Surprise!

The cat is out of the bag! If you've read our Christmas letter, or we have seen you recently for the holidays, you now know our big secret. If not, surprise, we are expecting a baby! Nicole is pregnant with our first child. She is 14 weeks now, so the due date is June 20, 2010. She is doing a wonderful job so far, not that I'd know what a bad job would be, but no real morning sickness. It seems that we have a lot of support from friends and family, and that is very much appreciated.

We have known for a few weeks, but thought it better to wait until the holidays to let everyone know. Thank you again for the support and well-wishings for our new family.

~Rob

PS - I have started a belly-per-week picture to document the growing of the child. Yes, I'm the proud-to-show-off-his-wife's-belly guy.

Oh, and I have attached a copy of our Christmas letter in case you haven't read it yet:

"Well, we survived 2009 and more importantly our first Black Friday together. That’s right ladies, I managed to get my husband out to the stores at 5 a.m. on the busiest shopping day of the year. So maybe I promised him a TV, but he did what no woman would have: waited in line while I shopped. Now that’s love!

We took the vacation of a lifetime to Ireland the first week in June to celebrate Rob’s birthday and our anniversary. I had always wanted to visit the place my grandpa grew up. My dad’s cousin, Eileen, helped us navigate our way there, to Fanore, from the Shannon Airport.
We stopped at the Cliffs of Moher along the way and later that day, my dad’s cousin, Paddy, took us to visit the very house my grandpa was raised in. It was an emotional moment for me as grandpa passed away in 2000. I wish I could tell him all about our trip, but I know he was watching over us as Ireland had uncharacteristically sunny skies for almost our entire trip. We also drove (and by we, I mean Rob) to the towns of Limerick, Waterford (home of Waterford Crystal) and Dublin, where we drank our fair share of Guinness while the locals sipped Corona – I know! On the last day we were there (Rob’s birthday) the friendly skies opened up and it poured. We busted two umbrellas on our personal pub-crawl and got soaked, but it was a day we’ll never forget. We can’t wait to go back again. (And just might in 2014, right Dad?)

Not only did we go to all of the Iowa State football home games this year, but we also went to the ISU vs. Nebraska game in Lincoln on Oct. 24. I’ll make this quick and painless for Husker fans reading this…I was so happy at the end of the game my cheeks hurt from smiling! I told the person who gave us his tickets that Rob and I are going to need them again in 37 years.

Much to Rob’s delight, his long-term subbing job at Thomas Jefferson High School in the spring became his full-time position in the fall. He’s teaching English and Literature to 9th graders. In other words, he’s establishing his candidacy for sainthood Monday through Friday. He also does the PA announcing for basketball and has his “Tee-Jay Threee!” call down.

I’m in my second year of grad school at UNO, which means I’m halfway done with classes. All of this talk and the movie about the world ending in 2012 doesn’t give me much motivation to write 20-page papers! I’m still in the UNMC Public Relations department.
From time to time, you may see me on Channel 7 getting a flu shot, playing with my dog or eating ice cream. We always need b-roll for our “Ask UNMC” segments and yours truly is the (un)lucky volunteer.

Last but not least, for those of you who haven’t already heard, Rob and I are expecting a baby next June. So far, my pregnancy has been tiring, but good. Honestly, I was hoping for more cravings/excuses to eat butterbrickle ice cream. Rob’s already read all the “So you’re going to be a dad?” books on the market. It was an amazing experience to hear the heartbeat for the first time together (I personally thought it sounded like Howie panting). For now, we are just cherishing sleep and uninterrupted meals as I’ve heard those are luxuries once baby comes."