Nolan- 4 weeks/1 Month old!

Wow! Cant believe its already been a month since Nolan arrived! We celebrated his 4 week birthday at the Mall of America! :) He cried in his car seat for 10 min leaving Hutch and about 10 min leaving in MSP. Otherwise he was excellent! Slept in his carseat stroller the majority of our trip!

He is still in the schedule for eat for 30-45min, awake time for an hour or so and than naps in either a solly baby wrap, swing, bouncy seat or on our chests (cant pass up the newborn cuddle stage) and repeat! He is a very content baby during the day and barely crys, but now at night he has started to be more fussy. His sleep has taken a turn for the worst in the past week. He now hates being on his back! He will fall asleep perfectly fine after nursing and be very content but within a minute or two of lying him down on his back he is awake and fussy! We think its a combination of reflux and gas! So we have switched once more to elevated sleeping with the rock and olay sleeper. With this he will at least sleep for 2-3 hour stretches at a time. But still if he usnt burped multiple times he gets either gurgly or after awhile super gassy with gas pains. He mainly just fusses and squirms in pain and really doesnt full on cry. If we are very persistent with burping he has much better nights! We will probably try some gripe water or gas drops if it gets worse! We are also struggling with Lucass sleeping now! We think this is his regression - with Nolan being up with me he feels he needs to be up to! Ugh talk about lack of sleep around here.  Although we are thankful he hasn't regressed in potty training!

Nolan seems to be growing so fast and although he has his gas/reflux issues, he is a very content handsome  little guy! He has officially grown out of newborn clothes and diapers! He still loves tummy time and will sometimes spend 4-5 min on his belly trying to lift his head! He also started smiling a bit. Usually right before he eats or after he eats! He has began enjoying play time on his activity mat and he has started to bat at toys and has even been able to grasp toy rings and a rattle already! Its so much fun to see him grow and even at only a month old you can seem him learning new things every day! He is still not a fan of diaper changes, clothes changes, and bath time! But i think thats pretty common! We couldn't love our new addition any more! So blessed to have two healthy boys!

4 weeks on 1/20/16

1 Month on 1/23/16! Had to get a crying shot too!

loving his Solly baby wrap!

Nolan- 2 Weeks!

Nolan is now 2 weeks old and is growing so much already! He had his 2 week pediatrician well baby check and is doing awesome! When we discharged from the hospital he was 7#10oz, and at his 2 week check he is now 8#10 oz! Completely surprised his birth weight goal at 2 weeks by 4oz! Which makes me super excited that I don't have to wake him up every 3 hours to eat at night any longer (even though this hasn't mattered because he is up every 2-3 hours anyhow!) ! He also grew an inch and is now 21.25in! I am also shocked how much he loves tummy time! He has been able to hold his head up for 15 seconds already on his tummy! We had newborn photos  taken when Nolan was 11 days old and we went out for dinner at Squeakys (which was actually the first place we took Lucas when he was a newborn)  it was 0 degrees and Nolan was a little over 2 weeks! He was awake the whole time and staring at all the lights and action! We decided our first out to dinner outing was a success!! He contines to be an easy baby overall and his older brother is completely in love with him!

First out for dinner outing!

40 Weeks! Happy 1 Week Birthday Nolan Donald!

Nolan Donald Ireland arrived on Wednesday, 12/23/15! weighing 8lbs 6 oz and 20.25in long. Head circumference 14in. His hair and complexion are  much more fair than Lucas. He is absolutely perfect and such a content newborn thus far. Hopefully it stays that way! He pretty much just eats, sleeps and poops! He really only crys when he is being changed either with clothes or with diaper. Even when he is hungry he doesn't cry much just motions with his hands that he is ready to eat! He is also pretty good at nursing, latched on right away in the hospital without much of a problem!

He surprised Mom and Dad by arriving exactly 1 week early as his due date was 12/30/15.

