1 month

today was noah's due date, but instead he's turning one month old! i can't believe that i could have still been pregnant at this point, that i could have been pregnant for another two weeks, and that we wouldn't have met our amazing son yet. instead, we've been able to enjoy our february baby for the last four weeks, learn a few things about ourselves and parenting, and start to understand who this new little king is and what kind of personality he has.

1 month

this last week was full of firsts for the little mr. king. on friday, mommy went for her first trip away from home *without* noah. i had the opportunity to spend some time with my good friend JaTon while matt was off work. this allowed daddy and noah some quality father-son time together (although noah slept for most of it), and allowed me a chance to see what it was like to have to leave behind my sweet little baby. i was only away for a couple of hours -- we went to jamba juice (yum!) and then to babies r' us to pick out an activity mat -- so being away wasn't as hard for me as i expected it to be. it was actually a lot of fun, until we were headed back and matt called to say that noah was awake and *very* hungry. oops... since noah has been exclusively breast fed matt didn't have any way to feed him, and i wasn't expecting him to be awake so soon and ready to eat (we're obviously still working on having some sort of schedule). needless to say, i came home to a very hungry baby and a pretty upset and helpless husband. fortunately, they both forgave me... eventually ;)

on saturday, noah got to join me for an inservice at AKUC. even though i'm technically on maternity leave, i had already signed up for the inservice and it was a one-time offering. and since the nurse manager in charge of the inservice said i could bring noah, there really wasn't any reason not to go. it also meant i had the chance to show off my baby boy to my coworkers without having to bring him to a clinic or hospital (we were at the admin office for the inservice). i was hoping that since the inservice was from 9a - 11a noah would sleep through the whole thing as this would have been the case any other day. but, always one to make his own plans, noah decided that morning that he wanted to eat at 5:30am instead of 7am, which meant he was ready to eat again at 9:30 instead of 11. eventually i will stop trying to plan things for this boy...he clearly knows what he wants and when he wants it!

on sunday noah had his first photo shoot with our awesome photographer and friend leah luquette. she took our christmas pictures and our maternity pictures and had promised she would take some newborn pictures when noah arrived. this obviously happened sooner than we originally planned, but ended up working out well anyway because she was in town from oklahoma this week for spring break. noah was a pretty good trooper through the whole thing and was *completely* worn out by the time we were done. the photos are still being edited, but i got a sneak peek at one of them and i can't wait to see the rest!

on sunday night, noah also got his first bottle and daddy had his first chance to feed him! based on the advice of my lactation consultant, i had started pumping in order to prepare for returning to full-time work in a couple weeks. i was a little worried initially that we would have issues with noah taking a bottle, but all my fears were put to rest when he took the bottle without any problems and ate like a little champ! matt seemed to enjoy the experience, too :) and since then noah has had no problems switching between breast feeding and bottle feeding, which should make for a much smoother transition when i go back to work. yay!

monday, tuesday and wednesday didn't bring any true firsts but did bring a realization for us. after several instances of issues for noah -- lots of spit-up, excessive hiccups, only wanting to be in an upright position (held, carried, propped against our legs or the boppy), and generally screaming bloody murder and arching his back any time we attempt to lay him down (even if he's completely relaxed or nearly asleep) -- i think we've determined that noah most likely has acid reflux. it was something i had been concerned about for a while because of his spit-up episodes and near-chronic hiccups (two big signs of acid reflux), but i had pretty much convinced myself that any of his fussiness or other problems were the result of something that i, or we, weren't doing right because that's what new moms do. but on monday night we repeatedly attempted to put him to bed without success. despite being fed, having a clean diaper and having been burped, noah would cry, cry, cry when we attempted to lay him in his bassinet or crib (because we tried both) and would immediately stop when we picked him up and put him on our shoulders. after several attempts at bedtime, i looked at my poor screaming child and finally followed my mommy intuition. i sent matt to CVS to pick up an over-the-counter medicine while i held noah who would fall asleep if he was upright but begin to cry as soon as he wasn't -- even if he was being held. when matt returned we gave noah the medicine and the results were nearly instant. he relaxed and fell asleep and we were able to lay him down without problems. since then we've instituted a round-the clock medication regimen that has made life *much* easier for noah and, consequently, for us. unfortunately, the medication we are using is a lovely black color which tends to get all over onsies, burp cloths, the boppy and even mommy and daddy. this means lots more laundry for me to do, but i guess that's the sacrifice i will make for a happier baby! and even though we are fairly certain we've pegged down this problem, i eliminated dairy from my diet for the last several days to see if that is a contributing factor since it tends to be a large culprit in upsetting baby tummies, also.

and lastly, while i never expect noah to be on a perfect schedule we are attempting to establish some sort of rhythm around here. it seems that most days he will go 4 hours between eating with the tendency to be to eat around the 7, 11 and 3 hours of the day (7a/11a/3p/7p/11p/3a). he sleeps the best between 7am and 11am, and after that will happily spend time on his activity mat. this week we also started a bedtime routine that involves a bath and reading a book after the 7pm feeding.

all-in-all, noah is a wonderful baby and i think we are starting to get the hang of life with a newborn. of course, today noah is technically no longer a newborn, which just proves that things change quick around here and that just when i think we've "gotten it" there will be another curve ball. this is life as a parent ....and i'm loving it!

newborn pics

our lovely and talented friend leah luquette agreed to take some newborn pics of our sweet little man. we ended up with some fabulous shots and i wanted to make sure they were posted for all to see and enjoy! thanks, leah!

see them all here:

noah's newborn pics

ps- if there are any images you want, send me an email and i will print and send it to you!

