One Month & One Day

Today was Nolan's one month appointment. He is now 12 lbs 2 oz. He is now 23 inches long. A big big boy I have on my hands!

I have been putting his room into order, which in part means I'm putting his clothes into his closet, finally. Well... I've been tossing aside the 3 month stuff for summer. Even though he is only about 2 months ahead of where Grayson was, Nolan is already snug in some 3 month clothing! Grayson followed the clothing sizes to the pound - not going to be able to say the same about my little "hungry hungry hippo"!

I did his 1 month photos - I put him in the same "freshman" shirt we had Grayson in... I'm going to put them side by side to see the differences, it is definitely part of the fun of having 2 boys. Dressing them in some of the same clothing & seeing how each of them looked in the outfit. Too fun really as a mom.

Nolan is an eater. He seems to want to eat every moment he is awake, or at least more than 1/2 the moments he is awake. He isn't sleeping too well at night because he keeps waking up hungry.

It's amazing how 2 little boys from the same mom really can be so different, even at only 1 month old.

My first favorite milestone

This morning when Nolan woke up I went to him and he made his funny little baby noises and smiled!! 4 weeks & 1 day old, he smiled only for mommy. It was wonderful.

It happened again later in the day, but I haven't been able to get any photos yet. Hopefully soon.

The smiles make the semi-sleepless nights worth it. My whole body just melted into a puddle on the floor. A big mommy puddle.

The clothes have been packed away

The maternity clothes that is. It's done, 3 weeks and 2 days post birth. I am 4lbs under my pre-pregnancy weight. So, there was no reason for them to still be around. It was fun putting my closet back into order. It looks more like a closet now instead of a room that a bomb hit spitting out more clothing and shoes than one person can wear. Ever.

It's been a nice quiet Sunday at home. I cleaned, made breakfast this morning, baked cookies this afternoon. We took a family walk around the neighborhood & even had a movie afternoon all cuddled up on the couch. Today was a day that life was made for. Quiet, happy family time.

Now that my maternity clothing is all packed away, unknown if it will ever be worn by me again, I am turning my sites to getting back into shape. 4lbs under my pre-pregnancy weight is a great start for sure!! Hopefully by the time I'm heading back to work (between 9 & 12 weeks post birth) I can walk in wearing something old of mine, but that they have never seen me in before.

I set my sights high you see.

3 Weeks Today

I can't believe that it's been 3 weeks since I was cut open & my 2nd baby taken out of me. I can't believe that 3 weeks ago I was just getting out of a hospital bed for the first time in 12 hours hoping that I would be able to do so without an insane amount of pain.

That didn't happen, really, it didn't. But I wouldn't change it for the world.

The last 3 weeks have been a whirlwind. First off, being stuck in the hospital for 4 nights/5 days helped the time go by quickly. And then, well - just being at home and trying to sleep whenever I can, and enjoy the time that I have with this teeny tiny little man, I can't believe that the first time around I was so afraid of this. This time, alone, with just me and my little one... it's time you can't get back. It's time you can't imagine being anyone else's. It's time I wish that I could bottle.

I'm trying to forget that my FMLA is in jeopardy, I'm trying to forget that 3 weeks are already gone & I'm that much closer to being back at work and getting back to the real world, where I'm not with my baby boy 24/7.

I'm trying to take in that this might be the last time I have a 3 week old. That this might be the last time that I'm watching a little person learn how to work his arms, legs & smile... I mean mouth.

I know that I'm living this time RIGHT NOW - but I can't help but miss it all at the same time. It's a small, small part of life. It's time you can never get back once it's over.

This little 3 week old is going to be 3 years old in the blink of an eye. And then 13, and then 30.... and not mine anymore.

But for now I'm going to go back to my 2-3 hours of sleep at night, or 1-2 hours of time to myself between naps & feeding. I'm not going to get angry this time. I'm never going to whine about how I'm not getting enough sleep or getting enough "me" time. Because before I know it, I'm going to have more time to myself than I know what to do with.

I love my boys, I need them to know that & I need to remember that at 1am :)

It fell off!

Finally - last night the belly button thing fell off of Nolan. I couldn't be happier. First, it grosses me out. Second, now he can take a real bath! But not tonight.

It's Tuesday & it's just me and the boys tonight. While I did get a crash course in "single" parenting last Friday when my dad couldn't take Grayson because my mom was home with the flu, it's still nerve wracking having to do bedtime with Grayson alone. But tomorrow - tomorrow I hope to have a first bath with Nolan. Start to get a bedtime routine into place, even though he is still a little young for it yet.

