Name Game

Well once again the Bergs are slacking with the updates... here is what has been going on in our world. Great Grandma came in from Tampa and was basically a Hurricane Dolly refugee. She couldn't make it to Harlingen since they were without power for five days. (I just realized we didn't manage to take a single picture of her and Emerson together... I really need to do a better job of documenting moments like that.) Emerson came down with a crazy fever virus followed by an ear infection a week later and then Daddy Berg got hit with a serious lung infection. Other than my normal annoying pregnancy ache that they tell me is ligament pain, I remained healthy. THANK GOD! Here are some pictures the Kellie and Traci snapped of Emerson when we were visiting NB. Thank you anne marie photography!

Sorry the belly pictures haven't surfaced yet, at this point I fear they might scare young children. We are at 31 weeks and counting... I am beyond ready to get this one out. With #2 my body has gone from big to bigger and the pain is more pronounced since I have a 25lb toddler that wants to be held by mommy. After a busy weekend I feel like I could sleep for days. Here is the first real picture of our baby boy. It was fun to do the 4D ultrasound this time around and compare the two kiddos. They both have chubby cheeks and all the fingers and toes are accounted for. We are so excited to meet this little man and Emerson can't stop talking about her "Baby Brother." Oh and the reason for the title... the kid doesn't have a name yet. We can't decide and have gone around in circles on 3 different names. I know I am way to analytical about this and it is only getting worse. The name I like changes daily. Poor little guy.

LEAD Trip, Weight Loss, and Big Girl Bed

As most of you know, Kim and I help run a non-profit program called LEAD (Letting Everyone Achieve Dreams). It is a leadership program for inner-city kids from Houston which focuses on outdoor experiential learning by teaching communication, teamwork, and essential leadership skills to help return these kids to their communities as effective leaders. I just got back from our third successful trip in which the kids were challenged physically and mentally in the mountains of Colorado. We partnered with a camp I went to 12 years ago called Adventure Experiences, Inc. (AEI). It's an amazing faith-based camp tucked away in Gunnison National Forrest near Taylor Park, Colorado. We are not a faith-based non-profit, but it's hard not to have a little faith when you are sitting in the middle of God's creation. Cory Jackson (AKA Brother from another Mother) and I took 13 kids to the mountains this year. He is the third member of our team that helps mentor these kids. We started the week with some low and high ropes courses. Then we moved on to some rock climbing by scaling four different routes on a 50' high mountain side. Then we moved to the hardest part of the week with a two day backpacking adventure and a 13,500' peak ascent on Prize Peak. We didn't make it all the way up because some kids had a tough time with the altitude, but we managed to make it to a ridge about 500' from the top. To cap the entire week off, we went white water rafting on the Taylor River which was a very cold 38 degrees. This was by far our most physically challenging year, but the kids really learned more about themselves and achieving their goals.

Here's a picture from rafting. You can't really tell, but it was very cold water!!

Rock Climbing was fun!

Fog covered the valley as we made our peak ascent. Truly amazing.

For the past twelve weeks, I have been been involved with an office version of The Biggest Loser. It almost seems cruel that I would do such a thing while Kim is pregnant with our baby boy, but I was determined to win this and get into shape. Monday was the last and final weigh in and I came away the winner with 15.08% weight loss which was 33 lbs. The total pot for the winner was $350. I started at 218 lbs and ended at 185 lbs. My daily regimen was simply eating right and running. I started out running a mile a day. By week two, I had pushed myself to 2 miles a day. By the end of the contest, I was running close to 4 miles almost every day. I cut my time from an 11 or 12 minute mile to a 7 minute mile which just isn't natural for someone that never really ran more than the length of a basketball court. I also started a 5 am boot camp class two times a week that is pretty much the hardest hour long workout ever. Now that the contest is over, I plan on keeping up with the running and seeing where it takes me.

The biggest news over the past few weeks is our little girl isn't little anymore. We painted Emerson's room, her bathroom, and the guest bedroom over the weekend. All of Emerson's furniture went to the guest room which is now "Baby Brother's" room. We picked up a twin bed for Emerson and she loves it. We thought the transition was going to be tough, but she has proved us wrong. She has slept in her "big girl bed" all week without any problems. Now we have to finish cleaning up the mess we made from emptying closets and bedrooms and moving furniture around. I'm not sure where we will put everything now that our guest bedroom/junk room has been converted into "Baby Brother's" room.

Emerson helping Daddy put Baby Brother's bed back together since it wouldn't fit through the doors.

Time Flies

It's been three weeks since our last post and it feels like we just updated it yesterday. We are all so busy with work, life, and kids that we seem to keep up with each other by checking blogs rather than picking up the phone or stopping by for an unexpected visit. Gone are the days of flying by the seat of your pants. Now everything is structured around meals, nap time, play time, school time, and work time. I guess that's just a part of life.

Two weeks ago we had a successful garage sale. Anything with inches of dust or clothes that haven't been worn in years were free game for what we now call garage sale professionals. Of course you get the newbie or the curious neighbor, but most of these people come with a pocket full of cash looking for a deal. They hide it well because when you say something is $5, they mysteriously only have $2 until they find something else they might want. They buy things for themselves or they buy broken electronics with hopes of making some sort of profit at their farmers market booth the next day. How much can you really make on a $10 broken TV? We also sold some big furniture to make room for Baby Berg #2 and clear out the "Children's Retreat" as the original building plans call it. We ended up making just over $900 which is great considering all of the junk would have gone to Good Will or the Salvation Army.

