Thankful

This past Thanksgiving (the best holiday of the year as previously explained in this blog) was a wonderful opportunity to count all the blessings in our life.  We are thankful for wonderful parents who have given us a solid foundation and taught us the value of family and love.  We are thankful for our siblings, without whose love and support we would not be who we are.  We are thankful for having great friends near and far who have laughed with us in the good times and who have been there to love and support us in the hard times.  Most of all this year, we are thankful for the greatest blessing of all - our Emma.  God has blessed us with a healthy and happy baby and we couldn't be happier. :) 

 

Emma is taking on the newest craze - Planking. 

Since we have a busy upcoming December travel schedule, we decided it would be nice to stick around Minneapolis this year and host Thanksgiving.  We convinced Melissa's family to make the drive up for the weekend.  (I don't think it took much arm twisting, perhaps none at all.)  They love to come and visit to get their Emma fix and we love it when they come.  Melissa's mom, dad, and grandmother all came up for Thanksgiving and stayed until Saturday.  We were small in numbers for the dinner but that didn't stop us from having a big feast!  We had the turkey, the stuffing,mashed potatoes and gravy, rolls, green beans, sweet potatoes, and of course some apple pie to top it off. 

We broke out the fine china to spruce up the table a little but the fancy place settings were outshone by Emma's artwork and table decor.  She was busy this week at day care making our centerpiece. 

After lots of football and food on Thursday, Melissa's sister Megan came up with her husband Kevin and their daughter Ella.  They needed their Emma fix as well.  They say that they're happy to see Melissa and I, which I'm sure they are, but lets be honest ... Emma is the main attraction.  Between Grandma and Grandpa and Auntie Megan, Emma never touched the floor.  While Meg et al. were in town, we decided it would be fun to take Emma to her first Hollidazzle parade.  For those of you who aren't familiar, this is a nightly parade in downtown Minneapolis, starting the day after Thanksgiving and ending on Christmas Eve. The Hollidazzle has the same lighted floats every night; every year.  I think Emma was very impressed!

So, you may have noticed that nasty looking thing on my upper lip.  You may be surprised to find out that its a moustache, and maybe even more surprised to find out that its intentional.  You see, there is a fundraising movement dubbed Movember to raise funds and awareness for cancers effecting men.  I decided that it would be a worthy enough cause to take my first stab at substantial facial hair.  Let's just say it looked as awkward as it felt.  If you would like to get involved and pledge/donate money to this cause please visit http://mobro.co/jasonburgart.  For those of you who are demanding photographic evidence of my cookie duster, well; here you go.

Sunday was my birthday, so as a gift to myself Movember ended early and I shaved the sucker off.  It was good to have my upper lip back.  That wasn't the only excitement of the day however.  Melissa always does a wonderful job of making birthdays a very special day.  As part of the day's events we met up with our friends Pete, Ana, Phil and Kelsey and went to a tree farm to hunt for, and cut down, our Christmas tree!  We bundled up Emma and brought her along - she had a blast and I think really enjoyed the fresh air.  We all found our perfect trees and headed back home.  The rest of the evening was spent with fire in the fireplace, a homemade birthday dinner, and homemade German chocolate birthday cake!  It was a wonderful day.  Oh, and I opened presents from Melissa and Emma.  Emma is quite the shopper and got me a precious Story People print that reads, "For a long time, there were only your footprints and laughter in our dreams and even from such small things, we knew we could not wait to love you forever."  So perfect and so true, thanks Emma. :) 



Now that another wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with friends and family as come and gone - let the Christmas season begin!

With love,

Jason, Melissa, and Emma

Fall Wrap-up

Yeah yeah, I know its technically still fall but it was 20 degrees this morning, it's getting dark at 4:30, and they are already playing Christmas music at mother loving Macy's.  I can deal with cold and dark, but the latter makes me want to pull my hair out.  You see, I was born on Thanksgiving - it was on the 27th in 1980 - so call me a purist, but I believe that Christmas music should have to wait until after the country celebrates my birthday...or at least Thanksgiving. 

