Nicolas Jay: 8 Months

Nicolas is 8 months old now, really 8 1/2, and sooo much is changing with him I had to do a quick post on what is going on in his life right now.

 I gave up baby books in 2009. ha. So really this is an online baby book for me. Feel free to read along if you wish. :)

He is FIN-A-LLY sleeping through the night (for a month or so now). He started waking up again, so I've let him cry 2-3 nights over the past few weeks but he does great now. 10-11 hours solid, and I'm looking forward to when 12 hours becomes a part of our lives.

 I've noticed a huge change in the solid food area of his life this month. He has cut way down on nursing (not sure how I feel about that) and loves to eat real food. Bread ranks his #1 favorite right now, followed by bananas, sweet potatoes and carrots. This week he tried pizza and was a huge fan. He really eats everything at this point and feeds himself really well! The baby-led weaning style of eating has been so much easier than the way I fed my other kids. I love it!

He's been rocking on his knees and standing on all fours for a few months now, but he won't actually crawl more than a few times before back into scooting where he gets all over the place fast. His favorite place to be is under the kitchen table. :) He loves to pull himself up to standing if the object to pull himself up on is low enough, and then he gets pretty proud of himself.

His eyes are still very blue with no signs of changing yet. My other kids had blue eyes this long, but they were changing at this point so I'm wondering if he'll keep the bright blue?

 And speaking of eyes, he was diagnosed with stribismus, which is the fancy term for wandering eye (or lazy eye). Since it was caught so young (his 6 month well visit) it's not gotten too bad yet and his vision is still fine. He wears a patch on his good eye for 1 hour a day and it is the cutest thing I have ever seen! It really doesn't seem to bother him at all. We go for another check up in a few weeks to see if we can cut down to every other day depending on how his muscles are strengthened through this month. I had a list of several pediatric orthopedic Doctors and chose one at random. I was super impressed with him and his office. Later, a friend with a son who has the same problem told me he was the best in our city! I love how the Lord works out little things like that.

His looks are changing quite a bit, but he is still twinnies with Brooke, which she loves.

Phone captures over the past few weeks...

 Happy crawler

First day with his patch

Standing at the couch and tickling big brother's foot ;)

His second fever in just 3 weeks... we all had a day like this yesterday. I think it's teething, because besides being fussy and warm, he has no other symptoms. I do garlic drops in his ears just in case it's that.

I couldn't end on that note, so here's one more of my little guy who is happy 99.9% of the time. ;)

Happy Friday, friends! Have a great weekend!

Nicolas Tries Food (Baby-Led Weaning)

It doesn't matter what number baby you are--new milestones are a big deal. Probably an even bigger deal when you have older siblings to squeal excitedly over every little new thing you accomplish. Since Nicolas is 6 months old, I decided to start giving him some solids this week and it was so much fun. I'm giving baby-led weaning a go, and was amazed at how well he chewed and swallowed without choking! Babies at this age still get 100% of their nutrition from milk, so at this point it's just exploring and learning the hand and eye coordination to feed themselves. He puts everything in his mouth at this point, so that was a good indication that he was ready to start.

The older kids were super excited to help with this exciting event!

Their faces when trying something new are always priceless! And yes, he was chewing chunks this big, even though a lot of it came out of his mouth. Their chewing/swallowing is completely developed at this age--apparently, they learn it from sucking. Amazing! He loved to play with it and look at it, which "they" say is their way of learning and exploring new foods. 

The banana pieces were too slippery, so this was his preferred method of choice ;). I've since learned that you can give it to them right in the peel with some of it cut off. That worked much better because he had something big to grip and hold.

This is his, "OK Mom, shows over. Can I go to bed now?" face

Based on just a few days of experience (ha), I highly recommend this method of feeding! Of course, do your own research, and the book (which I borrowed from a friend-thanks, Amy!) was very helpful as well! Nicolas doesn't have any teeth yet, so I feel comfortable with only giving him soft foods for now, and I'm excited about the fact that I don't have to sit and feed him. He will participate right in our family meals all on his own!
 I won't bore you by making you listen to me lament about the fact that he is so old, (6 months is such a milestone!) so I'll end there.
 Have a great rest of your week, friends!

Blissfully Exhausting

The past 12 days have been a blissfully exhausting blur of feeding baby, changing baby, cuddling baby, bouncing baby, kissing baby, staring at baby, repeat, repeat, repeat. He has been such a good boy--so laid back and easy going! He nurses like a champ and weighed 7.13 at his 2 week check up today.

 I have learned after 4 kids to let my body recover and rest as long as I can, which I'm blessed to do since my Mom is here to take care of everything else. I am forever indebted to her for the countless loads of laundry, cleaning, cooking, and most importantly, loving on my other 3 while Mommy is out of commission. While I'm exhausted, I can't imagine how much more exhausted and frazzled I would be if she was not here to make my post partum weeks easy and enjoyable.

