blueberries and new babes

We went to the Girdwood Blueberry festival this weekend. We made the hour drive (with Emmett screaming most of the way) mainly to see our friends Cyrus and Tina and to meet their brand new babe, Joya. She was so adorable and tiny. She weighed 6lbs 14oz at birth, which is the same as our Mr. E. I cannot believe that he was ever that small or frail. No wonder I was scared of him when he was so new. I remember having friends visit when he was new and they commented about how they couldn’t believe that their daughter (who was 4 months old) was ever that small. At the time, I remember thinking that their baby was huge. Now, I’m sure Emmett seems huge. It all comes full circle.

The blueberry festival looked fun. It is probably really enjoyable for people with children old enough to pick berries. There were TONS of children, all running around with blue stained faces and appearing happy. The drive back was also filled with screaming by Emmett for the entire trip back. Poor Guy.

Sunday, we had an awesome day. It was rainy out, so we smoked some ribs, and did some cooking for the week. I’ve heard that babies sense when you are about to lose it and turn their acts around at the last second. True, of our lad. Whereas, Saturday he was grouchy, and couldn’t sleep unless he was being held, Sunday he was mellow and took naps like a champ. And we had a terrific day.

He had his 4 month check-up last Wednesday, which included some vaccines. This is probably what led to most of the fussiness. On Thursday, his daycare teacher called me to tell me he had a fever and needed to be picked up. His “fever” was 98.6, which she insisted was a fever for a baby and that he should also stay home on Friday. I didn’t know much about these things so I took him home and looked into it. It turns out a temperature isn’t a fever for a baby unless it is 100.1 or higher. I’m not sure where the miscommunication was. Aaron stayed home with him on Friday. Daddy daycare!

updates! updates!

Well, I’m a horrible blogger. I’ve thought about trying to update the blog on everything that has happened in our lives since mid-June. But that would lead to more procrastination…

So in short:

Emmett started daycare. He didn’t want/take bottles. For the first two weeks I had to go back and forth from work to daycare to feed him. After this he started taking bottles, but then threw a nursing strike. Sigh. This has also resolved itself.

My parents came to visit. It was great to see them, and ultimately much easier than flying to the Midwest, renting a car, and driving 5 hours to Kansas. This coincided with Emmett starting daycare so it was nice to be able to cry to my mom about that. I was really excited to introduce them to Emmett.

I started work again. I thought this would be horrible. But, it wasn’t bad. I would still prefer to spend all day with my little boy, but ultimately for now daycare it is. I think being a mother has helped me put aside work stress. Ultimately, little work things that used to stress me out I have a new attitude about. The do not matter to me anymore. It’s only a very small part of my day. And not an important part at that.

Aaron has done a few stints of field work. I feel like I just recently became ok with his stints away from home and used the time to watch shows he would hate and enjoy food he would dislike (olives, popcorn, pickles). Having a child makes fieldwork just awful again. It is hard work being a single parent. Kudos to all of you out there, seriously. It takes a lot of energy and isn’t for the faint of heart.

Chris and Rachel our friends from our Seattle days came to visit us. It was so great to see them both. I can’t believe I haven’t seen them in 5 years. That’s downright silly. But, you know how it is with good friends, how you can just pick right back up where you left off? I love that. I wish I could move all of our Seattle group up here (or at least, have us all live in the same spot again). It’s hard work making friends when you are adults.

We went on our first camp trip with Emmett this weekend. We went to the Lake Louise area. We didn’t stay in the campground, for fear of annoying other campers with cries. But it was great to watch Emmett. He is so curious and wants to look at absolutely everything. He also gets a little attitude when you try to prevent him from getting the absolute best view. We all had a lot of fun, and I think Emmett loved it. It was really hard to put him down to sleep at his normal 6:30pm bedtime. It doesn’t get dark here until after 11 and he was, let’s say, very reluctant to go to sleep. After 2 hours he finally crashed. He had his own tent that was set up in the vestibule of our tent (trust me, he was safe and warm). The highlight of the trip, for me, was when he woke up in the middle of the night and I unzipped our tent to get him, he saw me and the look on his face was an incredible mixture of happiness and excitement almost as if to say, “Mom! You’re here?! Isn’t this awesome!!” It melted my heart and made my night.

Aaron was hired on permanently here at AVO. This is really great for us, because we can finally settle down in one spot at least for the foreseeable future. No more moving every 2-5 years. We are excited to stay, and I would say lucky. But Aaron is terrific at his job, so whereas there might be a bit of luck involved, a large majority of it is talent and hard work.

