One month!

Well today is Emma's one month bday. Wow, I know everyone says it goes by fast, but it really does! It seems like just yesterday I was yelling at a customer service guy at Target en route to pick up Lela to take her to the hospital. Its amazing to see how much she's progressed and yet is the same. Thankfully, the only time she really fusses is when she's hungry (again, a girl after my own heart) and she's sleeping a bit better, but still not through the night, though the amount she sleeps is still certainly nothing we complain about as its not that bad (I will ask Lela if its that bad during Emma's 2 am feeding tonight). Lela couldn't make it through the night anyway for reasons most breastfeeding moms would understand, but it will be nice when we can get Emma to the point where we can just take a shift so the other parent can get a more solid block of sleep. Regardless the first month has been more fulfilling than we ever expected, so we are excited for each month to come!

For now since we are both working out a fair amount, sleep during the week seems to be hard to find! I have been getting up around 4:30 to 4:45 so that I can go run or hit up the gym and then let Lela work out after I get back. At least the weather has been nothing short of phenomal so I want to run every day! Lela has been able to go for a few runs and everything seems to be going well (knock on wood) so that has been exciting as Lela seems to feel like less of a person when she can't run and I can tell secretly wants to punch me when I was able to go on runs and she was not. She never admitted that, but since I am so good at understanding the very simple female mind, I figured it out.

Tomorrow also marks a special day for the Huebners. On that day, 7 years ago Lela and I met. I remember seeing her walking down the steps of Trowbridge hall as we were both lost trying to figure out where our TA meeting. I was instantly in love. Lela . . . was apparently less moved at the moment than I. Good thing I am such a smooth operator and eventually won over her heart (I will leave out the part where that process took a year for prides' sake). Without that fateful day there may be no Emma!

Visitors

So once again, this summer never ceases to amaze me. It continues to rain and be relatively cool in August in KC, which isn't supposed to happen! Again, no complaints. God decided it would be extra funny to mess with us Sunday. It was somewhat rainy on the drive, but we figured, everyone leaves the spaces next to the door open for elderly and people with babies. Now that we are those people with babies, we took some comfort in the fact that we would have a 15 ft walk into church. Well as we got to within a mile, the downpour began. "This won't be so bad because you know, we are now baby's momma and dad we could you know, use the 15 ft away spaces and be fine." Well by the time we got to church, it was raining so hard I couldn't see the church from our car 15 ft away. Needless to say, Emma went into church a bit wet, which is extra fun since our church is generally at about 60 degrees. Emma did well, her hair was 100% fro'ed out by the end of the service, but again, this was a dirty trick played on us!

We had several different visitors this weekend. Nicole and Matt Van Denabeele brought their baby Clara over to meet Emma (and food which is always appreciated!). Its fun to see older babies as Clara is interactive now, and definitely dwarfs Emma, so we both have some things to look forward to and it gives perspective as to appreciating her dwarfedness. Sunday Jeff and Heather Buhr brought over their 3 year old Riley to meet Emma (also food, we should have more kids so people bring us more food:). Riley loved Emma, and its also fun to see older kids interact with the baby. Having 2 groups over on 2 days didn't sound so bad for pre-Emma us, but it now seems like a lot! I of course added to the fun Sunday as since it was raining (see previous paragraph) I had worn a jacket to church. Well I had put the keys in my jacket pocket which in the winter wouldn't be a problem, however, in case you didn't know, its summer. . .So I spent about 3 hrs throughout the day looking for the keys, which was especially fun for the outside in the car parts as it was 1000% pre rain humidity, so I may have been drenched when the Buhr's arrived. I may have also been told several times by my lovely wife that that is the reason we have key hooks in our house. . .

Lela has been going through some of the boxes of stuff she inherited when her dad passed and we have been going through old pictures. First of all, I am not sure Emma could look more like her mom, so that's good (I think I mentioned that previously). Secondly, we were reminded that fashion in the 80s was less than stellar and when you throw in a crazy Korean mom, it gets extra interesting. Lastly, how did people exist before digital camera's??? I paid homage to the boppy earlier, but I think the digital camera is even more integral to the whole baby process. We seriously take so many pictures every day, even me who is Mr. I Complain when Mom makes us take Endless Pictures at any gathering wants to take pictures. And now we don't have to develop the 50% that are blurry or have heads cut off or have any number of other problems. As we go through those pictures, we wonder "why would you have that picture. . . oh, they didn't have digital camera's." Almost like if you pay for it you have to make it worth it.

