Nolan Nolan Nolan

nolan

On June 1st I took Nolan up to Pratt to have his pictures taken by Stacie Strong. As always Stacie did a great job and was undeterred by this little guy trying to run off after each photo snap. I am amazed that they turned out as well as they did. She was quick with the shots and got some great ones of our little guy. Thank you Stacie we love them!

In these pictures Nolan is about 33 months old as his 3rd birthday will be at the end of August. Nolan is growing up quickly it seems. I am treasuring (and pulling my hair out) this summer as we get to spend so much time together. He is so smart, I know every parent says this about their children, but even so it is wonderful to listen to his questions and watch him explore and learn about he environment around him.

Some of Nolan’s favorite things are:

  • His Daddy, he already looks up to him saying “Daddy is a good worker”, “I’m going to be a good worker too”.
  • Being outside, for as long as I can remember this has been Nolan’s favorite place to be.
  • Other kids, the neighbor kids as especially interesting to him. If we hear voices while in our backyard, there is no chance Nolan is staying in our yard. He will be out the fence and the their yard before I even look up.
  • He loves Jake and the Neverland Pirates, good or bad he likes it and we put up with it.
  • Reading books, he is always interested in sitting down for a good read and refuses to go to bed if we don’t read our stories.
  • Farming, he loves riding on the tractors and combine and he is already telling Aaron about the equipment. He had his first combine ride of the season earlier this week. He loves it, asking so many questions about the wheat as well as every button and sound in the combine.
  • ICE CREAM, can you blame the kid, who doesn’t love ice cream. This does get a little tricky since he is allergic to peanuts but for the time being his favorite is vanilla which makes it easy to avoid nuts.
  • Pretend play, Nolan has always been pretty good at self entertaining as he has gotten older it is really fun to watch. He plays by himself but he carries on two sides of a conversation. He doesn’t really even need toys, sometimes his right and left hands or feet are “talking” to each other, often in a dispute. I guess he is learning conflict resolution. He also likes to tell us that he is just pretending or that it is not real.

This growing boy is amazing and wonderful and I am so very happy that he is ours. It is fun to hear people say that he is just like Aaron when he was a boy. They both make me so happy everyday, I cannot wait to add another man to my life, surely that can only mean more happy right?

Harvest!

Harvest is upon us! The Traffas men started cutting on May 25th. Aaron said he doesn’t remember starting harvest before the beginning of June in previous years. So it is a special year. It is of course Nolan’s first harvest! He has already had his first ride on the combine. And as of yesterday his second. It has been quite a busy time around Sharon. Nolan is staying with Grandma Marilyn while Aaron is in the field.  I am commuting to work each day from Sharon to reduce the amount of time Nolan has to spend in the car. We are so lucky to have so much help with Nolan. Erica has also been home studying for her NCLEX test (licensing test for Nurses) and helping watch Nolan.

Nolan is growing up so quickly! He is now 9 months old and crawling everywhere. He often crawls up on his feet rather than just using his knees. It is adorable. He is pulling up on EVERYTHING; in turn he is also falling down more and bonking his head on everything.  Nolan has started waving. Aaron calls it the motorcycle wave because his hand is in a fist and he just rotates it to wave. Nolan grabbed Grandpa Brian’s heart after he had been working in the field all day and Nolan crawled over and raised his tiny right hand up and gave him a wave. After a long day’s work I think that was a wonderful welcome home. Most of the time Nolan waves at people including people on TV, but sometimes he also will wave at toys. 

Nolan has decided that solid food is not so bad. This is such an exciting thing to report! Nolan has started to show a lot more interest in eating solid foods. I had read some advice that said to let him have his own spoon during feedings. I couldn’t believe that this simple change reduced his frustration and enable me to get him to take more bites of food. He is not consuming a lot of food but just that fact that he is interested in eating is such an improvement over last month. On May 12th I noticed his first tooth coming in, it was the lower center right side tooth and just a day or two later the left side started to break out of the gums too. Now he has two little teeth on the bottom. Nolan is so independent when it comes to eating he just wants to do it all himself. So we have given him more of an opportunity to feed himself with some fruits and veggies. He loves to gnaw on apple slices; using those two tiny teeth to the fullest. He has also tried sweet potato cubes, watermelon and a little bit of an ice cream sandwich. He seems to respond so much better to things he can pick up and eat than trying to feed him with a spoon.

We have had so many things to celebrate lately. Andrew graduated from the University of Missouri at St. Louis as a Dr. of Optometry and Erica graduated from Bethel College with her BSN-Bachelor of Science in Nursing! I am starting classes next week at Wichita State University!  Oh what a busy month. What would be do if life slowed down?

