Luca's First "Great Minnesota Get Together"

We love the MN State Fair. We go for the ridiculous food and drink, the people watching, the music/shows, and for some inexplicable reason, the animal barns. In these barns, one encounters unbelievable tastes, sights, and sounds, along with numerous gigantic Minnesotans prodding and poking numerous gigantic baby animals which are prodding and poking the gigantic teats of their gigantic mothers. Oh, and it smells like deuce. I know, I know, it sounds like I must be falsely billing the greatness of the experience, but trust me, I wouldn't do that.

This year, A got a whole new perspective on things in the human barn known as Lactation Station.Lactation Station is a tent outfitted with fans, light music, and rocking chairs filled with baby Minnesotans feeding from their mothers (both prize-winning and otherwise). Last year, we didn't even notice it. This year we orbited around it.

While our Fair experience was very different from years past in some ways, it was the same in many others...

Raise Your Hand if You're Californian

When we lived in San Francisco I was one of the city's most elusive type of residents: a native Californian. And though I didn't live in the City until my mid-20s, my mom made sure that the "born in _________" line reads "San Francisco" on all four of her children's birth certificates. So it's been a little heartbreaking for me that Luca's birth record not only won't say San Francisco, but won't have anything Californian about it.

Even so, and even if we lived in Oregon or Montana, I consider the little guy to be half Californian and half Minnesotan, just like he's a little bit Irish and a whole lot Italian. T & I both have a lot of home state pride, so wherever we go we won't let Luca forget his dual Pacific and Midwest citizenship. Thanks to Luca's Auntie BFF, he has a wardrobe of MN- and CA-themed onesies to back this up.


This week Luca had his first exposure to his California roots during an unbeatable visit from his CA cousins, auntie & uncle. We visited the MOA, played at the lake, had an in-car picnic during a huge thunderstorm, and generally enjoyed time together in the Minnesota summer. We're so thankful that they came all the way here to meet the little guy. The only thing that made their heading back home bearable is knowing that we'll see them in California this Fall.

My Baby Can Eat Your Baby

In the blue corner, wearing the orange G-diaper, and weighing in at 11 lbs 14 oz., future welterweight champion of the world, Luca "The Bruiser" Giganto!

Luca at 4 Weeks

A whole month has passed since Luca broke out and joined us on the outside. In the interest of recording his development for posterity, we'd like to make a practice of monthly highlight reels. Here's the first, covering what he's being up to these four weeks.

Hazmat

Luca is an expert poop producer and wall sprayer. There were two early omens of his proficiency that we might have heeded more carefully. First, he produced some meconium in utero - a cause for concern during delivery that turned out to be no big deal. Then there was one particularly long trip to the nurses' station. They'd had a clean-up on their hands after Luca made a pee fountain to entertain all the nurses.

Since then we've lost count of all the incidents of wet walls, wet clothes, and ill-timed diaper changes, but there have been a couple of memorable occurrences worth mentioning:

- At one trip to the doctor's office, Luca peed on the examining table not once, but twice. Since the same doctor performed Luca's circumcision, the peeing seemed purposeful and perhaps punitive.

- Airing out the baby is a good idea, but it's one that should perhaps be executed on the lawn and not in the front room. I had him on my lap, wrapped in what turned out to be a permeable blanket, and was rewarded with a soaking in baby poop.

- And you've seen the picture of the sopping mess Luca made of T.

Babar

In the middle of the night, Luca makes sounds more appropriate to a baby elephant than a human baby. Curiously, he doesn't seem to make these noises during daytime naps, but only when T & I are trying to sleep.

Luca "the Bruiser"

Luca is a fairly easy going baby. He'll cut you some slack on diaper changes, and he lets me drag him all over town to run errands. But get in the way of a meal, and you're in for it. He's ferocious about feeding.

The result is an impressive weight gain. During one six-day period he gained almost a pound, going from 9.4 lbs to 10.25 lbs. The 2.4 oz per day increase this represents is more than double the 1 ounce expected max daily weight gain.

