Nora Blue Pictures

Partied. Out.

Lucky's one year bash was a roaring success! Cake was eaten (or at least smashed,) presents were unwrapped, and general merriment ensued. The love surrounding Lucky was amazing to say the least. However, there are always a few lessons to be learned:

1. Get more Rolling Rock.
2. Don't forget the (awesome) seven layer salad in the fridge.
3. Invite more kids. The chaos level needs to be kicked up a notch, and keg stands are no longer a viable option.
4. Dress Lucky up in more embarrassing outfits (see below.)
5. Walk/Run away as fast as possible when Papa Willy starts talking about the bottle opener in his pocket.

We didn't dress up Lucy too embarrassingly at her party, as seen here holding two of her favorite things- crackers and a picture of herself:



However, Lucy did get a hula outfit for her birthday direct from Hawaii via Grandma and Papa Duluth. I felt it was only right to share the outfit here:






Oh what (embarrassing outfits) will the next year bring?!

Angel Eyes

A few more photos from this weekened courtesy of PuddleAunt Trisa!

Holy Water, Raspberries, and Gas

Lucy is finally catching up on her normal schedule after a wonderfully full weekend. Lucy was baptised on Sunday surrounded by family and close friends.

She cried a bit during the ceremony, but as I have been told and love to repeat, that's just a baby's way of praying. My dad was actually disappointed she didn't cry more. She didn't yell when they finally poured the water over her, but she certainly made a stink face. (PuddleMama just yelled from the other room that Lucy is actually smiling in her bath- that would be a first. Maybe a little holy water and an eccentric priest was all she needed to start loving water.)

Lucy now has her very own Godmother and Godfather (like she didn't already have enough people doting on her!) They are two people who we know will always be positive forces in her life, and as I said before, I can't wait to see her relationship with them grow.

We were overwhelmed by all the love and support of not only the Godparents, but of all those around us, and we can't possibly thank everyone enough. Lucky truly is lucky, as are Lucky's truly lucky parents. Get that?

For the record, here's a picture of Lucy resting up for the big moment in her Godfather's arms:



On a different note, Lucy belly-laughed tonight harder than we have ever seen. I was giving her raspberries and she was loving it. Then she passed some gas, and was not loving it so much anymore, so I'm thinking it was a combination of gas and raspberries (I know that combination always gets me.) Either way, PuddleMama and I just sat there and laughed with her. I could have given raspberries all night. Too bad Lucy couldn't have had gas all night as well.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Lucy weighed in at a healthy 7 lbs. 12 oz. at the doctor yesterday, meaning she gained back her birth weight in two weeks. Yay! However, we still are supplementing with a bit of formula, so our next goal is to try to wean her off as much of that as possible while maintaining healthy weight gain.

Being St. Patrick's day, I tried to find some green formula for Lucy, but my search turned up empty. I figured I could settle for corned-beef and cabbage flavored formula, but I couldn't find any of that either. Weird.


Well, if PuddleMama has a green beer or two maybe the breast milk will be green too. Maybe Lucy will even dig the breast more than usual and it'll help the formula weaning! Worth a shot.

Here are some photo's of my little Lucky:

Agh, how sweet!

I have so much to write about I could write a blog post just on Lucy blog topics. However, I'm finding I can't even remember what web page I want to go to after opening the browser, so I'm going to wait till I'm a bit more rested before attemping any more in-depth posts (insert joke about how you won't see any blog updates for about 18 years here.)

I will throw up a few pictures though, as promised, to hold everyone over. The first one was taken from my iPhone when Lucy was only about an hour old.

The next picture was taken at just over a day old by our good friend (and photographer extraordiaire) Molly:

January Showers Bring March Babies

Our wonerful family and friends are throwing PuddleBaby a number of showers over the next month or so. There is even rumour of a beer tasting baby shower, which is one of the more brilliant ideas I've ever heard with regards to baby showers.

The first shower is scheduled in Duluth in a few weeks. I wanted to share the invite to the shower, because I thought it was great! And don't you think it will be fun for PuddleBaby to someday see the original invite to their very own shower?

PuddleDoggy Halloween

PuddleMama can't wait till she can dress up PuddleBaby for Halloween. If you don't believe, get a load of what she does to PuddleDoggy:

PuddleBaby wants to be a.....for Halloween!

PuddleBaby, although shy about his/her privates, was not shy at all about what he/she wanted to be for Halloween. I'm not quite sure how PuddleBaby got the skeleton mask into the uterus, but pictures don't lie:

After showing off the costume, PuddleBaby proudly displayed a pointy chin (definitely a trait from PuddleMama's side of the family:)

After proving she was indeed PuddleMama's offspring, PuddleBaby was getting a little surly and showed us his/her dukes. Put 'em up!

And finally, after even more intense ultrasounding, PuddleBaby had had enough and gave us the full moon:

Not even out of the womb and PuddleBaby can moon like a true member of the family. We are so proud.

Do you think PuddleBaby looks more like me or PuddleMama?!

Is it too early to be thinking about (nick) names?

If not, PuddleBaby now the size of a blueberry, already has a nickname besides PuddleBaby. The Splendid Splinter. Yes, we fully expect PuddleBaby to hit a baseball (softball) like the great beantown slugger Ted Williams, but the nickname is not derived by dreams of the future pro's hitting potential.

A picture would definitely help explain the nickname better:

Yes, PuddleMama and I believe this happened on a certain night which would have made any splinter splendid, but the really splendid part is not the splinter itself but how it splintered. I would definitely be more hesitant to post such a picture if the splinter had happened on one corner, but the fact the board splintered down the middle the entire length of the side board just amazes me. How did we do that?!

Our bed is now propped up on over a dozen books, and is holding (mostly) steady.

Blueberry, Splendid Splinter, PuddleBaby... There are a even few more nicknames that PuddleMama and I came up with but we're keeping to ourselves for now- they hint too closely to the names that are early favorites for placement on the actual birth certificate.

Of course, I'll keep this blog up to date with any new names we are considering. Well, at least any we are considering for nicknames...

PuddleDoggy's new digs...

PuddleDoggy is going to be the one to break the news to mom and dad. I can't wait.

(In case it's not completely clear, it says "Mommy's knocked up, I'm going to be a big brother.")

First Baby Picture

Although admittedly I am only an expert of failed blogs, I do know that all-text blogs become boring and forced bullet-pointed lists are not enough to effectively distract the reader from bad writing. Any blog worth its weight certainly contains pictures, so I have decided to provide the first baby photo:

Can you see PuddleBaby?! Quite a looker, egh?