We ended up spending most of our garage sale profits they same weekend on our precious golden retriever, Colby. She has lost about 20 lbs in the last six months and we were scared she might have cancer or something terminal. After blood tests, ultrasounds, and a visit to a specialist, it turns out our sweet pup has an extremely rare liver parasite that comes from snails. She either ate one, licked one, or walked through a puddle that contained one and then licked her feet. She just finished a dose of medicine that is supposed to kill it, but we won't know until the doctor runs some more tests in another week or two. We're just thankful it wasn't something terminal.

Kim's sister, Pam, came to visit this past weekend. She was in town for a wedding with her husband David and their son Aiden. Emerson enjoyed having him around for a couple of hours and was very gentle when hugging and kissing her baby cousin. This is all a good sign for when her baby brother arrives.

On Sunday, we went to the zoo. Since buying our yearly pass in January, it has definitely paid for itself. Emerson loves making animal sounds and calling them all by name. The zoo had a special surprise for the Orangutan who turned 5. His entire habitat was decorated with bright streamers and gifts placed in different places for him to find. Emerson had to get on my shoulders to see because of the crowd. She also enjoyed crawling through the fish tank tunnel to see the all the fish. Below are some pictures from this past weekend.

I know we're not the best at updating our blog, but update your blogs people!! That's how we keep up with you. Until next time...

Emerson & her cousin Aiden

The Orangutan's 5th B-day

Emerson enjoying the Orangutan's B-day from the highest seat in the crowd!

Crawling through the fish tank with Daddy

Latest Obsession

I'm sorry it has been so long since the Berg's last post. Emerson had a nasty stomach bug Memorial weekend that lasted from midnight Friday to Sunday morning which put a damper on all of our fun plans for the long weekend. It took almost a week to get the bug out of her system and finally get her appetite back. We knew she was feeling better last weekend when we took a day trip to Lake Livingston on Saturday. Michael's boss has a lakehouse there and she practically ate him out of house and home. I never knew a 21 month old could eat an entire large carton of strawberries, but apparently it is possible. Michael took Emerson out on the wave runner and she seamed to really enjoy that. He is creating a little daredevil!

Our latest obsession is shoes and dress up. No shoes are left untouched. Daddy's shoes and socks are fun to put on, but too big to walk in.

Emerson is already a pro with Mommy's heals!

Trying on all the shoes at Macy's.

Monkey see, monkey do. I saw Mommy put on a bra and just had to have one too!

Michael and Emerson just before they hit the lake on the wave runner.

Michael's boss took us for a spin around the lake in his boat. Emerson fell asleep for part of the ride, but she really enjoyed it while she was awake. We bought the life jacket she is wearing that morning and she wouldn't take it off. Michael had to scan her across the register at Academy to buy it.

We live for weekends...

Well the Bergs have been very busy every weekend for months now and I think things are going to start slowing down. Last weekend we were in Austin visiting Cory and Jen and took part in their crawfish boil. This weekend we were on a whirlwind tour of Houston: Stop 1: The Johnston's Fishing tournament, Stop 2: My old boss' crawfish boil, Stop 3: The Astro's game on Sat. night with Davy and Ellen. We are exhausted, but we did manage to make the 8am service at church. This weekend alone I think we saw over 20 people we know and quite a few of them were at Goode Co. Taqueria after church. Great FUN, Great FRIENDS!

Emerson had a few major milestones this week... first of all she copies every word we say and when we are home she calls for Dakota and Colby NON STOP!!!! I think they are sick of her and love it once she is asleep. Her big achievement this week was saying "I love you" and "bless you" after we sneeze. It just melts your heart! We love this girl and she definitely loves us.

Emerson hanging out on Cory's couch


Picking up a live crawfish


Kate Johnston hitting the beer early


Emerson in the pool at the Wilbur's

It's a BOY!!!!!!!

The Bergs are bringing a boy into the world! After the doctor getting the sex wrong for the first 5 minutes of the ultrasound thinking the boy parts were the umbilical cord, we now know it is definitely a boy. He gave us a pretty good shot so there was no mistaking it. We are very excited and we seem to be following the girl/boy trend that surrounds us with all of our friends. This also means momma gets to go shopping for baby stuff all over again and now we get to redecorate 2 rooms! YEAH!!

Where did a year and a half go???

Those people that tell you that time goes by quickly with kids are soooooo right. I can't believe that she is a walking, talking, opinionated TODDLER! Emi is so much fun right now and definitely has ALOT of personality. I can tell she is the perfect mixture between me and Michael. She likes everything in it's place and goes behind me and closes doors that should be shut (like Michael), but loves the chaos of the dogs running around and barking, laughing at everything, and is definitely not quiet (like me). Gone are the days of momma and mommy, she now calls me "Mom" like she is 10 years old. Later this month we find out if baby #2 is a boy or a girl... YEAH! I guess baby #2 will get it's own posting when we know what we are having. At this point you sometimes forget you are pregnant with all that is going on, but go 4 hours without eating and you quickly remember. (From the sampling of the pictures below it looks like our child is usually covered in food... this isn't the case, but feeding time is the only time she is still.)

Wearing Daddy's hat

The only picture she has ever posed for.

Half asleep on Easter morning!