3 weeks old

today, our little king is 3 weeks old! it's amazing to me that he has changed so much in such a short amount of time. he is looking less and less like a newborn and more like a baby (think chubbier, more awake). it's also crazy to know that today i would have been 39 weeks pregnant and that a month ago i still fully expected to be pregnant and working at this point! in fact, i expected to be pregnant through the end of march. of course, that was our first lesson in parenting: you can't plan for everything and even when you try to, plans change!

during his 3rd week of life, we continued to establish a routine and work on sleep/wake times. noah is a very good sleeper most of the time, which is good, but can make it difficult to keep him awake during the day for any length of time. while it sounds like a good thing, if he sleeps too much during the day he doesn't want to sleep as much at night. since i'm a night person this doesn't bother me too much, but i know that when i go back to work matt will probably want to continue sleeping at night. also, i will enjoy it when i can lay noah down at night and have him sleep soundly without having to worry about feeding him every several hours.

we've also been trying to make sure he's getting to spend time on his stomach for tummy time and time on his activity mat for playtime. he's not really into the activity mat yet -- he doesn't seem to want to interact with it at all -- but we've gotten him to the point where he can lay there and happily look around instead of crying about the fact that someone isn't holding him and/or feeding him. progress!

loving the paci

other than the usual day-to-day, noah got the chance to help me celebrate my 26th birthday this week on both sunday with the family and again on tuesday, my actual birthday. he also had a growth spurt on monday, which made for a *long* day. he wanted to eat every two hours (as opposed to his usual four-hour intervals) and was particularly sleepy all day. lucky for me, we didn't have any plans to be anywhere that day, which would have been very difficult with that kind of feeding schedule! the other exciting news this week? noah got his first real bath! i was expecting a lot of crying and screaming, but once we got him in the water he actually really enjoyed it! in fact, he seemed so content that i felt bad taking him out of the water at all.

and lastly, today we got the chance to visit amy at the birthing center for my post-partum check up. everything checked out great for both myself and noah and i am happy to report that noah weighed in at a healthy 7 lbs. 4 oz! that means he's gained 1 pound in the last week! go, noah! i guess he really didn't need to "cook" any longer, he's doing a great job gaining weight without the assistance of an umbilical cord and a 24/7 supply of nutrients. i'm not complaining, either, since that means i don't have to gain all that weight as a pregnant mommy. thanks, noah :)

more pics from this week:

3 weeks

number 26

on sunday we celebrated my 26 years of life on this planet. we partied at my parents' house with a tasty dinner of brisket, home-made rolls, potato salad, macaroni and cheese, salad and other tasty treats. for an appetizer? the long-awaited margarita! for those of you that know me (or have been following the blog for any length of time) you know that i was *really* missing texas frozen margaritas when we lived in ohio. so, of course, i was excited when we decided to move back and was planning on celebrating with a round of margaritas with friends and family... then we found out we were pregnant. i was thrilled about the pregnancy, but slightly sad that i wouldn't be able to enjoy the frozen concoction for another 8 months. i had promised myself a margarita on my birthday because i knew at that point i would be full-term and that a single 'rita wouldn't hurt. little did i know that i wouldn't have to worry about being pregnant at all because noah had other plans! i guess i should thank him for coordinating my maternity leave around my birthday, also...

speaking of noah, this year we also got to figure out how to coordinate our birthday plans around a little one's schedule, and had to pack the car accordingly for a day away from home (read: collapsable bassinet, play mat, diaper bag, etc.). we actually did surprisingly well, i thought, and arrived at mom's house in time to feed noah and have him down before dinner and the birthday song. he partied like he has at the last few celebrations, by sleeping (and that's not a complaint, by the way!). the only sad thing about the party? my dad had been sent to japan by Texas Instruments a few days before to help assess the damage to their facilities there, so he wasn't able to celebrate with us. it's the first time he's ever missed my birthday party, but he promised to celebrate with me when he's back in town with dinner and margaritas at chuy's. yum :)

as always, we had lots of fun and i enjoyed the time with family and the totally different experience of celebrating a birthday as a mommy. cheers to many more to come!

the makings of a good birthday: margaritas, roses from my in-laws, a present from my hubby (that i've wanted for a long time!)

birthday 26

2 weeks old

today noah is 2 weeks old!

i cannot believe it has already been two weeks since we met our sweet little boy. this week seemed like it went by much faster than last week, which i think has something to do with the fact that we are starting to establish some semblance of a routine around here. this means that i have a better idea of when to run errands, do house work and when i will (and will not) be getting sleep. all of this adds up to being able to enjoy time with our sweet noah so much more than before. this week he has also started staying awake for longer periods of time after he eats. this is so much fun! while i *love* to watch my sweet baby boy sleep so peacefully, it is really fun to watch him while he is awake and trying to figure out this world.

