Brought to you by the letter "E"

Emerson Marie Lynch was blessed last Sunday at church. We have a ton of family who live nearby {and some not-so nearby} who came out for the event. Emerson was wonderful and didn't cry at all during the blessing! {which was great...so I could hear it all}. The picture above is Emerson {swaddled, of course} next to her letter "E" cookies my mom baked and Mallory and I decorated for favors.
This next picture is of Dan, Emerson, and I {what a great family!}

My mom made Emerson's blessing-day dress out of my wedding dress {even down to the snaps...aren't we green!}. I made the flower sewn onto the front of the dress. {p.s.-click on any of the pictures to see them larger}...

Emerson's baby shoes {that she somewhat wore...she doesn't like things on her feet} for the day were a gift from Dan's mom, Gretchen. They belonged to Dan's grandmother Norma and were her baby shoes...yes...the handmade baby shoes Emerson wore are 96years old! It was such a wonderful tradition to hand-down.

The first place that I heard the name "Emerson" was on a website that my sister sent to me {Emersonmade.com}. The woman, Emerson, makes the most absolutely beautiful flowers from linen and wool. They are stunning! The second place I heard the name Emerson was a first grade girl at the elementary school I taught art at last year. Dan fell head-over-heels in-love with the name and it stuck! So, I thought it would be fun to purchase an Emersonmade flower clip to wear for her blessing day, that I can give to her when she gets older.

Emerson's middle name came from my sister Mallory's middle name "Marie." Mallory and I are absolute best friends! We are super-duper close and have so many inside jokes we can't remember them all. We find ourselves on many occasions dressing in almost the same outfits {color and layering options}. Dan and I agreed that Emerson's middle name needed to be one that held a family connection... and it does!

Three generations of women...

My Owens cousins have been a huge help from day one! I couldn't have made it without them and it's so much fun that we attend church in the same building. It was fun for Dan and I to sit with them in their Sacrament meeting while my mom babysat Emerson for us so we could go and take the Sacrament {before we could take her to church with us}

My Uncle Calvin flew over from Hawaii. With how busy the week was with a full house of Calvin, Mallory, my brother Matt and his wife Sarah, we only got some candid photos of Calvin with Emerson {I'll post those next time}. I have many different "replacement dads" in my life, but Calvin has been the most like a dad to me {which I don't know exactly what that relationship is supposed to be like after not having one with my biological dad, but it has been so helpful}. Calvin has given me advice over the years that has truly made an impact on choices I've made. He was the witness at my temple sealing and I felt very blessed that he would fly over from Hawaii for Emerson's blessing. I thank Heavenly Father that Emerson has so many people around her that love her... Most especially Dan. Emerson has the opportunity to have the most beautiful relationship with her dad and I am so so grateful that she will have that in her life.

City Girls

Emerson had her first trip to San Francisco this week. I thought she needed a fancy outfit for her special day and the night before, I happened-upon a polka-dot onesie with ruffles and a tutu to match. We began our morning with a photo-shoot of Emerson. Following that, Emerson, Aunt Karen, Nora, Diana, and I drove over to the city to have lunch and treats!
We ate lunch at Stacks... delicious! Emerson and the rest of us "strollered" on over to Paulette, where we picked up the best French macarons I've ever had {especially the passion-fruit one...Emerson said she would take my word for it}. After that delectable stop, Emerson and the rest of us found ourselves at Miette to pick-up some tasty cupcakes and fun candies {Emerson said she wanted me to eat one of the old-fashioned chocolate cupcakes on her behalf and I had to oblige}.
Aunt Karen suggested that we needed to go to La Boulange and pick-up some
of their to-go sandwiches to take home for dinner that night and Emerson agreed with three enthusiastic cheers. The restaurant felt a bit crowded so Emerson asked Nora to stroll her up and down the block for a few minutes...and they did.
After a couple more stops for window shopping {Emerson and I have talked about this form of enjoyment and she was so thrilled to experience it for herself} we made our way to the car.
Emerson, Aunt Karen, Nora, Diana, and I drove to the Ferry Building. We stopped to buy some Bao:Asian dumplings...these were pork-filled and delicious! {Emerson once again said she'd take my word for it and demanded that we take her again when she is old-enough to eat grown-up food... I told her that I whole-heartedly agreed and wouldn't forget}. We tried the best chocolate I've ever had at a shop that I didn't catch the name of. We had a few photo-opps and then tried some Mexican-style corn-on-the-cob at Mijita {Emerson declined...she didn't want the corn to get stuck between her gums}. Emerson had an afternoon snack of bottle and we headed home.
Once we got back Emerson wanted to have her picture taken with all of her treats, so we displayed them on my favorite cake platter {Emerson thanked me for that}. We held her next to the treat-extravaganza and she decided that if she couldn't eat the treats, she might as well swipe her hand through the frosting of one of the cupcakes... so she did. Before we went to sleep that night she told me she had one of the best days of her then: 6.5 week-old life {as of yesterday: 7 weeks old} {then, she whispered in my ear that the very best day was meeting Dan and I for the first time...I got teary-eyed and hugged her close}.

