New pics of Luka and family

Dearest Family & Friends,

We are so excited to share with you the newest pictures of Luka and our family taken by our friend and talented photographer, Sara Goetz. Sara does amazing photography here in the SF Bay Area. You can first check out a couple of the best pictures on her blog:

http://blog.saragoetzphotography.com

At the bottom of our blog posting is a link to the slide show. It is underneath the picture of Luka smiling with Tajalli holding him. It says " Enjoy your slideshow!" Just click there and it will take you to it....it has music too, so turn on your speakers. :-)

If you are interested in subscribing to her blog, just click on the top right hand corner (subscribe by email). Her blog is wonderful and she regularly posts tips on taking great photographs along with work from her sessions.

If you would like to see all of the pictures or order some prints, you can click here:

http://www.saragoetzphotography.com/pickpic/gallery/jump.php

You click on "Luka" on the top left and then the passcode is: newborn
After putting in your email, you want to click "enter gallery."

We are thankful that she has offered us their special family and friends pricing.

We hope you enjoy these new pictures!

With love,

Tim, Tajalli, Luka and Bubba

Baby Luka is here!

Our new love our life has arrived.

Luka Franjo "Franyo" Horvat
January 29, 2009 @ 6:18pm
7 lbs 14 oz, 20 1/2 inches

Labor went well....my water broke around 8:45pm on 1/28 and then we got to the hospital at 8am the next morning. Active/Intense labor lasted about 3 1/2 hours. We are all doing well and just trying to catch up on sleep. He is such a beautiful miracle.

It is hard to believe that he is now already 10 days old! We are trying to get him to switch his nights and days, which I guess is pretty normal. He pretty much sleeps in 1-2 1/2 hours chunks and then I nurse him for 30 min to 1 hr. Then he hangs out for about an hour and then starts the cycle all over again. I never thought I would be a night person, but I'm finding myself awake quite a bit after midnight! :-)

He started smiling a couple days ago and that has been such a treat. It seems to correlate with breastfeeding and when he is about to poop or fart....such a daddy's little boy! He seems to really enjoy spending time in his bouncy too, which comes in handy if Tim is asleep and I need to go to the bathroom or get something to eat. I'm sure we'll be using it more when Tim goes back to work. He also has managed to pee on his Mommy and Daddy at least 4-5 times now in the midst of a diaper change. That has been fun!

Today we have a photographer coming over to take newborn pictures of Luka. Her name is Sara Goetz and is the wife of one of my colleagues at work. She is such a talented photographer. We will share those pics soon!

We've had several visitors already and it's been wonderful introducing Luka to close friends and family. Our first out of town visitor is Chandra, my best friend from college. She'll be here for a couple days this week....yea!

On the house front, we are so close to moving in we can taste it. The title company is trying to get things wrapped up.....please keep your fingers crossed that it we will close escrow this week. If all goes well, we'll move some time the week of Feb 16, before Tim goes back to work. We'll let you know once it really happens.

Thanks to everyone for all of your love and support and hope to connect with you soon. Feel free to call anytime...if we're sleeping our phones will be off, but we'll call you back as soon as we are able.

Lots of Luka love coming your way.

At the hospital

Tim here: Taj's water broke last night around 8:30 ( 1/28 ). We waited to go to the hospital until 8am this morning. Tajalli was having contractions on and off thru the night. She is doing fine, a little tired but not in much pain. We are on our third nurse so far!! All seem pretty nice though. We will post again soon.

End of Week 38

Hi everyone!

We are just now on the tail end of week 38 and can't believe that our little baby to be could come any day now. I am feeling good these days, just really big and a little less mobile. I keep on bumping into things! I started working from home this Tuesday and will be until my last day of work on 1/23 (unless the baby comes early). I miss being in the office, but I have great peace of mind knowing that if I go into labor that I'll already be at home.

We have the baby car seat installed and ready to go, the bassinet next to the bed, and almost fully packed for the hospital. There are a couple odds and ends that we still need to get, but all in all we have what we need. Now I guess we just have to wait!

On the home front things are looking like we really could have the new home in Oakland on Majestic by the end of the month. It is a miracle! We aren't going to move before the baby arrives and will just take our time after wards to decide when is best for all of us.

Last weekend, Tristi, Johannah, Sarah and Chandra threw me a wonderful baby shower in San Fran. It was so nice to celebrate with close family and friends. Thank you!!!!! On Tuesday, Tim's work surprised him with a shower at their office. Everyone was so thoughtful!

The weather here has been amazingly beautiful...mid 70s and sunny every day this week. It is so unusual! Bubba and I have been able to go for short walks at the park across the street. He is going to be so spoiled having us home for a while!

