Happy Chrismahanukwanzakuh!

The two of us both have the week off from work, so have enjoyed getting to have some time together and get some things done that are on "do before the baby gets here" list. As you can see, napping was high on my priority list, along with my plethora of pillows supporting every possible body part. (Jason liked that Sydney follows me everywhere - see her below the bookshelves?)

We would have loved to be with family this holiday, but since I'm technically grounded now, we hung out down here. BTW - Christmas in Houston SUCKS when you are from the midwest. On Christmas Day, we were in t-shirts eating at outdoor cafes! I know those of you in the midwest are saying "oh that's so sad - it was only 4 DEGREES HERE" but when you're used to snow and cold on Christmas, it's a hard habit to break. We made the best of it, though. :)

Today we ordered a new dining room table and a coffee table for the living room, so we are slowly but surely pulling the house together. Tomorrow is a big day... CRIB DELIVERY!

Xbox insanity and hiccups

The true poison that is the Xbox has kicked in at our house. The last two nights, I have no idea what time Jason has come to bed. A few days ago he found the NBA game for $5 somewhere, so it's ON! Today Jas starts vacation until January 3, and I know he was calling his friend Eric, who is also home today, to come over and play with him. :)

On my side of the world, I felt the baby's first case of hiccups a few days ago. We were at home, so Jason was able to feel it, too. He/she had them this morning again, too. Very cute! Subtle little movement, but cute. Last night was not so cute - baby was kicking like an alien who wanted out NOW! My stomach was making sharp moves from left to right - nothing subtle about that, but very funny to watch! Hopefully the baby was turning around so it will be head-down for delivery. Today is the start of Week 34.

Buying baby stuff!

We made the big trip to Babies R Us on Friday. We picked up the stroller, the car seat, the extra car seat base, the Diaper Champ (Jason's personal favorite), and ordered the crib and mattress. Then Jason spent the weekend putting it all together. As you can see, we left with quite a cart full! (Yes, that's Jason waving from behind the cart.)

How many KIDS?

For those who haven't heard me tell this on the phone yet, recently my Mom decided that she's so sure I will be a good parent, that she found a way for me to be able to do it all by myself! Yes, she sent Jason his Hanukkah gift early. JASON GOT AN XBOX. Of course, the night it came, I had a meeting, so when I got home, this picture shows what I saw. :) Jason's been figuring out how he can play with the baby strapped to his chest in the Baby Bjorn. Actually, we've been playing the racing game and it's pretty fun. Very different than the Atari I grew up on!! The control vibrates when you go off the road and all. Very cool!

Painting baby's room

Even though Jason was sick this weekend, he wanted to make sure that one of our "to do" list items got done -- painting the baby's room. I taped and he painted. This picture was taken right afterward, so we haven't cleaned up, done anything else to decorate, or put the furniture in, but I wanted to share the color. We love it! We took one of the polka dot sheets for the crib to the store and matched it. The rest of the bedding are shades of this color and blues, with stripes and polka dots. Also, we bought a glider for the baby's room this weekend!

Thanksgiving

Jason and I spent Thanksgiving in Houston. Jason was fighting a bad cold, so the weekend included a lot of eating, reading, sleeping, and watching movies, which is JUST FINE! We cooked a big dinner for Thanksgiving and pretty much lived on the leftovers all weekend. Isn't that what Thanksgiving is all about??

End of Second Trimester Pic

Wow -things have changed! At this point, I'm 27 weeks along. I've put on about 15 pounds, and switched from running to walking a couple months ago. The baby moves A LOT. And, this is the absolute last time I wore that sports bra, as it was quite a commotion trying to get in and out of it. I was trying to be consistent for the sake of pictures, but no more. (ugh!)

Baby Shower in STL

On Sunday, some great family members and friends (Aunt Therese, Theresa, Aunt Leslie, Lindsay and Gail)threw me/us a baby shower. It was a beautiful event! My parents were able to come to town, too, and it was their first time seeing me being pregnant (Dad seeing me the day we told him doesn't count, since I wasn't showing). Jason's grandparents were able to come in from Pittsburgh, too. Every chance I got to let a family member feel the baby kicking, I tried! And it was great to see some friends I haven't seen in a while (Rebecca, Sue, Beth).

