The Adventures of Lana - week one

Whoever said that family life is dull? Not with Lana and Nadia around!

Nadia had a great quote today when we were driving up to a Mother's Day rendez-vous in Tiburon at Todd's place with the grandparents. Her milk has really come in, leading to a serious case of engorgement. As a matter of fact, we even had to stop at a grocery store so I could run inside and buy her a head of crispy green leaf cabbage to abate the swelling. I guess it's some sort of an old wives tale that cabbage leaves help reduce swollen breasts. Anyhow, just before I go running in, Nadia says, "Now I know why the cows were mooing so loud at five in the morning when I took my milking class! My gosh this hurts!"

It's amazing how much Lana is already starting to develop. She's moving her hands and fingers in totally new ways every day, even folding her hands once or twice. She seems to understand and recognize things now, like when we change her diaper she relaxes and even smiles while two or three days ago she got upset, and I think it's because she knows that we're going to clean her up and that her bum will feel all dry and refreshed and there's no reason to be upset. But my gosh, during her fist two or three days she just cried and whaled and got all puffy red faced and upset when we tried to change her, and I'm guessing in my own little way of imputing meaning into all of her various actions - and Nadia is much worse at doing that ALL the time than I am - but I'm thinking that Lana just had no idea at first what was going on with the bum wiping and leg lifting but now she GETS IT just a couple of days later. It's amazing.

Oh, and in her first week she has already gone to the mall and acted much more calm and mature than girls who are 1000 times her age (literally). I have also put her on a strict regimen of calisthenics every morning, noon and night and I think she's already starting to hold her head up, but you have to be careful because all of the sudden it will just flop forward real fast and I think her chin would hit her stomach if you didn't catch her (we're not trying to find out).

Lana also has a tendency to eat and eat, burp a bit, eat and eat and then in the blink of an eye she'll pass out and it's over for the next two hours (unless she poops herself).

Good times.

Lana's born!

Nadia and I are soooo excited! Lana was born at 2:57am on Tuesday, May 6th at a whopping 8 pounds 3 oz and 21.5 inches long. She's beautiful, bouncy and in great spirits! Both of the new grandmothers were there with us for the birth, and my father and brother were close by in the waiting room with a box of cigars (which have yet to be smoked). Click here for photos of the delivery.

Nadia was a complete star throughout the process. The labor was over 30 hours, and she has already bounced right back.

Lana has a super fun personality. She's not much of a crier, and her favorite activities so far (besides sleeping) include guzzling breast milk every two hours or so, spitting up on dad's hand when she's burped, and inventing her own form of a cooing, wheezing newborn baby blabber talk.

She's definitely the feisty one, when she's not getting her way though. For such a small little thing she has a super siren setting which she turns on when things do NOT go as she expects. Her most unfavorite thing so far is "the Big Blow Out". We think she doesn't like the feel of food going through her intestines on the way out because she'll start screaming a full minute before anything has "arrived"!

While all three of us have gotten about the same amount of sleep (minimal) we're in great spirits and truly amazed and blessed to have each other.