Results are in!

Got the bloodwork back from the Doc today. Perfectly normal results!

1 in 4,500 chance for Downs Syndrome.
1 in 10,000 chance for Trisomy 18.

I'll take those odds any day. Doc says everything continues to look grrrrrreat!

Laughing

Oldie but a goodie. This kid has made over 90 million people laugh. Quite an accomplishment.

So funny

One of Gigi's co-workers put this together. Thanks, Nancy!

12 weeks

So, Gigi and I heard our baby's heartbeat for the first time today. It. Was. AWESOME. Music to our ears. Baby was jumping around, opening and closing its mouth, and seemed to be having a great time, especially for a Monday.

Follow up appointment to discuss all the tests and measurements on Weds, but the technician told us everything still looks great!

From this angle, Baby seems to have gotten Mom's cute little nose, and Dad's giant forehead. Lucky!

One in the oven...

A little background...

Gigi and I were introduced back in 1996 by a mutual friend, Harry Roman. We were all attending UT San Antonio and had some classes together. Gigi and I were each involved in relationships when we met, but I felt an instant attraction and knew I wanted to be much more than just classmates. Eventually our friendship grew and we started spending more and more time together. I finally worked up the courage to ask her out in March 1999. We've been together ever since, over 10 years!

We graduated in 2000 and moved to NYC where we moved into our first apartment together. After about 6 months of living together in a TINY apartment I knew I couldn't live without her, and proposed to her on Dec 19, 2000. We took our time and enjoyed a nice long engagement, waiting to get married until October 19, 2002.

We had an amazing wedding near Gigi's hometown in south Texas. Lots of friends and family and a really, really, really good time. Just sayin.

We then took off for a beautiful honeymoon in Tamarindo, Costa Rica. This was just the first of many incredible trips together. We both love to travel and see new places and so far have visited Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Aruba, Cayman Islands, Belize, Mexico, and recently Italy. We've got one more trip planned before Baby Russo arrives and I guess that will be our babymoon trip. We'll be heading to Puerto Vallarta in December for a friend's wedding. Stoked!

So, we've had almost 7 years of wedded bliss and have really formed an incredibly solid and stable relationship as a couple. I can't think of anything I would have done differently to prepare ourselves to be the best parents possible. We've been through good times and bad, sickness and health, richer and poorer, and we're still totally in love. We're the best of friends, and are so excited to welcome a new member to our family.

And so it begins...

Gigi and I found out that she was pregnant on Thursday, July 2nd. I flew back from a business trip to Milwaukee that morning and arrived at home around 10:30. She met me at the door with a small pen box saying, "Look what I found! Open it!". I opened it and saw a white pen-like object with a digital screen that said "YES". I've never been happier to receive a pissed on piece of plastic.

We had a trip to Maine planned for the July 4th weekend so we giddily packed up and hit the road with a couple friends. The whole ride up we kept exchanging knowing glances and huge smiles. We were off on the adventure of a lifetime...