Birth story: At around midnight on 12/23/15 I woke up with some cramping, that wasn't too painful,  which has been normal for me before in the last week or so, but this time I had a little more back pain with it. This continued for about 2 hours at about 5-10min apart, then finally the cramping subsided. I went back to sleep and woke up and felt the same cramping again, at this point I wasn't sure if I was going to go in for my last scheduled day of work. I finally decided I should probably call in sick and called our OB who said I should come in in the morning just to be evaluated just in case. Good thing Tim's brother's family was visiting from WA-- Lucas was able to stay at home with his cousins while we went in! We almost didn't even take our bags with because I figured they'd check me and send me home again to await my scheduled C-section date of 12/28 since my contractions weren't really consistent. When we arrived they hooked me up to the monitor-- baby was looking good, nice strong heart rate and my contractions still weren't super consistent but you could see when they did come they were relatively strong (they still felt like Braxton Hicks to me). The nurse decided to check my cervix and found I was in active labor ha! already dilated to 4-5cm and cervix was paper thin. The nurse and my OB were a little shocked that I had progressed that far at home without much pain. This is exactly what happened with Lucas except he was 3 days over his due date! At this point I almost decided to try for a VBAC due to my progression already and I went back and forth, but figured the same situation could happen with this one, dilate to 10cm just fine and then push forever with baby not being able descend. And I heard recovery was much easier if you didn't push and labor prior to having a c-section so I took that route! Let me tell you, this was 100x better and with our hospitals new c-section protocol it went so well! After my OB came in, she said lets do the c-section within the next half hour since I was already in active labor. They prepped me and got me all ready and then I rode in a wheelchair down the OR-- I can barely remember any of that with Lucas. It was actually a pretty relaxing experience, they had me choose the OR music and got to work, pretty soon after, they pulled down the curtain and I was able to watch them pull Nolan out! He came out crying with his arms up in the air! They checked his Apgar score quickly, which was an 8 and then later a 9. And then placed him right next to my cheek and I was able to hold him. He stopped crying immediately when I was holding him, it was amazing! After I was all sewn up I was taken back to my room with Nolan (with Lucas I had to recover in a separate room and I wasn't able to hold him right away) and the nurses  had Nolan and I have immediate skin-skin contact for 4-5 hours without washing him up. We stayed in hospital 12-23-12-26, almost decided to head out on 12-25 but decided one more good night of sleep would be amazing! We ended up having Applebees carried to go for Christmas eve dinner and at at the hospital cafeteria for Christmas day dinner!  We all thought that was pretty funny! Overall my recovery has gone so much quicker and I am so thankful to be feeling good so much sooner this round, especially with a crazy active 3 year old at home!


We had an interesting first week home with Nolan! Lucas developed croup on the second night Nolan was home and had a high fever, icky cough, and was quite lethargic, his fever was on and off 2 days! So for two days I had to stay in the basement with Nolan and be quarantined! Ha! This was tough on Lucas as all he wanted to do was hold his brother and have his Mommy to cuddle with him. Nolan and I had a lot of one on one bonding time!! Otherwise for Nolan he has been a pretty great baby for the first week, sleeping 2-3 hours at time, and nursing every 3 hours or so. We really don't have to bounce, rock, or walk him to calm him down too much yet. Seems like he could be a little easier than our first born! Who knows what will happen when the newborn phase is done though!

Here are a few photos of  our sweet Nolan's first week of life!

First meeting of Lucas and Nolan!

First day at home! Celebrating Christmas on 12/26!

Can't believe this little guy was in my belly 1 week ago!

Lucas can't get enough of his baby brother! Constantly wants to hold him, touch him, hug him and lay by him!

His umbilical cord fell off on Day 6! So we gave Nolan his first bath-- not a huge fan of bath time yet!

38.5 Weeks!

Start of Lucas's date night!

