Roadtrippin with Baby

Well last week we traveled 3.5 hours away with hubby for work. He had to go out of town for a night, so we decided to make it two nights away from home and we packed the car up, grabbed the baby, and off we went!

 heading out to supper

chillin in the hotel room

Noah was an excellent little traveller. He slept about 2.5 hours the way over, and then we stopped for lunch and I fed him in the McDonald's parking lot. Classy I know. He is getting so big now that it is really hard to feed him in the car. 35 minutes later, a diaper change, and a McChicken Sandwich in my belly and we were off again.

 Our happy little traveller

The way home he slept 3+ hours and made it almost to our house before waking up hungry. We were so happy he travelled so well.

out like a light in his pack'n'play

His sleeping was another story. The first night he woke up at 3am and was WIDE awake, no matter how much bouncing/swaying I did he was not going back to sleep. So I bundled him in the stroller and put a heavy blanket over top of it and walked the hallways for an hour in my jammies and slippers to get him back to bed. Did we ever miss our rocking chair and swing!

 Hiiiii guys!

hogging the remote

We did lots of shopping and lots of visiting. We took the little man out to eat a few times and he was so good. He slept through most of our meals and we could literally take him anywhere. We really do have such a good baby!

 Lunch with Hannah

 Sitting on my lap for lunch

Noah even had his first swim in a pool. He wasn't sure if he liked it or not as the water was a bit chilly but I have high hopes that he will be a little water baby after our trip to Florida in April.

 ready for his first dip

We had a great time, and although we packed half the house (diapers, wipes, burp clothes, bibs, toys, blankets, stroller, car seat, and clothes) we would most definitely do it again :)

Baby Noah: 18 Weeks

Big big boy is now 18 weeks old as of today! How the winter weeks have flown by. I thought we would be going stir-crazy the months of January-March but the time has gone so fast! Most weeks we can't keep up with all we have planned.

Baby boy had his 4 month needles today. He handled them like such a brave boy. This round went much better than the 2 month. I think this is (a) because we knew what to expect, and (b) we had a fantastic nurse, and (c) Noah is able to self soothe better at this age. The nurse we had was such a lovely lady. She gave the first two needles so quick he didn't have time to react to the 1st by the time the 2nd one was done. The third hurt him alot more, but he was able to self soothe with some Momma cuddles. We came home and had a 2.5 hour nap and we've been playing together since he woke up. So far no temp, and he seems his happy, smiley baby self. So fingers crossed that keeps up.

"Grampy, where do you have me??"

His stats as of today:

Weight: 16 lbs 6 oz
Length: 25 3/4 inches
Head Circumference: 43 cm

He is between 70-80th percentile for all categories. Such a healthy boy!

This past week we've had to deal with the flu in our house, Daddy being away for work, a boy who is teething off and on, 4 month shots, and a clogged duct (for the 2nd time in 3 weeks). This Momma is tired to say the least, but finally feeling back to myself. My supply definitely dropped off a bit from being so dehydrated, but baby boy threw himself into a feeding frenzy and by Monday I felt like I was back to my normal output and he was much happier because of it. To prove just how happy he was, he started power spitting-up. I attribute this to my supply being back to normal.

A clogged duct, let me tell you is no fun! I couldn't focus on anything else. It was so painful. I tried feeding Noah as frequently as he would let me. I massaged, I pumped, I took hot showers. Finally I went to bed, exhausted and fed up. I woke up in alot of pain and decided to wake up Noah for a dream feed. To my surprise he was a hungry little monkey, and luckily he unclogged the duct. Thank you baby boy!

Tomorrow we are heading on a roadtrip with Daddy! We're so excited. Tim has to go away for a few days for work and we are tagging along. Living it up hotel style in the big city. We are looking forward to some family time, pool time, and of course, shopping time :)

Health
Noah's teeth don't seem to be bothering him near as bad as they were last week. I am guessing that they come up and down a bit before finally poking through.

Social
Because of me having the flu, and a snow storm here this week, we haven't been up to too much lately. Noah got to spend the day with his Grammy last Thursday and they had so much fun together, while I lay in bed feeling like the world was ending. Friday we got out of the house to do some running around. We had a pretty busy weekend despite just getting over the flu and all...I met up with a few girl friends for some drinks and apps. Well they ate and drank....I sipped on ginger ale and soup broth. We also went to a baby shower for baby Denver and my friend Emily on Sunday. We had fun at that, Noah was a fantastic guest. We also celebrated my Dad's 59th birthday...Noah loved the cake and candles. Then Grampy came down with the flu (sorry Dad).

