Seven weeks old today!Noah has finally figured out how to give us a real smile. Trying to get a smile out of him is now my new favorite thing to do. He is just getting more and more fun the older he gets. He is also talking quite a bit now and really coos up a storm when he is in the crib watching his mobile. I'm pretty sure he is going to be a pretty vocal kid...he is REALLY good at crying when he doesn't get his way and now cooing and grunting all the time. I love it though. You can just tell he is trying so hard to tell you something. His mind is constantly going and he just looks around so intently at absolutely everything in sight. I think that's why he doesn't sleep during the day - he just doesn't want to miss anything! He's a mess already! Not a laid back baby at all! We are still really working on naps during the day but it's not going so well. I have tried everything I can think of and nothing really works. The only time he will go to sleep in either in his carseat or bouncy infant seat. I have tried the whole "let him cry it out thing" and that does not work with him. He will literally cry for 2 hours no matter how tired he is and will not go to sleep. Maybe someday we will get it figured out, but until then I'm just going to be thankful that he sleeps at night.
Noah is changing every single day it seems like. We went back to the Dr this week because he has thrush (fun! guess now I know why he has been so fussy) and he now weighs an impressive 10 lbs 15 oz. I knew he was getting chunky but I was a little surprised that he already weighs that much. I can't wait to see how much more he is going to gain by his 2 month check up. He is still wearing all his newborn clothes but I can tell he is about to grow out of them very soon. He just gets cuter every day!
He is already starting to do some new things. He likes to play a lot more now, and he will smile at me when I'm playing with him. It just melts my heart every time! He also learned how to blow bubbles and spit this week. He does it constantly, especially when I'm trying to give him his medicine. It's really funny. He is also getting much better at holding his head up. He has actually lifted his whole head all the way up and looked around for about a minute. I was so proud!
This weekend we went to Stillwater with Grandma and Grandpa to see Kelsey and Cody. Noah and I stayed the night with them for the first time. It went pretty well and he did pretty good. We left him with dad and Cody for a few hours while we went to the movies. I was a little nervous about that, but they both did great! Cody still won't do diapers but I heard he was in charge of feeding.
I also got the stroller out this week for the first time. I have been wanting to take Noah for walks in the evening since he LOVES being outside but it has just been way too hot for him. It was pretty nice last night so we walked to Kathy and Bill's to say hi then around the neighborhood for about 45 minutes. He loved every minute of it! Hopefully we can start a new evening ritual since it calms him down so much.
Not much new to report this week. Noah has been a little more fussy lately, so it has been a long couple of weeks for mom. We've been trying to get on a better nap schedule and started some gas drops but nothing really helps. He is just not a happy camper!
We did get to start giving him real baths, which he loves. It is SO much better now! It seems to calm him down a little and help with the fussiness. We are still trying the bottles every once in a while. He is getting better with them but it's still not the same as nursing. He just doesn't seem to be content with the bottles no matter how much I give him. Hopefully that will change!
I can't believe my baby is already a month old! Where did the time go? These past few weeks have absolutely flown by but they have been wonderful. Noah is a GREAT baby and I couldn't be any happier! He is finally starting to fill out his newborn clothes and is now able to wear most of them. He hasn't had much to wear since he was so small when he was born. We finally got to spend a little bit of time outside this week. It has been SO hot lately that we haven't been able to do anything outside. Noah likes to sit in his infant seat while I water the flowers. Him and Zoe hang out and watch me. Zoe likes to keep an eye on him. She is already a little protective of him and I'm sure that will just get worse as he gets older.
Noah is starting to smile more and more though I'm not sure he does it in response to anything yet. Hopefully we will get to see his first real smile soon! He has also started stretching a lot these days. It's really cute! He throws both of his arms over his head and stretches really big. I'm a little biased though, he could poop all over me and I would think it was cute!
