Diving!

I made my first post baby dive last weekend. It had been well over a year since I last dove, as I stopped before we started trying to conceive. I did a short dive with our friend Ben to "get my feet wet". Luckily, I didn't literally get my feet wet as my drysuit seals held!

Tim and Ben dove a real cave dive first while Nolan and I dodged mosquitoes. I did see one or two on him and swatted them but luckily no bites appeared on him. I'm positively thinking that he got his mosquito repellent nature from me instead of Tim's extreme allergy!

Here the two boys are together before Tim's dive.

My dive went okay but I stayed in the cavern area and got used to everything again before venturing inside the caves. I'm sure if my cave instructor was watching, it was horrendous (poor trim and bouyancy!), but Ben said it wasn't too bad! 

When we exited the cavern and popped up on the surface Tim saw us and walked down the stairs to the spring edge with Nolan. I was so busy thinking about everything I was doing diving I hadn't had time to think much about Nolan. Considering he is usually all I think about every day all day long, it was a really weird sensation when I saw him on the surface waiting for me and realized I hadn't been thinking about him.

I said his name and he looked around and started crying the most pathetic, sad cry. He heard his mommy but couldn't see her. He continued fussing while Tim held him until I was fully out of my gear and back in street clothes. So weird that he is fine with Tim in gear but couldn't handle his mommy not looking the same.

Solids

Before his birth, I researched breastfeeding and set a goal to exclusively breastfeed Nolan for the first 6 months. It isn't always easy to BF nor was it comfortable and pain free at first. In addition there are painful ailments such as thrush and blisters that we had to work through! Nolan spent the first two months eating about every 2 hours round the clock. Then he slowed to every 2-3 hours during the day and 5-6 at night. At  4 months of age he went back to 2 hours during the day and only 3-4 hours at night. It's a lot of work!

Now that we made it to 6 months, we plan to continue breastfeeding as the main source of nutrition for the first year. Nolan will be allowed to wean at his own pace (WHO recommends BF for 2 years minimum!). Solids for the first year are only for practice and not for nutrition and calorie count. There is lots of research out there on when is the right time to start solids but it seems like nowadays everyone is rushing to get going. I have to admit its fun to feed your baby for the first time but their little bellies just aren't made to have anything except breastmilk for quite some time.

Lots of agencies (WHO, AAP, etc.) all recommend that babies be fed only breastmilk (formula as a second) for the first 6 months of life. Recently pediatricians and parents have been turning that 6 months into 4-6 months without actual science to back it up. Our pediatrician recommends breastfeeding only for 6 months then slowly introducing solids for practice. I was pretty determined to ignore the pressure to feed him anything except breastmilk and we succeeded!

Nolan made it to 6 months and 2 weeks before we introduced solids. I grew a 14+lb baby all from me. I know it's been done since the beginning of time but I really find it amazing!!

Yesterday he got his first meal which was prunes. We did not do cereal of any sort due to the low amount of protein it contains. We chose prunes because he does not frequently poo and solids can cause constipation. They are first so that if he became constipated later due to another food item he would be able to have the prunes to help.  He'll have prunes for four days then we'll introduce his next vegetable if all goes well.

Mess and all, Nol did great!! He did keep trying to suck his thumb after every couple bites. I think if his thumb could feed him he'd be in heaven!

Nolan Meets the World!

This is a quick disjointed post to cover our whirlwind trip! Nolan made his first airplane flight last week. We flew alone on our flight to Indiana and then flew home with hubby. Nol was amazing on the flights there, not making a sound. On the flight home he fussed a little but was very well behaved.

Nolan had started becoming a little weary of strangers before our trip so I was worried that he might be upset meeting lots of new people. Apparently he completely forgot to be scared by strangers and was just great with lots of new people holding him!

In one week Nolan flew (two flights each with a connection), drove from central Indiana to central Illinois and back, attended a wedding at a vineyard, drove to northern Indiana, went to his first farm, and met and was held by LOTS of new people. That is a pretty monumental week for a six month old.

Nolan's favorite part of the wedding was once the music started and dancing began. He had a blast and was up way past his bedtime!!

Now we are back home trying to catch up on sleep and get back into our routine!

World's Largest....

CARSEAT!!

When we bought our carseat we looked for safety, durability, and ability to do extended rear-facing (check out ERF here http://www.joelsjourney.org/). Little did we know we could be getting a monster carseat. We ended up going with the Britax Advocate CS. As it is a convertible that fits from 5lbs to 55lbs, we  were covered and this is the only carseat we have ever used. Besides its size I really like it although Tim isn't a huge fan (simply because of the size)!!

Nolan and I are taking it with us on our first plane ride and checking it through. Since it isn't an inexpensive purchase and it is safety equipment, we wanted to be sure it would get there in one piece with no nasty stains or any structural defects. Of course NO carseat cover bags I could find in stores or even online would hold it. Eventually I contacted the manufacturer J.L Childress who makes a nice one that fits most every other carseat. They were familiar with my specific carseat and willing to make a custom bag to fit it. It is lined with padding even! Here are a few pics of the beast.

