More visitors and Nolan's first bath!

I can't believe we're rapidly approaching the 1 month mark of being parents. People aren't kidding when they say time flies by. I look at our little guy and am already astounded at how much he has changed over the course of a few weeks.

We continue to feel blessed as we've had more visitors and showering of gifts over the past week. Granpa and Nonna Specs cannot be away for long and were back again to visit their favorite grandson. This time I was awake-enough to think about getting some photos :)

Granpa Specs already in love

Grandparents!

3 Generations 

Auntie Lauren also came to visit! She gave Nolan his very first NJ Devils jersey just in time for the Flyers/Devils 2nd round playoff matchup. We can't have Nolan become a Flyers fan just because he was born near Philadelphia!! :)

Nolan's umbilical cord stump finally fell off the night before his due date (April 25th), which meant we could give him a real bath!! We had a lot of fun, and Nolan really enjoyed it. We look forward to making this part of a bedtime routine in the future.

Content in the bath

Mom taking a turn washing him

All clean and warm in hus train hooded towel from Abuela

All done!

Clean baby! Melts my heart :)

So dapper!

Other happenings:

• We've been taking Nolan out a lot more. Every weekend we've made a point of taking a family walk together with Nolan and Deaner. Our very first walk was at the Haverford Reserve near out house. It was within the first week, and I was still very limited in what I could do and was definitely sore afterward. The second walk the next weekend was a nice paved trail in Ardmore. We walked further this time and I felt much better. This past weekend we ventured over to Ridley Creek state park and walked on their paved "all purpose" trail - this time more hilly. Again, I'm feeling good. So far all our walks have been with the snap n go stroller with the infant car seat (hence the paved roads). We look forward to trying more challenging walks with the off-road stroller and Ergo backpack soon.
• I've also ventured out during the day with Nolan by myself. Last week I went to the small local mall in Springfield to return a few items at Target and Macy's and also to the grocery store. Both times I kept him in the stroller. It is challenging to not have a shopping cart, but I made it work using the bottom of the stroller and carrying a hand cart. He slept through it all - he loves car rides and stroller walks.



Nolan looking chill in his infant car seat during a trip to the Grocery Store

• On our sleep situation. This seems to be an area everyone always asks about, and honestly it gets very annoying being asked "Getting any sleep?" a million times when the answer for any new parent is almost always a frustrated and definitive "No". I was definitely mentally prepared for this, and am handling very little sleep very well, but it definitely starts wearing on you after several weeks/months. Nolan is an eating machine, which I am very happy about! He is growing like crazy, and feels noticeably heavier as well as is noticeably more filled out. This is definitely great news, but comes at the price of him eating anywhere from every 1.5-4hrs. Recently he's been more in the 1.5-2hr window, which is doable during the day (but means you get nothing else accomplished as it takes 30-60min for a feeding). Night time is a bit hard to take, but how can I complain when I see his adorable little hungry face?

"Mom, I'm HUNGRY!"

As for our current sleep situation, we're still figuring out what works. He currently splits time at night between the rock n play (45 degree angle cradle) in our room and laying flat on his back in his crib (we then use the video monitor). I haven't noticed a preference on his part, sometimes he prefers one over the other so I just go with what works at the moment. Every time he cries, he gets a diaper change and feeding which usually makes him sleepy again (although some times he takes a long time to go back to sleep). I'm sure we'll fall into a routine/rhythm eventually, but for now we're just open to "whatever works". I know a lot of people start switching to feeding formula at night to get their baby to sleep longer (keeps them full longer), but I've actually read that formula vs breast milk isnt the deciding factor of what makes the baby sleep long at night vs their developmental stage. Since keeping the little man happy is literally my only job right now, I'm committed to exclusively breast feeding and getting up for as long as it takes. Joe helps on the weekend by taking a night feeding or 2 using expressed milk in a bottle, which allows me to get a few more hours of sleep. We're surviving and Nolan is thriving, which is all that we can hope for at this point!

Baby Nolan in his crib.

All curled up with Mommy - best feeling in the world! :)

• We can't wait for our little guy to start smiling! It usually happens anywhere from 4-6 weeks. It will be so nice to get some positive feedback after all the love we give him. From birth, he's been smiling in his sleep - we've finally been able to capture some of his smiles over the past week:

Sleep Smile!

Late night smile :)

Other Random Photos (I can't stop taking them!)

"Campbell's Kid" on his due date! Never would have thought I'd have a 3 week old on my due date!

"It's my due date!"

One of the many daily photos I text to Joe during the day of our little guy :)

Serious BFF's already. Can't wait to see their relationship grow :)

The many faces of Nolan:

Big Yawn!

What are you lookin' at??

Off to enjoy the last few days of my "under 1 month old!" :)