Heaven in 2011 - CousinFest & Duluth

This time of year usually finds us reliving the haze of WE Fest activities, but 2011 was different for us thanks to the little guy, whose needs preclude his parents running off to Detroit Lakes for the weekend.  We also have him to thank for a somewhat impromptu visit from Grandpa Allen, Auntie Wendi, Lily & Tessa, who trekked out from the west coast to meet the new addition.  And are we ever glad they did!  Luca is positively in love with his cousins, and Julian quickly copped on and spent lots of time happily being doted on by his family.

The mutual admiration society of Auntie Wendi & Julian

 Our 2nd visit to the MOA - this time for mini golf . FYI, Luca is making this face on purpose.

Grandpa, discovering his baby whisperer side

The girls, getting goofy

The single, solitary problem with a visit from my family is saying goodbye and enduring the couple of days it takes to return to normal afterwards.  Just as we were about to give in to the post-cousin doldrums, T came home and we headed up to Duluth for the weekend.

The timing couldn't have been more perfect, especially because Luca has recently developed an interest in lighthouses.   We had to hot-foot it out to this one because of the black sky over Lake Superior, but made it without incident.

Another perfect (for 3-year-old boys) feature of Duluth is their historic railroad, which was serendipitously putting on a Thomas the train event on the day we chose to visit.  Luca was over the moon to ride on a real train, and we even found an old train car that was appropriately named after the lake nearest our house.

On our last night in Duluth we ate dinner at a local Italian restaurant, where Luca made the most of the opportunity to draw his first family portrait.  Look closely.  From left to right, there's T, Julian, Luca, then me.  Yes, that red devil bat person is me.  And we didn't even get a picture after he added my extra legs.  

Teeny Tiny Margle

What's the best thing about getting an iPhone 4 for work?  Being able to record and then watch videos from back on the home front while actually located (swamped) in Houston.

What's the best thing about this vidette?  The 4 margles. 

Our favorite of Luca's dwindling number of mispronunciations is far and away the word "marble".  There's no good reason that he can't pronounce it correctly (i.e., he can say both "mar" and "ble" without a problem); but somehow he has landed on "margle" and he can't shake it.  As luck would have it, he says it here no less than 4 times in under 30 seconds - providing me with endless entertainment while away from the little monster. 

Pow!!! Bam!!!

Batman took a spill last weekend (captured on my phone) while showing off his wheels.  Showing super-heroic resolve, he immediately signed up for more, with "Let's try again, Dad (/Robin)." 

The New Line-up

Time to roll out the comparison photo.

We originally did this when Luca was just a little older than Julian is now.  Back then, we thought that Luca looked like a decently even mix between us, whereas nowadays the prevailing opinion is that he leans heavily towards T's side of the genetic formula.  As for Julian, we have yet to meet the person who thinks he looks more like T than me.  All that said, I see a lot of overlap between the boys and I must confess that I hope they bear a brotherly resemblance to each other as they grow up.

Getting a decent photo of a baby is hard.  As evidence, some of the outtakes:  

 

Good Things Come in Threes

Both LT & JR hit the "three" mark this month - Julian is now 3 months and Luca is now 3 years old.  Hard to believe...and seeing our big boy in action is all the more stunning when we look at Julian and see how many changes take place between 3 months and 3 years of age!

Julian at 3 months


When the time comes around to write about Julian, the hardest part for me is that we never have pictures that capture him as truly as I would like.  A classic story of the second-born - we spend far less time staring at Julian and snapping photos than we did with Luca.

That sweet face...

Perhaps in part because of this, Julian adores eye contact and dedicated attention.  He lights up when one of us connects with him, and has the warmest, whole-face smile.  From the look on his face, I would guess that he already feels that the sun rises and sets with his big brother and I can only hope that that feeling lasts forever.

In the past month he's plumped up and is growing fast enough that everyone is commenting on how big he is getting.  When we brought home that little guy, I couldn't have imagined the delightfully chunky thighs that he is now rocking.  We'll have to wait until his four month appointment to get the details, but there's no doubt that he's a healthy, growing baby.

