Happy Belated Birthday and Happy Anniversaries!

Ok, so I know I've been a bit busy with a newborn, but I feel TERRIBLE about forgetting my brother's birthday. It was yesterday, so HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY MICHAEL! I hope you had a GREAT day and you were surrounded with lots of friends!

Dr. Michael West

And believe it or not, today is the anniversaries of both Justin's and my parents! What are the chances of our parents getting married on the same day? I believe my parents have been married for 38 years!! And I believe Justin's parents have been married for 27 years! (I know they'll correct me if I'm wrong!)


HAPPY ANNIVERSARIES, MOM AND DAD!!! Thank you for being a wonderful example of what a marriage should look like! We love you!



Michelle's parents



Justin's parents

Got My Stitches Removed

I have to say I was somewhat nervous about getting my stitches from the C-section removed. I've never had stitches before and so the feeling is completely new. Well, they are out! And yes, it felt a bit weird and stung for a very short time. My doctor was great and explained what he was going to do before he did it. He said the incision looks great and that it's okay to take showers without a bandage now. (I've had a water proof bandage over it, so showers were fine.)

Sadly, I forgot our camera. I wanted to take a picture with Dr. Kosztin and William. Now we'll have to wait a month because that's when I will see him next. But until then, I've copied his photo from the clinic's website! He is such a sweet person and he was beaming when he saw William today! :) (Unfortunately, he did not deliver William because he was out of town. The doctors at Telki hospital delivered William, but Dr. Kosztin was in constant communication with them throughout my labor.)

More Visitors

Yesterday we ventured out to a nearby mall with William and went grocery shopping. William slept through the whole thing and we even bumped into a friend and co-worker while at the mall. She got to see William for the first time and she also came over later on. This is Lisa with William.
Lisa and William
William wearing a cute onesie his Oma and Opa bought him while they were here. It's got lions and elephants and other animals on it.
Mom and William

Today a student of mine and her dad and brother came over to see William. Masha was excited to hold him and I got a great photo of the two. Her and her family are Ukranian and were here for one year working for Campus Crusade. They will be returning to Ukraine July 1, and I will miss Masha a lot. She has such a sweet personality and is a very loving person. Masha, I pray that the Lord provides more than you ask or imagine in Ukraine!
Masha with sleeping William

Meet our doula

We hired Reka as our doula for the birth of our son. She was INVALUABLE to us before labor, during labor, during delivery, and even after I delivered William. She not only helped me and Justin get through labor, she also helped communicate with the Hungarian nurses and doctors at Telki. Please check out her website if you are going to give birth in Budapest: rekamorvay.com

Today I wanted to get a picture of us when she stopped by for a post-partum visit at our house. She answered more questions we had about what to expect with William (he has some baby acne now) and we also just chatted. She's wonderful!

Oma and Opa

Last night was pretty low-key being the last night of my in-laws visiting. We ate a great mexican dinner together (see previous post) and for dessert, Opa had gone to a nearby Cukraszda and brought back four different kinds of pastries. All were delicious! After that Oma and Opa just spent time with William. We gave them a picture of William in a Hollo Muhely picture frame (one of the stores they went to on Saturday). It was SUCH A BLESSING to have them here.

Oma and Opa, we will miss you a lot! We love you! And Opa, since we have an above average son, William told us in so many "words" to tell you "Opa, it's your grandson William, I love you!"

William snoring

Here is a very short movie of William snoring while sleeping on my chest. You may have to turn up the volume to hear him though.

More Photos and Visitors

Here are some more photos of William with Oma and Opa.

Oma and William
Chatting with William during breakfast :)

Since Oma and Opa fly out early Monday, we wanted to take them to two stores that we thought they'd like. So, William had his first excursion into Budapest. He amazingly slept through most of it!!! It was fun to use our new stroller travel system that Oma and Opa gave us. Oma took a picture of us with her camera, so I'll have to post it later.
Oma and Opa at the Hollo Muhely store in Budapest

We've had a couple of visitors since we've been home. Today the Olson family visited us and it was great to see them. They fly to the States on Thursday and will be gone until the end of January. They are expecting their second child!!! Congrats!! AND they brought us a Mexican dinner to have one night!!! Trisha wanted to make us something before they left. Super excited about fajitas! Thanks Bjorn and Trisha!
Bjorn, Trisha, and Lianna Olson with the Custer family
Tina brought us a very delicious roast beef dinner!!

Sexy Daddy

Need I say more? (I know this is totally embarassing for my husband, but I don't care!)

William is Home!!!

Yesterday, Wednesday, June 17, 2009, we asked if we could go home since I was feeling fine and if the next pediatrician exam said that William was a healthy little boy. They said that would be fine and around 10 am, the pediatrician examined him and said he's a perfectly healthy baby. :) At that time we also asked one of the nurses how to bathe him and I got to bathe him as she described what to do. William was a trooper through it all. And it helped me to realize how fast he'll get cold after a bath, as his hands started turning blue once he was out of the water!! So, quick dressing after a bath has been learned early!!!!

And so, we arrived home around 11:30 am yesterday. It is so great being home and William is learning where he'll be living now. (He is LOVING the pack n'play many of our friends gave money towards as a shower gift!! So, THANK YOU ALL AGAIN!) Our first night with him here gave us quite a lack of sleep, but since neither one of us is working now (being a teacher is GREAT!), it's been great to sleep in (once William did sleep) and/or take a nap whenever William naps.

