A Happy Bundle
After five years of marriage, the Welfirds' firstborn is not excess baggage.
Welford family portrait: Stacey, Bruce and baby Marci.
N
ew mom Stacey Welford
says two thing amazed her
following the introduction
of her first baby, daughter
Marci Erin, into her life: She loves
being a mom and an infant can gener-
ate a large volume of laundry.
Since bringing Marci home to her
Sesame Street-decorated room in
Commerce Township in July, Stacey
and husband Bruce, who owns the
Travelers World luggage store in the
Sugar Tree Mall, are enjoying life as a
family of three.
The baby's delivery exceeded all
expectations. Stacey and Bruce arrived
at Sinai Hospital at 1 p.m., and were
the proud parents of a baby girl by
5:18 p.m. Marci was born with a full
head of coal-black hair, weighed six
pounds, seven ounces, and stretched
to 21 inches.
"During my pregnancy, nearly
everyone in both our families was con-
vinced it was a boy," Stacey recalls.
"When she was born, we were
shocked when the doctor told us we
had a girl. We asked if he was sure.
We were thrilled."
Stacey, 30, grew up in Oak Park as
Stacey Gurecki. Bruce, 36, was raised
in West Bloomfield. The pair met at a
Jewish Federation Young Adult Divi-
sion event, the first either had attend-
ed. Their respective roommates
dragged Stacey and Bruce to the party
in the fall of 1991, and after a two-
year courtship the pair married in Sep-
tember 1993.
The couple enjoyed their time as
young marrieds, traveling to the
Grand Cayman Islands, Las Vegas and
Florida. "We wanted to celebrate our
time together, wanted to get to know
each other," she says. But as their five-
year anniversary approached, they
decided to take the leap into parent-
hood.
The transition to parents hasn't
been too difficult, but as Stacey notes,
"Your perspective changes."
"It's really neat. You're suddenly the
mom and the dad, and someone
depends on you. Even when I'm away
from her for a little while, just to do
errands, all I think about is getting
back to her," Stacey says.
Stacey's days now consist of caring
for the baby and doing "a lot of laun-
dry. I'm home all the time now. I've
met a lot of my neighbors."
This month, Stacey plans to return
to work three days a week, as a con-
troller at a local real estate construc-
tion company.
Marci, according to her proud
mother, is a smiling and happy baby.
She is named for her maternal great-
grandfathers, Morris Levin and Morris
Gurecki, and her paternal great-grand-
father, Arnold Weinberger. Morris
Levin died two years ago, and Stacey
hopes Marci inherited his sense of
family closeness. C]
9/25
1998
Detroit Jewish News
57