In other news, he is an expert at clasping his hands, gnawing on them, and drooling while doing all of the above.  He continues to have remarkably strong leg and neck muscles and is working on rolling over, a sign that sedentary babyhood is drawing to a close.  Most importantly, he strikes a lovely balance between being willing to go along for the ride (critical to family happiness) and being able to make his voice heard (critical to his own happiness) - and I admire him for it.

Luca at 3 years

Where to begin?  Well, I can get the stats out of the way.  Our suspicion that Luca is the biggest 3-year-old on the block was confirmed this week at his doctor's office, where he weighed in at 36 pounds and came in at 38 7/8 inches tall, both in the 75-90th percentile range.  He's doing a perfect job of his most important job: growing big and strong.

Every day, Luca lives up to his name.  He is a veritable lightbulb in this house, with all the energy, interest, and hilarity one could ever want. Sometimes I can't believe my good fortune at getting to spend every day with him.  Of course, there are some days when I feel I've gotten some other kind of fortune, but that's just life with a toddler.  Recently he achieved a major communication breakthrough and is suddenly speaking and telling stories at a whole new level.  In the weeks leading up to it he was very difficult, and only in retrospect could we see why - he couldn't understand why we couldn't understand him.  And thank goodness we can now, because these are some of the gems he comes up with:

Conversation #1:
Luca: Murphy
Me: (blank stare)
Luca: sometimes I say Murphy

Conversation #2:

Scene - I am in the powder room, holding Julian while peeing while Luca chats with me - proof that I could not tell the future when I was 26. 

Luca: can you bounce it?
Me: can I bounce what? Do you mean balance it?
Luca: no, I mean bounce it. Can you bounce your penis?  And the water goes straight into the toilet when you shake it?
Me: no, honey, I don't have a penis.

This summer Luca has been just slightly less interested in sports, and a little more interested in scooters and bikes.  As always, he is obsessed with cars, airplanes, helicopters, and anything else that goes.  His fascination with super heroes is up and running, with rarely a day passing without the need to wear a spider/bat/super-man something.  And he is a generous-hearted boy who adores his baby brother and his dad with total devotion.  Oh, and he really, really likes sweet corn. 

Turning 3...and fireworks!

The 4th of July weekend has become a particularly festive one in our family, with Luca's birthday adding excitement to the holiday weekend.  This year we kicked off his birthday celebration on July 1st with an attempted gathering of T's family.  Unfortunately, we have no pictures because a) we forgot our camera (but remembered the cupcakes) and b) the party was cut short by one of the most dramatic and frightening storms that has ever caught us outside.  Right as Luca began to open his presents, straightline winds picked up and had us all scurrying for cover.  Everyone made it home safely and all of Luca's new, wonderful toys made it, too, but since then he has been asking a lot of questions about what can and can not be blown away by the wind...

The weather cleared for his real day, when we gathered some of his friends and their families at Kenwood Park for a sweet, Cars-themed party.  Luca was adamant about having a Lightning McQueen birthday cake and was not disappointed with the results - he ate two slices in short order.

A couple of barbecues and a block party later, we reconvened with T's family for a 4th of July celebration. Luca had a ball playing tag with his Johnson cousins and absolutely loved his first ever fireworks.  Julian had a pretty good time, too.

Asleep on Dad's shoulder

Ready to run!

Big 3-year-olds like strawberry/rhubarb ice cream

4th of July fun with the cousins



Happy boy in the block party bouncy house

Sweet Victory

The best day in my history as a Mavs fan:  June 12, 2011.  Five years after watching the Heat wipe the Mavs out in the NBA finals, we watched Dirk & Co. turn the tables and bring home their first championship.  

Note the Dirk bobblehead next to the tv.

Earlier in the day, T & Luca enjoyed their first dad/son trip to see the Twins play.  They made it through much more of the game than T had anticipated and got to see Liriano almost pitch a no-hitter.  

Where are the cracker jacks?  (Choice of head wear was entirely Luca's)

Home run!

