A few firsts

Yesterday was a big day around here.  I put Nathan down in his crib wide awake, but sleepy and he took about an hour nap.  This is huge because we want these good sleep habits to start early.  Then last night I fed him at 9:45pm and he didn't wake up until 3:30am.  Woohoo!  This was awesome as Gabe had mentioned earlier that evening that Nicholas had started stretching out his sleep around this age.  We really hope this trend will continue. 

Unfortunately we have all been under the weather recently.  It started out with Nicholas at the end of last week and slowly Gabe and I got the sinus crud as well.  Then as I was feeding Nathan last night, I could tell he was a little congested.  Hopefully we can recover quickly and not keep passing it back and forth to one another. 

A big first for Nicholas has been his ability to whistle.  Another kid in his preschool class can whistle and I guess he thought that was cool because he has been trying to do it for awhile now.  At first it was mainly just him blowing air with an occasional hint of a whistle.  But now, he can whistle as well as I can and does so CONSTANTLY.  He is very proud of himself to say the least. 

Snowmaggedon Part 2

As most of the country experienced this past week, the Birmingham area received more snow.  Luckily, however, this time everyone was much more cautious and the roads did not become icy and congested as they did two weeks ago.  We were able to enjoy this one even though it only lasted not even 24 hours as the sun melted everything quickly.  Nicholas was out of school from Tuesday thru Thursday, but was able to go back for Friday and hand out/receive Valentine's from the other kids in his class.  Here are a few pics of this one...

Last Sunday was our first visit back to church for all four of us together.  Between the cold weather, not wanting to expose my newborn to any illnesses that might be passed around and not being able to get ready in time for the early service we attend, it just hasn't worked out.  The ladies in the nursery were excited to have a new baby, but Nicholas wasn't so sure.  Several times during church he asked about Nathan and was concerned.  I told him that Nathan was fine and that he was once watched by those same ladies.  It's so sweet to see him watch out for his little brother. 

For some reason this week, Nathan woke up at 5am every morning no matter when he last ate.  For the most part he would sleep otherwise, but we weren't happy about this new trend.  Then Friday night (also Valentine's Day), he had the worst night that I can recall.  He was up for most of the night and I probably only achieved 3 hours of sleep that night.  So when it was time for him to sleep last night, I prayed that it would be better (and luckily it was).  I fed him around 8:30 and put him to bed afterwards.  He woke up around 1:15am.  I have been pumping more this weekend so we set up a bottle for Gabe to give him during that first night feeding.  Then he slept again until 4:30am.  All in all a MUCH better night.  I'm hoping those 5am wake up calls are a thing of the past. 

Today, we decided to take the boys to the zoo since the weather was supposed to be very nice for a change.  After church, we went home, packed up a picnic and then headed out.  Nicholas absolutely loves going to the zoo.  Nathan doesn't have an opinion since he slept the entire time we were there.  It was nice to get out of the house for a change and I would qualify this as Nathan's first real outing.

Nathan enjoys bath time, so when he starts to get fussy at night, we just pull out the bath tub.  I can tell he is getting bigger because you can start to see little rolls in his legs.  Right now he still fits into size 1 diapers and 3 month clothes.  We have given him a few more bottles this week and it seems that he will drink about 3 ounces on average.    

Nicholas no longer takes naps, but every now and then we will find him crashed in the living room (and on occasion in his bedroom while he is in time-out).  I still can't believe how big he is and that he is going to be 5 soon.  He keeps telling us that he will change Nathan's dirty diapers after he turns 5, but we will see if that actually happens or not...  

