Miss Manners

Q:  Dear Miss Manners,
This is our first Christmas in our new house.  Our formal living room is currently being used as a playroom with the world's fanciest moulding.  What's the appropriate way to decorate for the holiday?
Sincerely
Ho Ho Hoping for Help

A:  Dear Ho,
There is only one way to solve your decorating dilemma.  Go find the biggest muther lovin' Christmas tree you can find and stick it in the corner of said room.  If you need to purchase a heavy-duty tree stand to accommodate this beast of a plant, then do so.  Decorate, and pray to the deity of decor that the twinkly lights and shiny gold garland will distract from the toys and lack of adult furniture.  Best of luck; sounds like you're going to need it.

Already a Month Old

It's happened again: the first four weeks of life for our little baby have flown by.  I sat Mr. Lukas down last Friday to do his first of many picture sessions for which he was a total angel.  He had just come out of the bath (this kid loves to be a nakie) and was happy to be a squeaky clean little guy.  Here are a few of my faves, showing off the many faces of our little old man.

Surprising even himself with those big baby muscles

Suspicious

Apprehensive

Casual

Almost captured the smile!

Matter-of-fact

Doubtful

Dismissive

So sweet

Young Mr. Maio enjoys eating (shock), snuggling, filling his pants 20 seconds after getting a fresh diaper, and being adored by all who know him.  We're still on an on-demand feeding schedule but generally speaking he goes to bed around 9 and gets up at 1 and 5.  Last night he held out until 2 to eat so we *might* be making some headway there.  Not holding my breath.  He and his sister l.o.v.e. to conspire against me during the days G is at home and one will wake approximately 8 minutes after the other goes down.  Just long enough to trick me into thinking I might grab a nap.  Ha!  Sucker.  As you can see from the pics he is packing on the pounds and I can tell that his melon has grown too.  He's got little sausage rolls on the back of his head which are so soft and fuzzy with his sprout of hair, I just love it.  His eyes are still blue...I can't remember when G's turned but it seemed sooner than a month.  Of course it's most likely that he'll have brown eyes but there is a recessive blue-eyed gene on my side so perhaps he's the lucky recipient.  Lukas is truly full of funny faces and noises and will sometimes actually snort like a pig right before eating.  Hilarious!  We've gotten a couple of smiles out of him but he makes us work for them.  Having done this before it's nice to know that the grins that are saved just for Mommy and Daddy (and Sister!) are just around the corner.  

Genevieve is continuing to adjust well to having a new baby in the house.  Last week was the first time that she melted down with us about going to school or ballet because she wanted to "stay home with mommy", but she's all sugar toward Lukas so we'll deal with her pre-schooler moments.  She likes to assign us all roles, and the faves lately have Matt and me as "baby wah-wah" and her as mommy.  We try to use this to our advantage during the meltdowns...good times!!  Poor Ralphie knows he's been knocked down yet another peg and the other day I caught him writing a "wanted: better home" ad.  Can't really blame a poodle.   

As far as infants go,so far Lukas is a pretty chillaxed guy.  He's got his one month appointment on Wednesday so I'll update on height and weight then.  We are feeling incredibly fortunate to have this dude in our family and can't wait to watch our kiddos enjoy Christmas together (note to self: stock up on camcorder tape)!

12.7: at today's appointment Lukas was 22 inches and 11 lbs.  Although he weighed less than G at birth, he has already out-gained her (she was 10 lbs 7 oz at 1 month.  Thank you, blog).  I knew that would happen quickly but one month?  I shall start saving for "Groceries: The Teenage Years" pronto...

Party of Four

After two weeks with help to spare, yesterday was my first day home alone with both kiddos.  Happily I survived, and managed to get a shower and get us all to L's appointment at the pediatrician on time.  Sure my eyes were bloodshot and my hair looked insane but my teeth were brushed so I call that a win (I also learned two important things yesterday: yes, it is possible to wipe a 3 year-old while nursing a 3 week-old, and no, this job is not made any easier if said 3 year-old is wearing tights).  Then this morning I got Genevieve to daycare, once again on time.  That's 2/2 folks!  Yes, under my jacket was a milk stained pajama shirt but as long as my jeans gave the impression that I was dressed then I call that a win too.  Two and a half weeks in, we've been adjusting pretty easily to life as a family of four.  Lukas has fit very easily into our home.  He's a good sleeper (for which we are eternally grateful after our first parenting adventure of 20 minute naps) and a terrific little eater.  He really only fusses when he's getting his diaper changed, at which point he turns into a wild karate ninja.  And even though this isn't our first rodeo, we still cannot believe how much he's changed in a few short weeks.  Genevieve is doing really well as a big sister.  She for sure has her fair share of attitude and a new clinginess to yours truly, but she is nothing but sugar with baby bro and I don't think we could ask for more.

