sick day

Luca is still sick free after 6 months of life, thank goodness, but I am not so lucky. Having never been sick with a child to take care of, I didn't know how hard it could be. Fortunately my dear husband has been easing the burden by taking the night shift and entertaining Luca when he wakes up at 7am.

I had high hopes of posting highlights of our 6 week summer vacation, but instead I will leave you with this picture of what Luca managed to do in the time that I wrote this short blog entry.

3 x 2 = 6

Someone asked us recently if Luca was 4 months old. We said, no he's nearly 6, obviously. Well, it happened to be one of our loyal blog followers who we've let down by not posting anything over the past 3 months. Now today, September 22nd, in honor of Luca's 1/2 birthday, here's a snapshot of his growth and joyful spirit. We are enjoying each day with him as he pushes himself to crawl, walk drunkenly after something shiney and preferrably plastic, laugh until his sides split and share in a windfall of chatter about how he sees the world. Here he is enjoying a moment with fellow "first" cousin Jeff Ellingson.

3 is the magic number...

I can't believe our little baby isn't a little baby anymore! At 3 months he's more than doubled his birth weight, his smile nearly cracks his face in half and his seriousness has given him the nickname of benjamin button. Mark has moved from calling him the peanut to little monkey, very appropriate as he's constantly on the move. He tends to spit up a lot, but once the pediatrician put him on the changing table to examine him, his ability to get tangled in all the loose sheets made her certain that the regurgitation had something to do with his crazy amounts of energy. Here's a snapshot of our family of three!

2 Months!!!

Today the little guy turns 2!..Daddy is happy it is only months old. As you can tell from the smiling video he is very alert..and now he is trying to talk. I am trying to capture his attempts on another video, but he has also become much more aware of the cameras presence and will just stare at is when I try. So for now, I post this beautiful photo taken by our neighbor Anna to mark his progression. Also today marks Pininfarina's 80th birthday which allows us the very rare opportunity to bring our families to work and even see inside our studio. One colleague told me this is the 2nd time in his career there has been a bring your family to work day, and he has been there for 30 years! Unfortunately it falls on one of the few weeks in the last 2 months that we have not had family visiting, so it will just be the three of us. But that is alright. I am excited to show Luca off some more!

Luca Laughing?..Almost!

So close...as we were hanging out this Saturday morning, we almost got a little laugh out...hard to believe, since behind me right now, his spirits are quite the opposite....but I have this video to replay to get me through the tougher times!...

1 Month!

Wow, one month has passed..and a lot has happened. First, I usually start with an update on his weight, which as of today, I am not really sure. That of course is a good thing, meaning we are not too concerned about that any more. But last we checked about a week ago, he was 3.5 Kgs which is a little over 7.5 lbs...and a whole kilo more than when he left the hospital. This can be attributed to the combination of milk from momma supplimented with some formula. This works out OK, because we are able to share nighttime feedings....Unfortunately, the formula typically is a bit harder to digest and has given him a bit of the colic...anyway, more on that in a min...

I was hoping to post more photos with everyone who has come to see Luca, sorry grandparents, cousin Chad, and all the people from our little town, but as I type, I am losing percious moments of sleep. I will try to post more soon..But for now you get to see some more recent photos..most of these taken at my favorite time with the little guy, at his 6 oclock AM feeding. As you can see, he is still very attentive, and has even started giving me these beautiful smiles. They go a long way after we experienced our first colic meltdown last Sunday. Lets just say, those are no fun...But Erin and I are learning that these are the highs and lows of our new responsibility...and we are loving it!

I dont know if this post makes any sense. Obviously, my objective was to get some more photos posted to share our joy with everyone else. So if the writing is incoherent, just look at the pics!

Weeks 1 and 2

There is a lot going on in our little town. The cherry blossoms are starting to bloom and the famous Caminata (Cherry Walk) is arriving this weekend...As I was getting ready to post this new Blog, I realize the last entry started out talking about Lucas weight, which is sort of ironic. We had a bit of a scare as we went to meet our pediatric for the first time and she informed us that Luca had lost a bit of weight, and she sent us back to the hospital. We found out that the little Peanut (check out the shirt grandpa found) was not getting all the food we though she was from mommy...so long story short...we added a little powdered suppliment and the little guy has gone from 2.38kgs all the way to 2.75! He has continued to be a dream...says a proud daddy. We have showed him off throughout our town and even in our favorite town in the Langhe (wine country)..Neive. Luca was also able to say good bye to our good friends Alice and Michael as they head back towards their homeland of Oz! They will be missed..

Erin and I are still learning our new roles and getting used to our new time schedule of waking up a couple times a night...but it is all worth it!