noah's second week of life was much less busy than his first, with only a few outings (costco, babies r us, buy buy baby, and a trip to get the car washed) over a couple of days and his cousin's 5th birthday party. other than that, mommy and noah spent most of their days at home enjoying quality time together. matt has had to be at work, so we send him off with a smile and await his arrival home so we can tell him all about our busy days :)

noah also got to go back to the pediatrician today for his 2 week well-check appointment and everything checked out great! he's back up to his birth weight at 6 lbs. 4 oz, which means that despite his tendency to go 4 hours between most feeds he's still doing just fine in the nutrition department. we were having some serious issues with him being a sleepy eater -- this actually led to more than one mommy tear-fest -- until i finally just let him sleep and go more than 3 hours between feedings. suddenly, everything was so much better! now noah will usually wake himself up for feeds and be awake enough to eat well. sleeping well + eating well = happy noah & happy mommy! and a happy mommy = happy daddy because he's not trying to console his teary wife ;)

speaking of decreasing tears, we also got the go-ahead from the pediatrician to let noah use a pacifier this week. everyone from the lactation consultant, to the nurses at the hospital and pedi office had been very strict about not giving him a pacifier until week 2 or 3 to make sure he had established good breastfeeding habits. this was fine most of the time, but nearly torturous in the early morning hours when noah just wanted to be comforted and he isn't coordinated enough yet to keep his little hands in his mouth. so now that we've been given the green light noah has been introduced to the soothie. no surprise, he loves it! it also made laying him down tonight so much easier! yay for small blessings!

more pics here:

2 weeks old

liv turns 5

the little birthday cowgirl (pic courtesy of sarah)

my sweet little niece olivia turned 5 on saturday, march 5th. we celebrated with family and friends at my sister's house on sunday with a western/cowgirl theme that the birthday girl chose. we enjoyed yummy food (burgers and hot dogs), great company and, of course, birthday cake!

liv's 5th birthday

the cake my sister made and decorated. it was as tasty as it was pretty!

i will mention that this was noah's second party appearance and he wasn't much more active than at the first ;) he did get lots of compliments from other party goers on his good behavior, though, and got to enjoy lots of love and snuggling time with the family.

1 week old! (37 weeks)

i'm one week old!

(outfit courtesy of aunt sarah, hat courtesy of grandma sharon!)

our little man is already a week old today! it is crazy to think that this time last week we were getting ready to meet him after a very quick labor (7 hours) and our truncated pregnancy!

no more maternity pics, so here's what we look like at "37 weeks"

true to our nature, we maintained a fairly busy schedule in the days after noah's birth. we were discharged home from the hospital on friday night and began the process of adjusting to having a new little king around. the next day we had to head back up to the hospital to get noah's bilirubin level checked. he was a little jaundiced and when they checked his level before we were discharged they said it was higher than they'd like for it to be. so on saturday night (yes, night. i am still a night person, remember?) we headed to the hospital to show off our new son and make sure he wasn't too yellow. fortunately, everything checked out fine: his level had come down and they just wanted to us see the pediatrician on monday for another check.

on sunday we got the privilege of telling our birth story to stacy's new class of bradley students (the childbirth classes we had graduated from only a week before). after the bradley class, we headed to my parents' house for our previously scheduled shower. we had initially thought about canceling the shower, but now we needed baby stuff more than ever *and* we would get the chance to show off our new little king. the next day brought a trip to the pediatrician's office for a follow-up on the bilirubin level. they said everything looked great and that they didn't need to see him again until his 2 week check-up. yay! of course, all of this was finagled around attempting to nurse noah every 3 hours, get some sort of sleep and do a dozen other new-parent things.

by the time we made it to tuesday, i was happy that we weren't expected to be anywhere or do anything. matt had to go to work, but we were still able to enjoy some family time before and after his workday.

all in all, things are going well. we are still working on establishing any sort of schedule or routine, but we know that that takes time. matt and i are enjoying being parents and are loving getting to know noah and watching him gradually try to understand this new world he's in. we've had some problems with him staying awake during feedings, and i think a lot of that has to do with the fact that he was so early. his favorite place to be is curled up on someone's chest where he can enjoy the warmth and hear a heartbeat, which most babies like anyway, but since i figured that at this point he would still be snuggled up in my uterus i think he prefers it more than most!

it's crazy to think we've already been mom and dad for a week, but we are trying to enjoy all the little moments. we know that one day we will look back and realize that this all was over too quickly, he's grown so much and we won't be able to remember all the sweet little baby coos and sighs, how he fits perfectly on our laps, and how he loves to snuggle up on a shoulder and fall asleep. despite the fussy moments and loss of sleep, one day we will look back and think how easy it was to have a child who isn't old enough to get into things (i.e. make messes around the house), who can't talk back and who isn't asking for the car keys. we love noah, and can't wait to see what the future brings, but we are trying to enjoy every glorious moment of being new parents to a cute little boy!

37 weeks/1 week old