Emmie Sue McNeil

Emmie Sue's arrival (Allen's narrative):

Sunday morning....

5:10 - Patrice woke me up informing me that she thinks her water broke, that she is having very bad contractions, and that we should probably call her mom to come over and be with Evan while we go to the hospital.

5:10 and 2 seconds - I jumped out of bed.

5:12 - I called Sue to come over and then jumped in the shower knowing that we had a few minutes until Sue got to our house and hoping Patrice wouldn't realize that I had jumped in the shower.

5:23 - I am out of the shower and getting dressed. Sue had arrived at our house. Still hoping Patrice hadn't noticed that I had jumped in the shower.

5:30 - I had things packed in the car and we were ready to go.

5:30 and 10 seconds - Drove over bump at the end of the driveway and Patrice yelled at me to slow down and not drive over bumps.

5:40 - Driving very quickly to the new Park CIty hospital. Patrice still yelling at me to slow down and stop driving over bumps. I agreed to do so and then sped up.

5:45 - Almost to the hospital. I asked Patrice if she was timing her contractions (because I had been and they seemed to be 2-3 minutes apart). Patrice said there was no break in the pain and thus could not distinguish contractions.

5:50 - Arrived at hospital. Main entrance was closed so we parked in the E.R. entrance and went in.

5:51 - I told E.R. intake guy that we needed to go to Labor and Delivery. Patrice told him that she needed an epidural (not sure he orders those).

5:52 - Debate between two E.R. workers, me, and Patrice about whether or not she can sit in a wheelchair to be pushed to Labor and Delivery. Patrice informs second E.R. worker that she needs an epidural.

5:53 - In wheelchair and heading to Labor and Delivery. E.R. guy pushing wheelchair tells Patrice she probably shouldn't push.

5:54 - Passed the early morning cleaning crew. Patrice asks them for an epidural.

5:55 - Made it to Labor and Delivery. Patrice informs all nurses that she needs an epidural and inquires how long it will take to get one. Nurses take Patrice to her delivery room.

5:56 - Debate between Patrice and nurse about whether Patrice can go to the bathroom before the nurse checks her. Patrice lost the debate, but won the subsequent debate about whether she had to put on the hospital gown (result = Patrice stayed in my lucky Patriots shirt). Fresh off of her no gown victory, Patrice again requests and epidural.

5:57 - Nurse checks Patrice and says that she is "complete" and ready to deliver. Patrice informs the nurse that she cannot deliver the baby without an epidural. Nurse will not make eye contact with Patrice and mumbles something about seeing what the doctor says.

6:02 - Another epidural request. Nurse tells Patrice not to push.

6:07 - Another epidural request. Even less eye contact, no mumbling or response whatsoever. Nurse again tells Patrice not to push. Patrice kindly suggests to the nurse that she is in fact not pushing, that her body is doing it by itself.

6:11 - Dr. arrives at hospital and is immediately greeted with an epidural request. Dr. informs Patrice she will not be getting one. I wait for Patrice to lose it, but she does not. She listens to the nurse and starts slowing down her breathing.

6:12 - Dr. is speaking with nurse and says she is going to check Patrice, but then says there is no need cause she can see that the baby is coming.

6:15 - A few good pushes from Patrice, and....

6:17 - Emmie Sue is born!!!!!

6:18 - Patrice informs me that she will spell Emmie (as opposed to Emmy) however she wants.

6:18 and .05 seconds - I agree.



Patrice was unbelievable. I can't believe that she delivered our little Emmie without an epidural. She is an amazing, wonderful, and beautiful wife and mom.



This is one happy dad to finally see his little girl.

Our beautiful little Emmie looks just like her mommy.

Grandma and Grandpa Shuppy were first to visit Emmie. Thank you so much for coming over to watch Evan and for bringing your camera to the hospital.

The next visitors to see Emmie were Grandma and Grandpa McNeil along with the Buti girls. Emmie loved to see that she has so many girls cousins to play with

Emmie first bath. She weighed 6 lbs 15 oz and was 19 inches long.

A visit from Aunt Giselle. Noah and Rajko would come and visit a little later. We also had visits from Sam and Tiana, Amy (arm pictured above), Cassie and Nate, Jane, Holly, and the Gunnersons. Thank you to everyone for visiting.

Emmie getting ready to head home on Monday afternoon.

And off we go on our new adventure....

Home Sweet Home

I'm going to leave the green background since we are just now seeing green in the Kamas Valley. Just a week ago we got about 4-5 inches of snow. Partially because of the bad weather, we haven't finished some stuff on our new house. However, to prove that we did in fact build a house, I am going to post some interior pictures.
This is a picture looking from the kitchen into the family room. After we close on our permanent financing, we will hopefully be upgrading to a larger t.v. The main parts of the house (everything except the bedrooms) have knotty alder trim and doors with a dark cherry stain. The paint is "krisp khaki". A huge thank you to everyone who came and helped do the stain and paint, especially Patrice's dad Jon.

This is looking towards the family room/kitchen from the front entry. The main floor is open to the basement below, which is unfinished. We had to do a small finished room at the bottom of the stairs until we finish the basement someday. Doing the stairs and railing was one of my least favorite jobs.

