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Sounding off

Thanks to everyone who wrote for the PWP access. There will still be posts that are unlocked but I’m thinking that I will be doing more locked ones.

I’m struggling to make my thoughts functional enough to put them into words so I guess I will just talk about No.

He is beautiful and so full of energy! I just love hearing him squeal!

Speaking of No, he’s awake so I will have to continue this later….

Dear Nolan (week 29)

Dear Nolan,

This week was a busy one for us that involved flying again. This flight was much more challenging than the last one. You were more active and less dreamy.

We were lucky enough to be blessed with multiple seats and so you were able to spread out a little. Still it was way past your bedtime and for the chaos of the day I’d say you did pretty darn good.

This week has been trying for us because we are both jetlagged and your schedule that we worked so hard to get is all thrown off. Crib training is down the drain and you are back to co-sleeping with me.

You are loving all the extra snuggle time with your Auntie, Grammie and Papa though. I’ve never seen you laugh so hard, I’m guessing it’s because of the increased audience size!

You are eating like a champ! So far the only food you don’t like is Avocado. You love: pears, peaches, peas, apples, banana, yogurt, cereal, carrots, sweet potato, and regular potato. You will basically eat anything we put infront of you. And you prefer to eat with the spoon. It’s adorable because as you are eating you declare “Mmmmmmm”.

You are such a doll! We love you little man!!

Love,
Your Mama

Im going PWP…

In light of some upcoming events I feel it is neccesary to start password protecting a lot of posts. Rather than go private completley, I think this is a better option. IN the very very near future a large amount of my postings will become PWP (pass word protected). If you would like access to these, please leave me a comment with your name, email address, and your blog (unless I know you IRL). I will look into you and then email you personally.

Dont worry, I wont publish that information! And my comment moderation is on like always!

Thanks everyone!

Dear Nolan, (week 28)

Dear No,

This last week has been pretty uneventful. We hung out at home and fought with your runny nose and My cold. We enjoyed some snow flakes as they fell, and we watched you be incredibly confused while watching them.

You are now able to sit up for awhile by yourself! I imagine you may have been able to do this for awhile but the cloth diapers make you bulkier so its hard for you to manage! You are still trying very hard to crawl, its so cute to watch you try to coordinate it!

You are solidly in 3-6 month clothing. The pants are starting to get short, but they are still large around your waist. You wear size 2 shoes, and it is the only way I can keep socks on you is to put shoes on. You are a drooly baby, and it cracks me up when you are covered in baby slime and decide to blow raspberries. Funny little guy!

You now think that you are funny, and when you do something you will giggle.

This next week brings alot of excitement! I cant wait to see how you react!!

Love you to the moon and back!

Love,
Your Mama

Happy Valentines day!

 

Happy Valentines Day everyone! This year marks two years since I married the Sailor. Our life has been so wonderfully complete! Two years ago we were celebrating in Vegas, one year ago we were in Chicago celebrating (and were newly pregnant). This year was a little different and very tame! We spent the day in China town enjoying some amazing food and seeing the shrines and decoration for CNY. Then we came home nd had dinner as a family. But since I have started a trend….

7 days of pumping…..40 oz of breast milk

1 hour on a train…..1300yen

Two amazing friends who watch an active infant for 6 hours so we can have a date….PRICELESS!

This is where the time went….

And yet, it went by in a blink. Thank you for joining us on this wild adventure! I cant wait to see what the next 6 months brings us!

6 Months

 

5 Months

 

4 Months

 

3 Months

 

2 Months

 

1 Month

 

1 Week

 

1 day

 

1 Hour

 

Minutes old.

Dear Nolan, (Week 27, 6 months)

Dear Nolan,

Oh my, you are 6 months old. I cant believe it. Where has the time gone? I swear that just yesterday you were being presented to me all warm, wet, and crying. And I was so in awe of you, all 5lbs 4oz of love (19inches long)and joy. I was so afraid of how tiny you seemed then, how new and unknown it was. I just wasnt sure what type of Mama I would be. I was terrified of failing you, or not knowing what you needed. And we survived!

