Nolan: 16 Weeks

I just knew Nolan didn't have a "cold" since his cough just kept getting worse and he never seemed to be making any progress towards getting better.  After a pretty rough day at daycare on Friday, I took him BACK to the pediatrician's office to really figure out what was going on with my little man.

I guess it finally had gone on long enough that the nurse could hear some congestion in his lungs, which prompted her to give him a breathing treament.  Let me just say he did not like that one bit, but ended up falling asleep after a couple of minutes thank goodness.  After the treatment, she came back in and listened again; yep, bronchiolotis probably caused by the dreaded RSV.  EEK.  She said that now that the treatment had loosene some of the gunk up, she could hear it a lot better.

She placed him on breathing treatments of Albuterol 4 times a day, with instructions to come back the following Saturday to see how he was doing.   I was so thankful to finally have a diagnosis, but knew we had a long road to recovery (and I hoped all of the stories I had heard of babies ending up in the hospital due to RSV did not happen to my little man).

The rest of his week was spent at home, due to the massive "SNOWJAM 2014" that occurred on Tuesday!  I will have to detail that madness in another post.  It ended up being nice because he had even more time home away from daycare to recover and sleep.

N = (Now weighs) 14 lbs. 5 oz.

O = (Oomph!) I kept my fingers crossed for a snow day, but didn't anticipate the mess we ended up with - ha!  Also, snow days with 3-month olds aren't as relaxing as I remember... :)

L = (Loves) Getting his bath, sucking on his hands, and playing with his green ball that Auntie Shana gave him.

A = (About this week)  I don't remember what this week said, but I imagine he would be a lot more active if he felt better!  His little voice is so hoarse that he pretty much cries without sound now :(

N = (Not a fan of) Being sick - boo.

A couple of pictures from this past week:

Still not sure what color his sweet little eyes will be!

 

All of the "supplies" necessary for a sick baby...

Nolan: 15 Weeks

Poor little boy; I spoke way too soon about feeling better!  His cough continued to get worse as the week progressed, and by Friday was really bad.  So, I took him to the doctor on Saturday who confirmed it was just a bad cold but that his lungs were clear so that was a good sign.  She told us to continue to do the nasal saline spray and use the nose sucker thing all the time.  We also had already propped up his bed and use the vaporizer at night, and we were told to keep doing that as well.

Well, Monday night came around and he was NO better and we started to worry about his breathing.  Until this point, he had been sleeping on either my chest or Anthony's chest because he couldn't go more than a few minutes without a major choking episode while laying on his back.  We decided at 11:00 a night to take him to the emergency room, because we just didn't want to take any chances and go all night until we made it to the doctor the next day.  Welp, the doctors at the emergency room said the same thing; his lungs were fine and to keep doing what we were doing.

Granted, it was nice to have this confirmation, but I still didn't feel like that was all there was to it, and if I was going to pay for an emergency room visit (thank you, high deductible health plan), I wanted to know something else!

I ended up staying home with him on Tuesday, and then Anthony took over around 10:30 on Wednesday morning so that I could go to work.  I had already blown through quite a bit of paid time off in just the first few weeks of the year, and didn't have much left!

By Thursday we both HAD to go back to work, so we reluctantly sent him to daycare, with a note from the doctor telling them to prop up his bed and make sure to suction out his nose/mouth as much as possible.  We had hoped for the best that he would get better with time, but it doesn't seem that way!

Sadly not much more to report on this week; the poor little guy is just trying to get better, and sleeps a lot.

His little cheeks are so chapped looking - Dr. said it's from snot - gross!

 

 Haha - he was tired and this was the best I got...poor guy, his Mommy tortures him for photos :)

N = (Now weighs)  14 lbs. 5 oz. as of his doctor's visit Saturday.

O = (Oomph!)  I will always, always put Nolan's health first, but I can't deny that lurking in the back of my mind is the extreme stress at how much all of these doctor's visits are going to cost with our new insurance - our family deductible is $5,000, so we may just reach that here pretty soon - oomph!

L = (Loves) Sleeping on our chests, so sweet!

A = (About this week)  He is starting to become a lot more vocal, even though this doesn't happen much right now due to him not feeling good.  He is also rolling very well onto his side, and I imagine full rolls are on the horizon!

N = (Not a fan of) Having his nose sucked out, even though I can't blame him!

Around the House - Picture Dump!

So many pictures, so little time!

Nolan: 14 Weeks

14 weeks sounds SO old!  I can't believe he is three months old, either.  I don't know if it's because I am in a sleepy haze or that my job is so busy, but the days just fly by.  Taking 20 minutes out every 3 hours to pump also breaks my day into smaller pieces, so that helps too.

Nolan is feeling much better, and is back to his usual happy self.  He is still having trouble sleeping soundly due to his cough, though.  He will go down like usual, but then seems to have trouble staying asleep around 5:00 - 5:15 a.m. (which means Momma doesn't get any sleep).  I usually can lay him on my chest for the few short minutes I have left before my alarm goes off, then lay him back down until I get him up around 6:30.  Last night he choked so bad I flew out of bed to get to him; that is such a scary sound!

 

N = (Now weighs)  I am guessing still the same; he is still in the same size diaper, so that goes up to 16 pounds, I think?

