Technical Difficulties

I have been having some issues lately with our home computer. We are having trouble getting online and posting pictures, etc. I will hopefully have it figured out shortly (yes, I have re-booted and turned off my router :)). I have a few posts I want to write and some updates but need to get the issue resolved first.

Meanwhile, there are few more pictures up on flickr.

One week

I am pretty sure we are parents now. Harrison was one week old on Saturday and already we have experienced so many things like flying poop, leaky pee, and fussy nights. Yet everytime we look at our little man we can't help but think he is perfect.

We went to the doctor's today for Harrison's first check up. Harrison has gained good weight and is now 7 lbs 12 oz. He doesn't need to go back for a month now - which was good to hear. He is in the 50th percentile for weight, 75th for length and 25th for head size.

I am uploading more pictures on my flickr page.

Home Sweet Home

We are Home! More to come but we need to catch up on some sleep and get everyone adjusted. I have uploaded some more photos on Flickr.

I am working on getting some video off of our video camera of us coming home - stay tuned. Hopefully I will have some more time to share some of our experiences in more detail as well.

Thanks for all the well wishes!

Happy Birthday Harrison

June 16th, 7:30 AM Eastern we welcomed Harrison into the world. It was a crazy night. Liz's water broke at 1:00 AM, thirty minutes after I went to bed and about an hour and half after she did. The pregnancy progressed very quickly and smoothly with Liz doing a great job! We will be in the hospital until Monday morning, we do have a hospital phone number but it might be best to call our cell phones the next few days.

I have posted some pictures on my flickr page from this morning and will continue to post more the next couple of days. I will also try to post some video for everyone to see.

More Updates

We had an appointment today and not much has happened since last week. After speaking with the doctor we have set a date to induce labor. We are going in on Monday to monitor Liz and her contractions. Tuesday evening we will go into the hospital to start the process and they will induce labor on Wednesday. It wasn't the news we were hoping for but at least we have a few days to see if Mother Nature will do her thing.

Obviously if anything happens in the next few days we will let everyone know but at least we have a path now.

More later.....

39 Weeks, 6 Days, and Still Waiting

Apparently young Harrison is pretty comfortable in his mommy! We are still waiting and while we wait we are having our fair share of excitement. We finally caught our furry racoon friend, which Riley has been stalking for months - at one point barking him up the roof in broad daylight!

On Thursday, as we were walking, trying to move Harrison along, our neighbor caught up with us and let us know that part of our tree snapped off in the high winds. So this weekend Dad spent all Saturday and part of Sunday cutting up the fallen part and taking down the rest of the tree (with some help from two very nice neighbors). Unfortunately all the shade on the side of our house is gone, but at least we were able to take care of it before Mom goes into labor.

I have never used a chain saw, so as I am sure Liz will attest to, we are both just happy that I still have all my fingers and toes! It was actually pretty fun pretending to be a lumberjack, though I feel like a small tap on my forehead may crumble my whole body - to say I am sore is a bit of an understatement. I have put some pictures of the tree and the removal process and some more pictures of mommy and her tummy.

I know many of you are anxiously waiting for the phone to ring - we will call soon enough...hopefully!

More Baby Updates

We had a doctor's appointment today...and, well, not much more to report. Liz is dilated one cm, so it could be a little bit. We did go to a Mexican restaurant and for a walk after dinner, just in case.

We also made a stop at Babies R US on the way home and made a little splurge. I figured every kid has to have their own Chuck Taylor's right?

More news to come...hopefully!

Baby Watch

It is the Tuesday after Memorial Day - no news yet. We spent Sunday walking around the mall hoping to get something going but to no avail. We also took two walks yesterday, much to Riley's delight. Liz is getting a little uncomfortable and is ready to introduce Harrison to the world - though the little guy seems to want to wait for a while longer.

Hopefully we will have more updates soon but for now we are just waiting!

A Shout out to BLAST

For those who don't know exactly where I work or what I do - I work for a company called BLASTmedia , we do media relations for tech companies all over the US and the World.

