Our Maternity Pictures Photo Book

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Vacation and 2 months

We just got back from a long weekend at Kentucky Lake for a family reunion, a week long vacation to my parents in Pontiac and then a weekend in St. Louis. It was a whirlwind two weeks, but we all had a blast. This summer is flying by and we have a few more trips planned. I feel like we are dragging Rowan all over the place, but he does really well. When we first found out we were pregnant Ryan and I talked about how our lives would change when our little boy arrived. We decided that we didn't want to stop traveling just because we had a baby. Traveling is one of our favorite things to do together and we want Rowan to love it as much as we do. We want him to experience as many places as he can and learn as much as he can from our travels. Granted we have not been anywhere without family or without our car, but we are learning and becoming more comfortable with traveling with a baby. I know everything will change once he is mobile and this is a good age to travel with a baby, but I am glad we haven't been holding back from traveling this summer. I hope we can continue to travel and hopefully we can plan a trip farther away soon!

Rowan got to meet a LOT of family members at the reunion and Ryan and I hardly held him! He also had his first swimming experience at the resort and he did great! I thought the water was going to be to cold, but he didn't seem to mind. In fact both times we went he just fell asleep right away! I am super excited he likes the water because I love water and plan to spend lots of time at the pool or a lake in our future. Hopefully he continues to enjoy it! We are going swimming with some friends tomorrow so we will see!

The week in Pontiac was very relaxing and we used it to catch up on some sleep and hang out with my oldest brother, his wife, daughter, and my younger brother. They flew in from Colorado for the reunion and stayed for the week. My niece Isabella just turned 1 and is a bundle of energy. She started walking while they were there and it was so neat to see her and spend time with her. She is quite the cutie!

Rowan got to go out to TPOC (the camp Ryan and I worked at) for the first time. Ryan was volunteering out there for the week so he got to meet lots of our favorite campers and they really seemed to like him! We also had Jamie Sutter of Ember Mae Photography take pictures of Rowan. She is a camp friend and did our maternity pictures which we LOVE. We can't wait to see the results, she is very talented! I'm going to share the book I made in another post.

After Ryan was finished volunteering out at camp we went to St. Louis with my family for a Cardinals game. My oldest brother had not been to the new stadium and wanted to check out a game. It was supposed to be raining all weekend, but the weather turned out pretty good for us. It rained during the game, but it was the last inning and we were under an awning so it didn't bother us. I was excited to take Rowan to his first baseball game even though I knew he wouldn't remember a thing! I am a big Cardinals fan and Ryan is a huge Cubs fan so there is always some friendly competition going on between us during baseball season. We had a good time and Rowan was very well behaved even though it went right over his usual fussy time. The worst part was that I had to breastfeed him in the bathroom which was pretty gross. I felt bad I was making him eat where people pee, but I am having a horrible time pumping (I will talk about this later) so that was my only option. I would have just fed him in the stands but I didn't think the college aged boys behind us which was really above me would like seeing my boobs! We went for a late dinner on our way back to the hotel and we were seated in a corner so I did feed him at the table there. Feeding in public is something that I don't mind doing, but I don't want to make other people uncomfortable and I haven't quite mastered it so they could get a show!

We also went to the zoo on our last day in St. Louis. The zoo is free and really nice. It was HOT and sticky, but we still had a good time. Rowan slept through the entire thing but I enjoyed seeing all the animals! I can't wait till he is old enough to be interested in the zoo cause it is a favorite place of mine! At the end of the zoo we said our goodbyes to the family and headed back to Kentucky. Along the way I got my first ever speeding ticket. It was totally bad luck cause we were a mile away from switching drivers and two cars had just passed me going quite a bit faster, but they got me and one of those cars instead. Silly speed traps!

My new problem is pumping. I haven't really been doing it because I don't have a need to, but with all the traveling I thought it would be nice to have a bottle or two on hand for dinners and it would have been nice to have one for the baseball game. It has always taken quite a bit of time for me to pump and I usually have little to show for it. I was doing some research on it and found out that it should only take 15-20 minutes for both sides. I was spending at least 30 minutes on one side with only an ounce or two to show for it! I have been getting really frustrated with it and pretty much gave up. I talked with a doula/lactation consultant today about it and she gave me some ideas to try so I'm going to give them a whirl in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully they help! Any suggestions are welcomed!

On the 23rd Rowan turned 2 months, but I forgot to take pictures so I took them when we got back to Lexington. He was supposed to have his 2 month well check on the 23rd, but we were still in Pontiac so I rescheduled it for July 11th. I can't wait to see how much he has grown since we were last there!

