Welcome Lucas Jarold Burgart

We are all excited to announce the arrival of our son, Lucas Jarold Burgart.  He was born at 9:39 pm on  April 22nd.  The little guy kept us all waiting and was 9 days overdue.  We waited and waited for Melissa to go into labor naturally but in the end we had to induce, which made for a long day.  When he finally arrived we were excited to have a healthy boy weighing in at a whopping 10 pounds 15 ounces and 22 inches long!  The doctor who delivered the baby joked that Melissa had just delivered a 3 month old!   Luke was born on Tuesday and we brought him home on Thursday.  Just like Emma, we had a tough time picking out a name for him.  Lucas doesn't have any family significance, however, his middle name is after Melissa's grandfather Jarold Lister (a.k.a Poppy).  He was a man that lived a wonderful and full life and someone whom everybody loved.  We hope Lucas carries on his legacy.  Please enjoy some pictures of our newest family member from our hospital stay.

We got to the hospital around 8:30 on Tuesday morning and for the next 4-5 hours we hung out waiting for the meds to take effect.  Time was filled reading magazines, updating the blog, walking around, and watching season 1 of the Big Bang Theory.

At 9:39 we were blessed with our little (big!) boy!!

I took this picture of the monitor with his weight on it because I thought some people might not believe that Melissa birthed a baby that was an ounce shy of 11 lbs!!

Melissa worked hard to get Luke out so there were many naps with the little guy.

Emma has waited very patiently for her baby brother to get here.  So far she has been the best big sister a baby could ask for.  She showers him with hugs and kisses and will drop whatever she is doing (even a piece of banana bread) to help with a diaper change.  Her first words the last couple mornings have been: "Is the baby awake?" It has been so heart warming to watch Emma around Luke.  She has loved him from the start and I have a feeling this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. :)

Emma had LOTS of questions about her new best friend!

Besides Emma, we were visited in the hospital by Melissa's parents, Larry and Julie, and Melissa's law partner George and their legal assistant Kelly.   My folks and grandma Marge were here for Easter in hopes that they would get a chance to meet the new baby (and we were hoping they would also) but it turns out they missed him by a couple days.  We are looking forward to their visit to introduce them to their first grandson!

Grandma and Grandpa Stull

My Aunt Julie and Uncle Larry

So far everything is going well.  Lucas is eating, sleeping, and pooping just like babies are supposed to.  Melissa's mom and sister have been here to help with Emma and allow us to get a few extra hours of sleep at night which has been much appreciated.  For those of you who know Megan, you also know that our kitchen has been spotless over the last couple of days. :)

We have been blessed with an outpouring of love from friends and family around the globe and in the neighborhood which we greatly appreciate.  Stay tuned for more pictures!  We love our little man very much and are excited to continue to watch him grow, with Emma showing him the ropes.  He is truly blessed with the greatest big sis in the world!

With love from Minneapolis,
Jason, Melissa, Emma, and Luke

First Haircut

It took a long time but Emma finally grew enough hair to need a trim.  It took her 2 1/2 years of hard work to grow her hair, and for this reason, Melissa and I have become very protective of her golden locks.   It was a tough decision to have them cut, but in the end you couldn't really tell and the cut did the much-needed job of keeping her hair out of her eyes.  A special thanks to Kelly for doing such a wonderful job!

Emma was fired up for her first cut and was surprisingly cooperative.  Thanks again Kelly, you are the best!

Christmas Part 1

Well, we've just past another major religious holiday so I suppose it's time to get caught up on the last one.   Jesus was born on Christmas so why not recap it on Easter when he was born again?

It was another great Christmas holiday season filled with family, laughter, love, and of course travel.  But, before we departed on our annual Iowa trek we had some holiday business to take care of in Minneapolis.  This included getting and trimming a tree, checking out the Holidazzle parade, a visit to Santa Land at Macy's, cookie baking at the Karlgaard's, and of course, a visit from St. Nick.

The Christmas season at our house starts with a trip with friends to pick out the perfect tree.  We made the pilgrimage this year with our good friends Phil and Kelsey.

Apparently her parents are not the only people Emma has wrapped around her finger--she adores Phil and Kelsey.

Emma really wanted to help...

...when she wasn't busy sipping her hot chocolate!

Once we got home it was time to get the tree up and sit for some stories and more hot chocolate. :)

Cheers!

This was the first year Emma could really "help" us trim the tree.  She did great!  As you can see the tree was a little bottom heavy with ornaments, and it's never looked more beautiful.

The tree is not complete without a star, albeit crooked :)  

Unfortunately, 2013 was the last year for the downtown Holidazzle parade so despite the cold we ventured out to take in all the lights and floats.  Emma, of course, wanted to be front and center.

One of our great holiday traditions is a visit to Dan, Sarah, and John Karlgaard's for an annual cookie baking party.  This usually produces an enormous sugar high and enough cookies to feed an army.  Emma is a professional cookie froster and was showing the boys how it is done.

According to Emma, the key to frosting cookies is equal parts putting frosting on the cookies and in your mouth.  After all, it is important to have a clean knife!

Santa Land did not disappoint.  Emma was enthralled with all the lights and elves.  She had lots of questions. :)

Emma was very excited to see Santa and show him her pink heart necklace.  She even asked him if he wanted to go to lunch with us!

And finally, it was time for the big show.  Emma was very excited for Santa's visit.  We put out a note and some cookies that she had frosted and picked out especially for him.  There wasn't much to Emma's Christmas list. The only thing she asked for was "lookers," which through a series of questions and deductions we figured out that "lookers" were actually suckers.

Emma was more excited about her "lookers" than anything else!

Story time with one of her new books and, of course, a purple "looker."

It was a wonderful holiday season in Minneapolis but it was just getting started.  The next day we were off to Iowa.

Merry Christmas from Minneapolis,
Jason, Melissa, and Emma