We have a blog that all of our employees contribute to - what does this have to do with Harrison? Take a look and you will see.

Just two more weeks! We are getting anxious now!

Let the countdown begin

Wow, four weeks away! we are really excited, nervous, anxious, and everything else in between. I find myself wondering more and more about what he will look like, what color of eyes he will have, will he still have my jaw line (gosh, I hope not), how will we manage our new life? Liz has been absolutely amazing these last few weeks. I know she is easily worn down with work and getting everything ready, not to mention that she is carrying what now looks like a beach ball in her tummy! She has been, as she usually is, determined and driven to get it all done and looking perfect!

We were shopping yesterday at Costco (which is quite possibly the greatest store in the world), and Liz thought she was having a contraction. Apparently, the look on my face was just too much when she told me because she couldn't stop laughing for a good two minutes...oh, well, lets just hope I can spring into action when I am really needed!

Anyway, I have posted some more belly pictures so you can all see just how far along little Harrison is. I also posted a few more pictures of the new paintings a lady in Liz's hospital made for us - they round out the room beautifully.

One final note, thanks to friends and family alike who have given us all of the wonderful gifts - our house is in full baby mode (minus the actual baby) and it is all thanks to your wonderful generosity. Thanks to MacKenzie and Cristin for hosting the shower in Chicago last weekend!
Also, thanks to Joan for coming and helping get our gardens ready, and helping Liz get some of the wash and other organizing done.

We will keep you all posted here as the time gets closer!

Nursery Pics and More

Well, we are finally done...well almost! We were able to finish the chair rail and finished all the little touch ups on the the two different blues. The chair rail and all the little projects have been a very interesting time. We learned some new skills, Liz is now quite the master with the coping saw, and I have had a refresher course in geometry and angles. The more we do around this house the more we find out about it, like how sometimes in the fury to get these subdivision homes done they don't always do things by the book. We have learned a few tricks now like how to wire a light switch with a few extra wires and how to get chair rail to sit on an even wall!

We have uploaded some pictures from last weekend's shower, which by the way, thank you to everyone, we recieved so many great things and we are very appreciative of the great friends and family that we have in our lives. I have also uploaded new photos from the nursery and some shots of Liz and her belly - people have been asking for these.

We look forward to hearing your thoughts and hope everyone is doing well. Just 10 more weeks - I have a feeling things are really going to start flying by now. You can see all of the pictures by visting my flickr page - just click here

Sorry for the lack of Posts

I know it has been a while. We are a little crazy here. Bets is getting ready to head up to Wausau on Thursday for her first baby shower! We almost have the nursery ready - if it weren't for a little learning curve on how to install chair rail we would have everything set. I promise to post pictures of the nursery in the next few weeks.

We are getting really excited - we are reading bedtime stories every night (although mom is better at it than dad), we read our first Spanish book two nights ago (thanks grandma Lis). Time is flying by so quickly - it is already mid-March -and I really can't believe this is only 12 weeks away!

Hopfully more pics after the shower this weekend, if you get any good ones feel free to email Liz - lkiburz at Yahoo.com or me - chrislucas1 at hotmail.com and we can post them here as well!

Chicago and the Baby Furniture

This weekend we were able to get away to Chicago for the weekend...it was no Florida Keys but it was still a great weekend. We were able to go see the Cezanne to Picasso exhibit at the Art Institute, had a great dinner with Mack and Dan Saturday night, and watched a great Blackhawks game (which ended in a shootout Hawks win) with Rob and Janelle - I have put some pictures from the weekend on my flickr page.

When we got home Sunday night we had a message from USA Baby letting us know that our crib and changer were available to pick up. The look on Liz's face was great. We are picking up the furniture on Thursday! We have yet to paint the nursery but now that the furniture is here we will probably get started soon. I better get it done this weekend - especially since March Madness is just around the corner! Watch out for some pictures of the nursery and the new furniture as we start putting it all together!