My kids met their baby brother for the first time when he was just a few hours old, unbathed and undressed. For them to see him so new and fresh was something that I really hoped would happen God worked it all out! Nicolas was born a little after 6 on a Sunday night, which meant the kids were able to come right after church was over!

I'll be honest--I totally broke down and cried when they walked in, all smiles. There isn't really any way to describe the overwhelming feeling of joy I was experiencing to see all of my babies, meeting their newest sibling on the outside for the first time. Nathan was obsessed with my belly the entire pregnancy and would not go to bed without "kissing baby". He looked at my belly, then at Nicolas, back at my belly and said, "the other one baby is in there?" It didn't take him long to figure out that the baby had finally come out and he was so enthralled with his little brother from that moment. And obviously, he had been eating something very blue. ;)

Our first family picture when Nicolas was less than 3 hours old. 

My grandma and Aunt traveled down to visit, and it was so special to have them here with the baby just being born. Our time together was too short, but we had such a great time together. Anytime I get to spend with family from home is comforting and gives me just the boost I need.

"Grammy" meeting Nicolas

They adore their Nonnie

She is my biggest helper, like I knew she would be. She loves to dress him, change him and of course hold him any chance she gets.

                              

Nathan had to make sure he had a ball to play with ;)

Nathan has been a handful and a half since the baby was born. He loves his little brother to death, but he's had a rough time adjusting to the change. I'm really hoping he turns a corner soon!

We got family and newborn pictures done last week, and I'm hoping to have them soon and share a few soon!

 Happy Friday! Have a great weekend!

Welcome Nicolas!

Introducing:

 Nicolas Jay

 7lb, 10oz, 21 in

 August 17th, 2014

After many prayers that I would go into labor the weekend after my Mom got here and trying every old wives tale in the book, I went into labor on Sunday morning. It's amazing the little things God does in our lives to show us that he still answers prayer and cares about our every desire. To me, having a baby at the time that we prayed was nothing short of a miracle!

We could not be more in love. Nicolas has been a content, easy baby so far and we are so blessed for another healthy, perfect little boy!

Birth story to come. For now I have to go snuggle. :)

Daily Moments ~ Late Summer Edition

Right now the kids are sitting at the table with my Mom, eating warm cookies and milk and doing crafts. She's here until after I have the baby, which could be any day, and I'm already so much more relaxed with her here. She took the kids for dates today and they each came home with a special gifts and stories of vanilla ice cream cones and french fries. Meanwhile, I took a nap, made dinner and straightened up the house a little. Just having her here makes my life a thousand times easier and more relaxing. (Mom, want to stay forever?!)

 This summer has been super. Honestly, we have done just the right amount of little things over the weeks and enjoyed it to the fullest. I am relishing this time with my babies who are at such precious, fun ages. We have a few weeks before school starts and I think by then I will be just about ready!

Summer Moments:

Ice cream picnic and movie night--the kids loved this!

Got a Groupon for our local Children's Museum. The kids could spend all day there!

Miniature Bowling...so much fun!

Ball: $2.00. Look on his face: Priceless.

"Mommy, I'm pregnant." Bounce bounce bounce. He's been watching Mommy a lot this month ;)

A much needed few hours out alone for last minute baby shopping

Patiently waiting for their bedtime story

Date night selfie gone wrong ;)

My diligent little helper sorting socks

Yogurt Lover

Yesterday I had my 39 week appointment. Pretty hard to believe--this pregnancy has flown by way too fast! I'm very ready to have this baby, but also relishing these weeks of our family of 5 and no 2am wake up calls. ;) My blood platelets dropped to a crazy low number at 36 weeks and I became a high risk patient, which was stressful. Visited a blood specialist, got a detailed u/s of our beautiful baby boy and talked about which OBGYN and hospital to switch to. However, thanks to many people praying for me, my counts came up drastically within a few days. It was truly a miracle and I will still be allowed to deliver at the birth center, which I am so relieved and excited about! God is so good! My counts, while still low, are within a safe range and have stayed stable for the last 2 weeks!

 I'm hoping that my next post will be a baby announcement (fingers crossed!) and I would really appreciate the prayers for a fast, safe, easy delivery with no complications. Yes, I said fast and easy--because what expectant Mom wouldn't want that? :)

 I hope you all are enjoying these last wonderful weeks of summer!

