Friday night we went over to see our friends Lydia and Joe. They just had a beautiful baby girl a week before we had Luke. We had planned to go out there to see their new daughter Nicole, but then we had Luke! It was really cute to see both of them together. Obviously they don’t interact yet, but it’s fun seeing their mannerisms and hearing the sounds they make. Joe cooked up a super good BBQ meal too. Thanks guys.

Two nights ago we gave the baby formula for the first time in an effort to make him sleep through more of the night. On average he lasts about 2 hours on breastmilk, but formula should be able to hold him about twice as long, which means more sleep. Two nights ago didn’t go super great. He didn’t want to eat as often which was good, but he was still fussy. Last night we kept him up from about 7-10 pm, then fed him formula, and then went to bed. And last night he slept from 10 pm to 4 am! That’s a new Luke record. Stacie fed him at 4 am and he slept more, so overall it was a very good night. He was in his basinet the entire time also, so hopefully this will lead to sleeping through the night on his own.

This morning when we got to the hospital we were greeted with great news. His bilirubin levels had dropped to just over 8 (the magic number was less than 10) and he had been eating really well. The doctor checked him out and said he was ready to come home! We made a quick stop at Target to buy some bottles of Purell, and came back to the hospital with his carseat. We had to wait for them to do the circumcision, and then we signed some papers, and the great nurses gave us lots of tips for the first few days. After that we were ready to go.

When we got home both grandmothers came over to see him, but for the first two hours he slept! The dog isn’t quite sure what to make of him, but every cry and squeal piques her interest.

Family came over and took their turns holding him. We picked up pizza and enjoyed our first evening with him.

We’re thrilled to have him home, and we’re ready for our first night of sleeplessness. He slept in his basinet for about an hour, but as I type this he decided he was hungry, so Stacie has him in bed to feed him.

After his entire ordeal and everything he’s been through in just his first week in the world, know what’s funny? Today was his due date. He knew that even though he came early, today was the day to come home, and we couldn’t be more thankful for the great doctors and nurses that have been with him and helped him get better. Welcome home Luke.

Tonight we learned all about breast feeding! It was actually pretty interesting. So far I haven’t been too into the whole reading and learning aspect of being pregnant, I think mainly because there is a ton of info out there that I don’t need to know. But how breast feeding works and the benefits seem very real and useful to me, so I was interested. Tomorrow we start the birthing type classes, so we’ll see how that goes.

Over the weekend our big goal was to ascertain baby furniture, and we succeeded! Unfortunately it won’t be here for 10-12 weeks, haha. The baby will be in a basinet for a couple months though, so everything should work out. We also met and interviewed a daycare lady on Friday, and it looks like the baby will be set in the Fall!

Something I’ve been researching for months is a high-def camcorder, and I’m pretty much set on which one I want. I’d been watching the Canon HV20 for a while, but they just announced a new version (HV30) which has a few notable improvements. For the techno geeks, it has a newer LCD, and it also has a 30p mode. I hate working with interlaced footage, and being able to film 30p out of the box should be a nice improvement over the 24p of the HV20 (not to mention the HV30 has 24p also). My only concern is that it won’t be out until February (or Amazon is saying March 1st) and that is cutting it a little close. Hopefully I can get one right away and start learning the ropes in time for the baby.

I’m on call for jury duty this week because I was a dufus and didn’t call during vacation. Luckily though I didn’t have to go today and I don’t have to go tomorrow. Who knows, maybe I’ll luck out and not have to go all week!

Hope everyone is well. Visit Paul’s site and Luna’s site for some cool videos.