There, I think you are caught up. Hopefully, updating now won’t seem like such a major chore. 

journey to wisconsin

for quite awhile, we didn't know if we would be able to attend greg's (aaron's dad) wedding. we wanted to see everyone. but we really really didn't want to make 5 flights and drive all over wisconsin with a 5 week old. also there was a part of me that was really nervous to parent in front of people. everyone has different view on so many things (pacifiers, bed times, crying, breast feeding, etc). i was scared that someone would think i wasn't doing a good job.

in the end we decided to go. greg doesn't get married too often, we wanted to introduce our family to emmett, and also then we wouldn't have to think about travel for at least another year. 

the flight over was a red-eye, but emmett was a champ. he slept the entire way in aaron's arms. unfortunately, neither aaron nor i got an sleep that night.

the next day we stayed at aaron's brother, justin's apt. we hung out with justin, and his girlfriend, julia. that night was awful. emmett woke up at 2 am and didn't go back to sleep until 9am. blarg.

the next day we drove to egg harbor, the location of the wedding. we had a nice hotel room all to ourselves at the landmark. we had our only real time with greg and karla that night. we ate dinner together at the cookery. that night emmett gave us a bit of a fright by sleeping until 4am. as nice as that sounds we didn't sleep as well as we should have because we were scared something was wrong.

the next day aaron went golfing with the males of the family, while i stayed in our hotel room. we rested a bit, and then julia, rachael (aaron's sister), and caitlin (our niece) dropped by. we hung out and chatted for a bit. rachael was fairly enamored with her new nephew. at one point i said "it's time to feed emmett" to which, caitlin (who is 3) grabbed a french fry and tried to feed it to him. i had to explain that little babies can't eat french fries, they can only have milk. she was very interested in the process and while i was trying to discreetly nurse, she lifted my shirt up for the whole room and asked where the milk was. that even we celebrated bob's (aaron's grandfather) 80th birthday with a fish boil at the white gull inn. here we met the entire wech clan. i love seeing all the wechs together it makes me really happy, the only problem is that when there is that many people by the end of the night i usually feel like i haven't had the chance to really talk to anybody. there was also a bonfire to cap off the night, aaron attended but emmett and i headed to bed and were no shows.

the next day was pretty lazy for us. we stayed holed up in our hotel room. did some laundry, ironed our clothes, etc. in preparation for the wedding that night. the wedding was at the beautiful horsehoe bay golf club. emmett started fussing at the very begining of the ceremony so aaron took up for a bit of a walk. as caitlin (flower girl) was walking down the aisle, i grabbed my phone to take a photo and noticed an urgent text from aaron.

emmett was hungry. i quickly found them and aaron went back to the ceremony. i fed emmett and missed the entire wedding. next came about 45 minutes of family photos followed by some mingling and hors d'oeuvres. we passed emmett around and chatted with various aunts, uncles, and cousins. the dinner was wonderful (i had the tenderloin, aaron had the stuffed trout). more chatting, some funny toasts. followed by dancing. i really wish i could share some photos with you, but honestly i'm really bad about capturing moments. i usually prefer to just be in the moment and not hassle with photos, then i'm always upset that there aren't any photos. i did manage one shot: a four generational wech photo (with aunt michelle photo bombing in the background).

sunday we left egg harbor and headed to green bay to aaron's mother's house. sunday and monday were spent chatting it up with jean and bob and letting them meet their grandson. 

tuesday, we packed up again, and headed back to madison to justin's house. we spent the last couple of nights there. hanging out with justin, julia, and caitlin. 

thursday we took 3 flights to get back home. we were exhausted. any remnants of a schedule that emmett was on was shattered. but it was great to see everyone, and really at this point it's probably easier to travel with a 5 week old vs a 2 year old. 

i also think that this trip helped to make everyday things with emmett seem easier. the grocery store no longer seems like a challenge.

the first two weeks

i expected the worst with pregnancy. i had heard all kinds of horror stories, and was prepared to be miserable, especially towards the end. i was delightfully surprised at how ok it was. the worst part for me was that it somewhat forced me to into the limelight a bit more than i would like. and the annoying comments after my due date came and went. overall not bad, and some parts were...gasp...pleasant.

i was not, however prepared for the first two weeks of having a newborn. i knew it would be hard. but i failed to realize how hard. i knew i would be sleep deprived, but i had no idea to what extent. i didn't even think about the huge part that hormones would play.

there were days that i functioned on 1 hour of sleep in a whole day. every decision felt like it could alter his entire life, i was a sobbing mess that didn't feel capable of the huge responsibility in front of me. he was (is) so small and precious, how in the world am i supposed to take care of him and know what to do? poor aaron, was so patient (with us both).

things i have learned about motherhood:

1. motherhood can be heavy. the love is unlike anything you have experienced before. and though that sounds pleasant, it is also incredibly overwhelming. days start and end with the saddest cries you have ever heard that bring you to a panic. normally a capable person, i found myself googling every single thing "is green poop normal for a newborn?" or "how to get your newborn to sleep in his bassinet" and feeling like i wasn't good enough because i didn't know the answer to any of it.

