Unfortunate Addictions

I may be playing a little fast and loose with the word "unfortunate" but yeah - I've got a problem. It involves me and my baby. Specifically me spending FAR TOO MUCH on things he will look adorable in. So every time that Baby Gap sends me an email I cringe on the inside because it means I have to OF COURSE look at their website and have an inner battle where I figure out whether or not I want to spend far too much money for a pair of jeans that he won't wear that often because I only ever put him in PJs

Aunt Amy Love!

Since it's been a few weeks since my last post, a picture heavy blog is in order. So let me walk you through the past 2ish months!

A few weeks back my Mom gave Nolan his present - a CUSTOMIZED bookshelf which she burned/painted herself.

Pay no attention to the fact that I never give 2 thoughts about how I look, even for pictures! For the record, those tank tops are a nursing mother's must have (Target, they have clippy straps for quick access *wink wink*)

View from top

Front

Top Right Angle

Top Left Angle "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good"

I bought a hat that is supposed to be for a 2 year old because that's the smallest I could find... Look at how this kid rocks the conehead look:

Welcome Grandma Lynn!!

"Ya know, Dad, this hat is like really warm and kinda big. You've gotta talk to mom."

Grandma Becky has come over and babysat for us while we went to a freeeeeeeezing cold tailgate. I'm sure she enjoyed watching Nolan more than I enjoyed freezing my butt off while pumping in the car, in the front seat, while people (drunk people) wandered by. HELLOOOO NURSE!

She's blinking... whoops

OK I LOVE THESE PICTURES! These are from Thanksgiving at Grandma Becky's. How often do you get a smiling picture? Let along one where he's sooo cuddly with Grandma?

OMG I could just melt.

Of course I got a little creative one day.

Don't worry Sanctimommy, I left him unattended after this so I could drink some booze. 

Santa wasn't as nice in person as you might think. For starters he didn't actually say "ho ho ho" nor did he tuck his pant leg in for the photo. I even tried to get him to play along and I asked him if Nolan had been naughty or nice and he barely muttered that he was (of course) on the nice list.

Ohhhh how I judge.

Moving right along... Nolan has started eating solids... or wearing them at least!

You took a picture? Uncool Mom!

To be honest, Nolan looks the best when he's not wearing anything at all ('cept a diaper... he's not trustworthy enough to be sans diaper yet)

He's a strong tummy timer!

He loves being tickled.

And of course neglected.

I only joke about the neglect. Yes, I posed him with xmas lights for pictures. Some people have posted similar stuff on facebook and get reamed out for not taking care of their baby. For the record, I was with him the whole time, and the thing about me getting a drink above is a joke. #disclaimer

My little buddy dressed as Wilson in a DIY halloween outfit. 

So I shall leave you here. Coming soon: Hopefully a bunch of blogs because I'm getting TWELVE days off starting Friday at 4ish.

This Too Shall Pass

Baby raisin' is hard work. And the hardest part of all so far (for me) is the lack of sleep. It's obviously a major drag and it's impossibly hard to keep optimistic when certain babies *ahem* are sleeping 12 hour stretches. (LUCKY!)

Last night after a particularly emotional day which was a long time coming from sleep deprivation - Brian volunteered to do all the night wakings/feedings/changing diapers etc. So finally after 4.5 months I finally slept 7 hours in.a.row.

They say this is the 4 month sleep regression or the 4 month wakeful. Where my baby WAS sleeping pretty well and well on his way to sleeping through the night on a regular basis until once upon a time he decided that it was time to start growing or that he misses me in the middle of the night or whatever it is. So this tired lady has been a sleep deprived walking zombie.

My problem yesterday was comparing my baby with another baby who is sleeping extremely well. So I decided I need to focus on the things my baby does well that other babies maybe aren't doing so well (this isn't supposed to be a jab at anyone who's currently having these problems, I just need to focus on some positive!)

• He isn't colicky. Praise the flying spaghetti monster for this! I have heard horror stories of those with colicky babies and I count myself incredibly lucky that he is a happy baby!
• He doesn't spit up... like ever. Ok there's been a few times, but I can count each of those times on one hand.
• He's healthy! This is most important. That baby is right on track with weight and height and he's hitting milestones left and right :)
• He's not rolling over completely yet... I know this is kind of a silly one, but until he actually starts rolling over, I do get a little break by setting him on his activity mat and not worrying that he's going to get up and start moving around. He'll be crawling before I know it and for now the fact that he's immobile is a blessing in disguise.
• He surprises me with some nights of longer sleep. In fact, last night when Brian was watching him he slept a 6 hour stretch #ishouldhaveknownthatwouldhappen
• He's laughing and smiling. That baby loves being happy! He loves playing with me. He's grabbing my hair and for some reason thinks it's delicious. He grabs my mouth/teeth and it's pretty hilarious.
• He LOVES bathtime! OMG so cute! He flaps his arms up and down when he's excited and he does that in the bath. He also is kicking his feet and splish splashing! At first I wasn't sure if that meant that he was uncomfortable and wanted out until he paused, looked at me, and gave me a HUGE smile! 

