One year on

It is hard to sufficiently express gratitude for the past 12 months. Despite some initial challenges in getting this whole parenthood thing started, I would say we made out like bandits. Judging by the speed with which Luka is acquiring mobility, babblebility, dexterity and a whole lot of other 'ity's - we're in for an interesting ride.

Today we got to celebrate the first of many joint birthdays for my boys, and I couldn't help but think back one year ago to when I was a terrified, first-time pregnant mom in a foreign country, dreading going into labor.  Yet, here we are today, celebrating the first birthday of many more to come!!  Here are a few of my favorite photos from today...

If my year of baking results in a book I will call it 'A Year
in the Baking' and this recipe will feature - Serious Eats'
Brown Butter Pecan Carrot Cake - yummie! And I go back
to my belief that I now need a cake decorating class.

The BIRTHDAY BOYS!

Happy Birthday to y'all! Happy Birthday
to y'all...

With mommy/mamma...

Ah yes - daddy and mamma's birthday gift to the little
terror....a HELMET - (with that mischievous look, how could
you NOT want to put a helmet on him...)

What a lovely day, with two amazing people....

Birthday Hats

About two weeks before our departure for the US, I realized that if we were going to throw Luka a party, mommy had better get on it.  So in my panic, I frantically ordered party supplies from Amazon and other online retailers.  To be sure that the goods arrived on time, I emailed the lady at Make it Mine Parties, who was so lovely and rushed the order for me to arrive at my office in San Francisco the next day.  Here are a few shots with his very cute 'Luka is One' party hats...unfortunately the party treats for guests did not show up on time, so we will have to distribute them at a later stage....

Nostalgic Baking

Since I am a complete sentimental fool, I decided to bake the same cupcakes for Luka's 1st birthday as we made for his 1-week anniversary in hospital in Darwin.  Only this time, instead of being in an incubator - Luka was helping me in the kitchen which was, to say the least, awesome!

Luka helping mommy mix the batter

Corny shot with the blog post from the 1-week birthday

My very poor attempt at decorating these (I've decided
that a cake decorating class is in my future...)

The end result

Remembering...

...where we were almost one year ago on Darwin, and how far we have come....

First portrait of our brave little soldier, approx 1 hr after
birth - 22 March, 2011

Luka's 1-week Birthday

Susan on forced R&R away from the nursery

As part of our elaborate birthing plans, we had intended to bake a cake for our baby on his or her actual birthing day.  The idea had been suggested to us by a dear friend and mother of three adorable boys in Dili who had done this for all of them.  Our plans were somewhat disrupted since the maternity ward at the Royal Darwin Hospital, does not come equipped with its own kitchen.  As such, and given the stress of the last seven days, we decided to celebrate Luka's first week in true Chris & Susan style.

The family one-week into this adventure

After spending an average of 10+ hours a day in the Special Care Nursery, we were finally in a frame of mind to take a few hours to ourselves.  Where did we go?  To the food store of course - leaving with a trolley full of fresh goodies, good cheeses, and baking supplies. This afternoon was spent in the kitchen of our rental home, baking cupcakes for Luka's first "birth"-day party.

For anyone interested in baking, these might actually have been the best chocolate cupcakes ever.  For the recipe, please visit here.  Not being fans of frosting, we simply melted good quality dark chocolate to spread as a topping before decorating.  We passed the cupcakes around the Special Care Nursery and the Birthing Suite where we birthed Luka a week ago - they were enjoyed by nurses, midwives and new mommies alike.

To scale.

Happy 1-week 'birth'-day Luka.

Update on Luka:

Today was a good day for us.  His second cranial ultrasound came back negative for hemorrhaging, after the first test came back inconclusive.  The volume of his feeds continues to be increased, he is now actually at 'full feeds' for his weight, and we are hoping he will now be growing fast.  Despite his initial weight loss from 1.777kg to 1.585kg in the first week, our boy has already grown 1.5cm.  His SBR numbers (jaundice-talk) continue to be slightly below the level requiring photo treatment, which allows us many more hours of cuddling instead of watching poor Luka bake under the light like a little chicken.