Say it with me now...Na - Blo - Po - Mo

To thousands of bloggers the month of November means one thing...it means NaBloPoMo (for you non bloggers this can be parsed out to - National Blog Posting Month.) So, for the month of November I am committed to giving you a post a day. Can I do it? I have no freaking idea. Some people who are way more professional about their blogging find this to be very far from a challenge - then there's me...who is somewhat terrified, somewhat excited, and all around trying to figure out what the heck I've gotten myself into. So...for the next month you will get to hear all about the wedding planning, all about moving into a new place, in fact, all about my life in general. If you're lucky you'll get to hear about my not so slight addiction to Advil PM - and if you're not so lucky you'll get to hear all about what I had for dinner. So sit back, relax, and pull up a chair...cause I'll be here all month long.

Moving to Texas

No...I'm not moving to Texas...but my sister is! When we told Ana that she was moving to Texas she took us pretty literally
As in she realized that she better get into a box soon or else she might not get to go...which isn't far off with how fast we're packing up my sister's place. Of course Ana, conveniently, did not rush to pack her new brother...but we're not trying to read too much into that! Ana seems to have warmed up to the idea of moving pretty well
Or maybe she's just a fan of a new t-shirt...who knows.
So now that we only have wedding plans to finish and a house to pack up things are a bit boring around here - Oh yeah, Emery just started crying to remind me that we still have my new Nephew to take care of!
It's a good thing that Dereje will be here in a couple of weeks to lend us a hand!

North Carolina State Fair

What do you do a couple of days after your Nephew gets out of the NICU? Why, you go to the fair of course!
And you eat funnel cake and fried pickles!
You also visit Arther Read from PBS!
If you're Ana you stop for Lemonade breaks
If you're Emery, you stop for baa baa breaks If you're with Aunt Manda then you stop for Tea breaks!
All in all our day at the fair was fabulous! We got to play with animals, watch carnies, eat junk and enjoy the atmosphere of the Fair!

(p.s. Ana's face in this picture is her impression of a camel...I, personally, think that she has a knack for imitation)

There's Magic in This House Now

On Monday afternoon a little fairy named Ana waved her wand and said a spell and made a wish.
Her wish was that her little brother Emery Jack would come home from the hospital. Because Ana was such a powerful little fairy her wish came true! When she did get her fairy little hands on them she gave him a good little fairy once over - just to make sure that her fairy spell brought home a healthy baby boy ( she did happen to notice that his breath smelled like her Momma's Baabaas - but she was willing to over look that -at least for now)
When Emery had passed Ana's inspection she allowed for her Aunt Manda to hold him in a sling to make sure that he was sling proof.
Once it was determined that he not only liked a sling but that he also looked really cute in a sling, Ana the fairy decided to take a little break and eat lunch. What did she eat? She ate what every fairy eats when they're exhausted from waiving their wands...Pita and Sun Dried Tomato Roasted Hummus.
Being a fairy is really hard work! Ana realized that because of all of the magic it took to get her brother home, she deserved a nap! She quickly decided to stake a claim on Manda's lap- who wasn't really busy at all - she was just taking care of Emery.
This little fairy had an exhausting day - and she had to rest up before that evening when she knew that her Momma and Daddy and Aunt Manda were taking everyone out for Chinese food to celebrate the fact that the little wizard was home - cause there's nothing like moo shoo to excite a fairy and her baby wizard!

I am a NICU (intensive care unit for little ones) GENIUS

So, Megan likes to point out the fact that I have no idea what I'm talking about whenever I'm there for rounds at the NICU. I see it a different way...I'm there to ask the questions that any average joe might ask. I don't ask questions with any thoughts towards any kind of medical background or any medicine related interest - I just want to know if Emery's poo looks normal. So, when Emery was transferred to the back part of the NICU (half-way out the door is what we like to think of it)- I had some "technical questions" for the nurses who are now involved in his care. Questions like:

"Don't you think he looks better with blue sheets in his crib? They seem to really bring out his eyes."
or,
"Isn't it better if his head is held a little bit more to the left so that he doesn't get a bad case of fat face in his pictures?"
and,
"Which lotion do you prefer to use on him? Cause I really don't think that he's digging your non scented stuff, he seems to really like that fresh clean smell of Johnson and Johnson, unless you have some baby Old Spice on hand, cause that would be fine too."

It was in the middle of one of my "question / answer periods" when one of Emery's nurses asked me what part I play in Emery's early childhood development. Personally, I thought she was trying to see what sort of right I had to even be back there...so I quickly rushed to say that I was not only his Aunt, but I was also a very concerned Godmother who needed her questions answered. The nurse said that she knew I was the Aunt and was just wondering how I fit in his development possy. She specifically said, "You seem to have a lot of knowledge about this stuff. It's almost like you work here. Do you work with early childhood development?"
I actually thought Megan's head was going to spin! Turns out that when you start talking cuddling technique (which is what Aunt Manda's are most knowledgeable about) you get a gold star in the NICU!
Anything to get my ball-o-baby home!
(Do you see how his head turns ever so slightly to the right? That's all me - it means that he is going to play 20% faster then all of the other kids his age)

Just in case anyone was worried...

