Monday, September 15, 2014

Nolan's Eight Month Update



Eight months down, four more to go until my baby turns ONE whole year old!  Unbelievable!  This month, Nolan has been one big ball of energy!  Although he is still not crawling, he has started to cruise on furniture!  And because this new activity is just super exciting and oh-so-cool, that is all.we.do... all.day.long!  Gone are the days of sitting still on the couch, bed, or the floor, playing contently with his toys.  This little man is on the move and always wants to go!  I couldn't believe how quickly he went from wanting to stand with assistance, to standing against furniture, to wanting to move along furniture.  Once he started, he instantly picked it up and can get around decently well with help.  He loves walking around the ottoman and couch by himself, and even thinks it's funny when he falls down.  If we sit down for a minute to play with toys, the distraction doesn't last long and he is instantly grabbing at my hands  to "walk" around the house some more.  He has found a love for new toys that require standing (such as his activity table and dancing bear sit-to-stand) and old toys that also double as standing aids (such as his exersaucer, but only on the outside... it's like a whole new toy from a different angle)!  He still needs practice pulling himself up from sitting positions, and we will also start working on standing alone.  I know he will be mastering these soon enough, though!  As for crawling.... he can make his way around in a circle from the strength of his arms, but hasn't figured out how to go back and forward!  We will continue to practice, but needless to say this little guy is just too smart.  He knows crawling is for babies and walking is what all the cool kids do!  



Because of Nolan's new found independence and activity level, his temperament has started becoming that of a typical 8-month old.  Although he is still my happy, giggly baby boy, some days I wonder... "Who are you and what did you do with my Nolan?!"  Tantrums rear their ugly heads here and there, and Nolan has learned the art of manipulation.  He also is going through his Mommy-obsessed stage, and some days, has a hard time entertaining himself while I am cleaning up the house, eating lunch, or preparing dinner.  Although we try not to give in and try to let him cry it out, sometimes it is just hard!  

Contrary to his cranky moments, Nolan is usually found smiling and laughing, and is starting to develop more of his sense of humor.  He has come far in his vocabulary and can say a ton of consonants, like his M's, B's, R's, Y's, and L's.  He says Mama and Baba, but babbles these words, so we haven't considered them his first words quite yet, although I'm confident he will say Mama, first!  He has learned how to make himself laugh (usually by throwing things or hitting toys together), as well as finding Harley absolutely hilarious!  He has become super obsessed with the puppy, and constantly wants to follow him around, touch him, talk to him, and sometimes scream at him.  Harley usually finds an area just far enough away, flops down and watches with a keen eye to make sure he isn't disturbed.  When asked, Harley will give Nolan kisses, but usually runs away right after to ensure he won't be tugged on.  




As of last month, Nolan wore his helmet for ten days and then started having some movement issues.  He started developing a head shake side to side, as well as a spastic arm movement and overall "zoned out" look at random times with no consistent cause, both with the helmet on and with it off.  We were concerned that the helmet was causing some spastic movements or even worse, something more was going on since he continued to do this with the helmet off.  I filmed different video clips of our concerns and initially took Nolan to our pediatrician (who was out, so we saw another doctor at our office).  We ruled out any type of infection, but the doctor we saw was stumped.  He put in a referral to a neurologist, just in case, and said he was coding our visit as "a movement disorder."  Since we didn't have any answers still, I decided to contact his cranial band doctor.  Our orthotist was so amazing at being available after hours and the weekends, and I emailed her the video and she also agreed that a neurology consult would be beneficial, just to feel safe and rule anything strange out.  We had to wait two weeks to get in to the specialist, and in the meantime, kept the helmet off.  After lots of wondering and stress, the neurologist was not concerned at all with Nolan's movement and explained it as normal behavioral development.  Most likely, he is uncomfortable (due to the helmet, gas, fighting to go to sleep, etc). and the side to side, consistent movement is soothing for him and how he deals with this so-called "stress".  We felt good that she wasn't concerned at all and grateful for a healthy baby.

As to not waste any more time with his head development, we had a rescan with his orthotist the day after being cleared.  Although his head had great change in the ten days that he wore it, he still needs a little more reshaping.  Before the issues started, we were impressed to see how quickly his head had rounded out, and won't be expected to be in the band for very long as a full-time status.  Because he did go two weeks without wearing it, his skull has changed a bit, so he required a new scan for a new fitted cranial band.  We should be getting that any day, and will be starting back up on his helmet journey!  

Here are some other details into Nolan's life:

Height, Weight, and Sizes: 
Again, no well-check this month, but during our neurologist appointment, Nolan weighed in a little over 19 pounds (they had an old-school scale... no digital accuracy this time).  He seems to be lengthening out and losing a little bit of his chunk, mostly because of his activity level!  His face, arms and legs are still chunky monkey, but his little waist and belly have slimmed down.  He has outgrown most of his 9 month clothing (a few here and there) and is in 12-month onesies, t-shirts and pajamas.  He is still in 6-9 month bottoms due to that skinny waist of his!  Mommy is excited for Nolan to wear all of his new fall clothes she has been shopping for.... if only our weather would cool down!  He also is still in size 3 diapers, but we may try to move up to 4's once we go through our huge stash we've had for months!  We are on the last box, so it shouldn't take long.  

Feeding:
Nolan still eats lots of purees, all Stage 2s, and has a variety of finger foods that he regularly dines on.  He has gotten so much better at his pincher grasp and can handle lots of different foods.  New from last month is the introduction of lunch, so Nolan is now getting his "three meals" a day.  Most of the time these all consist of purees, but sometimes our little Mr. Independent will protest being fed and wants to feed himself, so we substitute with some finger foods.  

A typical day of Nolan's foodie life looks like this:  Breakfast (around 8:15AM)  is usually some sort of fruit puree (mango and pears are his favorite), and if he's still hungry/refuses the puree, he feeds himself some mango chunks or cut up blueberries (another of his favorites).  Lunch (around 12:30PM) is usually a fruit/veggie combo puree, and some finger foods like cheese and avocado.  We also tried YoBaby yogurts during lunchtime, and Nolan had a hard time digesting these, so we will wait again to  introduce them in another month or so.  Nolan gets dinner before our own dinner, and he usually eats around 5:00PM.  A veggie puree is dinner of choice, and he usually gobbles all of that down, and sometimes even another half serving.  Once I've cooked dinner and we sit down to eat, Nolan again joins us at the table in his highchair and will enjoy some finger foods, too (usually around 6:00PM).  I try to serve him something from our plates, as long as it's healthy and he can handle it, but if there is nothing he can eat from ours, he will have cut up pasta, rice, more avocado, or some steamed veggies.   

Along with solid food, he continues to take four bottles of milk a day, usually averaging about 24 ounces total daily.  He definitely becomes more distracted while drinking his bottles since he has been more active, so it does take a little longer to convince him to finish his milk!  He'd much rather be up walking around and playing!  The life of an 8-month old....
  

Sleeping:
Our little babe who loved his sleep has changed his ways, this month!  Nolan has always been an AMAZING sleeper, and not to say that he isn't still great, but he finally started a sleep "regression" during nap times.  He started with only sleeping for about 30 minutes for both his morning nap and afternoon nap, which frankly is just not enough sleep for such an active little boy!  Then, I started leaving him in his crib, hoping he would fall asleep again on his own.  Instead of crying to get up or just fall back asleep, Nolan would talk and talk and talk to himself, as well as turn on and off his aquarium crib toy (yep, he learned how to do that this month).  Because he wasn't crying and seemed fine, I would leave him some days to see what would happen.  After about another 30-40 minutes, he would finally fall back asleep and take another 30 minute nap.  After some trial and error with putting him down later, earlier, tiring him out with play, etc., we've finally set up a decent schedule to where Nolan gets an okay nap for both morning and afternoon.  

He still typically wakes around 6:15-6:30AM, and follows with his morning nap anywhere between 9:00-9:30AM.  He will sleep for at least an hour, and on a good day, an hour and a half.  His next afternoon nap happens around 1:00-1:45PM, depending on what time he wakes up from his morning nap.  We've nixed the late afternoon catnap, so I like him to take a later mid-afternoon nap so he's rested enough to last until bedtime... yet that doesn't always happen!  (Welcome to a regular baby's nap schedule, right!?)



