Three Months

Here's our little cowboy at 3 months. His newest tricks in the last few weeks include:

• Blowing spit-bubbles
• Drooling like Cactus at a steak dinner
• Staring at his hands in front of his face
• Desperately trying to suck on his fingers but only regularly succeeding at sucking the side of one hand while shoving it in his mouth with the other (it's always a two handed job).
• Almost laughing
• Almost rolling over
  

We're looking forward to our first family road trip to Houston for Thanksgiving so Nana and Grandpa, Aunt Kim and Uncle Scott can witness his new tricks in person.

Hey there pretty darlin', lose a baby?

Y'all come back real soon, ya hear

Luke's Product Review

As Luke is getting a bit older he is showing interest in the toys that he previously never noticed he had. In the last few weeks he has really gotten into his bouncy chair that Aunt Kim bought him. The chair has an aquarium display filled with water, fishies and lots of bubbles, and there are two plastic fish that hang down from the display. There are two functions to choose from, one that plays different songs and lights continuously and one that is controlled by Luke's movement.

What do you mean the square root of -1 is an imaginary number?

If the fish that hang down are kicked or otherwise moved, or if the whole thing bounces, then fun sounds are played and the fishies swim and bubbles are released along with bubble sounds. I refer to this particular sound as fish farts. Anyway, Luke LOVES to play in this chair set on the kid controlled function. He flails his arms and legs, arches his back and gets the whole thing a-rockin'. It's like a video game for babies with little to no limb control. He gets a look of concentration on his face like he's solving complex calculus problems. Each time the bubbles come on he yells out one of his few noises- either an "ah-goo" or a pre-squeal. Very cute nontheless.

His other new fun toy is the Deluxe Jumperoo that Aunt Yasmine bought for him. It is a freestanding seat on four springs in which he can push off the floor and bounce like a kangaroo. On the lowest, shortest kiddo level his feet barely touch the ground, so we put a phone book under his feet. He can get much more grip that way. It took him a few minutes to figure it out the first time, but then he started standing, shaking his hips and bouncing a bit. He got so excited at what he was doing that he started yelling out like he does in his bouncy chair. Each time he is in it he bounces more and more and squeals in pride at his mastery of the jumperoo. It won't be long at all before we can remove the phone book booster step, what a big boy!






So that's what my legs are for!









In other big boy news, Luke now faces forward in his Baby Bjorn. He seems to really enjoy this position, and instead of quickly falling asleep while facing our chest on our walks he now looks around and stares at the trees and flirts with the passerbyes. Here he is pictured with Louis on our very first forward facing walk.

Wow, this is a much better view than your hairy chest, Dad.

Happy Halloween, bwaa ha haa!!

During the last week that Granny Svoboda was in town she carved us a pumpkin for Halloween and bought mom and baby little devils costumes. We outfitted the babe with his costume and the pumpkin with a candle for a dress rehearsal while Granny was still here. You can't tell from this picture, but it was pitch black outside minus the glow from the pumpkin; hence, Luke was blinded for a good thirty or so minutes after this photo op, poor kiddo.



That Saturday after dropping Granny off at the airport, we dressed up in our best 1950's duds for a themed party at the Weiss house. I demonstrated my mad hot glue gun skills (my friend Jaime would be so proud) and spruced up a vintage poodle skirt (not pictured, unfortunately), and Louis channeled Dean Martin. As you can tell from the pic, we were the bad parents who brought a baby to a party. But after a martini or two Luke just slept through the whole night, so he was no problem at all. Lightweight.



As Halloween grew nearer, the folks in our neighborhood really got into the spooky spirit and decorated their houses and yards. On one of our walks, the hair on Cactus' back stood on end and she started to growl deep and slow. Danger! DANGER!! And as I saw what she was reacting to I about fell over laughing... see picture below.
















In the same instant I was so proud of Cactus for wanting to protect me and the baby from the evil villian about to pounce on us. To get a better look at the "man", we ventured closer onto the sidewalk but Fearless Cactus did not follow, and instead pulled away to the other side of the street forcing Luke and I to fend for ourselves. As soon as we walked a few steps back away from the man, Cactus' fierce bravery returned, growls, teeth snarling and all. But then as I stepped closer to the scarecrow again, well, you get the idea... Good thing Luke's Jedi training is coming along well. After fighting the blue killer horses from outer space, this was a cakewalk. South Austin is safe.