Yes, we are planning his NFL career.

Rewards

In just the past few days, Luca has started to punctuate his usual expressions with occasional smiles for T & me. It's the greatest.



Here's Luca working very hard to build neck muscles.

One Woman Band

The little fella and I are going to be on our own for a couple of weeks, as Omi has gone back home after a great extended visit. She helped us tremendously - in both the around-the-house ways of doing laundry and loading the freezer with baked ziti, and also in the what-do-i do-now ways. Like when Luca's screaming in the middle of Target and I don't know whether to pick him up out of his carseat or run us all out the door. Omi always knows the right thing to do. Thanks Portland for letting us borrow her for a few weeks. We'll need her back later.

A's Big Day!

Supermom will probably blog tomorrow, but I just took these photos this morning (her birthday!) and thought they were more than blogworthy.


Happy birthday, A!

Super T

Today is T's first day back at work after two and a half weeks off, and we miss him. He is an impressive dad already. He sings to Luca and walks the floor with him for hours to comfort him. He jumps up in the middle of the night when Luca makes one of his many wild baby animal sounds. He even lets Luca pee on him.

This weekend Luca got to meet special visitors Marsha and Sam

T & Luca, after Luca marked his territory

Lucky Luca

In his first two weeks of life on the outside, Luca has been showered with love, attention and gifts from friends and family near and far. T & I have been saved from starvation thanks to generous meal deliveries, and bailed out from the shocking pile of baby laundry by Omi. We're immeasurably thankful for Luca and all the support and love our new family has received over the past two weeks.

Papa with Luca's chin

Omi & Luca - forging a special bond during her visit

T has been off of work since Luca's arrival and will be heading back to the adult world next week. In the meantime, the closest he's gotten to his office was earlier this week when we checked out a special Aquatennial tennis match put on in the plaza of his building.




In the future we will post videos of Luca doing funny and amazing things. For now, we only have video of his mom doing an impression of him. T thinks I have a gift for impersonating our baby.

Videos brought to you thanks to Papa & Gigi's gift of a video camera.

Week 40 - Gametime!

Dear Luca,
Since this whole thing began back in October 2007, July 2nd was the date that you were supposed to arrive. However, with Mom's family history of delivering late (she was 3 weeks late herself!) and the fact that first babies typically are a little on the tardy side, we were prepared to wait a few more days or even weeks when we went to bed on Tuesday night, July 1st.
Mom was having some dull pain in her back and her frequent contractions seemed to be even more frequent than usual. We chalked these things up to being effects from having taken a long walk to Liberty Frozen Custard for ice cream after dinner, and went to bed as usual. Little did we know that your arrival was around the corner.

3am - Contractions woke Mom for the first time in the entire pregnancy. Each contraction was also painful, which was a first as well. She noted the times of the contractions, and saw that they were coming fast and furious (5-minutes apart right from the start).

4am -
A: "Wake up T, I think things are happening"
T: "Oh my god"

4am - 545am - We timed contractions, took showers, put the finishing touches on our hospital bags, called the doctor (who told us to head to the hospital), and of course, took A's in-labor uber-important week 40 photo.

Yes, she's in labor in this 545am photo!

7am - The nurses at maternity assessment noted that A's contractions were strong and close together, but that she was only dilated to 2-3 cms. They asked that we go for a walk before being reassessed. With further dilation, Mom would be admitted and we would begin becoming your parents. No further dilation would mean we would head back home and continue with the waiting game.
8am - After an hour-long walk to and around the midtown market, we returned to the hospital to learn that A's dilation had moved to 4-5 cms. It was gametime! Mom was admitted to room 10 of the delivery room (which we later learned was the same room where your cousin Ben was born just 9 months before!), and her contractions ramped up in intensity and length.
11am - A was dilated to 6 cm by this point, but her contractions had reached a point where they were almost unbearable. Mrs. Tough Stuff had been handling her discomfort so well that nurse Linda said she couldn't believe A was at 6 with no pain medication b/c she was acting like someone at 2.
12pm - A's pain escalated rapidly and after discussing some relief options, she decided to give the tub a shot. The warm water of the tub proved a good distraction as A began to feel a little better about her discomfort.
1215pm - A's water broke in the tub!
1245pm - Mom began feeling the need to push and nurse Linda thought it was time to head back to room #10 to begin the delivery process.

