Your First Year

You turn seven in seven days. I thought it would be fun to write a little bit about each year of your life each day until your birthday.

I knew you were stubborn and that we would have our share of power struggles from the minute you were born. You came out screaming and wailing…which I expected…but then two minutes later…then five minute later…then TEN minutes later when you hadn’t stopped I was getting a little anxious. I thought that when babies were born they screamed until they were nestled into the warm arms of their loving mother who just labored and birthed them. I thought they were supposed to instantly recognize their mother’s voice and stop crying so that they could hear the gentle whisperings of love that were being spoken in their ear. I thought they stopped to gaze curiously into the eyes of the one who carried them every minute for nine month…INSIDE their body and on top of their bladder, no less.

Nope. You didn’t recognize me. At least, that is what you wanted me to think. I know you now and I know how you work. But back then I thought you were thinking you had been given to the wrong person.

Oh, and then when you finally stopped screaming fifteen minutes later, they unwrapped us both so they could give you your first bath. They found poop. LOTS of poop. All over me. All over my chest and my stomach and in my armpits. Let me tell you a little bit about infant poop. It is tar. There is no difference. My lower half was still numb from my epidural so the nurses tried their best to clean me with wet wipes because I was not going to be able to shower for a few hours. I did finally shower that night, but my skin still had a blackish tint to it the next day.

You finally warmed up to me and then you didn’t want to be anywhere else but in my arms. I was okay with that because I loved to hold and cuddle you.

We have more pictures of you during the first year of your life than we have of all your siblings combined. We made sure to take pictures of you in every outfit you wore. We posted pictures every day on the family website with titles like “Luca in red” and “Luca in pink” and “Luca in red with pink polka dots”.

You looked just like your dad for the first couple years of your life. If I hadn’t seen you come out of me I might have had to question who your mother was. I didn’t see one feature in you that even somewhat resembled me or my side of the family until you were about three years old. Here is a picture Dad took with his webcam the day we brought you home from the hospital.

You were always such a content little baby. You slept for nine hours the night before your blessing and you were only five weeks old. That was the norm from then on. You spoiled me and when the other babies came along I thought something was wrong with them because they were still getting up during the night at two months old. Here you are on your blessing day.