Visitors Abound!

We have been so lucky to have so many wonderful friends and family visiting our little Alice Mae (and bringing delicious food with them!). I don't know what we would have done this past week if we hadn't been fed so well by our loved ones.

Cory and Amie brought Lucinda over to meet her new friend on the Wednesday after Alice came home.

Later that night, Jeri and Jason brought over a chili dinner and made my sore stomach muscles hurt by making us laugh so hard with their many hilarious stories. You just don't get stories about black bears getting knocked out of trees with footballs from just any guest.

Kate and the boys had been in Arizona visiting Big Gerry since Alice was born. Luckily, Kate was able to stop by and FINALLY hold her little niece on Thursday.

We have been extra lucky to have Gigi and Grandpa Bob make several trips up from Manitowoc to snuggle with Alice and help around the house.

On Alice's second Sunday home from the hospital, she got to meet her second cousin Edie (as well as Edie' parents Erin and Johnny).

Alice is going to wonder why it is so quiet around the house next week - thank you to everyone who brought food and love into our home. It has been such a wonderful week!

Alice Mae Lukaszewicz

Hello family and friends!! I apologize that it has taken me a week to get pictures of our little girl posted to the web - but it has been one hell of a week. I am going to save any kind of narrative regarding the events of the past week for when I have more time and more energy. So, for now, please enjoy a few of our favorite pictures from the past week.

Alice Mae was born on April 18th, 2013 at 6:54 am weighing 8 lbs 12 oz and 21.5 inches long.

Moments after the birth - the Lukaszewicz Family

First bath - our angry little Alice.

She cleans up pretty good - our angelic Alice.

Alice meets her cousins. (She met Henry and James in the hospital too, but I unfortunately do not have any pictures of that visit.)

A little time with her Tia Kelley.

Wait, does she look a little yellow to you? Yup, this is our jaundiced Alice. Next stop, the incubator.

And this is our psychedelic Alice.

In order to get her fluids up, we had to supplement her breast-feeding with manual syringe meals.  It was a two man job with Mike providing the finger and I provided the slow release of syringe. At our longest, we did 18 of these in a row - I believe that was around 3:00am.

Great news! She is well enough to come home!!

We came home to a Welcome Home sign home-made by my Mom and Dad.

And being home feels good.

Super Dad in action.

We got a visit from Nama.

She snoozes pretty much any where you lay her down.

But this is one of her favorite places.

And this, this is our Happy Alice.

I will try to keep up with the pictures. Thanks for visiting and we can't wait for you to meet our little Alice.

Ready to Pop

So, I probably shouldn't be posting some of the world's ugliest pictures of me ever taken, but in the spirit of documenting the final days of this pregnancy I thought I would dedicate one blog post to my gigantic self.

Here is a common sight for Mike these days, sitting and waiting in the doctor's office - we were hoping this might be our last visit (April 8th - ~39 Weeks) but it is beginning to feel like we will be making it to our appointment tomorrow.

Mike and I have been taking walks to try to get things moving and today, April 14th, we walked to our giant hill and did stairs to try to lure the baby out into the real world.  Here is big mamma on the stairs...

 

And Mike and I at the top of the hill...2 soon to be 3!!

And finally - do not continue if you are eating or in any way faint of heart - this next set is a doozy.  This is the latest image of my overgrown self on April 14th just waiting (and hoping) that labor will start.

It ain't pretty...but it is still exciting.

The Nursery Reveal!!

I have noticed that people who write blogs that actual people visit and read like to post "big reveals" of projects that they have been working on. So, while this is only going out to you, my close family and friends, please enjoy the great nursery reveal!!

First, the all important "before shots". The second bedroom in our house was very loosely being used as a "guest bedroom". Here is what it looked like before:

And....AFTER!!!

The view as you walk into the nursery

Here you can see my nursing station, Mike's print for the baby room, and side view of the changing station.

Here is a closer view of Mike's print and my painted lamps.

Here is the giraffe painted by our friend Sara keeping an eye on the baby for us.

Another view of the crib with my fabulous homemade cornice and laundry hamper (thanks to Pinterest)

And finally, a spot we will probably be spending a bit of time using in the next couple of months.  Yes, those baskets are filled with cloth diapers. Wish us luck as we embark on our eco- and wallet-friendly venture into cloth diapering!!

Manitowoc Shower

On March 23, Kelley and my Mom (with the help of my aunt Sharon) threw a Baby Shower for me in Manitowoc. I didn't get a lot of pictures of the actual event, but they decked my mom's house out in such a way that I felt it deserved its own blog post. The theme was "About to Pop!".

Here are the 3 hosts of the event.

Each guest received their own jar of "pop" corn with instructions to make a delicious bowl of popcorn to celebrate when they hear the news of the baby.

Please note the "pop" of color all over the room.

The cake, designed by Rachel Schmidbauer at Baked Custom Desserts.

Action shot - getting the punch ready.

Those little bears are actually wild flower seeds that the guests were able to take home with them and plant. Who thinks of this stuff??

A "pop" themed party wouldn't be complete without a centerpiece of exploding fruit!!

And, two patient little girls who managed to entertain themselves all weekend while this party was being set-up.

We're ready...let the guests arrive!!

And, one of my only pictures from the actual shower. Here is me and Baby Lukaszewicz's great grandma with the afgan that she crocheted for the baby.

Thank you Mom and Kelley for a beautiful shower!!