Watch Luca Grow: 3 weeks

-We went to the primary music class with Milo, Luca was good to just nap in his car seat while Milo and I played with the rest of the class, he hardly ever made a peep!
-Grandma Debbie came into town to visit & take care of us this week.
-We went to the park on Tuesday morning, but when we got home Milo started throwing up. We spent most of this week inside trying to recover and Unfortunately, both boys caught little colds. Babies should not be allowed to get sick! :(
-Had his two week check up, he's a very healthy little guy and He now weighs 8 lbs 2 oz
-Finally lost his umbilical cord!

Watch Luca Grow: 2 Weeks

-Our Visitors left town, but Grandma Kathy stayed in town to take care of us.
-Grandpa Larry & Grandma Debbie surprised us and drove over to meet you, they couldn't wait any longer.
-They didn't do the circumcision at the hospital because they were a little worried about his penis being slightly curved & not having enough foreskin to put into a clamp... So we went to a pediatric urologist and he recommended waiting until Luca is at least 9 months old, so he can be put out for the procedure :(
-Went on some outings this week including to the mall for kids club with your big brother  & we also went to the library!
-Still is Sleeping and eat really well, has the sweetest little temperament

It's Not A Box

You know what they say about kids and boxes.... well, it proved to be true at our house as well. While we were on a family walk (before Luca was born) we picked up this large box that was on the side of the road with the intention of making it into a car for Milo. He loved it ... we cut out wheels, let him color on it, and of course play inside. It was a car, an airplane, a hideout, and who knows what else he dreamt up. It became a permant fixture in our home for well over a month. Just when I wanted to curse this stupid, ugly box for taking up 1/2 of my tiny apartment living room Milo decided that Luca could be a passenger in his box, too ...Warm my heart. This was the first time that Milo willingly held Luca and he looks pretty proud doing it! He loves his brother but he really isn't into holding him ... so these are some of the only pictures I have of Milo holding his brother, so far.

Larry & Debbie's Surprise Visit

Right after Natalie, Edward, and My Dad left town the party continued... Larry and Debbie surprised us with a visit. They couldn't wait to meet Luca so they hopped in their car and drove over when he was exactly 1 week old. It was a quick trip but they were happy to meet Luca and see Milo, too! They arrived on Sunday afternoon and came over to our house to hold Luca and visit. We went for a walk to see some Christmas lights and then they headed to their hotel. On Monday morning they watched Milo, so my Mom and I could take Luca to the urologist. Then we met Jordan for Lunch at Hook Burger before they headed back to Arizona. These boys are so lucky to have two sets of awesome Grandparents!

Watch Luca Grow: 1 Week

-Born on November 24, 2014 at 3:52 pm
-Weighed 7 lbs 4 oz, 20.5 inches long
-Stayed at the hospital for one night and then headed home the following evening.
-Good little sleeper and eater, sleeps for about 3 hour stretches waking up only to eat and then heads right back to bed
-Very good temperament, very content and rarely fusses for any reason
-Celebrated his first Thanksgiving at 4 days old. Natalie, Edward, Grandma Kathy, and Grandpa Kevin were all at our house for the holiday and to see Luca and help with Milo
-Turned 1 week old on his due date!

Luca Dean Flake

Luca Dean Flake 

7 lbs 4 oz & 20.5 inches long 

Born 11/24/2013 at 3:52 pm in Los Angeles, CA

When I woke up on Sunday morning I knew it was the day he would be born, even though I had been saying that the whole week leading up to his birth, I knew for sure this time that it was the day. Milo was born exactly two weeks early so I had been expecting the same with Luca. When he didn't come at 38 weeks I was kind of surprised and getting more and more antsy by the day, but it was for the best. My parents came into town on Saturday and Luca was born the next afternoon, I think he was just waiting for them.

Jordan has a 6:30 meeting every Sunday morning, I woke up when he did and I started having some labor pains, but I got up and showered and began to get ready for church even though I suspected that I was going to have a baby. The contractions kept coming and I decided that I was going to stay home from church. My parents took Milo to church while Jordan and I stayed home, shortly after they left I decided it was time to go to the hospital, Jordan collected our bags and installed the car seat base and we headed to the hospital.

As soon as we got to the hospital, my contractions started to slow down but they were still definitely painful, I was still convinced that this was it. The doctor finally came in and checked me and said that I was only dilated to 2 cm, which was very disappointing because they had said I was at 3 cm at my doctors appointment on Tuesday. She suggested that I go home take a bath and labor at home because I was in early labor (and they didn't have any open beds). I felt so frustrated and of course as soon as we got back out to the car and started driving home, the contractions began to get stronger and more regular. When we got home my parents and Milo were still at church. I got in the bath, drowned myself in a pint of Haggen-Daz, laid in bed, then took a shower, and the contractions kept coming. We were home for about 2 hours when we decided that it was time to go back into the hospital. We put Milo down for his nap and drove back down to the hospital. I was glad that I was able to snuggle Milo one more time before having Luca.

