2 Months Late

Here are a few pictures from Luke's 3 month picture set. I am a little late in posting - he is over 5 months old already.

Its Been Awhile

Summer is a busy time and its hard to get time to update a blog. Here are some pictures from our vacation to northern Wisconsin. We spent time with both Dave and Alyssa's family during the week.

My Baby's Got Sauce

This last week (June 12th) was Luke’s first week at daycare and hence Alyssa’s first week back to work. Alyssa had a good week at work. After her first day, I asked how it went and her first comment was “Well, I didn’t cry.” Then she responded with how it felt natural to go back, that she didn’t miss a beat, and she still likes her job of being a physical therapist. Working three days a week seems to be a good balance between working and motherhood.

I take Luke to daycare and pick up on those three days. His teachers’ comments include, “He is a dream baby.” Translation: He is well adjusted and doesn’t cry very much. They all like him and think he is very cute. On his second day I picked him up in a and he was in different clothes - his shirt said “Wash and Return”. He got his original clothes dirty, followed by his spare outfit by pee-ing on them while being changed.

Meanwhile, when Luke is home with Alyssa he is learning a new skill – helping cook dinner. His chair on the counter allows him to supervise. He is talking more (coo-ing) and also smiling more everyday.

Sunday Drive

Alyssa’s granddad likes to go for Sunday drives. So last Sunday we took him to Watertown. It was fun to have both great-grandfather and great-grandson together for the afternoon. Granddad is 92 and Luke was 10 weeks old at the time.

Said another way, Granddad was 33,694 days old (including 23 days for leap year) and Luke was 70 days old. What a blessing life is – both new life and a full, well lived life.

We had fun at my parent’s house strolling around the yard and having a picnic. Also driving around the town to see the Octagon House, Keck’s Furniture (where he bought a couch about 65 years ago), and the Rock River. The Rock River is much smaller in Watertown than it is in Sterling, Illinois, where he used to live. During Granddad’s life he canoed every mile of the Rock River at various times.

Sweet Pea

Question: What happens when you have a wife that is always optimistic and positive and then you cross that with being a very happy new mom.

Answer: You get at least one, probably two, and sometimes three phone calls at work stating that “we have the cutest baby in the world!" Followed by a full description of why that is true.

Alyssa and Luke have been having fun at home, visiting family and friends, and going on trips to the parks in the area. But this week they took a road trip to visit me at work. We had a picnic lunch at a local park. And then a visit to the office to introduce Luke to all of my co-workers.

Luke seemed to enjoy being in the office. What do you think? Future Engineer? …. We will see.

For right now he is just a “Sweet Pea”. Thanks to Megan, all the way from Vancouver, British Columbia, for that cute outfit.

Madison Weekend

It seems like yesterday that we were married - and now we have a baby. We went back to Madison on Memorial Day weekend to celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary. We had fun reminiscing but also got to "show" Luke the sights. We took him to the farmer's market, the Monona Terrace (site of our wedding reception), the Memorial Union, and Lakeshore path.

We enjoyed a nice dinner, while Luke was at Nana and Papa's house, at Biaggi's (the site of our rehearsal dinner). A lot has changed since Alyssa and I graduated from the university, but Madison still feels like our home away from home.

Also on the trip, Luke found a friend that was just his size. Sorry... I had to throw that in for cuteness.

Happy Mothers Day

Luke is continuing to grow. His newborn sleepers don't fit anymore and he jumped up from diaper size zero to size one when he was 6 weeks old. He just had his 8 week check up and the doctor said he is doing great. He is almost 11 pounds and is in the 50 percentile for height. After getting 3 nasty shots he is relatively good spirits.

Another new thing is that he is starting to smile. Nothing makes me smile more than seeing him smile. In the morning he when he starts to wake up he is fussing. I pick him up, lay him on the changing table, and has a big smile waiting for me. Luke is like Alyssa - they are both morning people.

Alyssa celebrated her first Mother's Day. Luke surprised her with flowers the day before to catch her off guard. Alyssa is sliding into the role of motherhood with ease. I am honored that she is Luke's mother.

We were also privileged to dedicate him on Mother's Day at church. Both of our immediate families were able to attend. Several other couples from our church small group also dedicated their children that day. We feel lucky to have other friends that are also new parents who can share the joys and struggles.

Cute as they come....

Luke is the best baby. I love him. In fact, that is all I tell him all day long. I do not have much else to say to him. On average, I tell him I love him once every two minutes. Here are some words from Celine Dion that represent how I feel.
-Alyssa

“I’m overwhelmed with happiness, so blessed to hold you close, the one that I love most. Who could ever love you more?’

“You’re my angel from above, only God creates such perfect love.”

“A romance that is pure at heart, I never knew a love like this till you. You break my heart with tenderness. Who could ever love you more?”