In the car we barely have room....

Now here is the carseat , the cover, and Nolan for perspective.

...and finally what I will be walking through the airport with tomorrow. It doesn't have wheels as the luggage tracks tend to rip those off and ruin the bag but it has a shoulder strap.

Melts my heart

Almost daily Nolan manages to do something that is just ridiculously cute. Here is just a small list of the things that make my heart melt.

Every now and again while nursing I will feel something a little strange. When I look down, I notice Nolan is still nursing but has managed to fit his thumb in his mouth too. Apparently eating and sucking your thumb is the best!

Sometimes when he is nursing, Nolan pulls off, looks at me with the biggest smile ever, and then goes right back to eating. It's like he is saying "Hi, mom!" before he finishes his lunch.

Nolan is starting to get a little fear of strangers, especially men, sometimes it's if someone other than mom or dad is holding him and other times it's because the "stranger" is a bit too close and talking to him. In the moments before his pitiful cries, he looks me in the eyes, curls his little lip up, and the tiniest little tears start streaming down his cheeks. The actual vocal cries don't start for a few more moments.

Here is a pic of how fussy faces can also be cute. 

Every morning when I wake up, I look over into the cradle a few inches away from me. Through the slats is the little man. As soon as he awakens, he looks for me and smiles the biggest smile every morning when he sees his mommy!

Nolan is starting to learn to give kisses. He leans in with an open mouth and when I make kissy sounds or kiss his cheek he giggles.

Besides the common laughs and giggles, Nolan has a deep pitched belly laugh that only lasts a second and sounds like tee-hee-hee. It takes a special funniness to get to hear that noise!

Yard Work

I really need to get better at updating this blog. You would think staying at home with only one little baby and 3 dogs to manage would give me lots of extra time but in reality that's not the case!

This week Nolan helped me to add some pizazz to our front yard. About a year and a half ago, I purchased 3 small queen palms. I planted one after about six months but ended up placing it too close to the house for long term success.

 I didn't get around to planting the other two because we decided in the mean time to completely redo our backyard. The place the trees were going to go is just going to get torn up in the process so no reason to put them in the ground yet. Of course, trees in pots don't grow like trees in the ground. The planted tree is now at about 20' tall and the others are not even 5'. Since the backyard remodel is going to take some time and involve demo-ing the pool house, I thought I'd just plant the 2 potted trees out front. This meant it was a great time to transplant the large palm too.

This week I dug up the grass where the new bed would go, installed a paver edge, and planted the bed. Let me tell you digging up grass is much harder than you would think. It took 5 garbage bags to dispose of it too! Luckily we have yard waste pick up each week.

I ended up planting the transplanted palm in the center and showcasing it with various other plants. It looks much better in person and will be even nicer once the plants take off and flourish. I planted one of the previously no-planted palms in a second location out front and the third will go in it own tiny circular bed once I have a chance to complete the work. For now the big garden bed is done though!

Living in FL it feels as though yard work is really never done. Things grow at crazy rates and weeds shoot up before your eyes. At least for the moment my little flower bed is nice!

If you look close, directly in front of the gate on the left side of the pic is the second palm I planted. You can barely see a single frond from it in the pic.

Sippy Time!

Nolan has never been very good at sucking on anything other than his momma! He does take a pacifier but it took searching through every brand and some persistence on my part to get him to latch on to the pacifier which I can take away versus his thumb. As a newborn, in addition to actual breastfeeding, we pumped for the first few days and then used a tiny syringe tube laid next to my finger and inserted into his mouth to stimulate a better suck reflex. He figured out pretty fast how to get food from me but even so he usually only sucks a few times, waits until the milk is free flowing and squirting, then just swallows instead of actively drinking.

All of this has led to a baby that does not take a bottle. I've tried every brand and he has only taken the bottle twice (from his daddy) and each time it was less than an ounce. I've pretty much stopped trying and pumping because it is a waste of time but it would be nice to know he can eat without me present.

His pedi. suggested a sippy cup so I found one while out and about the other day. They actually make some with the nipple piece that is for 3+ month old babies so we got one of those and then the next size too. I tried it out myself and was disappointed to find out that it takes quite a bit of suction. Darn the no spill feature!! I need it to spill into his mouth slowly or it won't really work!

The past few days especially Nolan has been massively teething and showing interest in everything I put in my mouth including cans and cups. Today on his 5 mo. birthday I decided to try him with a sippy cup.

I figured I'd post the picture before I post the end result because it looks like he figured it all out which he did not. Nolan loves his new teether with the nice rubber mouthpiece and handles but he isn't so sure about the filling it with liquids part. I don't think he managed to suck even a single drop.

Oh well.....I wonder if they let you bring your mom with you on the first day of school for milk at snack time. Just kidding...I know he is still tiny and don't want him to grow up that fast but it would be nice not to be the buffet 24/7!!