Welcome Luke!

 Monday, May 23, 2011 turned out to be the day we went from a family of three to a family of four.  We had a repeat c-section scheduled for the 24th, but I woke up with signs of labor at about 4 am on the 23rd.  Our friend Debbie was kind enough to come sleep on our couch with Miri.  Yaya was scheduled to come later in the day.  After much testing and checking of everything, the doctors determined that I was having false labor (ie, all of the pain with none of the gain).  After an unsuccessful attempt to stop the contractions, they determined that it would be best to go ahead with the c-section on Monday rather than waiting until Tuesday.  We got the OR booked for noon and tried to rest a little.

 

 

 We had a scary couple of minutes after I had my spinal block; Luke's heartbeat dropped very low. The doctors moved very quickly and had him out in less than 5 minutes.; Dustin almost missed it because they were moving so fast!  Fortunately, he got there just in time to greet the little man, who turned out to be just fine.  Luke was born at 12:57 pm; 8 lb 4 oz and 20.25 inches.

 He calmed down quickly after the docs checked him out and we got a few minutes to cuddle before he was taken to the NICU for a bit of observation (standard OP for C-section babies).

 Miri came up later in the day to meet her little brother.  She wasn't too sure about this noisy little stranger at first.

 Our first family portrait.

 Yaya brought Miri up again on Tuesday.  Miri still wasn't sure about being a big sister, but she had a lot of fun carrying her purse and some keys around the hospital room.

Graduation

 Dustin graduated!!!!  We are obviously very excited to reach this milestone.  The ceremony was good and both Pete and Denese were able to come for it.  Above is Dustin shaking the dean's hand after being hooded.

 Miri didn't actually come to the ceremony, but she sure looked cut beforehand in the pictures.  In fact, Pete and I were almost late to the ceremony because we didn't count on traffic being so bad for our friend Karlyn who was coming to pick Miri up.

 This is Dustin being hooded- you can kind of tell it is him on the screen.

 Walking across the stage.

Dustin with his adviser, D. Pagan, in front or the hall where he spent the last 7 years studying and working.  I am so proud!

Luke's Baby Shower

My super sweet friends threw me a shower for Luke. We played lots of fun games and I received lots of wonderful presents to prepare for Luke.

Here are all my dear friends who came to the shower.


Miri loved the door stop- who would have thought that it would make a great toy.

Miri wanted to help unwrap the presents.

VIsit from the Audrey and Matthew-part 2

We also went to the Tampa aquarium and Honeymoon Island beach. Matthew loved the sharks best, Audrey prefered the turtles and Miri wasn't sure about any of it. She did seem excited over some of the big tanks with a variety of creatures in them. Mostly Miri just wanted to walk through the aquarium- she had a blast with Daddy there to hold her hand.


Not too sure about the stingrays. Of course it was also almost naptime by this point.



Matthew and Audrey loved the touch tank, Miri wanted none of it though.

Just chillin' in her ride.
After the aquarium, lunch and a nap, we went to Honeymoon Island State Park to go to the beach. Miri is definitely a lay in the warm sun kind of girl and not a run in and out of the cold water kind of girl. She loved sitting on the big swings that were situated along the beach.
Of course we had to take a bath once we all got home, that is one full tub!

VIsit from the Audrey and Matthew-part 1

Matthew, Audrey, and Aunt Ashley came for a visit and boy did Miri have fun! We went to the beach, the gardens, the park, the aquarium, and gator hunting (twice). Reagan even joined us for a couple of days- talk about crazy fun.


Miri walking in the gardens- it was a really steep bridge, but Miri wanted to walk down herself.



We took baths together almost every night. I don't think we can fit anymore kids in there!


We went gator hunting and had a picnic one evening. We saw several gators and lots of softshell turtles- aren't they cute?

Audrey and Matthew found one!

Miri was being a bit ornery through dinner, then cousin Matthew turned on the charm and out came Miri's smiles.



Thanks to Ashley for taking so many great pictures. I can't believe little Luke will be here in just under 10 weeks!