Welcome to our family, Emily!

Emily Hope Durrbeck was born at 11:31am today. She was 7lbs 15 oz and 19" long. She has a good bit of dark hair covering her cute little round head!

As soon as she popped out (as Daniel told the boys) she was letting everyone in the OR know she had a good set of lungs on her! Daniel took a bunch of pictures but I haven't gotten to look at many of them yet. We didn't bring the laptop with us (so I downloaded the blogging app onto my phone. Apparently Daniels dad told Daniel to tell me to hurry up and recover so I could write a blog entry! Men!!). Emily's doing absolutely amazing at nursing already! She seems like a good sleeper too; she's snoozing like a champ in the little hospital basinette right now.
I've already gotten out of bed multiple times which has been really nice. I didn't think they'd let me get up until tomorrow morning so when my nurse asked (around 6:30pm) if I wanted to get up I excitedly said 'of course!'
Mom and dad brought the boys by to see their new baby sister. Zach was as cute as could be just looking at her with so much love in his eyes. Jake was glad to meet her but kept his distance!! He did give her a kiss before they left. It sounded like they had a nice day with granny and pa. They got to go to the park and have a picnic lunch as well as play on the playground. Jacob was trying really hard to do the monkey bars! I can't wait to watch him on them! I should be able to leave the hospital on Friday (YAY!!!) and will look through the pics then--and of course I'll be taking more! I'll post some good ones! I've attempted to attach a couple pictures but I'm not sure if it'll work or not!

Quick Update!!

So, I figure I should update you on whats been going on here lately! (ya know..just in case we're slightly busy soon and can't find two minutes to sleep let alone blog)

We have a baby bird family living in an old hood vent outside of our kitchen window. It's sealed off inside so they can't get in...but boy can we hear them!

So can the cats. Wether the windows are open or closed we can hear them. As soon as I opened the windows this particular morning both cats jumped up and were trying to figure out where all the little "cheeps" were coming from.

Zach finished up his whiffle t-ball season

with his trophy.

We picked peaches at Linvilla Orchards.

finding the perfect peach!

yum!

brothers

This one was Daniel's idea. He actually was just going to let Jacob hold Zach on his shoulders but they were a little wobbly.

only sort of a fake smile.

Zach loved picking peaches.

Jake did too but he did tell me a few times that he thought we had enough!

We picked almost 17 pounds of peaches!

Then we picked raspberries!

They were pretty picked over so we didn't pick many.

We ended up with 1/2 pound. That was it!!

On Sunday we went to Baltimore to watch the Nationals play the Orioles.

Daniel thought it would be a lot of fun for the boys since Zach's whiffle ball team was the Nationals...pretty sure he was more excited about it than they were!

well before the game started!

yep....I'm huge at 39 weeks pregnant. HUGE. In the words of my grandpa Z, huge like Shamu. Thanks, pop! 

Being silly. Yes, I was trying to get a picture of the 3 of them.

still huge!

Zach was happy with his bag of peanuts.

during the game.

Zach had a little bit of everything on his face...orange powerade, ketchup, nacho cheese...

Bernadette, Brandon, and Sammy got tickets too!!

goofing off. Jacob insisted Zach sit with him. They had the lady behind us cracking up.

After a while (and a gazillion potty trips for Zach) I took the boys down to the kids area...

they both played "air tee ball" as well as regular tee ball. There was a little playground area and a moon bounce (which I convinced them we didn't need to wait in line for since we have our own). I got them cotton candy since they were being so good....and we bought 3 bottles of water for $13.50.

We finally found Bernadette and Sammy in the kids area! (and this was the best shot of all 3 of them looking sort of in the same direction!)

after the game...waiting to run the bases. It was HOT! We were just waiting and waiting and waiting in line....however we were glad that we got in line when we did because we really weren't too far back and once the line started moving, we got our turn quickly!

Jacob running the bases. 

Zach running the bases.

Parents weren't allowed on the field and we were actually a good distance away. I had a hard time finding them through the camera lens with the people that work for the stadium hurrying everybody along; not to mention that they were actually a good distance away from us since the field is so stinkin' big! I think Daniel got a little video on his phone so we'll have to see how that turned out! There should be fan photos available to order from the Orioles website too but I haven't had any luck with finding the pictures yet (well, it looks like they're not available yet even though they should be!).

The boys really had a good time running the bases!

Last night Daniel got one of the go-karts out to take the boys for a spin. I didn't take any pictures while they were zooming around on it but after Daniel was done they decided they'd try to start it themselves and ride. They tried hard but they weren't successful in getting it started...they did however decide that pushing it around the yard would be fun (well, after a little while of them doing it they decided Daniel pushing them around would be more fun!). Enjoy!

This one is my favorite. Not sure if it's the slight glare from the sun on the picture or what but I just LOVE it.

I love my life. It's hard to believe that it could get any better than it is with these 3.

but...

