My First Baby is Two and All Toddler!

I cannot believe that Nolan is two! 

For his second birthday, I wanted it to be very special...after all he had just become a big brother and he now has to share the lime light. I wanted to make sure he felt special and very loved on his big day!

Growing up, my parents always went all out for our birthdays. We had two parties, one with our family and the other with friends! So we are keeping the tradition alive.

This year the theme was Sesame Street. Nolan currently loves SS and calls it Arnie. His favorite character is Elmo. When the tv is on in the family room, he always request Arnie. Sometime Paul and I can’t even watch adult tv because he is demanding Arnie so loud!

Thank goodness for Pinterest! I got a lot of my ideas from other’s parties! What did we do before Pinterest?

Here are some photos from the party! Thank goodness family and friends captured these images! Next year I plan on hiring a professional photographer so that we can just enjoy the party! 

Party Decorations
My Pinterest Page

Water Table...Or...Big Birds Bath :)

He Loved His Cake and Requested a 2nd Slice for Dinner!

Best Family Photo We Could Get 

MiMi B and PaPa 

Party Sources

Cake by: Lisa Huffman

Party Decor & Balloons: Party On! & Party City

Nolan's Elmo Shirt: LesleyAnn at Sew Uniquely Stitches

Henry's Birth Story

Henry’s Big Arrival

I have been trying to write down Henry’s birth story for four weeks now! Between house work, planning Nolan’s 2^nd Birthday and all the responsibilities of being a mommy and wife to three boys…I am finally sitting down and writing this beautiful story before Henry wakes to eat again!

Little Henry had me on my toes weeks before his due date – 8/30! Two to three weeks before his arrival I started having the Braxton Hicks contractions that would last for hours on end and range from 3 to 5 minutes apart. These little guy’s, don’t necessarily feel so little and got the best of me twice. Going in to the doctors office only to be told you are dilated 2 cm and 75% effaced. Go walk around and come back…when you can’t walk or talk through them.

On the 30^th, we woke up as a family of three. The contractions I had been experiencing all week were nowhere to be found. We strolled Nolan over to Paul’s parents, who live two blocks away for breakfast and to let Nolan play in his little pool. Our daily activities that Saturday consisted of getting Nolan’s haircut and our weekend Lowe's run.

We came home and I put Nolan down for his nap around 2. I had stopped napping weeks before, because there is always so much to do, but on this specific day, I decided to just lay down while Paul was working in the yard. Looking back, this was Gods way of telling me to rest up, because I was going to need it. I woke up around 5 with the same ole contractions that I had been experiencing for weeks.  We decided to have a big steak dinner with Nolan with all the fixings: bake potato, salad and broccoli. As Nolan and Paul worked grilling the steaks outside, I worked in the kitchen, noticing that my contractions were starting to get a little more intense each time. As we sat down at around the table at 7:30, the contractions were to the point where I had to hold my breath and anything my hands could grip. I told Paul, this might be the real deal. It wasn’t five minutes later I was telling him to call his mom to come and get Nolan that we needed to go to the hospital.

When Missy arrived and I was in so much pain that I couldn’t talk between contractions. We grabbed our hospital bag and last minute items, threw together Nolan’s overnight bag and out the door we blasted around 8:30pm. The one memory I have during this whirlwind was grabbing Nolan and hugging him tight and telling him how much I love him! I knew the next time I would hold him, he would become my big boy and I was a little sad in that moment.

When we got in the car, my contractions were 3-4 minutes a part lasting well over 45 seconds. Thank goodness, Paul found his inner Mario Andretti and we made it to the hospital in record time. When I walked into the lobby, I almost fainted. There was a line so long for folks waiting to check in and only one person working the desk. Thank goodness she must have spotted me there with my large and in charge baby bump and asked me if I was in labor and if I needed a wheelchair. I laughed and said yes! She moved me to the front of the line and even wheeled us up to labor and delivery floor. I had called the doctor on our way to tell them that we were coming in so they could pre-pare a room. We made it to our room; I got dressed in my lovely hospital gown and crawled into bed. 

