Baby Noah: 23 Weeks

Well I've been a little slack on the updates lately as we have been on vacation. We have been in Florida with my family a week now, and Noah is loving it. He loves airing out his feet in the warm fresh air, and wearing nothing bit a diaper is a baby's dream. He has been a star traveller. We only had one layover on the way down. The first 2 hour flight he slept and ate most of the way. We had a small wait in Toronto and I carted him around in my snuggli and he was happy as could be...but heavy!! Then we had a 2.5 hour flight and he was really good again. A little fussy by times, but overall so good. My dad met us at the airport with the rental car seat, it was so good to see him. We had about an hour drive and it was WAY past Noah's bedtime at this point. The Drive was the hardest part as he cried most of the way and wouldn't sleep. A long day for the boy.

I will do a post soon on travelling with baby. For now, here is a little update on the boy.

Weight: Not sure officially, I am guessing around 18 lbs as he has been slowing down lately.
Health: He was pretty congested before we left, and I was worried he was getting a bad cold. Thankfully it never turned into anything major, and other than a few bad nights sleep, we survived pretty well.

Sleep:Ugh, what I wouldn't do for a full night's sleep. That is what I am asking for for mother's day! I am not sure if Noah is dehydrated, or maybe it's because he is sleeping in my room and I am not used to having him next to me where I can hear every little thing, but he has me up at least 4 times a night here. Normally at home I pop the soother in and he rolls over and goes back to sleep. Here, I can't seem to get him to settle. I often bring him in to bed with me where he stays the rest of the night. I've been feeding him many times throughout the night just to get him back to sleep and he seems to be thirsty/hungry and not just taking it for soothing.

Social: We have been having such a great vacation. Hubs arrives today and Noah can't wait to see his dada. We've been skyping lots and Noah LIGHTS up every time he sees Tim on the screen and hears his voice, it is so cute to see his big smile. We have been taking him to the beach, pool, shopping, and out for breakfast and suppers and he is always so good. We can take him anywhere. The ladies always oooh and ahhh over him, and he turns on the charm every time. What a ladies man.

Diet: Still just milk. I went to Busch Gardens to ride roller coasters with my sister yesterday and left Noah home with my Mom and he took 3 bottles for her no problem. I think when we get home next Sunday we will start him on some rice cereal for the first time...I can't wait! I am wondering if that is maybe why he has been feeding so much over night, maybe milk just isn't cutting it any more.

Clothes: Mostly 9 months, depending on the brand. I've been buying mostly 12 months on this trip so that the things fit him this summer when we get home.

Milestones: He dipped his toes in the Gulf of Mexico for the first time and felt sand for the first time (he is not a big fan of the waves on his toes). We had him in the pool as well (second time) and he wasn't a huge fan of that either and kept trying to climb up my belly with his feet. He also had his first plane ride. He has been rolling over alot more on this vacation, turns out he DOES remember how to roll. He'll be on his mat playing on his back and next thing we look over and he has flipped to his belly and is lying there so proud of himself. He is also starting to bring his knees into his belly and trying to scoot when doing tummy time.

Baby Gear Love: Well we still love the swing and need it occassionally at night, so we rented one for our condo here on vacation. He also loves hanging out in his running stroller without the car seat attachment. We put him in it to go to the pool and beach and he loves it!We also get out walking bright and early every morning and he takes his morning nap in there.

Crying: Just when tired/around nap time.

Likes: He loves skyping with his dada, his exercauser (which we also rented for the condo), also loves laughing and itsy bitsy spider and this little piggy.

Postpartum: Still losing hair like crazy, I really hope that stops soon it is quite disturbing. Spending the day riding roller coasters with my sister yesterday was so much fun.I love being a momma, but having a day to be a kid again was just what I needed! I was doing great with my weight loss before vacation and was withing a few pounds of my pre-pregnancy weight, but I have a feeling all the key lime pie and beers are having a negative impact on that down here. We are exercising (bootcamp or running or walking) every morning, but I don't think it really evens out!

We are having such a great vacation. Until next time friends!! xo

Noah is 5 months!

Well baby boy, you are 5 months old today. And could we love you any more? Each day you greet us with the biggest smiles and the happiest giggles and I wonder, how did we get to be so lucky??

You seem to be growing a bit more slowly lately, and thats a good thing! If you get much bigger I won't be able to cart you around any. You are 17 lbs of chunk. You have a few wrist rolls, and your feet are so thick. I love to play "this little piggy" and hear you squeal in delight. You are officially out of 3-6 months clothes, and fill out most of your 9 month sleepers.

Your sleeping has finally improved. Your naps are lengthening (yesterday we got 2+ hours out of you) and your nighttime sleep is way better. We put you down around 8pm and you go down no problem, out like a light automatically. You sleep until around 8am (not strait through though!). This week we let you fuss it out for a few nights and now you sleep for much longer periods. Thank. Goodness. Normally you wake around 12:30 for your soother, and maybe once more between 12:30am-4am. Then I feed you around 4am and put you back down until 8am.

You have found your toes, and I love to watch you do "happy baby". You are also a wriggly little worm on the change table. You twist and turn all around, trying to get a diaper on you is quite the job.