Picked out his baby brother a toy car, and wrapped it too!

movie pick: The Good Dinosaur

Enjoying some ice cream!

First year ever he loves Santa! Makes me happy!  Met him first at Mom's work Kids Christmas party!

Meeting Santa's Reindeer in Mankato MN

What would you like for Christmas? a Horn!!

So proud that he sat on Santas lap!

How far along? 38.5 Weeks!
Total weight gain/loss: 25#
Maternity clothes? I wear the same 4 dress pants to work every week! The last ones to fit!
Stretch marks? still none!
Sleep: sleeping has gone down a bit, waking up 2-3x/night to use the bathroom, plus now getting pretty uncomfortable lying on both sides, my hips just start to ache likey crazy towards the middle of the night!And sometimes I will wake up with a little numbness/tingling into my calves! Ugh! 
Best moment this week: hearing that my belly is now measuring at 36 weeks since 2 weeks ago it was at 33 weeks! He is growing good! Heart beat at my 38 week check was 140 once more! Blood pressure still low, weight gain on track! In the last 2 weeks was having a date night all for Lucas before his baby brother comes, he got to pick a store, go and find a baby toy for his brother, then he picked his first movie theater movie (which he did awesome at, but was a little scared at some points!) and we had popcorn and pop (he never has pop!) and then we went out for dinner and he asked for ice cream for dessert! It was such a fun time having some one on one time with Mommy and Daddy before it starts to get crazy around here! Having my parents hear to help out when Tim was gone for 6 days! Helped a ton and we did all our Christmas baking with Lucas, And one more to add to the list, Tim is now home full time until Feb 5th! YAY! We are now able to enjoy some fun Christmas events as a family before Baby boy makes his appearance! 

Have you told family and friends: Yes! Announced in our Christmas card to those who don't know that we are having another little boy!
Miss Anything? being able to stand and walk for prolonged periods of time without braxton hicks or my fun new onset of right sciatic pain. fun stuff! 
Movement: His movement has gone down a little bit, especially at night, he is sleeping a lot through the night, sometimes I get worried and poke him a bit to make him move! But chocolate always gets him moving! My belly shifts around like crazy, almost like he is doing big rolls in their, instead of punches and kicks now! 
Food cravings: grapefruit! I have been having one every morning!
Anything making you queasy or sick:  nothing
Have you started to show yet:  measuring at 36 weeks
Gender prediction: allll boy
Labor Signs: a TON! ugh! I was wondering when all this fun stuff would start happening. Lots of Braxton Hicks (I think) some days, especially after long work days or if I am on my feet a ton. And those days I will have rough nights. A few nights I had pretty consistent contractions for about 1.5 hours which would happen every 15 min (things are getting real!) At least my parents were down when Tim had his long trip during this bit of pre labor! and more recently, I had about a 2 hour stretch where they were coming every 10 min and felt pretty crampy down in my lower pelvis) By drinking more water though and rest, and then walking a little bit, I am able to help them subside.  Sometimes I almost feel like I have to do kegels constantly otherwise the pressure is insane! Tim actually had his last trip removed due to some of my symptoms! I almost thought this one was going to be early due to all of my new symptoms! He has also decided to settle on my R pelvis (just like Lucas) so now I am having the whole right leg giving out symptom that was horrible with Lucas towards the end. I have two days left at work, we will see if I can make it!!!! 
Belly Button in or out? out and odd!!
Wedding rings on or off? Still On still and surprisingly no swelling still! maybe because its winter! Might have to think of taking them off though soon enough!
Happy or Moody most of the time:Happy!! Happy to finally having my husband home for good so I no longer have the fear of possibly delivering a baby without him! Makes me feel so much better and I can relax a bit! Also happy baby boy is growing just fine!!!! 

Looking forward to: Finally meeting this little one! I am so excited to see what he looks like and what his little newborn personality is like! Celebrating Christmas with Tim's brothers family a few days early, then having a quiet Christmas with just Lucas, Tim and I in Hutchinson, and hopefully avoiding a Christmas birth! :) even though I hear its supposed to be a full moon….   