I have also been a sappy dad lately - I am not Mr. Emotional by any means and my ability to convey emotions is probably worse! I used to think that being a dad would make me feel the emotions that good dad or guy movies make you feel. For example, the movie the Patriot is one that stirs emotion as a dad as you know he is bonding with his sons, protecting them, killing the British who try to come after his family, etc. There are others, but I won’t babble, long story a little shorter, I always thought that being a dad would evoke those type of protect this house (UnderArmour style) emotions. Being a dad, especially of a girl, though it isn’t devoid of that emotion, really isn’t the aforementioned emotion.

So far, its been more of an “I want people to treat my little girl well and love her” type emotion, which while somewhat expected, but not to this extent. Articulation is not my strength so I will try to explain. There are 3 songs that I stop the radio on are songs I will stop for and things that I would download on Itunes if I did that sort of thing (for now I am just a nerdy podcast listener). They are as follows:
1) More Beautiful You – Johnny Diaz (yep, his name is Johnny, which amuses me)
2) Daughter – Loudon Wainwright III (I know this from a church father’s day montage, not from watching Knocked Up 34 timesJ)
3) Cinderella Song – Steven Curtis Chapman (sad but great story underlying this one, look it up)

First of all, great songs, if you haven’t listened to them look them up and listen to them, they are amazing. Secondly, I am more of a talk radio guy so to say that I change the station looking for these or stop when they come on is saying something in the first place. Each of them seems to evoke emotions that are great where you just want your daughter to be treated well and can’t wait to be her dad in life. I grew up seeing through my parents’ interaction and through bible studies and other Christian stuff learning that women are to be respected and treated a certain way, partly because everybody’s somebody’s daughter and you should respect that relationship and of course because its the right thing to do and all that. Made sense and can’t say I disagreed with it, but now that has become more real, since you know, I am somebody’s father. Its really one of the cooler emotions I have ever felt.

I put this in a blog (which I generally try to keep more light hearted) for several reasons.

1) I know a few moms out there read this and I am guessing that I am not the first guy to feel this about his daughter. Chances are he’s like me and terrible at conveying this to his spouse (ie this is really the first time Lela has seen these thoughts because me trying to say them out loud generally sounds, well dumb) and I think its good for mom’s to know at least a little what is the complex simplicity that makes up the male mind. Yes, I try to justify our simple minds being good by calling them complex, but anyway, hopefully this provides some insight into the heart of a new dad.
2) Hopefully it further inspires all you parents of boys out there to teach your sons to treat women right as it really is important. I know not every boy out there will approach Emma with the respect she deserves, but I want to lessen the number of boys in the world I may have to intimidate physically.
3) It reminds me how important every moment is for me and for Emma. We have been going through the endless boxes that Lela accumulated when her dad passed away just over 7 years ago and though some things bring a smile to her face, it saddens me as a husband and dad to see some of the underlying sadness of never getting to share a granddaughter with her dad or be walked down the isle by her dad or any other number of things. I am sure Lela’s dad would have loved just as much to experience those things and every other moment, so it has really lead me to be very cognizant of spending every moment I can for now and forever with Emma.

Enough of the serious stuff, time for some pics!

Big eyes!

Emma and Mom hanging with Lily and Mom

Emma loves the swing

This is our favorite face that Emma makes!

Emma cuddled up in her sling

Dad and Emma

Riley Buhr and Emma chilling on the couch.

Can't get enough pics of Emma and mom

Is the weekend here yet?

