Getting Caught Up!

Greetings all! Thought I'd try to finally get us caught up on pics and the blog! Since June (the last time I posted pictures), we visited Japan, packed up our apartment and moved to Utah, and visited Montana, New Hampshire, Maine, Oregon, and Arizona (those pics coming soon). Gwen is busy teaching, I'm busy writing, and Brian is busy smiling (as always!). He has grown a ton over the past few months, as the pictures will attest, and has learned to sit up, crawl, stand up, and take a few halting steps since we left Korea in July.

We visited New Hampshire in July to see great-grandma Jane and have a memorial service for Howie, then headed up to Maine to share special time with all the Stockwells.

We've had wonderful hikes in Montana, Maine, and Utah--Brian is an excellent hiker.

Brian has had all kinds of firsts, including his first ride in a swing--in Portland, OR!

Most wonderfully, we've been able to share the fun of Brian growing up with those we love all over the world.  We hope you are all well and can't wait to see you soon!

Please check out more of our adventures at http://picasaweb.google.co.kr/michaelsprunger/SummerFall2009?feat=directlink

What you've all been waiting for...

The long delay is finally over! The Sprungwell family is posting their first pictures since Month 1! I apologize that we will have to start a bit slow with only four pictures. But, we'll give you a quick update of our lives. We are having a fabulous adventure in Utah. Mike has settled into his daily commute to the University of Utah - makes him feel like he has a real job! He's making great strides in his writing and truly enjoying it. I fell into two adjunct teaching positions - an ESL writing course (with predominantly Korean students which is lots of fun) and an evening, community ESL grammar/speaking course (with adult students from all over Latin America). It has allowed me to keep teaching very part time while spending most of my time with the precious 8-month old below. Brian is amazing - he lets us drag him on 4 hour hikes and 2 hour walks in the stroller - usually with hardly a whimper. I think he, like his mom, loves to be outdoors. He smiles, laughs, talks and yells about everything exciting in life - which for him is just about everything. He never stops moving, crawling, lifting himself onto and over furniture, with numerous bursts of energy like his Grandpa Tom each day. The only fussiness occurs at breakfast and dinner - he gets anxious and impatient, bangs on the table and yells, grabs his spoon and throws it. We're hoping it's just a phrase. I'm thinking it may be the Stockwell/Maercklein obsession with food already taking hold!

Here he is - mess-maker extraordinaire!

Oh, but he sure cleans up well, doesn't he! What an adorable outfit from Jan & Steve Magyar - thank you, Jan & Steve!

Mike and I take a hike every weekend - this is us toward the end of the 80+ weather (it went below freezing this week!!)
Doesn't Brian look like a natural hiker!?!

He loves his backpack - thanks Cooper family!!

Introducing Brian!

Gwen and I are proud to announce that our son Brian was born Friday, January 23rd at 6:03 pm Korean Standard Time, prompting us (with a little extra prodding from certain family members!) to finally get going on our blog (thanks Ben and Liz!). Brian weighed in at 7lbs 15oz and measured 20.25 inches (having done the conversions from kgs and cms to lbs and inches in my head late the night of the delivery, I erroneously (though understandably I think) announced his weight and height to some as 7lbs 14oz and 20.5 inches (thanks to family mathematicians for the correction!). He is healthy and beautiful, as you can see from the picture.

Any thoughts on resemblances? We still think he looks most like my brother Bill (baby picture pending), and he definitely has Sprunger hands (wide hands with short fingers--thanks Alex for the pic)...

...but we can also see a lot of Gwen in him (thanks Tom for this vintage pic):

Gwen was a champion laborer:  triumphant, exhausted, and HUNGRY when finished.

The hospital stay was nice, though we weren't too thrilled that the nursery took Brian all night and only allowed Gwen in to nurse (I could only look in through the window!).

In an interesting twist, the hospital dishes matched Gwen's mother's Corelle from her wedding!

We were grateful to have my parents visiting when Brian came.  They made it to the hospital just in time to see him before the nursery took him for the night.  It was great to have them to help us get adjusted the first several days.  Brian also enjoyed some high quality "Grammy and Bubba" time.

Things are finally starting to settle down.  My parents left on Monday, and we're slowly getting used to our new situation.  Fortunately, Brian is pretty easy going.  He doesn't cry much (yet) and isn't very fussy.  His sleep schedule is a little backward (sleep all day, party all night), but we're working on that--he actually slept quite a bit last night for the first time (we'll see if that lasts!).

Gwen is still a little sore, but overall is doing pretty well.  We are both grateful to everyone for their support, well-wishes, gifts, etc.  We can't wait for Gwen's parents to get here next week (and not only because they might be willing to help with diaper duty!), and we look forward to introducing him to many of you in person this summer.  We're hoping to split about six weeks between Utah and Maine (July-August).  Hope we can see you then.

For more pics, see our Picasa web album of Brian's first days.