Rock Donuts. YUM!

More family has arrived

The Blond Byrds made it into town today to see Emma. Trish held onto her the whole time while Emma proceeded to remain completely passed out. Vicky and Trish took a moment to pose for the camera in between dishing about kids, pregnancies, and rabbits! Greg had photos to show of Belle, the 4 month old English pointer who is the new addition to their family. And I got to see the new truck,....also a new addition to their family. Babies and Doggies and Rabbits and Trucks....oh my!

Emma approves

Getting rid of jaundice in style

Not much to say here. Pretty sweet life

Sly already

So Emma has been in the habit, all of her life, of falling asleep while eating (gets it from her father). We have been trying different things to get her to wake up and finish eating, but most of the time she gets content pretty fast. After taking this photo, though, I am starting to suspect that it is all a game and, in reality, she is just tricking us into giving her more attention. If this is the case, then I hope it is simply a plan to steal attention away from Maggie and not her practicing to trick me into buying her more toys....or a car.

Talk to the Hand

One of the things that has been so nice about having family in the state has been the level of help that we have had with Emma this week. Pictured here is the champion of that help, Emma's Mom's Mom, the self-proclaimed GeGe herself (does that sound right?), Aurlie Strealy. In this, one of her more classic poses, we see her gratitude towards Emma's father as he attempts to immortalize her selflessness and caring through the magic of photography.

All kidding aside, Aurlie has been a huge help this week. And all the groceries are excellent. The only thing I am worried about is her leaving with Emma whenever she does go home.........

Visit to the doctors

We made our first visit to the doctor's today. Ray de Haro met us and said that Emma looks good, but has jaundice,....oh well more sunbathing! Knowing her mom, shouldn't be too hard of a prescription to follow. We will be monitoring her feet to make sure she straightens them out as well. The doctors says that they should be ok. Worst case she wears little braces to straighten them out. I'm not too worried about that though. We have a follow up appointment on Monday to check the status of the jaundice.

In other news, Maggie has returned and is promptly ignoring Emma.

Seems like she did a little "stress" eating while we were gone as she is now weighing in on the heavy.

Daddy!

I love this photo of Josh. He has no idea how much money this photo will cost him.

Baby Quote of the Day!

I heard the funniest thing today on a re-run of The Office:

"If a baby were president, there would be no taxes, there would be no war. There would be no government and… things could get terrible. And actually probably it would be a better screenplay idea than a serious suggestion."

I love this show!

So does Emma....

The family postcard

I laughed when I saw this photo as it looks like one of the fake photos that you find in frames and the store. I think at this point I had been up 24 hours at least and therefore don't quite remember when it was taken. Daytime I believe. Emma got several compliments on the hat, both at the hospital and on Facebook.

Finally here

Emma is finally here. Born March 17th, 2009 at Seton Hospital in Austin, she weighed in at 7lbs, 1 oz and was 20-1/2 inches long