Our New Baby Girl

Emarie Ann Hybarger was born March 26th, 2011 in Liberty, MO.  She weighed 7 pounds 0 ounces and was 17 3/4 inches long.  Considering how scared we were that she was going to be small, her early arrival has been the biggest blessing to our lives.  Ryan and I can't count our blessings enough.  She's perfect.

Her name is a combination of both our mothers middles names, Marie is my mom's middle name and Ann is Ryan's mom's middle name.  We simply stuck an E on the front of Marie to get Emarie (pronounced Emery).  We'd been anticipating her arrival since the second pregnancy test showed double lines.  If you've ever been pregnant, you know you can't trust just one.  All the anxiety of a healthy baby is now our reality!  We truly thank God for this little miracle.  It's a wonder that 16 year old kids can become mother/fathers, because conceiving isn't that easy.  We experienced a miscarriage prior to Emarie, and as sad and disappointing as that was, it REALLY makes me see her as a gift.  God will give you the child you were meant to have.  I wonder what the first baby would have looked like, or was it a girl or boy.  We lost him/her around 6 weeks, so we didn't know anything about it.  I have to say, I prefer to have the miscarriage I did, because such an early loss was easier to recover from.  I was able to see that something wasn't right with that embryo, and I'm glad God didn't let things progress.  Now I have this perfect little girl, and Ryan and I have a sweet little family.

Here's her first picture:

I plan to continue to post about Emarie, so one day I can show her this blog/diary of her life.  Since she's already a month old, here's an updated picture:

What I've learned by staying at home

My husband ROCKS! I don't know if I can say this too many times, and I hope I am not "sicking" anyone out. I know there are other great husbands out there, but Ryan is the BEST thing in the world. He talked me into turning in my two weeks early, since we decided together I'd stay home when Emarie arrives. I thought having a week or two before she gets here would be plenty, but I'm glad I listened to the "Ol' Wise One". I've been able to get some rest (not so much sleeping, but relaxing), put final things in order for the baby, and catch up on the blogs I follow. I have learned some things:

1. You can watch too much TV
2. My dogs sleep practically ALL day
3. Not a whole lot goes on in my neighborhood during the day
4. One can only clean so much
5. I'm still too tired to craft... but I like looking at fun projects
6. Ironing isn't as awful as I thought it was
7. Mid morning is a perfect time to go to the store
8. How thankful I am to have such a supportive husband

(I was going for 10, but it's only been about a week and 1/2, since I haven't gone into the office.)

I'm thinking about Emarie a lot and trying to predict when she will be here. On Thursday we go back for week 37 check. If she's still breech (which I think she is) then we can plan for her arrival 1 week early. I'm getting more nervous about being a parent, but I have all the confidence I can do a good job. I hope to learn patience, compassion, and acceptance in the next few weeks... is that too much to learn? Patience with how different Ryan and I will parent, compassion toward those (our moms) who will be helping a girl out, and acceptance that I can't be a super hero and do it all.

I will post again later this week, when we know more about when Emarie might arrive. Also, Happy Birthday to Bryce Allison Kraft, my friend Mandy's little lady! She's two today. Another friend, Rachel, is set to have her 2nd little girl, Reese, today. Sending love to all the moms out there, especially mine!

Part 3: The BIGGEST project of our lives... ok, Ryan's life (so far)

The final installment of the Biggest Project of our lives...

The grouting- Ryan went after it like a champ. As he fought through the lower back pain, he perfectly grouted both areas of tile.

The vent is back in and the door is back on. Some unexpected encounters were how exactly to tile around the vent, and oops, the door needs to be sanded down, so it will open all the way. Again, Ryan to the rescue. He figured out an easy way to tile around that still looks good, and he sanded the bottom of the door, so it'd open without dragging. Guess we didn't measure the height too good.

Despite the above mentioned issues, the final product is wonderful. I'm so proud of him for doing this all by himself. The project was so successful that I can't wait until he tackles the bathrooms! Thanks for following our first major DIY project!