Tomorrow is baby day!!!!!!!

The boys are so excited. Zach keeps talking about how great being a big brother is going to be.

I'm so excited. Daniel's so excited. I think the dogs and cats are excited! (well, maybe not the cats)

My parents are scheduled to get here this afternoon and we're planning to go to Chesapeake City for dinner before our big day tomorrow! woooo-hooooooooo!

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. Surgery is scheduled for 11:15am and even though I've been through it twice before I'm still nervous. I absolutely can't wait to hear Emily's cry and count her fingers and toes. Children are truly a blessing and I am beyond thrilled to have our new little one here.

oh boy!

We went out to run some errands tonight to stock up on some stuff and came home to this:

Our deck canopy was flipped upside down onto our sunroom (well, it's the toy room!) room.

closer up!

Daniel says he can "beef up" the metal and not only fix it but make it more sturdy. We'll see!

It had started storming maybe 15 minutes before we got home. Clearly there were strong winds along with the rain, thunder, and lightening!

We got our new carpet installed on Wednesday and it is really really nice! They did such a nice job on the steps too! Now we just need Daniel to make our metal handrail. (I know, I know...baby steps!)

I was too impatient to wait any longer to get stuff moved back into our rooms upstairs so this morning, the boys and I moved their dressers, Daniel's dresser, my dresser, the elliptical, their bookshelf, their toyshelf, Emily's crib, Emily's dresser, Emily's book/toy shelf, the glider and ottoman, and anything else that needed to be moved!! We still have to put our bed back together so for now our mattress is on the floor. Hopefully that'll get taken care of in the morning. Daniel put the boys' bunk beds together last night so their room is just about done (again!). I need to get a shelf for each of them to hang above their dressers; maybe tomorrow! We need to make a big grocery store run tomorrow too to stock up on oodles and oodles of stuff. I bugged Daniel enough to get the baby stuff out of the loft in the garage this afternoon so I think we're finally ready for her arrival! Her room is all set up! I might get around to installing the carseat in the van tomorrow at some point. And maybe packing my hospital bag too (should definitely do that!). I've got the guest room ready for my parents and have tried to make sure everything is taken care of in the house so I don't have to bug my mom to do too much (or my dad!). Hopefully they'll just be able to occupy the boys and have fun.

I had my pre-op appointment with my doctor on Thursday and everything went well! Right now my c-section is scheduled for 11:15 on Wednesday morning. YAAAAAY! We're super excited.

Tomorrow we're planning to go to a (sort of) local orchard and pick some peaches, hopefully before it gets too hot! Sunday we're taking the boys to see a Washington Nationals game in Baltimore. Zach's T-Ball team was the Nationals and since we're taking the boys to see an Iron Birds game (Jacob's team name) around the end of July we figured it was only fair to take them to a Nationals game too! It's going to be our "last hurrah" as a family of 4! It should be a great weekend! (even though it's going to be a hot one!)

Pictures to come of Zach's last T-Ball game and his trophy! He is so excited to finally have his "very first trophy" as he calls it!

8 more days!!

I got to see our little munchkin at my last hospital ultrasound today! They're estimating she's around 7lbs 11oz right now. She has super chubby cheeks!

(yes, I took the picture of the picture with my phone because I was too lazy to scan it in!)

We're all camping out downstairs tonight in anticipation of our carpet being installed upstairs tomorrow! We disassembled the beds and moved them downstairs....well, the boys bunk beds are leaning up against one wall in the guest room while their mattresses are up against another. our mattress somehow got smushed into the hall bath upstairs. The boxsprings to our bed are downstairs as is our bedframe! I managed to finish almost all of the trimwork upstairs (baseboards and door trim) while Daniel was at work today before and after my appointment. (by the way, by finish I mean cut and installed...not painted.) I'm so excited to have the carpet installed and our upstairs sort of put back together. I mentioned to Daniel how much I really wanted to be able to hang our clothes up in our NEW closet...not even wanting to mud or anything, just want to install the closet system and start using it. He said I needed to wait! So, once the carpet is installed I reckon that closet is the first thing that he's going to start working on. He did say it'd be done before the little lady arrives (and I did remind him that she'll be here in a week!). So, until then, anything that needs to be hung up (or worn for that matter since our dressers are crammed into the master bath and unaccessible) is in one of the many laundry baskets in my living room (4 baskets plus a pile on the couch.. not to mention there's a load in the washer and a load in the dryer right now!). Hopefully our dressers (and everything else) can be pulled out of the bathroom tomorrow evening so I can sort of get things back in order! This last minute stuff is driving me nuts!! I just want it all finished!

And I still need to pack my hospital bag!

Zach had his second to last t-ball game tonight. I took a few pictures but they're still on the camera! Maybe tomorrow they'll magically be on the computer.

T-Ball Fun Day!

Today was the last day of T-Ball for the Iron Birds (Jake's team). There wasn't a game but they had what was called "T-Ball Fun Day!" The league had 4 stations set up for the teams and each team had a different time slot. Daniel had asked our team to get there 20 minutes before our scheduled time so we could take a team picture with everyone there (we were out of town for a wedding when the team picture was taken...and we didn't have 2 of our players on our team yet so it wasn't really a complete picture!). Almost everyone showed up today!! We only had one missing player (might've been our best turn out all season!).  Anyways, they had some fun with posing for the pictures....

I think this one was "make a mean face."

 

This one was supposed to be smiles.

This one was showing off their muscles (obviously).

and this one they said "everyone do what Jaren's doing!" (Jaren would be the kid on the far left with his arms crossed.) Clearly there was something exciting happening off to the side that they were all interested in!

This one's for Coach Mike!

and of course, the head coach of the Iron Birds, Coach Dad...or Coach Dan. whichever!

I should've gotten a picture of all 3 coaches together. We were lucky to have Daniel, Coach Mike, and Coach Jacob on our team! 3 very devoted guys!

The kids participated in a hitting and throwing competition which they all seemed to enjoy and then they got to play on a water slide!!!

Out of the 9 kids on our team, 6 were very excited about going down the slide. One other went down one time... Jacob watched the kids going down and decided that was for the birds!! I did all I could do to convince him to just go down the slide one time but he wanted nothing to do with it. Somehow Jen was able to convince one of her boys who had been down the slide I think twice and didn't want to do it anymore to go down it with Jacob. We were yelling "hold his hand!!! Don't go down the slide without him!" And sure enough he did! I'm pretty sure if he hadn't grabbed onto Jake that Jacob would've ended up going back down the steps....what else are friends for than to pull you down a water slide?

We told Jacob to hold his nose too but he clearly didn't want to.

I'm pretty sure Jacob was thinking "I can't believe you just pulled me down that thing! What the heck were you thinking?!?!"

yep, Daniel snuck into my picture. yep, Zach has gum. Nope, I had nothing to do with giving it to him.

another station. The kids had to field the ball, throw it to one of the coaches and then the coach that got the ball was supposed to throw it to the unlucky coach standing by the base--they were attempting to get the kids to slide into the base while the coach was trying to get the kid out. After they finished they went over to this little face (or hand) painting station. For some reason Daniel thought he needed to sort of give Zach a huge push on it.

Jacob with his spider painting on his hand.

Zach had a frog...that was almost entirely wiped out when Daniel swooshed him on the water thing.

Jacob and Andrew showing off their hand paintings.

my very upset Tater Tot. The ball bounced up and hit him...not hard at all; I'm pretty sure it just scared him.

Pizza time!!!!! Daniel had the awesome idea to bring watermelon, grapes, and oranges for the team too. Everyone seemed to enjoy it all!

YUM!

Jacob with Coach Dad and his trophy!

One last time....1 -- 2 -- 3......

IRON BIRDS!!!!!

We had such a great group of kids on our team. They all had such fun personalities and it was a fun  first season for Daniel to coach. We met some great new friends!

After we left the field a few of us headed over to a local pizza shop for more food. (The league only provided pizza for the players and though you could buy slices we had talked about going to the pizza shop earlier in the week and thought it'd be fun!)

What a great day!!!

T-Ball was our entire morning.. and it was close to 2 when we finally got started doing anything on the upstairs. However, we got A LOT done!! Everything except the boys bunk beds and our bed got moved into the 2 small spaces not being carpeted. (The beds will have to come downstairs because we are out of room up there!) We got about half of the carpet ripped up and our room completely drywalled with a coat of mud on it (well, except for where the wall and ceiling meet). Daniel even made time to take the boys on a nice bike ride while I pulled weeds from our much overgrown flower beds. I'd say we got a heck of a lot accomplished!

Things I didn't think I'd do at 9 1/2 months pregnant.....

-rip up icky, yucky, gross carpet and carpet pad.

-pull up a gazillion staples out of the floor from the current carpet pad as well as from what appeared to be red shag carpet (just little strings left!)

-assist in hanging drywall

-do the entire first coat of mud myself on my bedroom walls

-weed flower beds

-be awake at 2am writing this blog!!!

On that note....I'm going to bed!

And I guess since it's technically Father's day already I should say Happy Father's Day to my wonderful daddy who helped shape me into the person I am today!! And Happy Father's day to my wonderful husband who does so much for our family! And Happy Father's Day to my Grandpa Zukowski or as the boys call him "Jeep" as well as to my Grandpa Gibson who is keeping an eye on us from up above. And I wouldn't have my wonderful husband without my wonderful father-in-law so Happy Father's Day to him too! I love all of you so very much and am so thankful you are all a part of my life! I wish we could see you all to celebrate but seeing as how Emily's arrival is only 10 days away, a 4 hour car trip is not happening!