Our double-date to see Il Divo in concert

Bibi and I had our first date as new parents on Saturday night to see Il Divo in concert at the Gibson Amphitheater at Universal Studios Hollywood.

We went with Ron & Jean Mataya and had a great evening out. Grammy & Grampy Pierson came down for the weekend to baby-sit Brianna. It was also great seeing them again!!

What an incredible concert!! For those of you who haven't heard of this group, you really should check them out. Their website is http://www.ildivo.com. They are four guys who sing a mix of opera and popular music with very tight harmony. It is very good music and we had a great evening.

Sorry the pictures are so poor... it was too dark to get good pictures.

Thanks to the Matayas for going with us and to Grammy & Grampy Pierson for babysitting. It was a great evening!

Super Mommy

I know this is hard to believe... so I have pictures to prove it.

This is Bibi just 18 days after having a baby!!! (These pictures were taken on Feb. 22)

She went to the gym once and decided that she still needs to take it easy... but all the work her body is going through to produce so much milk must be burning any extra baby fat she had.



I'm a very happy man...

A 18 días del parto Bibi ya tiene la panza chata! Debe ser todo el trabajo el cuerpo esta haciendo para producir tanta leche para la gorda! Yo, como esposo, ¡ando re-feliz!

One week old

Here is little Bri at 6 days old having some Tummy Time, appropriately on an XS Energy Drink blanket. When she's on her tummy she gets really active and scoots herself around in circles.

On Sabbath afternoon, Feb. 11, we had a 1-week old celebration lunch with Grampy & Grammy Pierson, Great Grandpa & Grandma Bieber,

Tom, Amy & little Cohen Allen,

and Beth Gottschall.

We also saw Jeremy, Wendy & Kiley McGill later that afternoon. We can't wait until April when they are expecting a little boy. You can link to their blog on the right of this page.

Naps with Daddy are the best...

Daddy and Brianna have been getting a bunch of naps together... Here are some pictures Mommy has taken.

There's nothing like the smell of baby hair... one of the true blessings in life...

Dining out as a family

On February 15 we decided to celebrate Brianna's safe and healthy arrival and Valentine's Day by going to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Taverna Tony, in Malibu, CA.

To prepare, Brianna got all cleaned up... 11 days old...



And we headed out to LA. We had lunch with Jeremy's cousin Eric Guttschuss near UCLA, then walked the Prominade in Santa Monica.

We ended the evening with dinner at Taverna Tony (http://tavernatony.com) and had spectacular Greek food, as usual.



Para celebrar el día de San Valentín, fuimos a comer en uno de nuestro restaurante preferido, Taverna Tony que ofrece comida griega exquisita. ¡Pasamos un día espectacular!

Brianna's Smiles

Brianna gives Mommy the best gift when she's done eating... These smiles are priceless.

Cuando Brianna termina de comer, le da el regalo de una sonrisa a la Mami.

Here's a smile at 4 days old.

Here's one at 8 days old.

And another one from day 11.

19 days old

Here are some pictures we took on Feb. 23 of little Bri. She is just such an angel.

She only cries when she's hungry, needs a change of daiper or has gas. So it's pretty easy to figure out what's wrong if she's fussy.

She LOVES her bath time!! We tried the sponge bath and that did not work... she is definately her Daddy's girl... she hates being cold. So now we put her under the spray nozzle in the sink and she just has the greatest time!

After her bath, we combed her hair and got this great picture of her... I think she's starting to look more like Mommy... :-)

Sacamos estas fotos el 23 de Febrero. Brianna es tan buena... no llora a menos que tenga hambre, pañal sucia o gas. Así es re-fácil encontrar lo que pasa si está molesta.

¡Le encanta bañarse! Se tranquiliza y juega con el agua. Después del baño la peinamos y sacamos esta foto espectacular. Se parece mucho más a Bibi en esta foto.

