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

Snip Snip and I don't mean his first hair cut

So on Sunday we had Noah's bris. The entire ceremony went very nicely. I cried a lot and it wasn't even over him getting sniped. Part of the ceremony was to discuss why we named Noah after the individuals (his great grandfathers) that we chose for his middle names. I was so nervous over the whole thing that I knew I wouldn't be able to talk about naming Noah after my Pop so I had my sister Malissa do it. It didn't help that he had pooped his diaper right before we started so we went to change him and he peed all over himself and his little outfit as well as the receiving blanket that we were suppose to be using. And to top it off I found out that I got the wrong size gauze for him. Epic Mom Fail right before my boy is suppose to get his little weenie whacked = blubbering mess. I was extremely anxious until we actually spoke to the moyle about the process and I felt much much better after he walked us through everything. Noah was given his god parents (Malissa and Dan) and his Hebrew name. Matt wanted to do the Bris for the tradition of it (he was getting circumcised regardless) and we both want him to have the option to choose Judaism if he wants it in the future. We love this little boy so much and we want him to be exposed to both our religions and given the choice to do what he wants, whether it be both, one or the other. We just want him to be accepting :)

No I did not watch at all. My Mama did though, so if you have any questions you should just ask her. Noah did fabulous. And as soon as it was over he wanted a bottle and passed out. The only thing about the ceremony that was frustrating was it threw off his feeding schedule and sleep schedule and of course its the night before Matt goes back to work. But all in all no complaints. About 30 minutes after the ceremony, we had to go with the moyle to discuss dressing his weenie. Which meant I had to look at it. Oh Sweet Baby J...speaking of Jesus funny story. In the middle of the ceremony Matt says "Jesus" and the moyle was hilarious in his response saying now is not the time for Jesus but we can address him later :) Again he did a fabulous job with the ceremony. Let me preface the dressing change convo with the fact that Mama did not have any food for breakfast and we ending the ceremony with a shot of wine. Light headed much?!! So I had to look at his little whacked weenie and when he took the dressing off there was a little blood clot on the bottom of his little weenie. Worried Mama...yes siree bob! So every diaper change (2-3 hours) we have to do a dressing of sterile gauze with Vaseline on it and twice a day we add neosporin. I just have to say that we soon realized that this became a two man job. Of course Noah does not make this easy for Mama and Daddy. First diaper, he has had an explosive poop that has gotten on the dressing and on his weenie....Dear Lord Jesus. I almost cried having to use a cotton ball to clean it off him. Noah did not however cry. Then the little turd proceeds to pee EVERYWHERE...wall, changing pad, changing table, bookshelf that is behind his head, hits poor pooh bear on the bookshelf and of course his own little tummy and head. Later that night he pees through his diaper onto Mama once and Daddy twice. And almost every diaper change since he has either pooped or peed again right after we remove the dirty diaper...sneaky little boy! We have to continue the dressings on his weenie until Wednesday night at 10pm. Each diaper change he is looking better and the blood clot is getting smaller and smaller, that is the only part that still worries me just a little bit...but then again I worry quite easily!

Here are a few pics from Noah's Bris:


With his God parents

This picture cracks me up. It's right after the snip...it's like Matt is shaking his hand to thank him for cutting his child.

Noah with Uncle Ben
Our little family...you can tell Mommy has been crying
Noah's first drink...wine after the snip

Post Partum Week 3

This was a very exciting week for Noah and our first full week at home!
Weight: -20 pounds, 10 pounds to go!
Boobs: My milk supply has evened out. I've giving 3-5 ounces at each pump now versus the 5-8 that was happening for a while there. And we are putting a dent in the freezer madness!
Pain: Minor. I had my check up on Wednesday and my scar is looking phenom! :) I have my followup in four more weeks! I'm not gonna lie I have thought I had metastasis several times....
Breastfeeding/Pumping: Starting this week (October 9-15) Noah is still not considered full term gestationally so I decided to give myself a break and not try to stress him or myself out and we just stuck with the bottle. Starting next week we will begin working the boob back in with the bottle feedings.
Noah Update: Noah had his checkup on Tuesday, our little porker gained 11 ounces since his discharge from the NICU on Friday. He is now 6.3 pounds. And he is almost 20 inches in length as well. His feeding def picked up when we got home. He has this little tiny waist, but his belly is bulging out on the sides so it looks so adorable. Fat skinny boy :) He is now taking between 2-4 ounces a feeding :) His little belly button is falling off in pieces, but there is still a tiny little bit left. I cannot wait for it to come off because it drives me nuts :( When he pees he sometimes has these tiny little crystals on him after, they are called urate crystals and apparently are not a big deal. The doctor wasn't concerned. Surprisingly I haven't freaked out about it at all...look at me growing up! :) Our first week at home was great, Noah would feed every 3 hours. His diapers looked good, so there were no major issues. Matt helped out greatly and we would trade off with the feedings: he took the midnight/1am shift and I took the rest. It let me get some sleep by going to bed early and I would let him sleep in. Next week with him back at work will be a little bit of a challenge, thankfully he works from home so if we need him hell be in hollering distance!

