More on eating and our life in Dili

"Give me that! Let me show you how..."

Since I have been absolutely flat-out at work lately, I have not been able to update all of you on the progress and goings-on of life in Dili, and yes, yes I know you are not interested in hearing about Chris and I, only how is Luka doing - so yes - Luka too.

As we've mentioned in earlier posts, we have moved to a new house immediately opposite close friends and Luka's closest buddy in Dili, Adrian.

Turns out it was a great time to move since I was overwhelmed with work commitments at night and especially now going into the festive season I am expected to attend more and more social functions at night, making our current location near all the embassies much more preferable.

Luka has in a word, been thriving.  He is 6.5 months adjusted/corrected age, and closer to 9 months actual age.  In terms of development, here is the latest:

1. He is able to, albeit reluctant, to sit
2. He wants to stand, jump, pounce and most recently, climb, everything
3. He manages to actually move himself forward on his stomach on his play mat when you place toys outside of reach, but is smart enough to know it is much easier to flip on his back, scoot up, then flip back over and triumphantly score the toy
4. He still only has one bottom tooth, and what a cutie it is
5. No movement on the hair growth yet, though we remain baffled at the redness of it
6. His eyes seem to be leaning toward a greenish hue at the moment
7. He still smiles about 40 times an hour, and laughs out of his belly when you blow bubbles in the pool
8. He loves, loves music and wholeheartedly joins in whenever I or the nanny sings to him
9. He is close to a truce with Gus who have lately been much more amenable to trying out this new visitor - I think someone realized that he is not in fact, visiting
10. He has grown out of all his 6 and 9 month clothing and is seriously challenging the 12 month variety - which means there will be a lot of naked baby in the weeks to come until we can get to a place with clothes for him

We haven't weighed him this week, but as of last week here is Luka by the numbers:
Age: 6.5 months
Length: 74cm (29.13inches)
Weight: 8.6kg (19lbs)
Head: 45cm



Yes, that does in fact mean that his length for his corrected age is officially off the charts now.

As for our little culinary experimenter:

"I love my mummy because she feeds me"

Chris was excited to read an article that suggested that one should feed an infant at least 24 new foods before their first birthday - at last count, we were up to 28, and he's only six months old- something Chef Daddy took great pride in.

This week's favorite, home made brown bread.  While we started out toasting it (like the book says) mommy figured out instead of toast fingers, just give him crust fingers - it lasts much longer and is nice and bendy.  He must by mommy's child because he loves bread.

Academic Nap

11 July 2011 - Luka practicing his new napping skills

After 10 days in Pretoria with family, and nearly as many large social gatherings (including a family wedding, a 60th, a 30th, and almost a Christening (long story), we are back in Cape Town for only 2 days before departing to the UK on Wednesday. I know Luka's fans are starving for news on his progress.  Well, his weight as of today is now a whopping 4.48kg (nearly 10 lbs!), and he is 58cm long.

Here is a photo I took of him today as he kept us company in the dining room.  While I worked on a lecture I have to give at Oxford university next week, and Chris caught up on his MA studies for SOAS, Luka joined us for a bit of serious napping-in-training.

A weighty affair...

UPDATE:  Took Luka to the clinic for a weigh-in today and happy to report that despite the rather successful evacuation this morning, our boy tipped the scales at 3.62kg (roughly 7lbs 15oz) and 51cm (20 inches) - so we are fairly certain now that he would have been an eight-pounder.  Congrats buddy!

The 10-week mark

Well, today is officially ten weeks since little Luka joined our family and also the day that marks his mommy's first solo voyage into the big bad world.  Unfortunately it involved a rather pressing visit to the chiropractor to finally address the deteriorating state of my lower back following a combined seven weeks positioned in a compromised reclining position necessary for optimal kangarooing, coupled with the not-so-short transfer from Darwin to Cape Town.  I walked out of there with two follow-up appointments and a comment that my back is rather uncooperative for having been left this long without treatment - in the meantime I continue to rise out of my chair hunched over like Quasimodo's long-lost cousin.

I was reminded of all the comments and warnings I received about 'mommy-brains' when I found myself constantly checking and re-checking my few belongings in the mall.  A simple visit to the chiropractor, followed by a visit to the local pharmacy to get prescription eye drops for Luka's final ophthalmologic appointment tomorrow saw me checking, re-checking and confirming my wallet, sunglasses, purse, purchase and mobile phone about twenty times.

In the end, I think the experience was good for me, and also allowed Chris some quality study time with Luka strapped to his chest in his favorite cozy wrap, next to the fireplace, with a rainy Cape Town day outside.

When I returned, I felt strangely invigorated for having ventured out and survived (despite half dozen or so text messages to Chris in the process) so topped the day off with a batch of fabulous chocolate chip cookies and a butternut squash risotto for dinner.

