Julian is so cute!! Various photos....

The Chronicles of Nana

In true 21st century form, Julian's Nana Lynn (Ruth's mother), who has been here from London spending 6 weeks with us helping out as we adjust to parenthood, has been taking snapshots with her Blackberry from Day 1 to the present. Many of these have been emailed to family and friends, but I thought I'd post a few select ones:
The man himself, at 1 week:

With Uncle Ben:

Julian's great-grandmother meets Julian (long-distance):


The chronicler herself:

Julian Meets Family - Part 2

Since Juli's arrival, family and friends have been visiting, calling, emailing, and sending cards and gifts from all over the world (and down the street)! Here are some more photos of various folks:
Julian with Grandpop Mike:
With Aunties Krysia and Elisa:
With Great-Aunt Cindy:
With Auntie Beth:

With Uncle Ben:


With grandma Sue:

Julian Meets Family - Part 1

So, four weeks into motherhood I am finding a little time to post some overdue blogging.
Beginning 45 minutes after birth and continuing through the holidays, little Julian has been meeting his extended family. Within his first 12 hours of life, Juli met all 4 of his biological grandparents (who came from Madison, Boston, Washington DC and London UK), plus one of his step-grandparents and his 6-year-old uncle. Here are some photos from those first 12 hours:
Julian with his grandmothers Lynn and Kathy:



With his grandfathers Mark and Dan:


With his step-grandmother Sarah and Uncle Sam:

Julian meets great-grandma Lois

Julian got to meet a lot of family members over the holidays (or, rather, a lot of family members got to meet Julian, since he is still feeling a little out of it).  A highlight for me was my nearly 93 year old grandmother (his great-grandmother) Lois meeting him.  She and my aunt Cindy drove eight hours in the snow from Minnesota to make it to Madison, stayed two nights and had to head back before Christmas.  Julian is partially named after Lois's husband and my paternal grandfather Albert, who passed away several years ago.  Grandma's choice quote upon meeting the baby was "you sure must have loved pa to have given the baby such a stodgy old German name."  Indeed.

 

Uncle Ben takes a video

Julian's Uncle Ben and grandpa Mike have arrived, Ben from Cambridge MA and Mike from London. Ben is a technical wizard and caught this instance of Julian sleeping and being picked up:
http://qik.com/video/725138
We will post photos of everyone soon.

Update of the day

We have been incredibly lucky to be surrounded by family and friends since Julian was born! One manifestation has been the wonderful food that has been prepared for us. Just today we enjoyed a quiche made by Rebekah, Shepherd's Pie made by Julian's grandmother Lynn (a.k.a. Nana), and pozole stew brought to us by Ruth T. So many thanks to everyone for this hearty support!

Julian Sleeping with Hiccups

Thanks to Uncle Matt for uploading this little video to Youtube!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk35GngGW5M

Julian meets uncle Matt

My brother Matt flew in from NYC to meet his new nephew this weekend.  He was a natural with the baby, as you can see from these photos.

Saved by the Moby Wrap!

Yes ladies and gentlemen it is indeed Baby Mama herself posting for the first time. My hands have been FREED finally thanks to the bizarre but wonderful Moby Wrap. The news: Julian has passed his birthweight (as of Tuesday, 6 days old, he was 7 lbs 15 oz) and acquired a bellybutton. Meanwhile, we parents have graduated to a night routine involving a very early bedtime, adequate snacks next to the nursing rocking chair, and our handy log for recording nursing times (and which side I finished with last) and my sleep-hours. 

The birth: the quick version is that we went in for our 41-week induction ready to do an unmedicated vaginal birth. Morgan and I had trained and practiced and were ready to go. 4 hours got me from 1 to 4 cm and I was very energized and not hurting too badly. But then we slogged through 8 hours locked at 4 cm-- the last 3 or so of which were so hard that I needed the narcotic to help me. We were a great team throughout. At that point our amazing doc said: OK, we may be heading for c-section here, so why not try the epidural because in some cases it can help women dilate, and worst things worst you can keep the epidural for your c-section. I said OK!! It sounded great at that point. The epidural gave me an amazingly wonderful break, and in 2 hours it allowed me to reach 7 cm! Then 2 more hours to 10 cm!! And then it was time to push-- and in 15 minutes little Julian made his entry into the world.

We love him so, so much.

like mother like son

Getting into the groove at home

Here are a few more pics of Julian getting the rest he needs.  As for his parents?  That is another story.

Happily at home

We came home from the hospital on Friday, and have taken the last few days to settle in.  Mother and baby are doing great, though everything they tell you about being up all night is totally true.  Here are a few early photos of the little guy, with more to come.

Introducing Julian Albert Luker

Our son Julian Albert Luker was
born this morning at 1.13 am at Meriter hospital in Madison, WI.  He weighed in at 7 lbs 13
oz and 20 inches in length.  Ruth had a hard delivery, but made it through
it all with an incredible depth of courage, and both baby and mother are now
resting comfortably.  The extent of our joy is inexpressible; it is amazing to finally get to meet the little guy.

More updates soon

We are going in

More updates to come...

To Those Placing Bets & the Population of England:

1. I regret to inform you that if you have put money on the notion that Baby Luker (a.k.a. Little Lad) (a.k.a. Lil' Luker) (a.k.a. Rumpus) would have made his appearance by now, your hard-earned cash will be going to another bidder. As of today, he appears to be quite comfortable in his warm liquid home.
2. To our U.K. representative: please ask your population to engage in enjoyable, distracting, mindless activities such as taking in the epic film "Australia." It seems to be the appropriate antidote to the waiting around that we are all doing in various parts of the world!

some action

No real news yet, but there has been some progress in the baby department.  Enough to make us rethink the old Diana Ross song "I'm coming out."  Stay tuned, and happy thanskgiving everyone.

Today is the date

The due date, that is.  But it appears that the guy is going to be late.  We have been waiting so long for this day to come that we can't help but being a bit disappointed that the little guy is going to miss his cue, but considering how cold it has been recently, I wouldn't want to come out either.  It is bound to happen sometime soon, though, so stay tuned for updates.

The last date

We went on our "last date" as a babyless couple last night. The soon-to-be maternal grandmother is coming to town tonight, and the baby is due Tuesday, so we enjoyed it while it lasted! We went to a place called Harvest on the capitol square in Madison (where we went for our "last date" before getting married too). It is a really excellent place, on par with any NYC restaurant I have been to, just with more space between the tables. I am going to think fondly of this place as I am eating my umpteenth Trader Joe's frozen meal come babytime.

Check out

http://www.harvest-restaurant.com/

We're Waiting...

Dear Baby, you are very close to arriving but not here yet. We are looking forward to meeting you! Love, your parents.