"Dusting" of Snow

So this past week was rather crazy to say the least.  Tuesday we were expected to get a slight dusting of snow.  Nothing was closed because it wasn't expected to be bad.  Well, the meteorologists were a bit off in their predictions.  Unfortunately they realized this too late and sent everyone home from schools and work all at the same time, causing mass chaos on the roads.  Gabe left work at 11am Tuesday and was stuck in his car for almost 25 hours, not able to get home until almost noon on Wednesday.  Everyone was extremely worried because his phone died only a few hours into the trip and his blower isn't currently working in his car, so he wasn't able to turn on any heat.  Not good when the temperature is in the teens outside.  Needless to say we were all EXTREMELY happy when he made it home safe and sound.  Here are a few pictures of the "dusting" we received.  Thankfully Meagan and Abby came over to play with Nicholas in the snow since my plan of daddy being home to play with him, didn't work out. 

He made several snow angels in our driveway.  

Only after Gabe made it home was I really able to appreciate how pretty the snow is.  Although I'm sure he would be happy to not see snow anytime soon!

Also, this past weekend marked the anniversary of when we moved into our house last year.  We still love everything about it and have thoroughly enjoyed living on the "compound."  Plans for this spring include finally getting a fence for the backyard.  That will make life for Gabe and Bama much easier since he won't have to deal with the dog run anymore.  Also, Gabe was able to give Nathan another bottle this weekend.  He did fine drinking out of it.  Even after he finished the 2 ounces, Nathan was hungry for more, so I nursed him afterwards.  He's a growing boy!!

One Month Old!

This month seems to have flown by.  It's hard to believe Nathan is already one month old!  I took him to the pediatrician last Friday for his "two week" check-up even though he was four weeks old at the time.  Nathan weighs 10 pounds 6 ounces and is 22 3/4 inches long, which puts him in the 95th percentile in both categories.  Everything seems great, but he did have clogged tear ducts that were causing his eyes to water and eye crud to form.  We received a prescription for ointment and it already seems to be clearing up the problem.  His next appointment will be at two months. 

Nathan easily fills 3 month clothing, so I would not be surprised if he will be moving to 3-6 month before long.  He wears a size one diaper, which he was also wearing at birth.  Thankfully we still have many size one diaper packages left - enough until he can switch into size two.  We have seen a few smiles/half smiles while he is awake, which is so sweet to see.  Unfortunately I have not been able to capture them with a camera yet. 

Nathan continues to sleep really well at night, mainly going 3 hours between feedings, although recently he had a 5 hour stretch.  We have definitely pinpointed that his stomach does not like it when I drink Coke (even caffeine free).  I thought I would try it again recently, but it was obviously later that day that the fussiness is always after I drink a coke.  Oh well, I'll just plan to have a case of cokes at his first birthday party to celebrate...  He also is not a fan of the hiccups, which he gets quite often.  Gabe has discovered that Gripe Water seems to cure them of that fairly quickly. 

Nicholas still loves on his brother, but isn't the biggest fan of him crying.  Nicholas has recently been introduced to the Nintendo Wii and it obsessed with playing Mario Cart and a Cars racing game.  He has already decided that his next birthday party is going to be a Mario Cart party.  I can't believe he is going to be 5 in just a few months! 

Three Weeks Old

Today Nathan is 3 weeks old!  I'm still amazed at how different this experience is vs. what happened with Nicholas.  Nathan is nursing really well and typically goes 2-3 hours between feedings, but on occasion will go up to 4 hours.  We have attempted to give him one bottle on January 12 (Mimi's birthday).  It was a little messy, but he did manage to drink about an ounce from it.  Soon I will really try to start pumping, so that I can get away for more than 2 hours at a time. 

As far as sleep is concerned, Nathan has done great!  He sleeps on his back and in his crib (both of which Nicholas was not a fan of).  He also seems to have his days and nights on track, as I can nurse him and almost immediately put him back down throughout the night.  This makes things SO much better for mom and dad, since we are able to get some sleep.  Nathan will mainly go 3 hours between feedings at night. 

Nathan's umbilical cord came off Monday morning - I found it when I unzipped his sleep sack that morning to change his diaper.  So we were able to give him his first real bath this week.  He really seemed to enjoy it and pretty much stared at himself in the mirror the whole time.  We have noticed that he is starting to focus more on faces now.  He has had his fussy moments/hours, but for the most part he is a content baby.  There was one stretch last week where he seemed unusually gassy, so I decided to give up my caffeine free cokes to see if that helped and I think it did.  Luckily we have not had to drive him around in order to settle him down or call in for back-up (AKA Mimi) to relieve us at 2am. 

