Why should I be ashamed?

Guys, 2 months from now I'm going to be 27. Holy cow. I feel like that officially puts me in the "late twenties" category. My 10 year high school reunion is next year. 10 years!! While I feel like my late twenties snuck up on me I also don't feel old.

I recently saw a post about an eleven year old girl who was buying wrinkle cream so that she could start preventing wrinkles on her face. Eleven. 

When I was eleven I was just worried about playing outside with my friends, the thought of wrinkles never even crossed my mind.

Do I have wrinkles now? Sure. But why do I have to be ashamed of them or try to get rid of them? I also have plenty of other things "wrong" with my body but I embrace them all.

• I have some crows feet. That just means I've smiled a lot. I've enjoyed my life and laughed. Why am I supposed to hide the fact that I've smiled and laughed a lot?

• I have dark circles and bags under my eyes. That just means I've had friends who've kept me up late having fun, jobs that wake me up early, or right now, a toddler who gets me up :). Why am I supposed to hide the fact that I like spending time with people I love or, the fact that I've been blessed with jobs, or that my baby needed me in the middle of the night for sustenance and comfort?

• Another thing I hear a lot about is gray hair. While I don't experience this yet, I full plan on embracing every single one that shows up. Why am I supposed to cover up that I'm aging and my hair is changing with that?

• I have stretch marks. I was pregnant and got some stretch marks. Guys, I stinking grew a human being inside of me, the most incredible thing I could ever do and I'm supposed to be ashamed of the stretch marks that came with it? I created life and the thing I'm supposed to take from that is he ruined my body with stretch marks. This does not even make sense to me.

I see aging and getting older as a gift. I embrace my birthday and new age every year. God's given me the gift of another year of life, why do I feel like I'm supposed to complain about that? I've survived this life for almost 27 years now. That's a great accomplishment. I'm looking forward the next 27 years and more!

Nolan- 12 months!

Weight: 25 pounds
Length: 30 inches


Likes:

• Animals. Loves our dogs and any other animal he comes in contact with. 
• Eating, little boy will eat all the time if you give him food!
• Running around. That's right, this little boy is officially a walker and runner!
• Being outside, he loves being out in the yard and exploring everything.
• Swimming! The water in our pool has finally warmed up enough and he loves splashing in the water!

Dislikes:

• He's in this phase where he hates having his diaper changed, it takes forever to get through it now.
• Being put down for a nap. He's tired but let's me know he's not happy about being in his crib. He's usually asleep within a few minutes though.
• Green beans. He used to gobble them up but now has decided not like them anymore.

Well that's it! My baby is no longer a baby anymore! It's been fun to watch this last year and how much he's changed and grown. I can't wait to see how different he is next year!

Nolan- 11 Months

Weight: 25 pounds
Length: ?


Likes:

• Bananas. They're still his favorite food in the world and he would eat them all the time. I have to be careful at the grocery store otherwise he'll grab them and try to eat them right then.
• Playing outside. He's starting to gain confidence and has started crawling around the yard instead of just staying on the blanket we sit on.
• Being tossed around. He's obviously going to be an adrenaline junkie and love roller coasters.
• Getting into everything! No drawer or cupboard is safe!
• Making animal noises. He can do lion, monkey, owl, and Daddy (makes farting noises for Daddy).

Dislikes:

• When I don't let him play with electrical outlets.
• When I don't let him play in the dishwasher.
• Basically, when I don't let him do what he wants to do (usually cause it's not safe).

Nolan: 10 Months

Weight: 24 pounds
Length: ?


Likes:

• Food! Especially bananas. He's liked every fruit and vegetable we've given to him. He's unsure about some meats but will eat almost anything.
• Walking with his sit-to-stand walker. He goes all over the place!
• Anything soft- teddy bears, blankets, pillows, he loves them all!
• Shrieking at the top of his lungs. When he's really excited he shrieks. Kid has some lungs on him.
• Drinking from a straw cup. He doesn't want regular sippy cups anymore, they have to have a straw.