He absolutely loves sitting up and he has great head control. We have even started to put him in the bumbo and he does really well. He absolutely hates tummy time so I rarely do it. I know I need to do it more so he can build up those muscles, but after about 30 seconds he just starts screaming and I can only put him through the torture for a minute or so. When he lays on his stomach on our chests he does a great job pushing himself up, but he won't do it when he is laying on the floor. Hopefully he will start to like it more so he can learn to roll over and crawl, but at this point in time he has no interest! He has started drooling like crazy and I think I am going to have to break out the bibs soon. He also blows a lot of spit bubbles which I think is funny! He is starting to master the pouty lower lip as well, which I also think is super cute and funny! I'm pretty sure he got that from me! He is also trying really hard to suck his thumb. He shoves his whole fist in there till he finds his thumb then he sucks till it pops out a few seconds later. Its pretty cute! His favorite "game" is pull-ups. We lay him on our lap and have him grab our finger and then pull him up. He loves it and smiles with every pull- up.

He is still sleeping like a champ. We don't have a super set routine, but somewhere between 9 and 11 he gets a bath and I feed him. Then he hangs out with us till he falls asleep then we put him in the pack n play till we go to bed. I was waking him up to feed him when I went to bed around 12 or 1, but I have stopped doing that cause he wasn't really interested. He sleeps till somewhere between 6-9. He will get a little fussy somewhere in there and I just give him his pacifier and he goes right back to sleep for another hour or two. When he wakes up the second time he eats and we start our day. Ryan and I are both night owls and not morning people so keeping him up a little later at night works great for us. Also, Ryan sometimes doesn't get home from work till 8 so he wouldn't ever be able to see Rowan if I put him to bed any earlier.

He is still sleeping in our room for purely selfish reasons. I love having him so close to me and it is much more convenient. He doesn't wake up during the night and neither do I so why move him? He is starting to get a little big for his bed in our room so I know I will have to move him soon for that reason. He won't have an issue sleeping in his crib so I'm not worried about the transition. I put him in there today for a nap and he did great. I'm going to have more of a problem then he is! He is also eating well. He eats every three hours unless we are in the car during feeding time, then he just sleeps through it till we get home. He is such a good baby! He continues to smile more and more and keeps getting more "talkative". I fall in love even more every time he looks at me and smiles!

-Nicki

6 week recap-family time

This week has been 10 times better then the previous. Rowan is feeling much better. He is almost back to normal except sounding a little congested every once in a while. I think I have figured out part of the fussiness and fighting the sleep at night. I'm pretty sure the culprit is caffeine. I think I had caffeine each day he gave us a hard time when trying to put him to bed. Needless to say I haven't had caffeine in a week and it seems to be doing the trick. He still gets fussy for a bit some time between 6 and 10, but it is nothing we can't handle with a little rocking and the pacifier. He also loves being outside already and is instantly calm if we go out in the stroller.

I forgot to mention in the last post that at the doctor he weighed 9lbs 10oz and I'm sure he has put on some more weight since then. He is starting to get heavy! He is holding his head up like a champ and loves to sit up. He is starting to let us know that he wants to sit up when we hold him instead of laying down. He is smiling so much more and it melts my heart every time. Daddy can get to laugh at just about anything! Those two are gonna be a pair when Rowan gets older. He is starting to try out different facial expressions and has gotten a lot more "talkative" these past few days. It is so crazy how much he can change in just a day!

We have also been having a string of good feedings. Thank you to those who commented with words of wisdom and just support. It was good to hear that other people had or are having trouble and that it is all worth it. I love that I am able to breastfeed and we are continuing to work out the kinks so hopefully it becomes a treasured time for me and Rowan. Right now my favorite part is when I am burping him. After he lets out a big one he always looks right up at me and he looks like he is saying "that was good one mom!" I love it!

This past weekend we traveled back to Ryan's hometown of Henry Il for some much needed family time. His youngest sister turned 21 and we went home to celebrate. Also, a lot of his extended family had never met Rowan. Going home is always wonderful and I look forward to every time we get to do it. Just being around family and hanging out is exactly what we needed after our rough week.

Rowan traveled well, sleeping much of the time. He did get fussy at his normal time, but we just kept driving and he eventually went back to sleep. He slept almost the entire way back to Lexington so that was good. We are very lucky to have such a relaxed baby!

We are leaving again this week for a family reunion on my side of the family and then a week long vaca to Pontiac so we are busy busy! I hope everyone is having a great summer and enjoying their families!

