Chicago Marathon 2009!

October 11, 2009 was a celebration day! My buddy, Aaron Williams, and I completed the 26.2 miles of the Chicago Marathon. What a great experience with a great friend.

This photo is of a portion of a huge mural that included every marathoners name. It was located outside of Nike Town on Chicago's Magnificent Mile.



These photos of Aaron, Mallory, Keri, Emma, and I are at the Marathon's expo the night before the race.

I had to snap a photo of the reminder that awaited us outside the transit system! Job and Bethany were life savers and were generous by letting us stay at their place in Evanston. They also helped us navigate busy Chicago.

We got together with our friends, Mark and Angie, on our way up to the marathon. Their son, Braden, was born earlier this summer.

Chinatown!

I wouldn't want to compete against these salty marathoners. They look ready!

14 hours, 40 minutes, and 54 seconds before the start of the race.

This photo was taken the night before the race....Little did I know that the phrase would be so true! The first 20 miles felt great. The last 6.2 were the hardest of my life. The last 6.2 began in Chinatown.... :)

So excited!

The leaders..... I'm still looking for my orange jersey.

Out of 1.5 million spectators, we had the greatest fans!

I was so excited to see Keri.

What an experience.

The Family Update

Keri, Emma, and I are enjoying a fantastic Thanksgiving break. Keri and I are so thankful for Emma and the blessing that she is to our life. We serve an amazing God!

Wooo Pig Sooie! This photo was taken during half - time of the Hogs vs Tigers of LSU. Arkansas lost 33 to 30 in overtime. Bummer.

My two favorite Hog fans together in one picture! It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
Who is the main star of this photo? :)

Keri loves her Emma Kate.

Brrr baby it's cold outside!

We began feeding Emma rice cereal a couple of weeks ago. She seems to be enjoying it!

More Please.

Emma's preferred sleeping position.

As you can tell, Emma is really excited about the family pumpkin!

Dad and Emma!

Keri's Debut

Believe it or not, this is my first post on this blog.

It's true; this is all Steven's hard work...

except for these next three posts, that is.

I decided to chip in for Chris and Jenn who

cannot see many pictures of E

and for Steven who is super busy with

his little fourth graders.

Who knows, you may see more of me!

Emma's Dedication

Our family at Emma's dedication at church.

This was our opportunity to publicly declare our

desire to raise Emma to serve the Lord.

Our community group leaders, Tracy and Renee, stood up front

with usand several of our friends and family prayed with us;

it wassuch a special time. Thanks to all who were a part of it!

More of Emma (Could you ever get enough?)

Emma's favorite place to play -- her play gym.

Thanks Walchshausers!

Oh yeah.

Woo Pig Sooie!

Dad's little Razorback.

A little smile for you.

Troy and Kari's visit!

Emma in her car seat, which she likes much better
now that we've raised the straps a notch.
I guess we'd been squashing her. Oops.

Chillin' with dad.

Bath time! She loves it!

Reading bedtime stories with dad.

Can you tell she likes to do things with her dad? :)

Emma's Baby Shower

Our community group from church

threw us a baby shower after Emma was born

so everyone could meet her.

It was really fun!

This was Emma's amazing cake that Stephanie made --

she hasn't even taken any cake decorating classes. Ever.

(It tasted good too, by the way)

Emma and I by all the decorations.

Almost half of the community group girls.
Thanks for making this so special!

Emma Kate Helmick

EMMA KATE HELMICK

6.27.2009

Keri two days before Emma was born!

Mom and Coach making it through contractions.

Right after Emma arrived! When we arrived to the hospital Keri was already dilated to 9cm. She was simply amazing! I was so proud.

Dr. Kevin Brenimen, Steven, Emma, and Keri. Emma Kate Helmick was born at 3:14am, Saturday June 27, 2009. She weighed in at 7 lbs 10 oz and was 20 1/2 inches long.

Gotta love it... My two girls. I'm blessed.

Nothin' like being a dad....

One of the few mornings that we were at home so far was very enjoyable! We spent time cuddling in Mommy and Daddy's bed.

We love your hair Emma Kate!

Emma was readmitted to the hospital because of a high billirubin count. She tested positive coombs (a result of Keri and Emma having blood types that didn't like each other. The red blood cells in Emma's body got into Keri's system by passing through the placenta. Since Keri is O+ her blood created antibodies to fight off Emma's B+ red blood cells. Once they were all gone, Keri's antibodies got "bored" and headed back towards Emma's body. Well Emma has a sea of red blood cells that Keri's antibodies wanted to attack. There is a finite number of antibodies that were created so eventually they died off, but Emma's red blood cells that were attacked released billirubin in her system.) All babies have billirubin in their system; however with the positive coombs testing and Emma's bruising from birth (which also caused red blood cells to burst which in turn created more billirubin) Emma's count was high enough to put her back in the hospital.

The UV lights break down the billirubin so it can pass through Emma's stool.

Check out our cool California beach bum daughter!

We had to feed her through a syringe because we wanted to imitate breast feeding as much as possible. When Emma sucked my finger, I gave her some of the milk. When she stopped sucking I stopped pushing the syringe. She needs to learn how to work for the milk.

Steven burping Emma after a syringe feed in her isolette.

Keri and Emma chillin' out at the hospital. The circle on Emma's face is velcro for her sunglasses that she wears when she is under the UV lights.