Not the best quality but is the most recent photo.
I'm really starting to like this little girl. Now before you get all upset notice I said 'like', not 'love'. I'm sure in one of my many recent posts I talked about the instant love I feel and felt for each of my children. With Isabel's extra traumatic entrance to this world it was possibly even more defined when I set eyes on her. I love her A LOT. Having said that......
I'll be honest I didn't really like her all that much at the start.* What's to like? She cramps my style, she is an extra person to worry about, an extra diaper to change, an extra person to attend to, an extra thing to carry. And what do I get in return? Nothing! Zero! She doesn't ever acknowledge that I exist let alone seem appreciative.
Of course that all starts to change with the exercising of 12 little baby muscles. You know what I'm talking about, the smile muscles. I CAN NOT wait for babies to start smiling. That's all I ask. Up until they do that I really don't want much to do with them. But when they eventually show recognition in the eyes and curl those little lips up you just melt. Suddenly it's all worth it.
So yes she may have made me wait a few more days to see her smile than she did for EVERYONE (and I mean everyone) else that held her but I have forgiven her. Now one of the many favorite parts of my day is greeting her whether it be after a nap or arriving home and see her do one of those full body smiles where even her torso gets in on the action. She really is growing on me.
*it should be noted that she was and still is a REALLY REALLY good baby so I at least appreciated her for that.
We Blessed Isabel on Sunday in Midway in Scott and Ann's Ward. FYI you were all invited, we just didn't communicate that very well (or at all). It worked out great that family could come in from out of town for the holiday weekend, Swiss Days, and the BYU football home opener. Emily and Greg also blessed Baby Evelyn who is just two days younger than Isabel. It didn't work out for Kurt and Jordan to bless Madden (two days older than Isabel) but we look forward to that later this month.Here is most of the gang that attended. Stop standing on your tippy toes Michael! The Emmett Family. Afterwards we gathered at the Heber House for a fiesta. Good Mexican food, good company, mediocre volleyball, great times. Lily definitely was not shy about getting in photos. I love that she and her cousin Bobby are separated by almost two years but only about two pounds. The coolest part of the weekend was Isabel's blessing gift from her Great Grandpa and Grandma Emmett. It is an antique telephone brought across from Denmark. I must admit that I have had my eye on this for a long time. Not only is it an awesome good looking antique, it's from Denmark. I wondered how I could somehow get on the will for an inheritance. Turns out all I had to do was name a daughter Agnes. The antique organ was already 'won' by my cousin Katie Agnes. It is going to look great on the wall next to my KEEP AMERICA BEAUTIFUL CLEAN UP YOUR ROOM eye chart.
A couple Sundays ago the final stage of the Tour of Utah came through Midway. Church got out just in time for us to come and watch the battle for the sprint points on main street. Taylor Phinney won the sprint but ended up losing the sprint jersey by a single point. Jack and Lily were mostly excited for a reason break out the cowbell from the 2002 olympics.
After that we immediately jumped in the car and drove down to Highland to watch them again at the feedzone in front of my parents house. The kids were able to collect half a dozen water bottles discarded by the pros. Lily immediately picked them and started to drink whatever energy drink they happened to be drinking. It was gross. I rode the same course as the pros the week before and it was one of the hardest days on a bike I've ever had. Last year doing the same thing was the hardest day ever. I was amazed at how fast they go. I posted a video of the kids and the sprint at the bottom. I like how Lily answers my question with a question. And not just any question, her single favorite word. Why?
Isabel Agnes Emmett was born July 28, 2010 at 9:28 a.m. She was 7 lbs. 5 oz and 19 inches long. I am 88% certain those numbers are right. Score one for reasons not to wait 5 weeks to blog about it.
It was a Wednesday morning. I know that for sure because I just looked it up after originally typing Thursday. She was 3 days past her due date. We showed up to the hospital late Tuesday. Beth was pretty sure she was in labor just at an early stage. I didn't want to mess around since we made it to the hospital with only 40 minutes to spare with Lily. Plus Beth had to go on antibiotics for several hours before birth. And I needed that baby to come so I could get back to work, it was the end of our quarter and I had a ton of business to close. So it was good we went when we did. There was a slight chance they would send us home after an hour if Beth didn't progress enough. After checking the baby's heart rate they agreed to keep us and get the baby out. More on that later.