This is looking from the family room towards the front entry. The wood/travertine inlay was also a job that I did not enjoy, but it looks really nice. The room off to the left is the office, which we did in hardwood flooring (not too hard of job). The front door remains unfinished because we need some good weather to take it off for the day.

This is the kids bathroom. The mirror will eventually have a knotty alder frame, but just installing it was enough for a while. Thanks to my dad who did the tile work in our showers (I will have to post a picture of that later).

This is Evan's bedroom. Patrice wanted to finish it in a blue paint that she saw in a Pottery Barn catalog. I was hesitant, but it really does look like a perfect room for a little boy. Although I love the alder trim in the house, the white trim in the bedrooms looks good.

This is guest room/future kid room. The paint is another Pottery Barn paint. This time it was green.

Shot of the kitchen. It is hard to tell from these pictures exactly how much travertine we laid down in this house, but trust me it was a LOT. The cabinets are knotty alder finished in the same dark cherry with accent antique white cabinets.

Another shot of the kitchen looking in from the family room.

So there it is. We really did build a house. I will post more pictures as we finish everything in the house. Again, thanks to everyone who helped us on the house. It was a ton of work, but we are very happy to be moved in.

I told you so...

What have I said all along? Just see below to see that my WORST suspicions have been confirmed.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_mediterranean_cruise_ship_accident

I have one more word for you: Titanic.

Let's never ever go on a cruise.

WORST. VACATION. EVER.

My Life would Stink without You.

Yes, You, Love.

Just to be clear, THIS IS NOT a Valentine Post. This is just a long time coming, thank you from the bottom of my heart post.

I know you have worked tirelessly for the last 7 months on our house and that you work all day long as hard as you can and miss your little boy sooo much when you just have to come home and work on the house all night. I knew you were a hard worker, and that you were tough and amazing and smart. But I never knew that you could really work THIS hard. I LOVE that you are such a perfectionist. Everything is perfect in our house, and if it's not, you tear it out and fix it. I know you are getting tired of it... and I wish I could help more. (If anyone else is reading this blog I guess I should promise an update with pics of the house. Pretty much don't hold your breath for that.)

I couldn't be more happy with our eternal family. I love that after all these years (14 to be exact) you still say things that make me think and give more depth to the wonderful person I married. It is more than I ever imagined it would be. This is a true story. Seven years ago, after you had FINALLY proposed I was driving down the freeway in Salt Lake, thinking: I can't believe I am getting everything I ever wanted... My very own fairy tale life and happy ending.

Well guess what?

I got more.

Thank you, and I love you, my hard working man.

Seriously so Cute

I don't want to spoil Evan's 1 year birthday pics, but I just have to post a sneak peek of our handsome boy. I have been going over and over the 200+ pics Grandma Shuppy took of Evan and I just can't choose. Thank you Grandma for taking the pics and helping us make Birthday card mess on your kitchen table for one week. I completely monopolize every second of her spare time. Now that we live here I don't know how I lived without my BFF for so long.

Beware! He bites. Especially when he is very happy. He also ate everything he was quick enough to get in his mouth while we tried to take pictures.

Ello Gubna! (Allen's contribution to this post)

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ALLEN DEAR

I can't believe you are 30! I have just spent the last half hour looking through all our pictures from the last 6 years and each picture just made me think of all the happiness that you bring to my life. I can't list 30 great things about you because I will inevitably forget all the best things and the 30 things just wouldn't cover it. So, instead, I tried to pick some pictures that are "just so Allen" and you wouldn't be mad at me for. (This was difficult... and they are in no apparent order.) I truly wish you Happiness all year and the best Birthday ever! I love you luva!

Best Daddy Ever

All dressed up as Dwight

Such a hard worker


My favorite Dr

Golf Junkie

Perfect Son

Super Uncle

Birthday Boy

Christmas Elf

Super Duper Uncle

Aah the early years... enduring my cooking

Such a HOTTIE

Oh man I love you Birthday Boy. I can't wait for the next 30 years!

Highlight

It's my turn to update since Allen did it last. Just a few highlights about the highlight in our life.


Evan crawls, stands up next to everything, and my favorite, sits on his little knees when he finds something to play with. However, along with his new found mobility, he has starting throwing tantrums about everything he doesn't want to do... only to me!! He reserves his worst behavior for his mom and even bawls his head off when Allen is around and I try to hold him in public. I narrowly escaped having my front teeth knocked out last week during one of his tantrums.



He gives all kinds of kisses. That is a complete lie. This kid is not a snuggler. In very rare cases, he might give us a little pat. Kisses are only achieved by eating salty chips so he wants to eat any remaining salt off our lips. And yes, he is trying to bite my lips in the picture below.

Evan reading his first Valentine from his mommy and daddy.

Evan is such a little biter. Mostly he likes to eat any kind of book or paper, but he also likes to chow down on socks and shoes, the couch, remotes, and his dad's fingers. I've included the pics below so you could see how enthusiastic he is about taking his socks off and eating them.

I love how happy this kid is. (When he is doing what he wants.) I 'm sorry some of these pics are blurry, but those little teethies make me smile.