Surgery is over!!!!

Yesterday was the day I had been dreading since Dean was born and now it has finally passed. He had surgery to sever his achilles tendon (so that it will grow back longer than what he was born with). We were very nervous about the surgery, especially the fact that he had to be put out completely with anesthesia, but everything went really well. His surgery was at 8:00 am and we were back home by 11:30.

This is the last part of the "casting" phase. He's in a new cast now while he heals and in three weeks from today - No more casts!!! He will then start the second half of his treatment which is the brace but we'll finally be able to give him regular baths and, most importantly, he'll be able to move his leg and bend his knee.

The Great Weight Debate

So we have no idea how much Dean really weighs due to his cast. He was born at 6lb, 10oz (no cast) and then was 6lb, 8oz when we left the hospital, but that was including the weight of his first cast. At his first Dr. visit the following Monday, he weighed 6lb, 13oz with the same cast on but then shot up to 8lb, 1oz the following week but that was with a new, bigger cast. He's eating a ton so I know he's gaining weight but his actual weight is still a mystery. My guess is about 7.5lbs...

Luciana we know for sure weighs 28lbs because she weighs herself every morning on what she calls "The Beeping" - our scale beeps when you use it. She always proudly tells us that it says "28 Pound Pounds".

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He's here!!!

Dean Michael Catalano was born on August 17th at 9:24am. He was 19.5 inches long and weighed 6 pounds, 10 ounces.
Everything with labor and delivery went really well. I started having contractions around 10:00pm on the 16th that were progressively getting stronger. Mike and I went to the hospital around 12:30 (we didn't want to wait too long since our new house is a lot further away from the hospital). Once we got there, everything went pretty quick. So quick at the end in fact, I made the nurse really nervous - I needed to push and there was no doctor in the room yet! My doctor made it and in a few pushes, Dean was here.

One thing we weren't prepared for was that Dean was born with a clubfoot. This is a birth defect that takes several years of treatment to correct. The good news is that since it's not too rare (about 1/1000 kids are born with it) the treatment is fairly proven and he should be just like the other kids his age once it's corrected. The bad news is that the treatment is not easy... He's currently in a full leg cast and gets it removed and a new one put on every week (Thursdays for Dean). These started the day after he was born and the doctor thinks he'll need to have about two more after the one he currently has on. After that, he'll have to have surgery where they'll be severing his achilles tendon which apparently will grow back longer (a three week healing process in a cast). After the surgery, he'll need to wear braces on his feet 23 hours a day for about 3 months. Then, the time in the brace will slowly decrease to by the time he's one, he should only be wearing them while he sleeps. He'll need to continue to wear them while he sleeps until he's four years old.
The whole thing has been very overwhelming for Mike and I and gives us an additional set of worries for our little man (as if I don't worry enough about him and Luciana as it is...). His current cast is very heavy and bothers him a lot. It breaks our heart to see him in pain, especially knowing that this is just the beginning of a long road for him. I'll try to update as I can so everyone is aware of his next steps, especially his surgery which I have a hard time even thinking about. Hopefully writing about it will make it easier to go through...

Always makes us laugh

I can't really help it that I think Luciana is the funniest person I know - She's just like me so we have the same sense of humor. However, here's a perfect example of how funny she is and a glimpse into what our lives are like right now...

Luciana's been staying up at night lately until about 9:30. She's in her bed, not crying, but wide awake singing songs, playing with her stuffed animals, moving her pillow around, jumping on the bed, etc. Last night she was again wide awake at bed time. Mike and I were in the living room and here's how the night went:


Me: "Luciana, it's time to lay down and go to sleep"
Luciana: "Mommy?"
Me: "Yes, it's Mommy. Now lay down and go to sleep"

More singing and jumping noises from her room


Mike: "Luciana, you need to go to sleep"
Luciana: "I think that was Daddy" (spoken to her stuffed animals)
Luciana: "Is that you out there talking to me Daddy"
Mike (while we're trying not to laugh): "Yes, it's Daddy, now lay down"

Silence... and then...

Luciana: "I need a tissue"...silence..."I NEED A TISSUE"...silence..."AHH-CHOO!!!" (faking a sneeze by actually saying ahh-choo) "I NEED A TISSUE"

Now - How can you not laugh at that!!

Mini family vaca

This past weekend, our friend Paul got married in Chicago. Being that I'm over 5 months prego and really hated the idea of not seeing Luciana all weekend, I was thinking of not going. But then, I had a brilliant idea! We could go for a long weekend to make a little vacation out of it and bring my parents along to watch Luciana on the night of the wedding. So, that's exactly what we did! We drove out on Thursday (my parents took the train) and came back on Sunday. We did all sorts of family Chicago things - whenever Mike and I have gone there in the past it was mostly to go to bars/clubs and nice dinners. This was the first time we did family type stuff and we had a blast! Luciana loved everything too and was a trooper, like always, with the drive, the time change and the change to her normal routine.
We went to the Children's Museum, the Shedd Aquarium, the Navy Pier and of course some shopping on Michigan avenue. She especially LOVED the Disney store. Here are some pics from the trip - and check out the video page to see some fishing at the Children's Museum :)


Showing her friend Squeaks the view!



Taking a reading break at the Children's Museum


Playing in a tunnel at the Children's Museum


Being a princess at the Disney Store


Loving every second!!!


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BIG NEWS!!!!!

Mike and I are going to be growing our family and Luciana is going to be a big sister!! I'm due on August 19th and on Tuesday we found out we'll be having a little boy! We're SO excited. Luciana has been practicing being a big sister already by reading big sister books (thanks Nichole), taking care of her baby dolls and patting my growing belly while saying "Hi Brother". I'm assuming she'll have a bit of an adjustment period once he gets here but after that, I think she's going to make a great big sister!

Here's his most recent picture, more to come...



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Lots of catching up to do...

The person that writes this blog is such a slacker!!

SO many updates have happened since my last update - Halloween (she was a bunny), Thanksgiving, Christmas... Luciana is still talking non-stop and now we're calling her the singing bush because she's also singing non-stop (sometimes while she's talking). She loves singing the ABC song, which she knows all of, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, The Farmer in the Dell, and about 30 others. She loves to read books to Mike and I at the same time we're reading to her and then yell TRADE and we trade books and start all over again. She's really into coloring, stickers and Play-Doh right now too.

Everyday she makes us laugh and smile and we can't believe how lucky we are to have her.



A shopping diva in one of her Christmas dresses



Playing hide-and-seek... Can you find her??


Here she is!!


She loves her Tinkerbell sunglasses (and making funny faces)!!
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