-Nicki

Frustration, Heartache, and Smiles: Week 5

Our happy, healthy baby boy got sick this past week. When we were back in Pontiac for the funeral there were several people who had a cold that we were around. We thought we had beat it when a week later we didn't have it, until Monday rolled around. Rowan and I both started coughing a bit, but not much. I knew we were probably starting to get it so after talking with my mom I called the Dr.'s to see if there was anything I could do to try and slow down the progression of the cold. This was Tuesday and overnight our coughs had become more persistent and I was worried about Rowan being able to catch his breath if it got any worse. I talked to one of the nurses and she said just to watch his breathing and if his chest started dipping in or his nostrils were flaring and of course if he had a fever then they would want to see him. He did not have any of those symptoms at the time or throughout the rest of Tuesday so I just drank as much orange juice as I could stand and hoped for the best. By the time Tuesday night came around though it had gotten a lot worse and as I watched him sleep his chest was dipping in and nostrils were flaring. Needless to say I did not sleep much that night just watching him to make sure he was okay. I called the Dr. at 8 the next morning and asked for an appointment. Overnight the cough became croupy and much more persistent. I also sounded awful, but this kind of cough is common for me so I knew I could manage, it was Rowan I was worried about. He just looked like he felt miserable. The Dr. checked him out and said his lungs sounded fine so it was probably croup and there were 3 steps I needed to take. The first was sitting in a steamy hot bathroom (which we had already done), then if that didn't help put his head in the freezer so he could breathe in cold air and if he was really struggling to breath we needed to go to the ER. He also gave him a steroid to help the swelling in his throat go down. We went home and cuddled and napped and hoped for a better night.

Our happy baby boy really learned how to cry that night. He was miserable and nothing was working. He was just crying and crying, which made the coughing worse, which made him cry more. I felt SO bad for him. I didn't know how to help him and I felt like a horrible mom. At one point I was crying and completely overwhelmed. Ryan was doing everything he could but Rowan just wasn't having any of it. The hardest part was that he was also acting hungry. The cries were hunger cries, but I had been feeding him almost every hour from the time the steroid kicked in a couple hours after his appt. He usually eats every 3-4 hours so I wasn't used to this. My automatic bottles (as a friend calls them) were running dry and he wasn't full. I didn't know what to do. We have some formula bottles we had gotten from the hospital but I really didn't want to use them. I just kept trying to feed him, but it was beginning to become unbearable for me. (More on this later) He screamed straight for an hour or so and we finally decided to try a walk outside in the stroller. As soon as he was in and we were moving he was quiet and content. I have never felt so relieved in my life. We walked around for about 15 minutes then decided to head inside to see if he would fall asleep in his bed. It was just about midnight at this point and I think I had gotten him asleep by 12:40 which in all reality was not that bad, but it had felt like he had been crying for an eternity not a few hours. I of course couldn't sleep, but at least he kind of was. He was restless most of the night but still slept 5 hours.

The next two days each started to get better, but he has started to fight going to sleep at night. Some nights take longer then others some are just as they used to be. I have started rocking him which I love, but was hoping not to start till after all of our trips in June. His cough is almost completely gone and he is back to being my happy little boy.

Breastfeeding has become frustrating. I am glad I am nursing, but I will admit is not my favorite activity. As I mentioned before while he was sick he didn't seem to be getting enough. From the classes we took I knew that this might happen while my body tried to catch up to what he wants. I was extremely frustrated that it happened at the same time he got sick and just didn't know what to do. I was feeding as much as I could handle, but it was painful. We have also been having some trouble latching and staying latched. Rowan seems to be playing a game with me because he looks extremely happy when he latches then lets go and then latches again. I wouldn't mind if it didn't hurt so bad. We have good days and bad days so hopefully we figure it all out. I think my body has caught up to my growing boy so that is a plus!

Also while he was sick he started pushing himself up when laying on his belly. We were shocked by this and even more shocked when we sat him up and he held his head up for an extended amount of time. We were so happy!

On Friday we had a trip planned to see some of our close friends. As we were packing things up Ryan was playing with Rowan trying to get him to smile and he finally did! I ran and got the camera and got these shots.

We were so excited that we can finally make him smile and having been doing it as much as we can! Rowan probably thinks we are crazy people, but we are so I guess that is okay! It is crazy how much he is changing every day now. He no longer looks like a newborn baby, he is starting to look like a little man! It makes me a little sad, but I am really looking forward to watching his personality bloom.

We are looking forward to all of the changes that are starting to happen and watching our little boy grow!

-Nicki