For the first time, we’re growing strawberries in our garden this year. Rabbits and robins seemed to enjoy the first fruit, but now that I have a crude fence in place, we humans are getting some berries too. Look good, taste great. Just wish I would have planted more!
James is spending the week at Highland Community School, his future kindergarten, taking part in a music focused summer camp. The early highlight? His new robot lunch box.
We had a nice family outing to a nearby park for some free outdoor music and some food truck supper. Fun time. Sad that we’ve had this opportunity every summer Tuesday for 8 years, but this was the first time we’ve ever gone. Must be Luke’s influence.
James and I spent a bit of time at his future school today, enjoying some ice cream and playground time on a hot and sweaty 88° day. We haven’t actually told James that he’s about to switch schools, but I think today gave him a good experience all in all. The only real negative is that the place is a bit old and the toilets are especially loud when they flush – when they auto-flushed while James was midstream … well, let’s just say his aim was a bit off. Next time he went hands free so he could cover both ears. That’s my boy.
I know that it’s still early, so let’s not get carried away just yet. But we just had to wake Luke up for a feeding again. And he slept almost all day yesterday. And you can just put him down and he’ll fall asleep. We’ve heard that babies like this sometimes happened for other parents. Perhaps, just maybe it’ll turn out to be the case for us and Luke too.
There’s no place like home … with a sleeping baby!
The above photo was taken about 72 hours after this one:
We’ve come through our first 24 hours with Luke in very good shape. Luke continues to be healthy and calm. He has slept quite a bit and when he’s awake he seems alert, content and easily comforted. What more could we ask for?
James was quite excited to go to the hospital to see Michele and Luke. Predictably, the excitement didn’t last for more than a few minutes once James began to realize the limitations of a newborn. He was pretty happy to see that Luke had brought him a gift and that there were also some cookies in the room. James seemed surprised at how small Luke was and thought that his feet looked pretty weird (scaly newborn skin).
Maime and Poppa arrived from Athens. Proud grandparents for the sixth time, they were naturals, easily managing standard maneuvers like the pickups, holds and transfers.
Lala also got to meet Luke for the first time. She seemed overwhelmed (in a good way) with the presence of her third grandson. Love at first sight. It was hard to pry Luke away from her arms.
One of the most surprising things so far has been how much Luke has slept. I’m writing this after getting 7 hours of sleep. We had him up once in the night but even then he was more interested in sleeping than eating. As soon as he feels Michele’s skin, he falls asleep.
We’ve had dozens of congratulatory emails and texts from family far and wide. We haven’t done a great job of responding to most yet. Stick with us – we’ll get back to you all eventually.
It’s hard not to compare this experience to our early time with James. It’s amazing how few of the details we remember clearly. But overall things feel familiar in a good way, and we’re enjoying a bit of perspective … and rest. It is certainly good to see Michele recovering quickly from the surgery!
It’s official. After his first pediatrician checkup, Luke has been declared “Perfect”. Amazing.
We had a good first night with Luke. He’s been a pretty peaceful guy so far. Here are some photos from his first morning.
