Emma Lane

Our little peanut is finally here!  We are so excited to finally meet her.  Tom's wish came true.  He wanted me to go into labor at work so he would not have to worry about driving me to the hospital.  I work at the University of Utah Hospital, right where he has been going to school for the last 3 years.  Even though we did a "dry run" last Saturday, he still managed to get himself lost.  Last Tuesday I went to the hospitals OB Emergency Services to ask a question, they checked me out and told me my water broke.  Somehow I missed this.  I did not think you could.  I thought it would be fairly obvious.  They let me go back to my office, finish up some work and get my stuff.  I was admitted a around 5:30 that evening and she showed up 11:15 pm.  Six hours of labor, not too shabby.  Pitocin helped speed things up.  Unfortunately, it also makes contractions stronger then natural labor and it took over an hour for the anesthesiologist to come around and give me my epidural.  After that, things went great.  My doctor was even able to make it.  He had just flown in from NYC and came straight from the airport.  He made it just in time.  

Based on the guesses of my last post we had a lot of winners.  Congrats to Chrissy, Liv, and Anna-Lisa for getting the date.  She made the February 8th deadline by 45 minutes.  My 2 year old nephew Soren and Sheila were closet for her birth weight.  She came in at a whopping 5 lbs 11 oz and 18.5 cm long.

Proud daddy.

Proud and sleepy mama.

 Uninterested favorite nephew Soren.

 

Lovable favorite niece Claire.  8 months old.

Emma with Oldemor.

She is now 1 week old and I can't believe it.  For the most part she is just perfect.  But I have a bone to pick for all the wonderful women in my life who neglected to tell me how awful nursing is.  I did not expect it to be all rainbows and sunbeams, but it has been pretty ridiculous.  I am sure some mothers get lucky, but if you are an expectant new mom and want to know what reality will be like, give me a call and I will tell you all about it and would be happy to refer you to a great lactation consultant who has helped me quite a bit.  As crazy as it is, it has gotten a little better.

Hear are a few more pictures of her first few days home.  

Life is so hard!

 

Emma's Blue Steel.  Compliments of Aunt Chrissy via Skype Video.   Derek Zoolander has nothing on my Emma.

Thanks for reading.

Long Time

The last time I posted anything on this blog, I was 14 weeks pregnant.  I am now 38 weeks.  Bit of a gap.  To catch up...having a girl, her name is Emma.  Overall the pregnancy has been pretty good, can't/shouldn't complain... but I do.   Her nursery is finally coming together and for that I have IKEA and Tom to thank.  We would also be nowhere if it weren't for all the kind souls who have spoiled us with wonderful gifts.  Hopefully we will finish getting her nursery ready this weekend and will post some pictures once it gets cleaned up. 


As her arrival gets closer, Tom and I are polling for her birth day, birth weight, and length.  Only time will tell who is a good guesser.  Sorry... no prizes... just be proud of yourself.  Here are the guesses we have received so far:


                  Birth Day         Weight                Length
Ann             7-Feb           7 lbs. 1 oz                  21"
Mike           14-Feb          7 lbs. 11 oz                21"
Sheila         11-Feb          6.5 lbs.                      18"
C. Tom                             8 lbs.                         21"
Chrissy       8-Feb           7 lbs. 4 oz                  20"
Tanya         15-Feb          7 lbs. 8 oz                  19"
Anna-Lisa   8-Feb           7 lbs. 5 oz                  22"
Mom            9-Feb          7 lbs. 13 oz               19"
Dad            10-Feb          8 lbs. 2 oz                  20.5"
Steve         13-Feb          7 lbs. 8 oz                  20"
Liv               8-Feb          7 lbs. 4 oz                  18"
Soren          7-Feb          4 lbs. 7 oz
*Erik          10-Feb          7 lbs. 4 oz.                  20" 
Tom            10-Feb         7 lbs.                          20"
Kari             5-Feb          7 lbs. 6 oz                   20"

*given after deadline


If anyone else would like to venture a guess let me know.  I do hope that Tom and I will be better at documenting our family's life.  With little one just about here, and a great camera (thanks to Ann) we have better motivation and no excuse not to!

Hi there.  Just wanted to let you all know that I am officially pregers.  We finally heard a heart beat at 14 weeks.  That seems a little late but there it is.  I added the little widget showing you what it looks like and how far along I am.  It's a little freaky.

Other than that we do not have much going on.  Tom has spent the last 6 weeks in Boston looking for a job that will pay him millions of dollars to design buildings.  No such luck yet, but will keep you informed.  I went out to visit for a week in July and we had a great time.  

We tried to do some blueberry picking, but there really were not any blueberries.  A bit early I guess.