Emma decided that last night was going to be way too fun to sleep, so the Huebners are dragging a bit today! First she didn’t want to go to sleep for the night, so her and I got up and watched Return of the Jedi til about 11:20. Emma obviously loved it as she fell asleep, she was glad when Luke turned Darth back and would likely get mad at Episode III if we watched it when Anakin turns to the dark side (has my nerdiness ever been more apparent???) Then she had a 3am play time scheduled that she forgot to tell us about. First she ate, then she didn’t want to sleep so I got up to rock her, then she didn’t want to sleep so I gave her back to mom as that generally means its time for more food. Just to give you a taste of life with a postpartum pregnant lady, I turned on the tv for her, gently set the remote next to her knee and laid down. I was then told I was in trouble for “throwing the remote somewhere” as Lela couldn’t find it even after I told her “here is the remote” as I set it down next to her (did I mention GENTLY?). I fell asleep and was awaken by Lela to say sorry she scolded me, she was just tired and emotional. Thanks honey I understood that, which is why I just rolled over and passed out in spite of allegedly throwing the remote across the room into an abyss (aren’t I extra sensitive at 3:30am?). . . I was then awakened again to look at how cute Emma’s feet were when she eats. Again, mom’s work harder than we dad’s, that is not in dispute, but they may be a little crazy too! Lack of sleep does suck as a new parent, but I was more than happy to get to spend some extra cuddle time with Emma. Emma in general is a pretty decent sleeper too and hasn’t shown us much of the “I want to be awake just to be awake” but more of a “I am awake because I am hungry people” so we won’t complain on any front.

Part of the reason the night was so rough was because I had decided the night before that I was going to go to spin class at the gym. I haven’t been to a spin class since we lived in Denver (over 3 years ago) as our original gym had classes that were less than desirable we’ll just say. So when I got up at 3 with Emma, I may have decided that I might as well get a snack in because I was going to the gym in the morning right? Well I got up before 5 to make sure I made it there in time, so let’s just say it was a rough awakening after the theatrics. Also, I was reminded how truly hard Spin class is as about 30 min in I was past the whole holy crap I am exhausted and might not make it through class, I had moved into, ‘I seriously am not sure I want to continue living because this hurts so bad’ stage. Hopefully I can walk tomorrow!

We finally finished our summer sweet corn last night. When dad came down last week he picked a bunch and brought it with us. Even though its blasphemous to eat corn after the day its picked to my dad we continued for a week trying to eat away and finally finished it last night. We are now done with corn for the summer, I think I have finally worked through any weakness in my intestines!

We continue to try to widdle down which pictures of Emma to get from her photo shoot but its freakin hard. We still have 70% of them on the list!

Picture Wednesday

Just a few pics as promised.

Stretching in her rainbow bright onesie

Loving the duck towel

Hello world!

Trying to get the right pose with Mom and Dad

There it is

Grandparents with their 3 grandkids. Julia and Jacoby are posing well (as there mom takes as many pics as us, maybe more). Emma may or may not be flashing a Hawkeye gang sign

Emma with her cousins, Julia and Jacoby, and trying to eat Julia's hand apparently.

Cashed out in the swing after first bath

Hopefully we see this pose a lot when she's watching Hawkeye football this fall (and yes she will know what to do when they score a touchdown at 6 weeks, I know it)

Always precious curled up on dad's chest

Bath pic, note we tried to keep it from getting to graphic:) Emma's waving

Mom and Emma resting after a long day

Big week

Last week was a pretty big week for Emma. She got to meet her aunt, uncle and 2 cousins (the Johnsons) as they came down from Vinton, IA. We had a great time, many pics were taken and of course the 5 ladies went out for some retail therapy. Julia had a lot to say about it, as she does about any subject since she’s a 3 year old, and the rest of the fam enjoyed holding the lil Wasian. Grandma H was also down the entire week to help Lela out and Grandpa H came down with the Johnsons and helped me out with a few things. It was a crazy week, but it was good to see everyone and have the help. We’ll get pics up tonight of the week, I promise!

Emma also had her first full fledged bath. Her umbilical cord fell off so she could do the whole water emersion thing. I did not get the pleasure of being there, but it sounds like it went well. She looks extra cute in her little towel outfit, and I heard she celebrated by having some milk.

