Wonderfully Overwhelming

We have now been home for just over a week with our little peanut (what you can often hear kevin calling Nolan). It has definitely been a week of crazy emotions and adjustments. For the most part we have stayed at home cycling between feedings, sleeping, and diaper changes. It has been absolutely wonderful to have family around at different times to help out around the house and hold Nolan so Kevin and I can get some sleep. The last few days have been spent with just the three of us, which has been nice but also a bit more challenging as far as getting sleep goes. When we first got home Nolan would not sleep unless being held. He would be out cold in our arms but 10-15 minutes after being put down in his crib he would be wide awake wanting to eat and be held. I love cuddling with the little guy but this made getting sleep VERY difficult. We bought a snuggle nest thing to lay him in that can be used in our bed and also in his crib which seemed to help for a few nights. He actually slept for 2-3 hours at a time on his own....but last night was a different story. Little guy again did not want to be put down. I hear this is pretty common and we will continue to work on this until he gets to the point where he gets used to sleeping in his own space. For now I guess he just can't get enough of us! :)

We have also found that Nolan is quite the eater. It often feels like I'm constantly switching him from one side to the other with only short breaks in between. The little guy can't seem to get enough or if he does he is soon spitting some (or on occasion a lot of it up). We have tried several things suggested by the lactation consultant to reduce the spitting up but I'm convinced he takes after his dad and just gets super excited and just doesn't know when to stop. :) haha We know that he is keeping enough of it down to be nourished because at his doctor's appointment yesterday he was back up to 7lbs 11 ounces (he was 7lbs 14 ounces at birth and 7lbs 6 ounces when we left the hospital). I plan on going to the breastfeeding support group at the hospital on Friday. Even though he seems to have the whole eating thing down (still struggles a bit on the left side) I think it will be nice to be around other breastfeeding mom's.

So all in all things are going well. It definitely isn't always easy and I have cried many tears (joy, pain, and exhaustion) but at the end of the day I still feel blessed to have Nolan in our lives and look forward to each new day.

Here are a few pictures from the last few days...we have taken Nolan on his first walk around our neighborhood and yesterday after his doctor's appointment we went on our first family outing into broadripple for lunch and a walk on the monon....