Photo of the Day: April 8th

Your Checklist

• A copy of a birth certificate for infants and toddlers flying as lap children
• Boarding Verification Document available at the Southwest Ticket Counter for infants and toddlers flying as lap children
• Child Restraint System (car seat) for ticketed children
• Pay taxes & fees prior to international travel at the Southwest Airlines Ticket Counter or by calling 1-800-I-FLY-SWA (1-800-435-9792).

Nolan and I are flying to Texas tomorrow, by ourselves.  I am obviously a seasoned A lister traveler on Southwest, but traveling with a baby is a whole nother ordeal.  I have called Southwest 3 different times because I do not have Nolan's birth certificate yet and I need something for his age verification (not that he looks 2 years old at all).  I just wanted to be sure that I as told the same thing by different customer service agents.  I also calculated how i was going to board the plane as fast as possible while gate checking the car seat and stroller while carrying Nolan on the plane in the baby carrier.  

I spent all day packing and repacking and making sure I had ready to drink formula and empty bottles and plenty of diapers for just in case moments.  On a side note, I can not believe the news shops in the airports do not sell diapers or formula.It would be awful to be stuck in an airport and run out. I mean what the heck do you do at that point.  TSA tells you to only take enough formula to make it through your flight and to pack the rest in your checked luggage.  I'd be stalking strangers with babies to pay them an inflated price for a diaper.  

I was not going to be "that mom" and I made sure we were well prepared for our flight the next day.

Photo of the day: April 7th

 I thought this picture was too cute.  I walked out of the bathroom after taking a bubble bath to see this.....

Aren't they just the cutest....well J not as much :)

Photo of the day: April 6th

We spent the afternoon after church starting our garden for the summer. Last year, Peyton and I planted green beans, squash, zucchini, and peppers from seeds as a fun project.  We actually has everything grow except the peppers were sad.  This year, J researched and actually read the seed packages as to how deep to bury each seed, (something I did not do).  We planted so many things, like lettuce, corn, black beans, squash, peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, cantelope, watermelon, and green beans.  This picture shows the 3 main men in my life working together,  Well, Noles is sleeping but he hanging with the family!

Photo of the Day: April 5th

I have a lot of blogging to catch up. I promise you I have a photo of the day for each day I missed.

We hung out at Maw Maw's house all day.  Maw Maw is J's mother.  She really hasn't gotten to spend a ton of time with Nolan because her other grandson, Parker has been in and out of the hospital since Nolan was born.  This weekend, he was back in the hospital, Cardinal Glennon this time. Parker turns blue for no reason and has been hooked up to various machines and had various testing to figure out why. However, they can not seem to find the answers. Poor little guy has had so many tests run. This time he was hooked up to an EEG, they thought it might be caused by seizures.  We actually were hoping he had an episode just so they could diagnose.  However, he did not.

Nolan, is wearing a hand me down from Parker that I think is so cute. I texted Ellen to see if Parker knew the way to the gym???  I think he looks so old in this picture.

April 4th: Photo of the day

Today, Nolan and I ventured out to have lunch with Jodi.  She came to visit Nolan in the hospital, and this would be the first time she has seen him since then.  The day she came to the hospital, Nolan slept the entire afternoon after his circumcision.  It was great that she was finally able to see his huge eyes!  On our way to meet her at the Scarecrow (delicious food by the way) (another side note, we usually meet for lunch by Monsanto at Harpos, but we figured probably better to not take him to a bar, just yet!)   I told Nolan, she was the one who got Mommy her amazing Kate Spade diaper bag, his Fozzie and Gonzo stuffed animals, and some very fun clothes.  He was a perfect angel the whole lunch and even woke up when she held him. Aunt Jodi is going to spoil him, I think!

Our Hospital Stay: Part 1

I had the most absolute wonderful hospital care.  Nolan and I were truly blessed.  Nolan was born on a Wednesday and we stayed our full days in the hospital and left Sunday.  My nurses were very amazing and as J said, if I had my way, I'd still be in the hospital.  Except the food.  I hated the food.

Friday, I woke up feeling as amazing as one does after having a C section.  J had gone home the night befoer to sleep and I sent Nolan down to the nursery for the night.  Since I was bottle feeding, I could get some sleep and not be disturbed.  I told my night nurse, Cleta, to just let me sleep and not wake me up for meds.  I fed Nolan around 11pm and let her take him to the nursery.  I have to say, it was so weird having him alone to myself for a few hours!

I woke up aorund 7am and took a shower,own my own this time.  Put on makeup and braided my hair before I walked down to the nursery to pick up my baby.  I figured the more I could walk around the better. Nolan had had a good night and I was so happy to see him.  My parents and J arrived after 10am. We were all in very good spirits.  The pediatrician and her team did rounds and came into our room around 11am. Nolan was doing well health wise.  However, she asked if we could talk freely in the room. My parents asked if they needed to leave and everyone looked at me. It was at this moment I knew something bad was about to happen and I shut down.  I did not want my parents to leave the room and they did not.

