Happy Halloween! This is Luke in his dragonling costume. I made it.
Well, after the blow out. Please ignore the poo on his sock. His real costume has a red stomach.
Our creepy family.
Greg, the warlock and his dragonling minion.
Crazy stare.
The mage and dragon.
I also made my cape, vest and shorts.
Two month picture.
Luke is now two months old. He weighs 11 1/2 lbs. He is 23 1/2 inches. He may scratch his face but we don't put gloves on because he sucks on his hands and that keeps him sleeping through the night. We put a sound making toy on his stroller and he will kick to hear the noise. And the most exciting thing he is doing is smiling back.
Greg has been working with Exxon's executive loan program with United Way. We got to attend a barbecue fund raising event. You should have seen Greg pushing Luke around the office, showing him off. What a proud daddy. Luke was smiling at everyone and was well behaved the whole time. What a good baby.
Our newest addition. Greg finally got his x box 360. It's partly for Christmas. But he already busted it out.
He fell asleep on the way home from the store and Greg thought it was so funny looking that he wanted a picture. If you think it looks painful, you are right. Luke woke up crying because his head got stuck like that. Kinda looks photoshopped.
Luke napping on Daddy
We also recently had another fun visit. Merilee and Canute came to see Luke before they leave on missions. We played games and they fought over the baby. It was nice. (Merilee, please send some photos 'cause I didn't take any.)
This is a picture of Luke who is already 6 weeks old.
He's pretty happy.
Compare to his blessing day.
Doing exercise.
Such a big boy sitting up in his bumbo seat.
Going on a walk.
"I love staring at lights."
Halloween decorations.
Finally got some decor up in my house. Thanks to my in-laws visit.
Hope you like the pictures.
We recently took Luke in for his one month check-up.
He weighed 9 lbs 14 oz. 50% of kids weigh less than him.
He was 22 3/4 inches long. 90% are shorter than him.
The circumference of his head was 15 inches 50% have bigger heads than him.
Here are some cute shirts I recently made. (Read: Ironed on fabric)
These girlie ones I gave as a baby shower gift. My boy can't wear Hello Kitty.
These are the ones that Luke is now sporting.
I know I need to post more pics of my baby.
Don't wake the baby. This is my favorite picture of Luke so far.
We recently had Greg's parents come to visit. They had come to adore their first grandchild. It was really great to see them. We played games too.
Luke and Grandpa Mark.
A curious little guy.
All dressed up for his blessing.
So cute.
Three generations of Gessel men.
Luke with his grandparents.
Our little family.
Wide awake to go to his first Sunday meeting.
Luke and Grandpa Mark having fun.
Luke and Grandma Debbie. She would seriously hold him every moment she could. (Meanwhile I would sleep.)
Greg calming Luke.
Going on an evening walk.
We were very sad to see Greg's parents go. They were a great help and we had so much fun. Luke especially misses his morning walks with them.
We were very glad for all the help and support we got from Bonnie who has been living with us this summer. We didn't get a picture with her and Luke at the hospital, but she was his first aunt to hold him.
We gave Luke his first bath at home and decided we better take a photo.
Luke is very glad to have Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Mark visiting. He has loved being held constantly.
These are pictures that I took of Luke 2 minutes ago, asleep in his car seat. He is looking washed out because of the flash, but oh well.
Sunday night I went to the hospital to get my cervix prepped with cervadil. I started having some contractions with that. By 6 am I wanted the epidural. I was only dilated to 1 1/2 cm at the time but I was in pain. I had to get the epidural put in twice because they got a blood vessel the first time. I didn't feel it, so I didn't care. Luke's heart rate dropped when they gave it to me so I had to be put on oxygen for a while. I kept progressing so they didn't give me pitocin like they were going to at 9. Luke's heart rate dropped when I was on my back or right side, so they had to keep me on my left side. I had to get oxygen for a time after that happened. They periodically checked up on me and then saw I had stopped progressing. By that time, they didn't really want to give me pitocin because they were afraid that Luke's heart rate would drop again and they didn't want him to be in distress. They checked me again and my cervix had started swelling and the dilation was only like a 5. So they asked me if I would have a c section. I didn't really want to but they were afraid that I wouldn't dilate to 10 cm and that it would end up being an emergency c section. So we agreed. The whole procedure only lasted like 30 minutes from start to finish so it was quick. By that time I was exhausted and had to force my eyes open to stay awake to see Luke. Greg said that the doctors who got Luke out had to put their backs into getting him out. And although I didn't feel pain, it was a really weird "pressure" when they took him out.
After much waiting, Luke Gregory Gessel was born M0nday, August 24th at 1:52 pm. He weighed 8 lbs and 1 oz. He was 20 inches long.
You can't really tell in pictures, but Luke has amazingly long eyelashes that he got from his daddy.
Greg made me take a "traditional hospital gown picture." But I went and combed my hair and put on make up, so I wouldn't look terrible. The gown is bad enough.
Luke, the pacifier kid, with Dad.
Luke and Mommy getting ready to check out of the hospital.
Flower and bear sent by Exxon to my hospital room.
I stayed in the hospital until Thursday afternoon. It wasn't bad eating my meals in bed and having someone at my beck and call (button). There was a night nursery that Greg and I took advantage of, between 11pm and 6am. Greg had some work training he needed to attend this week. Monday was the first day, but he was preoccupied. He went to work Tuesday and Wednesday. Each evening he would come back to the hospital and sleep on the crappy couch bed. What a great sport. Thursday, Luke was circumcised. I was reassured that he wasn't overly traumatized by the fact that he wasn't screaming bloody murder when they brought him back to us. We attended the homeward bound class. We finally got home by 3 pm.
Last night was the first night home. We expected no problems with Luke because he had slept pretty well the nights at the hospital. But he woke up almost hourly and was generally fussy. So it was hard. Hopefully, that is not the new normal.
Otherwise, we are doing just fine. We love having Luke with us. He's a very cute little guy.
