First Smile!

Nolan has just started really smiling in the last 2 weeks or so.  By "really" smiling I mean smiling when he's awake, actually happy and engaged.  (He's been doing the asleep, milk-drunk smiles for awhile)  Anyway, I finally caught a "real" smile on camera.  Oh My Heart!!

Grandma & Grandpa Schabow's visit

We were so lucky to have a visit from grandma & grandpa Schabow last week. We had a great time visiting with them and even got to have a late Christmas together. They were able to spend lots of time snuggling with Nolan and were a huge help. Steve & I even went out for dinner one night while grandma and grandpa babysat. Can't wait for our next time together! Here are some pictures from our week.

2 Months Old

It's funny how two months can feel like nothing and a lifetime all at the same time. I feel like I was just at the hospital getting ready to meet Nolan, yet I feel like he's been a part of our family forever :) Sure do love this little boy!

Little guy has been growing like crazy!! At two months old Nolan is 11.68 pounds an 24 inches long - holy cow!!! He's at the 85th %ile for length compared to other 2 month olds (he's taller than 85 % of them) and if you compare him to other 36 week babies he's at the 90th%ile (taller than 90%)!! Guess he'll be taking after his daddy in the height department ;)

Check out how much he's grown since his one month photo. The stickers are the same size!!

Christmas 2010

This Christmas we had anticipated staying home with Nolan because we figured he'd be no more than 2-3 weeks old at Christmas. But, since he was a bit older than expected we were able to travel with him after all. About 3 weeks before Christmas we lucked out and found reasonably priced tickets to fly to San Antonio. We only told my parents we were coming and we braved the airports on Christmas Eve to surprise the rest of my family by showing up on Christmas morning.

Nolan did a great job on the flights!! Way better than we expected. He slept and ate pretty much the whole day. His grandma Schabow had a conversation with him via skype the week before and told Nolan to be a good boy on the flights and he listened ;)

all packed up and ready to travel!

snuggling with daddy on the plane

We got to my parents house around midnight on Christmas Eve and woke my sister up from a sound sleep. She was so surprised and a bit out of it trying to figure out what was going on!

sneakin' in

The next morning, Steve, Nolan and I hid in a back room to surprise the rest of my family when they arrived for Christmas festivities. They had no idea we were coming and I think our surprise made their Christmas!

check out these faces!

We've had no shortage of volunteers to hold and snuggle with Nolan. Here he is with my pappaw who is 90 years old this year!

great Aunt Anita and Uncle Bill

with all the girls!

napping with great grandma
posing with Aunt Ashley
proud grandma and grandpa

We've had a great time and a fast week with my family. We head home tomorrow (Friday) and I'm nervous again about flying with Nolan, so think of us!! Then just a few days and grandma and grandpa Schabow come to visit! Yay!! We can't wait!

Tummy Update

On Friday the doctor confirmed that there was no longer blood in Nolan's poo so it looks like dairy was the culprit. However, when I mentioned to her that he has actually been increasingly fussy and starting to spit up a ton (up to 6x/feeding!!) she said it sounds like he also has reflux. So now he is taking baby zantac. I'm hopeful it will help. Whew...this child is a puzzle! I hope I can figure him out soon and get his tummy troubles settled!

Here's a cute picture for now :)

One Month Old!

Already?! Holy Cow! Nolan is a month old today! I can't believe how much he's growing already.

I feel like I'm finally coming out of a fog this last week or so, and we're all getting a lot more sleep which has made a huge difference.

The biggest thing these last two weeks is how challenging Nolan's feeding situation has been. Thankfully we are now able to feed him on demand vs. waking him to eat every three hours. We were also able to take him off the supplements and he's just nursing, but we found out quickly that he had developed a strong bottle preference and as a result wasn't nursing well. So now he's on nursing bootcamp and we're trying to get that figured out. Also, he's pretty fussy. I guess it's colic?? After every feeding, bottle or nursing, he is having painful gas and tummy trouble. I brought this up to the doctor so she ran a check on his poo and discovered that there was blood in it. Poor guy!! I guess this most likely means he has a dairy or wheat sensitivity. So...I've had had to eliminate ALL dairy from my diet (oh how I miss my lattes!!) and if we supplement he has to have special formula. Nolan and I have both been dairy free for over a week now and I'm not sure Nolan is feeling any better. We go back to the doctor on Friday and she'll recheck him then. Please say a prayer that there is no blood in his poop and that little guy starts feeling better soon. It's really, really hard to see him so uncomfortable. I'll update here when we get news on Friday.

Below are some pics from the last few weeks: Nolan's first bath, gearing up for Christmas and just some other adorable photos of our little guy. Oh, and did I mention before that Steve is a swaddling master?! He is!! I cannot swaddle this child to save my life, but Steve swaddles him up so tight and Nolan LOVES to be swaddled.

Love to you all,

C, S, & N

A day in the life of Nolan

here's a quick video of Nolan that had us laughing a bit!