Author: heidi
Blessing Day
Emory was named and blessed by her father, Cristian, on Sunday, September 30, 2012 at the Tates Creek Ward in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She was lovely, and the blessing was as well.
The Birth Story
Hi. My name is Emory Nellia Icleanu, and I’m a good baby. I would like to introduce myself to you. I was recently born at Saint Joseph East hospital in Lexington, Kentucky. My Daddy did the delivering, even though he is not a doctor or even a nurse. But he delivered me because he loves me.
The way it happened was like this: I’d just about run out of space in my Mommy’s tummy, and I decided it was time to see the world. Mommy started having contractions at church on Sunday, but they were soft so she knew I was not ready to come yet. That evening, Daddy made her a delicious steak dinner, and Mommy cleaned the house to get ready for the arrival of Grandma and Grandpa Widmer by airplane from Idaho. They had bought tickets for my due date (Monday), and it was a good thing because Mommy doesn’t seem to be able to settle into labor until Grandma is nearby to take care of things. The random contractions continued through the night, and Mommy texted Tracy (our neighbor) to see if she would like to have a sleepover at our house with Merayla and Oliver. Tracy arrived around 4 am, and Mommy and Daddy went to the hospital.
The day at the hospital, however, just seemed to keep stretching out. I was not in a hurry. Mommy and Daddy walked the halls of the hospital, checked out the newborns on the 3rd floor, took pictures of the giant pickles in the hospital gift shop, etc. Everyone kept wondering what was taking so long. Oliver went to the Wallace’s house when Tracy went to work, and Merayla went to the Cullen’s after school. Mommy started to get tired, hungry, and just a little sad because she really wanted to see me. Daddy snuck her some peanuts, and she ate two packages and drank two water bottles. Finally, at 5 o’clock in the evening, the midwife asked if they wanted to break Mommy’s water. Since Mommy is all about natural birth, she was hesitant, but the suggestion and the midwife checking her must have been enough motivation because all of a sudden, we were really birthing! Hurray!
Daddy is Mommy’s birth companion, and he did an excellent job. He helped her with all sorts of birthing positions and counter pressure. There was beautiful, relaxation music that I could hear. Mommy labored well, and the midwife even told her she was a beautiful natural-birther. I felt very welcomed, and I decided to stick my head out and what I saw was Daddy, and nobody else in the room. Daddy looked at me confused; I don’t think he knew what he was doing. He tried to pull me out for a second, but then he ran out the door. After he shouted at the nurses, they all rushed in and helped me finish coming out. Then Mommy hugged me and held me and cried. She was really warm, and I drank lots of milk right away.
Daddy and Mommy thought I was perfect. They also thought I was very strong because they decided to name me after Mommy’s great-grandma Nellie. She lived on the farm in Idaho and was very faithful, strong, and independent. She lived to 96 years old. Mommy has many good memories of Grandma Nellie, and I hope I can be like her.
Mommy and I spent a few days at the hospital. Oliver, Merayla, Grandma, and Grandpa came to see me. They were all very excited to hold me and talk to me and smile at me. They love me very much. Oliver was very happy to learn that I had arms (because when he first saw me I was all wrapped up and he wasn’t sure), and Merayla keeps saying, “Emory is cuter than anything. I just love her so much.”
I am sure you really want to see how cute I am as well, so check out the pictures from my time at the hospital. There will be more to come as well…
Love,
Baby Emory
Happy News
Kindergarten!
Merayla was so excited to start going to Kindergarten. She started on August 22nd and it has been a busy two weeks, but she is still loving it. Here she is on the first day of school.
We are “walkers” because the car line is crazy, and we live really close to the school. Daddy makes the trek with her every morning, and Mommy and Bird go every other afternoon. I handled the whole thing better than I thought, and it’s been fun to have some time with just Oliver. He plays well by himself but sometimes he stops to ask, “Where’s my brother?”
She is going to Veterans Park Elementary, and her teacher is Mrs. Rowe. The full-time aid is Mrs. Helm. Cristian snuck a few pictures of the class on the first day so you get to see it in action.
Beach Vacation
We took a little family vacation in August to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It was awesome! The water was so warm, and the weather was nice even when it rained. We had fun in the ocean, went to a cool water park, and went mini-golfing for Family Home Evening. In the evenings, we ate at fun restaurants and watched the Olympics. Cristian tried out boogie-boarding, and Merayla tried out everything she could think of. Bird was scared of the waves but loved the sand, and he keeps saying, “Let’s go back to the beach vacation.” I would love to!
Baby On the Way!
I guess I haven’t officially announced it, but we are excited for the newest addition to our family that will be coming on or around September 24th. Cristian decided he wanted to take a few maternity pictures to try out settings on the camera so here are the glam shots of me at about 6 months, as well as a cool pair of glasses that someone left along the bike trail. And a nose shot. Cristian just loves these for some reason…
And, if you make it all the way through those, here are some names we are thinking about. Comment, vote, tell me which one of them you like the most!
- Emory Rose Icleanu
We’ve liked the name Emory since Cristian started applying to grad schools, and we both thought Emory University had a nice ring to it. In fact, I think that’s the major reason why we applied there. There is also a county in Utah called Emery and an exit somewhere on the way to Evanston, Wyoming that goes to Emory, but I can’t find that on the map. Rose is just a middle name that I think sounds nice with Emory.
- Nellie Lucia Icleanu
I wanted to name someone after my great-grandmother, who I grew up around and really admired. Her name was Nellie Barbara Hirschi Widmer. Though I’m not in love with Nellie as a name, it only seems to sound ok as a first name. It also has a similar meaning to Cristian’s #2 choice. Nellie is a derivation of Helen, which means the sun and the Romanian name Lucia means light.
- Emery Lucia Icleanu
Emery spelled the way most people here spell it for girls, and Lucia again for Cristian (in English it’s “l-oo-see-a” and “lu-ch-ee-a” in Romanian).
- Geneva Ecaterina Icleanu
I could name her after my home town instead of my great-grandmother? Both of us liked Genevieve, and Geneva is actually kind of a pretty combination of Jen and Eva, which I like even though I’ve never heard of it as a first name before. Ecaterina is Cristian’s father’s mother, who I met when we were in Romania. She was very sweet.
- Emory Katerina Icleanu
Cristian’s preferred spelling for Emory, and my Americanized version of his grandmother’s name.
- Emory Nelia Icleanu
Again, the original Emory and this new idea I have of keeping my great-grandmother’s name but passing it on sounding a little nicer and Romanian-er.
Surgery at Five
Merayla got her tonsils out in August. She’d gotten strep at least 4 times this year, and last time we were at the doctor he said, “Why haven’t you got those tonsils out yet?” And I thought, “Good question.” Her tonsils have always been enlarged, even at the well-child checks, but I was worried that she would need them for some immunity somewhere down the road.
But the pro case kept stacking up. I hated pumping her full of antibiotics every other month. I was sure she’d get strep even more often when she started Kindergarten and was around more kids every day, and my dad told me he was sick as a child all the time and finally wanted to eat after he got his tonsils out at a young age.
We scheduled the procedure. Even though I was freaked out by it being considered a major surgery and all of the complications that could occur, she did great. She came out of the anesthesia well, and Bird was very cute with trying to make her feel better. She had a barking cough at first, but the nurse assured me that was normal and it lasted mostly the first day. She had to stay at home and not run or play for about a week (and she was sad not to eat baby tomatoes out of the garden), but she healed very quickly, loved eating ice cream and popsicles, and didn’t need much of the pain medications they gave us. Here’s to hoping it was worthwhile, and we’ll be a strep-free household!
A Reflection
We’re sitting at a Thai restaurant, waiting for our food, and Oliver starts saying, “What’s down there?” Pretty soon his face is smashed up to the table, and he keeps just saying it louder and louder. It’s hilarious. He REALLY wants to know what’s down inside that table!
Oliver searches for answers to life’s great questions.
Merayla’s Ballet Recital
This year (2011-12) we switched Merayla from her old dance class and put her in the “prestigious” Lexington Ballet. We are very proud of her move because she likes it a lot. She is very flexible, gracious, and very talented. Her teachers love her and want her to become a professional ballerina. Daddy thinks this would be fun, but would rather see her become a successful scientist when she grows up. Here are some pictures from the recital. We love you Merayla a lot and can’t wait to see what you’ll do when you grow up and we grow old.
