Presents!

Did I tell you that there is a tree in our house?  It’s called a Christmas Tree.  Mom and Dad have been putting colorful things underneath it called presents.  I didn’t have any idea what this was all about, but Lina has been asking every day if she can open the presents.  I didn’t know what she was talking about, until today.  It turns out that the colorful presents are because it’s Christmastime.  Christmastime is when you visit with your cousins, have a tree in your house, listen to lots of music, and open presents and play with what is inside.  Seems great to me.  I’m not able to open the presents, so Lina opened mine for me.

We had a lot of fun.  Later this week it will be Christmas Day.  That’s a day when people celebrate the birth of a man who was named Jesus.  Mom and Dad say that he was a really nice guy who helped people.  On Christmas Day another man named Santa might come to our house with more presents.  Can you believe that?  More presents!  I can’t wait.

Movin’ On Up

I have good news to report. I still have a lot of snot, so that isn’t the good news. The good news is that last night I moved into my real bed in our bedroom. It was the first time Lina and I slept in our room together.

Here I am in my crib.

Mom and Lina were excited and nervous. I was just tired (and Dad was at work).

Everything went fine, until…duh duh duh…the snot struck again. In the middle of the night I couldn’t breath so well, so Mom put me in my car seat in her and Dad’s room. But I’m excited to go back to my room with my sister soon.

Bad News

I have bad news to tell you. It isn’t that my Papa John and Gram Pat had to go home. That did make me a sad, but I will see them when I get to meet my cousins at Christmas.

My bad news is Mom took me back to Mr. Dr. Dagli. This time it was because I’m sick. My sister had a cold. Then my dad got it. A cold is when you have a lot of snot. I know this because now I have a cold. It is no fun. When you have a lot of snot it is hard to breathe out of your nose. Did you know that you can also breathe out of your mouth? I’m just learning this, and sometimes I forget. Then I can’t breathe at all. Mom and Dad get scared. So do I.

Mr. Dr. Dagli says I will be OK. I was glad to hear that. Last night Mom and Dad had me sleep in my car seat. Isn’t that wierd? Mr. Dr. Dagli said that was a good idea. It helps with the snot. And I have a humidifier. Here I am trying to be healthy.

In good news, Lina and I helped Mom and Dad make some Christmas cookies tonight.

Lina was allowed to eat some of the batter. I couldn’t. I’m too little.

One month in

Hello friends. Tomorrow I will be one month old. I’ve been working hard on bulking up. I try to eat a lot. Mom and I have a system worked out. I cry, she feeds me. It’s pretty straight forward. I saw Mr. Dr. Dagli today and he gave me a good review. Says I weigh 9 pounds and 5 ounces. Which is a lot. Mom and Dad were glad, because sometimes they worry. I’ve had this thing where my tummy hurts. I complain and groan, sometimes I spit up, and a few times I did what they called “projectile vomit.” It’s all normal the doc says. It may be normal, but I don’t like it.

Dad and Lina had a cold and fever. They were worried that I would this cold to. I might have. Lots of boogers. But the doctor told mom and dad they can relax. That’s good.

After my appointment I went to lunch with Mom, Dad, Papa John, and Gram Pat. Here we are at my favorite place, Tip Top

They came yesterday. I like they visit. My Grandma Connie was visiting, but she had to go home to Texas and see Grandpa Pedro. I had a lot of fun visiting with them. They are really nice.

Did you know that it’s Christmastime? Lina had been telling me about this. You get something called presents. And there is a tree in our house!

Best of all, I get to go on a road trip. That’s when Mom, Dad, Lina, and I all sit in the car for a long time and drive to this place called Ohio to Papa John and Gram Pat’s house. And my cousins will be there. Lina days they are all awesome. I can’t wait to meet them and hear more about these presents.

I’ll be sure to update you! Lina days in supposed to say Merry Christmas now.

Bye.

Two Weeks Old

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  I don’t know what this means, but Mom and Dad say that it is a Holiday today.  And, I’m two weeks old. A lot is happening.

I saw Mr. Dr. Dagli Tuesday. He and Mom and Dad talked a lot. The big news is I weighed 8 pounds and 2 ounces.  This is important.  When I was born I weighed 7 pounds and 15 ounces, but those first few days were tough and I lost almost one pound. Now that I weigh more than when I was born Mr. Dr. Dagli says I am very healthy, AND – da da daaaa – Dad and Mom don’t need to wake me up to eat every three hours any more.  This is good news for everyone.  But…..

Nighttime is not my favorite time. The last few days I’ve been awake more, which is super. I’m looking around, doing some exercises (more on that in a minute). This also means that sometimes I’m overwhelmed and cranky.  And my belly hurts.  And I get hungry.  I don’t like these feelings at all.  So I cry.  Mom and Dad also don’t like it because this happens when they are going to bed.  They keep telling me it will be OK.  I’ll try to trust them. I have discovered this amazing thing called a pacifier. Mom and Dad say Lina didn’t really like them when she was my age, but they make me feel secure and sleepy. If you are ever a little scared or unsure what to do, I’d say give a pacifier a try. They are working for me.

As for the exercises, Dad has introduced me to a workout called Tummy Time.  Everyone says that I’m strong.  I like to grab things and pull them to me.  It’s satisfying.  And when I’m working on Tummy Time I lift my head and try to hold it in the air, then I turn my head side to side.  It burns, but that good kind of burn you know?  Until it’s not good.  Then I cry.

My Grandpa Pedro and Grandma Connie are still visiting.  They are very nice.  They came all the way from Texas!  (Which I hear is far away). They play a lot with Lina.  I can’t wait until I’m bigger and can play too.  Mom, Dad, and Lina are very excited because Grandma Connie is making special food for Thanksgiving.  I don’t really care because I don’t eat food.  But I’m glad they are excited.

Oh, I almost forgot.  I took my first bath.  I did not like it at all.  I didn’t understand what was going on or why it had to happen.  I cried.  Mom and Dad said that I was dirty.  I felt fine, but whatever.  I guess we’ll do it again someday, but I hope not.

My hair is getting darker, so that’s cool.  Mom and Dad say that I have dark brown eyes and will probably have black hair.  I like it.

Lina likes it too.  She says it’s soft and likes to touch it.  Lina is awesome.  She gives me kisses and talks to me and it makes me feel warm and safe.  And sometimes when I’m sleeping she comes and checks on me, and will give me a toy or pacifier, or tell Mom and Dad if I’m “whimpering.”  I don’t think she knows that I know. But I know and I’m happy.

Thanks for reading.  I hope you have a good Thanksgiving and someone made good food for you to eat, if you’re into that.  Here are a couple of more pictures Mom and Dad have taken.

Family Portrait

My sister was doing art at school this week and the last two days she has been working on family portraits.  This is what she drew yesterday.  I really like it.  And she wrote her name on it.  Twice.  Because she is really smart.

Settling in

Hello friends. I’ve been home for a few days now. I like it. My Papa and Gram Pat are visiting. It’s been great to meet them. They will go home soon and then my Grandma and Grandpa from Texas are coming to visit. That will be lots of fun.

Today I met Mr. Dr. Dagli. His hands were cold, but he was nice enough. He said that I’m healthy, do I have that going for me.

When I’m at home I like to nap and eat. They are my two favorite things to do. Sometimes my belly hurts, or I don’t want to be by myself. So I cry. Mom says I’ll learn words someday, but crying seems to work. Most of the time.

My mom and Dad are cool. And I really like my sister. She’s sweet. Here we are playing today after she came home from school.

I’m out!

Hello, hello, hello.  My name is John Lucas Gleeson.  Please call me Lucas.  I was born two days ago and I am very happy to be here.  You may know my sister, Lina.  She told me when she was little she would post things for you on this blog.  I’m not sure who you are yet, but I will follow my sister’s example.  I’m glad to get to know you.

I was in my mom’s belly for a long time.  I only remember the last few weeks.  It was nice and warm, but really crowded and I was ready to get out.  On the morning I was born, Mom and I slept like usual.  Then she started to wake up – I think to go to a place called work.  I tried to let her know that I wanted to come out.  Nothing seemed to be happening, so I tried a little harder.  I could hear Mom and Dad talking a lot and it felt like we were moving around, but I still wasn’t able to come out.  Then I tried even harder.  She wasn’t really getting it, so I was about to come out anyway.  Just then I heard a strange man say, “Ok, you’re going to push with the next one.”  I don’t know what that means, but I was ready.  So I was born.

I’m just getting used to being here.  It’s not so bad.  Mom is awesome and keeps letting me eat with her.  They call it, “nursing.”  I like the way it makes me feel.  Yesterday I had something called a “surgery.”  The strange man took some of my skin off.  I don’t know why.  It wasn’t too bad, I got to suck on some sugar water.

My sister has come to visit me twice.  She is so big.  Today mom and I get to go home.  I can’t wait to find out where I live and hang out more with Lina.

Dad took some pictures the day I was born.  Here are a few if you want to see them.

 

A Thanksgiving Tale

It’s the Holiday season, and last week we started it off with quite an adventure!  See, Thursday was something called Thanksgiving.  Which is a day to get together with some family and eat really good food.  Mom and Dad decided that to do this we would go on our first real road trip, and visit my cousin Elle’ in Louisville which is in a place called Kentucky.  I was excited to visit Elle’ and meet my Uncle Mike and Aunt Nina – and I was excited to visit Kentucky, because that’s where the Wildcats are!

But, before we left I got my first cold.  I’m not sure why it’s called a cold, because it actually made me feel quite warm.  Mom said it was a fever, and that it meant my body was trying to get rid of the cold.  Whatever, it didn’t feel good.  And I have had snot coming out of my nose for DAYS.  And Monday night I had trouble sleeping because it was hard to breath with all the snot.  Then Tuesday night was even worse.  Mom and Dad tried everything in their parenting toolbox, but I just felt like crud.  Then they decided to give me some medicine to help with my fever.  It kind of worked, but I still couldn’t breath, and even though I was really sleepy, I just couldn’t sleep.  So at 4 in the morning, Dad made the decision that it was time to leave for Kentucky.  Then he took my picture (jerk):

Turns out, it was a good decision.  Mom and I slept, and slept, and slept, and slept.  And Dad drove, and drove, and drove.  We stopped a few times at rest stops to eat and stretch.  There were a lot of people there.  They said we were in the car for nine hours, but I don’t know.  Towards the end I was getting a little bored, and then we were there!  I got to see Elle’ again:

And it was great to meet Uncle Mike and Aunt Nina.  And the best part is that night I was able to sleep OK.  I was a little nervous after such a crummy night the day before.  Mom and Dad were extra proud of me because it was the first time I didn’t sleep in my crib since I was a little, little baby.  I slept in something called a pack-n-play.  It was a little weird at first, but I adjusted – you know me, I’m an easy going gal.

Then the next day was Thanksgiving Day.  And what a day it was.  Uncle Mike built a fire in their backyard:

Then it was time for dinner.  I had no idea what was coming!  First, Uncle Mike had to carve the turkey.  It was huge!  An entire turkey!

While he was doing that, Aunt Nina was finishing up two types of stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, brussel sprouts, and cranberry sauce!  Then it was time to eat:

I had turkey (yum), mashed potatoes, brussel sprouts, and even a few bites of Aunt Nina’s stuffing.  Mom and Dad explained that it’s different than the stuffing Mom’s family makes.  I’m glad I get to eat both kinds.  Oh – and Dad cut up some avocado for me since I didn’t have any cranberry sauce or gravy.  I like Thanksgiving!  After dinner, it was time to clean up:

Then I had to go to bed (all that turkey made me sleepy).  Glad to report night two in the pack-n-play was even easier than the first night.  The rest of the gang went back out to the bonfire.  I can’t wait until I’m old enough to stay up late:

You’d think that was enough fun for my first road trip, but we weren’t done.  On Friday we went to a place called Churchill Downs where horses race.  Everyone was really excited.  Here are Mom and I at Uncle Mike’s box:

I have to admit, I didn’t have the best time.  It was cold out, and I still was feeling a little of the cold (so much snot).  And I wanted to run around and play, but it was crowded and Mom and Dad wouldn’t let me touch a lot of things.  In the end Dad said that it’s not really the place for girls my age.  But everyone had a lot of fun and told me stories about horse racing.  I hope to go back when I’m a little older.  After we left, Mom, Dad, Uncle Mike, and Elle’ went shopping, and I got to play with Aunt Nina.  We had F-U-N!!!

I was wore out after all that.  The bad news is the next morning I woke up with my first bloody nose.  The good news is that Mom and Dad were a lot more concerned about it than I was.  I’m just frustrated that this silly cold won’t stop making snot.  Either way, it was time to drive home.  It took FOREVER.  But Mom and Dad said that I was a great traveling buddy.  It wasn’t the worst.  I took a few naps, and got a new book from the nice lady at Wendy’s.  The best part, though, was getting home.  I was so excited to see my toys, and my room.  And Katie.  I’m so excited because Katie is starting to hang out with me more.  I even think she was happy to see me.

That’s my first Thanksgiving story.  Now it’s almost Christmas.  I’m not feeling so hot today, but after my nap we are apparently going to buy a tree.  I’m not sure what this is all about, but Mom and Dad are happy.  I’ll keep you informed…

Linachuck

I need your help guys – my Dad is acting weird.  Now that I can stand, I like to practice in my crib after I wake up.  Today Dad came in after my morning nap and we were talking, then all of the sudden he started laughing and took a bunch of pictures, then he asked me a very strange question.  He said, “How much wood can you chuck?”

I asked him what he was talking about.  He just laughed and told me to ask you guys.  I told him you would be just as confused as me.  He said that if I show you these pictures you would know.  So, here’s me standing in my crib:

Then for some reason he took some pictures over my shoulder.

Any idea what the heck he’s talking about?