Bro's first sponge bath, followed by a demonstration from the expert on how to splash

I'm COOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLD!

ahh, warm and happy again

unlike at the hospital, she now loves to hold the little man...

...unless it interrupts her reading.  yes, that is a toy catalog she's studying

We've enjoyed a lot of visitors to meet the big guy and enjoyed a few moments of levity too.

uncle stevie meets his nephew AND brings over chinese for dinner.  what a guy!

great grandma makes for 4 generations

ready...aim...

FIRE!  this is about as deadly as it gets here in elm grove

So for those of you who haven't spent time referencing "What to Expect The First Year", pediatricians like to see newborns gain about an ounce a day in their first few weeks.  At yesterday's appointment we discovered that Lukas is hell bent on ditching his title of "peanut", as he's gained about 2 ounces a day and is now weighing in at 9 lbs.  Perhaps this is a clue as to his rapid weight gain:

milk drunk

Luke, I Am Your Father

The Dude makes 4!  Lukas Matthew Maio was evicted from his small but cozy residence at 10:39 a.m. on November 3.  He weighed in at 7lbs 12 oz and is 20.5 inches.  The smallest Martin or Maio baby that has been seen in generations, we are already head over heels for this little man and can't wait for you to meet him (after you show proof of a flu shot and walk through a Purell bath.  What's the fastest way to make an infant's mom more nuts than she already is?  Have a pediatrician say flu and pertussis are on their way around already).

I call this one "Newborn in Repose with Father's Profile"

Anyway we dropped G off at school on Thursday morning and it was *so* weird to just drive on down to the hospital after that, like we were running an errand.  La la la, pick up dry cleaning, stop at hardware store, go have baby, get gallon of milk...  Yet there we were.  Everything for the actual procedure went swimmingly and I'm once again the proud owner of a track-o-staples along my abdomen.  It did not give me warm fuzzies when it took four separate tries to get an IV line and 10, count 'em TEN spinal pokes to even out the anesthesia.  Five days later I feel a little like I've been kicked in the back by a horse but even so I was easily off any meds by Monday - a definite improvement from the hematoma and sheer exhaustion of G's delivery. 

Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuper cute

Facebooking.  What else is there to do while trying to pass time waiting to have a baby?

Back in the suit!

Looks a little like a convict with the striped shirt underneath

Hello, little man!  We're so glad you're here

In recovery, about an hour old and already looking for food.

Glad to be out of surgery

Smooches 1 of about a million

One of his already classic Old Man faces.  Gets me every time!

Knowing what a huge upheaval this little addition would be to G's world, we chose to have no visitors on Thursday and just spend time as a family after her day at school.  She was super excited for the baby for about 30 seconds and then she realized that (a) he doesn't do much and (b) my work had sent an Edible Arrangement which was a lot more interesting.  The best part was when she held him...she looked down, said "awwwwwwwwwww!", patted his head, and turned to us and deadpanned to us, "Take him."  Sure thing kiddo.

Checking out the new addition

Happy!

Awwwwwwww.  Two seconds later she was done.

Baby's first deep thought

The parade-o-visitors began on Friday with - who else? - the two Grandmas.  One other benefit to a scheduled c is having back up on the calendar, and knowing where G was going to be and who was going to pick her up, drop her off, etc.  This included more visits to the hospital where she continued to indulge in the food and "big sister" stickers.

And it begins

Already finding things to stick in his mouth

Yeah whatever, big sister, blah blah blah.  There are COOKIES here!

Cookie done and once again a proud sister

First family of four photo

Our kiddos

Matt prepping Lukas on the Brewers run to the NLCS

I was ready to bop out of there on Saturday but they wouldn't let us go in under 48 hours so Sunday it was.  We managed to get home by lunchtime and father and son were able to sit back for their first Packer game. 

Nothing better than a newborn snoozing on you, am I right?

Chillaxing

We are so over the moon in love with little Lukas.  His little old man faces are really funny and Matt and I are trying to breathe in every second of having such a tiny baby in the house, crazy nighttime schedule and all.  One thing we keep remarking is how freakin' BIG Genevieve seems compared to Lukas.  Her hands are like catcher's mitts.  Not to mention how much he's changed in the five days he's been around.  Just more reminders of how much changes and how quickly, and more motivation to try to soak it all in.  So glad to have the four of us home!