My contractions were so painful, as Paul said they were off the charts...meaning the monitor. I would grab the hospital bed rails and hold my breath or do my deep breathing until they passed. Paul offered his hand, but I was honestly afraid that I would hurt him. I asked him to just sit next to me. When we checked in I was dilated 5 cm. After my blood work was approved they finally administered my epidural. For mothers out there who go all natural by choice, more power to you! That shit is not for me.  My doctor came back in once my epidural was complete and broke my water. Early on, she said she would wait until my epidural to break my water, so that my contractions wouldn’t get any worse…so to speak.

10:08 pm 

At this point I had an ache in my lower left back and could still feel my contractions. My nurse called the anesthesiologist to say I needed an extra dose. While we were waiting, my parents arrived and waited with us. They always show up right after my epidural. My nurse came in and I told her the pressure was building. She checked and sure enough I was at a 10. She said his head was right there and paged the doctor and respiratory team. She also told me not to push and that she would make sure the anesthesiologist came back before I had to push! She really was an angel. The anesthesiologist came back and administered a little more medicine! This time it took!

Holding Daddy's Hand for the First Time

I talked Paul into letting my mom stay and my dad left for the waiting room! After hearing his stories of the waiting room, I think he would have rather stayed in the room and pulled a curtain or waited in the bathroom J. His stories were hilarious! 

Finally in my arms at 12:30

We waited shortly for the doctors and nurses to arrive and get setup. Before the medical team arrived my nurse was kind enough to place “the mirror” close so I could see his head crowning. It is such an amazing site! I know some people will think that it’s weird, but watching your self bring another human into this world is the most magical miracle.

My doctor came in and the respiratory team was all go. Henry’s head was crowning and I was told to push! I started pushing around 11:45-50 with the hopes that Henry would be born on his due date. After six pushes he came into this world at 12:02 am. We all laughed and celebrated!

Henry was shortly placed in my arms and snuggled right down and fell asleep.

We are thrilled and so blessed to introduce our friends and family to Henry Thomas O’Donohue, born at 12:02 am on Sunday, August 31, 2014, weighing 7lbs, 15oz.

Life with Nolan

Preface: I wrote this post before Henry was born...but still wanted to post it for memories!

August 27, 2014

With baby number two almost here, I took a look at our family blog this week and squirmed when I saw that my last post was April of 2013. Looking back has brought so much joy in just reminiscing the olden days.  A lot has changed since April of 2013. We moved to a new city with a much bigger house. While I love our new house the endless projects have had been going crazy through my nesting phase. As I would stress out about our house and trying to make it beautiful, Paul reminds me, Rome wasn’t built in a day and after praying about it God revealed it’s not about what your house looks like on the inside with the beautiful décor it’s the family and the memories that make a house a home!

Nolan is now almost 2. I look back and can’t believe how fast he has grown. He has turned into a little toddler, cute vocabulary, tantrums and all! He is very opinionated and likes things his way. He is only a cuddle bug a night right before bed time, otherwise he is running 90 miles a minute. His vocabulary is expanding each week and I love hearing him pronounce new words! The new word of the week is Pony. His pronunciation of Pony is precious! He is SMART! I mean really smart. I am sure all moms and dads think this about their child/children. I am jumping on this bandwagon too. Sometime he says things or does things that blow my mind. I stop and think how did he know to do that or where did he learn that from.  He loves animals and loved to make the animal noises. My favorite is when the Food Lion commercial comes on tv the one with the lion is walking down the street and I hear this big Roar come from the kitchen!

Nolan is a great eater, but he has been from day one! The only veggie that he despises is broccoli. I can’t much blame him, because still to this day I only like mine when I have cheese melted over it! He goes to school every day and we moved him just a couple months ago to a church right down the street. He loves his classmates and his teachers. He just doesn’t like being dropped off. His little routine is so funny. He gets out of the car all excited, we push the button to get into the school, walk down the hall get in front of our class and the melt down kicks in… Sometimes he just lean against the wall, but most of the time he lay down in the hallway. He doesn’t cry, he just lays down. All of his friends rush to the gate to tell him good morning, but sometime he needs an extra hug from dad or mom and a hand off to the teacher to go look at the birds out the window. We know he loves it, because when it comes time to be picked up he doesn’t want to leave!

