Finally... BABY PICTURES!

OK, so we're a little more updated now and I've finally got a good connection on my computer so I can post some pictures of our new baby girl! Emily Anne is doing very well and all the Weist family here are so happy. Without dragging out a long delivery story here are the basics: I woke up with contractions around midnight, we got to the hospital by 2:30am, we managed to wake up our friends the Rhees and Michael rushed John over there where he slept for the rest of the morning, I was still in labor by 4:45am (BAD contractions, no epidural again because we had no idea how long it would take, or if she would come super-quick like John did) so the doctor broke my water and 10 minutes later at 4:56am Emily was born! Phew! She pretty much slept for the first 24 hours of her life so most of these pictures show her with her eyes closed.

She is a tiny little thing that has filled up our hearts so quickly and easily. Even John adores his baby sister and he is having fun being a big brother. He helps me get diapers when we need to change her, and anytime he sits for more than 2 minutes next to her he has to give her a kiss on the forehead. :) It's really so adorable. We've also seen a new side to John since Emily came home with us. He always recognizes when a baby cries, if we hear one in our building somewhere or maybe one a church, and he'll say "Baby sad" looking all concerned, but not making much ado about it... but when he's in the room when his SISTER cries he'll get very quiet and still, put his head down and burst into great big heaving sobs with fat teardrops running down his cheeks. We were honestly astounded the first time he did that... he has NEVER cried like that about anything else. He is such a tender soul he simply can't stand to see his sister sad.

Thankfully, though, she is not a crier... in fact, she is a remarkably easy baby-- eating well, sleeping a lot (she's already got herself into a regular 4-hour schedule, which I think qualifies her as a certified genius), looking around at everything when she's awake, never making a peep... she's a nice change of pace after dealing with a whirling dervish of a son every day. :) SO... the first set of pictures are of her first day (JAN. 18) and our brief time at the hospital. I could only stand one night there after I realized the hospital bed was probably made with petite Asian women in mind... not only was it about 4 inches too short, it felt like I was sleeping on a board covered by a sheet-- NOT exactly the most comfortable way to spend your days after you've had an episiotomy.

The second set are from our friend Eric Oh... he and his family came to visit 2 days after she was born and he took a TON of pictures. Our branch here has been SO ridiculously good to us-- visiting, bringing us meals EVERY day (at one point we ran out of room in our tiny fridge because of all the leftovers), even taking John to the zoo so he could get out of the apartment for a while (and we could have some peace... we took the opportunity to take Emily on her first outing to the mall and got some hot chocolate at Starbucks.) There will be plenty more pictures to come, but this should give you a general idea of our beautiful little girl!

Emily Birthday

Emily (Eric Oh's pics)