For many who are wondering how I'm doing after having a C-section, I am doing SURPRISINGLY well. I figured major abdominal surgery would slow me down quite a bit, but the more I move, the less I find that I am stiff and sore. Since Justin witnessed the C-section, he was telling me about the experience and he said they did a great job, very efficient and quick. I'm sure I owe the way I feel now to an exceptional staff at Telki Hospital! And William is helping me out with moving! :) I'm doing pretty normal things, with the exception of taking naps. I never was a nap-taker, just ask Justin.

So, the moment you've all been waiting for...more pictures!

William finding rest in his pack n'play.

Justin's mom got us this Boppy and I love it! It makes nursing SO easy!

Here we are a minute from leaving the hospital. The blanket was from my parents and helped shade him on the way home. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Some wonderful nurses at Telki. Wish I thought to take a picture of them everyday since they rotated shifts every twelve hours. So, there were several nurses that helped us with William. The nurse on the left helped show me how to bathe him. :)

Our Stay at Telki Hospital

Just thought I would update you about us in the hospital. We will have to stay until Thursday for a total of five days, because I had a C-section. I am doing well. I am moving very slowly but I am up and about as much as I can be. My incision feels like a really bad bruise with some tingling here and there if I move the "right" way. But the nurses have been giving me a wonderful shot in the butt for the pain as well as to help my uterus contract back down to normal size.

Justin is really amazing with William! Since I haven't been able to do much the first two days, he has been working really hard to take care of both me and William. Please pray for him, as his back is hurting from bending over to change William's diaper and to help me nurse him. Both he and William are sleeping right now. These men in my life are SO adorable!

And from Diosd or Budapest, I think the drive is about 30-40 minutes, so we have really appreciated our friends coming to visit us. And they've been so helpful with transporting Justin's parents to and from the hospital.

Here are some pics of our friends, The Lang Family, who came to visit us yesterday. (They actually took more pics than we did!)

Miriam, Becky, and William

William, Oma, and Miriam

Photos of Willliam and Family

Proud Daddy

Proud Mommy

A Sweet Kiss

Opa, Dad, and Son

Mom meeting William for the first time!

A new family!

Oma and William

Our Baby Boy!

We are happy to introduce to you William Lee Custer! He was born by C-section around 1:30 pm Budapest time on June 13, 2009. He weighed 3.75 kg (8.27 lbs) and was 57 cm (22.4 in). Isn't he a cutie????!!!

Kurtos Kalacs in Diosd

After our doc appt on Friday, we stayed in Budapest and took J's parents to lunch at Gerloczy Cafe. It was fantastic! Justin and I both got fish and chips and the fish was "nagyon finom" -very delicious! J's mom got tomato basil soup with mascarpone and she enjoyed that. I can't remember what J's dad got...

Then we came back to Diosd, where we live, and walked to the center of town to get some very tasty "kurtos kalacs". It's a pastry unique to Hungary and SO good! Here are some pics, but sadly I forgot to take a pic of the actual pastry. :(

Sitting in a little park

The kurtos kalacs stand

The lady making the kalacs

ICSB Graduation

Friday morning at 10 am we took Justin's parents to our school's graduation ceremony. There were 15 students in this year's graduating class. I taught 9 of them, 6 of them were in my very first class in August of 2002. They were in the 6th grade and I had them first period. Congrats Liz, Luke, Priscilla, Jiya, Peter, and Anna!

Since we were hurried to get to a doctor's appointment at noon, I managed to get a picture with one of my first students, Jiya. Justin taught her AP Physics this year. She will be going to Cornell to study engineering. She is beautiful and brilliant!

Baby Custer Is Too Comfy

He or She is still in my wonderfully warm womb! My due date was yesterday and so now we wait. I've learned that a first-time pregnancy can be 5 days overdue on average. So we wait.

Here is a photo of J's parents when they arrived in Budapest. Most of what they packed were gifts for us and baby!

Here is a picture of us next to our pack n'play and stroller that J's parents brought over. It's been fun having them here!

Budapest's National Gallop 2009

The weekend of May 30 was Budapest's National Gallop. It was started last year, I believe, and it is an event for horse racing. The city transforms Hero Square (Hosok Ter) into a racetrack and the surrounding area is like a fesztival. Many people come to compete from various villages around Hungary. It is also a great way for the villages to advertise to tourists and so there are many booths with information on each village.

This event made me think of my in-laws who own three horses. So I sent them a link about the event and on this website was a video. On the video was a man who carved a horsehead into a piece of wood. When they saw him, they asked if we could find him and buy four of whatever he was carving. So, I was excited to go shopping for them at this event. :)

Believe it or not, he was not there to sell things and make money, but to draw people to the booth to learn more about Csongrad, his village. He was carving the other end of a wooden spoon into a horse head and just selling it as he made it. He had none pre-made! When I asked a lady at the booth that we'd like four, she got wide-eyed and said it would take about 3 hours since he makes them one at a time! So, we spent another three hours at the fesztival while he made them. :)

Golgota Church Service in the Park

The church we go to here is a calvary chapel. It has grown SO much since we've been here and now has three services on Sunday mornings. As a way to encourage unity and fellowship, the church decided to have one outdoor service on May 24. They rented an outdoor theater and it was a really great service. Many people came and there was a wonderful spirit of worshipping the Lord. Here is a pic and a video: