My men

Have you ever realized how little there is out there for guys to buy in the way of clothes?? I was at old navy today looking for pajamas for cody and they had all of three different kinds of pj pants....across the store in the women's section there is an entire SECTION of pajama bottoms of various colors and styles. This tells me that either men don't get options when it comes to clothes or....that society has realized how much we women love being in pj's....I mean at least once a month we are reaching for those comfy pj's or, in my case if you're a mom, you're lucky if you ever make it out of them.



Chalk this up to one of the perks of being a mom/wife that I never thought of before: I get to shop for my men when they don't want to/are too busy etc. Now, while I don't necessarily like shopping/going to malls that often, it's fun when I have a real practical reason for being there-not just window shopping and becoming depressed by the end of the day cause I see tons that I can't buy etc. Also, this way I don't have to worry about standing in line for dressing rooms or finding the cutest top only to find that it doesn't fit right/look right on me at all.



Why you ask? Because shopping for guys is sooo easy and fun! Guys magically know exactly what size they are and it really doesn't matter what you pick-as long as it's in their size it'll look the same/just fine, and these sizes are the same in every store! This makes me wonder if all men's clothes come from exactly the same place and mold....cause I will tell you right now that that is NOT the case for women. In one store you're a 2, in another you're a medium, in another you're an 8 etc etc etc. Oh and all those clothes that look so good on the mannequins- well just look behind them and you will find tons of clips/rubber bands etc holding that shirt in the perfect place....cause we walk out of the house like that. But guys? their clothes are all uniform when it comes to sizes-they know exactly what measurements they are for dress clothes so they have no need to actually try anything on. It's not fair...the only thing that balances it out is the fact that guys have 25% to choose from than girls do. Still...75% more clothes that don't fit right isn't that great of a deal when you think about it.



Anywho, this is all a long-winded attempt at saying: I enjoy shopping for my boys. They may not care what they wear in the end but I like picking out cute outfits-especially for jake. yeah...I need to stay away from clothing stores cause now I'm drawn to the baby section. I LOVE lil polo shirts and some cute mini corduroys. You can have all the cute baby looking onsies, but I love baby clothes that are just miniature versions of adult styles. I can't wait for jake to grow into the following:

















You may notice that I bought a coat-that would be because we're going to Utah for thanksgiving this year for my brother Eric's wedding-we're so excited for him and Sarah! Plus I'm excited to actually get to experience fall/winterish weather, visit family and show jake off, and we already have a list of restaurants that we have to visit. :)
SO Excited!!!
Can't wait to show this little man around BYU!

It's a good day

It's happened! It's finally happened! I am the proud owner of a mac. It's so weird cause I feel like I'm on Cody's laptop...I'm sure he's happy to have his computer back :) I can't get over how fast it is, how it doesn't force you to shut down or get updates every time I turn it on....oh yeah, and the retina screen isn't too shabby either. Well welcome to our new family blog-we've wanted to change blog hosts ever since twitter bought posterous. Today is a big day. Not only is it BYU vs Utah tonight, but I've managed to fit into a pair of pre-pregnancy jeans. check it.

something old and something new

Last night I was reading a blog-not of someone I know, which is not usual for me.  I don't typically follow blogs of people I don't know, but someone I did know put this blog out on facebook and encouraged others to read it and the title jumped out at me: diary of a wimpy mom.  It was 2 am and I was feeding Jake with nothing else to do-facebook gets really slow in those early hours which surprises me cause with how crazy-obsessed with facebook the world is I thought I could count on having something new to look at for those early feedings.  So there I was reading this random woman's blog-that makes her sound old, she's my age but anywho, and I couldn't help but love her overall writing style and personality.  It really came out in her posts.  It also helped that she's a mom and talks about mom related things so they were entertaining to me.  11 months ago they wouldn't have been.

It suddenly struck me at how: A. little I write in here anymore, and B. little I enjoy blogging in general.

If you've known me for five-ish or more years than you would know that this has not always been the case.  I was a copious blogger back in the day.  i had a blog before my mission and a new blog after my mission that I would write in every day and I enjoyed it.  When I'd notice things througout the day or random/weird/sad/funny stuff would happen I'd write about it and looked forward to writing about it.

So what happened?  When did I suddenly stop looking forward to blogging and see it as a chore?  Was it since we made this "family blog" so I feel like I can only write about countless updates and stats that our friends/fam want to be kept up on instead of what I'm actually thinking about?  Not that I don't love talking about our family and our goings-on but...it's no longer just my blog so maybe that's why I feel like I can't just use it as a mental dumping ground like I used to.  As I was reading this other blog though, it really lit a fire and reminded me at how fun blogging can be and how much I used to enjoy it, so i'm going to try to start again in earnest.  So this will be about our fam, of course, but I'll also use it as my personal blog too....most moms do this anyway with their fam blogs right? cool. so here we go:

 

Below is a picture that all parents know well:

The booger suction thingy.  Now I've learned many interesting new insights into myself since having our baby boy, one of which being that I HATE boogers and using the booger suction thingy.  If you want to gross me out the quickest way is through boogers.  Keep in mind I am not generally a wimp when it comes to bodily functions (after all I grew up with three brothers haha- j/k eric, mike, and steve....sort of).  In the past two months I have been peed on, pooped on (we're talking projectile poop that I sacrificed my hand for so it wouldn't spray the rest of me....I could have made a perfect orange poopy handprint if I wanted to....tmi?) spit up on, etc.  

Now while these things make me mad, I'm not fighting back the urge to dry heave, but the second I hear something rattling around in jacob's nose I hand him to Code (if he's home) to deal with it.  He likes the sunction thing-thinks it's cool.  The other day he wasn't home and I could tell that jake was stuffed up and my stomach dropped at that awful rattling sound.  I looked and sure enough I could see the booger.  GAG.  So I get that stupid lil suction thingy and after four or five trys the gooey gross booger is stuck right in the end of that lil instrument.  Even now I'm grossing myself out just thinking about it-shudder.  I fought back the urge to gag and washed it out as fast as possible the whole time yelling "EWW!"

Where does this deep-seated reflex come from?  Kindergarten.  At least I think it was kindergarten...maybe first grade? or preschool?  suffice it to say I was young.  I remember we were gathering for something and sitting on the floor etc and I looked over at a fellow classmate at the WRONG time.  I watched in horror as she picked her nose (ok that wasn't that bad we were 6 after all) and then proceeded to eat it (THAT'S THE BAD PART!).  I still remember the completely gut-wrenching grossed-out feeling I had even then and that's the feeling I get whenever I have to deal with or see boogers now.  *SHUDDER*

I'm sure I'll become more and more desensitized to it over the years...otherwise I have a lot of gagging reflexes to experience in my future :(

Time flies when you're making the biggest adjustment of your life...

Hard to believe but Jacob will be five weeks old tomorrow.  He gets blessed in our church next sunday! I just barely ordered his blessing outfit so hopefully it gets here in time and hopefully it's not too ridiculously big on him.

we stopped by the pediatrician's the other day to make sure his regular backed-up tear duct wasn't actually pink eye (it isn't), but while we were there we weighed him.  When he was born he was 7.6.  When we left the hospital he was 7 even.  When we went to the dr's for the first time just a few days later he was down to 6.11.  Yeah, we had trouble with feedings in the beginning and keeping him awake etc.  We went back after a week and he was back up to 7 lbs.  Three weeks later (two days ago) when they weighed him again he was 9.11- Booyah!

At his previous check up he was down in the 25% when it came to weight but now he's up around the 50%! I won't lie I was very proud.  I mean, we knew he was gaining cause he has much rounder cheeks, thighs, etc though he's still not a lil budah or anything.  The dr said that he would be tempted to say that jacob is chubby with the percentile of his weight gain but he still doesn't look fat like some babies do, so he thinks that Jacob has grown taller too-must have had a crazy growth spurt or something.  We'll go back for his two month check up and I'll be excited to get all his stats and percentiles etc (tho not looking forward to the shots and the aftermath).

 

---WARNING! The following is about breastfeeding and is prolly entirely TMI for most of you unless you're a mom and have been there, in that case I welcome all advice and general encouragement--- (i'll put it in a diff color so those of you who don't want to hear about it can skip to the end)

 

Speaking of feedings-it has been quite the roller coaster.  I won't go into too much detail cause let's face it, breastfeeding is just plain awkward unless it's you and your kid....and always awkward if you're a guy haha, but from the beginning Jacob struggled to latch on.  In the hospital the lacatation consultant came by but jacob was in the nursery at the time so it wasn't super helpful.  Another nurse after watching us trying to feed suggested we try using a shield to make it easier for jacob to latch on (basically looks like a latex top of a bottle that you just put over yourself that gives them more to latch onto).  It seemed to work and at least I could sleep at night knowing that he was able to get the milk he needed now.  Once we got home in the first week we got together with a friend of my mom's who is a consultant with the la leche league (organization that promotes breastfeeding and helps moms out for free to get it down).  After watching us try to latch without the shield and then watching him eat with the shield she said that for now the shield was a necessary crutch but that with time as he grew bigger and my body adjusted he'd be able to eat without it, but for now at least he was getting the milk he needed and could gain weight which is what the dr wants etc.  She said not to worry cause we still had time-that babies are able to quickly adapt and learn new things fast in the first 6 weeks when it comes to breast feeding but after that their habits start to get set in stone and it's harder to introduce change etc.

