Merry Christmas!

**Please Note - turn off the music at the bottom of the blog to hear the videos.

This morning we woke up to not only presents left by Santa but a blizzard out our front door. We are snowed in this Christmas. But spending time with Augustine is the best gift of all. Augustine slept through most of the gift opening. He got some great gifts from Santa and our St Louis family. He received 2 DVDs, Snow White & Pinocchio, a set of Cars books, a book of St. Augustine's quotes, and First Christmas ornaments. Oma and Papa (Grandma & Grandpa Hagy) sent Augustine a video cam to hook up to Mommy's laptop to watch him grow. Grandpa & Nana (Grandpa & Grandma Berthold) gave his parents a FLIP video to record our favorite Augustine's moments. So please enjoy.

Right now daddy is snow blowing the driveway. While mommy and Augustine are chilling out inside with the fireplace. I'd much rather be inside.


May you all have a blessed and merry Christmas!
Abi, Andy, & Augustine

A Letter to Babies R Us

Dear Babies R Us in Omaha,

Thank you for the Mother's Room. Today, while shopping with my son, we really got to experience the wonderful benefits of having this room. My son needed several diaper changes and a feeding. He felt really comfortable that he made 3 BMs and went through 4 diapers. Luckily, we got out of there before having to buy diapers.

Thank you very much,

Mom of Augustine

3 weeks of Life

Today, Augustine is 3 weeks old. Andy is on Christmas vacation. And we're sleeping more at night. Augustine slept 6 hours in a row last night! This is not the first time. We're very impressed by our little man learning days verse nights. He is staying up for several hours during the day and has big eyes that melt our hearts. We're really enjoying our time getting to know Augustine.

First photo session

Our little man had his photos taken on Sunday, December 6 at our home by Jess of Jaybee Images. Jess took our maternity photos in October. He did an excellent job. We were very pleased with Jess's work. Now I can start working on the official birth announcements.

The clock starts

When your water breaks the clock starts. Many OB doctors want the baby born within 12 hours. I didn't feel contractions when my water broke. Only 10 percent of women start labor by their waters breaking. The best part about my water breaking to start labor is that we knew I was in labor. The worst part was that we had to go to the hospital right away. I could not labor at home or take a bath to relax like I had planned. I even scrubbed the tub while nesting on Wednesday evening.

I called my OB to let her know. She instructed us to head to the hospital right away. I called my birth instructor. We made it to the hospital within one hour. I got hooked up the machine for a 20 minute strip. My nurse said I did have contractions about 4 minutes apart. She wanted to put me on Pit right away to get stuff started. We said that we preferred to walk the halls a while to start contractions. Andy and I walked for a few hours in between being hooked up the machine and getting checked. At about 4:20am, I was progressing slowly. My OB and nurse agreed to put me on Pit at that time because I was up against the clock. Being hooked to the Pit included an IV and me to stay in bed. Pit contractions were not fun. At one point, I asked the nurse to turn off the Pit because I didn't know my body. Andy said that I acted totally different once the Pit contractions started. My body wanted to push at 8cm. The nurse didn't let me push. I finally got fully dilated at 7:45am and was able to push.

I pushed for 20 minutes and he was here. My nurse did call my OB once I got to 10 cm. She did not arrive in time for the delivery. The nurse had to call in a resident to deliver our son because I was going so fast. Pushing was the easiest part of the labor.

Andy did a wonderful job as a coach. It was an amazing experience that I was so happy to share this with him.

Now we have a terrific son to start our family.

THE Day...

The above photos are the last ones of me before labor started. These were taken on Wednesday before Thanksgiving after work. I felt huge!

My finally OB appointment was Tuesday afternoon. At that time I was dilated 1 cm and my OB didn't think that I was going to "go" over Thanksgiving weekend. My official due date was Saturday, December 5. We proceed with the holiday weekend as planned.

Sunday morning I felt good so I attended pre-natal yoga. I joked at yoga that I would be back the next week. The rest of the day went normal. We did some shopping and work around the house. Andy and I had to go to Lowe's to return and reorder new shades. Then I went to Sam's to get batteries. Several of our baby items needed batteries. I didn't stay long at Sam's. I would normally have walked the store.