 Grampy and Noah

Emily, Denver, Noah and I 

Sleep
Well last week we went back to the "arms in" swaddle and that seemed to be working much better. He would wake up once, maybe twice a night. After the 2nd time, I would bring him into our room and put him in the swing to get thru until 7-8am uninterrupted. Last night was a doozy. He was up multiple times, I fed him twice, he broke out of his swaddle atleast twice. Quite a night!

He is still napping in his crib, and goes down no problem. And he goes to sleep at night in his crib no problem as well. Our issue is around the STAYING asleep part. Hoping that will come...soon!

Hi guys, ready to party its 4am!!

Diet
Momma's milk. The occasional bottle here and there.

Clothes
He won't be in 3-6 months much longer. His pants are getting short, and onesies a bit tight. And his sleepers don't have much room left to grow. He is now in size 3 Pampers!

Baby Gear Love
Loves his exercauser, but it makes him spit up like crazy. He is starting to figure out how to play with the toys and move the seat around.

 Thank goodness for having the swing back...doesn't he look impressed!

Having fun!

Crying
He really almost never cries. Only when overtired (which we try not to let happen if we can help it) and when his teeth hurt.

Likes
Still loves bath time. Likes to get out in his stroller. And loves cuddles in bed with Mom.

Postpartum
Nothing new here really. I missed working out for an entire week last week because Tim was away and then I had the flu. Got back to it yesterday with a strength training class where I did my first ever pull-ups...24 of them to be exact! Mind you, they were assisted pull-ups, my feet were curled on a chair to give me some leverage. But still!

Milestones
We had baby's 1st St. Patty's Day. I love having a baby to dress up for special holidays and occassions, it is so much fun!! My little leprechaun rocked his St. Patty's Day shirt and cardigan!

So wish us luck on our adventure to the big city with baby. Hoping Noah does great on the 3.5 hour trip!

Favorite Toys at 4 Months

1. Mortimer the Moose (Lamaze) - Moose toys are usually pretty cute, but Mortimer is cuter than average, I think. This fun little guy has teething elements with textures and stimulating colors and patterns so there's something for baby to play with all the time. He is also portable!

2. Foot Rattles (Lamaze) - Noah still hasn't discovered his feet/toes, but we put these cute little rattles on his ankles and he looks at his feet like what the heck am I making that noise with my toes? It is so darn cute.

3. Activity Gym - Noah spends a ton of time under our baby einstein activity gym. He loves "octopussy" and looking at himself in the mirror. The music is slightly annoying, especially when the batteries are dying, but its tolerable.

4. Sophie the Giraffe  - Noah loves to chew on Sophie, especially now that his teeth are bugging him. He still can't figure out how to make her squeak though.

5. Ocean Wonders Sooth and Glow Seahorse - A friend of mine told us this was a "must have" so I went out and got the last one from Walmart and Noah got it from Santa at Christmas. It worked perfectly becuase the music on his activity gym died (batteries) and for awhile we didn't have any replacements...enter glow seahorse. It lights up and plays music...perfect for tummy and back time.

6. Manhattan Toy Winkel - Noah got this for Christmas from my parents, and seriously it is the best toy EVER. It was the first toy he figured out how to grab and it makes noise and is colourful. He loves to toss it around.

Baby Noah: 4 Months!

Well the flu hit us this week, and by us, I mean me mostly. Tim was away for work and of course I come down with the worst case of the flu ever. He flew in Wednesday night at 2:30am and shortly after I started getting sick. I couldn't even get off the floor to feed or tend to our little man, and Tim wasn't functioning much better from the time change/exhaustion. Thank goodness my parents live only 5 minutes away. We called at 5:45am, and Mom was here to run the show shortly after 6. Thank goodness for Grandma's. Mom and Noah spent the day together while I spent the day in bed and Tim eventually made it into work. I only emerged long enough to feed Noah, which the doctor recommended so that he could get the antibodies in my breastmilk to prevent him from getting sick, and also to keep my supply up despite being so dehydrated.

So all that being said, our 4 month update is a little late. Little man, you have hit the 4 month mark. What fun we are having this month, it has been my favorite month by far.You are so interactive and such a happy boy. You are sleeping in your crib and are starting to teeth. You roll over and are now ticklish under your arms...so many new developments!

Ready for St. Patty's Day 

You love to talk and tell stories. You make grunts, and squaks, and squeals and oohs and gaaas, and when we talk to you, you talk back! You also mimic us, when we stick our tongue out and make noises you try to imitate us and do it back. We keep trying to get you to say Mama and Dada, it's never too early right?

