Luke's fairy godmother :)
Even though Seth shares the photo with a cute and tiny infant, he refuses to relinquish center stage.
These are pretty close to what he looks like. The video shows him a little better, but these are close.

Fresh after his first bath
Vegging with a full tummy, right before I put him to bed. This kid is super cool.

Videos of Luke

He likes to doze off half way through eating, so this is mid-meal, after he remembered he was still hungry. Other times he is much more calm, just looking around. He's so awesome.



He gets really funny after is his fully fed, burped, and happy. He leans back with his eyes closed and smiles over and over. Sometimes he even laughs. We love this little boy.

Luke David Anderson

Date of Birth: February 16th, 2008 (1:04 AM)
Weight: 8lbs, 11oz
Length: 20"

We checked into the hospital at about 7:00 or so, and Christine was dilated to 4cm, and 80% effaced. She wasn't having major contractions, but we wanted to check in and make sure we could get four solid hours of antibiotic before delivery, due to Christine being Group Strep B positive.

After some debate on waiting or inducing, we called the midwife who, after arriving, measured Christine at 5cm and 90% - proof that things were moving along fine on their own.

We moved to the new room, started antibiotics, and got the epidural. Things were pretty low-key for a few hours. After another check, we found that Christine hadn't progressed, so they started a bit of pitocin to get things rolling.

After just a whiff of the pitocin, Christine started to move into some more serious labor. A few hours passed, and we noticed that some of the labor pain was making it past the epidural. We requested a bolus, and waited. Just as we were about to make a second request, the nurse decided to make a quick check.

She found that Luke was already on his way out. She turned the other way to check on some readout, and I saw the head emerge! It wasn't worrisome, but it sure was frantic as the nurses got everything in the room in a flash. Without even a push, Luke slid out in only a contraction or two after that.

Baby and mother are doing well. Luke got an APGAR score of 9/10 (yes ladies, he *is* a certified 10) which is as perfect as they give out at this hospital. He seems to be sleeping and eating well. Christine weathered a very clean and smooth delivery, with no after-words complications or injuries that we know of. Both mother and son slumber peacefully as I write these words.

We feel extremely blessed to have this little man with us. Thanks so much for all your prayers, love and support.

-- John

From the Hospital

John here.

Just thought I'd check in with every one who reads Christine's blog. We checked into the hospital an hour or so ago, so here's the update.

I'm feeling a little tired. There was some soreness early on as we checked in, probably from some soccer I played today early at lunch. After stretching I'm feeling a little better. There was also a bit of touch-and-go queasiness when they did Christine's epidural, but not to worry, I'm feeling great now.

More information as it comes.

Happy Valentines Day!

I made these yesterday for John and snuck them to his office with all kinds of red hearty decorations and sweets for him to find this morning when he went in. :) And he gave me two awesome DVDs - Fiddler on the Roof (my favorite movie maybe) and Sense and Sensibility. AND the book Wicked. I'm spoiled completely rotten. Those are great ideas for a woman who is nine months pregnant. :)


And speaking of that, with me being 90% effaced and dilated to 4 cm as of my appointment this morning, we may just have another Valentines surprise really soon here. The odd thing is that I haven't really felt contractions to speak of yet. Just a tight tummy, but nothing I'd call a real contraction. The third baby is the way to go!

Take a wild guess

So let's hear it. What are your guesses about when this baby will actually come? My due date is Friday the 15th. With Jonathan I was 6 days late, and with Seth I was 3 days late. Maybe we'll name the baby after you if you are the closest guess. :)

Night on the town with Jonathan and Seth

We went to a Japanese teppanyakii restaurant with the boys the other day and it was awesome. It's the kind of place where they cook the food on a big hot plate (teppan) at your table. The boys were enthralled. (And a little concerned at times - you can really feel the heat from the fire.) :)


I should've taken more pictures of the chef and his tricks, but I was too entertained by watching the boys' reactions. The chefs are really entertaining - flipping spatulas, throwing eggs and catching them in their hats, making fires and showing their super skills with the utensils. Not to mention, the food is killer.



I'm feeling the urge to do fun things with the boys while we still can before the baby gets here and things slow down a bit. It was super fun. The boys were amazing there too. It's a great place to take kids because it's so entertaining that they don't get fidgety, and the food is so good that they eat really well too. :)

John and I have a lot of fun with those two guys lately. :)

The lesson of the day

Don't do something stupid just to try to save yourself a few minutes.

I was carrying bottles of fruit and juice up from downstairs, and tried to carry one-too-many at a time. I knew it would be trouble, but I tempted fate. So, of course, on the way up the stairs one of the jars slips and falls, and of course, it's the incredibly deep dark grape juice. It shattered and splattered everywhere, and it took me the next full hour and a half to clean it all up. I think I would've rather take the extra 60 seconds to make another trip up the stairs with the extra jar instead. As I once heard John say, "That's what I get for being stupid." Luckily, it broke on the tile landing by our front door, so most of it was on hard surfaces (all over the walls within a 10 foot radius,) but you'd be surprised how much of a stain grape juice can make even on tile, walls and doors. Amazing. Amazing that it all came out too. Maybe next time I'll be a little smarter. You'd hope so anyway.