Holly finished her first year teaching at Junction City Middle school and will start teaching summer school next week. The theme this year is the Olympics, which is pretty fitting for Holly because she loves watching the Olympics. I am so proud of her and can’t wait until we are both teachers and have our summers free to spend time together making crafts, baking tasty treats and sewing fun projects.

7 Months

Nolan is growing and changing so fast! The month of March flew by so quickly. Aaron had to travel almost every weekend this month so Nolan and I had a lot of time to hang out at home together. Nolan is able to sit unassisted and play with his toys for several minutes. He is also trying very hard to crawl. He has not figured out that he needs to lift his head while moving his legs, but that doesn’t seem to slow him down. I think he may end up with rug burn on his face soon. He is mobile enough to scoot reach or roll to  get just about anything he wants. Of course the things he wants are usually not this things we want him to have, including our cell phones, remotes, computers, cords etc.

Nolan cannot get enough of my necklaces, I think he believes I wear they as a chew toy for him. So each day when I get home from work I have to remember to take them off before he gets his slobbery little hands on them.  Nolan has tried a few new foods. He is still just eating one solid meal  a day in addition to his milk. We usually feed him in the evenings so that he can have the necessary bath right after he eats. So far he has not complained too much about any of the vegetables he has tried.  Nolan loves bath time, he enjoys kicking and splashing in the water. As long as he has his squirting toys he is happy the whole time. I am trying to get him used to water and make sure he is not scared of it, because I am hoping to take a “Mommy and Me” swimming class this summer.

Nolan has his first round of antibiotic a couple of weeks ago. We took him in to the clinic because he had a fever, cough and runny nose.  As it turns out he also has a slight ear infection. He just finished his antibiotic and is doing much better; but there for a few days he really struggled. His temperature topped out at 102 F.  Which was very concerning, but with a little Tylenol and forcing him to eat it came down.  It was so hard to watch him not want to play or eat.

So glad is his back on track. While Aaron was in Indiana my mom was on Spring Break so she got to come up to Wichita and spend a couple of days with Nolan while I was at work. I was so thankful we didn’t have to take him back to the daycare center for the whole time Aaron was away. I think Nolan like the center just fine but that is where I believe he picked up that nasty cold and I just wanted him to stay healthy for awhile before having another sickness.  The rest of the time Aaron was gone Nolan got to play with cousin Marissa as she was on Spring Break. It was so nice having family watch Nolan.

Once Aaron finally got home from Indiana Nolan and I were so happy to see him. Nolan just smiled and wanted to play with his Dad and I think Aaron wanted the same thing.

I am looking forward to April so that we can have more family time! I also hope this rain lets us so we might be able to take more walks. Nolan loves taking walks, he likes to look at the trees and hear all the sounds of the kids around the block playing. I enjoy the walks just daydreaming about when Nolan is running around kicking a soccer ball like the kids in the park. I know those days are not too far off.

 

 

Nolan has Arrived!

Nolan Traffas

I am thrilled to announce that our wonderful Nolan arrived on 27 August at 3:56pm. He was born one week before his scheduled due date. Nolan weighed 8 lbs 2.6oz and was 21 inches long.

He took his time making his grand entrance.  I started having contractions 5-7 minutes apart on Friday (8/26) at 5:30am, the contractions continued very consistently for the next 34 hours, but unfortunately Nolan was not able to be born naturally because he was positioned in the birth canal “OP” or occiput posterior which basically means he was face up rather than face down. Babies can make it through this way but after four hours of pushing and no progress we and the doctor decided to go ahead and proceed with a cesarean birth.  I was very nervous and scared to have a cesarean, but as it turns out everything went well in the operating room and I am recovering well.

Nolan has been a dream come true for both Aaron and me. He is absolutely adorable and has for the most part been pretty easy to get along with.  While in the hospital Aaron and I were a little worried about him because he didn’t seem to cry about anything.  He has since rediscovered this ability so no worries about that anymore.

We were released from the hospital on Monday evening. Everything seemed to be going pretty well until we tried to go to sleep that night.  Basically none of us slept at all the entire night.  I am trying to breastfeed, but my milk has not come in yet and Nolan was hungry, he tried to nurse for 3 hours straight with only small breaks. It was exhausting and very frustrating for all of us.  After an appointment with our new doctor today she gave us instructions on supplementing with formula until I am able to produce milk. Everyone has been much happier and feeling better today. I believe tonight will be much easier as well. Hopefully we will all get some sleep.