Registering for Baby Harrison

I guess we are learning very quickly what it means to be parents (to be). With all the snow and our crazy schedules Liz and I had a hard time planning what to do for Valentine's Day. It was actually a very cute moment when we got home from taking Liz's car in for repairs Wednesday morning and she looked at me and told me that she hadn't purchased my card yet. Because of the snowstorm she hadn't been able to go after work, and now she couldn't go that day because she didn't have a car - I sheepishly mentioned that I hadn't bought one yet either...we both felt a little better! We hadn't really discussed what we were even doing that night. We decided that we would have a romantic dinner of Jack's Natural Rising Pizza and go register for baby stuff, hoping it would be empty and we could get registered without the crowds.

I thought registering for China was a process! Holy cow, I didn't realize how many high chairs, strollers, baby monitors existed. Graco, EvenFlo, Chicco, Fisher Price, Baby Bjorn....on and on it went. It was a lot of fun but very exhausting! We were so overwhelmed towards the end Liz actually said "just choose one, I have no idea"...fortunately she was talking about baby monitors and not breast pumps, she may have ended up with this!

We were tired and brain dead from all the decisions so we decided to skip the dessert. And I have to say that this was one of the more interesting and fun valentine's we have had...and we had so much fun we went to another store Friday and registered for more...oh goodness!

The Blizzard of 2007

As you may have read we are currently having some GREAT weather. We are in a blizzard right now, unfortunately Liz is working and may not get home tonight. I just spent the last hour digging out but got some interesting pictures - you can see them below. You can click on them and see more photos on my Flickr page.

A Little Love to Riley

I know that we have been updating everyone on Harrison (it feels so much more real now that we have a name and have started using it), but we should give a little love to Riley. Riley for those of you who do not know, is our five year old Welsh Terrier. He is more than just a little part of this family - he has been Liz's baby for quite some time now. We still aren't sure how he will react playing second fiddle when Harrison arrives though I am guessing you might hear a tale or two of chewed up toys, pouting, and overall stubborness that Terriers are known for. Liz is positive that they will become best buds - I am sure they will be, after Riley has a tantrum or two! Anyway, here are some recent pictures of the little man - just so he gets some love as well!

Let us know if you have any tips on how to make a smooth transition with Riley and Harrison!

Today's Ultra Sound

Well, we had our second ultra sound today and they looked at Harrison's (yes, we think we found the perfect name) heart. Everything looked great. There were no issues and the doctor told us he looked healthy. We were able to get some pictures but not on a disc. We were amazed at how full his cheeks have gotten in the last few weeks - we think he has his dad's chin and nose. We had to scan these from the printed images so they are not as clear as the last ones, we will see if we can somehow get some better quality images posted. We have a VHS of both of the appointments but I am not sure how we can get that onto a file we can use digitally - anyone with any suggestions let us know.

Anyway, we hope you enjoy these!

Note: If you click on the images below they will open up and you can see larger images - just click the "back" button to get back to this posting once you click an image.

Updates

We have another appointment today (Tuesday Feb 6th). We are having a cardio echo done just to make sure everything is clear with the heart. Hopefully we will get some more great images/pictures to share. I will update this site later tonight and post images if we get anymore.

I saw my future on Saturday

We had our first snow and there were little kids with sleds and snow suits up and down the neighborhood. One little tike was walking with his snowsuit down the sidewalk carrying a rather large snowball and licking it like a lollipop. I had to laugh and couldn't help thinking that soon enough that would be my kid.

Pink or Blue

If you are wondering what color of swimsuit our little one will be wearing this summer when it finally arrives take a look at our pictures from the ultra sound this morning. We were fortunate to be able to take a look at the 3D images as well. They are simply amazing and as you can tell the features you are able to see are just awesome! Liz and I are truly excited as things suddenly became more real this morning!

NOTE: To see a full size image just click on any of the photos and you can see a slide show.

*Update* - I unlocked the comments section so you do not have to register to post a comment - I apologize for that!