And on a similar although not completely related note - we must always remember that coffee exists and I have access to it. 

OH AND - I have 2 full weeks of work before I have 12 days of vacation IN.A.ROW!!!

Errrrrybody SHOTS!

Funny how when I used to talk about shots, it was more like this...

Now shot has become a 4 letter word which resulted in me taking a "worst mother of the year" photo.

I promise I picked him up right after and he calmed down right away!

Poor little guy... He had 4 shots. Yes, I vaccinate. I don't get this whole anti-vac movement lately. Jenny McCarthy is NOT who I'm getting medical advice from, I'm sorry but I'm not.

Uhhhh doiiiiy

Nolan took em like a champ. Of course he cried when getting them initially but he was fine afterwards. I also took him to Target after to pick up a prescription and he was asleep in his car seat most of the time. Then when he woke up I figured he deserved some cuddles so we walked around Target together.

I'm pretty sure Target is his favorite place in the world. I hold Nolan over my shoulder so he can look up and move his head around. The brightness and the colors... he's just staring at everything with his mouth open in awe.

Stats update:
Nolan now weighs in at 14 pounds 2 ounces, and is 25 1/4 inches long. I believe his head circumference is off the charts but his weight and height are smack dab at 50%.

Things he's a'doin':

• Grabbing his toys
• Eating his toys
• Eating his hands
• New goal: eating his toes
• Putting weight on his legs (he's done this for a long time)
• Droooooooling
• "Talking"
• Giggling
• Smiling at us
• And so much more. 

It's really a pretty fun time. He's just starting to learn so much!

Juxtaposition

What a difference a night makes.

Saturday night was honestly one of the worst nights of sleep I got since Nolan was born. Seriously, the worst. It was on par with those first nights when he came home and I barely got an hour in between feedings.

I don't know what quite literally possessed my sweet little baby but he was up screaming half the night. I couldn't handle it.

Luckily, Brian was around to help with the non-feeding parts of his screaming. And apparently, Nolan thought it would be a good idea to play at midnight instead of sleep so Brian took him downstairs to play on the swing.

Ohhhhhh my.

I'm still a little tired just thinking about it.

But last night was a breath of fresh air.

Last night, Nolan slept from 7:30-3:30 and then went to bed til 6:30 after I fed him.

It was like a vacation.

Please let this be the end of his sleep regression...

Sleepless Nights

Now that the day has come and gone, I really regret posting about my stoooopid day care lady instead of talking about a really awesome day/anniversary!

October 30, 2012 - it's the day I found out I was going to have NOLAN!

How it all happened was kind of a little too planned out. When you're TTCing with such discipline that you know exactly the day that you could potentially get a positive HPT it almost makes it seem a little rigid. Well, I remember promising myself for some reason that I was going to wait until Halloween morning to take a pregnancy test. This way, there would be more of the hormone in my system that would give me a positive and I wouldn't get bummed out by a false negative result.

Well, when you buy your pregnancy tests on amazon at the whopping expense of $10 for 25 tests, it's not exactly cost prohibitive to take a test and think, "awww bummer, it's negative today, maybe it'll be positive tomorrow."

Nope.

Well, they say one of the earliest signs of pregnancy can be increase sense of smell. We have a candle in our room that's lilac scented, or it was once upon a time. It had been sitting on top of my dresser for months by that point, not being lit or touched in any way. But I walked passed it on the 29th before bed and smelled it just as strong as ever.

This is when your brain becomes a real scumbag and you get all excited about being pregnant - even though you don't know for sure yet.

I casually mentioned this to Brian before going to bed. Of course, like any potential father to be he fell directly asleep and had no problems staying asleep... *slight eye roll*... whereas I couldn't stop thinking about it and cursed myself for saying that I would wait another day to take a test.

Poppycock.

I don't need to wait a whole day...

I'll just get up in the middle of the night for my regularly scheduled bathroom break and take a test at 2am in the morning.

Yeah, I'll just take a test, set it on the counter, walk away, and then in the morning I'll see if there's a line or not. I'll just shut my eyes and go right to---

Oh, it's been 5 minutes, I better go to the bathroom again and see.

AND HOLY SHIT! It was the fakest, squintiest, could probably be mistaken for the dreaded "line eye" line I've ever seen. It was the first sight of my positive pregnancy test. And I couldn't believe it.

That was over a year ago now. And that was a sleepless night.

Now I'm thankful that I am still having sleepless nights. Although for a slightly different, yet very much related, reason.