Holidays are all about Shared Illness

Ho Ho Ho! Little Santa Baby hurried down the chimney indeed! We travelled and Luke was great, we had excellent weather during a time of bad weather, a tail wind and good seats - and we were still exhausted! The term 'easy baby' is an oxymoron. BTW, my caption above is patent protected and I would like credit whenever you use that. At least once, and then you can just say 'ibid'...

We had the great 'unveiling' of Luke to West Chester, NY (Hay's Family) and West Chester, PA (my family). It was very enjoyable, Luke was great, and it was great to have him look at so many different faces - a developmental must for him anyway.

The picture above is of some of Haylen's (James, Gary, Aimee, and BA) - they have been great supporters and Luke is a big fan! Just a few bad days for Luke post travel and then an angel since. We stayed at Uncle Tommy's and had tons of visitors (Oppie - Donald - Haylen's Dad, Kim, Chris, Jack And Joey - Haylen's brother and family; Aimee and her two children, Gary, BA and Al). Haylen's aunt Betsy and her adult children Heather and Richard stayed with us at Tommy's as well. Aunt Bonnie and Johnny met Luke there as well.

We did a Christmas Eve celebration at Ann Marie and Stewart's - Haylen's Aunt and step uncle. Katie and Steve, Daniel and Carolyn, Michael and Lynn (Haylen's cousins and Spouses - now 'once removed' to Luke) were all there. As well as Hay's Uncle Doc, cousin Andy, wife and his two children.. A real party!

The highlight for Luke was Jack and Joey's gift of their favorite books growing up and a stuffed animal that goes with each!

We stayed in NY until Christmas and made the journey down to Phila, PA until Dec 29th. More to come on that trip!

Legend of the Cyrstal Skull

Although the Indiana Jones movie "Legend of the Crystal Skull" was perhaps the largest disappointment in movie history, we did indentify some of Luke's Alien roots.

Luke clearly has a giant skull - more oblong than wide - clarifying to us that he is in fact - an alien.. (see the crystal skull above for a model of Luke's head)

Perhaps this is good in that he will be able to move things with his mind and travel to different dimensions. Already he has Haylen and I on puppet strings to his every need without so much as a word. Powerful indeed this alien child has become!

We are travelling to another dimension together this weekend - to New York and Philly for 9 days. It will be his 'great reveal' to the extended family. We appreciate in advance the lies they will tell us about how cute he is and how his head is beautiful and not evidence of his alien nature. Babies are freaky and awkward looking and unfortunately for Luke, his genetic make-up from his father will not improve this later in life...

He is lovable though, 10x's more charming than that alien ALF. We need luck as we travel across the nation with this 11 week old. Merry Christmas from the Brokars clan!

Perhaps a 'close encounters' is in your future?

ps. "the boy's got a huge cranium. It's like sputnik, round, yet pointy at parts. It's got its own weather system. That's right you wee fairy, float away, go cry yourself to sleep on your gigantic pillow."

- So I married an Axe murderer - movie with Micheal Meyers, Comedian

Chubby Bunny..

Luke and Mom at bath time. Life is good with Luke topping out at 10 lbs 10 oz at MD visit last friday. He received his shot for RSV immunization - prevents debilitating, seasonal virus. Expensive med, but thank god for out of pocket maximums on our insurance plans! Luke also was checked for a highy inheritable urethral reflux - where the urine can back up from the urethra into the kidney again - dangerous disorder.

If you remember, Luke had a Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) in the NICU. Very rare for children after 3 days following birth - unless you have a genetic urethral reflux. Just about every kid in John's family had it - some grew out of it, but others required surgery. We were worried!

After much debate and consideration we followed the pediatrician's direction to have a VCUG (voiding cystourethrogram). They put a flexible catheter in Luke's Urethra - Sorry buddy.. Daddy knows your pain, and inject radiographic dye into the bladder to see if the relux is present. If yes, then antibiotics for a year or more, perhaps surgery..

Anyway, you can see he is in the bath with mommy, and wearing his towel hat.. very cute.. Oh yeah, his test was negative and he is fine! What a relief! Now we have the freedom to stress about the next possibly debilitating illness he may have. We are so happy!

Life is good and we are grateful! Check out Luke, showing off his nipples - just like daddy does in many of his photos! Genetics is a wonderful thing!

Mini Me

Little guy is doing okay, and growing! Likely 11 lbs now, and learning to sleep - a useful skill that Daddy has mastered... He has a soft head, like daddy too! We both like to be swaddled and are quite gassy..

He can be a terrorist sometimes, however, screaming uncontrollably and not letting us sleep or eat.. Most times he is an angel, though.

I find myself pleading with him "Come on now, it's Homer... Friend of the little man.. Is you is or is you aint my constituancy?" Most times, I admit, he is not my 'constituancy'.

We are finding our way and still living - not just surviving. Mom and Dad are shopping for homes at this time, too. No choice but to evaluate the potential good deals here in this down market..

Meet Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde

Yes, Luke has two distinct personalities. One is smiley, cooing bundle of love that eats, plays, then goes right to sleep. The other is a fussing, crying, inconsolable wiggle worm. This past weekend he was so good and we had such a nice time with him. He went out for a walk with us and met our friends Alex and Joanna. The weekend prior he didnt nap at all cried on and off all day. He had received his vaccines a few days before and we didn't know that they were disturbing his routine. John's parents had also been visiting and there was much more excitement than usual for the little guy.

We dont know what else to do besides return to a regular, predictable schedule for him and hope we have more good days than bad! His reflux pain seems to be better on the Axid and Prevacid but he continues to have lots of gas. Daddy discovered that pushing his knees up to his chest helps him ( that was at about hour 2 of crying). We love this little man though and he is getting cuter each day. Smiling more and starting to coo, often times at his woozit toy. His loves taking baths and lays there in the most serene state (most of the times).

At our last appointment he was 9 lb 15 oz. He is finally ON the growth chart! In the 8th percentile for a 2 month old but the 50th % for a premie! His head is in the 75th % and definitely looks like a small melon. His legs and arms are starting to fill out and he actually has some rolls! Now that he's bigger we are waiting (and hoping) he will drop one of his nighttime
feeds.