First Halloween in New House

You cannot imagine how excited Jason was for this. He planned for weeks what was going to be outside, what kind of candy to give, etc. We forgot to take a picture of the house, but we had cobwebs kids had to walk under to get to the front door, scary screams playing from the windows, and a strobe light in the front room. Unfortunately, it rained for the first time in weeks right on Halloween, at 5:00pm. So, our beautifully-spun cobwebs looked like wet cotton candy on the bushes and not many kids came out. It finally quit raining around 6:30 or 7:00, so we did get to see some of the older kids. Jason was enjoying it as much as they were, I think. Anyway, here are our pumpkins we carved!

Childbirth classes

Tonight we started Childbirth Classes! We're taking them at St. Luke's hospital, where we'll be delivering. It's an 8-week course (2 hours/night, once/week) that covers labor, delivery, breathing, infant care, and breastfeeding. And believe it or not, of the 24 COUPLES in the class, we are the ONLY ones who didn't find out if they were having a boy or a girl!!

Trip to Seattle

Many friends who have kids already said that we should take one last trip together before they baby arrives, so we headed to Seattle, WA for five days. We've decided since we live in Houston, October is the perfect time of year for us to take a vacation and go somewhere with fall weather. Early October is about the "breaking point" for us, when we expect fall weather but it's still 90 and humid in Houston. The weather was great in Seattle, and we had a hotel only 4 blocks from Pike's Place Market! The other pic is from the top of the Space Needle.

Visit from the Lustberg side

Labor Day weekend, Debbie and Harvey came from STL and Lindsay came from Minneapolis. It was there first time seeing the new house and the new belly. We had a great time hosting in the 'burbs, though it was DARN HOT. Lindsay and Debbie took Jill shopping for maternity clothes (as I don't fit into most of my pants anymore), which resulted in some cute other little purchases, as seen with Jason. And Jason and Harvey got to go golfing at the neighborhood course.

End of First Trimester Pic

This is the official end-of-first trimester picture. I'm about 14 weeks along, and MAY have put on about 2 pounds. No morning sickness, feeling good, still running 4 days/week. And eating about every 12 minutes!!

Second Sonogram

Today as part of some early genetic testing, I had a second sonogram. This was the first time it was actually moving and you could see fingers and arms and all! I just kept saying "That's a baby!" Here, Little One has it's hand right next to it's face.

Sharing the News and Moving into the House

This weekend was a busy weekend! Jill's Dad came in from Dubuque to help us move into the new house. Little did he know we needed more help than we let on prior to him getting here. He arrived on Jill's birthday (July 14) and we spent the day packing. That night, we spent the evening telling Dad in person, then everyone else via phone, that there was a baby coming! Of course, nothing ever goes as planned, so Lindsay finally got a call close to midnight and Grandma and Papa Miller got a call the next day. We were grateful Dad was there to help, because there were certain things I couldn't lift, and painting I couldn't be around. And, he took Jason shopping for a lawn mower, since Jason has never cut grass in his life!

First Sonogram

Our first sonogram, on July 1. Let's be honest... it's a fuzzy clump. Still, it's our official first picture of the baby! The little Xs mark the two ends of the baby. The baby is 1.6cm long!

Jill's "Sort of Before" Picture

June 13. At this point I'm about 6 weeks pregnant, which is as close to a "before" picture as we're gonna get.

New House to go with New Baby

Yesterday, we found out we are pregnant, due February 7. And today, we found out that we got the house we put a bid on a couple days ago. So within about 24 hours, we have gone from a childless couple living inside the loop in an apartment to a Mommy and Daddy to be who just bought a house in the suburbs! Whew! Big changes to come! We'll be closing on the house on July 15.

The Big News!

With so many family and friends far away, and Baby Lustberg coming in February, we figured we needed to find a way to keep up with everyone without completely filling Inboxes constantly. So, welcome to our blog. We plan to post something about once every week or so, if we can really keep up with it. Feel free to remind us.

We're backdating this post and will do so for several others, just so we have a record of the getting-ready-for-baby process. So to start, here is the picture taken about one minute after we found out we were going to be parents, still sitting in the doctor's office, right after Jill stopped crying. Enjoy the humor!