Congratulations to Conan & Amanda

We'd like to congratulate Conan & Amanda Jerrard on the birth of their little boy Jett. He was due mid April, but when he heard Brianna had arrived his competative spirit just couldn't let her get that big of a head start on life. So he arrived on February 18, 2006 (just 2 weeks after Brianna). He is doing absolutely spectacular!!

You can check out their blog by following the link over on the right.

Conan & Jeremy grew up together in Malawi, Africa, and he and Amanda live in Cairns, Australia.

The whole story...

Our little Brianna is growing and doing so well!! Here are some pictures we took of her today at 16 days old. I will also tell you the story of the birth...

Don't forget: You can click on any picture to see it larger.

She is such a happy baby... especially right after feeding. She is giving us the gift of these great smiles after she's nice and full.



Oh, life is good... and comfy...

Here's the story of Brianna's birth:

At 4:00 am on Friday, Feb. 3, 2006, Bibi woke up with strong contractions. They were not regular so we decided to hang out a little so the hospital wouldn't just send us back home.

Bibi was able to rest in bed inbetween the contractions, but by 3:00 pm she was ready to go to the hospital. The contractions were anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes apart, so thought this might be it. We had planned to meet our good friend Jeannie Mai for dinner in LA and as we were driving to the hospital she called to confirm. So Jeannie was the first person to find out we were on our way to have a baby...

When we got to the hospital Bibi was already 4 cm dialated and the doctor ordered an epidural right away. By 4:00 pm Bibi wasn't feeling any more pain, although the contractions just carried on going... Thank God for epidurals! Here is a picture of Bibi and I waiting for the dialation process to happen. Yes, she is having contractions and smiling... epidurals are a miracle... :-)

Bibi was able to sleep from about 4:00 pm to 11:00 pm, by which time she was dialtated to 10 cm. At 11:30 pm, she started pushing. We are so greatful Ileana Burgos, a good friend of ours from Argentina, who was there to help us and support Bibi in the whole process. The pushing lasted for almost an hour.

And at 12:24 am on Saturday, Febuary 4, 2oo6,
Brianna Cherisse Pierson was born.

I had the privilage of cutting the Umbilical cord and freeing our little girl into the world.

One of the reasons we chose to have the baby at Redlands Community Hospital is that they are very family and breast feeding friendly. As soon as the cord was cut, they put her on Bibi's chest where they cleaned her off a little. Then it was off to get measured and weighed in. Daddy needed to calm her down a little with so many new things happening all at the same time!

She weighed in at 7 lbs and 1.4 oz and measured 18 inches long.

After she was cleaned up, weighed and measured, she was bundled up nice and tight. I know she wanted to tell us what a crazy experience she had just been through... "You would never believe what just happened to me...!!!"

Then it was a quick photo op with the greatest OB/Gyn doctor in the world, James Rudolf.

And finally back to Mommy and Daddy... and time to eat!!!

She latched on to feed really well and surprisingly, took in almost an hour and a half feeding the first time!

She was very alert and seemed to be trying to look around, lifting her head and checking out this new and crazy place.

After the feeding and family time we were moved into our Postpardom room. Daddy and Brianna went to get her first bath.

By this time, Brianna was just wiped out. She looked at Daddy with eyes that said, "Just let me sleep now."

So we dressed her up and all three of us got some well deserved sleep.

Later on Saturday afternoon, Grampy & Grammy Pierson came to meet their first grandchild.

And Brianna also met her Great Grandpa & Grandma Bieber.

Of course there was much more time with Mommy & Daddy too...

We spent Saturday night at the hospital and by Sunday afternoon we were ready to go home. So we took Mommy and little Bri out to the car and she got her first car ride.

Finally, after an exhausting, amazing, miraculous and blessed 2 days at the hospital, we got home to start our new life as a new family...

Our Precious Little Angel

Brianna is 6 days old today and getting more beautiful every day. Today she actually turned over all by herself for the first time. We've got a strong little one! She's so cute. Parenthood is just the best thing!