Here are some of the highlights of our fall season:

1) Anniversary: Melissa and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary on October 14th!  We had a great weekend complete with a new adventure and a visit to our favorite restaurant - Manny's Steakhouse.  A somewhat loose anniversary tradition is to try to make it to the north shore of Lake Superior to spend some time away in the wilderness enjoying the outdoors, hiking, and just plain ol relaxing.  This year we decided to stay a little closer to home and tried a new hiking spot in Afton State Park.  It was a beautiful day with beautiful scenery along the bluffs of the St. Crouix river.  We brought Emma along and she loved it!  At least the parts she stayed awake for :)

2) Apple Orchard: One of our absolute favorite fall traditions is to go to an apple orchard and gather some yummy apples to make all sorts of delicious treats with - this year we made a vat of some killer apple sauce.  It's a bit of a drive to our favorite orchard but the fresh kettle corn makes it worth every mile.  This year we had company and we brought Megan and Kevin along. 

3) Dad's Birthday:  My dad turned 60 this October.  So the weekend before Halloween we loaded up Emma and took off for my older brother Jon's house in Antioch, IL.  We had great debates on whether we wanted to drive there or fly.  Sans baby it's at least a 6 hour drive.  With Emma we calculate an additional 30 minutes for every 2-3 hours of drive time.  So, with baby, we would be looking at a solid 7-7 1/2 hour drive.  Flights were cheap, so Emma got her first set of wings.  She did pretty well on the plane and just like every where else, she made all sorts of friends in the airport and in the air.  It was a great weekend.  We got to see Grandma and Grandpa Burgart, Uncle Jon, Aunt Amy, and cousins Aubry and Annie.  The only one missing was my younger brother Justin, whom I hope we get to see soon.  It was a lot of fun, but as always, traveling with an infant is a lot of work and very tiring.  We were pooped when we got home on Sunday.  Here are some pictures of Emma's first flight and time with family. :)

Uncle Jon with Emma and his girls Annie (on lap) and Aubrey

 My lucky charm as I beat the pants off the old man during our weekend cribbage battle.  My hope is that one day Emma will be able to kick my butt up and down the cribbage board. 



The cousins left to right - Annie, Aubrey, and Emma

 Lucky Grandparents

4) Fall season wouldn't be complete without a celebration of epic proportions for Melissa's birthday.  Never will one day be big enough to contain the excitement and festivities and rarely can a weekend handle the load.  The weekend event was capped off by the actual birthday day on Sunday the 13th.  It was a perfect day.  We went to a lovely breakfast, Melissa picked out her birthday boots (my gift to her was a pair of Frye riding boots), then we spent the remainder of the day in our jammies watching football in front of the fire. 



That, my friends, is a pan of oreo brownies!!



 Earlier in the day Emma was generous enough to give her mommy some P.J.s and childrens books to read to her.  Then, later in the day, she gave her the best gift a mommy could ever recieve - some snuggly, cuddly nap time - complete with little baby snores :)

Fall, what a great time of year!  But, believe it or not, I am looking forward to the winter time and the new adventures that the new season brings.  I supose I'm even looking forward to a little Christmas music, in due time ;)

With love from Minneapolis,

Jason, Melissa, and Emma



Where does she get it?

As promised, here are a few photos of Melissa and myself as youngsters.  The photo of Melissa is somewhere in the 3 month range and the 4 pics of me are estimated to be around 6 months.  So, take a look and you will see that she comes by all her cuteness honestly :)  

Melissa approx 3 months



Me after apparently killing and skinning a grizzly bear.

Now some pictures of our sweet baby Emma :)

Love,
Jason, Melissa and Emma

Trick or Treat

        

Ghouls, goblins, ghosts, and gremlins.  Just a few of the things that Emma was not for Halloween 2011.  Nor was she a princess, bean sprout, m&m, pumpkin, fairy, basketball, candy bar, or teddy bear.  What was she then?  Oh, just the cutest damn Holstein heifer you've ever seen! 



Moo bitches.

We had a great Halloween and got lots of mileage out of the costume.  She wore it to daycare for their costume day on Friday, broke it out for a Halloween block party down the street on Sunday, and then donned it all night on Halloween.  Melissa and I had a blast taking her around the neighborhood to show her off.  In the past we have enjoyed handing out candy to the little characters that show up at our door.  This year, however, we just left a bowl full of candy on the stoop (surprisingly there was some left at the end of the night) and left the little ones to fend for themselves. 