Nolan is a tongue thruster.  I guess this is not a good thing.  I seriously thought his tongue going in and out of his mouth was super cute.  However, it can be a sign of down syndrome.  What?  Did they just say down syndrome?  I was so confused.  Nolan did not have any of the facial features of a downs baby.  But he did have 2 other signs.  When you cup your hand, there are usually 2 predominate creases you see in your hand. One of Nolan's hands only has one.  This alone does not mean downs, in fact one of the rounding doctors only has one crease (and our actual pediatrician only has one too.)  He also apparently had extra fat on the back of his neck.   In a minute, my elation of being a mom was drained.  I went from a huge high to a huge low.   Now do not get me wrong, my love for Nolan did not waiver.  In a split second, all of my hopes and dreams for his future, changed.

Jay and I decided on the spot to have the blood work done to do the karyotyping.  The sucky part was it was Friday and the test takes a couple of days and I was pretty sure they did not do any testing over the weekend.  No matter what the out come was, we were going to love this baby, surround him with the most loving and caring people, and provide him with the best care possible.  We wanted the test done because if Nolan was a downs baby we wanted to be prepared and find him the right doctors and be able to best prepare.  The pediatrician asked why we didn't have test run in utero.  To be honest, the anatomical scan showed no reason to test further and it didn't matter, we were going to have this baby regardless.

J and I are blessed with the most amazing church family.  My mother in law called our church and let our pastor know what was gong on.  She came up that afternoon with a balloon and Nolan's first Gund bunny rabbit.  We prayed as a room for the health of Nolan and to give us strength to face what was in our path.  Two members of our small group also came up and sat with me and cried with me.  Once they came into the room and held Nolan, I knew that things were going to be fine.  J and I have been truly blessed to have a church friends that are seriously our family.  We did not talk about this with many people but I know our entire small group was praying for us and with us.

My nurse, Heather, was also instrumental in comforting me. She told me over and over that she did not believe that Nolan had it.  She polled all the nurses working and the consensus was he was normal.  Needless, I didn't sleep as well Friday night, even with Nolan in the nursery.  He was doing much better taking more volume when he ate and I was so honed in on his tongue coming in and out of his mouth.  I think for the next few days that is all I could see.  

April 3rd Photo Challenge

Today we had bad weather on and off all day.  After being home for 2 days straight, I was getting a little stir crazy.  I wanted to go to the mall for a few reasons.  One, just to stroll Nolan.  He loves his stroller and we have not been able to take a walk all week due to rain and cold weather.  Two, I need something to wear to the Sip and See in Texas next weekend.  I am not able to wear a lot of my clothes yet.  Everything on my body has changed. I feel ginormous.  My pre pregnancy clothes just look awful on me (if they even zip or button).  This begs the question, how long is it appropriate to wear my maternity clothes????  I mean I fought getting into them and apparently I am going to fight kicking and screaming to get out of them.  And third, I wanted to go to Children's Place.  I am in love with their footed pajamas. Nolan has been wearing their newborn size and has pretty muc grown out of them (sad because they are so cute and the first thing I had that actually) fit him.

So we went to the mall briefly between storms and only had two outfit changes today.  He was so awake after his bottle this afternoon and enjoyed time in the swing.  I really think we are close to him cooing and smiling!!!!

April 2: Day 2 Challenge

My photos of the day:  I did not want to be that person over posting pictures of my baby on facebook, so you can see them here!

 The first picture is of Nolan taking a nap.  Our days are not consistent yet.  Sometimes he sleeps all morning and is awake in the afternoon and evening.  Today, he had another newborn photo shoot and was plum tired after being a model.  It really is hard work being this darn cute.  I just could look at him all day.

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The second picture I snapped of Charlie sleeping under Nolan's Rock and Play. I just thought it was really cute that he wanted to be close to Nolan. Charlie has done way better than I thought he would having a baby here.

April 1: Photo of the day challenge

Eventually I plan on updating Nolan's birth story. I have found it hard to actually sit down and type. But I really want to get as much written down before I forget things.

In the mean time...I am going to try and get back to blogging by a photo of the day challenge to myself.  So already starting a day late (April Fools!) Here is my picture from yesterday....

My little monster.  We had to be at St. Luke's pretty early for Nolan's hip ultrasound.  Since he was a breech baby with his legs at his head, they want to make sure that his hip joints were formed properly.  Our pediatrician thought everything felt fine but we just wanted to make sure. Especially since I was born with a hip click and was in a hard plastic brace for a few months when I was around 3 months old.  Good news, his hips are just perfect.  I took this picture once we got home and he was enjoying his time in his bounce seat that my BFF bought him.