And now here you are, 14lbs of laughter, giggles and energy. 26.5inches of ticklish sweet baby. Every day I see less of the baby and more of the Nolan. You are becoming so much of a little person now, complete with likes and dislikes.

You are trying so hard to crawl, and I think it frustrates you that you cant manage it yet. You grab everything in sight and put in straight into your mouth. You have the very tip of a little white sticking out of your gums to signify your first tooth, but it hasnt moved in a few weeks. You love to stand and jump, and socialize with anyone who will look at you.

I still cant believe that you are half a year old. Where has the time gone?

We love you so much little man. Thank you for bringing such joy to our lives.

Love,

Your Mama

Random Nolanisms

Just some random things that I wanted to share (and also keep track of !):

• He can now grab his feet and get them into him mouth. The only way to get him to let go is to make them “dissapear” with socks.
• He now has a fake cough. If I am not paying attention to him he will fake cough and them laugh at me.
• He blows raspberries all the time, and they are very slobbery.
• He thinks his Daddy is hilarious, and anything Daddy does makes him giggle and squeel.
• The word “Chuco” makes him laugh.
• He loves the water.
• He has learned how to splash during bath time and pool time.
• He “helps” me while folding diapers.
• He loves to feed himself. And if you want to feed him he has to have his own spoon to “help”.
• He has a very large and expressive personality. When he wants something he makes himself very very clear.
• He loves cucumbers.
• He is sooooo close to crawling. He wants to so badly.
• He loves to stand up and hold your hands and jump.
• He smiles anytime you give him kisses.

This is what happens…

When a nearly 6 month old decides that they, and only they will be allowed to feed themselves dinner….

(** Anyone have a good caption for this?**)

I finally know him.

After nearly six months of tireless effort, we have fallen into a sort of routine. I tried many that were advised to me, but in the end I just followed his lead, and it is working. Finally. (For now, atleast).

Our days look a little like this:

5am- Nolan wakes, I bring him into our bed and snuggle him back to sleep

6am- Our day starts. No gets a new diaper, and is put in his swing with Sophie and he chews on her and sucks his thumb for an hour or so.

7-8am- Breakfast. We Nurse first and then have solid food, usually cereal. Then clean up.

8-10am- Play time. He does some floor time, some time in the jumperoo, and some wrestling and tickle time on the bed.

10am-11:30- Nap time. I swaddle him and lay him on our bed where I nurse him to sleep. If it was a particularly hard night, this is when I nap also.

11:30-1pm- This is when I run any errands.

1pm-4pm- This is the long nap. I love this quiet time. We swaddle again, and I nurse him to sleep on our bed. This is when I get any chores done, and work on school related stuff (NCLEX reading, paper writing, reviewing, etc).

4pm-5pm-play time

5pm-Dinner time. This time he eats solids first. Usually a fruit and vegetable. Then straight to the bath. We play in the bath for a bit until he gets cranky and then we head to his room and he gets lotioned and tickled a little and then dressed for bed.

7pm-Books and bed. He gets read a book to two depending on his patience, and then we swaddle and nurse him and put him in his crib.

11pm- Wakes to nurse.

2am- Wakes to nurse.

and then we are back to 5am again.

*This is so much better than before!!** I learned that he still NEEDS to be swaddled at night. He cannot sleep unswaddled, he is just not ready. And honestly, Im ok with that. If it is what he needs then I will go along with it. I am sure he will let me know when it is no longer something he needs.

What does your routine look like?

The pregnancy pact

Have I been so behind on the times, that I only heard about this through watching the Lifetime movie special? After sitting here for a jaw-dropping two hour tv movie, I then spent another hour researching the real “Pregnancy Pact” stories from the news. (Yes, this is how I spent the very first 3 hour nap time that Nolan has taken since shortly after birth).

I cannot begin to imagine the impact of having a child at 14 or 15 years old. I, myself spent alot of my childhood and teen years babysitting both my younger sister and other people’s children. I loved babies but often said that I didnt want any of my own. Until I hit high school, and I admit it, I had baby fever. I remember with my first boyfriend discussing having children in my early twenties, because thats what my parents did. Early twenties, seemed so old to me.