We made our first trip out to Sayre with Noah this weekend to celebrate the forth of July. Matt was actually off work the whole weekend so it worked out perfectly. I don't know if I could've managed by myself. We had a great weekend! I know Noah will love going to grandpa's to play on the farm when he gets a little older. Noah still slept great at night even though we were away from home which I am SO thankful for. I was a little worried about that. He still isn't sleeping hardly at all during the day so the only sleep I get is at night. I would rather him be up all day than all night though.
My dad wrote Noah a song, which he started before he was born, and he played it for him the first time this week. It was awesome! Noah really likes listening to his dad and grandpa play the guitar. He just stares so hard at them and really listens intently. I try singing to him but he doesn't seem to enjoy that, BUT he does love listening to the piano which I happen to be good at (singing not so much).
Every one loves Noah so much and can't get enough of him. He is so lucky to have so many people that love him already!
We celebrated Kelsey's 22nd birthday this week with a surprise dinner at Musashi's Japanese Steakhouse. It was the first time we had taken Noah out of Yukon since we came home from the hospital. Thankfully he does great in his car seat and falls asleep immediately every time. I also started pumping this week so we could start giving Noah a bottle every once in a while to get him used to it.
For some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to give Noah his first bottle in the middle of a noisy restaurant. He did okay with it but most of it ended up on his shirt, plus he was not happy with a 10 minute feeding when he's used to nursing for about 45 minutes. After he was done with the bottle he was ready to suck some more so he wasn't in a great mood for dinner. Luckily, my dad was able to hold him and calm him down because I couldn't get near him without him wanting to nurse.
Overall we had a great time and it was awesome to get out of the house for awhile. It's a little stressful going places with him now but I know it will get easier. Still, I can't complain - he does great (as long as there are plenty of people to hold him and he has his pacifier).
This week Noah's umbilical cord FINALLY came off so we were able to start doing some tummy time with him. He actually really likes it and will set there for awhile. Zoe likes tummy time too because she gets to play with all of Noah's toys. She has been a little neglected lately so she gets really excited when I can sit down and play with her for a little bit.
Noah's circumcision healed up last week so now he is good to go. It's so much easier to change his diaper now, which is great since he goes through more than 10 diapers a day. It seems like all I do these days is feed him and change him. I love it though and wouldn't trade a moment of being with him for anything!
Another fun week with Noah! This week was MUCH easier than last week, but Matt had to go back to work this week. Thankfully, I have had lots of family and friends staying with me to help out since I'm still not feeling 100%. We were finally able to put Noah in his swing this week - which he really likes most of the time. He has to be in the mood for it though (he will definitely let you know if he's not). He also started spending some time playing with his crib gym. He doesn't get much out of it yet, but he seems to like staring at everything.
We also celebrated Father's Day this week. Noah gave his daddy his card and spent some time snuggling with him. He always perks up when Matt is around, and obviously loves him a lot already. I can definitely see him being a daddy's boy when he gets a little older. My own dad got to come up for a visit on Father's Day also. He used to HATE coming to the city, but I think that is going to change now that he can see Noah. Both of my parents are very attached to him already.
Noah had a big first this week - we took him out to eat for the first time! We kept it pretty simple. We just went to Johnny Carino's in Yukon because I didn't want to go too far with him yet. He did really good. He just slept the entire time in his car seat. After that I may be more willing to get him out. It still makes me really nervous though since he hasn't had any bottles yet. I really don't want to have to breastfeed him in public.
We also went back to the Dr this week for his 2 week check-up. Everything was perfect! His jaundice is completely gone and he has gained back his birth weight plus a little. He's now up to 7 lbs 8 oz. We were thrilled!
This week has been both great and exhausting! I didn't know that it was possible to be so tired and still function (barely). We had a great first day home with Noah. He adjusted really well and we were enjoying getting to know him. I should've known things were going too well...
