Marin's 4-month pictures

Just a couple of pictures of our little bundle of Christmas joy. :-)

Marin's new videos

Here's Marin showing off her new sunglasses.



And below are a few clips of her newfound baby laughs. :)

Marin: 3 months old

Marin turned 3 months old today! Here she is posing with her favorite bear. :-)

Marin's First Halloween

Marin was disguised as a not-so-scary kitty for her first Halloween. We went to a neighborhood block party where Marin (and her eyes) were a big hit!

Marin Meets Her Great-Grandmas

While making the rounds in Nebraska, Marin had the opportunity to meet her great grandmas! Some good snuggle time was had by all! Marin is fortunate to have such neat women in her life.

Marin's First Flight

Here we are at the Austin Airport around 5 a.m. awaiting our first flight with a 10 week old baby. You can clearly see that Marin was up for the challenge! She slept all the way to Dallas, ate a snack at DFW, and continued to saw logs all the way to Omaha.

When we landed in Omaha, a business man across the aisle from us put down his Blackberry with a sigh of relief to tell us we had 'the best baby ever!' Everyone else around us chimed in telling us how thankful they were that we didn't have a "screamer"! Ah shucks, we were flattered.

On the return flight to Austin, Marin decided to scream all the way to our seat as we boarded the plane. We could feel people staring and silently praying that we weren't sitting next to them. Jason nearly broke out in hives as he reminded me what a terrible idea this was to travel with a newborn. Fortunately, the screaming subsided and it was smooth sailing once again all the way home. Whew.

Overall, it was a successful trip and we were so happy Marin got to meet her relatives in Nebraska!

Marin is 2 months old

Marin is all smiles for the camera with her bear! We are amazed how quickly Marin is growing and changing. She'll be heading to Nebraska in about 10 days to meet more of her family. We're hoping the roar of the airplane lulls her into a deep sleep and not a frantic crying spell!

Finding her Tongue

Marin recently discovered her tongue and it's showing up in her bright little smiles when she flirts with us!

One Month Old

We have survived our first month with a newborn! So far Marin is doing her best work at night sleeping in four-hour increments. She's all smiles this morning with her bear.

Birth Day is Here!

Marin Marie was born Monday, August 11, 2008 at 1:06 p.m. We were admitted into the hospital for induction Sunday evening and labored through the night with Marin. Early Monday morning Jenn repeatedly asked her labor nurse, "What time does the anesthesiologist's shift start?" Around 7:30 a.m. Jenn got an epidural and things started to progress. Around 11:30 a.m. Jason decided to go to the cafeteria for lunch and upon his return about 30 minutes later, there was a room full of hospital staff. It was "go time!" An hour later, Marin made her grand entrance into the world by peeing on our doctor!

The Baby's Growing... :-)

It's already almost a month after the last post and time for another baby update. When I came back from a 3-day trip to California this week and almost didn't recognize Jenn because the baby had grown so much, we figured we better take another picture and send out an update.

The baby really does seem to be visibly growing every day, and she's gotten big enough that both Jenn and I can feel her kicking. (Jenn had about a 2-3 week head start on me in that department)

We're almost to the home stretch Jenn has been feeling great (and looking great too if I do say so myself). :-)

Other than the baby's growth spurt, not too much is new with us in Austin. One of these days we're planning on getting serious about getting the "nest" ready for the new arrival. So far we've managed to collect 2-3 outfits that we've received as gifts and a bassinet from Jenn's family. I figure all we need to do is add a few diapers to the mix and we'll be ready. ;)

We'll keep you posted on how things progress from here.

Jas & Jenn

Long overdue pregnancy update

Just a quick post to say that baby & mom are both doing very well. These are pictures of Jenn at 23 weeks. We found out almost a month ago that we're having a baby girl, and the search for names we both agree on is raging on a month later. :)

We'll continue to post updates as we get closer to the big day, which is supposed to be right at the end of July or the first week of August.

Our Happy New Year Letter

Happy New Year!

January 2008

We hope each of you had a wonderful holiday season and are off to a great start in the new year. We'll try our best to give you a snapshot of our 2007 using the questions that we were most often asked.

Q #1.) Did Jason find a job after he graduated?