Your back to taking bottles no problem, not sure what that phase was all about when you were boycotting them. We are still just exclusively breastfeeding, most days 4 times (8:30, 12, 4 and bedtime) and then once overnight. You seem to be content with that, so we are waiting until the recommended 6 months before introducing solids. Not long now!

No teeth yet, but you are teething for sure.

Milestones:

Rolling over - you seem to have forgotten how to do this. Around 3+ months you were rolling all the time, and then you stopped. The nurse reassured me that a boy your size can't roll quite as easily as a little 13 pound baby haha. I know you can do it because occasionally you will surprise us, and yourself, and do it. But then you forget again.

Talking - You loveeee to talk and coo. Sometimes its like you are trying to have a conversation with us. You definitely recognize the important ppl in your life, and light up when they enter a room. You love to grab my face when I am feeding you and you just stare and touch my face. It really is the best feeling ever.

Sitting up - You can now sit unassisted for about 5-10 seconds at a time. You love to sit on our knees and look around, especially when we are out and about. We also got out our high chair and you love to sit in it while we cook and eat our supper. We give you toys and you sit there like a big kid and entertain yourself. We love having you sit at the table with us.

Standing - You can weight bare, and love to stand on our knees. You love your exercauser.

Coordinatation - Well you love to shove just about everything in your mouth. Your hands, our fingers, anyones fingers, Mom's hair.

It's been a pretty great 5th month! We celebrated Easter, stayed in your first hotel, celebrated Nana's and Grampy's birthdays, watched Dad play hockey, and went to church for the first time. We love you so much Nono, thank you for all the joy you bring!

Baby Noah: 20 Weeks

Well this week has been...interesting. We have a new patient in our house since last Wednesday. Tim called me from hockey to say he had hurt his ankle. At the time he wasn't sure how bad, but that he was going to the hospital to have it checked out. He said he figured he'd be off it a few days, and limping for a week or two. So I was thinking, ok we can deal with that. At 1am I get a message from him saying "It's broke and I am in a cast." Not exactly what I was hoping to hear. So he's been home with Noah and I since Thursday, and today was his first day back to work (on crutches). We go to see the surgeon tomorrow to see how bad the break is and if needs surgery. For now, he can't drive which means he also can't be home alone with Noah because he can't carry him or pick him up. Pretty frustrating for me, even more so for him. We aren't sure how this will affect our travel plans for Florida in 2 weeks time. Sighhh....

Weight: I weighed Noah today on our home scale and he is 17 lbs of chunk :)

Health: We've managed to get through flu/cold season without Noah getting sick. If I could have wrapped him in a bubble I would have. I am incredibly thankful he managed to avoid the flu when I had it a few weeks ago. Thank-you breast milk!!
Clothes: He is mostly out of 3-6 now. All his sleepers are 6-9 months. He can still get into a few 3-6 month pants and onesies but they are getting tight and short. In size 3 diapers!

Sleep: I think someone is punishing me for having such an easy pregnancy. We have THE best baby in the world, like really he is so happy almost all the time. But his sleep habits...they leave MUCH to be desired. Now that it is only me that can get up with him at night to re-insert the soother, I am even more tired than ever. My mom came to stay with is Friday to give us a bit of a break. I got 6 consecutive hours of sleep, what a treat. Noah is still napping 3-4 times a day for about 45 mins each time. The odd time if I go back in and rub his bum and re-insert the soother he will go back to sleep a little longer. At night, he is still waking once to eat and still every hour or two when he can't get back to sleep without the soother. Last night we let him cry a few times instead of going in and he went back to sleep on his own. We're going to have to keep doing that until he teaches himself to fall back asleep.

trying on his summer clothes for Florida

Social: We went to the movies last week for the Baby Reel Deal. It was Admission with Tina Fey. Noah was great as usual! Thursday we left the hubs home and went to our cooking class, we made meatloaf...delish! Friday we spent the day at home with the patient. Still going to our baby/mama fitness classes 3 times a week. Since I can't leave Noah home to workout on my own, I really have to maximize these classes that I can bring him to!
Diet: Still just getting breastmilk and the odd bottle. I tried lengthening the time between his feedings and can sometimes get 4+ hours out of him if he has a long nap. But when he only has short 45 mins naps he wants to eat every 3 hours still. So normally 8am, 11am, 2pm, 5pm and bedtime.

Baby Gear Loves: We brought out the space saver high chair and he loves sitting at the table with us while we eat. We give him a few toys and he is content to sit there and hang out with us. Pretty soon he'll be eating with us :)

Likes: He loves watching TV, especially Sportscentre. Trying to feed him with the TV on is the most frustrating thing EVER because he won't focus on eating. He'll suck for 10 seconds, pull off and watch TV. Then come back and eat a little more, than back to TV.
Milestones: Nothing new really. Still working on sitting up on his own. He can hold is bottle for about 20 seconds or so.

Postpartum: Finding is so hard to get motivated, still trying to lose that last 5-8 lbs. I feel like even when I do, I am still not going to be happy with this "new" body post-baby.