I felt silly checking in again just 2 hours after leaving, but I knew that I was having a baby. They got me hooked up to the monitors and we waited in triage for what seemed like forever and the contractions were far more painful than what I experienced with Milo. When I finally got admitted and moved into a room I was dilated to 6 cm. Luckily the anesthesiologist made it to my room shortly after we did and I got my epidural. After getting the epidural, I still felt quite a bit of pain/pressure. I told the nurse this and she checked my cervix again. I was dilated to 9 cm and she could fill Luca's head, and then my water broke. The pain/pressure that I was filing continued and they asked if I felt like pushing. I pushed through about 3 contractions and then they said he should be here on the next contraction. I couldn't believe it because I had to push for over 2 hours when I was delivering Milo. They called the doctor in quickly, she got set up and sure enough he was coming quick. They had me push once, and the cord was wrapped around his neck, they had me stop pushing and doctor quickly clamped and cut it, then I pushed once more and he was here and perfect! I couldn't believe it had happened so quickly, he was born less than 2 hours after we got to the hospital the second time.

Luca has such a sweet little spirit, he is simply perfect. I couldn't take my eyes off of him and I instantly felt so lucky to be his mom. I felt like I knew him and he was meant to be mine. I also couldn't wait to share the news and get Milo down to the hospital to see his brother. When Jordan told my parents that Luca was here they couldn't believe it either, it happened so quick that Milo was still taking the nap that we had laid him down for. I got to hold Luca for a good long time, then I let Jordan have a turn. Then the nurse checked him out, gave him his first little sponge bath, weighed and measured him, and the pediatrician came into take a look at his face. Since he descended so quickly and had the cord wrapped around his neck his little face was pretty blue for the first few hours of his life.

My parents brought Milo down to the hospital in his "Best Big Bro" shirt. He was so cute those first little moments of meeting Luca. He had a big grin on his face & said, "He came out?" he also said, "where is this kid going to sleep?" He sat up on the hospital bed with me and took a little look at Luca, he wasn't interested in holding him. Shortly after my parents arrived they moved us into my postpartum room and we sent the boys out to get some dinner for us all. It was great to have my parents be here to take care of Milo. It took a lot of stress away from me and I was able to enjoy my new baby without having to worry about my Milo.

On Monday my parents took Milo to Disneyland while Jordan and I hung out at the hospital, getting tests, waiting to get discharged, and enjoying our new babe. He is a little piece of heaven. He is an excellent nurser and a pretty good sleeper too. We feel so lucky to have him in our home, he is perfect! I am sure that hard days are coming, but Luca has been such a good baby and my recovery has been a piece of cake, I have been able to just relax and really enjoy him. Milo is still warming up to the idea of being a big brother. He will ask questions about Luca and talk to him, but he doesn't have much interest in touching him or holding him. If he wants me to play with him he will say, "Dad do you want to hold Luca?" or if we ask him to hold Luca he will say, "No thanks I am a little busy" but he is warming up more and more each day, I have no doubt that soon they will be the best of friends. I really love my family and I feel blessed to have my little house full of such sweet little boys.

Thanksgiving

It has already proven to be much harder to blog this time around, but I am determined to keep it up otherwise poor Luca will have no documentation of his babyhood & Milo won't have anything past 2 years old! I am not a good journal-er so I must do better... consider it a new years resolution! On to the post ...

We celebrated Thanksgiving 4 days after Luca was born, and we had a houseful of people to celebrate with. Before Luca was born we tried to plan for when the perfect time for my Mom to come down and help would be and its kind of hard to plan for something like a birth, which you have almost no control over. Since my Mom is a teacher and had the whole week of Thanksgiving off that's when my parents decided to head down, we just hoped that Luca would make his debut while they were here. They arrived in LA on Saturday the 23rd, we kept things pretty low key that day. They rested from their drive, played with Milo, went to the grocery store, made dinner. The next morning I started having contractions and then I had Luca that very next day after they arrived. Perfect Timing! Before I had Luca I had agreed to let my sister, Natalie and her husband, Edward came over for the Holiday. It was probably a little stupid of me to do, the week you deliver a baby is a little hectic of a time to have people stay at your house, but we made due and my Mom was really the one who did all of the hosting. We had fun eating, playing games, and I even got a little black Friday shopping in. We sure are thankful for our family & especially these sweet boys this year!