2. motherhood is like a sisterhood. no joke. before i was a mom, if i heard someone was expecting i would tell them congratulations and buy them a gift. that was it. simple. i have been floored by the way that other mothers have been so generous. offering to go to the store, bringing us food, asking how i'm feeling. bringing flowers. offering words of encouragement, support, and understanding. the support has been overwhelming from mothers far and near. i can not wait to pay it forward to the next newbie.

things are getting better. i am way less hormonal and crazy, and i'm averaging about 5-6 hours of sleep a night (not consecutive, but still way better). emmett has brought such love and joy to our house and i am forever thankful he is ours. motherhood will always be hard, i know, but the rewards are even greater.

introducing emmett joshua wech

our sweet boy, emmett joshua, was born two weeks late on friday, april 3rd, at 6:58pm. he was 6lbs 14 oz and was 20.5 inches long. everyone is doing well. we are happy, healthy, sleep deprived and in love.

that's the abbreviated version. if you want the long story see below. 

labor officially started on tuesday. the midwives checked me and i was only a 1/2 cm dialated after being a week and a half late. trish, our midwife and friend, gave us the option of trying a catheter to get the ball rolling. it was inserted in the morning and by 2:30pm contractions had started. they kept going until midnight. then they stopped. 

we went back to the midwives the next day. i was 3cm dialated and they gave me herbs, dieter tea and told me to pump as a way to bring about contractions. nothing happened when i was trying these methods, but contractions started on their own again around midnight and lasted until 7:30am. just long enough to not get any sleep. 

that morning the lora, one of the midwives, checked and I was 4cm dialated. she did a membrane sweep and sent me home. contractions started for the last time that thursday morning at 11:30. they continued the entire day and into the night. 

by 3am they had became so intense that my screams woke aaron up. he helped me get in the shower which helped a lot with the pain...until we ran out of hot water. he then surprised me with jelly beans he had sneakily purchased for the occasion (i couldn't have any sweets the last 14 weeks due to gestational diabetes). i suffered through another hour of contractions then got back in the shower after our hot water was replenished. soon after, the contractions got to the magical 4 minutes apart stage and we got to call the birth center. i remember as we left our house that it was incredibly weird to know that the next time i came home i would be a mother. 

when we got to the birth center it was about 6:30am on friday. friday was our two week mark, so at the end of the day we would risk out of the birth center and have to go to the hospital to be induced. i had been in labor around 33 hours total. karin, the midwife on call checked me and i was still just 4cm dialated. no progress from the day before. this news broke my spirit. i sobbed. i hadn't slept in two days, the contractions were unbearable and i was no closer than i had been the day before. i sat in a warm bath at the birth center while aaron tried to console me. 

trish, our friend and coincidentally also a midwife, arrived around 9am. she gave us our options: i could take some ambian and try to sleep, go to the hospital and try some morphine, or go to the hospital and get an epidural and get induced. aaron and i talked. i really really wanted to get an epidural and be induced, but i felt like a failure for giving up on natural childbirth. he and trish both reassured me that i gave it a solid effort for 3 days. there was no failure. i felt so relieved at that. we then headed to the hospital. 

the epidural took about an hour to get, but our nurse, jena, gave me something lovely to help me relax until then. after the epidural was in place, aaron and i both slept for about 4-5 hours. trish then came back to check on me. after a quick look, she said it was time to push - i was at 10 cm!  at this point i was in disbelief. the entire thing felt like i was in a movie.

the pushing began around 4:30pm. trish, jena, aaron and i were the only ones in the room. trish was a terrific coach. aaron held my leg, held my hand, and got me all the water i wanted. after about 2.5 hours of pushing, emmett joshua wech was born!

i was concerned right away, as he was quiet and there were no screams. also there was suddenly a team of nicu doctors in the room. they explained that emmett had meconium in his lungs, and they needed to be vacummed out. sure enough, less than a minute later, aaron was placing him on my chest. i was crying and shaking so hard. he was perfect and healthy.

he was named after my great uncle, emmett, which is also my father's middle name. and josh, aaron's brother.