Ana and I want everyone to know that even though we spend a lot of time watching over Emery, we're still working hard at planning the wedding. Ana likes to spend her afternoons looking over flower arrangements and popular dress styles in "Elegant Bride".
We're also very busy shopping our little hearts out - meaning, we shop for about five minutes until Ana decides that it would be much more fun to just pull clothes off the shelf and walk up to the checkout counter (while dragging the clothes along the floor and walking on them) only to have me smile apologetically at the checkout women and quickly leave before we actually have to buy something that we, god forbid, can't return.
Another task that Ana and I are attacking with vigor is the painstaking task of trying to figure out what to wear to all of the upcoming events!
Azul's tail seems to be one of Ana's "support beams" while trying on any clothes - he begrudgingly obliges (it's all for the greater good - greater good being getting Ana to Phoenix and out of his hair for a little while)!
So, yes, we're very busy with our wedding preparations. In fact, we're so busy with all of our wedding preparations (along with playing a lot and sending lots of good thoughts to Emery) - that we usually fall asleep wherever we can!
We do, however, always make sure that even though we fall asleep in the middle of the floor - we're still decked out in bracelets and necklaces just so everyone knows that we're ready to go at a moments notice!

Emery and I had some cuddle time!

So, Emery was 12 days old when I first got to cuddle him - that's not necessarily a time line that I would have chosen, but it's certain okay now that I actually have had some quality cuddle time! Emery sat in my arms for about an hour and a half and sucked on my pinkie finger. He was so great at calming down and it turns out that he likes songs from the Dixie Chicks as much as Ana did!
So, the verdict is in...Emery Jack Belasco is one of the greatest cuddlers ever! He is so adorable!

The light at the end of the tunnel

Emery has made so many changes in the past week! The beginning of the week started out pretty rough - Emery still had a tube down his poor little throat and he was still having some trouble keeping himself "stable". We really tried to stay positive for him and stay with him by his bed so that he would know that he certainly wasn't alone during this scary process. Even though it's difficult to smile with a tube hanging out of your mouth Emery really did his best to give us a smile every now and then!(Manda and Emery smiling for the camera)

In the hospital we spend most of our time holding Emery's hands and trying to sooth him by "human swaddling" him - this basically means that Megan and I work on holding him in a small little ball so that he can pretend he is in the womb instead of some scary hospital. Megan likes to call this "Octupus care" - the idea being "the more hands the merrier".
(Megan holding Emery's hand)

On Friday night Emery made some huge progress - he put up such a fight with that tube in his mouth that they decided it was just time to get it out of him! He is doing so well and Megan and Eric have both had a chance now to hold him!
(Megan, Emery and "Grandma Di Di")

We're all ready for Emery to come home and be with us here! It shouldn't be too long now - he sure seems tired of being in the hospital. We're all looking forward to getting a little less sleep- as long as it means we have a healthy crying baby at home with us!

Here's how it all started

On Tuesday morning (September 25th) Megan woke me up around 1am and here's how the conversation went:
Megan: Hey Manda, do you want to get up and go through labor with me?
Me: (mumbling) yea...make sure you screw their heads on
Megan: (kind of laughing) What? What did you say?
Me: yea, their heads...make sure they're screwed on.
Megan: (Full on laughing) Wait, tell me exactly what you're thinking right now, because I have to know where your mind is.
Me: uh huh
Megan: Did you hear what I said?
Me: yeah
Megan: I'm in labor
Me: (fully awake and looking like I don't know where I am) WHAT???

So that's how it happened...at 8am we went to the hospital and Emery Jack Belasco was born at 11:01am! Emery was born with MAS (Meconium Aspiration Syndrome) - which means that he swallowed Meconium in utero.
Emery is a very big baby! He was born weighing 8.5 lbs - which makes him a prime candidate to put up a fight...but his poor little lungs do need a lot of help, thus all of the machines - he gets the award for most machines in the intensive care unit.
His mom is usually right by his bedside and if she isn't able to be there my mom and I try to fill in...not to mention the fact that Eric is usually right there with Megan.
One of my big jobs right now is to try and keep Ana busy enough that she won't remember to ask for her Mom every five minutes. Ana and I often go to the park, play in the sand, watch signing videos and play with any other kid who is willing to play with us! We also look at Emery's picture a lot so that we can send him good vibes and "get better" wishes!
I tell Emery daily about how he is my favorite Nephew (he's too sedated to realize that he's my only nephew)- but I think that even if I had a bunch of Nephews he would still be my favorite because he is so beautiful and strong - Ana and I know that he'll come home soon so that he can play with us, but until then we are going to continue to play extra hard so that we'll be up to Emery standard when he's ready to play with us.