Emma continues to be a good baby, generally only fussing when she’s hungry. She does enjoy playing with her mom at random times, sometimes 3 am, sometimes 5 am and dad and her have to go rock or do something so mom doesn’t lose her mind! She also loves going on walks, and by that I mean she sleeps on them. I wish my definition of loving things would be I get to nap through them. “I just love to clean.” Think about how great that would be! Its been hot, so she feels warm by the end of some of the walks, but it doesn’t seem to effect her, even with her ‘fro keeping her extra warm. Hopefully this heat subsides soon and then we won’t worry about overheating the little one.

Lela was cleaning out some of her old boxes last weekend and we found some pictures of her as an infant. Emma pretty much looks exactly the same as Lela, so that’s good. We really didn’t want Emma looking too much like her dad, as my face on a female and Asianized wouldn’t be pretty!

I decided this weekend that I need to buck up and run in the KC half marathon in October. I finally got my Brooks “Beast” shoes which should help out the feet and issues I have been having with them and this’ll give me something to motivate me into running hard without Lela to motivate me and be my Asian Rabbit.

Lastly we finally got our pictures back from Emma’s photo session on day 3 of her life. They are simply amazing; Maura did a great job as did Emma. We want to buy them all, unfortunately we haven’t won the lottery and Sprint still hasn’t named me CEO (weird huh?) , so that’s not economically feasible just yet! Anyway just go to this link - http://mauraphotography.com/index2.php . Under client slide shows enter our last name, no caps and it should take you to the slide show.

Few bath pics for those of you not on facebook, we'll get more pics up later. As I said there, she looks very Jedi like in her post bath outfit.

2 weeks

Well we have officially completed the first 2 weeks of life with Emma. It seems like forever ago that I was yelling at the customer service dude at Target and taking Lela to the hospital, yet the time with Emma has seemed to absolutely fly. Emma knocked out another 4 hr chunk of sleep last night again. . . it would be nice if that would happen twice in a night! I can’t complain, I honestly didn’t hear her once last night, Lela does all the work, I just try to look pretty for the pictures.

Lela is doing well. Lela got a new pair of shoes in the mail yesterday and is getting the urge to run already, so that’s a good sign she’s doing well. Lela is also trying to test our ice machine and she’s winning. For those of you without babies in the last few years, they give this giant mug with a straw to mom’s to ensure they keep hydrated. Its like a nalgene, but the straw makes the water flow like. . .well water. So our ice machine which doesn’t do the best anyway has been taxed a lot as Lela fills that sucker up at least 3 times a day. The mug o’ water also is Lela’s favorite thing to leave somewhere else. If I had a nickel for every time we were downstairs and Lela said, “My water is upstairs and I can’t leave as Emma is feeding, can you go get it for me. . . ?” or vise versa, I’d have at least a few dollars. Similar quotes are also applicable for the boppy btw. Did I say its easy to be a new dad? Its really hard, what with the going up and coming down steps all the timeJ

Emma had her last appt til the end of the month yesterday to make sure she gained weight. She’s up to 7 lbs 7 oz, so she is definitely eating well. It’s hard because you don’t want them to grow up as it’s pretty neat having a little peanut, but at the same time its fun to see them grow. Everything else is good, including the fact that her cord finally fell off over the weekend, which excites me a lot. Why you ask – because now we don’t have to flip the top of her diaper over when changing her, and less complication is good for clumsy dad.

Yesterday was my first day back at work. Its nice to get back into the flow, but it is really hard to not get to see Emma whenever I want. Also today was my first day back at the gym. Emma might be good for my workouts, I am motivated to be efficient and get home to see her, even if she is just sleeping when I leave and when I get back. Granted Mom and Dad aren’t going to get to work out together nearly as much as we have worked out together for 5+ years, but it’s worth the sacrifice I think (and Lela would agree, even though she’s a workout addict). For days we run, it won’t be much different as Lela and I used to leave together and I would arrive home significantly later than her, now we will just leave at different times!

Looks like summer arrived this week in KC. I don’t say finally as I am not a huge fan of 95 degree weather, hopefully its short lived. No pics today just yet, maybe Mom and Grandma H (who is down here visiting) should get on that . .