Firsts & Milestones:
-Started finger foods (avocado first)
-Can smack his lips together and make sound
-Standing and holding himself up alone against furniture
-Learned to turn on and off aquarium toy himself after sleeping
-Crawls in circles 
-Makes himself laugh
-Babbling (A's, O's, M's, B's, R's, Y's, L's)
-Rode in Daddy's new GTI!
-Gives high fives (one)
-Sniffs in and out
-Cruising furniture and walking with assistance (September 12th)
-Using his pointer finger to touch and point at things (Mommy's nose, Daddy's mouth, pushing buttons)
-Can look around the room and find Harley when asked, "Where's the dog?"



Likes:
-Crazy obsessed with Harley
-Opening and closing books (sound)
-Puffs (obsessed with them, like catnip)
-Avocado, blueberries, pasta and cheese (favorite finger foods)
-Standing against furniture and falling over on purpose
-Throwing any and all toys (further, harder than before)
-Stopping on the staircase for the "good luck touch" of the railing post ends
-Looking down at things he drops from highchair
-Sesame Street (Elmo, Super Grover, Abby's Flying Fairy School are favorites)
-Walking with assistance everywhere!


Dislikes:
-Taking long naps
-Stranger danger, still
-Bananas (finger foods only, still eats pureed bananas)
-Getting into his carseat 
-Being left alone to play independently (Mommy attached, lately)
-Sitting when he wants to be walking!



We love you, little buddy!  You are learning so many new things and becoming such a funny, smart, adorable little bugaboo.  But seriously... slow your growing... this year is going by too fast!  

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

August Happenings

This month, we spent our time inside mostly, beating the Vegas heat and catching up on some rest from our vacation, as we all got sick from our travels (stupid airplane).  We took lots of pictures and even more videos, this month!  Finally, we celebrated my birthday and Jason got an unexpected surprise on Labor Day Weekend... Here's our happenings:

We spent the beginning of the month on our Vermont trip, celebrating Everette's first birthday!  Read all about our vacation here.

While in Vermont, Nolan experienced his first "big boy" bath, so when we returned home, we ditched the baby tub and he LOVED splashing around in the big tub!


Mommy and Nolan took some selfies this month:



Nolan practiced walking in his walker... but really he just jumps everywhere...


Big boy showed off his TWO new teeth:


My little monkey man goofed off in his Bananas shirt:



Nolan had his first plagiocephaly evaluation and got scanned and fitted for his cranial band in the beginning of the month.  Read all about his helmet journey!  (Side note:  After about 10 days of full time wearing, Nolan started having some weird movement issues, and we are still not sure if it is related to the helmet or not.  We were advised to keep the helmet off until we get referred and evaluated with another specialist, so we are on a helmet break and will update as soon as we know what's going on!)



Nolan started sleeping on his stomach sometimes, which at first, freaked Jason and I out... but now we just check on him a gazillion times more and make sure his head is to the side, like this:


We had a visit to the pediatrician since we all got sick from traveling on the airplane.  We knew we just had colds, but wanted to make sure Nolan wasn't coming down with an ear/sinus infection.  Even though he didn't feel awesome, he still put on a smile for the doctor and looked adorably chubby!  He ended up with just a head cold and some sniffles like the rest of us.


Nolan was super cute before bed, and laughed SO much at Daddy making the books close!



When he's done sleeping, Nolan likes to flip onto his belly, look around his crib and room, and wait for us to come get him!



Nolan turned seven months old!

This month, we had to put my old kitty, Oreo, down.  He lived a realllllllly long, amazing life and since I left for college, has lived with my Mom.  He started acting out of sorts by not eating his food and being super lethargic.  My mom took him to the vet, and it was determined that he had liver failure.  They couldn't give us a time frame as to how bad his liver was, but a few days after taking him to the vet, he stopped drinking water in addition to his food strike, so we knew it was time.  He was 17 years old.  I got him for my 11th birthday... ironically, we put him down the day before my 28th birthday.  Love you forever, my Yoyo.  


I got some snuggle time in with Harley during nap time:


Nolan sported his football gear while wearing his helmet.  Reppin' the wolf pack!


