Baby Life Week 41: Meeting Baby Emmett

Although I usually start each Baby Life Week with Saturday (because Asher was born on Saturday), this week really started on the Friday before.  On that morning (April 5), we got word that Eric's sister Julie was in labor and that our newest nephew would be here any minute.  Not long later, we were notified of the arrival of Emmett Alexander Sturza, born at 9:32am, weighing in at 7 pounds, 14 ounces and measuring 20 inches long.  Since we didn't have any plans for the weekend, we asked our bosses if we could take the coming Monday off and upon approval decided to take an unplanned weekend trip to  Michigan to meet the little guy.  Therefore, as soon as work was over on Friday afternoon, we headed home, packed, loaded up the van and drove to the cottage. 

The drive went great, with no stops along the way and Asher sleeping all the while.  When we got to the cottage though, things changed.  I don't know if Asher was a little freaked out by the unfamiliar surroundings, or if he wasn't feeling well, but he refused to sleep in his bed.  He would calm down and fall asleep, but as soon as we laid him down he would be screaming all over again.  It was a LONG night with an angry baby.  None of us were really able to get any sleep, and most of the "sleep" that we did get was with Asher either on our chests or snuggled up in our arms.

Asher & Eric at the cottage.

On Saturday morning, some signs of what had really been going on Friday night began to show.  First, Asher spit up all over the bed, then I noticed that he felt warm (but I also realized that I forgot his thermometer), and lastly he began to have diarrhea {As a gross, but funny side note, I realized the diarrhea when I changed Asher's diaper...he crawled away mid-change as usual and then farted...when he crawled away again and I saw the carpet where he had been, I realized it wasn't actually a fart.  opps...}.

Since Asher has never really been sick before, we were not sure if he was actually sick now or if he just had a stomach ache.  Either way, we needed to get some food into all of our bellies, so we loaded our exhausted family into the van and headed to the Coldwater Big Boy for some breakfast.

Since it was Asher's first trip to Big Boy (one of our fav. breakfast joints), we had to get some pictures.

After Big Boy, we did our typical loop around Meijer (where we purchased a thermometer along with a bunch of other items), headed back to the cottage, got ready for the day, packed up the van and then headed out to Ann Arbor to meet baby Emmett.  As we drove toward Ann Arbor, we tried to get ahold of Julie and Dave to let them know that we were on our way and that we had a potentially sick child, but they never answered (not surprising with a newborn).  When we got into Ann Arbor though, we got word from Eric's mom that they had requested that we wall meet at their house between 5:30 and 6:00.  That was fine with us, but being that it was only about 4:00, it meant that we had some time to burn.  So, we headed to the mall (which we realized that we really miss having a decent/normal mall nearby instead of the scary mall that we have in Racine and the outlets in Pleasant Prairie and Gurney...plus, Ann Arbor mall has a Cinnabon!!)  Our first stop in the mall was the MDen, to peruse the Michigan gear.

Asher found a tailgating chair in his size!

Someone needs to teach his daddy how this hat should have been worn...

After the MDen, we headed into The Children's Place to check out the cute kiddie clothes...

Asher & I trying on some hats.

We thought Asher' s buddy Theo might like this one..

While at The Children's Place, we also found some Top Gun-style baby sunglasses, that we had to get.  He is a STUD!

Happy guy! (even though daddy is holding his arms down so that he can't take the glasses off).

Finally, after getting some shopping down and running around Ann Arbor, it was 5:30 and we were able to head to Dave & Julie's house to meet the newest member of the Migrin clan.  On the way, Asher was a bit fussy, so I was sitting in the back with him when some horrible noises suddenly started coming from his bottom.  I knew it was going to be a major mess, and when we got to Dave & Julie's my suspicions were found to be correct.  Rather than meeting the baby right away, Eric and I headed straight into their bathroom, where Asher was completely stripped down, washed up and changed into a fresh diaper.  After that, we kept Asher far from Emmett (so they unfortunately were not yet able to meet) but Eric and I did both get to hold the precious little guy after washing up really good.  Both of us had forgotten what it felt like to hold a newborn.  Time goes by so quickly...it is hard to believe that Asher was ever (almost) that small!

Emmett & I

Eric & Emmett (I wish I had been able to get a better picture)

Emmett Alexander Sturza

Since Asher wasn't well, Grandma Migrin offered to hold him and stay away from Emmett.

New Daddy Dave & Emmett

Emmett & his proud Grandma Migrin

After Eric and I got to have some snuggle time with our newest nephew we had some dinner with Eric's family and then tried to give Asher dinner.  He would not eat anything and was becoming more and more fussy.  It was at that point, that we realized that Asher actually was sick and we probably should never have come into Dave & Julie's home.  We both felt awful and prayed that they would not get sick.  Then we packed up our sick little babe and headed out early to Grandma & Grandpa Migrin's house, while they stayed to celebrate Julie's 30th birthday (April 7) with her and her newly enlarged family.

Julie, Grandpa Migrin & Emmett

That evening, Asher went through about four different outfits, had a fever around 101 and had another "farting" incident on the Family Room floor.  We called his pediatrician who said that it sounded like he had Rotavirus and that that had been going around.  I was a bit perturbed, since we had just been at the pediatrician's office on Wednesday...I wonder where Asher got it from...

Even though he was sick with horribly messy diapers, a low-grade fever and very little appetite, he was still in a pretty good mood.  The doctor said that as long as he stayed that way and we kept him hydrated, we didn't have to worry.  Easy for him to say...my baby boy was sick for the first time...I was worried.  I just wanted to make him get better, but I had to wait for it to take care of itself.  Thus, we spent the rest of our weekend in Michigan, taking it easy with Eric's parents...

Asher helping Grandma & Grandpa with GG Smiley's taxes.

Video: Asher Walking with Grandpa M

Grandpa M. & Asher on a walk

GG Smiley & Asher at OTB

Grandma M & Asher at OTB

Asher & G.Grandma Smiley have the same facial expression in this picture.

Cool dude with his shades.

Static-y Asher playing with Daddy.

Video:

Asher playing with some retro toys while Eric & I went out to the Hand-D-Dip for some ice cream!

Asher going for a ride with Grandpa Migrin.

On Monday, it was time to leave Michigan, so we packed up the van one more time and then drove back to Kenosha.  Asher slept for the first half of the trip and then woke up when we stopped for lunch.  In the meantime, I had started not feeling well.  At the time, I thought I was just getting car sick.  We ate lunch and got back into the van.  Unfortunately, my stomach continued to feel icky and Asher decided he didn't want to be in his car seat anymore, which made for a long rest of the way home.  When we did finally get home, I went and laid down for a bit, but nothing seemed to help.  As the night progressed my stomach hurt more and by Tuesday morning, I realized that I may be getting what Asher had (& still had at the time).  It ended up being not just a long car ride, but a long week.  Asher finally was better by Wednesday making 5 days to get over his virus.  I did not feel better until Saturday afternoon, which made about 5 days for me as well.  All this to say that after meeting baby Emmett and having some enjoyable time with Eric's parents, the week was basically all down-hill from there and therefore explains the fact that there are no pictures from the rest of the week...there is always next week though...