When I got home, Andy's dad and step-mom came over to give us our Christmas present early, just in case. They gave us a FLIP camera. Then we had tilapia, cus cus, and veggies for dinner. After dinner Andy went to work on our bathroom projects and I cleaned up the kitchen to get ready for Monday. Just as I was about to start making a crockpot meal for Monday evening. I was squatting to look for stuff in the pantry and that's when it started. My water broke. The rest starts here....

Annoucing Baby Berthold

Welcome Augustine Otto Berthold!

He was born on Monday, November 30, 2009 at 8:09am. He was 7 lbs 7oz and 20 3/4 inches long.

Labor started on Sunday evening at the "perfect time", 8pm. I had just finished cleaning up dinner and getting ready to make lunches for Monday and dinner in the crockpot. My water broke and we headed to the hospital. Labor lasted 12 hours including 25 minutes of pushing. Everything went well and we had a happy and healthy baby boy.

Mom, Dad, and Augustine are all doing well.

Picture Time...

Last weekend, Mr. B and I had our maternity photo shoot with Jess of Jaybee Images in Omaha. We were on location at her grandparents' farm just Northwest of Omaha. It was a chilly fall day (my birthday) and we had a lot of fun! Check out the sneak peak from Jaybee Images. Jess is planning to get us all the images in a few days! She'll also be doing our newborn photos when "Jack" arrives.

STL Shower 2

Erin has posted pictures and a review of my STL Shower 2: AKA Open house at my parents for "Jack".

We had tons of fun! Check it out!

This weekend, my parents & sister are traveling to us for Shower #3 on Halloween. It should be a spooky time.

It's Shower Time!

This weekend we traveled to STL for "Jack's" baby shower. There were actually two showers. For lunch we went to the church. Then my sister hosted an open house at my parents house. I don't have photos of the evening shower. Hopefully, Erin will post some soon. Jack received some great items to start include 3 home-made blankets, toys, and BumGenius diapers. Here are some photos of the church shower.

We've done it!

We're moved into our new home. It's a crazy mess right now with all the projects that are going on. This includes replacing all the floors in the upstairs and painting just about everything. We are currently living in boxes and stuff doesn't have a "home" yet. But we feel comfortable that we're home in our new home. It's a busy week. We're headed to STL on Friday for the weekend. It's the baby shower for STL. It will be a quick trip the Lou - because we'll be headed back home early Sunday morning. Baby needs to hang out for about another 8 weeks before making his/her arrival. Hopefully, the house repairs will be done by then and there will be a new normal in my world to relax and wait for our first child.

Until later... have a great day!

We're moving!

The date is set and the house is picked out. We're moving a short 7 blocks from our current home on October 9th.

Here is the home:

Kitchen

Family Room with gas fireplace

Formal Dining Room, we're most likely going to use as an office because we don't have a real dining room table.

Finished basement with bar area. There is a lot of room for Mr. B to have football parties down here. :)

Features we like:
I got my jetted tub in the master bath - SWEET!
Mr. B got his 27 foot deep garage. Do think that is enough space for his tools and Trans Am? I hope so.

Things that need fixing:
The current owners have a big dog. The first time we visited the house it didn't smell like dog. I saw an outside food/water bowl and a kennel. So we thought, great an outside dog, that won't be too bad. Then the next two times it smelled like dog really bad. Because of my allergies and bringing a new baby home in this December, we've decided to replace the upstairs carpet and paint. Then have the air duct cleaned. I've always wanted my air ducts cleaned and I'm really excited about it. I think it will help with my allergies.

The other news about the home is from the inspection. Our inspector found 2 cracks in the furnace. So it needs to be replaced. He even removed the gas line to the furnace for safety reasons. The A/C was peed on by the dog. The inspector and the home warranty guy said it wasn't good. The sellers brought an HVAC person out to see it. This person said the urine didn't hurt the function of the A/C. However, it will need to be replaced soon. So we're working on that. We have asked the sellers to replaced the furnace and a/c. We are waiting to hear from our agent.

Our home projects this fall will be working towards a date that God only knows. We'd like to have everything done before Thanksgiving. No we're not hosting Turkey Day this year. We just need stuff to be completed by then. Then again, I might host if the food is brought to me. Who is bringing the White Castles from STL?

