James' Birthday!

On Jan 31st we celebrated James birthday by invited his family around for a BBQ at our place - Just imagine how nice our backyard will be once we are finished with the landscaping project. Then we'll all be hanging out on our nice deck, surrounding by lush green ready-lawn....not dirt and construction debris like these photos show!
4 Generations of Deegans - James Grandpa Tom, Jame's Dad Pete, and of course James and Luca.

James has been saving this bottle of port for 10 years - to drink when after he had his first born son. It's a special bottle from the military from when his unit rebanded into......??? Actually I better not try to talk about it...I'll let James fill in the specifics, b/c I don't really know the story...but....
It did taste pretty good! Pretty cool that James has been saving it for just this moment.
On Friday night we met a big group of our friends and a local Chinese resturant for dinner and Kareoke. Not the type of place that you would want to go to a lot - but heaps of fun when you have a big group, and something to celebrate. Luca stayed with Jo and Bruce at the beach, and after him being gone for an hour I was already missing him! I do admit, though, that it felt a bit like old times as James as I got ready for a night out, wine glass and beer in hand.

1 month old!

Where has the time gone? Luca is already 1 month old, and weighs 10lbs 9oz, so he's 'thriving' and doing well. He's my little milk man, that's for sure. Days are busy feeding, changing, entertaining, cleaning up spills, and bathing this little boy. Notice I didn't say sleeping! He does sleep, but definitly doesn't like going to bed in his own cot. And for all of those wandering how the nights are going....well it's 4am and I'm writing this if that gives you any indication! On average he sleeps for 3 hours at a time - which isn't too bad...it's just the getting him to go down thing that can sometimes be a struggle. It doesn't help that the poor wee little man has a snotty nose and has trouble breathing because of it. All babies are nose breathers, and unlike adults who have blocked noses and resort to breathing out our mouths, little babies will just keep sniffing and snorting out their noses. You'd think we had a little piggy in the house by the sounds of it. I gave him some saline solution up the nose tonight which seemed to help a bit. We hosted a coffee group at my house last week. It was comprised of some women and their babies from our antenatal group. Our group meets 1 or 2 times a week. Thought this picture was pretty cute. Luca's the one in white collered shirt and blue pants. The baby in the stripes is about 1 month older than the other ones...you can tell how much more alert and calm he is than the others. Speaking of alert....Luca has been getting bigger by the day and more alert. His eyes are open wide, and he likes to hold his head up by himself now. The smile comes out every now and then as well. He's got dimples on both sides of his face - just like Mom and Dad.
Another favourite past time of Luca is peeing on his face....or on us! He likes to catch us off guard when his diaper is being changed. Here I am giving him an emergency wipe down after another episode of free willy. Look he fits in our tiny sink basin just perfect. He's got his confused, 'what are doing to me, mom' look on his face here.

This was taken tonight after bedtime routine of bath, storytime, feeding. He's pretty 'drunk' off the milk and has turned all floppy in James' arms as James tries out a new burping technique. He can burp louder than just about anyone I know. He looks like a little bear dosen't he? Of course as soon as his head hit the cot - his eyes popped wide open and the crying began. We don't know how he does it...fast asleep one minute, and then crying the next.

This week is James 29th birthday! Luca has a special gift that he made Dad - can't wait to give it to him. Grandparents Jo and Bruce will be taking Luca on Friday night while we have our first proper night out since he has been born. We've managed to get in the occasional movie while Grandma Cassie was here, and also another one last week with Jo.....but this will be a whole night of no Luca - as he'll be out at the beach. Some of our friends are joining us for dinner and then a cheesy night of kareoke at a local chinese dive in town. Whenever I'm not with Luca I miss him dearly, so not sure how I'll cope being away a whole night! Although an uninterrupted night of sleep does sound pretty good...

Luca - traveling man!

This was week #1 of Mommy and Luca at home by ourselves (James went back to work this week). Every day little Luca does something new that suprises me and being at home with him every day gives me the time to really learn and observe this guys personality - which is definitly starting to emerge. We try to get out of the house each day - which means we are traveling by foot and stroller a lot (I'm still recovering from the war wounds of birth and not allowed to drive....but getting better and will be behind the wheel again in no time!)