Baby #4 ~ Week 34

How I'm feeling:
 Basically how every other pregnant woman feels at this point. Huge and uncomfortable--but still pretty good most of the time! I cannot complain. I'm still exercising and pretty active which keeps my energy levels up. I'm not quite ready to be "done", though--still have a lot to do this summer with the kids before baby comes along! One thing that has been different this pregnancy is sharp, lower abdominal pains. I've had the usual stretching pains before, but this has been different and has brought me to tears a few times. I'm told it's the pulling down of my uterus with not much muscle to hold it up because of multiple babies. And of course, I'm peeing like every hour or so at night, and even more frequently during the day! Oh, the joys. ;)

 Cravings?

 I mean, I could say I want sugar and everything bad for me--but really, that's the stuff I pretty much crave every other day when I'm not pregnant so I can't really blame it on pregnancy! I'm trying to be good, though, and limit my weight gain in these last weeks. So far so good in the weight department, and I'm hoping to gain the least I ever have this time around. We shall see!

Belly News:

 The thing is massive at this point. Sometimes it's hard to imagine I have 6 weeks of growing left, but I know that every pregnant mama feels the same way. My belly is oh-so-happy when it's floating in the pool, which is where I'm very blessed to spend usually a few hours a day. Talk about heavenly! I always tell people I would rather have my last trimester in the summer rather than the first--as crazy as it sounds considering the heat here--because not feeling morning sickness in the intense heat is a huge plus. And, the pool. Have I mentioned the pool? Yeah, I'm pretty much in love with it at this point.

 What I'm looking forward to:

 Honestly, this last month and a half of no baby! Does that sound bad? I can't wait to hold my precious little man, but right now I'm really focused on the three we have and making these last weeks super fun for them. This is my usual time of getting pretty sentimental about how our lives are about to change because I'm totally sappy like that, so we're making the most of the time we have left with no constant diaper changes, feeding, crying, sleepless nights, etc. ;) In about 3 weeks I know I will be so ready--just haven't quite reached that point yet!

 Will be back later this week with some day to day happenings around here.
 Happy Monday!

Baby #4, weeks 24-31

I have missed a ton of pregnancy updates this pregnancy, so I wanted to a little bit of a catch up. My last update was finding out we were having another precious baby boy. After that, Nate and I went to Florida and that was when I really started feeling super great and loving pregnancy again ;). May was extremely busy for me, as I mentioned before, so it really flew by. Really, this entire pregnancy has flown. I'm already buzzing through the last trimester and time doesn't seem to be slowing down yet!

Possibly the worst moment was when I came down with the stomach flu the night before I was shooting a wedding. Let me just tell you, throwing up at 7 months pregnant is not fun. You Mom's that have awful morning sickness--my hats off to you that you keep having more kids! I wouldn't do it, I know myself. I'm a wimp. Give me labor and delivery any day over that!

 At around 28 weeks, I had my glucose test as well as an ultrasound to check on my placenta. As usual it was a little low, but as of now it's moved to where it's supposed to be. Praise the Lord! The best part was seeing my precious little man again--seriously amazing. He was all smooched against the placenta, but she was still able to get a pretty decent 3D shot for me and I really fell in love with him more than ever.

24 weeks, 28 weeks & 30 weeks

As usual, my braxton hicks have started in full swing. My body likes to prepare early, even though I don't necessarily deliver very early. But when the time comes, it's fast, and I attribute that to my weeks...and weeks...and weeks of braxton hicks and eventually contractions.
 And speaking of labor--this time around we are going with a birth center and I am SO excited about it. I really needed to switch Doctors (much to my disappointment--they were amazing) because of fast labors and the minimum 40 minute drive to the hospital. I did a lot of research and really looked into water birth, because I would love to labor and possibly birth in a tub depending on how I'm feeling at the time. The only place that even had tubs to labor in was a birth center about 25 minutes away, so I went for a tour at the beginning of my pregnancy and fell in love. They have all of the equipment there for infant resuscitation, if, God forbid, it's needed, as well as IV's, medicines and pitocin for hemorrhaging, a wonderful relationship with the hospitals, etc, etc. I was so impressed with all of this, and since I've been blessed with 3 natural deliveries and no complications, Nate and I made the decision to switch to them. It has been amazing. I've worked with midwives since my first pregnancy and anyone who has knows how special they are! I have friends who have delivered there, and another friend due one day after me who is delivering there as well, which is so much fun!

 Anyway, other than sore feet at the end of a long day, a really bad digestive system (ehem) and feeling like I can't breathe at night--I'm doing great! And yes, rolling over and getting out of bed is officially an act of congress. I'm not complaining--every day with this sweet boy (name TBA at birth ;) inside of me is a true gift. I love every single movement, even when he does push against my bladder and crush the living daylights out of my lungs. I cherish every moment of this pregnancy, even the discomforts, and am so thankful that God has chosen me to carry another life into this world.