Tomorrow, back to the hospital for follow-up visits with the surgeon, pediatrician and ophthalmologist.  

Another passport application

In completing the online US passport application for Luka this morning, I couldn't help but think it was a least a little funny to use the same application for infants and adults alike.

Name Provided: LUKA MARTIN SERJAK 
Date Of Birth: 03/22/2011 
Place Of Birth: DARWIN, AUS 
Social Security Number: 000-00-0000 - definitely does not have this yet.
Sex: Male 
Height: 1FT. 6IN. - and growing by the day...
Hair Color: Blonde - for the time being
Eye Color: Blue - like every other infant
Occupation: INFANT - I still think'lactation engineer'  has a better ring to it...
Married: NO  - Does an arranged marriage agreement count?



We're off to the paediatrician and US Consulate today.  Let's see how much the little guy grew in the past week!  More soon.

Day 27 of Loving Luka like crazy...

In recounting so many of our experience of the past four weeks with my mom over dinner tonight, including the fear and angst that gripped us the night of the 21st of March as we hoped to postpone the delivery of the as-yet unnamed, unknown being in my belly, we slowly realize just what a roller coaster this has been.  We remember one of the paediatricians saying something about having to spend at least six weeks in the hospital if we delivered now until our baby is 'term' and the two of us thinking, how can we do that, I mean six weeks in a hotel in Darwin, what?  And here we are, four weeks later living in a house not much different than our own, having purchased a number of kitchen toys it lacked, baking, cooking and trying to be normal.

Enjoying a much-deserved nap after a marathon
breastfeeding session - Day 27, 18 April 2011

Of course, the single most amazing thing is the incredible progress, heart, spirit and determination that our little man Luka has shown throughout.  As of today, he is showing us a new side of his personality every single day, and sometimes it feels like every moment.  At a mere 34-weeks gestation, he now weighs in at 2,195g and is 46cm in length - that is up nearly 400g and 6cm since birth.  It seems as if he has grown cheeks literally overnight, and now even has eye lashes (though we joke that his missing eyebrows can still be find on his back, as he is still covered by a layer of fine Laguno) and perhaps most fun for us, he has much more energy with longer periods of wakeful playfulness and general cuteness.  He continues to be a most excellent breast-feeder-in-training, and is already flirting with all the cute nurses.

More napping...like his father
Luka believes this is not something
you could ever have too much of.

He is currently on 55ml 'cavage' (tube) feedings every four hours, though we do a bit of breastfeeding training before each one that he is awake and strong enough - and when he wants to, he knows exactly what he is doing.  He is also showing a bit of both of his parents' personalities, with the quite calm of his father, interspersed with the feisty determination of his mother (mostly when one of us does something stupid that annoys him).  In general he is a happy, content and lovable little baby who never cries (again, unless one of his incompetent parents does something truly idiotic like get his head stuck in a t-shirt, or accidentally lets his arms flail out too much).  Overall, he is showing tremendous patience and tolerance for our clumsiness.

As for us, we are truly enjoying the time with my mother here (and yes, apologies for the lack of blog posts, it is remarkable how little you can get done in the day when you are either trying to feed a baby or succeeding to feed a pump every 2-4 hours).

Mail!

From the mailbag: special thanks go to the Bratchers for a package containing treats from TJs, including Susan's favorite vitamins, as well as clothes (including his first rugby outfit, a onesie from Chris' old team, the Santa Monica Dolphins!); thanks to mom and dad for all the lovely clothes for Luka; thanks to auntie Marie for the clothes for Luka and Susan; thanks also to Estelle's friends from the Red Hat Society in Pretoria for the lovely hand-crocheted clothing; Susan's tannie Dollie; tannie Daleen; tannie Elize, and everyone else for the thoughtful gifts, clothing and thoughts.  

Enough preemie clothes for a
battalion of tiny prems.

Thanks to all the thoughtful gifts, Luka now owns one of each of the available 0000 and 00000 clothes on four continents.

Day 16: More weight, less wires

Happy to report that Luka is up yet another 69grams for a total of 1893grams!  The big wager currently is whether we hit the big 2 kageez by Sunday night's weigh-in or not...I guess time will tell.  We are also happy to report that he is less yet another wire as of yesterday.  He was disconnected from the oxygen saturation monitor, leaving only his respiratory and heart rate monitors in addition to the pesky feeding tube.  Our little man continues to amaze the nurses and midwives with his skill on the breast (which his father of course takes great pride in) - and managed to feed for a whole 35-minutes last night.  He will continue to receive 'full top-ups' through cavage (feeding tube) feeds for a while though, as 33-weekers are not known for their ability to self-feed just quite yet.

In other news...a completely unrelated picture for a change....

View from the 6th floor window of the hospital, I couldn't resist:
"....The Simpsooooooons....."