Julian at 2 Months

Our sweet Julian is two months old.  Already.  Or finally.  I'm not sure which, because in some ways the time has flown, but in others it feels as if he has been a part of our family forever.

Comparisons between Luca and Julian are probably inevitable, but the truth is that they are so different.  For starters, Julian's babyhood is completely distinct from Luca's in that he has a big brother smushing his face, rubbing his head while he's sleeping, and generally loving him hard like a toddler does.  Though there have been moments when Julian would clearly rather be sleeping, he's starting to light up when he hears Luca's voice and I'm already projecting a long and sweet brotherly relationship between the boys.  

Though we know that baby looks can change quickly, for the moment Julian is looking much more like the Allen side of the family, while Luca bears a strong resemblance to T.  I like to think that they still look somewhat like each other, and only time will tell whether they look like apples from the same tree or not. 

Now for the details.  Last week Julian saw Dr. Bodine for his two month appointment.  He weighed in at 12 lb 12 oz (75th percentile), was 23.5 inches long (75th percentile) and his head measured 15 7/8 inches (90th percentile).   Julian suffered the requisite shots but was sure to let us know that he wasn't impressed.  That baby can go from zero to 120 on the cry meter in one second, and will have you covering your ears, he's so loud.  

He's also so sweet.  Julian has been smiling and cooing and laughing early and likes nothing more than to look into your eyes (or at your forehead) and interact with you.  His sleep is becoming more regular and organized and though he's not setting any sleep records, he has given us a number of 5-6 hour stretches and even one 7 hour sleep, which according to the doctor puts him in the top 25% of sleepers.  

Other Julian fun facts:

-  He has the most beautifully shaped head.

-  His eyes are, for now, very blue.

-  Julian is noticeably strong, particularly in his neck and legs.

-  We love him.

Back to the Future (and California)

A couple weekends ago, we got dressed up in costumes from past Guthrie / CTC productions and attended the Guthrie Theater's first Costume Ball Dance Party (pics from the Star Trib).  We're not sure exactly what we were wearing, but it made for a fun (and increasingly rare) night out on the town.  Our fellow revelers, P&G, Marijo and Henry (in from Sausalito), and Sara and Kris (and Julian), did not disappoint in their costumes.

We then found a little slice of heaven in a long weekend trip to Newport Beach with Papa & Gigi.  Perfect weather, great company, Gigi's continued bond with both of the little fellas, triple Bday celebrations (Papa and Grandma Micki on the 28th and Gigi on the 29th) and Luca's first surf lessons were the highlights.

(Notice the matching 'dos)

Six Week Update

So, we haven't posted much since Julian was born, mostly for the obvious reason of needing to attend to the many pressing tasks associated with having an almost-three-year-old and a newborn.  As most people would safely assume, there are mountains of laundry to do and snacks to be doled out and skinned knees to kiss and baby smiles to be cajoled.  

On top of all that fun stuff - and most of it truly is fun - we've had some not-too-serious but not-so-fun complications that we're opting to commemorate here for the sake of posterity.  Without going into every last detail, the gist is that strep throat came to visit, T returned to work, I had a relapse in post-delivery healing, and it rained a lot.  This video, filmed so that T could see what he was missing at home, captures the feeling that prevailed for many of the weeks following Julian's birth.

Thankfully, we can report that we have all recovered our health and optimism, as you can see. 

Big smiles from the littlest family member

Those eyes are still blue.

Sweet, sleeping baby

Luca feeling well enough to practice riding his bike

His new, big boy hair cut, courtesy of T

A quick photo break - sporting Pop Pop's helmet

First letters - OMI

Mother's Day

In addition to the joy of being a mom twice over this mother's day, a perfectly timed visit from Omi made for a most special day.

Per my request, T & Super Luca picked up lattes and a jumbo box of puppy dog tails from Isles Bun & Coffee.  Then we got hopped up on our treats and played at the Kenwood Park for the morning, the ideal way for everyone to enjoy mother's day.

Super Luca, in cape, knee pads and superman boots

Omi and the boss man in the choo choo train

Over the moon with Omi happiness

Omi, soaking up Julian's new baby-ness