Big Foot is coming to town...

We've got a new nickname for "JACK", it's "Big Foot". We had our third ultrasound on Tuesday (9/1/09). The ultrasound tech was very impressed by the size of our child's feet. I sure do feel those feet all the time. Because the baby has more fat than before, there are several 4D ultrasound photos we were able to take.

The next time we see "JACK" or "Big Foot" will be on his/her birthday. We're excited to meet our little one with big feet.

25 Weeks

Week 25 is HERE! Yesterday, we looked at more houses and lectured at church. Since Mr. B was well dressed yesterday (sorry no photo) we went to PF Chang's for a date night! PF Chang's is one of our favorite places to celebrate. We like to go there for birthdays, holidays (Valentine's Day) and what ever else we feel like. You must have a reservation to get a table or wait for like an hour. This time we went because we had a gift card from our anniversary. Thanks Aunt Susie & Aunt Carol! We didn't use it all. So we'll have to go back soon. Not a problem in this family.

Enjoy your week. Please keep praying for a health baby and for us to find the right home for our family. I feel we're close to making a decision soon. I'll give you all the details when I know for sure.

love, Mr. & Mrs. B

24 Weeks

These photos were taken on Saturday. Yes, it's taken almost a week to upload them. We've been a little busy. Tomorrow starts 25 Weeks. I'll attempt to get those up faster.

What I'm working on:

I'm on vacation today. So that means I'm going to relax and get a massage. Then do some shopping in the afternoon. I've got to find some fall/winter maternity clothes for work, Mr. B's 30th birthday is coming up in a few weeks (ideas please), and whatever else I find along my journey. :)

Have a great weekend!

12 days...

No, that is not how long since my last post. That is the amount of days to took for our house to sell while listed on the market. Yes, 12 days! Our house had two offers by Sunday evening and we signed one of the offers on Monday. Monday was the first day of school. Needless to say, I was busy. Our agent had to drive to Mr. B's work to have him sign and then drive out to me for me to sign.

I'm happy someone fell in love with our home. We were shocked that it went so fast. But it was truly the right timing for us to put the house on the market during all the craziness of this summer. Last night, after we turned out the lights I said to Mr. B, I don't even remember what happened in June. That is how crazy and busy our summer has been. Now summer is over with school starting this week for Mr. B and I. Campus is full of students who are lost and the parking lot is packed with cars. These are good signs of a growing college. I'm happy things are going well.

Now, when I tell people that our house sold, they kindly ask "What are your plans?" My favorite answer is "I don't know." We've looked into building a new home and have explored some options of homes on the market. We do have just under 60 days until our close date. So we do have some time to find what we're looking for. But now we're down to business to find a home. We're looking for a home together as a family. That has a nice sound to it.

Our Home Sweet Home

We've done it! The house is finally on the market. If you'd like to check it out please visit our agents website at http://omahahometeam.com and click on "Our Listings". Our home is on Redwood Street. The house has never been so clean and organized since before we met.

Only a few people saw it worst. The summer I moved in the living room was stacked 4 feet high of my stuff from the apartment. Now look at it. We've really worked hard for the right person to come along and fall in love with this house. So please come along and fall in love with it.

23 Weeks

Week 23 photos. "Jack" weighs about 1 pound now and is the size of a small doll.

We're having a GIRL!

Last night, we accomplished some major baby things.

Cotton Babies is having a great sale this weekend. Buy 6 bumGenius 3.0 one-size Pocket Diapers and get one free. This is the diaper store that I checked out in STL a few weeks ago. If you buy a single diaper the price is almost $18 per diaper. But with the sale this weekend the diaper is under $15 each. I thought it was the right time to start my collection of the best selling clothe diaper. I did show Mr. B how to use the diapers on a YouTube video. Then he asked why do you want the pocket ones. I told him the pocket diapers grow with the child. The All-in-Ones you have to buy new diapers as the child grows. So I think we need a combination of both Pockets & AIOs. But Pockets were on sale this weekend. Check it out if you're interested in getting some diapers at a great price. The friends that I know use them are very happy with the bumGenius, including JP3.

