The long awaited arrival of 2.0

After nine months of waiting and wondering what little bundle of joy would join our family next, we go our answers early Wednesday (November 24th) morning.

I woke up Tuesday morning with mild contractions starting 10 min apart and quickly moving to 5-7 minutes apart. After a few hours of those, we followed the doctor's orders and went to the hospitals. About 30 minutes after getting to the hospital, the triage nurses decided I had not made any progress and my contractions weren't strong enough to warrant me staying in the hospital. So home we went...a little discouraged.

We spent the rest of Tuesday going for walks, sitting on the exercise ball, taking baths and basically just waiting for something to happen. About 9:30pm that night (after having mild contractions every 5 minutes all day) things started to get more intense and contractions moved to about 3 min apart. After a few hours of that (because at this point I wasn't about to get turned away twice), we called the doctor and he strongly encouraged us to come to the hospital ASAP. We made it to triage about 11:20pm, and I was only dialated to 3cm, but my contractions were consistent and very strong so they admitted me.

At about 11:45 the doctor broke my water (with what looked like a knitting needle) and from there things really got moving. I got back in the bath tub for a half hour or so, then back to the bed. Before I knew it, I was ready to push. I did not (much to the dismay of my nurse) wait for the doctor to join us before I started pushing, in fact I think this conversation happened (unless I was a little dilusional)

Nurse: Honey don't push so hard, the doctor isn't here yet and I don't want to have to deliver this baby.


Me: You better tell him to run.

The doctor made it just in time to put on some gloves and deliver our new little bundle of joy.

Abigail Louise Amsterburg

November 24th, 2010 @ 1:45am

8lb 12oz

21.5 inches

More pictures here...

http://www.our365.com/newbornportraits/babydetail.aspx?birthid=3a64f77e-7e1b-427b-a18b-6b437e0d9ff9&babyid=1dea3655-d1c6-499e-8d1d-6f3d71e867a2

Fall is Finally Here

So now that the temperatures are starting to feel more fall like (believe me I am so grateful for this, my little furnace in my tummy keeps me plenty warm!), we have been able to do some fun fall things like rake the leaves and then play in them...

A Day at the Zoo... Zoo Boo that is

This past weekend we took a family trip to the Binder Park Boo Zoo (or Zoo Boo... I can't remember which one it is). Anyways, it was a beautiful day and we had a lot of fun collecting candy, playing with all the decorations and even took a hay ride through the park.

It was way too hot for the kids to keep their costumes on, but we did get a few pictures of them. Both cousin Champe & Natalie were bumble bees.

Aunt Jenni, Thomas, Aunt Annie & Natalie

Checking out the scarecrows (they are her favorite)

Aunt Jenni & Natalie riding the camel

Grandpa & Champe

Oh no watch out for the hippo!

Annual Halloween Festivities

Each year we celebrate Halloween with Phil's mom. We make scary foods, pick out pumpkins, eat too much & then carve our pumpkins. This year we even had a scary dessert making contest. We didn't actually declare a winner, since we were all in a sugar coma by the end.

We went to Gene the Pumpkin man to pick out pumpkins again this year, I mean he even has an orange car, I think he deserves our pumpkin business.

Testing out the pumpkins

Natalie & Nona

Just relaxin.

Even Tula got dressed up to join the party.

Scary baby!!! This was her "Thriller" look, accentuated by a green frosting mustache.

I have to be honest, these pictures make her look a lot more interested in the carving than she actually was. She tried, but didn't want a whole lot to do with the slimy insides.

Thankfully Dad came to the rescue and carved it for her.

Some things you missed...

Here are some of the things we've been up to in the last few weeks since I've posted last...

Watched Phil participate (and come in 2nd) in his annual Corporate Olympics volleyball games.

Went to the apple orchard with Nona.

Tailgated for MSU football season.

Played with cousin Champe.
Attended a "Sprinkle" shower hosted by my favorite cousin Staci. It was very well done and basically consisted of a small group of family only (sorry everyone else) eating a lot of food and visiting. No gifts were allowed aside from books for baby 2.0.

My mother is taking a cake making class and this is just one of her many masterpieces.

Cousin Staci (our marvelous hostess) and Arianna.
Aunt Sharon & Natalie at the Sprinkle.

Lightning Strikes Twice

This summer we had a pretty mild storm actually that resulted in lightning striking two of our trees right by our house. Thankfully neither of them fell down (at least from the storm) and we didn't even lose power! That is an amazing feat for us, because we lose power all the time!

So of course this was a great opportunity for Phil and his dad to cut down some more trees (although they are the ones he really wanted to cut down, that is still up for debate, but they'll do). So one Saturday this summer after the storm, our friend Randy & his brother came over and the four boys cut down two trees in our front yard. Natalie, Tula and I cheered them on and brought them Gatorade. :)

Tree #1

Tree #2
Randy helping cleanup once the tree was down.

Rob working his magic with the chain saw.

The aftermath.

In case you didn't notice

Baby Maltburg 2.0 will be joining us in just 90 short days (13 weeks) or less!

Yes that's right sportsfans I am currently almost 7 months pregnant with baby # 2. Everything is going well so far, we've had two ultrasounds and everything is normal and healthy. This pregnancy has been a little rougher than the first since I am getting far less sleep/rest this time around with a little monster running all over the place. I'm finally past the "sick" phase which lasted about 5 months. I'm currently in the honeymoon phase (as my friend referred to it) which lasts about 1 month and soon I'll be moving into the uncomfortable/is this over yet phase for the last 3 months.

Let's see if I can cover all the questions for you:

Due date is November 22nd.
We did not find out the sex of the baby.
Natalie & 2.0 will be 18 months apart.
Thomas (my nephew) & 2.0 will be 4 months apart.
I'm feeling good...for now.

Pictures Galore

Here are a ton of random pictures to explain the last few months. Enjoy!

My little jazzersize baby.

Annie & Natalie

Pool time at Grandma & Grandpa's
Wearing Annie's goggles.

Grandpa & Natalie all dressed up.

Why buy toys when she can always play with Grandpa's chest hair?

My new cousin!

So pretty!

Favorite summer food: Corn on the Cob courtesy of Grandpa Amsterburg

Summer weddings!

Lugnuts game with the Amsterburg family.

Bird sanctuary with Nona.

Visit in the D with my friend Jess (feeding the deer).

Jayda & Natalie on Belle Isle

Learning from the best!

Jess & Natalie