The Irelands

Thursday, November 29, 2012

10 Weeks!

10 Week Photo with the beautiful blanket our family friend Bonnie Nipstad made for Lucas--- it is a beautiful quilt with lots of personalizations and puppies all over it! I tried to upload this post 3 weeks ago but my blog wasn't working right! It wouldn't let me post anymore photos without paying a fee! I went in and deleted some of my photos so we will see how it works from here on out!

Sunday, November 25, 2012

9 Weeks and Thanksgiving in Grand Forks!

We arrived in Grand Forks straight from Mesa the Sunday before Thanksgiving which was a little unexpected-- we figured we would head home for a few days and repack for winter gear vs all summer gear! It was pretty hard finding a seat on the airplane during a holiday week for us as non revs! So we actually bought a ticket for me (Tim wasn't too impressed) and Tim was able to get a free seat on Allegiant. It worked out actually pretty well and we were able to sit together!!

Lucas also turned 9 weeks on this past Sunday and we received his beautiful quilt which I will post more photos of for his 10 week post! We had a wonderful thanksgiving in Grand Forks as well with lots of family for Lucas to meet! He met all his extended family on my mom's side! He also had his first cold! Let me tell you - it is not fun having a little 9 week old baby with a cold! It started during the last day of our AZ trip and just became worse and worse! He was congested, green boogers, coughing, and gagging at night which would wake him up. We ended up taking him to Altru in GF to be seen and they did a chest Xray to rule out pneumonia! The worst part was having the Xray - they strapped him into a capsule like thing and he was screaming so hard! Tim stayed with him - I couldn't handle holding him in that thing! Thankfully, he didn't any pneumonia. We just were instructed to suction out his nose, use saline, a vaporizer and keep him elevated for sleeping (which we were pretty much already doing!) The MD said it sounds alot worse due to his laryngomalacia! But it was nice to have everything else ruled out by an MD! Even though he was sick, he was still a happy baby who loves to smile!!! Lucas also went to his first high school hockey game to watch his Uncle Tony's team play their first game and they won 5 - 1! Luke only lasted 1 period though and started to get a little fussy!

He is continuing to grow and learn every day - it is so fun to see all the different things he starts to do! He is following lots of objects and lifting his head higher and higher during tummy time-- still waiting for the rolling over to happen!

10 Weeks!

A little jet lagged!

All bundled up for the ND weather! Brrr - he witnessed his first snow storm!

Lucas loved auntie Kathie and fell right to sleep on Thanksgiving day!

Luke's cousin little Carter Bug!

Happy boy on Turkey day!

My cousin Lissas cute little girl Hailey - she loved Lucas!!!

Trying to get a Christmas card photo!

Luke's first Thanksgiving family photo!

Turkey bottom!

Practicing for Grandma Wendy's Christmas card!

Little Carter bug stood for 30 seconds! Lucas and Carter were really bonding (he is 7 months older!)

Thanksgiving in AZ!

Lucas made his first big trip on an airplane to AZ! I was pretty nervous about traveling with him but all in all he did awesome! I was pretty surprised! We had passengers on the airplane complimenting on us on how great he traveled -- uh oh, he may be a pilot someday! We had a great time in AZ and we were able to to see Tim's parents new rental house all finished! We also celebrated thanksgiving a week early and had lots of good food. Lucas was able to meet a ton of family (he really enjoyed his 3 cousins) as well! I was also able to meet Tim's grandma on his mom's side as well as his aunt who I had never met. We also enjoyed spending a lot of time in the pool playing water volleyball, tanning a bit (in between baby feedings and diaper changes) and relaxing in the hot tub with 75-80 degree weather! Lucas took his best naps ever (3-4 hours) sitting outside in the shade by the pool in the fresh air, listening to the waterfall and all his cousins playing! We did have some help from Esther his oldest cousin who helped rock his rock n play sleeper when he started to wake up! Tim also was able to get his fill of In n Out burgers ufta, and we went to a country dinner theater restaurant. It was a perfect little first vacation for our family.

Lucas napped the whole time we ate our Thanksgiving meal!