41 weeks and a few days

the last preggo shot

41 weeks and 4 days and i'm still pregnant. this doesn't really alarm or bother aaron or i, but we are in the minority. everyday there are emails and texts from concerned family, friends, and coworkers. i understand that people are concerned. but we are not, not until the midwives are. they assure us that things are perfectly healthy and normal. they conducted a non-stress test to make sure there is enough water, and the placenta is healthy. a-ok on both fronts. 

he has a few more days to make his way out on his own, otherwise we will be induced by saturday. it's so weird to think that in a few days we will be meeting him and our lives will change forever. i can't really imagine what such a life changing event will be like. 

can i tell you that the absolute worst thing about pregancy has been? at 41 weeks, going to work and dealing with comments from absolutely everybody. the boss, co-workers, other offices..."what are you still doing here?" "no baby, what's wrong?" "you should do this, this or this" "how far dialated are you?" blarg. please just let me work. i know the intentions are good. but every. single. day. so annoying.

in other, non-baby news, aaron and i had a great date night last night. we saw kumiko: the treasure hunter at the bear's tooth last night and had a yummy dinner. the movie was excellent - the last time we went out to see a movie, just the two of us was well over a year ago. not something we do routinely, but it was a nice way to spend one of our last nights as just a family of 2. 

sweet husband

yesterday, aaron drove me home from our doctor's appointment. he said he needed to do a few more things at work so he took the car.

i meanwhile got started doing a few chores around the house, and eventually my prenatal pilates. aaron came home when i was partway done. when i was done working out, i noticed these little beauties.

beautiful, right? i was so happy and very chit-chatty. aaron told me i should take a shower from my workout. when i came out, i noticed this

not only did he buy me (us) wine and stocked our barren shelves. he had used my wine app (vino) that i used to review wines (you don't have a wine app? that sounds like a personal problem). he screen shot my top nine reviewed wines and went to several different stores to get them all. he is incredible. i thanked him profusely, he said "you carried a baby for nine months, i could at least go to a few stores to get wine". 

39 weeks

i can not believe it has been 39 weeks already. time has flown. but the proof is in the photo.

people tell me everyday how ready i must be and how done i must feel. but it really hasn't been that bad, which is why i feel sort of in denial that he will be here any day now. i keep thinking it will be a few weeks away, but it could be anywhere from today to 10 days or so. 

to pass the time, aaron and i are just relaxing on the weekends and evenings. this is our last time as a family of 2 and though we are excited for our new "wechlet" (thanks theresa and mark!) who knows when we will have quiet time as a couple again. and sleep. really cherishing the sleep. 

last weekend was our first weekend in a long time, where we haven't been out crazily buying things, or putting things together. the cold prevented us from going outside much (1 degree). it was almost boring, but so nice. we watched basketball, and napped. 

i'm not sure how fast i will update the blog once our lil man comes. but i will update it eventually, with photos. cut me some slack.

byron glacier

we also took the kids (paul and sara) to see byron glacier. we hadn't been there before, so it was new to us as well. one of the really awesome things about living in alaska is that a short drive, and a small hike can bring you to really beautiful places.

the view from the drive over to the glacier

the hike was really short 1.5-2 miles, perhaps. all flat. and then you got to the glacier...

yurting with paul and sara

aaron's brother, paul and his girlfriend, sara came to visit us for a week over christmas. i had met sara twice, but only for brief moments, and i hadn't properly hung out with paul in a long time. so it was really nice to get some quality time with them.

on christmas eve, we hiked 2 miles to a yurt in the woods. rapid camp yurt. the hike in was easy, and beautiful. see?

once we got there, we promptly started a fire in the cute wood stove. it took an hour or so, but the yurt slowly started warming up. once it was warm, it was never cold again. in fact, the yurt felt downright tropical. we occasionally stepped outside to cool off. 

our christmas eve dinner consisted of pork and pumpkin chili, which was delicious, and cheese and crackers, of course. 

we welcomed christmas morning with breakfast burritos and then packed out of the yurt and headed back to the eagle river nature center. 

happy birthday, pops!

yes, my father was born 3 days after my mother (although she will be quick to tell you that he is 5 years older).  so, happy birthday, dad! and so goes the embarrassing list of reasons why my pops is so great:

1. he is the most sincere person i have ever met in my life. for reals.  i did not pick up my sarcastic nature from him. 
2. i procured my love of genealogy from him. to his delight, from a very young age, i would always ask stories of his family and his parents family. what it was like for him to grow up. so we have him to thank for my ability to bore people to tears with genealogy.
3. loyalty. it's big with him. if my dad was ever your friend, or if you were ever kind to him, you will be forever spoken highly of. my dad knows way more "real good guys" than i thought was possible. he will also not hesitate to tell you to look these people up and go and visit them if you are in the near vicinity. no, it doesn't matter if you yourself haven't met them.
4. thirsty? not an alcoholic? my dad is your man. he has been brewing his own beer for over 30 years. and he is really good at it. this isn't me just bragging about my dad. it has been taste tested by many beer lovers and all agree.
5. like meat? (who doesn't, right?) my pops has converted an old 1950's refrigerator into a smoker. he has been smoking meats, eggs, cheese, and probably more for quite some time. this combined with his mad gardening skills, and brewing talents would make him set in case there was some sort of disaster that kills walmart.
6. my dad most patiently taught me how to ride a bike, drive a car, and to drive a manual truck. not an easy task (any of them). although my dad is quiet short in patience regarding any sort of line, traffic situation, or venue that has more than 6 people; he never once yelled at me while i grind-ed gears shifting on dirt roads.
7. along with my mother, my dad is one of the hardest working people i know. he was always up at the crack of dawn heading out to work, and would return in the evening covered in grease and dirt (oilfield mechanic). he worked outside no matter the temperature or weather doing physical work. all for his family.

thanks, dad. happy birthday!

happy birthday, mama!

in an attempt to wish my mama a happy birthday, i wanted to share with you some of the reasons my mama is so special:

1. she is not shy about expressing herself. seriously. if my mom is mad at you, you will know about it. she is not passive aggressive. I've seen her throw salads, tell off the cable man, slam doors, not to mention the stories she tells about herself in her "younger days". on the same note, she also tells me how much she loves me, how proud she is of me, and how perfect I am (yes, she really thinks this) oh, about six or seven times before we get off of skype. and hugs, she is not scared of hugging you to death.

2. growing up, she was always fond of games. my momma and i played many games all the time together. cribbage. scrabble. gin rummy. she was the only one who liked games as much as me.

3. the woman can cook. we might not have been the richest family in bogue, but you would never have guessed it by the quality and flavor of the foods we ate. she is the reason i shrivel my nose when i hear what other people grew up eating.

4. she is a tough lady. monday - friday my mom was always up before dawn. getting ready for work, getting us ready for school. sometimes she worked on the weekends. most of the time she held at least 2 jobs at any given time. she is what my dad would call a "tough broad".

5. clean freak. the house was vacuumed every day. dusted once a week. a load of laundry was ran every day. everyone showered once a day (it didn't matter if you "didn't do anything" that day). to this day, i can't relax after dinner until the dishes are done. she might have given me a complex.

6. one time when a boy broke up with me, she bought me a magazine/book totally devoted to prince william.

7. when i moved in with aaron after 5 years of dating, she asked me how i would keep my virginity. bless her heart.

happy birthday, mom!

happy halloween!

we finally got around to carving our pumpkins on halloween day. we procrastinated a little due to aaron being away at a workshop. so after our sonogram on friday we went home and did a little carving to get them ready before our first trick-or-treaters arrived. see if you can guess who carve which one...

i like that every aspect of our pumpkin carving technique/design is different. 

i, of course, saved all the seeds an roasted them to salty perfection. the secret to the perfect seed is to brine them first. i soaked the seeds in a solution of 3 cups water with 1/2 fine sea salt and let them sit for 3 hours. drained them, patted them mostly dry and mixed 1-2 T olive oil and sprinkled a little more salt. then roasted them at 350 degrees for 40 minutes total, flipping once during the halfway point.

stay tuned for the big gender reveal. you have to wait a bit, because i want to tell my folks first. and, besides, you like the anticipation, right?

hidden lake

last weekend we had our last camp trip of the season. we met our friends, john and cara at hidden lake. they have a boat so we loaded up our gear and went to an island in the middle of the lake to camp. the trees were in full color and the sunset was breathtaking.

lion's head

last weekend we went on a hike. we had both wanted to do something outdoorsy, but the weather wasn’t supposed to be cooperative. by early afternoon things seemed fine, so we headed out the door for a fun fall drive and hike. we went to a place called lion’s head. it was a 1.5-2 hour drive from anchorage, but the colors were wonderful. when we got to the trail head, there was a sign posted by telephone company that warned of proceeding further would be trespassing. one of us thought perhaps, we shouldn’t. the other one prevailed and we proceeded with the hike. it was actually less of a hike and more of a climb. it was relatively short, distance wise, probably about 1-1.5 miles but when you reach the top, you are 2,000 feet up. even though i was frequently out of breath it was really fun and i would do it again in a second. the views were magnificent at the top.