Baby Brag Time!!

So, I've actually been trying to compose a blog post of the thoughts I have been having over the past few weeks, but it is hard to put them all into words without sounding either too didactic or really negative or just plain confusing or boring even. I have placed it on hold for now--it may or may not actually make the blog roll cut--because I have much more exciting things to post:

Lukas Thuranira Limiri can now be introduced to the world!!! So excuse me while I purge the anxiousness I have had bottled up from all of these photos and videos that I have not been allowed to post!!!

Of course this is not all that I have, but here are just a few of the "Lukas firsts" that I never got to brag about:

The first I ever got to see him. It was a photo texted to me by Daddy George because I wasn't allowed to see him or Mommy yet (because of the c-section). I was dying out in the waiting room.

First time Mekenze got to hold him. It was at least two hours after he was born. I kept insisting until the nurse finally brought him in. It was such a precious moment! I couldn't help but get choked up a bit.

First family photo... 

First cutest close up ever!

Grandma JuJu's first hold!!!!

Just...look at those lips!

First time I got to see his eyes open. Aren't they gorgeous??

First bath

I love baby feet!  Look how long his witto feetsies are!

First visit to Grandma and Grandpa's house (1 week old)

First time meeting Great Grandma Delna!

Just a cute Daddy and little Dude photo. George is consoling him after a bath. 

He does not like being cold! 

First cuddle in Grandma & pa's bed

First comb over :)

Chilling with Mommy on the floor. I love how they are looking at each other.

First time playing with Uncle Karter. They're playing "tummy time."

Look at him look at me! He knows who JuJu is!!
(JuJu is one of the African language names for Grandma--it's Kimeru--which is George's native dialect. I think it's cute! In Swahili--another language he speaks-- the word for grandma is "NyaNya." It also means tomato... )

I have to share a fun story. My brother (Matt) and sister-in-law(Jenn) have a daughter who is just 3 months younger than Mekenze. Her name is Chevia (Shu-Vay). She and Mekenze were expecting their first babies just a day apart. We all thought it would be fun if the cousins would be born the same day. Chevia had been having false labor for a few days, dilated to 3 and such, and Mekenze had no real indication that she was going to deliver ... until her water broke. She went into the hospital August 30, and Lukas was born on the morning of the 31st. Soon after he was born, I received a text that Chevia was going into the hospital. Her baby girl, Eloise, was born later that same day!!! 

It was a Gates family baby fest!

I still haven't seen this sweet girl, but her pictures are adorable!! 

I mean, seriously!!

Matt adores babies, and he never really got to have a newborn of his own (he met Chevia when she was 2), so this is precious!!!

Isn't this a sweet family!!! 

Excuses, Excuses!

So, I don't have any real excuses for the lack of blog over the past 3 1/2 weeks, other than that my thoughts have been consumed with either school or Lukas (the cutest baby on the planet who just so happens to be my grandson). School is amazing, yet the hardest I've experienced thus far, which doesn't leave much time for blogging, or even thinking about what to blog, for that matter. One of the reasons that this semester is harder MIGHT BE that I feel like I am in a sort of alter universe now that there is a baby in my heart that didn't come from my own body. I want to hold him always and just watch his every move, but I can't.  He lives in Vegas! And there are other life responsibilities that would keep me from traveling to Las Vegas every day--you know how it goes... ;)

In Africa there is a tradition that suggests that exposing a new baby to the world (other than family and close friends) is not in the best interest of the child. For that reason, I have not been able to blast this blog with the many many adorable pictures of him. That time is coming soon, however, so beware!!

I am feeling very anxious right now! It could be that I have a scary test in less than an hour. It is the first test for Spanish Lit--a class I totally love because it involves two of my loves, language and literature, but that is so hard right now! Or it could be that Dave and I booked a trip to Europe to go visit Arielle and Braxton!!!! We fly out October 30 (and yes, we will miss Halloween with the other kids... is that so wrong?) and we come home November 9. This is a serious realization of a dream! It could also be ... I don't even know... so many things going on inside of me right now!  The holidays are coming, Curtis is soon to turn 18, Mady is soon to drive, Karter just keeps getting older and life keeps spinning faster.

So of course this isn't a clinical type of anxiety, but I am feeling anxious, nonetheless. I just need to be able to label my thoughts and feelings so that I can translate, recognize and categorize them, and then put them to rest.

But now it is time to take a test! Buena suerte a mí!