Of all the times that I have been to New England, I have never been up to Maine.  I finally got to go.  We drove up for the day and it definitely was not long enough.  Toms good friend Jacqui and her boyfriends son, Alex were kind enough to give us a tour of beautiful Portland. 

We went to Fort Williams.

Visited the amazing coast of Maine.  Why we did not get a picture of the Lighthouse, I do not know.

Visited Kennebunkport Pond.

Can't be a trip back home for Tom if he doesn't get to jam with his dad.  He's pretty good with the drums. 

Tom's Convocation

On Friday Tom graduated with a masters degree in architecture from the U.  I am so proud of him.  The video is a little shaky.  My bad.

Skiing

Ahh... the joys of skiing. Although some of the best resorts are in my backyard, I have not been skiing in over 2 years. It is just too expensive. Tom has only been once, over 10 years ago... in New Hampshire. Does that even count?

Obviously, we were way overdue. I was finally able to break Tom away from the studio and experience some real skiing in the Rockies. We took advantage of the the "Ski Free after 3:00" at Alta.

After a couple tries on the Bunny run, Tom was looking pretty professional. Video proof to come shortly.


We had a great time and have been a few more times since. I really do love skiing. Now I just need to get the income to support the hobby. Should be simple enough, right?

Boston... Way Behind

Again, way behind on my posts. Maybe I'll get better, maybe not.

Tom and I went to Boston for Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful time hanging out with his family.
We were able to meet up with our good friend Dane who just got back from his mission in Portugal.
Flying out of Boston.

Hiking the Pfeifferhorn

I am finally able to cross this off my list. I have been wanting to hike the Pfeifferhorn for ages. We tried last weekend but we were hailed on. We tried again this weekend and couldn't have asked for better weather. However, it was not uneventful. Not even 2 miles in, our friend Greg got his clock cleaned by a fallen tree. It knocked him flat on his butt. It was so funny. I can't help but chuckle even now just thinking about it. Nice view down into the Salt Lake Valley from the Red Pine trail.


We soon made it up to Lower Red Pine Lake, and then found the trail up the bench to Upper Red Pine Lake.
From here we started the steep climb up the ridge to the crest where we got our first good look of the Pfeifferhorn, Mt. Timpanogos, and Box Elder Peak. This picture is looking down on Upper Red Pine Lake and gives a proper impression of the "steepness" of the climb. It's about a 700 ft climb according to some random and probably false, internet source.

Climbing around the rocky crest was everyone's favorite part. The little black dot in both pictures is Tom navigating his way around the jagged boulders. Just like a mountain goat!
Greg also enjoying himself.

And a nice picture of Maybird Gulch (I think that is what it is called). Pretty awesome. Hey, snow.
The final 400 foot climb to the top of the Pfeifferhorn was also quite steep, but very rewarding. The views from up here are spectacular!Thanks Tom and Greg for making great hiking comrades and helping me get this hike off my list. We made it with minimal injuries. Thank you Greg for not giving up after almost getting decapitated early on. I really have not laughed so hard in a very long time. Thank you. It's a wonder he only made it out with a stiff neck. Well done.

Moab

Here is a belated accounting of our recent trip to Moab. We picked one of the hottest weekends to go down, and having AC and a shower was a brillant idea of mine. Parts of the rest of the trip, not so brillant.

We went with our friends Greg and Esther and really had a great time. We woke up really early Saturday morning and drove to The Needles district of Canyonlands National Park. We picked a nice 11 miler through Elephant Canyon to Druid Arch. It was beautiful.

Tom chose to take a walking stick on principle. I just happened to have them in the trunk. Gift from work.

Here we are getting close to the end. Or so we thought. Me, just before I realize we missed our turnoff to get back to our car. It's 2:00 pm in the afternoon 110 degrees, and we have no water. Tom and I had been walking for quite a while in the wrong direction and we figured we should keep going on the trail and hope it would lead us to the campground and water on the map. And it did. At campground we found Park Rangers who gave us a lift back to our car 3 miles away. Fortunately, Greg and Esther did not make the same mistake and they were waiting for us.

In our defense, the Rangers said the junction was known as Lost Man's Pass. I guess it happens all the time. I would like to make a suggestion to the National Park Service for better signage for the stupid hikers such as Tom and I. Regardless, a big "thank you" to Park Rangers for the ride.

Back in Moab, Tom and Greg really put their Mongoose's to work on the Slickrock trail. I am surprised the 13 year old bikes survived it.

Then we did a quick drive through Arches on our way home. Very quick trip. We hope to get back in October and spend more time when it is not so hot! Here is a picture of the Fiery Furnace. A far away view of Delicate Arch.

And a great pic from our car. Anywhere you turn you can get a great picture. Arches is so beautiful, there is no place like it.