update

Ok so long time no blog... sorry. Work is hectic and I'm too tired at night. So since my last blog, Luca got his first cold and then gave it to us. I swear it put us on our death bed. I don't know what kind of germs he had but they were leathal to us. We are all better now though, which is nice. He has discovered his feet and tries desparetly to get them into his mouth. It is the cutest thing to watch. He hasn't figured out how to grab them yet (he's not really into using his arms or hands) so he just brings them up with his tummy muscles, opens his mouth and hopes his foot will fall in. We do lots of tummy time every night on the floor in front of a mirror. He hasn't really tried to roll over yet, shows no interest in it, but he does love the mirror. He will be 5 months next week which is crazy to think about! As soon as he hits 6 months we'll start him in swimming lessons. He's already been in a pool and loves it!

more photos... luca with the family

Brazil photos!

Brazil

Oh where do I begin. Luca and I got back on Tuesday from Brazil. We had a wonderful time there despite the fact that the weather was mostly cloudy and rainy. I think it rained more in the two weeks we were there than it did in the 6 months I lived there. We rented an apartment on the beach with Amauri's grandparents, mother, step-father and sisters. The family absolutely loves Luca (who doesn't) and had a great time fussing over him. Luca didn't do as well as we expected. He just seemed to be out of sorts for the whole time. The flights made him extremely gassy and he wouldn't sleep. He was happy when awake but was hell to put down.

He reverted back to waking up all night long and wanting to feed. So being that we wanted at least some sleep on our vaca we gave in and he slept in our bed and ate whenever he wanted to.

New Year's was fun... we spent it on the beach with thousands of other people. Luca slept quietly in the stroller while tons and tons of fireworks went off about 20 feet from him. He woke up after and we got some really cute pics.

Unfortunately, I left both cameras in Brazil so I can't post photos until Amauri gets back next week.

The trip home with Luca went better than I thought, or I should say I handled it better than I thought. We had a horrible 6 hour layover in Atlanta where Luca lost his frickin mind and screamed as though I was killing him. The entire airport just kept staring at me. Luckily there were two nice women who offered to help as I am sure I looked a complete mess. I hadn't slept, my tank top was so streched out from him pulling it that my bra was popping out everywhere, I had bags under my eyes, my hair was supposed to be in a ponytail but Luca had pulled half of it out and I smelled like puke.

I can truly say I will never travel that far with a baby this young again. But it was worth it as Luca got to spend time with is aunts, grandparents and great grandparents.

Since we've been back he is also out of sync. He only ate 2 ounces yesterday from 5am until 4pm! He just wouldn't take a bottle. My poor mom and sister in law had a heck of a day. I am hoping today he does better.

I will post photos as soon as possible.

Good News

Good news on the kidneys! His left kidney (or the tube that connects it to the bladder) is no longer swollen. The right one is still a bit enlarged so we will have another ultrasound in 6 months to check on it again. The doctor thinks that most likely this one will correct itself too and he will get a clean bill of health by his first birthday!

He is all signed up for daycare at a home daycare in Burien. He will start that on January 12th... I am much more nervous than he is and will probably cry more than him that day as well! It is hard to hand your baby over to other people... no one is as good as we are, no one. But that is life and I know he will be in good hands. Here are some more photos of the little one...

Christmas tree shopping... Asleep in an abuba... (sp?)

Wish he was this peaceful all the time...

Cabecao

Luca had his 3 month check-up yesterday (although he's technically a little over 3 1/2 months now). He is 15.5 lbs (7kgs), 25 inches long... 75th percentile in both weight and height. His noggin however is in the 95 percentile! Seems he has a big head like his father :) We are just assuming that it's because his brain is so large and intelligent that it needs a big space to live!

We finally got some professional photos done and I posted this collage of the best ones. We of course fell in love with many and spent a bundle but look at that face... how can you not? He is doing better with sleeping again, although still waking up quite a bit. He is eating like crazy right now so we think he is in a growth spurt of some sort. The doctor told us to up his acid reflux meds since he's grown so much since we put him on it (the dosage is too small) and he is still fussy at feeding time.

He is at the nephrologist as I write this so we will find out later today how his kidneys are.

We are starting to panic, ok really I am starting to panic... as Amauri never does, about the trip to Brazil. We are trying to get everything ready and in place. We are very excited to see Luca in a pool and on the beach (under umbrellas of course) and to see his little chubby body without the massive layers of clothing! It will be good to get away from this 20 degree weather.

Great News

Well little Luca had another ultra sound done today at Children's. The ultra sound person said that his kidneys looked a little better! We have an appointment with his nephrologist (kidney doctor) on the 16th and she will fully look at the images and talk us through them. But it's nice to know that an intial peek at them seemed to be good news.

We had a week where Luca was sleeping wonderfully! He would go to bed between 9 and 11 and sleep until 4:30 or 5! Unfortunately that didn't last very long... he is now sleeping horribly. He goes to bed around the same time, but doesn't seem to ever deep sleep. He tosses and turns and wimpers all night long. We have to keep putting his binky in and place our hand on his chest to keep him from freaking out too much. Sometimes that doesn't work so we have to bring him to our bed and hold him. We can't figure out why he is so restless. It looks like he's watching a really scary tennis match in his sleep! We will have to talk to the doctor at our next appointment. We wonder if it might be teething since he is drooling like it's his job and loves to chew on his hand, but I hope not because that would mean this bedtime behavior will continue!

Here's another photo Noli and her baby! More photos this weekend, hopefully... need to find the time to download them off the camera!