Luke Comes Home

Today is our second full day w/ Luke at home. Its good to be home, but sometimes I miss all the help we had at the hospital. Whenever we had a question or a concern, I'd could just walk out to the nurses' desk to get an answer.


Sure enough, if there were 6 nurses there, I'd get 6 answers/opinions. Fortunately, one of them would work. I'm getting the feeling that most of parenting is improvising. Needless to say, we are now performing on the baby trapeze without a net.


Yesterday was also eventful, because the most of the landscaping was installed. This is how it looks now.
This is how it looked a few weeks ago.


Today, Grandma Kathleen visited Luke in his new digs.

Luke is anxious to show off his new crib to Grandma Barbara when she visits next week.

Welcome Nifty err... I mean Luke.

Nifty err... I mean Luke Andrew was born at 11:15 AM on Saturday August 12th at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring MD. He weighed in at 7lbs 13.7 ozs and was 19 & 3/4 inches long. The official records show him at 7lbs 13 ozs. I lobbied for Dr. Footer to round up to 14 ozs, but I guess I wasn't that persuasive.

Luke's got blue eyes and brownish blond hair ... or maybe its blondish brown. But boy (!) that boy's got hair. He's already outperforming his old man. I'm so proud...

Now to the name, Nifty. While pregnant Sue & I decided to give the baby a nickname until we thought of a proper name. First, I suggested Ozwhipay, based on the classic SNL sketch. Needless to say, Sue shut that one down immediately. Mom then proffered Hercamer (for a boy) or Esmerelda Snizzlefritz (for a girl). At this point Sue was starting to seriously worry about half of her child's genetic make up.

Eventually, I remembered my friend Jason had an uncle Niftody. I'm not sure of the spelling or the origin, but I assume it's an anglicised version of a Ukrainian or Russian name. Sue was lukewarm to the idea (no pun intended), but I kept using the name. Eventually it stuck and Sue became fond of it. This probably because we shortened it to Nifty, because ... well ... he just is.

Anyway, we are now having a hard time remembering to call him Luke. Hopefully naming this blog after Luke's in utero tag will make the transition easier.