Noah did great in his car seat riding to the doctor both Tuesday and Wednesday. He did pee on the doctor's table on Tuesday when they took off his diaper to check out all his little parts. After the doctor's appointment Matt and I had a lunch date in Helga in the Wendy's parking lot. We weren't quite ready to venture inside to eat in a restaurant yet. We did however proceed to the mall to purchase Noah some fashionable jeans for our family photos on Saturday. Tiniest pair of jeans I have ever seen in my life and they were absolutely adorable! :) Mama and Daddy got some treats from Starbs! Noah did fabulous. We successfully used the stroller twice too! :) Yay team Z!

Saturday was a very eventful day. The entire family (Bradshaws and Zelmans) came to have pictures taken with Noah by our favorite photographer Marirosa Anderson. Here is a little sneak peek from our day:
That night we went over to my in laws because they hosted a baby shower for us, and of course we had a special guest of honor in attendance! :) All in all it was a wonderful weekend!

Post Partum Week 2

I cannot believe that Noah is already two weeks old! This week was a very eventful one :) He progressed quickly through out the week moving off oxygen, maintaining his respiratory levels, temperature and his bilirubin levels all on his own. On Thursday we were told that he would be dismissed on Friday :) Just in time to celebrate being two weeks old at home with Mama and Daddy!!! :)

His bilirubin levels went back up on Tuesday/Wednesday so instead of doing the bright overhead phototherapy, they put him in the biliblanket. Matt enjoyed this very only because it made it look like his son was being turned into Captain America ;)On Thursday he was given his hearing test and passed with flying colors. Here is a little picture of him all rigged up :)
Here are a few other pictures of Noah before we took him home to stay :)
On Friday morning we got to take our little boy home and FINALLY got to dress him in some cute clothes!!! :) YAY! Here is our sweet boy getting ready to leave the hospital :)My two most favorite boys in the whole world...home together at last! :) Updates On Mama:
Weight: -19 pounds, 11 pounds to go! woo hooo So I looked it up, who knew you burn 500 calories a day breastfeeding :p
Pain: Minor cramping for everything to shrink back down to normal size. However, I have experienced some engorged boobs which OMG are horrible. Hot compresses and heating pads have become my best friend. Normally it happens when I got too distracted by holding and cuddling on Noah at the hospital to pump every 3-4 hours...so its my own doing.
Breastfeeding/Pumping: He has a hard time staying on the boob once latched because he does this little thing with his tongue that will push out the boob/bottle, its easier to keep the bottle in. I spoke with his doctor before he was discharged and he told me not to get discouraged but it may be better for us (me and Noah) to keep up with the bottle for now until we hit 37-40 weeks gestationally. He still needs time to develop his skills and the bottle is easier and we also know how much he is eating.

So very happy to have our little boy home :) Friday night was probably the most anxious I had ever been in my life. At the hospital they would keep Noah on his stomach because he could breathe better that way, so anytime he is put on his back he rolls over to his side. Needless to say I didn't sleep much I was up constantly checking on him making sure he was breathing when he wasn't making any noise. We got through that first night and the following nights have been much better :) Nights are exhausting, but he is on a good schedule. He feeds every 3 hours, so he wakes up and he gets a diaper change, then a bottle (he is too worked up and fussy at night to even attempt the boob), then I pump and wash everything. Normally takes an hour from start to clean up and then I'll get 2 hours of sleep in before the next feeding. Matt has been amazing helping out though, I'm truly blessed to have such an AMAZING husband. We have an awesome project manager that allowed Matt to take as much time as was needed due to Noah being in the NICU for two weeks. So he was off the first two weeks and took an additional week to help me out with Noah. :) I love being a Mommy. From the first few days Noah has been home this is what I have learned:
1. Noah HATES to be naked with a passion. Which means he screams bloody murder at his 2am diaper changes...poor dear.
2. He always has gas :p
3. He is a good little eater....little porker in the making.
4. He makes sucking noises and grunts when he is awake during the night and ready to eat. He rarely cries, but he makes angry faces when he is hungry and it not given a bottle right away.
5. There is guaranteed poop in pretty much every diaper :P
6. Napping with that sweet little boy on my chest is the greatest feeling in the entire world :)