Grandparent love!

Eggi will be the first grandchild on both sides of the family. So the future grandparents are just about as excited about this baby as we are. :) And they're already starting to spoil him -- which, of course, is their prerogative as grandparents! My parents bought us our crib and mattress, which we set up in time for their visit a couple weeks ago.

And David's parents bought us our stroller!



As of about a month ago, we had narrowed down our stroller picks to two possible contenders -- the Maclaren Quest and the Baby Jogger City Classic. We knew we wanted something relatively lightweight, but we wanted to avoid having multiple strollers for different purposes, so we definitely wanted something rugged enough to handle broken sidewalks and the dirt trail along the canal, for outdoor use. After reading a ton of reviews and soliciting recommendations from our new parent friends, we finally settled on the Baby Jogger. And look how cute it is! And how cute I look with it!



It's got an easy one-hand folding system, to be easily tucked away in the trunk of our car. And it's got real tires and a decent shock-absorbing system, so it can handle the things we'll be putting it through. And we can get a carseat adapter for it, so we can use this stroller from the very beginning (since newborn babies need more support and snuggliness than most strollers provide -- and yes, "snuggliness" is the technical term. :))

Oh, and it helps that Baby Jogger strollers haven't just undergone a massive recall, unlike Maclaren. Twelve reports of child fingertip amputations as a result of faulty hinges? That may be a statistically small incidence, but wow, what a horrific injury to suffer... Consider this a Keddiebears public service announcement -- if you own a Maclaren stroller, call or check the website to see about getting your free hinge covers!

We're so thankful for the generosity of our parents. Instead of the rickety cribs and strollers of our own childhoods, our son has solid, fancy, and very attractive gear! This baby still has another two and a half months (hopefully) before he makes his grand debut, and he's already been so blessed by his grandparents!

Bump Watch: 28 Weeks

Twenty-eight weeks, and we're still merrily humming along. :) Even though I'm now into the third trimester, I still feel like I'm in the "honeymoon phase" of pregnancy -- none of the first trimester nausea, and I'm not quite huge enough yet to feel uncomfortable. I know that won't last forever, so we're determined to enjoy being in the pregnancy sweet spot for now!

And here's me at 28 weeks, 2 days --

Aww, look, my shirt matches our crib bedding! :)

In terms of pregnancy milestones, this week I had my glucose tolerance test, the initial screen for gestational diabetes. I had to go into the lab, drink a super syrupy sweet orange drink, wait an hour, and then have my blood drawn. Not so much fun, but definitely a necessary part of the whole pregnancy thing... I haven't heard yet whether I passed or not, but I'm hoping that no news is good news!

At least I'm getting used to the whole needles and blood drawing thing. I also got my H1N1 vaccination this week (taking one of the last available appointments in my area for the entire month), and I was all, needles totally don't bother me anymore... I guess that's a good thing? Because I hear there are needles and IVs and stuff involved in the pain meds you get for labor and delivery?

Anyways... Here's the weekly update on Eggi's growth from BabyCenter.com --

By this week, your baby weighs two and a quarter pounds (like a Chinese cabbage) and measures 14.8 inches from the top of his head to his heels. He can blink his eyes, which now sport lashes. With his eyesight developing, he may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. He's also developing billions of neurons in his brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.

Eyelashes! And blinking! And neuron development! And baby fat to develop cute wee chubby cheeks!

Meanwhile, David has been spending his free time pondering the various theories and ideologies that are supposed to help you get your baby sleep through the night... It's funny to see how our natural tendencies to research things have been channeled into baby prep. :) Not that we have much hope of actually being prepared for how our lives will be turned upside down with Eggi's arrival... But one can always dream, right?

Halloween Party!

For Halloween last weekend, we threw our first party in our new place! We invited our small groups, and had an open invitation to our church's young adult ministry -- we ended up having about twenty people all told, in varying degrees of costumed festivity. :)

It's so fun hosting our small group friends. Everyone always brings a ton of food, and even though I tell myself it'll be different this time, I always end up making too much myself, and we have tons of leftovers afterwards... But it's all good, because the leftovers got to make guest appearances at a birthday party on Sunday, on the PEF fall break service trip this week, and at small group on Wednesday... It's the gift that keeps on giving!

Funny story about Halloween candy... Apparently, if you wait until Halloween itself, and you go to Sam's Club to buy your candy, the only option you'll have left is the giant candy bar fundraising pack. You know, the kind that band kids would walk around with in order to raise money for new uniforms every year? So this year, we were the awesome apartment giving out full-size candy bars (and real ones, too, no off-brand weird stuff for us, no sir!. Or at least, we would have been, if we didn't live in an apartment complex where you have to be buzzed in to enter the front door... Sadly, no children knocked on our door on Saturday.

But at least we had a great group of friends to hang out with!


Me and Eggi's first Halloween costume; Tae and Jeff looking cute, as always!


John as Luther, ready to nail the 95 theses to the Wittenberg church doors


Granstedts and Lieus (and our massive bowl of ridiculously large candy bars)


Some of the food (two other countertops of drinks and snacks!)


Pumpkin carving on our porch!
(This was Andrew's first jack-o-lantern!)


Lis, Milla and Krista -- Krista was amazingly fast at pumpkin carving!


Carrie and Matt as Ms. Frizz and Bill Nye the Science Guy
(Matt had just passed his generals -- so they baked a pumpkin pie from scratch to celebrate!
And by "from scratch," I mean "roasted the pumpkin, and grated cinnamon sticks"...)


Guys vs. girls Taboo!


Andrew is super competitive...


...and so is Matt, in his own way...

We had so much fun having all of you over for the holiday festivities! Both YAC and our small groups are really thriving this year, and we really loved having everyone over. Looking forward to more fun times with this awesome group of friends!

For the full set of Halloween photos, check out this SmugMug gallery.