We arrived home from the hospital on August 16th, and Noah loved the ride home. He looked like such a cool guy pimping his "Buggy" as his Auntie (Sharah) calls his carseat. (Here he is at 2 days old!)
My amazing amazing amazing (I really could say that a million times over) mom so graciously stayed with us for three weeks (no, not three days, three WEEKS!!!) Oh the fun we had! We laughed and cried, took turns taking baby duty and altogether had an irreplaceable chance to make such great memories. Here is how it went:
•Noah was sleeping the first few nights, then we had to troubleshoot his gaseous problems. We tried Mylicon and three different Gripe Waters, one of which turned his nice orange poop to black and full of debris. We settled on Colic Ease, which has done wonders! After about a week of nights with me crying over my poor precious baby boy, we got somewhat of a system going.
• Breastfeeding has been great, other than squirting all over Noah and me several times, it really is like witnessing Old Faithful (which I have actually been to!).
• Noah, poor thing, decided he would go through a week or so of projectile vomiting, I am talking out of mouth and both nostrils. That phase is over, thank goodness, for Laundry's sake!! We would both have to change into new clothing!!
• We ventured out that first week to Babies R Us for our first outing, and Noah did amazing and slept the whole time.
• My dad came into town, and we of course, made it out to Cagle's Steakhouse . . . my dad's favorite. And, GET THIS, my dad bought us nearly 600 diapers!!! We are set for life - well almost!
• So, then for our Newborn Photo shoot with our amazing photographer Shan Ingram (www.shanrenee.com) . . . Outfits for the boys were EASY, umm, but what about me? 12 days after having a baby equals impossible to find outfits that are photo worthy on this majorly stretched out belly!! BUT, lo and behold, I found great outfits. Forever 21 has great stuff that is a little loose to cover postpartum bellies. Our photos turned out to be AMAZING! Yippee.
• So, as I had one second to sneak away all by myself to find those outfits, I am in the fitting room at Forever 21, and I get a call from my mom (still in Lubbock), and this is how it went, "Shanda, your mommy fell, and I am at the dadada Office Building", me: "Oh my gosh . . . I am leaving right now" . . . As I literally ran out of the mall (barely even able to walk in slow speed from the Labor). Zoom zoom, I thought she was seriously injured and she already has a bad back. She scraped her knees badly but God completely protected her back!!!
• Mom cooked, cleaned (I mean really cleaned, and it hasn't been really cleaned like that since) did probably 200 loads of laundry, folded probably 2,000 items, and of course melted over "Baby Noah" as she calls him. Boy, Gran (her name for Noah) made life easy. All good things must come to an end, and it was a sad sad day when she left.
• My Grandpa came into town and bought Noah a bunch of Dallas Cowboys garb, of which Nathan was over thrilled about NOT!! It was funny!
• We went back to church when Noah was 2 weeks old, thank goodness for the Cry Room!
• Alex, my mom's husband, came into town, and he and Noah watched football (you see, Alex played college football for Wake Forest and NFL football for the Seattle Seahawks). Then he stole my mom back!!!! There were definite tears.
• SO, mom leaves, then it is just Nathan and me for the weekend, and then Nathan goes OUT OF TOWN that Wednesday for 4 days!!!! Not only did my mom just leave, but then my husband leaves 3 days later!!!!! Well, we did GREAT, although I was very nervous about it at first.
• Last weekend, Nathan's mommy and Doug came, and we had a great time with them!
• I think things are balancing out now . . . I have been working for 2.5 weeks, and it is even difficult to get the towel off of my head to dry my hair, if I am even so lucky to do that!!
• SO, Nathan and I go to church, to lunch, and then Target. Well, I unbuckled Noah in his carseat while we were in Target and of course covered him up. So, I put his car seat in the car . . la dee da... Nathan is driving and Noah starts fussing, and Nathan says, "Something doesn't feel right, did you buckle him up?" UHHHHHHH . . . PULL OVER RIGHT NOW, NO I DIDN'T!!!! Ok, so not only was my son in his car seat not buckled, but we had driven on the Loop AND truly Nathan had to swerve on Indiana into another lane to avoid being hit by the inches. And Noah was unbuckled. Thank you Jesus for watching over us!!
• One more story . . . Noah and I had to run errands yesterday for my work and stop by Babies R Us. We get to Babies R Us, I get his stroller out, put his car seat in it, and in to the store we happily go. La dee da . . . 35 minutes later we are done, and I get Noah in the car, stroller put up, walk around to the driver's side, and THE DOOR WAS LEFT COMPLETELY OPEN!!!!!!!! Oh goodness, I titled this entry with the word adventures for a good reason huh?!!
Overall, Noah is an UNBELIVABLE, and I mean that, baby. He is such a calm spirit and so content, but he is definitely a passionate fellow and knows what he wants. He talks all the time, it is so cute when he babbles through his pacifier!! He is sleeping anywhere from 4-7 hours at night, and he is eating very well. Chubby cheeks are proof of that! He is so handsome, and such a cuddle bug. I love him more than words could ever describe, and I am honored to be his mommy.
We are so beyond grateful for the amazing support we have and all the help offered!! Our church friends made dinners for us for several nights, and much more! I will be posting regularly now! Much love to all.