Yes, I told you a while back that we weren't going to find our the sex of our child. We still didn't find out the sex. We started our registry. If you know my husband at all, you know how much he loves cars and football. The oldest member of our family is a 1978 Trans Am. Therefore, the youngest member of our family will also have the passion for cars and things that move as his/her father. Well during this registry experience Mr. B wanted to scan everything that was "car" related. So if you go to pull up our registry at Babies R Us you will see that some items are listed as "boy". Not blue or car, it's "boy". We decided through this process as excited Mr. B was about registering for "boy" items we had to be having a girl.

As for the rest of the registry experience, we many some decisions of some major items. We found a high chair that can be used converted and bedding that we liked. The sales person at BRU was very pushy when we gave her back our scan thingy. The top page was a list of items we had not registered for yet. She said, these are still the things you'll need. Thank you very much. But I don't have to register for everything here. I'll have to go back and look at bottles and diaper bags. I was very overwhelmed with those areas of the store that I just had to pass for the item being.

Off to another great day of house hunting. Have a great one!

"Your Wife is HOT..."

"You should buy her an ICEE".

It was too funny not to share. I saw this on a billboard this morning on my way to work. I just love ICEEs as you know.

Anyway, I had a doctor's appointment this afternoon. Baby's heart rate was 160 and she measured me for the first time. I've gained 7 pounds in a month. But last month I didn't gain anything. I can tell that I'm eating more the last few weeks. Plus we've ate out more often. We we're out of town a lot plus I don't like to cook alone.

Right now I'm working on for the baby:
1. Figuring out childcare - we're on the waiting list for the campus childcare and we still need to visit one more place
2. Need to start interviewing pediatrician - if you have a recommendation in my area please email me with the doctor's name and why you like him/her
3. Registry for the baby - I know we'll register at Cotton Babies for the Bum Genius diapers. Everyone registers at Target and Babies R Us. I just need to see what they have in the store. I have no idea what we need.
4. Pick out a car seat - because I was born in OK and traveled a lot to visit family in STL, my grandparents have offer to buy "Jack's" car seat. "Jack" will do a lot of traveling like mommy.
5. Make sure that I stay healthy for the next 18 weeks or so.

Have a great day!

WOW it's August already?!?!?!?!

Where has the time gone in the month of July? I looked at my calendar at work on Thursday and couldn't remember what happened this month. Well please let me recap some of our highlights of the month. Or really why I haven't posted in an entire month.

House

We have been working every spare moment to put our house on the market. It will be official on Wednesday this week. Our house looks awesome, I may say so myself. It has never been this clean. Now I just have to live in a model home until it sells. We have been relocated the stuff in our home to Mr. B's mom's house and a storage unit. Believe it or not, the Trans Am actually started and drove down the street. I couldn't believe it. Mr. B's first "baby" is now parked in our storage unit with Historical Plates. We have 2 spaces in the garage, but he still parks the truck outside. ??? Hopefully, this house will sell fast.

Work

Mr. B did 3 weeks of summer school. I continued to work. Orientation started on July 24th. It is going much better than last summer. I think I know what I'm doing this time around. A lot of the people at the college are noticing it. There are 2 more orientations this week. Then 4 the week before school starts in August 17.

Baby

Doing well. We are calling the baby "Jack" for the moment. This is not the name we have chosen for our little one. My grandma started calling the baby Jack. It's fitting. I have another appointment this Tuesday.

Travel
For our anniversary we traveled down to KC for the weekend. It was a lot of fun. We had great meals out and enjoyed each other. It was good to get away.

On Sunday (our actual anniversary) I got sick right after church. We headed back home. The evening ended in the ER because I wasn't getting any better. I have no idea how I got sick. But it wasn't fun. I'm much better now.

Then the next weekend we traveled to STL to visit the family. Mr. B had training in STL the week after. So it was perfect timing to go down there. "Jack" didn't like the plane ride down there. It was not good. The way back way much better. In STL we went to Crown Candy because it was on Mr. B's favorite Travel Channel show, Man v. Food last season. And it's a STL landmark. Yes, that is a Chocolate Banana Malt. Don't you just want one? I know I could use another.

We had a BBQ at the house. Got to meet our friends Angela and Nate's little boy, John Paul (aka JP3) and talk about baby and house stuff.