Beth got her antibiotics going then it was time for the epidural. That was the first drama of the event. See they clean an area on her back with that awful smelling hospital smell stuff. Then they start sticking other stuff into her back including a large needle. Beth hates this part and to sympathize with her I decided to try and pass out. I went white in the face, thought about puking, could not stop the smell from violating my senses, and started to go down. The nurse grabs me and the Doctor takes his attention off Beth to give me care. Soon after another nurse brings me a glass of orange juice and Beth's epidural is finished problem free as I sit across the room. You are welcome honey.
We got some sleep at that point, it was around 3:00 am. The Dr. came around about 7:00 and checked on Beth and the baby. Beth was progressing but not that fast, we probably had 5 or more hours. The baby's heart rate would drop a bit during contractions but was still in the safe zone. Fast forward two hours...still not a lot of progress but the baby's heart rate is getting harder to read. This concerns the staff and they might have to get the baby out ASAP. Fast forward 3 minutes and Beth has gone from a 7 to 10 in a matter minutes and it's time to push. This was truly a blessing as Isabel needed to get out. The on call Doctor was not even in the city yet so the Dr. from the same practice, working the office upstairs, ran down to catch Isabel. Beth pushed once and the Doc could see the cord was around her neck. He had her stop pushing for a second then on the next push the baby popped out. The cord was wrapped around twice and had a tricky hitch over her shoulder as well. Everybody in the room was so calm and matter of fact it blew me away. And was completely comforting. No big deal just got a little hang nail here...
I still long to be a father in the 50s. I don't need all this. I want to sit in the waiting room with my cigar and SportsCenter (they had that then didn't they?) with the other dads. At some point the nurse would bring me word and I could light up and celebrate. They would then bring me the baby, but only after it was been cleaned up. I paid closer attention this time than I did with Jack and Lily. The Miracle of Birth is exactly that. You find tears streaming as this perfect being enters the world and it would be hard to miss that. But I don't need to see Jack's freakish conehead after the Dr. sucks his sideways body out. I don't need to see the nurses working feverishly for a minute to get Lily to breathe. I don't need to see the Doctor carefully untangle Isabel from the cord. I just need the baby and mother healthy and happy as if nothing was ever amiss.
The rest of the hospital was relatively event free. Isabel had a hard time keeping her temperature up so a couple times she had to go under the lights. We will now go in reverse since Blogger is stupid and puts the first photos uploaded on the bottom. If I had to fix it I might never get this posted.
Here she is in the carseat ready to get home. Little did she know the hospital is actually a freaking awesome place to be. So many people to tend her. Showing off her going home moo moo. This is a pretty typical scene these days. Someone holding the baby and the other kids all up in your personal space. Just take a step back for a minute and let me breathe. Isabel had lots of visitors including Uncle Michael and a girl whose name I forget and we may or may not ever see again. Jack was especially interested at first with the feeding. What is her doing? What are you doing? With Aunt Kristin. Grandma McEuen First time holding their baby sister. Of course the first time had to be together so nobody would fight. This is the first time she set eyes on mom. If Lily were there she would be announcing to the world "her eyes open! eyes open!" First meeting. Skinny legs. We just love her to death. 100% smitten. What would we do without her?
I found myself looking at this photo above my desk today and smiling. Both of us were pleasantly surprised to learn our anniversary was today. Happy day honey. I look forward to celebrating many more. Especially looking forward to the ones where our desired gift isn't a babysitter.
I was recently reminded (again) that I haven't updated to blog in a while. Um, hello...there is a baby countdown ticker on the right that updates like EVERY SINGLE DAY.
No news to report yet. Beth has continued to regularly grab her stomach or back in such a manner that one might expect a giant contraction is just about to force the baby out, only to say it was nothing. She probably won't come until long after her due date. I say that because I believe in the power of prayer. Once the baby comes it creates too much work, much easier for me if she just stays in the womb.
After work Friday we headed down to St. George with some friends to cheer on Casey in the inaugural IronMan St. George. It was a bit up in the air if Casey was actually going to join us since he had to checked-in in St. George Thursday at 4:00 pm and Ryanne had just given birth to their baby Thursday at 1:00am. Turned out he could check in Friday morning and after much debate they figured what the heck he could head down, race, and be back in time to take the baby home. Meanwhile Ryanne was in good hands with her friends and family.
