Pumpkin Pickin'

Here are a few pictures of Miss Emerson at her first pumpkin patch. We visited Denver Downs Farm to get some pumpkins for the fall.

Child Dedication at Springwell Church

Daddy and Mommy with Emerson

Grandma and Grandpa Clark with Emerson

Brad and I had the great privilege of dedicating Emerson during the child dedication at our church on Sunday, September 12th. We were among several families that shared in this special moment in each of our lives. Each day we look at Emerson, we are reminded of how awesome God is and how much He loves us to bless our home with such a beautiful child.

Family Pastor, Chip Joiner, with the Clarks

Chip Off The Old Block

This is a picture of me at around 4 months of age with one of Emerson at the same age - and people say she looks like me??

Smoking Jacket or Bathrobe??

Our good friends, Matt and Jennifer Card, gave Emerson this bathrobe at her baby shower. We all kept laughing because everyone kept saying it looked like a baby's smoking jacket! Anyhow, we finally remembered to snap a picture of her in it after her bath the other night and wanted to share.

Swimming!!

We took Emerson to the local waterpark for the first time and she loved the water. After all the work of getting her covered in sunblock, finding a rashgaurd small enough for her, finding a cute hat and buying those Little Swimmers diapers (which we had to cut off of her - how else do you get those things off when they poop - pulling them off just creates more of a disaster to cleanup!!) - she spent a little time in the pool and then passed out under the shade. We can't wait until next summer when she is a little older and she can really run around and splash about in the water!

Emerson's 3 Month Pics

Well, I know this post comes a little late (as Emerson is now over 5 months old and these are pics from when she was just over 3 months). Anyhow, we just scanned them into the computer and wanted to share some of our favorite pictures from her 3 month photo session.

Real Food. . . Finally!

Yesterday was Emerson's first taste of real food. We started the feast with sweet peas and she loved them. Usually there is quite a mess after we are finished with cereal, but she hardly let a drop escape her mouth. Who knew sweet peas were so good! I did actually taste them and they are pretty good. We are going to add some fruit after a few days, which she will probably inhale. Our little girl also used her highchair, which I can't believe we haven't used until now. This thing is great, and she can sit right there with us for dinner.

Emerson Meets her Uncle Barry

We just wanted to share some photos of Barry's visit to SC to meet his new niece! She just loves him, and we were so happy to have him come visit. Check out the picture gallery for more pics of our good times.

It's Gonna Be a Great Father's Day!

So we just wanted to share some photos of us out in Greenville and back home before bedtime. As we were looking at these pictures it struck us just how big she is getting. We looked back at some earlier pics when she first got home and can't believe how big she is now! We attribute her astonishing growth to several weeks she spent sleeping on Mariam. They say that constant love, affection, and physical contact speeds growth and it seems like Mariam has been putting Miracle Grow in her formula. This Father's Day is going to be a first for me and I couldn't be happier! I'll be spending it with my two girls and changing a poopy diaper or two. . . livin' the dream.

Just For Fun

Not much to say, just wanted to share.

I'm Growing Up So Fast!

Watchin' TV on the couch

What a smile!

My girls

Here are a few new pics of our baby girl. I can't believe how fast she is growing! Look, here's the deal. All of you out there who's baby is sleeping through the night from day 1, keep that to yourselves, we don't care. What we do care about is how that happened. If you have any advice on this process please advise. . . otherwise tell us that it took you 3 years before your child would sleep through the night and that will make us feel better. As you can see Emerson is a miniature Mariam, this means two things. One, she has a beautiful smile, and two, her favorite thing to do is talk. She will carry a coo and babble conversation with anyone and usually makes more sense than they do. I will also say this, I didn't realize how entertaining staring at a smiling baby can be, especially if it's your own baby. What an awesome feeling!

The Many Faces of Emerson Grey Clark

As most of you know that have children (especially your first), you are constantly snapping away with the camera to capture every little moment of your baby's life and sometimes the emotions you capture are more comedic than anything else. These are some our most favorite

pictures of Emerson - we just laugh out loud every time we look at them!

First Professional Photos

Emerson had her first set of pictures taken about three weeks ago and we had to share one of our favorite pics. This one was used for her birth announcement. Susan Brewer was our photographer and did an amazing job - check out her website at www.susanbrewerphotography.com

Emerson Grey At Home

Bath Time and The Bear : we loved this picture of Emerson after her bath

Daddy-Daughter Time: Brad and Emerson during naptime

Pure Contemplation

First Week Home

Well, today marks the end of the first week that Emerson has been home from the NICU. She is doing great - she had her first doctors appointment and is growing strong. The house definitely seems so much more full now that she is here - we just LOVE having her home finally. She has such a distinct personality already and has her father and I wrapped around her little finger! Everytime we look at her, we are reminded of what a blessing she is and how fortunate we are to be her parents.

EARLY ARRIVAL!!!!!!!!!!

Well, some of you may know, but Miss Emerson Grey Clark decided she was ready to come out into this world and was born this past Thursday, March 4th at 11:48am! It all started at about 4:45 a.m. that morning. Mariam awoke with some "cramps" which we initially played off as Braxton Hicks contractions. She got up and walked around, mostly in the bathroom, while I slept off and on until 6 a.m. At this point she comes out of the bathroom and tells me that it isn't getting better and to get out of bed NOW! We ended up calling the "Oh Crap!" hotline at the hospital and after I got a shower, yes I showered, we decided to take her in for a closer look. Right now I'm still thinking she will get checked out and sent home while I stay at work, that's why I got the shower, y'all. We get to the car and immediately hit DEFCON 1. Mariam almost ripped the doorhandle off, and the contractions started coming every 4 minutes. We arrived at the hospital in 2.7 seconds and Mariam was hooked up to the monitor. She was then examined by the nurse who gave us an awkward look and said there was a good reason for the pain, SHE WAS 8cm DILATED!! The anesthesiologist went ahead and put in the epidural, and almost instantly I had my wife back. After 1 1/2 hours of letting her body do the work she was told to start pushing, and 15 minutes later Emerson was here! She was 6 weeks early and weighed 5lbs. and was 16 3/4 inches long. She is the sweetest little girl with a FULL head of black hair - she is definitely our child! Because she was 6 weeks early (born at 34 weeks), she is required to stay in the NICU until she can take in a certain amount of milk and regulate her own body temperature - these are the two main things. We feel truly blessed to have this amazing gift come into our lives and cannot believe how much we LOVE her already!! To all our family and friends who have stopped by, called, emailed and prayed - THANK YOU THANK YOU! We love you all and cannot wait to introduce each of you to Emerson. Until then, here are a few pics of our sweet little lady and there are more in our photo gallery to the right.

Texas Baby Shower

Brad and I just got back from an awesome weekend in Texas with our family and friends who celebrated the upcoming arrival of Emerson Grey at our baby shower. It was such a blessing to be back home and get to see so many friends and family we had not seen in a long time. We received such amazing gifts from all of you and cannot begin to express how much it meant to the two of us to have each of you share in this special time. To all our friends and family that traveled a long distance - thank you! We love each of you and look forward to introducing Miss Emerson to everyone during our next trip back home. To Tom & Cindy - thank you for a beautiful shower that we will always remember. Here are a few pics from the evening and there are more under the Clark Photo Gallery (see link to the right).