Sunday night, we took Mr. B to his first Muny Show, The Music Man. It was really good. I had not been to the Muny in 4 years. I can't remember the last show I saw. But Music Man is a favorite of mine. Oh yes, it brought back loving freshmen year memories. Mr. B enjoyed the show too. I think we'll take him again.

Monday was my parents' 30th wedding anniversary. Mom, sister, and I had a great girls day getting massages, checking out cloth diapers at Cotton Babies, and shopping for maternity clothes. Dad and Mr. B worked. We did have dinner together before they put me on a plane back home.

While I returned home, Mr. B and my parents had a great time in Stl. Mr. B and my dad went to the really long Cards game on Wednesday night. Saw my cousin's band play Thursday. I think my parents enjoyed our visit to STL more than us.

Well, I think that is it for now. Please pray for our home to sell fast and a safe a health pregnancy.

22 weeks!

Yep, I'm over the half way mark already. This isn't my best photo. But I needed to get it done. As you can see I really look pregnant. People I don't know are making comments. This shirt was a gift from Mr. B' mom. Isn't it cute?

Lack of Posting

I'm sorry there has been a lack of posting. I did want to give you a quick update on our life.

Baby -
I'm now 18 weeks. This afternoon we have another doctor's appointment. The last few weeks I've been feeling really good. However, I get headaches in the afternoons. It's manageable with a nap or regular soda/pop. I don't like taking meds right now. The doctor has prescribed a Rx, but I rarely take it.

4th of July -
One word to describe it: WEIRD. It was cold and more like a tailgate for a football game in October. I even wore a hoodie and jeans. Food was good and friends were great. Thanks for all those that celebrated with us.

House -
The biggest one of them all. It all started June 26th. Thus the reason for not posting since then. I got home from work and we had some time. Mr. B has been asking to go look at model homes of the local builders for weeks. And I haven't had an opportunity to do so. They were going to be open for a few more hours before joining friends for a show. So we went. And that's when it started. That whole weekend we ran around town looking at models.

We have a "starter" home. It's great for someone that can take advantage of the current tax credit. So we would like to put our home on the market to take advantage of the buyers market in our price range.

Last week we've met with the bank. This week we're interviewing agents about selling our home. And sometime I need to find time to pack up our home and get it into a self-storage unit. There so much stuff in our home that we have to move before we can show the house. We don't have a date in mind yet to put the house on the market. But I'm thinking by the end of the month. However, we have a vacation planned to KC, I'm going to a meeting in Des Monies, and Mr. B has a training STL all by the end of the month.

God please give us the strenght and time to find do what needs to be done to sell our home.

That's all for now. Have a good day!

Baby Pics

I know you must be getting tired of see only photos of me. So today you're in for a special treat. BABY PHOTOS!!!!!
Our second ultrasound was on Tuesday. Here is a little one we'd like to show the world.

We held true and didn't find out the sex. Mr. B said it was very tempting to know. Me - I didn't have a problem saying "NO" when the tech asked if we wanted to know. Hope you enjoyed our little one for now. The next time we'll have photos is in 10 weeks at my 26 week appointment. Enjoy.

Info Update

How far along: 16weeks
Net weight gain/loss: 7-8 pounds
Maternity clothes: Oh yes
Stretch marks: none thanks to Mama Bee's
Belly button: still an innie & getting bigger I think
Sleep: still pretty good
Baby movement: nothing definitive yet, but I'm hopeful there soon will be
Food cravings: nothing new
Food aversions: nothing, unless it has a weird smell
What I miss: Regular Coffee
Looking forward to: our ultrasound this Tuesday!
Best moment this week: Giving Mr. B his first father's day card from Me and Baby
Milestones: people are asking me if I'm pregnant

Week 15 & 16

Week 15 - June 14
Photo taken by Mr. B right before we went to play golf with my parents while they were visiting for the CWS.

Week 16 - June 21 Father's Day & First Day of SUMMER

Taken by Mr. B. (Yes, this are different outfits)

Fun Fact: Baby is the size of an apple!!! Maybe I should have an apple this afternoon with peanut butter and Laughing Cow Cheese - yummy!