Trying to Squelch the Swaddle!

As Nolan is now 4 months old, I really want hoped to stop swaddling him at night. I read recently that you should not swaddle past 3-4 months since they can start flipping on their stomachs and therefore be a safety risk. I guess it's time to move past infanthood :(

So a few nights ago, I decided to go for the challenge! Night 1: Nolan woke up 5 times!! Night 2: Nolan woke up 7 times!!!

As I was a tired wreck, and Nolan did not seemed pleased with my cold-turkey approach to going swaddle-free, I decided I would let *him* indicate when he ready to squelch the swaddle!

And what do you know...that night, after swaddling him, he slept 12 hours!!!

Lovin' the exersaucer!

We recently picked up the exersaucer from Jenn & Jarrod, and I can honestly say that it's one of the best things we've received for Nolan yet!
As Nolan is quite the active kid - the guy only naps twice a day for ~30 minutes each, PLUS wants to be standing/moving anytime he's awake (which is obviously A LOT)! So this exersaucer gives me a nice break. I was even able to cook a dinner recently (chicken casserole...oh yes I did!) since I was able to get ~30 minutes free time!

Here's a video of my excited little man:

First Solid Food!

After my 4 month appointment with Dr. Fazilat, she recommended that we begin Nolan on some rice cereal. Dr. Fazilat explained that if your baby stares at you intently/looks interested while you eat + can hold up his head well, then they are ready to start solids.

As Nolan can't take his eyes off of us when we eat lately and has been able to hold up his head since newborn, we knew it was time to start!

The result: Nolan LOVES him some rice cereal. He was quite the voracious eater - this boy even moaned, grunted, and dove for the spoon between spoon refills! That's my big boy!

Bath Time Fun

The first couple months of Nolan's life he HATED baths. But once he hit ~3 months, he really started to LOVE his bath time!

I'm not sure if he got used to them, or if it was me singing/playing with him during baths, or maybe they naturally just grow to love baths....either way, he really digs his baths now. Sometimes he just chills in them like he's in a nice jacuzzi, sometimes he splashes around (making some extra clean-up for mom!); here is a pic of Mr. Chillaxin enjoying his jacuzzi :)

Family Pics

Since Nolan was born, I have wanted to get some professional family pictures done. As I was pretty overwhelmed with Nolan the first month or so, I never did get any newborn professional pics. But at 3 months, I thought it would be the perfect time to finally do it. He was smiling now and quite the little show-man.

So I, of course, call one of my oldest and closest friends, Katrine Davie. She started her own photography business a few years ago, and does some beautiful work. Here is the link to all the pics:
http://www.shutterfly.com/lightbox/view.sfly?fid=24a9b60a966fcbbdc7e45aad1e0cdff4

Valentines Date night

To avoid all the Valentines Day chaos, Francis and I decided to wait the Saturday after V-day to celebrate together. Also, since V-day landed on a Monday night, it was much easier to get a sitter (my sister-in-law, Jenn, on this occasion! thanks mucho!) on a Saturday night. We were able to go for an early dinner and truly relax. No ticking timer on us reminding us to finish quickly and get home in time to put Nolan in bed.
It was such a great night! We started out at Left Bank Restaurant in Santana Row (absolutely delicious!), and then went over to Village Cafe for more drinks and a fabulous bread pudding dessert. I had a nice little buzz + delicious food in my belly, so it definitely made for a good Valentines night, hehe.
And to top it off, Nolan slept 10.5 hours that night!!!!!!!!!! That's right, 10.5 hours!!! I'm not sure what Jenn did to Nolan that night, but she is definitely babysitting more often!!

"Bobby!"

The funniest/spookiest thing has started. Just recently, Connor has started calling Robert "Bobby".
Why is this spooky, you ask?

• When Robert (who is named after my father, who went by "Bob") was 1.5 years old, he suddenly started saying that his name was "Bob" when asked his name. My brother responded, "you mean Robert", to which Robert responded, "No, B-Bob!" No one has *ever* called Robert "Bob".
• When my father was a child, everyone called him "Bobby".
  

So I found it so spooky that Connor suddenly went from calling Robert "Robba" to "Bobby". Just weird, but funny!!

You're breaking daddy's heart!

I was worried my frozen milk would go bad before I even went back to work, so about a week ago we started using my frozen milk to feed Nolan right before his bedtime.

Francis, being the awesome dad he is, took on the task of this bedtime feeding; I would then go pump. This should be no problem, as Francis used to do all the midnight feedings before Nolan was sleeping through the night.

However, Nolan was not cool with this. He literally SCREAMED the entire feedings. Nolan would take a little sip, then scream for a minute...little sip, then scream. I thought that maybe Nolan didn't like this thawed milk, but as soon as I held the bottle, he was totally content. I guess Nolan is just used to me feeding/comforting him right before bed (sigh).

We decided to fight through this and let him scream, hopefully break him of this issue. But it breaks my heart to hear him - it sounds like he's in PAIN. But I know he's not, so I have to let daddy continue feeding him.

What's worst, I can see on Francis' face how much it hurts him that Nolan is "rejecting" him. It honestly brings tears to my eyes. We'll see how things go...

Sleep updates

My baby guy is 3.5 months old now (tear rolling down cheek) . How did this all happen so fast, and how can I possibly go back to work and leave my baby in 6 weeks?!!! But I digress; let's discuss the original intent of this post....

For the past couple weeks, Nolan has been sleeping ~7-8+ hours a night! I can't tell you how amazing I feel now with a few extra hours of sleep. I probably only get 6 hours max of straight sleep since it's quite difficult putting myself down at 8pm (when Nolan goes down), but I do try to get into bed by 10pm. Given that I used to go to bed around midnight/1am, 10pm bed time is a feat for me!

Now if I can only get 10+ hours....I'm not trying to be greedy, but then maybe i could get 8 hours of sleep myself :)

Breastfeeding Bonding

With all the initial difficulties encountered when you are first learning to breastfeed (both you *and* the baby are learning!), it's time like these that just make it feel so worthwhile.

Nolan often likes to hold my thumb while I breastfeed him. However lately he has been rubbing my chest while he eats. He just brushes his hand along my chest, like he's rubbing my heart. It just melts me.

More sleep!

Nolan slept from 8:15pm to 5:45am! 9.5 glorious hours of sleep...for him, that is :) Probably around 7 hours for me, though. I still love it and I will take another 7+ hours, please!

"Mama Juice" Trip

Today I went on a FAB-U-LOUS wine trip with 12 other mom friends. I can't tell you enough how I needed that break...and the wine!
My friend Sarah Denson planned the trip: Limo bus picked us up at her place at noon, took us to 4 wineries in the Santa Cruz mountains, and then back by around 5:45pm. I was back home with my two favorite guys by 6pm. What a PERFECT day!

Pre-pregnancy jeans fit !!!!! Woot!!!

Yesterday, for some reason, I thought I would be cruel to myself and try on my pre-pregnancy jeans.

To my surprise, they fit (little snugger, but nonetheless still fit)!!!!!!!!! What's odd: I still have ~12 pounds to lose to hit my pre-pregnancy weight and I definitely don't look like I'm in the same shape I was prior to Nolan, but I will take this small win!!

What's frustrating is that I lost 27 pounds within the first couple months....and then it all came to a halt. I've been at a total standstill. I count my calories...not an ounce is lost. I eat everything....not and ounce is lost *or* gained! Oy, I just need to get this jiggly butt running again!