1pm - We returned to the delivery room and the nurse was impressed to see that A was between 9-10 cms without having received any drugs at all. She asked A if she was ready to push even though the doctor was still not in the room, and A said she was ready.
1-135pm - Mom's spirits improved as she was able to take some control over the process by pushing through each contraction. Doctor Kilburg arrived around 130pm, and after a funny introduction to A during a big push she immediately prepared for a delivery that she deemed imminent. Here was their exchange:

MD: "Hi, A. You're doing great. I'm doctor Kilburg. It's nice to meet you."
A: "MMMRMRRRRRMRGRRR!"

136pm - You were born! Luca Thomas! To quote the doctor, you were a big, juicy, baby boy! We high-fived upon hearing the news (partly because we didn't even have a girls name figured out), and you immediately screamed and cried. After Dad cut the surprisingly thick cord, you bonded with Mom for a few minutes and then were measured by the nurses: 8lbs 12.8 oz., 21 inches long, 14-inch head:

We stuck around the hospital until Friday, and were immediately overwhelmed with happiness and the sense that you belonged with us all along -a euphoric feeling that is impossible to explain.

We love you, and welcome home.

Love,
Mom and Dad

1:30 of more pics...

Week 39

With just two days until #3's due date, we shouldn't be surprised that today brought a lot of contractions and quite a few opportunities for us to wonder if the real thing was underway.

Our friends have been great at helping to distract us from the inevitable feeling of suspense that week 39 has brought. Last week we barbecued and witnessed a super-soaker showdown, and got to spend some time with the newest addition, little CS born just a couple of weeks ago.

Week 38

As you can see, I'm still pregnant. You might also be able to tell that I've passed the stage where people regard me with doting admiration. Now when I walk into a store, I'm greeted by strangers who say "whoa!" and start making contingency plans in case I go into labor.

There's got to be a jail stripes joke here somewhere...

We manage to keep stacking up great weekends and are keeping track of all the cool things #3 is getting to do pre-birth. The highlights this week were Rock the Garden at the Walker on Saturday and a family dinner on Sunday. Now just one weekend between us and the due date...

A friend found this picture of us in a local paper. We're near the center, watching from the roofdeck of the Walker.

Week 37 - Happy Father's Day

37 is a magic number in Pregnancytown, since at 37 weeks the little smidge is considered full term. So we've got a fully brewed baby here.


We considered the possibility that this could have been T's first official Father's Day, if the baby came early. As it is, we enjoyed it as an Almost-Father's-Day. To start the weekend off, T & friends played the Mill City Farmers Market. #3 has a very talented father: superstar summer intern Monday through Friday, rockstar on the weekend.

Natty's Hi Tone Barbers

Week 36

Special Delivery: 150 lb. crate containing not the face-melting ark, but a hand-crafted cradle made especially for #3 by Grandpa David. Dawn completed the ensemble with lovely, crocheted blankets and a penguin. And just to prove that #3 is the luckiest yet-to-be-born baby in the world, Grandma Micki sent us an adorable crib quilt (also shown below).

Week 35

This weekend we headed to the North Shore for our last excursion as A & T. We enjoyed our "babymoon," as we've heard it called. We hiked, ate out, played cards, got some fresh air, and savored the quiet before #3's arrival. Northern Minnesota is home to some incredible state parks and we got to visit a couple - and have plans to go back someday to do more exploring on a future family vacation.

Week 34

We just graduated from Birth & Parenting class and are now completely prepared for the big event. Or not so much. But we know more now than we did before. T is a quick study with the hee-hee-hoo breathing techniques and will be a great coach. Now if I can just accept that there is no alternative ending to this pregnancy thing, and that the baby will indeed have to come out eventually...