Dislikes:

• Getting his diaper changed. He flips over, stiffens his legs, cries, anything he can do to try and get away.
• Wearing shoes.

Nolan- 9 Months

Weight: 23 pounds 9 ounces (95%)
Length: 29.25 inches (83%)

Milestones: Pulling himself up on things.
                   "Real" crawling on hands and knees. He gets up on his knees but he still drags them.


Likes:

• Eating. He's becoming a little more adventurous in what he will try and is starting to eat bites of "real" food, not just baby food anymore. He still loves bananas.
• Books with flaps that he can open and close. He will get upset if I try to put them away after reading them 20 times.
• An empty diaper box that he can climb on and pull himself into a standing position with.
• Turing off light switches.
• Crawling EVERYWHERE! And he's quick, too.
• Blankets, he loves all blankets.

Dislikes:

• Snow. I'm hoping this will change as he gets older but, he could have cared less about the snow we got recently.
• When I won't let him play with things he shouldn't such as, the carbon monoxide detector, the dog toys, the fireplace, etc….
• Growing teeth. He has 3 top teeth coming in right now and they hurt him and disrupt his sleeping through the night (Ok, maybe Mommy dislikes his growing teeth, too).

Nolan- 8 Months

Weight: 23.2 pounds (not entirely sure how accurate that is. He's too wiggly for me to hold and try to get a weight on our scale and I'm not sure if it's accurate with him sitting on the scale by himself)
Length: ?

Milestones:

• Crawling! Well, it's more of an army crawl/ belly drag but he's definitely moving!
• Sitting himself up. He can crawl around and then sit himself up on his own if he wants to sit up!

Likes:

• Crawling. He's a quick little bugger and will get into everything.
• Trying to eat Mommy's dirty shoes.
• Puffs- they're his favorite thing to eat.
• Being thrown in the air.
• His big stuffed bear.

Dislikes:

• Having to be still for anything.
• When Mommy moves him away from dirty stuff he shouldn't play with.
• Being held for long periods of time, he'd rather be playing with his toys or crawling around.
• Prunes. It's the only thing I've found so far that he won't eat.
• Being laughed at. Apparently he's very sensitive and will get the biggest poochie lip if he knows you're laughing at him.

Nolan: 7 Months

Weight: 22.2 pounds
Length: ?


Likes:

• Bananas. He would eat them all the time if I would let him
• The Price is Right. We watch it every day together :)
• Tearing apart him foam playmats and trying to eat them. He's very destructive and strange.
• The book "Moo Baa Lalala" He would be happy if I read it to him all day
• Rolling. He rolls all over the place and will often get himself squished into corners
• Spitting. He's the champion of blowing raspberries and spitting all over your face.

Dislikes:

• Having to be still for diaper changes. 
• Teething. It makes him a grump!
• Not being able to crawl. He wants to get toys out of his reach and gets mad he can't move.

That's about it! He's a pretty happy baby and we are very blessed :)

Nolan- 6 months

Weight: 20 pounds 6 ounces (91%)
Length: 27.3 inches (73%)

Milestones:

• Learned how to roll from back to tummy!
• Rediscovered how to roll tummy to back (he did it a lot when he was really little then stopped for a while)
• Got his first 2 bottom teeth!

Likes:

• Peek-a-boo. This is still one of his favorite things
• Looking at his reflection in the mirror
• Roxy, he thinks every thing she does is the best! I don't think the feeling is reciprocated though. 
• Blankets. I know he's not supposed to but, he naps with a blanket and gets a small blanket at night, it helps him go to sleep.

Dislikes:

• Diaper changes right before his naps
• Sitting for long periods, he's rather be held standing up or rolling around

Wiggle Worm

Normally Nolan will wake up a little bit before I'm ready to get him so I just let him play in his crib for a bit until it's time to get up. Recently he's taken to throwing his legs around which makes him turn in circles in his crib and end up in crazy positions.

This morning I got out of my shower and heard a strange rattling noise coming from his room that I had never heard before. I grabbed the baby monitor and this is what I saw:

Bottom left of the screen is his arm. The camera is pointed towards the middle of his bed where he usually is.

He had managed to wiggle himself sideways and to the very end of his crib and was hitting the end. I looked back a few minutes later and this was my view:

Instead of my baby I got a view of his stuffed giraffe that he flung to the middle of the bed.

As soon as I was ready for him to get up I went into his room to get him and this is what he looked like:

I promise this is not how I put him to bed.

He's my little wiggle worm and constantly keeps me on my toes :) 

Pumpkin Carving

We picked pumpkins and carved them :)

He wasn't too thrilled about picking out pumpkins. It was too close to bedtime.

My hottie hubby and handsome baby <3

Helping Mommy clean out his pumpkin

With his little baby pumpkin

Nolan: 5 Months

Weight: 19.4 pounds (according to our home scale)
Length: ?


Likes:
- Peek-a-boo! It's his new favorite game
- His jumparoo, he likes to bounce and jump!
- Being outside
- "Chasing" Roxy around the yard- meaning, Mommy carries Nolan and runs around after the dog.

Dislikes:
- Napping, still. On the rare occasion I can get him to nap for an hour but lately it's been 25-30 minutes at most (as I type this he's waking up after a 25 minute nap...)
- Being in his car seat for very long. He likes to move a lot and the constraints of the car seat are not his friend.

Things I've learned by being a Mom.

I realize my little guy is only 4 months old and I still have so much to learn from him but here are some things I've learned already from being a mom.

- Take a lot of pictures during the first couple weeks. You live in a half-awake fog and you will be grateful to have those pictures later

- Taking a shower has magical powers, even a 2 minute shower

- How to take a 2 minute shower

- Babies don't understand "2 more minutes" when you want to finish something you're doing

- Diapering is an art form. I can't even count how many times I've been peed on because I didn't put the diaper on good enough.

- Babies find random things hilarious. 

Dogs panting in your face- hilarious

Taking off your pajamas- hilarious

Hitting your own stomach to hear the "thunk" noise- hilarious

But it's only hilarious exactly 4 times then it's not funny anymore

- You will do anything sometimes to make baby stop crying. You want me to sing "You are my Sunshine" 138645 times? Will do!

- A baby's internal/ nighttime clock is a tricky little devil

- A 20 minute trip to the grocery store by yourself is the best vacation. Ever.

- It's amazing how much that little body can hold inside of it. Poop, pee, drool, how does such a little thing make so much??

Other moms- what else would you add to the list?

Nolan- 4 months

Weight: 17 pounds 10 ounces (88%)
Length: 25.7 inches (73%)


Likes:
- Our dogs. They make him laugh and he loves watching them.
- Taking off his jammies in the morning. I don't know why but he thinks it's hilarious and our mornings always consist of lots of giggles. I love it!
- Hands. He has a new fascination with our hands. He likes to grab them and hold our fingers and try to eat them.
- Songs. His favorite are "You are my Sunshine" and "If you're happy and you know it"
- Being upside-down. It makes him laugh. It's my favorite :)

Dislikes:
- Naps. My good sleeping baby, who used to get 3-4 1 hour naps a day, has started only napping for about 30-40 minutes. It's lame.
- Being still. He's always moving!

1 Year Later

Dear my sweet Nolan,

Exactly 1 year ago today I found out that you were already growing inside of me. As soon as I saw that positive test my heart start beating faster with excitement, anticipation, and joy! I couldn't wait for your Daddy to get home from work to tell him the good news. As soon as I told him he was so excited! My journey to your birth was fairly easy- minus the morning sickness for the first 12 weeks- but it was all worth it!

The day you were born was one of the happiest days of my life. I couldn't get enough of just staring at your sweet little face and just holding you all day. I also loved watching your Daddy interact with you and help take care of you, he is an amazing man and we are both so blessed to have him.

Now, at 3 months old, you're developing your little personality so much already! You love smiling at Mommy and Daddy, laughing at your doggies, and talk our ears off! I'm looking forward to watching you change and develop even more during the first year of your life.

My dear baby, my life has just improved and been filled with so much more joy now that you're in it. I absolutely love being your Mommy and wouldn't change it for anything.

I love you!

Mommy

Nolan- 3 Months

Weight: 15.6 pounds (according to our home scale)
Length: ? He moves too much for me to try and get it at home :)


Likes:
- Talking! This kid will talk your ear off when he has something to say. Most mornings he'll wake up and talk to himself for 30-45 minutes then go back to sleep, it's hilarious!
- His playmats. He's really starting to reach for things and focus on his toys that dangle.
- Chewing on his hands. I'm not sure if teething is starting but he chomps on his fists alllll day long.
- The song "You are my Sunshine". If he's upset and I sing that to him it usually makes it better.

Dislikes:
- Getting dressed. He's decided he doesn't like clothes going over his head and cries most mornings when I dress him.
- Getting out of the bath. He loves his bath and splashing and cries every time I take him out.

Baby Product Review: Fisher-Price Discover 'n Grow Kick and Play Piano Gym

Now that Nolan is becoming more active and attentive to toys I'm always looking for fun things for him. I saw this play-mat on sale on Amazon.com and knew it would be a great purchase and boy was I right! He loves it! (Here it is)

He can easily reach the hanging toys to bat them around and he loves to kick his feet so the music and songs are great for him and he loves to stare at himself in the big mirror. I like that it'll grow with him for quite a while. The piano will flip up for when he's able to sit on his own so he can play it with his hands.

Here he is playing:

So if you need a play-mat for your baby or know of a baby who needs a fun gift this is definitely a great purchase!

Nolan- 2 Months

(Because I can't pick which picture I like best, here's 2 :) )

Nolan- 2 Months

Weight: 14 pounds 3 ounces (95%)

Length: 24 inches (85%)

Head circumference: 40.5 cm (50%)

Likes:

- Still likes to eat :) No sign of slowing down much or being more efficient, it can be anywhere from 20 minutes to 45 minutes each feeding. Only 2 more months until we can start him on foods!

- His Daddy! I thought for sure I would get at least a few months of being the favorite parent since I feed him and am home with him all day but as soon as Daddy gets home Nolan is so excited. When he's being cranky all I have to do is give him to Adam and he's happy again.

- To talk. And smile! He's been a big talker the past few days and I think we're getting close to his first laugh, I can't wait!

- To sit/ stand up. He would much rather be sitting in our laps than laying down and playing.

- His changing pad. I don't know why but that's his favorite place to be! That's where he talks to the most, wiggles around the most, and smiles the most. Makes diaper changes throughout the day more adorable.

- To be outside. If he's cranky I just walk around in the yard with him and it usually makes him stop crying.

Dislikes:
- Still doesn't care too much to be buckled into his car seat. He's usually once we get going but buckling him in isn't his favorite.
-There's not a whole lot he doesn't like, he's a pretty easy going baby!

Nolan- 1 Month

Nolan- 1 Month

Weight: 10 pounds 13 ounces (75%)
Length: 22.5 inches (75%)
Head Circumference: 38.8 cm (55%)


Likes: 
-This kid loves to eat! He's gained exactly 3 pounds since birth! When I sit down to nurse him you can guarantee on a minimum of 30 minutes, a few times he's almost nursed for an hour!
-He loves his bouncy seat when he's tired, the only way he will nap in his crib during the afternoon is if I put his seat in there.
-To be up. He's super curious and wants to see the world and everything going on.
-To be swaddled. If he's tired and you swaddle him he's a lot happier.
-Bath time after I'm done washing him. He likes to be in the water as long as I'm not messing with him

Dislikes:
- Being in his carseat if he's not moving. He'll cry when you're strapping him in but as soon as you pick up the seat and start moving he's ok.
-Laying down when he's awake. Like stated above, he wants to be held sitting up or up looking over your shoulder so he can see everything.

Baby Product Review: Swaddleme Blanket

 Like almost every other baby Nolan loves to be swaddled. And, like almost every parent, I could never get those darn hospital blankets tight enough to keep him confined! Those first few nights home were pretty rough because he would break out of my attempt to swaddle him and cry because he was upset so we definitely didn't get very much sleep.

I remember seeing swaddle sacks on Target's website so I decided to look some up on amazon.com (thanks to swagbucks I get things for free :-p ) and I discovered the Swaddleme Blanket and ordered one immediately!

It has seriously been one of the best baby products I have purchased! It keeps Nolan snug and comfortable all night and is super easy to change his diaper in the middle of the night without have to unswaddle him all the way (the bottom half just unvelcros). Since using it he started giving me longer stretches of sleep during the night, too!

If you have a baby that likes to be swaddled I would highly recommend getting a swaddle sack and making your life so much easier and your baby so happy!

Here's some pictures of the exact ones I've purchased:

Nolan's Birth Story

Warning: There will be details that some may find gross so read at your own risk :)


Monday, May 6th, was my official due date and I went in to the doctor for my 40 week check up. The doctor I saw checked to see if I had made any progress since I hadn't felt any contractions or Braxton-Hicks at all and she said I was 2 cm dilated and 70-80% effaced already! She mentioned that they would talk about inducing if I made it to the next week but she said she would be surprised if I made it to the end of that week. At that point I felt like I would be pregnant forever since I hadn't felt any type of progress at all.

Well, Monday came and went, Tuesday came and went, and Wednesday came and went.... sigh, still pregnant. I went to bed Wednesday night feeling slightly frustrated that nothing was happening, not even a single cramp!

Thursday morning, around 1:30 am, I woke up to a crampy feeling and figured I had just rolled over funny or something. Then I felt another one and wasn't quite buying that it was a contraction so I went to use the bathroom incase that's what it was. Very soon after they started getting more frequent and closer together so I figured that I was definitely in labor and these were contractions. I downloaded a contraction timer app on my phone and started keeping track. The first few were 5-7 minutes apart and it didn't take long for them to become 3 1/2 minutes apart and lasting about 1 minute. I called my doctor at 2:30 to see if I should head to the hospital and she told me to give it another hour. I knew I couldn't last that long so I gave it 30 minutes and I started having really intense contractions that took me to my knees. I woke Adam up around 3 and we grabbed our stuff and headed out the door.

By the time I was admitted and checked into triage it was around 3:45 and I was in so much pain. The nurse checked my progress and said I was already 5 cm and she said I had a "bulging" water bag. I asked for an epidural at that point and was told it would probably be about an hour until they could get to me since they still had to get me in a room and get someone to me. Thankfully it was only about 45 minutes and the nurse I had was fantastic at getting me through the contractions until the epidural kicked in. The doctor on call came in to check my progress at that time, was told about my water bag, and as soon as she checked my cervix my water bag exploded all over her. It was so nasty and kind of funny at the same time. They were concerned because there was meconium present and they were worried about Nolan swallowing some of it when he came out so, they had special care set up in the room to check him out. I had progressed to 10cm right at shift change and my new nurse had me start trying to push just to see what I could do and where Nolan was at. I pushed for about 3 hours and the doctor said I was starting to tear a little and asked if I wanted an episiotomy and I really didn't so I asked him if we could go through a few more contractions and see how it goes then talk again and he agreed. Apparently that was the motivation I needed because 2 or 3 contractions later, after 10 1/2 hours of labor and 3 1/2 hours of pushing, Nolan Ruger Dietz was born at 11:47 am! He weighed 7 pounds 13 ounces and was 21 1/4 inches long with a bunch of dark hair.

Nolan!

First time I held him

First time Adam held him

Family picture :)

Congrats if you read that all :) Overall it was a quite the experience and I'm so excited to have my sweet boy!