Nicholas is still in love with his baby brother and is so sweet to him.  Today I actually had a parent/teacher review to go over how he is doing in preschool and he is doing really well.  He listens and obeys in class and is following along well with the curriculum.  They have learned how to write and say about half the alphabet and up to the number 12.  He writes his name well (considering how long it is).  Even though he prefers Mimi to pick him up from school, he gets really excited to see baby brother in the back seat when I pick him up.  Thursday morning, he had a dentist appointment.  Nicholas does really well at these (it probably helps that they have TVs on the ceiling that allows him to watch movies the whole time).  They did try to do x-rays for the first time, but he choked on the piece you have to bite down on, so they decided to postpone until later.  The dentist says his teeth look great and will continue to review his overbite (for braces later on I assume). 

Since it has been so cold outside, we haven't attempted to take Nathan anywhere.  I'm definitely looking forward to warmer weather so we don't have to get everyone bundled up just to get in the car.  Next week is my check-up with Dr. Gregory as well a follow-up check-up for Nathan.  I am going to ask Dr. Whitaker about Nathan's eyes.  They have been watering/crusty for the past few weeks.  It doesn't seem to bother him, so I haven't worried about it too much.  Hopefully both appointments will go well...

One week old

It's hard to believe that Nathan is already one week old today.  Of course my time frame is now broken down into 3 hour segments.  Based off my limited experience with babies (just comparing to our experience with Nicholas), Nathan is a VERY good baby.

Nathan will sleep for several hours at a time.  We are slowly getting him used to sleeping in his crib.  We both realize how bad we are at swaddling babies and even with a swaddle specific blanket, couldn't get his arms to stay put, so we let him sleep in sleep sacks.  These are really warm, which is nice based off how cold it is outside and allow for easy diaper changes.  Gabe had a great idea to make him feel swaddled, by placing Nathan in the corner of the crib right next to the bumper pad and placing a rolled up blanket on the other side.  This seems to help make him feel cozy.  He has had several naps for 1-2 hours in there, which we feel is a great accomplishment at this age.  He will also sleep in his swing, which Nicholas never liked and of course doesn't have any problems sleeping in someone's arms.  Based off this, Gabe and I have been able to get decent sleep at night, making the experience that much more enjoyable. 

He is also doing well nursing.  Typically, he will go 3 hours between feedings, but does have an occasional 2 or 4 hour span between eating.  I try to let him go a little longer at night if possible.  At the time we left the hospital and also at his doctor's visit on Tuesday, Nathan weighed 8 pounds 11 ounces. 

Nathan isn't fussy unless there is a reason (usually gas related) and will normally resolve quickly with a good burp or some Mylicon.  I'm probably jinxing myself by writing that, but so far he has been a very laid back and relaxed baby.  He usually isn't the biggest fan of getting his diaper or clothes changed and REALLY didn't like when we gave him his first bath.  

I'm not quite sure why they had us visit the pediatrician so soon after he was born, but we went Tuesday for a check-up.  Everything looked great and we are set to go back when he is 3 weeks old.  We have had a few visitors since arriving home and even took Nathan out for the first time to visit his Great-grandmother.   

Nicholas continues to love on his brother.  He gives him kisses and is always concerned about where he is or what he's doing.  Nicholas is also very protective of him.  If he thinks someone wants to take him away for any reason, he gets very defensive.  He even told me this morning after I turned on the TV for him to watch cartoons, to make sure it wasn't too loud so we don't wake Nathan.  Words cannot explain how happy this makes us.  It will be interesting to see if he has withdrawals since he has to go back to school starting Monday. 