Before the 7:00 am start time we could not find Casey. Finally 6-7 minutes before the horn Casey comes flying into the transition area still in his clothes. I immediately started freaking out on him because it takes me longer than that to pull my wetsuit on. He didn't seem concerned, the long bathroom break was worth it. He was fast and made it into the water before the gun. Plus the water was so dang cold it wasn't like he was going to get a warm up in.Sand Hollow Reservoir is a great setting for a race. Here is everyone at the start of the 2.4 mile swim. Casey was out of the water in 1 hour flat and looking for his bag, screaming fast. Next came the 112 mile bike. Due to the way the shuttles ran we had to wait around another hour and half before we could get back to the cars. Back in St. George we relieved the wives of kid watching duty for a while before all heading to the Brick Oven for lunch. For some reason they elected not to wake up at 5:00 am to make it out the watch the swim start. Here is Casey starting his bike ride. 6 hours later Casey was done with the bike and stoked to be doing his strongest strength, running. 7 hours in and all he had to do was run a measly marathon (26.2 miles) Some of his support crew. There were Team Casey shirts everywhere and we would all look at each other like..who are you? You know we're his best friends, right? We're from The I-R-V! I mentioned Casey appeared to be stoked to be running. Well that wasn't quite the case 8 miles later. I have never seen him in such a dark place. And I have seen him throw up so many times at the end of a race that is saying something. He was tired, sad, missing his wife and new baby, exhausted and wanted to just go home. 7 minute miles creeped closer to 10. His sister Aymee (below) and I hung with him for a minute trying to get him to eat and just put one foot in front of the other. 5 miles later we saw him again. This time we were ready with bananas, Dr. Pepper, and a frozen strawberry popsicle. The old smiling Casey was back. It was very rewarding.
I'd like to make a quick note for those familiar with St. George. You will notice in the picture below we are on Red Hills Pkwy. An hour earlier we were all downtown with 8 kids between the ages of 1 and 6 and a pregnant lady. We hauled/pushed/carried/whipped the whole crew up that insane hill. We felt like we deserved a finisher medal just for that. Here we are waiting near the finish line. We kept trying to take pictures that would show just how dirty the kids were but nothing could do it justice. Sand, streams, grass, rocks, popsicles, sun, lotion, sweat, it was hilarious. Any minute now he was going to run by. Not quite ready for daddy's bike. And then he finished. I didn't get a picture after that. 10:53 was his incredible time. Not only was it an IronMan but it was his first one and on an incredibly difficult course. Nicely done bro!
Trevor and I went back to the finish line at 11:00 to watch those racing to finish before the cutoff at midnight. It was a total party and quite inspiring. I was totally worried that I would get inspired and want to sign up for next year's. I didn't know how that conversation was going to go with Beth. But thankfully that course is hard, that water is cold, and the winter is long. I had no desire to sign up. But I did get super excited for November and IronMan Arizona. So it was win/win. For those that missed this race (and those that didn't) join us in Tempe November 21 for my crack at an IronMan. It's the Sunday before Thanksgiving and there are great rates at that time.
Of course this wouldn't be complete if I didn't reminisce the first time I brought Casey to St. George for a triathlon:
Now that it is May I feel it's safe to do a bit of blogging about Easter. I hate how in Blogger the pictures you upload first end up a the bottom of your post. Seriously it's enough to make me miss a month, again. Oh well I'll just leave them in the order here.
Los Ninos on Easter Sunday Our kids are so obedient. This is right after I said "Jack, your sister is trying to get down. Choke her out!"Strike an adorable pose! Mommy and Lily after the hunt. I think this picture best captures Easter Sunday for the kids. Look at Porter's face. Seriously? Another group shot? We haven't even had time to eat the captured eggs! I often felt like a sheepdog. Kids...you look over there while your parents look at the camera. Seth and Jack showing off after finding the two money eggs. During the hunt. More herding....Great Grandpa McEuen came to visit. We grabbed some photos before lunch just in case he had to leave immediately after his last bite of food. Elena close your legs no close them put them together your knees. Oliver scoot in front of your sister so we can get a photo. Before Easter and just about every morning and afternoon. My cast stayed relatively odor free before this trip. The kids were alright at coloring eggs. Nobody really got close to my multi-colored egg skills. These guys like each other. Marci and Emily also did a good job documenting here and here. So did Jordan and Heidi but their posts are privatized.
Not the best quality but is the most recent photo.
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