We had to take him to the doctor on the 12th (the day after we got home) to check his jaundice levels to make sure they weren't getting too high. Sure enough they had climbed from an 11 to a 17 overnight. We were told that we were going to have to get a bilirubin light at home and that he had to be in it for at least 17 hours a day. Also, we found out that we were going to have to monitor him 24 hours a day! So much for sleeping. I broke down and called my mom to come help. Thankfully she came and stayed with us for the next few days. Between the three of us working in shifts we made it. Finally, on Sunday, his levels dropped down to a 10 and we were able to get rid of the light. We were so happy to be able to hold and cuddle with him again!
Noah had his first bath this week, which he absolutely hated. Hopefully he will like regular baths better once his cord falls off or we are in trouble. Other than that we pretty much just stayed at home and enjoyed taking care of Noah. He is such a good baby and is sleeping really good at night for his age. Even though this week was hard, we are so thankfully and we know how blessed we are!
We were discharged from the hospital on June 10th and we were so happy to finally go home. It had been a long two days! I hadn't even been out of the hospital room since we arrived on Monday. Noah did pretty well while we were in the hospital but he didn't sleep much. I learned newborns aren't always sleepyheads like everyone says they are! He stayed in our room with us most of the time, but I had the nurse take him a couple of times during the night so that I could get a little sleep.
While we were there he was circumcised and had a hearing test (which he passed with flying colors). He also had his first check-up with his doctor. She said he had a lot of mucus in his stomach that was making him gag a lot so he had to have his stomach pumped. Poor baby! He also started to show signs of jaundice on our second day there so we were instructed to keep him in indirect sunlight once we got him home.
He did really good on the ride home. He fell asleep immediately and stayed that way the entire time. It was great to finally be home with Noah. Max (cat) and Zoe (dog) also did really well with the baby. Max just ignored him and Zoe sniffed him a little then just curled up at my feet while I fed him. I was a little worried about them so I was relieved when they did so good.
We are excited to announce the arrival of our baby, Noah Marcus Bradshaw. He arrived on June 8th, 2009 at 6:19pm. He weighed 7 lbs 5 oz and measured 19 1/2 inches long. Everyone expected a much bigger baby since I weighed 10 lbs when I was born, but we were all wrong! He is tiny and perfect. He is very healthy expect for a little reflux due to a lot of mucus in his stomach. He is a GREAT nurser and breastfeeding him has been a breeze. We are very blessed to have such a perfect little baby and we love him soo much!
We scheduled the induction for Monday, June 8th so that Matt would be able to be at home with us for a full week. We had to be at the hospital at 5:30am that morning. I was a nervous wreck on the way there. I just couldn't believe the big day had finally arrived! We, of course, got there about 30 minutes late, and they started the pitocin drip at about 7:00am. I had decided to try to get through the whole thing without any drugs, so we were prepared for a long rough day. However, I had no idea just how rough it would be. I started feeling the contractions at about 9:00am and they weren't that bad at all. They checked me around 10 or so and I was dilated to a four. I was pretty confident at that point that I was going to be able to do it. BUT, about half an hour after that things took a turn for the worse. The contractions got really bad all of the sudden and they were just right on top of each other with no break in between. It was the most unbelievable pain! I tried to get through it but I couldn't even breathe through them. I started hyperventilating and crying. At that point it was about 1:00pm and I just lost it. I decided to go ahead and get an epidural because I felt like I was about to die. It was about 30 minutes before they got to me, but definitely worth it! I still had a lot of pain on my left side after they did it so they had to give me another round of medicine. After that I was completely numb. They said I would be able to feel my legs, but I couldn't even move my toes. It was great from that point on. They checked me again right after the epidural and I was an 8. Then at about 2pm they checked again and I was a ten and ready to push. However, the doctor wasn't ready so I just hung out in the room with my family until about 5pm. Finally, my doctor got there and I could start pushing. It was very difficult at first because I was so numb and the baby was turning the wrong way. Abby was there video taping at that point. I think she was pretty traumatized by the whole thing. Then, after about an hour of pushing, things started to move along. I started feeling my legs again and the baby finally started to cooperate.
So, at 6:19pm, our little one finally arrived!! We are so thankful to have such a beautiful and healthy little boy!