Nutso

I, Alyssa, have been enjoying my time with Luke. We are bonding in more ways than one. I am a proud mom when Luke stops onlookers with his charm while he is in the stroller. I love him all the time, he even makes me laugh when he cries.


I need to come up with an enduring nick name for Luke. So far we call him “Nutso, Goof, Mr. Mad, Mr. Big Stuff, or Mr. Pouty.”


I also need to learn how to take better pictures of Luke, see enclosed photos. This is the reason I already have had to take Luke for professional photos.

4 weeks old already!

We have been very busy during the last few weeks. Luke had his first Easter egg hunt. He actually slept through most of it, but eventually found his Easter basket behind a bush at Nana and Papa's house. We enjoyed spending Easter weekend with both sides of the family. Luke also had his first visit with Aunt Jan and Uncle Bill.

Luke is still doing well. Check out how he is growing. He is getting stronger by the day. He has a strong neck and likes to hold his head up when placed on his stomach or if held upright.

He also has strong legs. If placed on the floor he can push off my hands with both legs and move himself about an inch. So far his record is traveling about a foot with the span of a few minutes.

Welcome Home Luke

Well, the first week has quickly come and gone. Luke has been a great baby and is treating us well. On average he is sleeping about 4 hours at a time. He had several nights of sleeping 6 - 7 hours.

Everyday he becomes more alert to the world. He is opening his eyes for more time everyday. We enjoy watching all of his expressions and funny faces he makes. He has a variety squeaks and grunts that correspond to stretching, feeding, and pooping.

He caught on to breast-feeding right away so we are thankful. Our doctor called him a "champ" when it comes to feeding.

After Luke is done feeding he is either 1) so tired he immediately falls asleep or 2) very alert and will stay up for a few hours. Currently we have no way of predicting which option it will be. Pictured at the left is a shot of me reading him an annual report (which was a late night attempt at putting him to sleep - it worked!). Otherwise we revert to the more typical: swaddling, calming, holding, and singing.

Since the weather has been so nice Alyssa has been taking him on a stroller ride per day. I think Alyssa likes it more than Luke! She
is enjoying being home with him and bonding to him.

By the way you can double click on a picture to enlarge it.

Until next time.....

Happy Birthday Luke

We were scheduled to go into the Waukesha Memorial hospital on the morning of Thursday, March 30th and Alyssa would be induced. As it turns out we weren’t allowed to come into the hospital until 12:30 pm because they had about 5 - 6 women in labor.

We were taken to our room and settled in for the evening. Alyssa was put on a Pitocin IV, hooked up to a contraction monitor, and a fetal heart monitor. After a few hours Alyssa started to have very minor contractions but nothing of consequence. At 7 pm after no progress in contractions or dilation the doctor decide to stop and continue pitocin in the morning so she could get some rest. They applied prostaglandin gel to soften the cervix and planned to do this again at midnight.

However, Alyssa’s body had different plans. She started have contractions on her own at 9:30pm. They became intense very quickly – about a 1 minute long and 2 minutes apart. I will spare you the details but at 1:30am she was only 3 cm dilated and the doctor offered her the option of the epidural. She chose get it since she had been awake for 20 hours and wanted to be rested before having to push. Alyssa felt much better almost immediately after the epidural was administered.

They broke her bag of water to help her body continue to move the delivery process along. Alyssa was able to rest and even sleep for about 3 hours until 5 am. They checked her again and she was 8 cm. At 6 am she was fully dilated at 10 cm and ready to push. Everyone left the room and we had a chance to pray together. A few minutes later room started to fill up with a lot of people and equipment. Alyssa started pushing at 6:25 am.

I helped hold one of her legs and counted 3 sets of 10 as she pushed on every contraction. Everyone was impressed with how strong she pushed and gave her words of encouragement. After 37 minutes she delivered our son, Luke David Krause, at 6:57 am on March 31st.

I cried as tears of joy streamed down my face. The doctors did their checks and within seconds Luke was crying and they placed him on Alyssa’s stomach. In that moment I saw Alyssa became a mother. She held him and had an expression of love I had never seen before. As she cuddled with him, I got to cut the umbilical cord.

He was bigger than I imagined - how could he have been inside Alyssa. Luke was officially 7 lbs 14 oz. and was 19-3/4” long. He has a full head of hair, dark eyebrows, and long eye-lashes. Alyssa first impressions...."I had this love for Luke that was deeper than I imagined. I was relieved and amazed at how healthy he was. I love to love him. I think he is perfect. And I thank God for the great gift of my son.”

As you might imagine we have had a multitude of emotions over the last few days, and it is hard to express them through writing. Strong emotions such as deep love and great joy. But I hope you got a small glipse by reading this.

We have enjoyed and appreciated all the prayers, calls, and visits from friends and family. We hope you can meet Luke soon.