Tim's old brother- Uncle Greg

Me and little Rahab in her cute little swimsuit I bought her when she was born! She is 9 months older than Lucas

Tim's little brother - Uncle Brad

Grandma Ferol and Grandpa Don with Esther, Jadon, Rahab and Lucas

4 generations - Luke's Great Grandma Elaine and Grandpa Don

4 Generations - Luke's Great Grandma and Ferol

Auntie Chris

Auntie Megan (this was practice for her baby will be 9 months younger than Lucas!)

Suntanning in the AZ heat (in the shade!)

Monday, November 12, 2012

2 Months!

2 Months already and sleeping now for 8 hours at a time (well last night at least)!! We had our 2 week checkup today and everything looked great with our baby boy! His swallow evaluation came back normal and we had a coworker who is a speech language pathologist come over and help us out with a few tips for him! Since then his reflux has decreased significantly and he is no longer taking any medication! He is ranking in the top percentiles for everything! His weight is now 13# 15oz (88th percentile), head circumference 16.5 (92nd percentile) and he is now 23.5in long (86th percentile!) Our pediatrician said he is lifting his head so well we should see rolling pretty soon! Then he had to get his wonderful immunizations, ufta! Poor baby boy was in so much pain he couldn't even cry, his face turned purple! He even has a little bruise where the needle was, it was pretty tough seeing him like that! He also took a little road trip to Minneapolis over the weekend so we could do a little Christmas shopping, we couldn't believe it but he slept from 11-4 in his car seat, pretty much the whole time we shopped, I think Tim and I are getting a little spoiled!

Tomorrow he gets to go on his first airplane ride to Phoenix, AZ. I am a little nervous for the trip but I think he will do well-- he loves movement and anything that is noisy!! He will get to meet the rest of his aunts and uncles and his 3 other cousins (plus one on the way)! He will also get to meet 2 other great grandmas! Should be a fun trip!!

little stinker wouldn't extend his little legs!

he can lift his head way higher now!

all bundled up and ready for his 2 month check up!

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

7 Weeks!

Lucas turned 7 weeks old this past Sunday! I think he is getting cuter and cuter everyday! He is also getting heavier and longer as well - in the photos below I had to grab a 6 month old onesie for him to wear!!! He also had a Dr appointment to check out his reflux since it seemed like it was getting worse especially at night! Poor little baby was waking up and gagging and he seems like he spits up a ton so we thought we might as well get it checked out! His pediatrician prescribed zantac (which he hates the taste of it) to try first (she said it only works in 50% of babies but insurance will not cover prevacid unless we trial zantac first) and also recommended a swallow evaluation just to rule out if anything else was going on but she was 99% sure it was just reflux! His swallow eval is tomorrow but now since it is scheduled - it seems like he is doing much better with sleeping and barely wakes up with gagging anymore. He now is sleeping 10:30-11PM all the way til 5AM or so without waking! Then he gets fed and then falls asleep again until 7:30 or so! Lucas was also weighed and he is a whopping 12# 10 oz ranking him in the 85 percentile for weight! Here are his 7 week photos, he smiles so much now but of course he wouldn't smile for the camera!!

Friday, November 2, 2012

6 Weeks and Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!!!

We had another pretty eventful week with little Lucas - Tim and I drove up to Grand Forks to visit Grandma, Grandpa and his aunt, uncles and cousins! Lucas had a lot of fun dressing up for halloween and even went trick or treating for the first time at Great Grandma Carroll's nursing home (the residents said he was the youngest one that has came through)!!! Tim and I also took my parents tickets and went to a Sioux hockey game with my sister and brother in law and our nephew Logan, and Lucas got to hang out with his grandparents and cousin Carter for the night. It was so much fun seeing everyone and getting to spend halloween in Grand Forks! I am usually working!

6 Weeks-- Lucas continues to grow and grow! He seems like he is changing every day and conquering something new when he wakes up each day! He is starting to find his voice more and more and we here the "a goos, coos, and ooos" now which is pretty fun to hear! The smiles are also coming more and more and he is more alert to lights and music! 6 Weeks also marks a significant increase in spit up!!! ha! I have never seen so much spit up before - we now have to use receiving blankets instead of burp cloths-- we are thinking this is a little more of the reflux happening. He also slept from 9:30PM to 4:30 AM! Wow! But that was only 1x-- I am hoping he is able to fall asleep earlier and earlier when he begins the transition to my work schedule! Here are a bunch of photos from our fun Halloween Week!