So, besides being a MOOO-ver and a shaker, what else is Emma up too?  The list is getting longer with each passing week.  Emma keeps checking some small and not so small milestones off her lists of "things to do".  You can put it in the books, Emma has rolled over!!!  The first time she went from front to back right in front of my eyes.  I was stunned, and I think she was too.  This was about a week ago and she hasn't done front to back since.  However, she has been getting pretty good at rolling from back to front.  She showed off this talent to Melissa for the first time this past Friday.  I haven't seen her do it yet but just today I left her in the living room on her back and went into the kitchen for a couple minutes; when I returned she wasn't on her back anymore :)

Lately she has also been pulling up on her knees more in an effort to discover those small five fingered things that are attached to the bottoms of her legs.  Well, today her explorations were successful and she finally wrangled those little suckers.  She has officially "found her feet".  This doesn't seem like a very functional feat (no pun intended) but it is pretty flippin adorable.

We don't feed her bottles very often because, as it's been well documented on this very blog, Melissa is nursing her.  So about a week ago when Emma was eating from a bottle we noticed that she was starting to reach for it and grab it.  That has progressed to the point now where at times she is able to hold her own bottle!  Apparently they have been working on this with her at daycare which is great. 

She continues to smile and laugh more and is very responsive to us and people in general.  She loves to make friends and almost always gives new people that she meets big toothless grins.  One pretty standard comment we get from people who meet her for the first time is that, "she's such a happy baby."  Yeah, she really is and we love it!

Love,

Jason, Melissa, and Emma

Sleeping Like a Baby

There is something so peaceful about a sleeping baby. (Had you used the term "sleeping like a baby" in her first few weeks, however, I would have been quick to point out how ridiculous I found that saying. Really, sleeping 2-3 hours at a time is something we strive for?! But now that Emma is sleeping like a champ and we are no longer sleep deprived, I can appreciate the adage.) Both Jason and I look forward to those precious moments when Emma falls asleep on our chest and we can just breath in her sweetness.

Ever since her first days, Emma has fallen asleep best with the following trifecta: (1) cuddled up in our arms, (2) while we are walking, and (3) singing or running water. She loves the movement and the sound of our voices. And if our voices don't work, then we run up the water bill by running the kitchen faucet. And before we know it, Emma has conked out.

I have worn a path down the hallways and Jason has all of my silly songs memorized by now, but I still love Emma's bedtime. My go-to lullaby is Goodnight Sweetheart, with a few modifications:

Goodnight sweetheart, Well it's time to go

Goodnight sweetheart, Well it's time to go

I hate to leave you but I really must say

Goodnight sweetheart, Goodnight

Well, it's 3 o'clock in the morning

And I'll always treat you right

Oh I hate to say it baby

I don't mean maybe

Because I love you so

Doh doh dee doh doh dee doh doh dee doh doh

Goodnight sweetheart, Well it's time to go

Goodnight sweetheart, Well it's time to go

I hate to leave you but I really must say

Goodnight sweetheart, Goodnight

Now your mother and your father

Would like you to go to sleep

One more kiss and we'll part

And you'll be going

Off to Sleepy Town 

Doh doh dee doh doh dee doh doh dee doh doh

Goodnight sweetheart, Well it's time to go

Goodnight sweetheart, Well it's time to go

I hate to leave you but I really must say

Goodnight sweetheart, Goodnight

All of this singing and walking is getting less and less necessary, however, as daycare has taught Emma how to sleep just about anywhere. On her playmat, in her car seat, or in her bouncy chair are just a few of the spots she now likes to sneak in cat naps.

And now I'm off to Sleepy Town . . .

Go Hawks!

Retaliation for the fourth picture in this post:



The word is "Fight! Fight! Fight! for IOWA,
Let every loyal Iowan sing;
The word is "Fight! Fight! Fight! for IOWA,"
Until the walls and rafters ring (Go Hawks!)
Come on and cheer, cheer, cheer, for IOWA
Come on and cheer until you hear the final gun.
The word is "Fight! Fight! Fight! for IOWA,"
Until the game is won.