O = (Oomph!)  I must be running on Mommy adrenaline, because somehow I have managed to make it to work early every day so far, even with only a few hours' sleep each night.  Hope it doesn't wear off anytime soon...

L = (Loves) Sucking on his hands (gross), and his little swing at daycare.

A = (About this week)  He is doing pretty well with being propped up in a sitting position (even though you would never know it from his weekly pics -  ha).  He also likes to be near the action; we will push his little rock and play into whatever room we are in, and he will sit there while we sing to him and unload the dishwasher, or fold clothes.

N = (Not a fan of) Still it's being hungry; they have tried to extend the time in between his bottles to more than about 2-2.5 hours, but he isn't having it!

Nolan: Three Months Old

Oh boy, he is starting to become quite the wiggle worm!  It's fun to lay him down and watch him wiggle and roll.  He pretty much can turn himself in a full circle now.  I will put him on his blanket and leave some toys around him, and he will end up in a completely different direction very quickly.  However, this does make for changing his diaper a lot more interesting now...

It is hilarious to watch him "roll."  He will lay on his back, stick his legs straight up in the air in a "V" formation, and then fall to one side.  He would be able to roll all the way over by now if he could just figure out how to get over his bottom arm!

He is becoming more and more interested in toys, but still doesn't really reach/grab for anything.  He will hold something if you put it in his hand, though.  He has also started to love sucking on his hands, and anything else that you put in his hand goes straight to his mouth as well!

While I try super hard to not do this very often, sometimes I just have to sit him by the TV for a few minutes.  He actually really likes watching it, which I hope isn't an indicator of a little couch potato on our hands! :)  Mostly the food network is on, so maybe we will have a chef in the family.

As far as our home life goes, I am just so happy.  Tired, but very content and happy.  Anthony and I have worked out a great routine, which gives Nolan lots of attention.  Most housework/chores are put on hold in the afternoons after work until Daddy gets home.  I know that he has spent a lot of his day in a swing or something at daycare, so I try to entertain and play with him as much as possible then.  Once Anthony gets home and gets showered, we switch off and Anthony plays with him while I wash bottles and do housework.

We also switch up giving him his bath, depending on what needs to be done.  So somehow, at all times, Nolan is being "entertained" by one of us :)  I am really fortunate to have a hubby that loves being with his son, and who never shies away from his responsibilities as a daddy and husband.  Sure, we get tired and worn out sometimes, but he is the exact kind of daddy I always knew he was/would be with Nolan.

Nolan: 13 Weeks

This little guy is full of smiles and is on his way to officially rolling over!  He has this huge open mouth grin; almost like he is just trying to open his mouth as wide as he possible can.  I just can't get enough of it!

This week was also his first cold.  Yep, after only 7 short days at daycare, he got sick.  I could tell he wasn't feeling all that good early Saturday morning, but by mid-day be began to run a fever and look just pitiful.  He had a stuffy nose, temperature, and runny eyes.  He would just want to eat and be held, and I was happy to do that.  I should have known he was going to get sick after he took a really long afternoon nap at daycare on Friday.

Saturday night was pretty rough, but I was just thankful that he got sick over the weekend, since my new company does not have a lot of paid time off.  I ended up sleeping with him in the rocker in his room from about 3 am - 8 am, then Anthony got up with him so I could sleep a little bit.

Sunday was worse, but his fever didn't go as high as it did on Saturday, so I decided to stay home with him on Monday.  It may just be the "first time mom thing," but the idea of him going to daycare and not feeling good and not being able to get undivided attention did not work for me.  By Monday his fever was gone, and he was starting to return to his happy self, so I was comfortable to send him to daycare on Tuesday.

Poor guy got a pretty bad diaper rash from either the Tylenol or his fever, but didn't seem to notice that much.

 

N = (Now weighs)  Maybe close to 14 pounds?  We should really get a scale!

O = (Oomph!)  Having a sick baby makes you feel so helpless!

L = (Loves) Being cuddled right now.

A = (About this week)  Accoding to BabyCenter, he should be able to recognize us and show it.  He definitely is doing that, and it melts my heart when he smiles when he hears me or sees me when I come to pick him up at daycare.  He also gets the same way with Anthony - he knows Daddy's voice for sure!

N = (Not a fan of) Being sick, but still hardly fussed at all.  Such a sweet little guy.

Nolan: 12 Weeks

This was a big week for me and my little man.  I officially started work back the day he turned 12 weeks old (sniffle). I am so thankful that I had the full 12 weeks off, but it went by so fast, and I never thought that returning to work would be so hard!  But enough about that, I talk about that all the time.

I have pretty much done a good update about this week, with Nolan's daycare post and New Year's, so here are a couple of cute pictures...

 

 

N = (Now weighs)  Hmm, not sure about this one; can't give a guess!

O = (Oomph!)  I sure didn't miss Atlanta traffic while on maternity leave!

L = (Loves) Chewing on his hands - not a thumb sucker yet, but I imagine he may be one day.

A = (About this week)  He is doing quite well so far with adjusting to the morning routine we have established.  We are trying to read to him more and more, and sometimes he is interested, and sometimes not!  I hope he enjoys reading as much as I did as a kid, but we have to really make sure we read to him now to get him used to it.

N = (Not a fan of) Missing his Mommy while at work (I am just guessing here). :)