Luke: One Month

How is it possible that Luke is already one month????

That time flew by so quickly!

Luke has been a great addition to the family and everyone adores him!

Though he's still not quite sure what he thinks of life on the outside ;-)

His eyes get very wide every time he hears his big sis and big bro . . .

 They still LOVE to love on their baby bro ~ it is so sweet.

  

At O N E  M O N T H Luke is now

9 lbs 2 oz

He is by far our fussiest baby, making Alli seem easy as a baby! :-)

When people ask why he's crying, we respond with "he's awake"

Some days he does cry ALL.DAY.LONG unless he's nursing or sleeping,

other days are better so we are learning to savor the non-crying days

 and getting better at handling the tough ones.

He has officially been diagnosed as having atypical colic so we do our best to comfort him.

The good news is his doc said this may only last 3-6 weeks (or up to 3 months) ~ we're praying!

Thankfully, the crying doesn't seem to bother A or E at all and they still just want to love on him.

Despite all the crying (his and Mommy's!), we wouldn't change a single thing about him.

We are so thankful for our little Luke!

Turkey Day 2011

We have so much to be thankful for this year . . .

Last year at Thanksgiving, we were still grieving the loss of Wrinkle and it was becoming painfully clear that I was not doing well physically either (wound up spending the entire next week in the hospital ~ boo!)

This year, we celebrated all of our blessings with my parents, brother and nieces (including our great niece Bella ~ how is it possible that we are Great Aunt Nikki and Great Uncle Garrett????)

Luke had a bit of a rough day (as he does most days ~ if he's awake, he's crying),

but did enjoy napping on Uncle Danny during a football game before dinner. 

Bella is exactly 4 weeks older than Luke but this was the first time we met her.  She is a doll!  

Luke did manage to calm down a bit before his bath when Alli (the BEST big sis!)

hung out with him and let him snuggle her pink blankie. 

Alli and Eli had a great time playing but were less than impressed with the turkey dinner.

They LOVED the dessert though :-)

Luke (a.k.a. Guppy): 3 weeks

Hard to believe but today this sweet little guy is 3 weeks old!!!

This is a milestone as it is the last of the "weekly" stickers, after this they are monthly.

Gosh that went by quickly!

In some ways, it doesn't seem possible that it has already been three weeks,

but in other ways, it feels as though Luke has always been a part of the family.

We cannot imagine life without him :-)

Alli and Eli are still completely smitten with him . . .

This morning, Eli had swim lessons with Daddy so while getting ready for a birthday party, Alli took the opportunity to love on her baby bro without any interruptions ;-)  She really is the BEST big sis ~ so loving!

We did our weekly photo shoot before bed this week and the kiddos all loved being in PJs together.

I cannot get over what a GREAT big bro Eli is to Luke ~ he adores him. 

I'm predicting best buddies for years to come! 

Of course, we had to get a couple shots of Mommy & Daddy with all three munchkins . . .

  

And some with just Luke . . .

At three weeks, Luke is almost out of the newborn clothes ~ he has such a long torso and short legs.

He is still nursing like a champ but HATES the pacifier.

 We're working on that as we don't love being human pacifiers ;-) 

He had his first bath (that post is coming) and first bottle,

though I'm not a fan of pumping so he won't be getting those too often ;-)

Though we would not describe him as the easiest baby, he is AWESOME and we love him so much!!!!

One Year: Grief and Hope

One year ago today was perhaps the worst day of my life . . .

It was the day I learned that our suprise, miracle baby Wrinkle no longer had a heartbeat.

Garrett was in Minnesota that week for work so I was on my own.

My wonderful doctor agreed to perform the D&C that afternoon, rather than prolong the agony.

We had only known about Wrinkle for three weeks but it was enough time to fall in love.

I struggled with the loss, as I am sure all who suffer a miscarriage do.

It still hurts so much not knowing whether Wrinkle was a boy or a girl.

After that ordeal, I was convinced that we were meant to have three children,

though convincing Garrett took time.

We decided to give it one more shot and trust in God that if it was meant to happen, it would.

Imagine our great joy when we learned the end of February that we were expecting again.

The fear was overwhelming, but so was the excitement!

Thankfully, Luke Daniel Fisher was born healthy on October 29, 2011;

exactly one year after we saw Wrinkle on ultrasound with a perfect heartbeat.

It felt a bit like things had come full circle, yet I still struggle at times.

We were released from the hospital on October 31, 2011 and on the way home,

I received (what I choose to believe was) a wonderful gift from God . . .

As Garrett was picking up my prescriptions, Luke and I were waiting in the car

and I saw the most beautiful rainbow of my life. 

The sun was shining and for a brief moment the gray sky gave way to blue

and this amazingly clear, vibrant rainbow appeared right in front of me.

After the miscarriage, I learned that children born after a loss are often called Rainbow Babies.

Maybe it was all of the pain medication,

but I suddenly felt very peaceful as my own Rainbow Baby slept peacefully in the back seat. 