First Church

Today was Emma's first Sunday going to church. She was so excited she decided she couldn't sleep from 12:30-2:30, which kept mom awake for that period of time and dad intermittently awake. I have confirmed with several dad's that their baby's cry doesn't wake them up nearly as fast as it does mom, so I don't feel like quite as much of a failure. Also, mom's are funny as I was exhausted from barely getting up those 2 hrs, whereas Lela woke me up because Emma looked cute. UMMM, its 2 am. . .



Anyway, we were all geared up to make church happen, getting Emma up almost 2 hrs before we needed to leave to eat. We had everything set to go and were right on time leaving when Emma decided she wanted to eat first. Umm, Emma, WE HAVE A SCHEDULE. Anyway, we had a feeding that we thought was enough, yet efficient and were off. Then 5 min into the ride, Emma decided, it wasn't enough, and that "she didn't want to be hurried" and needed to eat NOW again. The not wanting to be hurried part reminds me of my mom, my wife and about 90% of women I know, so apparently they are born with it! Okay, while all women are now cursing my name, back to the story. We then stopped on our way to get a feeding in as our church is currently 25 min and about 20 stop lights away. When we finally got to church, we were 20 min late, which in Heartland language means missing the worship part (songs basically). We were bummed as that's always a great way to start the Sunday, but got over it. Church was about 50 degrees inside as usual, so Lela had to take Emma out to the entrance area as she didn't enjoy the deep freeze as much as Dad. It was pretty crazy, but seemed almost like a fun time, which I think officially makes me crazy. Also, I know as a parent you pay attention less to a certain extent because you can't just focus in on Deeble, but at the same time sitting there with my ladies reminds me of how blessed I am! Also a second time, we did notice that the series on Grace was over the Sunday before Emma was born, further verifying that her middle name is perfect and meant to be!


Few observations from today's happenings.
1) Having a baby gives way to many more encounters with random people, sometimes in a good way. For instance, a couple at church with a 9 week old introduced themselves after church as they noticed Lela was no longer pregnant and sat near us often. These type of encounters are very welcome, always nice to meet some new people who are going through similar things. As we left church I noticed that it was about 80 percent people with babies standing around talking, so it must be very much a networking deal. Thanks for your help Emma.
2) Having a baby gives way to many more encounters with random people, and sometimes in a not good way. See scary lady in Costco after church who I was afraid might steal Emma if she wasn't so worried about getting her Marlbaro Lights. We thought weird people trying to touch Lela's belly was going to be bad (which never really happened), that's almost scarier.
3) I hate stop lights. Can parents get a device that's like the ambulance thing that changes lights to green and use it during certain times? I mean driving to church on Sunday morning I think would be an okay time, there's nobody on the road, and um, we're going to freaking church! Of course our church is moving closer to us and to a location where we hit less stop lights in November, just in time for us to hopefully be less stressed on the ride, but still, they need to make this legal and make it happen. Dad's Against Dating needs to start a subcommittee to pursue this, we can use the same technology when tracking our daughters using GPS technology when they are 10 min late for curfew and might be with a boy. Yeah, it'll happen, don't worry about it.
4) We get like half of what we used to get done now that we have Emma. We literally just stare at her for hours and think of things we could do to take another picture.

Additionally, Friday our doula came over and brought a neat timeline and pictures of the whole day Emma was born. She was such a great investment and this just furthered our opinion of that! We'll make sure to PGize those pics and get them up and running.

Anyway, I need to get some stuff done around the house. Right now as I am typing, Cooper is wimpering in his sleep, Emma is humming in hers while on Mom's chest, while Mom may or may not have her mouth wide open. Life is good!


Few random poses

Mom and Emma are ready to go!

Hooray for church! Emma says thanks to Lily Osterhaus for her awesome dress that actually fits her! :)

Already good at posing. . .

Mom and Emma resting after an already long day. Love the arm draped around mom almost like a hug.

Remember this guy? right here he's garding some of Emma's things. By guarding I mean, waiting for me to turn so he can consider licking it.

This pose indicates that even at an early age, Emma might try to take advantage of the fact that Dad works for a cell phone company. . .