Then Halloween came, and in an effort to regain her reputation as Fearless Cactus, it was time for her to don her killer man eating shark costume. So scary!

The trick-or-treaters we receieved, having fine palates of course, dined on their choice of an array of delectable goodies- Reese's peanut butter cups, KitKats, and Sugar Daddies. Mmm mmm good. We greeted each guest with devilish Luke in our arms, always to delight and squeals, especially to the parents accompanying their kids. What a ham.

Can't tell which is scarier- devil tongue or man eating shark's vicious teeth!!

Two Months of Livin' Large

I have a donut in each cheek

Sorry we haven't posted in a while, we've been busy the past two weeks with visits from Granny, Nana and 'whatever he wants to call me' (Grandpa).

Last Friday Luke had his two month checkup and weighed in at a whopping 11 lbs 3 oz and measured 23 inches long. Chunky monkey! As he was basking in the glow of his impressive weight gain, the mean lady in scrubs stabbed him four times with her death sticks. Two in each thigh. We tried to explain to him the importance of these "vaccinations", and through his tears we could read his intention to tuck this little incident away in his fragile psyche and take it out on us when he's a teenager. Happy friggin' two month birthday.

The next day, Saturday, we went to the wedding of Crystal (Jen's Mom's best friend's daughter) and Luke was dressed to the nines in a seersucker suit from the Martin D'Andrea collection. The ladies couldn't keep their hands off of him.



Ladies, ladies.... there's enough Luke lovin' to go around... please be patient.








Nana and Grandpa were there as well and were amazed with how much he's grown since they last saw him on Labor Day.







I'm a gangsta, but y'all already knew that.







Then it got embarrasing when the Notorious L.U.K.E. got busted for ordering drinks at the bar and was taken away by a handsome undercover Federal Agent.





"Lady, I'm going to have to ask this baby some questions..."









Luckily, Luke was allowed to leave Burnet County with only a warning.





THANKS FOR THE BEAR GRANNY!








Unfortunately, Granny has to go back home to France tomorrow. We all had a great time during her visit and we're sad to see her go. But that's TOMORROW, today we went on a fun walk on the Greenbelt and were excited to watch Cactus splash around in the water. We should have known that since it hadn't rained even an inch in the past month that there wouldn't be any water down there. The river was bone dry. Sorry Cactus, maybe next time.

The weather was great for a hike and Luke celebrated his freedom by sleeping the entire time snuggled in his Baby Bjorn. Lucky for us, he woke up for these photo ops.







Wait, this doesn't look like my room.










I'm as tall as the trees!

Here are some more pics for your Luke fix...

Happy Birthday Mommy, I Love You

Saturday was Jen's 30th birthday and Luke (being the galant young man he is) surpised her with a flower, I gave her a custom made music CD and Grandma Svoboda gave us the best present of them all, 8 glorious uninterrupted hours of sleep!!!

After watching the Texas/OU game (go Horns!) that afternoon with Arthur, Erin and Martin, Jen and I checked into a hotel in downtown for the night while Grandma babysat.





Earlier in the week, we went for a walk on Town Lake to enjoy the great weather and to introduce Luke to Stevie Ray Vaughan. Luke wasn't impressed and found Stevie cold, stiff and ignorant to his cuteness.







Thank you Sun gods for bestowing your benevolence on Austin, take this boy as a sign of our devotion...








Just kidding little buddy.










After the long walk, our two tired puppies chilled out.

Click here to see some more pictures from last week...

Hi Grandma!

Grandma Svoboda has come to visit for a couple of weeks from France and Luke sure is happy to see her!


No, he can't smile on demand yet but they are instigated by more than just gas now. Here are a few pics of Luke learning to use his face muscles.

I don't understand what you said but boy you crack me up!

I'm smiling cuz I'm clean.












3 out of 4 dentists say this counts as a smile.










Dreaming of boobs.










Where's my arm? You are so funny Dad!

Click here to see some more pictures of Luke at six weeks!

Flying Blue Killer Alien Horses From Outer Space!

Here's the latest update from Svoboda Studios: After a month of martial arts training, Luke felt he was ready for his small screen debut. We got the green screen studio ready and let Luke have at it. He hates the term 'method actor' but it's amazing to watch his process as he goes to 'that place'.

