What a Busy Weekend!

We need a weekend to recover from our weekend!

Friday in the morning we had a great friend of ours come over to the house and take pictures of Aubrey. It was her “body parts” pictures. We saw a preview of them and they are great! After the pictures, we took Aubrey to the doctor for her three week check up. Everything seemed to be great with her…they next time she goes in she has to get some shots. I know Joanna is not going to be a fan of that…nor is Aubrey. Friday night, my brother Jeff came down to Marshall and we changed his brakes on his car. It took Jeff, my dad, and I just over two hours to change the pads and rotors on the car. His rotors and pads were really bad!

Saturday we drove to Grand Blanc and met the newest addition to the family. Jo’s brother and sister-in-law had a baby girl. She was born last Wednesday night and is amazingly cute!

Her and Aubrey are 18 days apart. After a brief visit in the hospital we returned to Jo’s mom’s house for lunch then went to visit one of Joanna’s best friends, Elizabeth. She was a natural with Aubrey! After that visit we went to Jo’s mom’s house again and had friends and family come visit.

Sunday, I spoke in the morning services at church and in the afternoon, Jo’s brother Chris and his wife Nicole came for a visit. It was a great time with them here in Marshall.

She was yawning in this picture…not screaming.

Finally Sunday evening Joanna and I settled down, turned on the TV, watched Big Brother and the Oscars and went to bed.

Ahhhh….the weekend is only a few days away!

Back to Work

This week I returned to work.  It has already been a long week as I was used to being at home with Joanna and Aubrey.  It is rather sad being away from them during the day!

On Monday Jo, her mom, and Aubrey came up to the church and we all went out to lunch.  Aubrey had her first Pastrami Joe’s experience.  On Tuesday Jo’s dad and Madonna came over to the house for dinner and to spend time with the baby.

Jo and I have really enjoyed all the visitors both family and friends who have stopped by the house.

The rest of the week Aubrey’s schedule is quite full.  Her aunt and uncle are visiting, also maybe her great aunt and uncle, one of Jo’s best friends, a close friend of Joanna and also another aunt and uncle (although the uncle will be working on his car with me).  Maybe he’ll get to see her. 

Well, I’m done with my “break”.  My mind needed to rest for a minute.  I’m speaking this weekend at our Sunday services so I am prepping the message right now.  We are teaching through the book of John as we journey through the season of Lent and a series called, “Seeking the Resurrected Christ: Questions that Need to Be Answered”

Here is a random Aubrey picture that my mom took.

Aubrey and More Family

Aubrey was able to meet her only cousin (for the next four weeks) for the first time on Saturday.  She also met her aunt and uncle and my two aunts.

Aubrey was also able to meet her great grandma this weekend.  This was really exciting for me to be able to set Aubrey in my grandma’s arms.  Grandma held her and seemed to love every minute of her time with her first great granddaughter.

A Proud First Time Grandma

I loved this picture that Lauren took of Grandma T.

A Collection of Visitors

Aubrey has met many people in her first few days. Here is just a small sampling. I failed to get pictures of everyone who visited, in fact now that I look I missed many people but please know that you are still loved just as much.

Life at Home with Aubrey

On Monday afternoon the three of us left the hospital and headed home for the first time.  It was exciting leaving the hospital and venturing out into a new reality.  Before we left the hospital we stopped and visited a few different people that Joanna works with and saw the staff at Dr. Walker’s office.

Aubrey in her car seat for her ride home.

The last few days have been better than expected.  Aubrey is a sweet, mellow, cuter than you can imagine baby.  She has been sleeping well, eating well, and love to just hangout when she is awake.

We thank Oprah for this.  Really we do.  A few month ago Joanna watched a show where this lady was on talking about how babies 3 months and under have certain cries for what they want.  We have been listening and learning to hear her.  She communicates well and for the most part we have understood her.  Thanks Oprah.

Joanna has been an awesome mom.  She is really loving it and it really is quite natural for her.  It has been fun to watch her grow in her calling as a mom.  I think you all would be quite impressed!

It has also been a great blessing since we have come home of the meals that have been delivered to us by friends.  They have been amazing!

Please continue to pray for our family as we continue to figure this out day by day.

A Few Pictures of Aubrey

I have posted a few picture here that my sister-in-law took the day of the birth. Thanks Lauren. You can see more pictures that she took by clicking here. We will be posting some more in the days to come as we take them and get more from family and friends.

Joanna introducing our family to Aubrey about an hour after her birth.  We couldn’t believe that she had her eyes open taking in all that was happening.

Here we are shortly after her birth.

Peacefully sleeping…our sweet girl.

This is one of my favorite pictures from the first day. I think she was tired of having her picture taken.

She’s Here

Aubrey Elizabeth Tarkiewicz came into the world at 5:19pm Saturday evening.

She was 9lbs. 5oz. and 22 inches long…we have a toddler. 

Joanna did an amazing job!

Thanks for your prayers!

Pictures will follow in the days to come.

Due Date Plus One

Here we are, one day past the due date. It looks as if we still have a little bit of time. We’re just waiting.

Yesterday I mentioned that we finished up the upstairs of our house. Below I’ve included a few pictures that I took last night along with a few from before.

It is hard to tell in these picture what has been done so you might just have to come see us sometime. This is the guest room before, during, and after construction.

Then the nursery…