My closest girlfriend had a baby just after turning 16. I was green with envy, she had this adorable little baby to love on. I went down and spent a week with her shortly after the babies birth, and much to my surprise, her life kinda sucked. Her days werent spent getting a drivers license, going on dates, going to formal dances, having crushes, or getting butterflies in her stomach from stolen kisses when her parents werent looking. Her days (and nights) were spent fighting with her parents over who would truly parent her child, changing diapers, a crying and inconsolably colicy baby, attempting to breastfeed and failing miserably, turning to formula, WIC, and eventually welfare. She did graduate high school, on time, but she wound up getting pregnant a second time in high school. I was shocked.

It was a sobering visit. Our phone calls were now cut short by a screaming child, or by her sleep deprived listless personality. I worried about calling because I had the constant guilt about possibly waking the baby. It put a serious strain on our relationship, and eventually after years of trying we stopped being friends. I lost my closest friend due to teen pregnancy. Those words are crazy to say.

And then here I am, nearly a decade later, with my infant in my arms watching tis crazy show. Im angry, and sad. And Im even shocked. I cant believe this was a true issue. I cant believe that girls are so stupid. Where are the parents? What are the parents teaching their children? What can I do to prevent this from happening with my children?

So what will you do? How will you answer those questions?

I cant help to be angry that here I sit, at 26 years old, knowing that so many of my friends have struggled to get pregnant, stay pregnant or bring home a healthy baby. And these girls strive to get knocked up and manage in mere months. How is it fair that we wait to have children and struggle? And these girls have fat healthy babies?

Kudos to the single parents

Ok, I am a pretty damn good Navy Wife. Seriously. I deal with my Husband’s comings and goings with little problems. I get sad, dont get me wrong, but I manage to go on with my daily life with few hiccups.

Now, this Navy Mom thing is different. Its hard because we go from effective dual parenting to suddenly I am a single mom. I didnt realize how much harder it gets once you have had a second person to help all the time and then they go away. Dang, its hard stuff.

It means that there isnt any down time, and there is a good chance that my human interaction is playing peek-a-boo.

Then the worst happened, I got a migraine. I only get a couple a year, and wouldnt you know that I wind up with one while I am single parenting it. Holy cow!! I thought that my head was going to pop off, and I still needed to function as Mom.

It made me realize how hard the full time single parents have it. I cant imagine this being an all the time thing. Its horribly difficult.

So for all you single parents, do you have any suggestions on how to make my life more efficient when Im flying solo?

Dear Nolan, (Week 26)

Dear No,

You are half of a year old. Where did the time go? I swear that just yesterday I was holding you in my arms for the very first time. It feels like yesterday.

This week you went swimming with your Daddy for the first time, and showed him all your skills at doing the “kick, kick, kick”. You had so much fun at the pool. I love that you are such a little water baby!

This week you also got your very first haircut. It was time to snip your bangs so that your hair doesnt get in your eyes. I cried at the sight of your sweet baby hair in hands, and you look so much more like a little boy and less like a baby now. It seems to be just another reminder of how grown up you are getting already.

You discovered cucmbers this week and have been knawing on atleast 1/3 of one every day. I think that they must help to soothe your aching gums. Speaking of gums, you still have only a small little pearl sticking out of your gums, and it hasnt moved in weeks. Im waiting for it to completley rise and take its place as your first tooth.

So far the foods you have tried are: Cucumbers, peas, carrots, apples, pears, banana, strawberry, sweet potato, baby yogurt, and baby cereal. We havent found a food that you dislike, and you love to feed yourself with the spoon. We hand it to you and you will bring it to your mouth and eat all the food off of it. You havent quite figured out that you need to give it back to us yet though.

Little man, we adore you. And we love to listen to you laugh as we make faces at you, or as we tickle your belly. You bring a million smiles to our faces every day.

Thank you for choosing us as your family,

Love,

Your Mama