We've had lots of visitors this week - include 4 of my co-workers from PNCC! This is a photo of Melissa with Luca - doesn't she look like a natural!? It was good to see some familar faces and hear about what's been happening at work without me, but it didn't tempt me to come back to work early. I'm having way too much fun with Luca!

Luca has already made the papers! Luca and Mommy are mentioned in an article about the super 7's series mentioning that at only 2 weeks old he was probably the youngest participant. Every Tuesday there's a 7km Run/Walk throughout town. Hundred's of people show up and for $3 you participate in the race, get a free sausage at the end, 6-pack of yogurt to take home, and water supplied en route. Last year I somehow managed to run most every Tuesday with my motivator and personal coach James. I usually feel like I'm going to die during the run (7kms....is a long way for a non runner!) BUT at the end the endorphins are sooo worth it. I'm not quite up to running yet, so we walked it this week. Luca usually sleeps in his stroller but was wide awake throughout the whole thing - which meant he was wide awake all night as well. Rule of thumb...if he doesn't sleep well during the day...he doesn't sleep well at night!

We also got Luca's mugshot taken for his NZ and USA passports. What an ordeal that was. Luca had to have eyes open, mouth closed, facing forward with his neck that can just barely support his head...ALL at the same time! We finally got a shot that has Luca looking a bit stunned, but will work for the gov't requirements. And then he peed. All over the white background of the photo shop. ( Lesson learned....Penis down, not up in diaper!) A bit silly to make an infant take a photo for a passport. He will look so different in just a matter of months.

On Saturday we had our first family picnic to the park. It's nice to enjoy the simple thing (which don't cost any money) and be out in the sunshine with our little man.

This weekend Luca also got to meet some other babies. Saturday night he was introduced to Jaycob - who was just brought home from the hospital this week after 5 1/2 months in neonatal unit. Today our antenatal group had a BBQ and we got to meet the other 11 babies in our group...I don't ever thing I've been in a room with that many babies. It was pretty entertaining and good to swap stories with all the other moms and dads. Reassured us that everything was normal in our household...well as normal as can be with a little newborn!

2.5 weeks old!

Our first walk with the Mountain Buggy. At Foxton Beach with both Grandmas.

It's hard to imagine that we have had Luca for about 2.5 weeks. He's already changed so much - his eyes are begining to focus more and we think he can see further away. He responds to the sound of Mom and Dad's voice, and boy is he strong! He can just about hold up his head, and he likes to look from side to side. He also is fan of kicking his legs around (especially during diaper changes). I expected our newborn to be a bit of a 'blob' for at least a month - but from just about day 1 he was moving around. He must have inherited the strength genes from James :-)

Grandma Cassie with Luca - out enjoying the sunshine at Bruce and Jo's house. We have been venturing out a bit with Luca. He's spent the night at beach and also been on a little road trip to Rotorua with Grandma Cassie and my cousin Jenny - who just flew into NZ a few days ago.

A pit stop in Taupo on our way to Rotorua.
The boys resting at our accomodation in Rotorua.
Jenny, Mom, and I went to a Maori dinner show while in Rotorua. Yes, it was a bit cheesy, but I have to admit it was pretty interesting. Walks through the 'bush', glow worms, wariors in a canoe, and then the typical song/dance/war/haka performances and Hungi feast. The hungi feast was so tasty - definitly the best I had ever had in NZ. There was heaps of food, so it felt like you were sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner.

Grandma Cassie has flown to NZ for the arrival of Luca - she's been great help - but unfortunatly will only be here till Jan 10th.
After 6 days and 5 nights in the hospital, the real journey begins as we take Luca home - the comforts of the hospital, pain medication, and midwives around to help you out will be a distant memory.
Luca at home with Daddy
Our first day home, Luca makes it to one of our friend Duco's BBQ birthday party. We only stayed a little bit, but Luca impressed all the ladies, and was an angel. Our first night at home Shelly and James get very little sleep - but the adventure continues and each day becomes a bit easier.

New Year, New Baby!

Such adorable soft skin, covered in a fine layer of soft downy hair (which will unfortunatly fall out soon).
Grumpy old man face!
" Mommy, I'm tired..."
New Year's Eve was celebrated in our hospital room. Shelly, James and Cassie stayed up to ring in 2008 at midnight, but Luca, the party pooper fell asleep.
" Daddy, there's no milk coming out of there!"

Luca's First Week of life