Davenport - Party of Four

In an attempt to pick-up blogging again, I will start with the major event that just occurred.  Nathan was due on Saturday, December 28.  With Christmas that Wednesday and the hospital policy of not inducing before 39 weeks, we were able to schedule him to be induced on Friday, December 27 at 6:30am.  I prayed that he would not arrive early so that we could be home for our first Christmas in our new house and I also wanted Dr. Gregory to deliver him, but she was on vacation all week.  Luckily, Nathan was just like his brother and content to stay in mommy's belly until we forced him out. 

The week of Christmas was very draining because Nicholas and I were both sick with constant dry cough/sinus problems.  Unfortunately we didn't get much sleep at all that week, which would have been nice since we knew we were about to get VERY little sleep after Nathan was born.  So the morning of the 27th, I woke up at 3:45am and was not able to go back to sleep.  So I decided to take a bath to relax before we had to head to the hospital.  While in the tub around 5am, I received a phone call from the hospital telling me they had many women go into labor the night before and would have to push back my induction time.  I didn't find out until I called back later that they were able to get me in at 8:30am that same morning. 

We arrived at the hospital and around 9am, the nurse started Pitocin.  Dr. Gregory first checked me and said I was already 4 cm dilated.  She said if they hadn't induced me that I probably would have been heading to the hospital that day anyways.  Then around 10:20am, they broke my water.  When Dr. Gregory did this, she saw that Nathan had in fact pooped in the womb.  We were a little concerned, but she said it was fairly common and would have a few extra people at the delivery to suck out any meconium that was in his nose or mouth before he could breathe or cry, so he would not get pneumonia.  I was trying to go through as much labor as I could without starting the epidural, but around 11:00am decided I had enough and they called in the anesthesiologist.  I'm not exactly sure when they had me start pushing, my guess is around 12:45.  Then at 2:11pm, Nathan Bryant Davenport made his entrance into the world.  The nurses were able to take care of the meconium issue quickly, so thankfully we didn't have to worry any more about that. 

Nathan weighed 9 pounds 3 ounces and was 22 1/4 inches long (same length as Nicholas).  The nurses laughed and said he was a toddler.  Our prayers were answered when everything checked out fine with him.  I was able to hold him about 30 minutes after he was born and also nursed him immediately. 

When we were finally able to have visitors, Nicholas quickly went to him and fell in love.  He was so in awe of him and so sweet to his "baby brother Nathan" giving him kisses and wanting to hold him.  This was a relief to us both, since we weren't quite sure what his reaction would be to him.  It just brings a smile to my face to see my two boys together.  I feel like our family is complete. 

Unfortunately, since there had been so many women in labor before me, all the recovery rooms were full.  We ended up waiting 3 hours in labor and delivery for a room to be opened up for us.  While in L&D, Nathan had a poopy diaper.  For anyone who has seen new born poop, knows that it looks like and has the consistency of tar.  For some reason, there were no wipes in the room to take care of this, so Gabe grabbed a few wash cloths and took care of him.  We were a bit angry at the nurse on call at the time who was not helpful and didn't offer to get us any from somewhere else.  For the most part, we did have really good nurses.

When they wheeled us up to the recovery floor, we got on the elevator and set off an alarm.  Apparently they hadn't released Nathan to go to a different floor.  It took the nurses 5 times to finally figure out what the issue was so we could go up two floors.  That evening Nathan basically slept from 9pm until 1am, which we both took advantage of.  Then on Saturday, they took Nathan out to be circumcised around lunchtime and brought him back only 20-30 minutes later.  He recovered much better than Nicholas did, but was pretty wiped out when we had any visitors over.  That night he didn't sleep much, but wasn't crying horribly like Nicholas did.  At some point that night, we decided to let the nurse take him to the nursery so we could get a few hours of uninterrupted sleep.  They brought him back when it was time for him to nurse. 

Sunday we were ready to go home early that morning.  However, we didn't end up leaving until around lunchtime because we were waiting on Dr. Gregory to release me.   Nathan's weight at the time we left was 8 pounds 11 ounces.  So far nursing has gone really well and hopefully will continue.  Here are a few pics: