Baseball!!!

I figured I would start early before others conspired to convince Jules that baseball isn't fun so while Grandma Carol was in town (another big baseball fan) we headed down to the "Big A" in Anaheim to watch the Angels take on the Seattle Mariners. Juels got to see several future hall of famers play (Ken Griffey jr and Ichiro) before deciding that 3 innings was enough for her. But I consider a step in the right direction, building up her love of baseball for the Cubs arrival in town late August (and yes we have several cute Cubs outfits for her to wear). Whether she likes it or not Jules is being raised a Cubs fan, I figure it is better to teach her about disappointment early on...plus who knows this might be their year (yeah right). But at least I'm starting early.



Starting with milk now, the hot dogs and beer soon to follow


Jules registers her disgust as the Angels give up more runs


Three innings and done!

Jules' and Her "GG's"

While back east, Jules got the chance to meet her great-grandparents (Lauren's maternal grandparents) or "GG's" as we called them. GG Sid and GG Flo were over the moon and Jules was the belle of the ball with all of the residents in the GG's housing. Many tears were shed, but all in joy as 4 generations got the chance to meet and enjoy each other's company.


4 generations- Jules with GG Sid, GG Flo, mom and grandma


4 generations of Brock women


Jules giving GG Sid a kiss (with mom's help)


GG Flo getting some solid Jules "cute time"


GG Sid and Jules hanging together

Shuffle Off To Buffalo

Everyone has returned safe and sound from a visit back east to see Grandma Marilyn and Grandpa David in Buffalo. There were parties, and family gatherings galore as Jules got introduced to the Brock and Katz side of her lineage! Here are some great photos of her first visit to Buffalo...

Three generation of Brock women!


Grandpa takes his turn trying to soothe.


There are better lights and colors in Buffalo.


Mother and daughter gussied up for a big party


Sweet sweet baby

The First Mother's Day

While it may be a holiday created by Hallmark to sell more cards, there is still something rather special about the first Mother's Day (or Father's Day, I hope). I got such a kick out of actually buying mother's day cards for Lauren (one from me and one from the little angle...who surprisingly had some profound words for her mother). The day was nice a mellow, as to expected since there isn't much craziness that we could get in to with the little one. But mom was able to enjoy a wonderful brunch at her favorite spot (free endorsement for Canoli Cafe, maybe we should get them to sponsor the blog), and Jules slept right through lunch, and later in the day the family took a quite time walk to the local park and enjoyed the setting sun.



Actually content in the car seat during the walk, go figure!

While we are never sure what each day will bring, yesterday was one of those that I will treasure for quite some time. Despite the difficulties of life with a new born, I couldn't help but smile (and maybe well up a tear or two- shocking I know) all day as I got to watch Lauren and Julia together...and to realize that I am now really a parent and really a husband. While I was always sure somewhere in the back of my head that I wanted a family, I never really knew what that meant until now. Mother's day, and father's day, is different when you are the kid. You know that you have to thank your parents for what they've done for you, but like some much of becoming a parent, it isn't until you are on the other side of the coin that you truly understand the meaning and importance of celebrating your family. I like to think that as we spend more time as parents, we may also become more understanding children to our parents. There are very few, if any, moments of pure joy like the ones spent with my wife and daughter. I count myself among the lucky ones in this world to have my family, and so while it may have been a cheesy holiday created to make money, for me it was another chance to celebrate the good life.


My ladies, the loves of my life.


I mean really, c'mon does it get any better than this...

Vaccination Time

Well, little Jules has hit the 2 month mark, and all we can think is, holy crap we haven't killed her yet! Ok that's not all we're thinking because the two month mark also means the start of Jules' vaccinations which meant last Monday was filled with good times for all. As you can see, Jules was as nervous as her mom before we started the whole thing...

Nervous anticipation on Jules' face, or as we like to call, the "what the hell are you two doing to me now!" face

...but we can report that all in all she did well. There was some loud crying after the initial needle pricks, but after some good old fashion TLC from mom (and a bit of nursing) Jules settled down and basically slept the day and night away. Plus she got those really cute band-aids, although we are in agreement that our little girl really isn't the Barbie or Care Bear band-aid type. Maybe next time we'll ask for the the wahine surfer girl or Led Zepplin band-aids.


Jules' is NOT a Barbie girl, living in a Barbie world.


The little angle sleeping it off on mom, the human pillow.

I think in the end we were a bit more traumatized that she was, as she seems none the worse for them. Regardless of your opinion on vacinations, you never like seeing your little one in tears, no matter what the reason is. It is really incredible the depth to which we as parents internalize our childrens' pain. And now we understand why parents are so reticent sometimes to let their kids run free. Although I guess in the end that is the real trick to parenting, understanding the balance between protecting your child and letting them explore and be themselves. Sadly we found out she might be suffering a bit from thrush so there is a lovely oral medication that we have to subject her to every day, which she loves to spit back up. Jules does an amazing recreation of the vomit scene from the Exorcist, although thankfully hers is white and not pea green! So, one round of scary needles down, many to go. The next hurdle will be the grand voyage back east to see the great-grand parents. Yet again, something tells us we're more nervous about this than her...ahhhh the joys of parenthood!

Bath Time

Now that the cord stub is off, mom and dad are having a great time bathing our little angle (see post below). As you can see she isn't COMPLETELY opposed to it but is still learning to love bath time. And better yet, she is starting to be able to focus her eyes on things, especially mom and dad (or so we tell ourselves).




Also as you can see, we love drying off...





























And now I am clean, good smelling and ready for bed!

First Day Home

Some of Dave's wonderful photos from her first day at home...

The Nursery

Thanks to the creative genius of Robyn Hennessey, we have the cutest nursery ever. It's true. I can brag, because I had nothing to do with it. Robyn, her handy hubby Barry, and the incredibly steady-handed Maria Bohe worked their tails off for weeks, and late into the night, to get Julia's room all ready for her homecoming, and we couldn't have been happier with the results. The room is straight out of a magazine, and I think baby Jules will be amazed with her surroundings once she can actually see them. We DO know that she is fascinated with the striped curtains, and stares at them endlessly. So Robyn, I know I was scared of patterns and colors, but thank you for pushing me out of my comfort zone because those curtains are the best decision I ever made.

Our little angle

Forgive us as we try to make up for the last 6 weeks of blogging in one weekend, so let's start at the beginning....

Meet our little angle. Yes, the typo is intentional. As Dave was excitedly (and tiredly) posting photos of our brand new bundle of joy to Flickr, he kept spelling "Angel" as "Angle" and thus we meet our little angle. Born on March 9, 2009 at 3:05pm, Julia Claire Brown was 7 pounds 8 ounces and 20 inches long. She was sweet and wonderful and perfect. She did, however, have a little gunk in her lungs, and the doctors decided that rather than risk a bad infection, they were going to put her on antibiotics for 7 days, and off to the NICU she went. While it was devastating for us not to be able to hold and cuddle her, and seeing her in that isolette with tubes running everywhere broke our hearts in a million pieces, we knew it was the best thing for her. And as the week wore on, and we shuttled back and forth to the hospital several times a day, we realized the many silver linings in this dark NICU cloud: first of all, our gal was by far the healthiest and strongest baby in the place. The nurses actually called her the "poster child" of the NICU! We felt so fortunate that she was strong and relatively healthy compared to many of her preemie NICU neighbors. Also, the brilliant nurses of the NICU gave us what can best be termed as "baby boot camp" training that week - they showed us how to feed her, bathe her, hold her, burp her, change her, and how to read all of the heart, blood pressure, and pulse/ox monitors (which came in handy for that ever-present question "is she breathing???").

At the end of the week, she graduated with flying colors and we were able to finally bring her home. That's when the real fun began...