Let me first say that I love my family very much. I really do.

This past week, Jan and I were honored to have my mom and my sister Amanda come to Barcelona all the way from Florida to stay with us. My mother (now a nana) and my sister (now an aunt) were the first family members to meet little Emily and they were both very excited to get to know the newest member of the Zamrycki clan. As you can imagine, it would be simply wonderful to have someone come and stay with you right after you have your first child – to cook and clean for you and basically alleviate all of the stressful day-to-day responsibilities that don’t seem to have a place in your new list of priorities because your one goal in life is to now care for this delicate and irrational new creature and you are utterly shattered and no longer have the time nor energy to care for yourself. I imagine that would have been nice, too. Nonetheless, it was really great to have some family here with us to celebrate this momentous time in our lives. Don’t get me wrong, they were both fantastic baby sitters and Emily was treated like a princess, but Jan and I are currently basking in the almost-forgotten tranquility of our rediscovered solitude.

Actual picture of me and Emily sleeping

So, you want more pictures of Emily, huh? OK, but it’s not that easy to get a good shot of her with her eyes open. Apparently, Emily is nocturnal. She spends most of the day peacefully sleeping like a little angel and then, when the sun goes down, she wakes up to terrorize the neighborhood. In all fairness, she only really complains when she has gas, but that seems to be most of the time. The poor little thing has a bit of a distended belly and I have to perform my super-special Belly Massage on her to help provide relief. She’s still lovely. Anyway, this picture (taken by my mom) is one of my favorites of Emily with her eyes open:

Actual picture of Emily awake

Every time I see Emily, I have trouble deciding if she’s very big or teeny tiny. I guess she’s both. But today was the first day that I noticed a marked change in her size since she was born. I didn’t need the pediatrician telling me that she has gained more than twice the normal amount in her first two weeks to realize that she’s filling out nicely (true story – she’s now over 4kg). And she’s so advanced! She’s lifting her head two weeks earlier than she’s supposed to. She’s not supposed to recognize faces for another two months but she’s always happy to see me. And – I kid you not – she was actually crawling the other day. I know what you’re thinking: babies aren’t supposed to do that until they’re at least six months old! Well I have witnesses. The other day I lied down on the bed with Emily on my belly and she proceeded to crawl up my body until she reached my neck – grunting and puffing all the way. Then, when she finished showing off, she just flopped down on my shoulder out of breath. A complete trip from belly button to chin! We’re thinking of starting piano lessons sometime next month.

She’s plum tuckered out

I know that more pictures is what you want, so more pictures is what you’ll get. I’m currently working on a homemade Flickr killer to integrate into my blog. The idea is to create my very own photo album where you can browse through different groups of photos and download high resolution copies to print off and store in your wallet, hang on your wall at home, or place in a stand-up frame for your desk at work. I’ve got the skeleton of the thing already figured out. Now I just need to select and edit all the photos. In the meantime, here’s one more photo of the Zamrycki’s in their natural habitat:

Nap time