Well now, finally Jacob and I have managed to make progress with breastfeeding without the shield. At first I would try to start with the shield and then once he got started would take it off and we'd try to latch without it.  After awhile tho I worried that that would just be more confusing for him going back and forth and that we just needed to take the plunge.  So the past three days or so I have simply refused to use the shield.  It's been messy and he hasn't always been happy with me, but slowly but surely he has figured it out and the more often he figures it out at each feeding the quicker he is able to figure it out at the next one.  I really feel like he's learning the technique he needs to feed which is awesome.  On the not so awesome side of things, since we pretty much used the shield from the get go, it's like i'm breastfeeding for the first time and am dealing with all the soreness that goes along with it.  Hopefully I'll toughen up though and will get used to it in the next little while.

On another slightly frustrating note-the past few days jacob has been eating great without the shield but starting last night and still going on today his interest to feed for very long has disappeared.  He'll latch on eventually and maybe eat real good for, oh, tenish minutes and then he dozes off and no ammount of rocking, shaking, prodding, poking, tickling, even cold wet paper towels will wake him up enough to eat again.  In our breastfeeding class they said this happens early on (which even tho he's a month, we're basically beginners at breastfeeding now that we're going without the shield).  They said it's normal to have the baby doing really well with it and then all the sudden they regress for a few days but they'll pick it back up and keep progressing.

Not only is this frustrating cause I worry he's not getting enough (even tho he still has consistant wet diapers which I know is a good sign) I worry this will throw my supply off and then in a day or so when he snaps out of it and gets his appetite again I won't have the milk supply to fill his demand.  I hate this rocky cycle of demand and supply (that's right demand and supply-not supply and demand.  your milk comes in directly in relation to how much it is asked for by the baby and how much he eats-so it's good to let them suck away even if there's not any left cause it's like he's just putting in a future order for milk).  The only thing is if he doesn't put in much demand your supply goes down over time until he demands more of you etc...it just seems like we're never in sync with each other.  Either I'm trying to get him to eat a ton cause I have a lot but he's not interested or he's trying to eat like crazy and I don't have enough for him and he gets frustrated.

I know it all balances out over time and it'll all work out, just is frustrating.  I just have to keep reminding myself that he's not starving-heck he's gained almost a pound per week for the past three weeks so even if he drops a little as we figure this out that's ok-he'll survive.

Anywho, it'll all be worth it when we're both well adjusted and can confidentally get full feedings 100% of the time without the shield, but no matter what I'm not going back to it-such a hassle.

In a weird way though as I was thinking about the process of breastfeeding I sort of saw an application to the gospel-yeah...you get desperate for spirituality throughout your day when you can't go to church for a month.  But I was thinking, so breastfeeding is demand and supply...meaning the kid starts sucking even when there's nothing there having faith that it will come, but it won't come unless you start trying to drink-you have to act first to bring about the desired result.  It's the same with the gospel.  We all have leaps of faith where we know what we want and have been told-if you do this than this will happen/be the result, but we don't have any garauntee and sometimes it seems crazy, but if we act first and show our faith then the Lord can bless us, but only after we do our part.  Also, our blessings are contingent upon the us following the laws/commandments that they are predicated on.  So the more you live righteously and follow the commandments, the more blessings you'll receive in the long run-it's not always immediate.  It's like that scripture in the bible somewhere that talks about how you get out of it what you put into it-if you fill your cup/container half-full than you'll get half a container's worth of blessings, but if you fill it up brimming over with big heaping ammounts than that's the kind of return you can expect from the Lord etc.

ok, it's safe to come back those who don't want to read about that stuff.

here's some recent pics of our bouncing baby boy! And here's to hoping that he gets back on a regular eating schedule soon cause let's face it it effects EVERYTHING else-especially his sleep :)

I have to say tho, Code has been an amazing supportive voice of reason through all the ups and downs of this first month and I'm SO grateful for him and his patience and willingness to help out anytime day or night.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Faces of Jacob

I love watching Jacob's face cause it's CONSTANTLY changing facial expressions haha.  I figure if I have my phone on me at all times I can make one of those shirts with the pictures of different expressions using jacob :)

See the full gallery on Posterous

Needless to say we feel very lucky that we have such a happy-go-lucky baby for the most part.  He wakes up 3-4 times a night (just 3 times is more common).  Code is good to get up, change him, and then give him to me.  Jake still struggles to stay awake during feedings but eats more than he used to and has gotten good at eating while he's snoozing so that's something.  Slowly but surely he's getting bigger and gaining mini rolls :)  

It's insane how much older he looks already.

In other good news, my younger bro Steve gets home from his mission tomorrow.  When he left Code and I were only engaged-now we're married with a kid-it's been a productive two years.  I'm excited for him to go back to BYU-a little jealous I'll admit when it comes to the football games he'll get to go to.....sigh, so fun

Shayne has been here for the week loving on Jacob and making us delicious meals-needless to say we feel very spoiled and it'll be a harsh reality to go back to fending for ourselves next week.  We went on our first walk in the park the other night....at 8:30 at night....yeah....it was still hot but we got good pics from it that we'll have to get from shayne.

