Our first family outing with Emersynne

One day before Emersynne hit the two week mark we found ourselves doing something we always try to avoid, taking our newborn baby out in public.

When Emersynne was one week old our friend Luci passed away, so Emersynne's first outing was attending a memorial service. We felt we needed to be there and as the arrangements began to be made we found ourselves involved in the service. I playing the piano/organ and Jeremiah and the children singing I Am A Child Of God.

Death is always hard to deal with and this was our children's first experience with someone they knew well and loved dying. With all the changes in our family lately and emotional stress we were worried about being involved in the service and trying to keep our emotions under control. It all went well and the children (and Jeremiah) sang beautifully and I was able to keep my eyes dry so I could see the music for all the songs. We jokingly talked about it later saying that it was all so strange and foreign to us that it made it easier to not be emotional. It was a Catholic service complete with communion and very different from anything we are used to.

Emersynne was a little angel and stayed asleep in her car seat. I kept praying that she would just sleep so we could keep her covered up and away from people. Word still got around that we had a two week old baby and several people asked if they could see the baby. Making sure we were keeping our distance we would lift the blanket and let them take a quick peek.

Emersynne survived the outing just fine as did the rest of us. Definitely something to make a note of in her baby book.

Pictures

So I'm finally getting around to posting pictures. These are all from the one week mark so I'm a little behind. Now that Emersynne is two weeks old I will need to take some more.

No matter how often we clip her nails she always manages to scratch herself.

This is the quilt Grandma Vicki made for Emersynne. I think Emersynne is trying to focus on all the colors!

Here is the proud quilt maker enjoying one last snuggle with Emersynne before leaving to go home.

It's nice to have a picture with the new baby outside of the hospital

I love how this picture shows off her dimple!

Laundry day!
Emersynne is already trying to be a laundry helper.
I think she just liked laying in all the warm clothes.

Hanging out with daddy.
She is so alert and wide eyed that sometimes it can look a little scary.

One week old!

Hard to believe that a whole week has gone by already. Emersynne continues to do well and is gaining weight. Yea! She dropped down to 8 lbs by the time we left the hospital but is already back up to 8 lbs. 5 oz. She, of course, sleeps better during the day than she does at night but that is to be expected. If I could just get her to switch then we would be in great shape!

We had a great visit with Jeremiah's mom and were all sad to see her go. I know the kids loved the extra attention and extra outside time they got while Grandma was here. I'm afraid we will be sticking around home for the next little bit and hopefully the kids will all do okay with that. We were all definitely spoiled by mom/grandma and will have to adjust to her being gone. Thanks again mom for all you did for us! It was great having you here. Now we just have to pretend that we can handle all this on our own.

I will try to post some photos tomorrow.

Home and doing well

Saturday afternoon Emersynne ventured out of the hospital and came home to some excited siblings. We first made a stop at Dunkin Donuts so Emersynne could take some donuts home for the kids. The kids were all so impressed that Emersynne knew exactly which donut was their favorite!

Although coming home to kids with colds and fevers is not an ideal situation, so far things have gone well. The kids have not been allowed to be near the baby and poor Abigail is taking that rather personally. Whenever I sit down with the baby, Abigail wants to be right next to me. I think she is afraid that the baby is taking over her space!

Tomorrow Emersynne goes to the doctors and hopefully she has gained what she lost in the hospital and hasn't lost any more.

For those of you that asked, yes I did get to the hospital in time for an epidural. Thank goodness for that because it was bad enough even with the epidural but nothing compared to my delivery with Abigail!

I had hoped that I would have the baby on the 10th because it was my sisters birthday. I went to bed feeling a bit depressed but at the same time sure that it wouldn't be much longer. I woke up in the wee hours of the morning after having a dream that my water had broken, to find that my water had in fact broken. So we missed the 10th by a few hours and had to settle on the 11th.

I started having contractions about a half hour after arriving at the hospital and by the time they got unbearable the baby was on her way. It seems that I sneaked in the epidural at just the right time! If my water hadn't broken before I started having contractions then it would have been another really quick delivery. So, it was an uneventful delivery and we are so glad to have Emersynne here at last!

Anthony was hoping to hold on to his status as being the biggest baby in our family but has given it up rather graciously. Anthony and Emersynne actually have the same birth weight but Emersynne pulled ahead by being two inches longer.

Emersynne Victoria Jones

Emersynne joined our family this morning. She and Tamara are both doing well and would like to thank you for your well wishes.

The rightfully proud mama

Proud papa

Grandma Vicki was glad to get in on the newborn action

It may be "another girl," but big brother Anthony was still excited

This poor baby is going to have a plethora of little mommies--chief among them being oldest sister Michaela

"Emersynne likes me best!"

Still waiting!

No new exciting news here. We are still waiting for this baby to make her grand entrance. Today was my doctors appointment and I am now dilated to 4cm and the baby is where she needs to be. The doctors is sure she will come in the next few days and told me to stay pretty close to home. When this baby decides to come she is going to come fast. After my quick delivery with Abigail I'm not so excited about that. I just hope I get an epidural this time!

Grandma Vicki has been here for a week now and her time is ticking away. Sure hope this baby comes while Grandma is here!

Stay tuned for more news (hopefully soon!)

A few days of quiet

After what felt like a really long summer the kids are back into their school routine. I guess I didn't realize how much it took out of me to keep up with the five kids all summer until they headed back and I just had Trevor and Abigail at home. I am still amazed at how much I can get done with just two underfoot instead of five! Trevor and Abigail miss the older kids while they are at school but at the same time I think they also enjoy a little less chaos.

We are anxiously waiting for the arrival of our little one but so far she doesn't seem to be so excited to come just yet. After delivering several of my babies so early it is a bit strange to have less than 2 weeks left and feel like nothing is happening. Guess she will come when she is ready.

Until then we are taking advantage of our quiet days knowing that soon our "normal" routine will be anything but normal for awhile.