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!