MIA

We have been MIA on our updates :( whomp whomp The reason for this...Mama is officially a working Mama (mixed emotions). So I have big plans for this weekend to get everyone caught up! Here are my brilliant ideas for upcoming posts:

• Halloween (How lame is it that is has been a month and I have yet to provide an update!?!)
• Fall Festival (Our fun fall activities with our favorite Scotts)
• Noah's Two Month Updates
• Thanksgiving and our first MAJOR travel
• The Holidays :)

Excited to catch everyone up shortly with some fun pictures to boot! :)

Operation Take the Boob Update

We've had a busy two weeks and I owe tons of fun updates, but first and foremost after a rocky start last week Noah successfully took the boob! :) YAY! I attribute Operation Take the Boob's success to the following:
1. He finished his growth spurt
2. We started giving him gas drops which seems to help with him waking up so fussy. We'll be asking the doctor more about the gasman when we go next Friday.
3. He is now full term gestationally (Due Date was November 5)
4. Our good friends the Scotts came for a visit Thursday night through the weekend and I believe Liam was a good role model for Noah. ;)

Noah breastfeeds with Mama all day and Daddy gives him his late bottle (10-12pm) to allow Mama to get some sleep :) Side Note: If you notice from the times mentioned above Noah does not have a real schedule yet...he normally feeds every 2-3 hours, however all his gas makes him cranky and causes his feedings to go for longer periods at times. Also it sometimes wakes him up early from naps/sleep so we'll be checking with the doctor about that too next week. Hopefully if we can solve his gas problem we will have a much happier little boy on our hands. I normally take the middle of the night feedings and then Matt gets his 6:30-8:00am feeding with a bottle. So I normally get 6-7 hours each night which really helps. I know that all the books and EVERYONE always says to sleep when the baby sleeps but here is my dilemma....if I nap while I'm on maternity leave then my body will still want to nap when I'm back at work. Now if I worked in an office it would be so much easier to nap now and get out of the habit, but I don't work in an office I work from home. Do you know how hard it would be to get out of the routine of napping in the comforts of my own home?!?! So no naps for Mama :(

In other fun updating news, we also have successfully breastfed in the car (public) multiple times now. Since Noah and I hadn't quite mastered breastfeeding (sometimes he falls off the boob a couple of times before he gets a good latch) we opt to go to the car so that no one gets a peek :P

Wish us luck as we continue our breastfeeding journey :)

One Month Already

I cannot believe it has already been a month since Noah's birth. I think it flew by so much quicker for us because we only had him home for two weeks when normally families get their little bundles of joy home for the whole four weeks. So here are a few stats/updates on how Noah is doing at one whole month old:
Happy little one month old frog :)
Weight: 7 pounds 13 ounces (2 whole pounds more than his birth weight, which means he gained almost 2.5 pounds since his discharge from the hospital!!!)
Length: 20 1/2 inches (1 whole inch more than his birth length)
Feeding: If it isn't obvious by his stats above Noah is a fabulous eater. He left the hospital eating about an ounce at each feeding. By the end of his first month he is eating between 2.5-5 ounces a feeding so around 30-40 ounces a day. In a previous post I lament about our breastfeeding struggles. I should clarify that we really haven't struggled, I just haven't forced the boob on him only because the doctors told me it would be harder for him. And the last thing I want to do is frustrate my sweet boy especially when it comes to eating. So at the end of month one we were breastfeeding 2-3 times out of his 8-10 feedings a day.
Tummy time: Noah loves tummy time, but not in the sense that he should be using tummy time. Thanks to the NICU whenever my child is put on his tummy, he just wants to sleep....BOO! They put him on his tummy to sleep in the NICU because you get oxygen better that way and also he breathing wasn't as labored. Needless to say it stuck with him. My child however is a strong little boy...Amazingly strong. When we brought him home at week two we were blow away with how strong his neck was. He will pick up his head a ton. When we put him down for tummy time he will pick his head up at a 45-90 degree angle and hold it for a long period of time. Blows me away! Also he has some super strong legs. When he is pitching a fit (normally at diaper changes) he will stretch those legs out and push off. Here is an example of him flexing out his legs causing him to stand up with full pressure on both feet, yes Mr. Crankypants is pitchin' a fit:
Noises: Since we brought Noah home he rarely cries, normally only when he is naked or super hungry or cranky (we've experienced this twice when he was going through a growth spurt which was accompanied by cluster feeding). He makes lots of grunts and sounds when he wakes up (normally accompanied by gas/poops haha!). And has some special hungry noises that are normally followed by sucking on his hands or fingers....last resort is a high pitched cry. Matt refers to this short cry as his "just for the record" cry. He uses the same cry if he isn't getting the attention that he wants....sounds like his Mama ;)

Here are a few additional highlights from his first month :)

Daddy and Noah after his first real bath in his tub. Important side note: Noah did not pee in the tub, but he did immediately pee in his towel while Daddy was holding him.
Fresh little frog
Taking his first real bath
All dressed up in monkey apparel
Rockin' his shark robe :)
Little shark trying to eat his robe
We made a Halloween gingerbread house as a family and we made a HUGE mess!
Our little dinosaur
Sweet little boy
All dressed up in his snazzy sweater vest
Wearing shoes for the first time! :)
Meeting Grandma Toby
Sleepy Noah, hanging out on his dino boppy
Getting ready to watch football with the boys
Wishing Aunt Kate a happy birthday...he was angry because I wouldn't let him gum the paper
Smiling at Grandma Toby
Smiling some more at Grandma Toby

Fall Followup

So ages ago I did a post about all the reasons that I love fall...well I must say that list has changed since September 25th. I have new wonderful reasons to LOVE fall that much more! So here is a look at my new and improved reasons to love FALL!