The Most Beautiful Moments

Today Emerson and I went for a walk around a local reservoir {I hope I don't sound like a snot, but I love exercise! Swimming laps during my pregnancy and walking postpartum have saved my sanity on both ends of having a baby}
As we came around a turn, a woman {who I will assume was a grandmother} and her new grandbaby {appearingly so... my guess is same age as Emerson} were sitting on a bench in the morning sunlight with a soft breeze passing by them. I didn't really pay attention to the woman, however, I did pay attention to the baby. In that moment the baby looked completely at peace. It was absolutely beautiful!
Emerson has so many of these beautiful & peaceful moments! Babies bring us some of the most beautiful moments life has to offer. They are so close to heaven and bring bits of it with them {to help us remember true happiness}. A woman passed by our car as I was getting Emerson out of her stroller and the she commented, "It looks like a very new person." What she said reminded me of Emerson's potential. We all have such great potential and it's exciting to think of the opportunities that babies have ahead of them!
Thank-you Emerson for reminding me of the beauty, peace, and potential Heavenly Father's plan has for all of us!

Introducing Emerson Marie Lynch born July 2, 2010

So, I haven't blogged in a while... and for good reason! I went into labor Thursday, July 1st at 5am. By 3pm I dilated to 6cm and was 100% effaced {at which point our doctor sent us over to labor and delivery... {we asked if we could go home to get our things that we hadn't yet packed... somehow I never thought I would actually go into labor. I thought that happened to other women, not me}.
The doc broke my water at 6:20pm {which he said was about to anyway} and I dilated immediately to 7cm. By 9pm I dilated to 9cm {without any pain meds... I was reaching my goal of an unmedicated birth} but little Emerson was only at zero station. I finally needed the epidural if I was going to have any energy left to push... WELL... I never got to push. Emerson never descended past zero and we ended up in the OR for a cesarean section.
Emerson Marie Lynch was born at 2:50am on July 2, 2010. She weighed 8lbs 13oz, 20.5 inches long, 36cm head circumference and perfectly healthy! It has been a busy month recovering from surgery and the emotions and hormones that accompany new moms {WOW! If there were ever words to describe those!}
Emerson is truly the most adorable baby in history {note: all comments made about Emerson are completely and 100% biased... so don't feel challenged}. Everyone wants to know if her hair is red... We weren't quite sure how to answer that, because she was born with a full head of hair, but it was brownish, redish, blondish, copperish, something. My mother-in-law and I took Emerson for a walk the other day and a cute elderly lady out for a walk asked to see her and the first words out of her mouth were... "Ooooohhhh what a sweet redhead!" So that sealed the deal, I guess she's a redhead! Of course we've been told her hair and eye color are not set in stone for a while so we aren't quite sure what to say about her eyes either... bluish, hazelish, greenish, grayish, something. We measured her length yesterday on her 1-month birthday and she is 24 inches long {and that is the most frequent comment we receive about her other than her hair is "WOW! She's long!" Which means she follows in Dan's footsteps or babysteps}. Here are some photos from the past month {a little background on the photo of Emerson with the caption "Grandma Norma's Baby Booties" the baby booties that are on Emerson's feet were Dan's grandmother Norma's baby booties when she was born... yes, those booties are almost 100 years old!}

Family Baby Shower May 15th

Here are pics from the "family shower" that my mother-in-law threw for me. Dan's aunt Maureen hosted it at her house. It was so much fun spending a morning with the women from Dan's family and mine! We are so grateful for the gifts we received {baby's are quite pricey}. The grandma's-to-be had a great time. My mom gave me the diaper bag I had been pining-after. Gretchen designed some fabric years ago that I fell in love with and her gift to me is to make cushions for my glider chair from that fabric. I also received an incredible gift of Dan's baby-blanket that Grandma Lynch hand-sewed for Dan before he was born. Here are some pics...

Getting Caught-up Again... But With Good Excuses

Here we are at 35 weeks along! I can't believe how quickly time is flying by! I am finishing up my year of teaching art at an elementary school. Tomorrow is my last day on campus. Today was my last day teaching and prepping the multi-use room for the art show {in conjunction with Open-House}. It was exhausting, but completely worth it {it looks great}. I started to tear-up today as I helped the kindergarten classes paint murals for their year-end performance of "The Three Piggy Opera" and realized I wouldn't be there next year to see all of the students meet a new year in a new grade. My heart hurt to think about the fourth graders excitement over projects they heard about doing with me when they reached fifth grade {maybe the new art teacher will implement some of my lessons}. I want to see all of the students next year after a summer of fun and new ideas. I know I won't miss them as much when our baby girl arrives and I have a learning curve to tackle and little fingers and toes to tickle! The pics that follow are more comparable-sized objects to our baby in weight or size for weeks 30-35... {according to internet sources, that is}.

Speed Bumps Come in All Shapes and Sizes

Many of you have been asking me to post pics of my baby-bump. I do have to say that I like my pictures more now that I'm looking back on a smaller me than I did at the time they were taken. One of my roommates from college inspired me to take care of this so here goes...
The first pic is from last week April 2010... start of month 7 {taking the pic in the mirror for my sister}
The second pic is from February 2010... end of month 5 {Dan took the pic with his phone}
The third pic is from January 2010 when I first started showing...start of month 4 {yes, that is Dan behind me taking the pic in the mirror}
Enjoy!