milestones

On October 1, 2005 - I married my best friend. We got married in the rain - an event that quickly sparked a trend, as every moment of any great consequence in our lives elicits a major thunderstorm. And while we are excited about celebrating 5 years together (what an incredible journey it's been so far) we are thrilled to simultaneously celebrate Luke's first month of life!

Luke is 4 weeks old today!

He had a routine check-up yesterday and Luke weighed 6 pounds, 5 ounces!!  That's after he peed all over the scale and before he took a huge dump in the doctor's office, so maybe he's more like 6 pounds, 3 ounces?  Luke was also immunized for Hepatitis B. I knew he would be getting this shot and I mentally prepared myself for the screaming and the crying (mostly me) but, just like every moment of this journey, it did not go the way I expected. The needle went in his leg and I watched his eyes open really wide. Luke opened his mouth like he was going to scream and I braced myself for the wailing. I quickly inserted the pacifier in to his mouth and it was like I'd given him a tranquilizer. He didn't make a sound. He just closed his mouth and relaxed like absolutely nothing had happened. The nurse looked at me and I looked at her and we just smiled. "Good job, mama!" she said. 

"I did nothing!  He's a rockstar!" 

And he totally is!  We had a couple of nights this week when he was up every 20 minutes or so...just restless and insatiable. But then we figured out he was freezing cold. He wanted to be swaddled and covered up. Once we figured that out, he returned to his usual "5-6 hours at a time" sleeping habits. (like I said..."rockstar"!) 

I'm actually sitting in Luke's room right now, listening to him grunt and squirm in his little cocoon. I anticipate some squeaks any time now to tell me he's ready for a bottle. I just love our feeding times together. I love picking him up and kissing his little face and watching him root around for a bottle. I love that he opens his eyes really big in the dim light - and for a good thirty-minutes, I feel like we "talk" to each other. Of course I'm completely exhausted and bleary-eyed the entire time, but there is nowhere else in the world I would rather be. It's exactly what I pictured when I dreamed about being a mommy.

Ryan and I planned to celebrate our big 5-year anniversary in Mexico with a bunch of friends, but we cancelled it when Luke was born. We're going to struggle enough as it is to leave the house for dinner and a movie tonight. I can't imagine leaving him for a whole week. I give it 20 minutes before one of us decides to call home and check in.  

There is so much to celebrate right now and it feels really good. We are one happy little family. Finally.