You don't mind tummy time, and we can leave you in that position for at least 5 minutes before you get pissed off. You look all around and try to grab at toys in front of you. You also have been using your exercauser (with a blanket for support around your mid-section). You have so much fun in there playing with all the toys.

Your motor skills are fantastic. You can grab things and put them in your mouth now, including your soother. You always grab our fingers and jam them into your mouth to chew on. And you LOVE your activity mat. You could grab those toys for hours and hours.

We love to take naps together

Your sleeping habits have left much to be desired. They've been terrible. Naps we are lucky to get 45 mins out of you 3-4 times a day. Makes it hard to get things done around the house as it is barely enough time for me to get showered and ready for the day. However, you are excellent at going down on your own. We put you down awake almost all the time, and normally within a few minutes you put yourself to sleep. All night, you go down between 730-8 most nights. However you are an active sleeper and are always rolling and moving. Because of your restlessness, you are constantly waking yourself up. So we are always running to your aid to pop your soother back in to get you back to sleep. I am not kidding when I say this happens anywhere from 10-20 times a night.

How can you be mad about your lack of sleep when this happy face greets you in the morning?

Last night, we had enough. We were either going to let you cry it out or try something new. I can't stand the thought of letting you cry, so I decided to swaddle you "arms in" again. And shockingly, you slept from 8-1:30 and then from 1:45-5:30 and from 6-8:15. You woke up twice for a quick feed and right back to sleep. We didn't have to rush in at all to put your soother in. Ah-mazing!

I came home today to find my boys taking a nappy...

like really, could he be any cuter??

You don't mind your carseat anymore. You fall asleep pretty quickly in it now and are great to take grocery shopping and running errands. You don't get the hiccups near as often as you used to, but still occassionally. When your naked and we pick you up under your arms, you always burst out laughing. You are SO ticklish! You still love bath time and being rocked in our arms. Your favorite item is still your wubbanub soother. And OUR favorite product is still the swing...which broke and we had to go out and buy another one this week after going 2 weeks without one. For our sanity it is worth every penny! We've been taking lots of walks in our running stroller now that spring is here and the temperature is warming up. We love to get outside on nice days.

This has been the best month yet. We love you so much sweet boy, please stop growing soon before you outweigh your Mommy! xoxo

Baby Noah: 16 Weeks

Weight: We had his 4 month doctor visit yesterday, and he officially weighs 16 lbs 8 oz. What a BIG boy! He is 25.5 inches long and head circumference of 43 cm.

waiting to be checked out at the doctor

having his measurements done

Health: We have an early teether on our hands. He has been fussy at certain times of the day this week, and only stops crying when we rub his gums. He has been drooling like crazy and gnawing on his fingers all the time.

Sleep: I don't know what is going on with our little guy lately. He is SO dependent on his soother now to go to sleep, and he has been sleeping like CRAP in his crib. We follow the same bedtime routine night after night....bath, swaddle, eat, rock, sleep sheep, soother and bed. He can't seem to fall into a deep sleep and constantly wakes up looking for his soother. It is exhausting. I would much rather go back to the first month or two where he was waking to feed every few hours then this pattern we have been going through lately.

sleeping in Mom and Dad's bed for nap time

So last night he woke up around 11:30pm. By 12:15 I had re-inserted the soother 4 times. So i brought him into bed with us and he slept all night until 6:45am this morning.

His naps had been fair at best until today, if I could get 45 minutes out of him I was doing good. Then today he woke up after 45 mins but I could tell he was still tired so I picked him up and brought him into our bed and he napped 3+ hours. I had to wake him at 5:30 because I was afraid he wouldn't sleep tonight.

Baby boy likes our bed better than his own!

Diet: All milk. Tim tried to give him a bottle last Friday when our friends were over, but he wasn't taking it well. I had to take him into the nursery in the dark and rock him and only then did he take the entire bottle. When he takes a bottle it is normally 5 oz. I am still pumping once a day and have quite a stash in the deep freeze. Tim gave him a bottle last night (7+ oz) before bed and he wouldn't take it well on the couch but guzzled it down in the rocker in his room.

I find the past few weeks that he is FINALLY much quicker to eat. Now he is done normally within 20 minutes, sometimes 25 mins. I thought he would never speed up.

Clothes: Mostly 3-6 months, but some brands (Carters) he is in 9 month sleepers.