He can't take all the credit though. In post-production I used some state of the art CGI effects by super-imposing a background that looks just like his changing table, then adding the 3-D effects of the Flying Blue Killer Alien Horses (that coincidentally looks just like the mobile Jennifer's co-workers bought Luke). The grainy effect was done by photographing a digital projection of the movie on a white wall, to create a negative from which prints for release could be made. Enjoy.

Take 1

Take 2


Sunbathing after a few Margaritas

Luke and Picasso (Is something there?)

I had a dream of Picasso's visage last night and his resemblance to Luke. He can barely hold his head up, his arms flail around like a monkey, but could Little Luke be the next Picasso? Only time will tell.

When I get home today, I'm putting some pastels in his hand...

One month young

Sunday was Luke's one month birthday! We can't believe how quickly it has gone by. He is gaining some major chunky chubbles and is almost too big for his newborn sized diapers. We have been hesitant to move him up to the next size, size 1, diapers because the little teenie weenie ones are just so darn cute. But alas, time and time again the wee cute diapers are no match for his formidable poopage bombs and we must admit that the baby, and his digestive system, is growing up fast.

In other news, we hope that our friends and family in the Houston area will remain safe as Hurricane Rita makes her way to Texas. Luke would love to see all of you and you are all welcome to stay with us. We also hope the Austin City Limits Festival is not totally rained out, as Louis was very much looking forward to telling Luke all about the Oasis show.

Also, we have to give shout outs to G. Rose, Wee Z and Tiny D for giving us links to this page from their blogs. Luke is looking forward to many fun times hanging out and causing trouble. This crew will be the cause of many a gray hair for their parents, we're sure!

Pool Party

Today we went to Louis' company party at a neighborhood pool center. His coworkers were so excited to finally meet Luke and we were happy to show off his cuteness to them all. He took his first dip in the pool and Louis tested the absorbancy of his newborn sized diaper. The pool won.

Welcome to our OOL, notice there is no P in it.

Pictures from first weeks

The Svobodas

Louis & Luke

Luke loves his mobile

Cactus meeting her baby brother

Wrapped up in bear towel after his first bath in the little pond (kitchen sink)

First bath in the big pond

My Dad says my favorite music is by U2, Oasis, Willie Nelson and Ice Cube

You know what they say about a baby with big feet...

I'm Popeye the sailor man. Toot Toot!

For more pictures click here and here and here!

Birthday

So let's talk a bit about Thursday August 18, a great day commemorating the birthdays of great American entertainers such as Robert Redford, Patrick Swayze, Christian Slater and Malcolm-Jamal Warner.

In fact, the build up to the great day started one day earlier when Jen started having contractions at around noon while munching on salad and breadsticks at the Olive Garden with Dana. She left work at around 2pm and started timing the contractions. She called me and said that I may want to think about wrapping things up at work, but no need to hurry too much. She then called about 30 minutes later saying I should probably leave work and come home...

We timed the contractions the remainer of the day until they were consistently between 3 and 5 minutes apart for around 3 hours. Then around 10:30pm it was time to go to the hospital!

Jen called her parents and sister in Houston and they started their drive to Austin fearing they would not make it in time for the birth. Little did we all know that there was no need to hurry since she would be in labor all night long and most of the next day. A little after 4pm on Thursday, August 18, it was finally time to start pushing, and at 4:55pm little Luke made his grand entrance into the world!

Luke Allen Svoboda
Weight 7 lbs 10 oz
Length 20 1/4 inches

His birth was even more exciting for me because I got to deliver him! I had discussed this with the doctor a few times during the pregnancy and the doctor said that if everything was progressing ok that she would let me participate, maybe by placing my hands over hers as the baby was coming out. But when the time arrived and the head was crowning she said, "Alright Louis, come on down here. The baby should be born on the next push. Go ahead!" So all by myself I put my hands on his head and as his shoulders came out I put my fingers under his little armpits and pulled him out and placed him on Jen's chest. I then took a peek and announced "It's a boy!!!" We had not found out the baby's sex ahead of time so this moment was extra exciting. Then, almost anticlimactically, I got to cut the cord. Who needed a doctor?! It was such an amazing experience.

Examining the goods

Cute!

My first post

After Mommy and Daddy explained to me what a blog is, I figured I'd have a go at it so that my family and friends around the world can watch me grow!

Alright, now that I've set up the blog for Mom and Dad, I have to get back to what I do best: eating, sleeping, pooping and looking cute. Follow along as they tell of our first days at home...