Nolan has another appointment tomorrow with the to get his bilirubin levels checked. He has been measuring a little high. These levels indicate jaundice.  Hopefully getting a little food in his belly and sun bathing today will help him.  Nolan also has an appointment with an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor tomorrow, the tongue connective tissue is connect near the end of the tongue, apparently this can cause orthodontic issues and speech problems so we are going to have that taken care of in the afternoon to hopefully prevent any issues in the future.

I am so happy with our new little family. It feels so good to be  a parent and I could not ask for a better partner in this.  Aaron has done a wonderful job taking care of both of us.

38 Week Appointment

Cake at the surprise baby shower

11 days till our due date! I can’t believe it.  It feels like it has gone so quickly, but yet these last few weeks time has started to slow down. I have started to slow down.  I think our little guy is going to be a healthy weight. I feel like he is packing on the pounds. Thankfully I am still able to sleep almost all the way through the night and I do not yet feel like I am “waddling”.  I have continued walking but my walks have gotten shorter as I find myself tired faster than before.

I was surprised on Monday at work with a baby shower by my coworkers. It was so sweet.  I think Aaron and I have decided on a glider rocker, I plan to go order it after work today at Babies R Us.  We are also still deciding on a crib.  Otherwise I think most of the purchases that need to be made have been made and we will we ready to go when Nolan makes his grand entrance.

Showing off the 38 week bump

Today’s appointment went well. Some people have been telling me they think I have “dropped” I am not sure, I am experiencing more lower pressure, so maybe. Nolan’s heat rate was 142 beats/minute. He is still moving around a fair amount but not quite a wildly as before.  The doctor said I have not made any progress towards labor, so it is just a waiting game now.

Being so close to the due date it is hard to wait, I am trying to stay focused and finish up all of the work I need to do before I go on maternity leave, but all I want to do is head to the hospital and meet my little guy. Someday soon, can’t wait to share pictures!

36 week appointment

Baby Nolan's Car Seat

Well we are in the home stretch here. Today we had our 36 week appointment. Everything went well, nothing really to report. Our normal doctor is on vacation this week so we met with a nurse/midwife just to make sure there were no problems.

We did find out however that I am a carrier of Group B Strep (GBS), therefore once I go into labor I will need to have antibiotic through an IV to try to ensure that the baby does not become ill. For low risk carriers such as myself, if I am given antibiotics during labor there is only a 1 in 4000 chance of delivering a baby with GBS. So hopefully everything goes well and the medication prevents the transmission of GBS to our little guy.

Today Baby Nolan’s heart beat was 157 beats/minute.  The nurse said she believes he is still head down.  I have been experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions for about 3 days now, that are pretty frequent. I have been having abdominal tightening for about two months, but these definitely feel a little different. More discomfort than before  that is for sure.  I finally have my bag packed for the hospital. I have also been spending some time this week washing tiny little baby clothes. Why is laundry so much cuter when it is tiny?

Tomorrow is my last scheduled travel day for work. I have a meeting in Emporia, then I am in my office until D-day. It will be nice knowing I don’t have to travel anymore. It is just not very comfortable to drive and I get so tired.

Our 37 week appointment is set for next Tuesday, August 16th. That same day we have our final class, Car Seat Safety, so we will have the car seat installed and ready for Nolan’s first ride. Nolan’s car seat arrived last week on our door step thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Traffas. Aaron and I love the car seat and look forward to having it filled with a little boy.

ONE MONTH!

Today is one month from our due date! I can’t believe it, we are getting so close to meeting our little boy.  Aaron and I had an appointment today with our doctor, she checked to make sure the baby is head down. She did a quick sonogram to confirm at which time she also definitively confirm that we are indeed having a little boy. What a relief we don’t need to worry about returning any of the wonderful gifts we received at the shower last weekend. He was a little feisty when the nurse tried to check his heart rate he kicked the wand two times. However she was able to record his heart rate at 145 beats/minute.

I am absolutely thrilled that we are getting so close.  I have been feeling pretty good, the heat is irritating, but it is for everyone else too. My feet have been a little swollen, but it has stayed manageable.  It is just so exciting to think that we are going to be able to hold him so soon. I can’t wait and I know Aaron is excited too. I love having sonograms, being able to see the little guy moving around just makes real for me. This is such an amazing time, I am so glad I get to share it with Aaron.

The list of things that we “need” to do before our little one arrives seems to just keep growing and growing.  After a wonderful baby shower on Saturday I do feel a little more prepared.  But we still need to buy a crib, install the car seat, pack the bag for the hospital, pick up a few more essentials, get the baby’s room ready, etc, etc, etc. I don’t think there is any way for us to really be ready for all of the changes that are about to happen in our lives. Hopefully we make good choices and are able to be good parents to what I am sure will be a wonderful son.