Trying out his high chair at Nana's

Baby Gear Love: Well our swing is on the fritz. And by the fritz, I mean its toast. The motor is gone on it, and I called Fisher Price and they are sending one for free but ofcourse it is backordered and then it takes 14 days shopping. So needless to say, we are without our most prized possession until the end of March. Its devastating for this Momma. Even though Noah is in his crib, his naps in there are 45 mins at best most days. Some days this Momma needs a nice long nap too, so I put him in his swing where he is guaranteed to sleep atleast 2-3 hours.

Lets see he is loving teethers, anything that he can shove in his mouth. Likes his rattles and anything that makes noise. Next thing to try is a jumperoo!

Social: This past weekend friends of ours came over and made us supper which was so very much appreciated. Originally we were going to go to their house for dinner, but then they volunteered to bring supper to us so that Noah could be in his element and we could get him down to bed on schedule. We travelled to Souris for Nana Reta's birthday supper. Noah was a great little traveller. He slept most of the way there and back in his car seat and we tried to get him to nap there but he wasn't having it.

Nana and her boy

Yesterday we went shopping with our friend Rhonda Lee and her little boy Marty. The new Carter's store just opened here and we were anxious to check it out...as were the boys hahaha ;)

Noah and Marty - pooped from shopping!

Today we had our first Momma/Baby cooking class which was so much fun! The 6 momma's get to cook and the babies are in the next room with child care providers. We can come and go as needed to feed them and see them if they are fussy. Noah was ah-mazing. I went in about 30 minutes in and he was already sound asleep in his car seat. This is how I found him...

Two hours in I got him and fed him, and then he went back to hanging out for the last hour. Such a good little boy. He was so good I then took him for groceries!

helping me out!

Crying: I tried to get him to go down for a nap yesterday without his soother. He cried nonstop for 23 minutes before I finally caved and gave his soother to him. Not a great week to try and go cold turkey with the soother when his little gums are so sore.

Likes: Loves bathtime, stroller rides, and laughing with Dad.

Milestones: No new developments this week. Still trying to perfect rolling over.

Postpartum: This week has been tough for me, the lack of sleep is killing me and my desire to exercise, plus hubs has been away for work.  Still losing a ton of hair, and no more babyweight...ugh!

naps are best with Momma by my side :)

All in all its been a pretty great week with my man, despite the teeth breaking through. I love my boy! xo

New Mommy Confessions

Here are some of my new mommy confessions. For all you Mommy's out there, I know you will understand. For all those not there yet....no judging! HA.

*Sometimes I pretend to be dead asleep in the middle of the night when the baby wakes up for the 143 time that night looking for his soother. Occasionally I even ask God to please let my little angel put himself back to sleep. God never listens...sigh...
*I don't know the words to any damn nursery rhyme. Often times I sing Flo Rida, Kesha, Rhianna, Madonna...whatever is in my head at that given moment. Baby boy doesn't seem to care as long as I am singing something.
*Even though I am still breastfeeding, I am not still losing the weight. Its devastating. I figured while breastfeeding I could continue to eat whatever I wanted and not worry. NEWSFLASH, that is not the case.
*I often wear the same nursing bras and tanks for days on end. Covered in milk, spit-up, you name it. Some may say ewww gross, I say hello ECONOMICAL! I am getting my bang for my buck that is for sure.
*I love being home with my boy all day, but when hubs walks in the door and I get to walk out the door to fitness class, I am one HAPPY momma.
* I eat while breastfeeding ALL the time. Normally this means my baby is covered in crumbs, sauces, noodles, you name it. It's hard eating with only one hand!
*Stains, what stains? I consider my clothes clean if my son pukes on it and I can wipe it off before it dries all crusty. Most days I walk around with multiple spit-ups all over me. So if you are wondering what that sour smell is, now you know!
*I may have zipped my sons wubbanub (soother) into his Zippadeezip (swaddle) today to prevent him for losing it 100 times during nap time. Whatever works right?
*I have learned how to chug a glass of wine in 5 minutes...I consider it a skill.
*On the topic of wine, Ive been known to have a small glass at the end of a breastfeeding session, because I figure the alcohol can't possibly make it into my milk that quickly...can it?
*Some people have a hard time letting other people hold their child. Me, I will gladly hand him over any time of the day! Just don't hand him back as soon as he starts to fuss!
*I didn't realize how hard it would be to listen to "advice" from others, including my own mother. Things have definitely changed in the past 28 years Mom!
*I now refer to my husband as Daddy, Dad, Poppa, you name it! And I speak to him from our sons POV all the time. I find it sometimes helps me get my own way...hehe.
*I have used the washroom with another human being in my arms. There....I said it. Don't judge, when you gotta go, you gotta go!
*On that same topic, I have peed my pants at fitness class more times that I want to admit in the past 3 months. One word...KEGELS!