Happy Birthday Em

Dear Emmy,

For your first birthday I thought I would take the time to tell you about the day you were born. First you have to understand that your mother is a HUGE NY Giants fan. On Sunday, 1/13/08 (a full 8 days before Jill’s scheduled c-section) the Giants were playing the Dallas Cowboys in the playoffs. It was a big game as Dallas was favored to win and the two teams are bitter rivals. Well, your mother got VERY excited during the game as the Giants were making play after play and eventually ended up winning. She got so excited that she started jumping, yelling and dancing like a lunatic (Abby was hysterical laughing at her). Later that night at about midnight, Jill woke me up and said “something is going on” so we called her doctor. He said to try and go back to sleep as he could tell she wasn’t in active labor. We went back to sleep and about 4AM on the 14th Jill’s water broke, no doubt from jumping around during the football game. So after we got our neighbor Kim to come babysit for Abby, we took off for the hospital and called our families on the way. You must have been in a hurry to meet us because once we arrived at the hospital the nurse had to give Jill some medicine to slow down the contractions so our Dr. could arrive. He finally arrived and off we went into the OR. Now we didn’t find out ahead of time if you were a boy or girl so this was the big moment of surprise for us. If you were a boy we were going to name you Ryan although we joked we should name you Eli after Eli Manning who was the starting QB of the Giants. But we knew if you were a girl we would name you Emerson (we’ll tell you why in a future blog entry). The procedure went as planned and you were born shortly after 7AM at Rex Hospital. The Dr. told us you were a girl and we were obviously thrilled. I counted all your little fingers and toes and was surprised at your full head of hair. You were crying pretty hard but the staff said that was normal and good for your lungs and breathing. All the family showed up while Jill was in labor and was anxiously awaiting your arrival.

The rest is history, you were born and the Giants won the Super Bowl that year in dramatic fashion. It really is hard to think of life before you were born. You make us laugh and amaze us at how smart and inquisitive you are. You point at every light you see and say “dahhahh?” almost like you are asking us “HEY, do you see that too!?” You are also a quick little thing. If we don’t shut the baby gate behind us, you’re halfway up the steps before we know it. You hardly ever cry and NO ONE and I mean NO ONE can make you laugh like Abby can. She loves you so much and is a wonderful, caring big sister to you. You have a great smile that you display often – especially when I start chasing you. When I finally catch you, you start giggling and screaming and it’s the best part of my day.

Here is to many more years of hearing you laugh. Happy Birthday.

Love,
Dad

Happy 1st Birthday, Emerson!

Dear Emerson,

One year ago tomorrow you entered our lives, and you’ve been nothing but a bundle of joy ever since. Both of your grandmothers say you are the best baby they have ever seen. I guess that’s why this year has gone so quickly – you make our lives better and happier, and you’re just SO EASY. You are what my parenting books would call an “Angel Baby” – easy-going, happy, agreeable. I’ll be the first to admit you did not get that from me! You definitely have your daddy’s mild temperment, but you do look like me. (Abby is exactly the opposite – she looks like him but has my feisty personality).



You are walking and running all over the place. You love having your feet tickled. You love when your dad plays chasing games with you. And any time you hear music, you do a little dance where you bend your knees and do mini-squats. You smile every time someone makes eye contact with you, and you have beautiful blue eyes that the doctor says will stay that way.


Your sister adores you, and the only problem we have is that she sometimes loves on you too much. I often find her laying across you or sitting on top of you, pinning you to the ground like her own personal pillow. The funny thing is, you rarely complain. I guess you’re just used to it. Before you were born, I worried that Abby may be jealous of a new baby, but she truly loved you from the moment she met you. You just have that effect on people. We are so lucky that you are our baby. We love you, Emerson Lily!

Our First (Hopefully Last) Trip to the ER…

Last night started out as a pretty typical Sunday in the Dykes House. Uncle Erik came for dinner, Abby got drunk on Jelly Beans (see picture)
and then both girls went to sleep without incident. I then got together with my neighbors Jen and Kim to watch the Golden Globes, and that’s when all hell broke loose. We were upstairs in Kim’s addition when I heard David come into her house yelling my name. He then appeared at the top of her stairs with a frightened looking Abby in his arms, and he said “I think Abby is choking. Something’s wrong.” I’m pretty sure I lost about 10 years of my life. Kim quickly realized she had a terrible case of croup – her cough sounded scary and awful, but at least we knew what to do. Long story short, we brought her into the bathroom for 20 minutes with the hot shower running, but she was still wheezing afterwards. We called the advice nurse, and she told us to take Abby to the ER because of her history with RAD (respiratory airway disease). So, at about 11pm, we took our little girl on a “special nighttime adventure.” She was so cute and sweet sitting in the ER waiting room in her polka dot footie pajamas. Here's a picture David took from his camera phone.



It turns out she just needed an oral steroid, and we were home by about 1am. We’re lucky to have such close friends in our neighborhood – Jen and Kim camped out on our couches to be here for Emmy and to make sure Abby was ok.

Now here’s the weird thing – it was this EXACT Sunday one year ago today that we watched the Giants beat the Cowboys in the playoffs, and then my water broke and I ended up in the hospital giving birth to Emerson. I really hope late night/early morning hospital visits do not become an annual event.

Random Thoughts and Quotes

Yesterday morning Abby came in our room as we were waking up and laid on our bed, looked at Jill and said “Mommy, your hair is a mess!” We both got a chuckle out of that and it reminded me of some other funny things she’s said recently:

• Abby Quote 1: “When did we buy this house?” Me: “Before you were born, about 4 years ago.” Abby: “How did this house fit inside a store?”
• Abby Quote 2: “Daddy, can I have a special treat?” Me: “I don’t know. Let’s ask Mommy.” Abby: “Right, cause Mommy is the boss right?” (Clearly her 3.5 year old cognitive skills aren’t fully developed ha! ha!)
  

Something else I thought was kinda funny was an e-mail from Jill. Below is the EXACT e-mail that I received the other day at work after she purchased a double jogging stroller:

"I’m going to be the envy of all the moms in the neighborhood with my Honda Odyssey AND double jogging stroller. Cool mom gear."

Wow. It’s amazing how the definition of “cool” changes over the years. I remember when “cool” was black leather pants, staying out till 4AM in NYC, going to Giants football games, a great hip sushi restaurant and long weekends at the Jersey Shore. Now it’s minivans and strollers. Wouldn’t change it for the world though!

On another note, Emmy (or “Miss Em” as Abby says) is about to walk right out of Raleigh. It’s funny to watch how fast she’s picked it up. All she wants to do is practice walking. That is, until Abby tackles her.