He loves to read! If we would let him, I think he would read or have us read all his books every night at bedtime. I have had to start hiding books from his room, so we don’t have to read 20 books a night. I give him the option of reading three books before we rock, sing and say our prayers…then I give him the option of putting three to four books in his bed so he can read them if he wants. Some mornings when we wake up I can hear his little voice in his room reading his books, when I peer in he is siting up reading and happy as a clam!

For a long time he was all about Daddy! Daddy this and Daddy that. He only wanted Daddy at bath time and bedtime. He would even go so far from pulling me out of his chair at night and telling Daddy to sit. For the last couple of weeks, though Paul has been working crazy hours and has not been here at night. Nolan has become super attached to me! Which is great and not so great with the new baby almost here. Everything is now Momma, Momma. It’s so funny to hear him walking down the hall or waking up in the morning yelling for Momma – Momma! It does melt my heart – I can’t lie.

We are excited for the new little boy, but I can not lie, I am sad. My one on one time with Nolan is almost over. It I think too hard about it, I tear up. I know it’s going to be hard on him and us, but I think to the future about how much he will love having a playmate for life and someone to play choo-choos with, jump of the couch into the pile of cushions or run around naked in the front yard through the sprinklers! 

6 Months and Counting

I have done a poor job on keeping up with this blog!! I thought I would at least find a couple minutes each week to record Nolan’s growth and our new adventures, but for some reason those minutes have decided to play hide and seek and I haven’t had the time to go and find them!

Nolan is growing so fast and his little personality is budding like spring time flowers. He is a little over 6 months old. At his 6 month checkup he was 17 lbs, 27 inches long. I can’t believe he is so big and we are half way to his 1st birthday.

Belly Time! Watch out because I am a rolly polly

His new favorite things are:
Sitting up on his own; Paul has been working with this every evening and he had mastered it pretty well. He can sit up on his own, reach down and grab a toy and then pull himself back up to a sitting position. He still wobbles, but he is getting there.

He now has two little teeth popping through on the bottom. He has been a champ, but some nights I can tell that they are really bothering him. I am not sure if more teeth aren’t coming through. We are definitely in the phase of everything goes in my mouth. He loves both his Sophie the Giraffes and his rubber blocks.

He has also found his voice. He loves to squeal at the top of his lungs at home and out in public. I think our date nights with Nolan are coming to an end fast.

He loves the dogs! Any time Molly or Nola are close by he tries to touch them. Nola isn’t too sure and jumps down quickly, but Molly on the other had goes in for the kiss and would lick him to death if we allowed. Paul and I joke that when Nolan is a little older and Molly can get into his bed, we believe Molly will sleep with him at night. I see a strong little friendship growing every day, it’s so cute and blesses my heart to no end. I am keeping a watchful eye, because he is grabbing pretty hard these days. Just this week he had Molly’s leg and wasn’t letting go.

I got her!

He goes to daycare each day. He loves his teachers and is fascinated with the older kids. He loves to watch them play. I can tell he learns from watching the older kids.

Let me pet while she's looking the other direction

He is rolling over! The first big roll happened a week before his 6 month birthday. He doesn’t roll over a lot, but loves his sides. He started sleeping on his side a while back, but now he is rolling over in his crib! I had thought about putting the bumpers back in the crib…but I am still waiting to see how he does without them. This past weekend, Paul had to go in and pull his foot back into the crib. He likes to touch the rails. Yikes!

I am still breastfeeding. I have enjoyed BF and it makes me happy that I have lasted this long. I feel like it’s given him a healthy start and gives us some cuddle time, that no one else gets. We have started on food. We started with rice cereal at 5 1/2 months just a couple times a week, and he liked it. We then moved to oatmeal at 6 months and this week we did our first veggie – sweet potatoes. He loved them.

First solids! Yummy

His face was priceless at the first taste, and I totally missed it on camera. We got his second bite on film and it was great. He is like a little baby bird in the feeding chair. He kicks his legs and smacks his hand on the side of his tray when we are too slow. I can tell he is going to be a big eater! I am going to try to make my own food for now. The SP was super easy and I think next on the list may be carrots or butter nut squash.