A: After about 4 months of grueling interviews, many leads and some dead-ends (and approximately 2 weeks before Jenn was going to make him apply to flip burgers at McDonald's), Jason found the perfect job. He landed a job with a small startup company, OpSource, located in California. His formal title is "Senior Manager of Client Services." (Don't be fooled, he's not that senior, small companies give out big titles.) :-) Fortunately, we didn't have to relocate for the job and Jason continues his reign as "Captain Underpants" working most days out of our home.

In all seriousness, OpSource has been a great company to work for. They provide "managed hosting" (super computers) for companies who want to deliver their software over the Internet, especially "Web 2.0" companies (for non-geeks… imagine all of the computers necessary to provide Yahoo e-mail or Google search… someone has to manage those servers. This is an example of what OpSource does for their customers.)

Q #2.) Are you two thinking about having kids?

A: Yes, we think about it. Thank you for asking. :-)

Q #3.) Jenn, since you're not a classroom teacher, what DO you DO?

A: This is Jenn's second year serving as an "Academic Coach" at Bluebonnet Elementary in Round Rock ISD. She works with teachers to help them improve their instruction, which ultimately helps kids learn. Some days she teaches the lessons, other days she "coaches". Part of her day is spent working with small groups of kids in grades 2^nd-5^th. She likes the variety and loves not having to write report cards quarterly!

Q #4.) Should I quit asking if you're going to have kids?

A: Yes, that would be fine. Please ask Kim, Gina, or Amanda instead of me! :-)

Q #5.) How about visitors?

A: Jenn's brother and his family made the long trek to Texas over Thanksgiving break. Conner (8) and Ashley (5) were wondering if "they were there yet" in York, NE. Fortunately, everyone survived the 15 hour drive with minimal trauma! We spent a day at Sea World (San Antonio) where we fed the dolphins, watched Shamu, and took in lots of amazing shows. It was a blast. Back in Austin . . . a tour of the Capitol, a visit to Build-a-Bear Workshop, eating Tex-Mex and BBQ, and playing the Wii until our tennis elbow would allow no more were just a few of the other delights we enjoyed while they were here.

Also, a few of Jason's friends, Heather & Stephan, that he met in Germany made it for a long weekend this summer. We treated Stephan to his first American baseball game in Austin (not exactly the Yankees, but a good start). The heat was stifling, so a trip to the water park Schlitterbahn was in order, which was lots of fun! We shared it with about 1,000 of our best friends under the age of 9. :-)

In-between visitors, Jason also found time to have LASIK surgery, which turned out to be a fantastic decision. 20/15 and no looking back!

Q #6.) Are you going to move back to Nebraska?

A: After being back in NE for two weeks of sub-zero temps and "sideways" snow, we think Austin is looking and feeling just fine for the immediate future! In fact, as of sending this letter, we just had our offer accepted on a new home. If all goes accordingly, we'll be in our new home by March! Here's our new address: 1303 David Cove, Cedar Park, TX 78613.

Q #7.) Did you make it to a Husker game?

A: In October, we watched the Huskers get beaten by the Texas Longhorns in what started out as a good close game. (You'd think we would have known better by that point in the season…) We ended up leaving early once the scoreboard started to tip out of our favor. Fortunately, a few stalwart Huskers stayed behind to cheer on the team! (See the picture…) :-)

Q #8.) Did you vacation anywhere fun?

A: Lake Tahoe, Nevada was our vacation destination this summer. Fortunately, we were there just one week before the fury of forest fires came. We hit the casinos, went on a boat tour of Lake Tahoe (some of the clearest water in the world), saw a grizzly bear (Arr!), blazed some interesting mountain trails, drove the 72-mile loop around Lake Tahoe, visited a vineyard, and attended a renaissance festival. (It was a very strange, yet enjoyable experience—see Jason getting fitted for a medieval bra below!)

Q #9.) Surely you would tell us if you were going to have a baby, right?

A: Of course! You can now stop wondering . . . we are expecting a little Cumberland in early August! We apologize for the little white lies that we (and our parents) told many of you at Christmas when you asked, "Are you pregnant?" We wanted to be sure we were "out of the woods" to share our news. Oh yeah, if you were at Johnny O's and saw Jenn with an adult beverage over Christmas break—it was filled with water! We had to do something to throw you off as you definitely had us figured out! :-) We will be calling on many of you for parenting advice and babysitting favors, so you may want to screen our phone calls in 2008!

We hope this finds you happy, healthy, and enjoying the new year!

With love,

Jenn & Jason