Baby Noah: 19 Weeks

Happy Easter from my little bunny rabbit. What a busy week we had leading up to a very busy long weekend. I feel like we got out of our normal routine, there was a few days in a row where Noah didn't nap in his crib once and he was not happy about it. The odd time sleeping in his car seat or sleeping in someone's arms is ok, but he really doesn't get the rest that he needs that way and then we pay for it later.

My Nanny came over for the long weekend, so Noah got to spend some quality time with his great-nanny. They were so cute together. She hadn't seen him since Christmas and couldn't get over the difference in him. We took Noah to church Sunday, and he was so so good. He never made a sound and kept smiling and making faces at the people in the pew behind us. I swear we can take this kid anywhere. He is always such a charmer.

I didn't take any pictures of Noah's Easter loot, because to be honest, I didn't get him much! Terrible Mom I know. I did get him a basket, but by the time Easter came it was basically empty because I had used everything ahead of time. I bought him a few Easter outfits which he wore the week leading up to the holiday. And a bib, and bunny ears, and a new sippy cup. He also got lots of new outfits from his grand-parents. And the Easter Bunny always finds hubs and I at both our parents houses. Too.Much. Chocolate!

chillin with his great-nanny

Heading to Easter Sunday church service

Weight: Noah is still around 16-17 lbs and 26 inches. He is starting to get little rolls on his legs and around his wrists and I just love it. I also can't get enough of his chubby cheeks.

Health: He is still healthy and happy, despite the odd day of teething here and there.

Sleep: Still in his crib for nap times and night time. I feed him once a night normally. We are still playing the nightly dash into his room to insert his soother about 5-8 times. Ex-hausting! Last Monday we attempted to let him cry it out...and it was awful. Our night went something like this:

8pm - normal bedtime routine.
9pm - crying starts. We go in every 5-10 mins to comfort him but do not pick him up.
10:01 - finally cries himself to sleep after an exhausting hour or screaming.
11:39pm - Wakes up howling again and cries until 12:45am non-stop when I finally decide to throw in the towel and bring him into bed with us.

So as you can see, it did not work very well for us. I hoped that he would cry less than 20 minutes or so (which I could handle). But two spurts of screaming that lasted over an hour each, I am just not cut out for that. So for now, the soother is back, and we will continue to make the dash until he learns how to put it back in himself.

 trying on his easter hat - still a bit too big!

Social: We've been on the move lots lately. We loved having hubs home for an extra day on Friday. We went out for brunch and then came back and had a family nap together, it was awesome.

We started a baby/mama fitness class last week not far from our house. It is Mon/Weds/Fri and we can bring the babes and they hang out in their car seats and if they cry/fuss we can tend to them as needed. The instructor just had a baby herself, so she brings her little guy. It is amazing. I was finding it really hard to get to my fitness classes more than twice a week with our schedules, so this way I can get an extra few work outs in. Oh and its FREE because the instructor is testing it out as a pilot project so it is just a few of her good friends and acquaintances. On Thursday's we have our cooking class.

All thes babes lined up at our fitness class!

Noah and Marty in their matching Easter ducky outfits. They will kill us for this picture in 16 years!!

Diet: Still all milk. Taking the odd 5-6 oz bottle here and there.

Clothes: Most of his 3-6 months are too small/short now. So I packed away alot of his sleepers and washed and brought out all his 6-9 month sleepers and pants. Some of his 3-6 month onesies still fit. Size 3 diapers.

Baby Gear Love: He is liking his exercauser more and more. Still likes his activity mat, and loves his wubbanub soother. We still love the swing for those early morning wake-ups when we are just not ready to get up yet.

Crying: Only really when overtired (which happened Saturday on our way home from Easter dinner). We left my in-laws past Noah's bedtime and he had a major free-out on the way home. We hoped he would cry himself to sleep, but instead he cried himself into a tizzy. We had to pull over on the dark highway and hubs had to get in the back with him and take him out of his car seat to try and calm him down. We was sweating like crazy and woudln't stop screaming. After ten mins or so he still wasn't calming down, so we put him back in the seat and drove on. He eventually fell asleep but it was horrible. I don't know who was more upset, me or him.

Daddy is so much fun!

Likes: Noah loves to be tickled. He is ticklish under his arms and on his little feet. It is so funny to hear his squeal. He also likes bath time and kicks like crazy and knocks everything over. I think he is outgrowing his tub.

Postpartum: After having the flu two weeks ago, I lost a few much needed pounds. A rough way to have to lose them, but i'll take it. I am trying to get down another few lbs before we head to Florida in 2.5 weeks. If I lost another 6-7 I would be happy, but realistically I have about 9-10 to go until I am back to where I should be.

Milestones: He can sit up now with the bobby pillow behind him. He is also starting to make crawling movements when he is doing tummy time and grabbing for toys in front of him. He brings him knees up under his bum and tries to kick him legs out to move. He will be on the move before we know it at this rate. He is also babbling up a storm. Always telling stories!

My big boy sitting up!

We are so lucky to have such a smart and happy little boy. He really is such a joy. We are thankful for him each and every day and love to wake up to his smiley little face! xo