Halloween

^^ Milo has become very non-cooperative for photos, this is the best I got of him with his friends 

After our action packed day of celebrating on Saturday, I was ready to just call Halloween over. Especially since Milo isn't super into wearing his costume. But, Jordan talked me out of that crazy thinking and we had a fun night celebrating Halloween. We had a delicious dinner of mini mummy pizzas and then headed out trick or treating with some friends from our ward. A few streets up from ours is a street that is pretty famous for trick-or-treating in the area, the road gets blocked off from cars and the streets were full of all ages of people and costumes. It was absolutely nuts, to give you an idea our bishop & his wife live on this street and they said they handed out 5,700 pieces of candy last Halloween. After our stroll around the neighborhood we headed home & called it a night ...just like that Halloween is over for another year.

Pumpkin Carving

Milo picked out a pumpkin at the grocery store quite awhile ago, he also got a mini pumpkin from Grandma Debbie.... He has been pretty excited about his pumpkins this year, so we thought that carving his big pumpkin in to a Jack-o-lantern would be a big hit. We decided it would be the perfect Family Night activity last night, we were wrong! Jordan cut off the top, then we took Milo's shirt off of him and told him to go dig the guts out. As soon as he walked over to the pumpkin he said, "It's a little bit stinky" and began to gag! ... anytime Milo would get too close to the pumpkin he would start gagging. I guess he has an extra sensitive nose. So, Jordan did all the work ... but now that it's all done Milo loves his Jack-o-lantern.

It's beginning to look a lot like Halloween!

Milo isn't big on dressing up, even his regular clothes are sometimes a battle to get him into. So, Halloween's past haven't always gone super smoothly, which makes it hard to want to spend a lot of time figuring out a costume for him. But this year my mom sent Milo a giraffe costume in the mail and Milo seemed to be excited about wearing it. He would tell everyone that he was going to be a giraffe for Halloween, and seemed pretty set on it. I had to modify the costume for him because he kept complaining about having a wedgie, so I cut the legs off and just made it a Giraffe top and then he was able to wear regular pants. We had the most action packed weekend celebrating Halloween. We usually don't have a whole lot going on during the weekends, but this weekend was go...go...go! Friday night,  we were invited to a Halloween Party. Some friends of ours, who have some older boys, throw a Halloween Party for their kids & their friends every year. We had fun eating, visiting, and playing at the park. When they started the Halloween games we left and headed to the next party. We went to a BSU vs. BYU football party with some people from our ward. Milo and I were the only ones wearing any BSU gear (Jordan would've he still needs a BSU shirt), it definitely a BYU crowd,  but unfortunately for us BSU lost!  In the morning we took Milo to Boo at the Zoo. They had Trick or Treat stations, "Stomp and Chomp" where they gave some animals pumpkins to break open & eat, and some other Halloween activities. It was pretty fun, we invited our friends the Satko's to join us. Milo refused to wear his costume until we got to the Giraffe's and Jordan asked him if he wanted to go inside the cage. He got really excited about it, so Jordan told him that he had to wear his costume otherwise they would know he was a boy. It worked ... for about 5 minutes. Then we took it back off and Milo's friend Evelyn wore it around the zoo, and she looked darling. Directly after leaving the zoo we went to a Halloween themed birthday party for two little boys in our ward. Then we headed home tried to rest for a few minutes and began getting ready for Trunk or Treat. Milo loved Trick or Treating and actually wore his costume (with the hood off) to walk around and Trick or Treat and Jordan dressed up like a Safari Guide.

A little trip to Arizona

Last weekend (10/13) Larry and Debbie came over to LA and hung out. They spent Saturday night in Palm Springs and then continued over to LA Sunday morning and made it to our house in time for church. After church, we made some dinner, went to the LA Temple Visitor Center, and then hit up Sprinkles Cupcakes Ice Cream Shop. Delicious! Monday morning, we took Milo to Griffith Park to play at the playground and ride the train. After playing at the park for a little while we met Jordan for some lunch. And then Larry, Debbie, and Milo headed back to Arizona. ... We sent Milo to Grandma and Grandpas alone for the first time! I was a little nervous about how he would do, he's been in kind of a clingy stage and I have been trying to keep his schedule pretty strict so that we can hopefully have at least one good sleeper when the new baby arrives ... but He did great, he had a blast! and it was so nice for Jordan and I to have some time alone and get some things ready for the new baby. On Thursday after work Jordan and I headed to Arizona. We were so excited to get Milo and his reaction to us coming home was so sweet. He was in bed, but he got out of bed with the biggest perma-smile on his face and gave huge hugs to both Jordan and I. I laid down in bed with him and he stuck his little arm around me and started jabbering about all the things that he had done at Grandma and Grandpas house. We are lucky that Milo has two awesome sets of Grandparents that are willing to do anything for us! We spent the weekend in Arizona, it was nice to be back in Gilbert. Friday night we went to Isla's 1st Birthday Party. Saturday we went to Street of Dreams, a model home tour, and then on Saturday night was Jordan's 10 Year High School Reunion. Sunday we had a delicious breakfast and started our way out of town, we stopped by a few friends homes to say a quick hello on the way out of town. It was a great way to spend the week/weekend!