We hope you all have a wonderful 3 day weekend (hopefully you don't have to work on Monday) and will keep you all posted on baby Horvat to be!

xxoo

Happy New Year & Week 37

Happy New Year!!!

This year we decided to lay low. We ended up going out for a nice dinner at a nearby restaurant. This place is connected to a golf course in Castro Valley. It turned out we were by far the youngest people there and found ourselves surrounded by lovely 65+ year olds with Happy New Year hats on and cheezy loud 80s music playing in the background. It was quite something! After dinner we went home and watched a movie and didn't even make it to midnight. What did you do for New Year's?

Then on New Year's day, Tim and I went to see my friend Kyle Barisich (from USC) perform in a lead role (Raoul) in Phantom of the Opera in San Francisco. It was Tim's first musical experience, and my first time seeing Phantom. My friend Kyle was superb and it was so fun seeing him perform again. We hadn't seen each other since my friend's wedding over 6 or 7 years ago. The show is moving it's way down to Los Angeles in a couple weeks...if you are down there you should check it out!

Last night Tim and I met with Esther, our Doula, for our last prenatal visit. It's hard to believe that the next time we will see her will be for the birth! We practiced a bunch of labor positions and went through our birth plan. I think we are all set! We have all of the baby stuff set up in our 2nd bedroom now (see pic) and all of our baby clothes are washed and in drawers ready to go. We also made space in our bedroom for a bassinet. It feels so good to be set up!

Today Tim's boss Sandy is hosting a work shower for us at her home. Then we are staying at a hotel in San Francisco for the night for our last little get away before the baby comes. :-)

Have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Holidays & Week 36!

Happy Holidays everyone!

This year was a different holiday experience for Tim and I since we stayed at home. We typically go to Chicago to spend it with family, but I wasn't allowed to fly this close to our due date. We missed everyone!

It was nice to not travel with all of this crazy weather! We kicked off the holidays by going to my Galileo work holiday party, which is always fun. On the last day of work(pre-vacation), my work threw us a Baby Shower. It was wonderful to celebrate the coming of our little one with everyone. Everyone has been so supportive and thoughtful. THANK YOU!

Over the weekend we went to Sarah's annual Chanukah latke party and filled up on some yummy latkes and then ventured over to Erica's for her holiday party. The next day we got to spend the first night of Chanukah with our family here at Debra & Joes. It was really nice and again got to indulge in some yummy latkes! Unfortunately, we had to leave early to get to one of our last baby prep classes: breastfeeding! Wow, there was a lot to learn. Now we feel more ready for the breastfeeding challenge.

To celebrate Christmas, Tim and I have always filled each other's stockings and one for Bubba too, of course. This year we didn't have any space for a tree with all of our boxes, so we hung them there instead! After eating some yummy pecan sticky buns we opened our stockings and Bubba had a ball. He had been sitting under his stocking for several days now wimpering because he could smell the treats! Then we went to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which was ok and just way too long. Amazing and creative story and good acting, but 3 hours was way too long to sit. Has anyone else seen it? After chowing down on some movie popcorn (thank goodness we got some), we got home and prepared our Christmas dinner as quickly as possible. Ham, green bean casserole, creamed corn, rolls, etc.....all of the good stuff! It was a really nice and relaxing Christmas.

We hope you are all having a wonderful holiday and want to thank you for being such a special part of our lives. We are so grateful!

PS. Baby Horvat is doing well....1 more month to go! On the house front, we're back hoping to move into the home in Oakland on Majestic since we discovered, after inspections on the San Leandro home, that there was way too much work to be done. In the meantime, we've created space in our 2nd bedroom for the little one in case he comes before we move!

Week 34 at the Henna Lounge!

I went to my last hip hop dance class yesterday and then went over to my yoga studio for the Henna Lounge. My friend Johannah joined me too! Darcy, this amazing henna artist, did my belly and hand in just 45 minutes. The artwork is so beautiful. Here are some pictures. The color looks a little different now....it's more orange, now that the paint dried and the dye is on my skin. It lasts about 2 weeks. I think it's beautiful.

For those of you who are not familiar w/Henna. Here is some more information!

Henna during pregnancy is an ancient practice and is soothing as well as calming. It is believed to help bring about an easy birth and healthy child.

Lawsonia Inermis or henna is a small bush that produces a red dye that has been used cosmetically and medicinally for over 9,000 years.

Many countries including Morocco and India have traditions of applying henna during the third trimester of pregnancy. Henna is believed to protect and bless the mother and child from any evil or malicious spirits that may be near during delivery.

The red coloring of the dye and protective images used in the patterns guard against the evil eye and are thought to protect the pair during the child's difficult passage into this world. Special attention is given to the hands and especially the feet as they are considered to be vulnerable connections to the world.