What can I say life is very good and full for me right now :)

 

2 weeks old!

I can't believe our jacob is already 2 weeks old!  I don't know exactly how much he weighs now cause we had our "2 week" appointment at one week to make sure he was gaining enough weight etc which he was- he was already half way back to his birth weight and he's kept eatng good since so i'm assuming that he's back to his birth weight (7.6) if not passed it already. Maybe i'll try to weigh him on our kitchen scale.... :)

Things that we've learned about jacob so far: he makes the weirdest little high-pitched sounds! he likes to really move around.  Even in his sleep he's constantly moving his arms and fingers around-seems very restless-maybe will take after his dad's sleeping habits? we'll see...

He likes/hates tummy time.  He can lift his head up while on his stomach for a few seconds and turn his head from side to side while on his stomach.  His chord is this close to coming off (can't wait for that! then we don't have to fold over his diapers which I think leads to half of his accidents).

Speaking of accidents-he has yet to pee on me-he's a gentleman and if he feels the urge to go while I'm changing him, he pees on himself.

He loves to just stare at you when he's in a chill awake state-which happens 2ish times a day, otherwise he's sleeping or wanting to eat.

He's not a lover of his sponge baths which I'm curious to see how he'll like regular submerged baths.

He likes riding in the car and will quickly conk out the second we get going.

He still doesn't fit in a lot of new born clothes yet so we wash the few outfits he fits into frequently.

He has a 1000 different facial expressions-very expressive.  My favorites: the power pout-so sad looking it will make you laugh, his half smile, he draws his mouth up into this lil "o" and it looks like he's whistling or something, and the raising of the one eyebrow.

Here's more from his newborn photo shoot:

See the full gallery on Posterous

Jacob Aloys Nolden 7.23.2012

So, I'm sure everyone has heard but our baby boy was born a week and a half ago-crazy!

The birth story is pretty straight forward-no crazy surprises or twists/or turns.  We went in Sunday July 22 at 9 pm to start the inducement here:

Our nurse was WAY cool prolly cause she was young like us, engaged, etc and it was just easy to chat with her.  They gave me some stuff to get the process started but they didn't want to give me petocin (sp?) yet cause apparently I was having contractions every minute (small ones I couldn't feel) and Jacob's heart rate was really high/excited so they didn't want to encourage things too fast or we'd have him too soon/before the dr could be there.  Plus he was so low that if I were dilated fully at that point I could have started pushing.

I couldn't sleep a wink.  It was really frustrating cause I knew I'd be tired the next day and that I needed my rest.  Between the EXTREMELY uncomfortable hospital bed/my pregnant back pains/and the blood pressure squeezing my arm off every hour or so it was just not in the cards for me.  By the next morning they went ahead and gave me the petocin.  I still didn't really feel the contractions at all but my back was KILLING me by this point!  Everyone says-oh yeah, that's the contractions talking but I knew my back-it would hurt like this throughout the pregnancy if I let it go long enough without a heating pad.

Around noon? ok honestly I don't remember but I got an epidural.  There were like 5+ moms in the delivery wing that were all first time moms so the anesthesiologist was running from room to room handing out epidurals left and right so I got in line so I wouldn't have to wait behind all the other moms.

The epidural was AMAZING-finally I had relief from my back (forget the labor pains) so then I was able to sleep and snooze off and on until they came in and broke my water....yeah....really really weird sensation and I couldn't believe how much of it there was (sorry if that's tmi) and Code saw when they did it and informed me that it was really gross-I believe him.

So around 3 pm our other nurse Janice (also really nice/sweet nurse) came in and started me pushing.  I won't lie it was pretty weird cause I couldn't really tell if I was doing anything but apparently I was. then Dr. Schmidt came in around 4 pm and we pushed for 30 more minutes and with a lil help from the tongs Jacob was able to get his head out and the rest came fast.  

It was pretty crazy surreal, but he was perfect so they put him right up on me.  He was 7 lbs 6 oz (so not quite as heavy as they were predicting) and 21 in.  He seemed so long and skinny! 

this is his angry yoda face:

 We've been home now for a week and slowly but surely are getting used to and loving our new lifestyle/schedule etc.  I'll admit at times I get a little cabin fever-not being able to go anywhere cause we don't want him around crowds yet plus I'm not supposed to pick him up in his carrier for awhile-let myself heal but I'm learning how to still enjoy my day and feel productive.  I'm grateful for all the one-on-one time with Jake though, it's funner and funner every day. We love our lil Jacob so much! He's slowly but surely putting on the pounds as you can see here:

More to come...