The boy's a genius

We're all home and settling in, getting used to each other's rhythms. Luckily that involves a lot of sleeping, at least for Leo, so life is quite peaceful. Grand-mere arrived on Saturday, and has been helping a lot with our understanding of the various mysteries of baby biology.

In this photo, note that Leo obviously figured out he was being photographed and hastened to give himself rabbit ears. The boy is clearly a genius. Also an artist, but in the interests of good taste I won't discuss here his preferred medium of expression.

By request, here's a photo to prove that I'm personally involved in this whole baby thing:

D-Day + 1

More photos added at giszpatrick.com/photos - mother and son in good spirits, although everyone is exhausted. We're very impressed with Leo, and how he cries when there is a problem and then is calm again once it is fixed. It seems a very sensible arrangement for all concerned.

Photo dump

Just about all the photos we have so far are now posted at giszpatrick.com/photos for those who want to see everything.

The day before

(Apologies for the reverse chronological order). Here are a few photos of Noemi the afternoon before Leo was born. At this point, she was already having contractions within three or four minutes of each other. While they were gaining in strength, and I was acting a bit like a headless chicken, she casually took an hour-and-a-half nap -- her sleep was of course a bit choppy, but stood her in good stead later. I was in awe at her coolness, you'd think she did this every day.

Here she is gathering essential supplies - the box is dark (75% cocoa) chocolate from Ecuador. Noemi never travels anywhere without dark chocolate:



Here's Noemi about to pack her snacks into her hospital bag. I hope I helped her rather than just standing around taking pictures of her trying to bend down. You can see Leo lurking, waiting for his big moment.



And here's Noemi breezily chatting to her friend Stephanie via Skype while getting strong contractions every few minutes that left her almost unable to talk.



Then finally we trundled off to get a taxi. It was a good, relaxing start to a busy night.

Today in Genoa

Noemi took this picture of the dawn this morning from her hospital room. With the birth taking place around 2:20am local time, and lots of things to do after that, there wasn't much of a chance for sleep. But the company and the view made up for it. She was happy to greet the dawn with Leo on his first day.




(Update: our friend Charlie observed that this dawn could be called a "son rise"!)

Leo isn't Italian, but he is Genovese. This is his city of birth, seen from Noemi's room. Compare the road level with the roofs of the buildings beside it - this is typical Genoa.



Here are Leo's official vital stats, attached to his cot:

Look at Little Leo!

The Kumquat Cameth!

We're delighted to announce the arrival of a bouncing baby Leo at 2:20am local time, Tuesday October 9th, in Genoa Galliera hospital. 3.2 kg, other stats to come. Mother and child both full of the joys of life. Father in awe. Lots of stories, such as the tale of the sun-glass-wearing doctor, to come...

Signs and portents

Not to go into too many details, but there are omens and foreshadowings that the time is nigh on upon us. Days, not weeks. Watch this space...

That's a lot of kumquats

Here's a picture of Noémi at nine months. Here are the specs:

• 45 inches / 115 cms in girth
• 15 inches / 28 cms in bulge
• 1 smug smile / 1 sexy pose in attitude
  

Cast in Silicon

Well, it's official. Sort of. We bought a plane ticket for Leo to go with us to Ireland in December. So now as far as Aer Lingus is concerned, we ARE going to have an infant named Leo. If the scans were all wrong and we get a surprise baby girl, we'll just have to raise him as a boy. Or pay for a different ticket. I guess there's still some wiggle room (which is more than I can say for my belly at this point--Leo is pretty darn squeezed in there, I imagine). (Image at right: silicon casts of fingerprints.)