Bon Voyage!

Yesterday we bid "Bon Voyage" to my friend, Yael, who traveled all the way from Paris to meet Baby Charlie. Yael and I met fourteen years ago through a foreign exchange program after I completed my first year of French in middle school. She flew all the way here without knowing anything about where she was going or who she was staying with for a whole month, quite brave for a 13 year old if you ask me! We have remained very close throughout the years and every few years travel back and forth over the ocean to visit each other.

This past week we took full advantage of my maternity leave with opportunities that got me out of the house more than before Charlie was born! Since most of her previous visits have taken place during the warmer months, she was very "lucky" to have the experience of a REAL Minnesota winter this time! She got to meet Aaron, see our house and where I work, look through wedding photos, read the French books to Charlie that Katie brought back with her, spend time with family in Vadnais, go to the dog park with Abby, help me pick out a tree and put up Christmas decorations, saw The Christmas Carol at the Guthrie, shopped at the Mall of America and SUPER Target, took the light rail to a Timberwolves Game, visited the Walker Art Center, and dined at 20.21 at a window side table overlooking Hennepin Avenue. Aside from all of that, she also got a few lessons regarding life with a newborn baby! Phew!! We were quite sad to see her go, but I have many new fond memories to keep here with me of the fun things we did and the time she got to spend with my new family! We look forward to one day providing Charlie the opportunity to visit Paris and meet his French family, the Rauzada's!

Thanksgiving Celebrations

We have so much to be thankful for this year, but most of all we are thankful for our wonderful family and this week we got to spend time with so many of them! The Thanksgiving festivities started last weekend with a dinner at Aunt Leah and Uncle Chris's house Sunday night. I didn't think much could top the fantastic meal we had there that night, but then it was off to Great Aunt Gail's house for most of the day Thursday where we gorged ourselves on another tremendous meal! The above picture was taken of Charlie (passed out from too much Tofurkey!) with his own personal pumpkin pie, courtesy of Aunt Katie! The week would not have been complete without spending some time with Grandma and Grandpa Berglund, so off we went on our first road trip as a new family, dog and all! Luckily Charlie was a good boy and slept the whole two hour car ride each way giving us the courage to make the trip again for Christmas! We had a great time in Wisconsin, even though Charlie didn't get to see much of it since he didn't ever leave the house. Our time there was spent eating more great food (of course), snuggling by the fireplace, and taking lots of pictures! Below you will see what I have come to understand as the single most beautiful expression in the world, Charlie's smile. He began to smile socially a couple of weeks ago . . . the first time it happened he looked right into my eyes, gave me a toothless grin from ear to ear, my heart melted and tears sprang to my eyes. I now look forward to seeing that perfect smile every morning, it is the best part of my day! And he had plenty of smiles to share over the Thanksgiving holiday with all the family whole loves him!

To Grandmothers House We Go!

This sure was a weekend of firsts for our new family! On Saturday afternoon we took Charlie out for his first ride in the stroller Grandma Patti and Grandpa John gave him! I don't know who was more excited to get out of the house for a walk in the beautiful weather, me or Abby! We strolled up the block to the park where Abby likes to have the stick thrown for her (trying to kill two birds with one stone, of course). Charlie slept the whole time, but I think the fresh air did him good!

Then that night Aunt Leah came over with some brownies and participated in another landmark first with me. Together the three of us toasted to Charlie by celebrating my first glass of wine in almost a year! Wow, did that taste good!! Anyone who knows me well knows that going that long without wine was a big sacrifice, but our precious little baby was totally worth the wait! Now all I can say is thank god for "pumping and dumping!"

And then Sunday night we took our first (non-doctor office) outing as a family up to Grandma Linda's house for dinner. Most of the evening was spent talking to and about Charlie of course, he sure is an entertainer! He was such a good boy the whole visit, slept through our dinner so that we could all eat in peace and then woke up to play after a diaper change and some dinner of his own. We all joked about how much life has changed in the past year, it's just amazing really! This holiday season will be so much more special than last years now that we get to celebrate with little Charlie. I can't wait to watch him grow through the years and eventually see his eyes light up with the sights and sounds of the holidays!

Birthday Tree

My parents planted a tree in the front yard of our house in St. Paul when I was born in honor of the birth of their first child, and this weekend Aaron and I did the same. My mom gave us a gift certificate to Gerten's Nursery as a wedding gift and this is what we intended to use it for all along. When we bought our house a little over two years ago, it actually only had one tree on the property. A lone birch stood in the front on our small South Minneapolis lot but got so sick that we had to cut it down this summer, so we were quite excited to have the opportunity to replace it!

Aunt Leah and Aunt Katie came over on Saturday afternoon to babysit while we ran out to the store. We chose a Sunburst Honeylocust that will present a beautiful bright green color in the spring. It surprisingly (barely) fit into our Rav4, we didn't even have to pay for delivery! We chose a spot in the back yard to plant it, hoping that it will eventually provide some much needed shade for the poor, burn-out grass back there! In the picture attached you can also see the wood fence that Aaron built last year to completely enclose the yard for Abby . . . didn't he do a nice job?!

Happy birthday, Charlie, may both you and the tree grow big and strong in the years to come!

Here we go!

So excited to use this new blog (my very first attempt at a blog, actually) to keep everyone updated about the happenings in our new family!

Charles John Berglund was born at 1:28pm on Thursday, October 15th, 2009 at St. John's Hospital in Maplewood. It was hands down the most amazing experience of mine and Aaron's lives so far, and I think a pretty special moment for Grandma Linda to have shared in as well. I had a pretty easy pregnancy, all things considered, no morning sickness or major negative symptoms to really speak of. Yet that last month or so was really starting to wear on me because I was just so anxious to meet him! And labor wasn't so bad either, mostly to the credit of the talented anesthesiologist who put me in a pretty comfortable state with that amazing miracle they call an epidural! Charlie was born healthy and happy, even took to nursing about 40 minutes after delivery. We feel honored to pass on to him the names of both of his grandfathers, something I know he will feel equally proud of one day when he can appreciate it! Our hospital stay was a nice experience with so many of the staff there familiar with my mom I felt like I got VIP treatment! But all the real fun started once we got home . . .

Yes, the past two weeks would not have been complete without some rather inadequate nights of sleep, constant feedings, and many dirty diapers! But the funny thing is that we couldn't be happier!! It's a life altering experience that we never knew we always wanted! I just can't believe how much love I can have for something so small!!

Life has been full of adjustments lately and of course we really couldn't have done it without the help of our parents and siblings, especially Grandma Linda who has been over almost every day helping out with whatever she can. Our most important project today was posing baby Charlie in a festive way to wish you all a very Happy Halloween! Have a safe night if you plan to venture out at all this weekend!!