I Love Sweet Potatoes! Delicious

Since our Easter weekend didn’t pan out, we are looking forward to next week when we can get together with my cousin and her two boys! Cass is a month older than Nolan and I can’t wait for them to see each other again!

My First Bunny

Paul and I love being parents! It is work and our lives are so different, but I truly feel Nolan is the greatest gift God has given us and I look forward to watching him grow up!

Two Months

You don’t know until you know.

This is my husband’s new saying when it comes to children; and yes it is true that folks without kids really can’t know until they are experiencing it for themselves. It’s hard to believe that Nolan is two months old already. The time is flashing by and it’s hard to believe that I only have one more month at home with him. My life has completely changed since my little prince has come into this world. I love being a mommy.

The last two months have been wonderful. Nolan is a very happy and content baby. He is growing so big, so fast. My favorite part of the day is in the morning, when he wakes up. I sneak into his room and just watch him lying in his crib, staring around his room. When he spots me his little face lights up and he starts to kick, smile and talk. His smile just melts a mommy’s heart. He is starting to talk so much. I love carrying on a conversation with him.

I am 2 Months Old Guys!

Last week we had his Two Month check-up and everything is going great. He is ranging in the 50-75% percentile. He now weights 12.12 and is 23.5” long.  He got his shots and did great. He was fussy that evening, but the next morning he was back to his happy self. I have really considered spreading out his vaccinations and I might go that route the next time to see how he does. I fear it might be a system overload. I know there are tons of opinions on this matter, but I am going to trust my gut and his reaction on a case-by-case basis.

He is obviously not starving, have you seen his cheeks? I am still solely breastfeeding and it is going great. He gets a bottle of pumped breast milk at least twice a week, normally on the weekends when dad is home. He eats fairly regular, about every 3 hours. Sometimes he naps a little longer and I just let him sleep. The breastfeeding had gone a lot easier than I expected, I do realize that I am blessed, as some moms have a hard time. The only trouble I have experienced is when Nolan sleeps through the night, the next morning I am rather large. I have been lazy about pumping (normally only on the weekends), but I am going to try to commit myself to pumping in the mornings after he first eats. I realize that with me starting work in a month that he may need a bottle more often and I am going to try to do better, after all practice makes perfect.

Dad doing great with the bottle feeding

He has started doing his nights, and I am enjoying getting a good night’s rest. He started about four weeks ago sleeping through the night. He goes down around 9:30 and then wakes up between 6-8 am. If he wakes up around 6, I feed him and put him back down and then we start our day officially around 9. There were a couple of mornings when he woke up around 3 to be changed and eat, and too be honest I did not mind the cuddle time. It’s so special to just nurse him and watch him fall back asleep.  I hope he continues with his nights, but I know this may change.

Waking up from his nap

Our days are pretty consistent, and we have our morning routine down pat. We start the day around 9, he eats while I catch up on my Good Morning America and then he goes down on the play mat while I eat my breakfast and drink my coffee. He then naps either on his play-mat, the bassinet on the pack-n-play or the swing. The rest of the day, just depends on what is going on, sometime we have errands to run and other times we just hang out at the house. He does great during the day and normally naps anywhere to 30 minutes to an hour after he eats and then wakes up when it time to eat again.

He loves his play-mat

In terms of activities, he loves his play-mat. He lays there staring at the lights and animals. He loves to nap in the swing. We owe a big thank you to some friends of ours who are letting us borrow the swing! It has been a life savior. I am trying to get better at tummy time, but I don’t think he likes it, because after about 3 minutes he gets fussy. I try to hold him on my chest during the day for long periods so he doesn't develop a flat/bald spot. The doctor recommended that after every diaper change to put him on his stomach, while I throw his diaper away and wash my hands. I did this religiously at first, but now I am slacking! I need to do better, because he needs to build up his arm strength. He is good with his little head as he was holding it up rather strong at a month old.

Peace Out!

We are starting to get out more, stay tuned for more of our adventures!