It will be nice to use more than water and a rag. Grayson has been sick since Sunday, and keeping Nolan away from him has been a pain in the ass. Making sure everything stays clean, and that I wash my hands every time I'm even near Grayson is annoying. Being able to add in a bath time for the little one will definitely be helpful. I really hope Grayson feels better soon. I feel so bad for him. The cough & the sniffles... just sad.

Moving into the Big Boy Bed

So Friday Grayson, out of the blue, says to me, "Mommy - I want to sleep in my big boy bed tonight." Okay. I knew now was the moment to jump on this wagon & not look back.

So Friday night we moved over the pillow and blankets, his favorite books and stuffed animals and into the big boy bed he went. It wasn't too bad. Around 1am he called for us because he was cold. Nothing new really & an easy fix. Around 5am I heard him crying again. I walked into his room and he was sitting on the floor. "Why are you on the floor?"... "I fell out of bed!" Oh. So there was hugging and kissing and more tucking in. He slept until his normal 7:30-8am from that point on.

Saturday morning, even after remembering and telling Daddy about how he fell out of bed during the night, all Grayson could talk about was how awesome it was to sleep in his big boy bed and how much fun he had. Great!

Saturday night. Got into bed no problem. Daddy fixed the bed up so that he shouldn't fall out again. Everything was pointing to sleeping through the night. And then around midnight.... he was up crying and calling for us. Daddy went in to check on him. At first we thought he had thrown up. But no, he was just coughing like crazy and very sick like. So, that ended the big boy bed sleeping and Daddy took Grayson to sleep on the couch for the night. Just incase he did throw up, we don't want that mess in the bed if we can help it.

And now we come to Sunday night. After spending all day keeping Nolan away from his big brother, it was finally bedtime. Grayson is currently sound asleep in his big boy bed. Fingers and toes crossed that he stays asleep all night long!

The 2 Week Appointment

At birth Nolan was 9lbs. He was 21 inches long.

Last week at his 1 week appointment he was 9lbs 11oz & still 21 inches long.

Today at his 2 week appointment he is 9lbs 12oz & 21.5 inches long.

My little baby boy sure is growing! He is eating every 2 hours during the day, between 2-3 oz at a time. At night we are getting 3 hour stretches between feedings. 3 oz at each feeding. It's working. He is a pooping machine too.

He is a happy little guy, though he does have a clogged tear duct, just like Grayson did. I'm hoping Nolan's will clear up on it's own though. I don't want to wait a year and then have to go through eye surgery like we did with Grayson. That wasn't fun at all.

I can't believe that 2 weeks ago at this time I was getting settled into my postpartum room. I had just become a mom of two and I couldn't wait for them to meet. Time really does fly on by. 10 weeks of maternity leave left!

The joys of the postpartum life

My oldest got home from daycare today & came to cuddle with me like many other days before. My husband came over to talk to me and told me to look down at my shirt.

I look - and sure enough, I was leaking, and my shirt was all wet. Sucks, but Grayson made it all worth it.

"Mommy, you peed on yourself. And now my shirt is all wet!"

I had a c-section 6 days ago. All that laughing just about made me cry in pain. But it's a moment I don't want to forget.

Our First Day/Night at Home

Finally on 1/1/2013 we were released from the hospital! I am still having some blood pressure issues, but I am on medication for it, and am going to be monitored from outside and will hopefully stay that way.

We got out of the hospital, and the first stop we made was to Target. Mainly because that's were I needed to go to get my medicines filled, but I do like to just go there, it had been over a week, I was going through withdraw.

Nolan definitely enjoyed that trip.

Then we went home and met up with Grayson and we were finally at home together as a family of 4 for the first time. It was nice. We played and took naps and just hung around the house being silly. It's what we do best.

Finally around 11-11:30pm the final bottle was given, the final diaper changed & the swaddle was done. From there we had 2 wake ups in the middle of the night. 3:30ish and then 7-7:30ish. Okay - 3 wake ups if you count Grayson around 1am looking for milk. But I have to put night number 1 under the success category.

I had a lot of concerns and fears coming into this family of 4 thing. And I still have a lot of days and nights ahead of us, but this home coming made me realize that it is possible. I already can't imagine not having my 2 babies in my life.

This morning made me almost cry. Grayson come upstairs to say goodbye to Nolan and Mommy because he was heading to school. He climbed into my bed and gave me a kiss. "Where is my baby brother?" He asked me. "Right there in the bassinet sleeping. You can go see him." Grayson climibs off the bed & looks over at the sleeping baby. I told him to get his step stool and use that to see in. Which he did. "I can't give him a kiss!" I told him to move the stool to the shorter side so he could reach. Which he did. He had to make sure he gave his baby brother a kiss before he left for the day. Melts my freaking heart.