I was spoiled by my two guys for my birthday, and we celebrated by eating out at Honey Salt for dinner.  I ordered the Charred Filet Mignon, and Jason ordered the Brick Oven Chicken.  We also got their signature Brookie for dessert... a Brownie-Cookie with salted carmel ice cream... SO delicious!  Nolan had a bite or two of ice cream while sitting like a big boy in his high chair.




I met up with my friend from college, Melissa, who was in town, and spent a few hours catching up with her and her boyfriend.  They both got to meet Nolan and get some love from the little man.  He was a little shy, but got to try some Taro ice cream (delish!) at Eis Cream Cafe, where we did our catching up!


We received Nolan's helmet decals in the mail, so we blinged out the band and had an impromptu photoshoot, of course!  See all of his pictures here!


Nolan demonstrated his new trick he learned while I snuck up on him and filmed....


We had our first check-up with the orthotist, and all was looking good after a week of wearing his band.  A few days later, his side effects started, which we are still waiting on the specialist to rule out anything before we return to full-time helmet wearing.


We had some massive thunderstorms one whole day, and the whole neighborhood was flooded.  We have never had so much rain to where it flooded our backyard and front since we've lived in the house.  Nolan thought it was fun, and Harley was terrified, as always when it comes to storms.  To make him feel better, we snuggled up in some blankets together!



Nolan looked so old while taking a nap one afternoon:


I got Nolan to laugh SO hard while playing peek-a-boo... this was even towards the tail-end of it, so he wasn't quite as giggly as the beginning!


We spent time with our friends, eating dinner and having a pajama party!  Nolan was particularly cranky towards the end of the night, so Hudson and Scarlett tried their hardest to make him feel better.  Hudson giving Nolan the paci might just be the sweetest thing ever.






Nolan started a new laugh, and although I haven't gotten the best video of it yet, I have gotten some pretty great pictures!


In honor of National Dog Day, I posted a picture of our other baby:


Baby boy looked HUGE and I almost cried after seeing the pictures I took of him... He has changed so much in the last month and doesn't even feel like a baby anymore.  He acts like a toddler already!


We practiced our "Gimme Fives" and Nolan, although distracted at first, showed off his new skill!


Nolan ate up some yummy avocado and cheddar cheese... He's really enjoying the start of finger foods!



Aunt Janet sent us some adorable PJs, so we took some pictures to say Thank You!


He went crazy with screaming laughter one afternoon, so I felt this was an appropriate Snapchat:

Little man wanted to hold Mommy's hand while watching T.V. one afternoon... Melt.


The puppy and baby had some bonding time:


This month, Nolan has really started babbling a TON and has been saying "Mama" and "Baba", but we aren't counting it as his first words yet because that's all it really is still, is... babbling.  He is going through his consonants, and thus far, has done M's, B's, Y's, G's and R's.  No D's for Dada or Dog yet!  He loves to babble every time he wakes up from sleeping, so sometimes I let him hang out in his crib for a while so I can hear what he has to say!  I'm so excited for him to being closer and closer to saying his first words.. I'm rooting for Mama, first, obviously!



Jason's surprise was a not-so-good one that ended up working out pretty well for him....
On the last Friday of the month, Jason got hit by another car on the way to work.  He was jolted a bit but wasn't injured, but the car wasn't so lucky and got pretty banged up.  With Jason's work, he needs a car... and with the long weekend, the insurance companies wouldn't be open for a rental by the time he needed one come time to return to work.  PLUS, Jason had been looking at new cars for quite some time.... especially the Volkswagen GTI that he's been dreaming of for years.  Just so happened, the dealership just got the exact one he wanted in that same day...and to top it off, the AutoMall offered free registration for Labor Day Weekend.  Needless to say, he went down to negotiate Saturday morning and came back a new GTI owner Saturday afternoon!  The timing of how everything worked out could not have been any more on point.  We spent the rest of the weekend enjoying his new Dad-mobile!



Nolan spent his Labor Day Weekend showing off his muscles and cleavage... rockin' the man tank for just a little longer before fall begins!

We are super excited to be ending the summer and welcoming fall!  It's my favorite time of the year, and I know the upcoming months are going to be extra special now that Nolan is around to experience the holidays!  Until then!