36 Weeks!

How far along? 36 weeks! 
Total weight gain/loss: same as last weigh in at 34 weeks, 23#
Maternity clothes? maternity shirts are getting a little tight!!!
Stretch marks? hopefully I get lucky again with none!
Sleep: sleeping pretty good, except now waking up 2-3x to go pee (baby dropped!)
Best moment this week: having a nice thanksgiving in Hutchinson with my parents, Tim and Lucas. Nice to have extra help around the house and with Lucas. Nice and relaxing! and going black Friday shopping with my mom even though I felt like I needed to sit every so often! Was able to get most of my Christmas shopping done and with the help of my mom, presents are pretty much wrapped    Again, Hearing baby boys heart beat again at my 36 week check, still measuring at 33 weeks (which I think is odd and a little scary since I always measured right on track with Lucas, but my OB is not concerned because baby dropped and supposedly some women's measurements even go backwards once baby drops), heart beat 143bpm.

Have you told family and friends: Yes! possibly narrowed name down to 3 now! We might have to see him before we choose the name!
Miss Anything?  my energy level, I would love to take Lucas to do a ton Christmas activities  but I just don't have the energy! and I feel like to no fail, I am dropping things constantly, just because I have a harder time bending forward! Also, Lucas was having some severe constipation and due to this was having issues with wet toots which he couldn't help, ALL THE TIME, constantly changing underwear really took a toll on me (but I joke, its God's way of preparing me to change a million diapers again!) 
Movement: Lots and Lots of movement still. Rolling and rocking around, he is quite the mover. I can really feel all this little guys movement on the outside. And since his head is down low, getting lots of fun pelvic pressure whenever he moves!
Food cravings: not much!! still surprising I don't really enjoy a salad like I used to
Anything making you queasy or sick:  nothing
Have you started to show yet:  I feel like I am getting bigger and bigger, but now much lower,  I can feel the ribs below my chest now
Gender prediction: allll boy
Labor Signs: Starting to finally have labor signs, I think! REally not much braxton hicks, but shortness of breath some days where I have to rest after being up moving after 30-60min, pelvic pressure has now started, and sometimes sharp pains are felt where I feel like I need to sit immediately (possibly round ligament pain??) or scar tissue from my prior C-section I think! They are relieved with rest! But my OB checked me at my cervix is still pretty high up there without any dilation, but baby's head is super low down (which is what Lucas was as well!). Also, we are now at weekly appointments, I am hoping to see my measurements increase at next session, otherwise this makes me a little nervous!
Belly Button in or out? out and odd!!
Wedding rings on or off? On still and surprisingly no swelling still! maybe because its winter!
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy to meet this little one (coming up fast!) and I feel like we will be able to enjoy this little one much more with less fear :) when he gets here since we have been through this now and know for the most part what to expect, but still seems like I have so much to do, deep cleaning (which now I become short of breath, ugh so it takes longer), finishing touches on baby's nursery, packing hospital bags, and all the little odds and ends that need to get done! It is hard to get things done since Tim has been working a ton so he can be off from 12/20/15-2/5/16! (yahoo!) He will leave on a Friday and might not get back til Wednesday, only to leave again on Friday! and Thursdays are my long days at work, where I might not get home til 6 or so. Our schedules just do not match up! 

Looking forward to: Gingerbread and sugar cooking baking/decorating this week when Tim comes home! Grandma Wendy coming down to help and do some Christmasy things with Lucas and me next weekend but Tim is gone for another 5 day trip (kind of scary!). I feel bad for Lucas since I have been less active and energetic with all the fun holiday things going on (good thing he likes to paint and color), I haven't felt like doing a ton! Maybe do some Christmas baking with him and Grandma! And of course meeting this little one in about 3 weeks!!!