Luke and Wheel

Will went to the doctor today for his first visit since we've been out. The well baby clinic is in Landstuhl, so it was a long drive, and our appointment was nice and early on a Saturday morning. Of course it was made even more fun by the fact that Will pretty much stayed up all night last night. Mindy and I stayed up together until about 1 or 2 am, and then after that we switched off periodically. Boy I forgot how much fun a newborn can be. Mindy said he's still in his womb cycle where he would kick her all night long. Hey, if we were in America he'd be right on schedule.


This really goes with yesterday's post, but here's Mindy and Will racked out on the couch at 8 in the evening


I'm a little rusty with the swaddling but I'll catch on again


We're using this co-sleeper until we get our bassinet. It's pretty handy, but I don't think Will has adjusted to it yet. Of course, I'm basing that on one night of incessant crying.

The doctor's visit went fine. He checked his responses and his eyes and the other usual stuff. He said Will was a little yellow, but not bad and it should go away pretty soon. They're going to prescribe some Vitamin D for him- he said since Germany rarely sees the sun some babies are a little deficient and that would fix it. I don't know if we've mentioned how dreary it's been all winter here. Somehow the only sunny days this past week were the days Will was born.


Walking the corridors of the most confusing hospital I've ever been to.


Will on the table...sans clothes. I think we have a similar picture of me with Luke on his first appointment.

Luke really started taking to him today. We started this morning by getting him to help us out while we changed Will, and it gave him some purpose now that he's got a little brother. When we got back from the doctor, he was really interested in touching him and looking at him. We got him to kiss his hand and Mom even got him to hold him for a few seconds. He had the biggest smile on his face. Tonight before we put him to bed he kept kissing his face over and over (which may have just been a ploy to delay bedtime!). It was very sweet. I think the biggest thing will just be making sure he's gentle with him. He loves to rough house, especially with me, and I've been trying to make sure he knows it's different with Will without scaring him off. So far so good, but I think he'll catch on.


Luke is peeking in at Will in his car seat. The blanket on top is actually a fleece poncho from Jenny- perfect for the cold German winter.


Luke kissing Will's hand


This picture is a classic


He's fascinated by Will's hands and feet

Another side effect of having two kids is that Mindy and I both have called Will "Luke" about 10 times a day. We said it had to be that we've been used to Luke for a year and a half, and then we waited to settle on Will's name until the very end. I'm trying not to give the poor kid a "Randy" complex- my younger brother got the short end of the baby attention stick. His baby book is about two pages long, he wore hand me downs for years, and so on. I at least want to make sure Will feels like he has his own name. I will continue to parent by guilt as long as possible...

That's it for now. Maybe if you're lucky, Mindy will blog soon. I'm sure everyone wants to hear the gory details of childbirth!