Nolan's Newborn Pictures!

We had Nolan's newborn photos taken when he was 11 days old with our go-to photographer, Kassidy Baker Photography!  He started off the session wide awake and a little cranky... just after I had told Kassidy how great of a baby he was and how easy he has been since he sleeps all.the.time.  Oops... looks like I jinxed that one.  I nursed him for a bit in hopes to milk-drunk him up... and it worked!  From there on, he was out cold and we got some great shots of our adorable little man.  My favorites are the detail shots as well as the baseball ones that will be going up in his nursery.  Couldn't have been any more perfect!

Thank you again, Kassidy!  You always do such a great job!  We love how they came out!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day from this little cutie who is ONE WHOLE MONTH old today!

We couldn't decide on which Valentine's card we liked the most... so we're posting all three!

(in reference to those wonderful Ryan Gosling memes all over the Internet!)

And just for fun... some outtakes from our photoshoot!  We hope you have a great Valentine's Day... I know ours will be full of snuggles, kisses and hugs!

Nolan: Four Weeks

Can you believe this little guy is already four weeks old today, and will be ONE month old in three days!?  I certainly can't believe how time is already flying by.  Week after week he amazes me that he is still such a great, easy baby.  I know all moms probably say that their baby is great, but he really is such an easy one!  He still sleeps a TON and is eating well with our exclusive pumping schedule.  Nolan has chunked up and filled out a lot in the last week, which is great for his weight gain that we've been focusing on!  From his appointment last week on Monday, when he weighed 7 lbs. 13 oz., I continued to monitor his weight and visited the Women's Center for a free check.  Big boy gained more weight and clocked in at 8 lbs. 5 oz!  Hopefully by our next appointment with the pediatrician, his weight gain will be up even more and we can focus on some sense of normalcy with feedings!

Nolan has been making a bunch more facial expressions and is connecting extremely well with faces and identifying Mommy and Daddy's voices.  He recognizes when Jason is home from a long day of work and gives him smiles and coos when Jason first says hi!  Some days, he will coo and make noises a lot and we'll exchange sounds back and forth.  We introduced reading books to him during his bedtime routine, and he focuses on the books as much as he can and intently listens to the story before passing out.  His personality is coming out more and he is a man that knows what he wants, when he wants it!  When feeding, we've learned to burp him fairly often since he has a hard time burping on his own.  When we take the bottle out, he screams and makes it known that he is hungry and needs his bottle ASAP!  After a few cries, tears, and a burp, he's content when that nipple goes right back into his mouth.  

One of his "expressions"... Mom!  I'm over this!

My favorite thing is his smiles that are occurring more and more each day!  Who could resist this face!? 

We took lots of pictures this week: His four week pictures, Valentine's Day pictures, and a special gift for Daddy!  We'll share those soon!

Nolan: Three Weeks

Nolan is three weeks old!  He is still the best little baby we could ever ask for (biased, maybe?  Yes, but we're allowed)!  We're getting more into a regular schedule with our 3 hour and 4 hour feedings.  Jason has gone back to work this week, so Nolan and I have been working on forming our daily routine with things to do, places to go, chores to finish, etc.  As of right now, we get up in the morning after our 9:30am feeding, get ourselves ready for the day, and spend some awake time hanging out.  This is the most alert time Nolan has during the day and I try to keep him awake as much as I can!  After drifting off to sleep, our next feedings are at 12:30 and 3:30pm, where I try to get things done around the house and off my to-do list while he sleeps.  Jason gets home around 5:00pm, we get dinner together, and Nolan usually eats around 6:30pm.  I get two quick feedings in around 8:30pm and 10:30pm to top him off before night.  Bath and bedtime is after his 8:30pm feeding, and then he's good until 2:30am and 6:30am, which is when Jason wakes up for work.  This schedule works out great for us, so we're hoping we can keep it this way for a little bit!  

As far as his weight gain progress- last week Friday, we saw the doctor and he had lost weight from his previous weigh-in.  He went from 6 lbs 15 oz. to 6 lbs. 11 oz.  At this point, the doctor wanted us to supplement with formula.  I really wanted to keep him on a breastmilk diet if I could, so we agreed I should try exclusively pumping to see if Nolan wasn't latching and getting milk, if he was falling asleep too often at the breast, or if my milk was not calorically dense enough for him to gain weight.  Over the weekend we exclusively pumped for all feedings, and went back for a weight check on Monday.  From Friday to Monday, little piggy had gained 1 lb. 2 oz!  His weight shot up to 7 lbs. 13 oz.  We were all in disbelief, so we weighed him twice just to make sure, and sure enough, it was correct!  So, at this time, we're sticking to exclusively pumping.  It's a lot of work having to pump out what I immediately feed him, but down the road it should get easier as my supply builds.  The doctor warned that my supply may drop off if I don't nurse every now and then, but we've tried a couple times since, and it's still a frustrating process.  Most often times, we both end up in tears, and it's just not worth the stress!  So, making my first tough mommy decision thus far since he's been born, we've agreed to strictly pump and if my supply falls off, we'll go from there and supplement with formula.  So far everything has been going great, and I'll be doing everything I can to exclusively pump and keep up my supply for as long as possible! 

Nolan is becoming more vocal and has started to make some coos and other sounds other than just crying.  He has started to smile big open mouth smiles, and we're almost sure they are not due to gas! He still loves to be talked to and listens intently, making many different facial expressions while he listens.  He has discovered the T.V. this week, as it's usually always on in the house, and tends to move his head towards it's direction when we're changing his diaper or if he's in his swing.  We've stopped swaddling in his arms at night time, and swaddle only from armpit down, since he's made it very clear now that he needs his hands readily available and likes to flair his arms in the air when he's in a deep sleep.

He has become much more alert and can follow faces really well now.  He stays awake a little bit more than last week.  He likes to stay awake after his morning feeding, but most other times during the day, he still enjoys getting plenty of sleep!  Which I can't complain about... most moms would love to have their baby sleep so much!

Next week, little man is going to be ONE MONTH old!  I can't believe how quickly it's flying by, already.  Until then!

BIG open mouth smile... caught his first one on camera!