1. Noah's birthday! Is it bad that my little one is barely a month old and I am already super duper excited for his birthday next year?! Dinosaur theme anyone?! :)
2. Pumkins. Unfortunately I didn't have the energy or time this year to carve a pumkin, but I cannot wait until next year to carve pumkins with Noah. In true Noah fashion I am sure that he will try to eat the pumkin and the pumkin guts so it should be a blast :D Even though I didn't get to carve a pumkin, no worries I sure got my pumkin fix:

Angry Pumkin
Big boy pumkin holding his own bottle :)
Serious little pumkin
Our little model pumkin....I imagine Noah saying "Work to your mother" as he throws the peace sign.
Little pumkin tushy!
So cute I could just eat him up!
Adorable little pumkin
Cute little pumkin
3. Pumkin flavored treats. Though I can't eat my little Noah pumkin, there are tons of pumkin flavored treats from PSL (pumkin spiced lattes) to pumkin bagels and pumkin cream cheese. Needless to say I love it all.
4. Sweater weather!
5. Hokie football :)
6. Even though I'm not a big fan, NFL football because its so cute getting to have my boys match :) I'm a sucker for matching and let's face it I love seeing my boys together
7. Hayrides, apple cider and all things pumkin patchy :) Our fabulous Scotts from Ohio will be visiting this weekend and we are taking them to Cox Farm to get our fill of Fall festival :) So excited for next year when Noah will be much more alert and will enjoy the trip himself :)
8. HALLOWEEN :) Here is our little boy on his very first Halloween as Chewy :)

Cranky baby alert

My intentions were to finish up several posts that I had started yesterday and get them posted up here for additional Noah updates since my baby is now a whole month old. However, cranky baby struck. Let me preface with saying that it may be a little my fault so I shall explain. For those of you that have memories like my husband, let me remind you that since Noah was a preemie and had to spend time in the NICU I was not able to breastfeed him right away like I wanted (*cough* NEEDED *cough*). For me breastfeeding meant I was being a good mommy to my sweet little boy. Well even though I couldn't breast feed I supplied my little sweet cheeks with an abundance of milk that has consumed our freezer...seriously not joking about the supply. I was able to try breastfeeding in the hospital a few times and it was successful, but sometimes Noah does this little slam head into my boob attack. I know I shouldn't but I laugh hysterically at it. His lip curls up like he is Elvis and he squints one eye so he's like a little pirate on the attack. As he was being dismissed from the hospital the doctor informed me that he is able to breath better with the bottle and it will be easier for him to manage especially until he is full term gestationally (37 weeks). So I would try to breastfeed a bit when we got home but it was so frustrating for him that I just felt bad, caved and gave my little munchkin a bottle. Once we hit 37 weeks I tried again (so at this point he is 3 weeks old). He was still struggling with sucking. Sometimes he won't put his little tongue down when he opens his mouth, with a bottle you can shove his tongue down and make him suck properly. Not so much with a boob. So I decided to wait a bit longer and give it another go. Last week Noah and I breastfed a lot during the day, but he is always so frustrated at night that I waited until this week to give it a go. So yesterday I started "Operation Take the Boob." I decided to give a valiant effort to move Noah to the breast before giving up and just strictly going bottle full time. Bottle feeding him breast milk is a HUGE effort and extremely time consuming for Mama. For the most part it was a success. When he bottle feeds he is consistent to last at least 3 hours if not more between feedings....so switching to the boob was a new adjustment for us both. To top it all off, Noah started getting cranky on Saturday, I believe he is experiencing his 6 week growth spurt. He did the same thing at three weeks. And to add to the fun he seems to be a little constipated :( Poor little boy. All day yesterday he did great and fed so well. Then I started to realize that he wasn't pooping as much as normal....and frankly he wasn't farting like normal either. All this creates one cranky little boy :( He was waking up crying which is not like him at all, Noah only cries when he is naked and getting his diaper changed. Since its more frustrating to him to breastfeed Mama caved this morning and gave him the bottle. I just felt so bad for him. :( Now today he is just constantly eating...little porker. :) Mama and Noah are both exhausted today, so hopefully we will get in a few well deserved (And needed) naps :) Wish us luck as we continue to move from the bottle to the breast! :)

Pictures speak a thousand words

So I finally got all our pictures in order that we've been taking since Noah came home from the hospital. I decided that a fun picture post would be fun. I also updated the Bris post with pictures. No worries I'll be back shortly with Noah's One Month stats/pics/updates, details of his first real bath and of course Halloween!

Here is a look at Noah over the past three weeks that he has been home :)

Tummy time with Daddy
Noah and Aunt Kateland in the outfit "My Aunt is the Best!" she gave him
My favorite pic of Kateland and Noah
Feeding my little porker
Daddy and his Noah
Our first night home together :)
Sweetest little boy ever :) One of my favorites of him
Daddy-Noah time :)
The littlest Hokie
Noah and his Jo Jo
Noah with his Jo Jo and Pop Pop
Noah in his swing from Mama Lorrie
Matching boys all decked out to watch Noah's first Patriots game
Wishing his Aunt Liz Happy Birthday
Noah and his Nana
Noah and his Grandpa
Noah and his Uncle Dan
Noah expressing his hatred for the Jets...just like Dad
Extremely impressed at Wilfork's interception
Noah with his Aunt Lissa
Angry little frog
Little froggy

Pensive froggy
Today was brought to you by the letter "L"
First time in our stroller
First trip to the doctor
Little monster...notice the finger....
Sweet Noah
Sleeping beauties
We ordered Outback for supper so Noah joined us at the table in his high chair
Little Monkey
Sleepy sweet cheeks
Enjoying his play mate from Jo Jo and Pop Pop