It felt as though God and Wrinkle were telling me that all was right and as it should be.

Garrett and I never planned on having three children

but knew the instant Luke was born that our family was finally complete.

Seeing that rainbow made me feel that Wrinkle was God's way of preparing our hearts for a third child.

Again, I may be crazy and I still mourn the loss of Wrinkle (I cannot wait to meet him or her someday)

but as I face this day, one year later, I feel that there was a reason and the ache is a little less.

Comparison of all three little fish: birth to two weeks

For those who requested, here is a comparison of all three munchkins at birth and two weeks ;-)

Luke is our biggest!

Eli vs. Luke: 2 weeks

The boys have a lot in common but some differences too ~ check out below.

First difference . . . HAIR~ Luke has brown and lots of it; Eli had blond peach fuzz.

Second difference . . . ATTITUDE ~ Luke has lots of it ;-)  Eli was very E.Z. and laid back.

Final difference . . . GROWTH ~ both boys were 7 lbs, 1 oz and 19 inches at birth.

Although Eli was a bit better at nursing,

Luke is shocking us by winning the race on growth!!!

Eli Zachary at 2 weeks

7 lbs, 10 oz and 20.5 inches

Luke Daniel at 2 weeks

8 lbs 3 oz and 20.5 oz 

Should be fun to see their similarities and differences as they grow ;-)

Luke (a.k.a. Guppy): 2 weeks

Today, sweet little Luke is 2 weeks old!

How is it possible that he has already been here for two weeks???

Then again, we cannot imagine our family without him ;-)

Big Sis Alli and Big Bro Eli are both still completely over the moon about their baby bro!

Little Luke isn't quite sure what to think of his big siblings . . .

No surprise, Mommy and Daddy are totally in love with our newest addition! 

Once again, Luke was ready for a nap rather than a photo shoot :-) 

The past two weeks have flown by and we are starting to get used to our new normal.

The Fisher Family of Five has certainly taking some getting used to,

 and we are all trying to figure it out but we wouldn't change a thing!

Best School Pictures Ever!

Have you ever seen such great school pictures????

I love that Eli is looking so darn annoyed :-)  Nope, he wasn't going to smile for anything!

Sweet little Alli was happy to flash her beautiful smile!

BerryLane Photography took the pictures and we could not be happier with how they turned out!!!

Luke (aka Guppy): One Week

Luke Daniel Fisher (aka Guppy or the Gupster according to his big sis and bro)

is 1 week old today (his actual due date!)

As you can see, he is quite happy about the past week ;-)

Okay, so he may have been a little less than impressed with his photo shoot, but we had fun!

He was ready for a nap by the end! 

The first week has been a great one, if a little tiring. 

Alli and Eli are still completely in awe of their baby brother, and we love seeing all three of them together. 

We have lots of blog posts to catch up on and promise to do that very soon. 

Hopefully, these pictures will tide you over for a bit while we work on updating everything!

Luke Daniel Fisher

Luke decided to make his anxiously awaited arrival into this world

in a rather unexpected manner at 12:28 a.m. this morning.

Weighing in at 7 lbs 1 oz, and measuring 19 inches in length, Luke is exactly the same size Eli was at birth! 

However, unlike Eli who was bald until he was over a year (or Alli for that matter), Luke has a full head of thick, silky, brown hair ~ maybe he gets that from Uncle Z????

Knowing that he would be here soon, we took the kiddos to Chuck E. Cheese's last night for a final hurrah as the Fisher Family of Four. I was MISERABLE, with very painful contractions every 4-5 minutes.

They were not letting up so we called the doc, who told us to come in.

On the way to the hospital, contractions were only 1-2 minutes apart and extremely painful.

Turns out that I was in active labor. At 11:30 p.m., my doc suggested we do the c-section at midnight.

Everything happened so fast, it seems like a blur but handsome little Luke was out at 12:28 a.m.

He was a bit blue as the cord was wrapped tightly around his neck multiple times and he had quite a bit of fluid in his lungs but after a short time (felt like an eternity!) he was screaming ;-) 

After we got to the recovery room, Daddy and Luke slept like champs, while I worked with the nurses to get the pain under control.  I didn't get much sleep but loved watching my handsome new man snooze ;-)

Uncle Danny, for whom Luke was named, was our first visitor. 

Luke was also lucky enough to have visits from Ducky Gramma and Papa, Miss Kaitlyn, Uncle Z, Barbie Gramma and Pop Pop, and of course, big sister Alli and big brother Eli.

We had no idea what to expect from Eli (we suspected, correctly, that Alli would be very excited).

Nothing could have prepared us for the joy we felt when Luke met his big sister and brother!!!

 Both Alli and Eli were over the moon and could not get enough of their new baby brother :-)

We LOVE our new baby boy so much and cannot wait for all of you to meet him!

Lots more pictures and stories to come but we are exhausted as we come to the close of Luke's first day.