the fourth month

Height: 26.25 in (90%)

Weight: 17 lbs 9oz (90%)

Head circumference: 17in (75%)

I can't believe my baby is four months old! He has definitely started developing his little personality this month and it is so exciting to see him turn into a little person!

This month, we spent a lot of time with family. Katie and Rory spent a couple of weeks here with Carter.

My mom wanted to have a photoshoot with her too grandbabies..

Carter just wanted to eat Nolan's hands.. :)

Best uncle ever? The babies aren't quite so sure.. ;)

Scott's brother Chris and his wife Suzy and their three kids came into town as well. Nolan got to meet three more cousins and his aunt and uncle! We also took Nolan and Carter to meet their Great-Grandpa Butterfield who is 90yrs old. He isn't doing that great and is now living in an assisted living home. We were lucky that he was very alert when we came to visit and he was excited to meet his great-grandbabies.

This month, Nolan slept SO well when we were staying with my parents, but as soon as we came home, he had a major sleep regression! He didn't want to take ANY naps and he is up ever 2-3 hours at night. It can be SO exhausting! Last week, we had a night like this and every time I finally got him to sleep and then finally got myself settled and about to fall asleep (sometimes it takes me awhile) he would wake up again! I'd probably gotten about 2 or 3 hours of sleep all night in little bits here and there and it was 6:30 in the morning and Nolan woke up again. I knew this time it was late enough that he would be up for good and I was SO exhausted that I had a mini breakdown! I just didn't think I could make it the whole day on no sleep (even when Nolan does take naps during the day, they are never longer than 45 min, which is not long enough for me to take a nap as well). So, my wonderful husband decided to use one of his very few days off so that he could stay home and take care of Nolan so that I could get a little sleep. He even took him out of the house for a couple of hours so I could have some uninterrupted sleep (I always wake up whenever Nolan makes the tiniest peep anywhere in the house). I think it was one of the best two hours of my life! :) It is amazing what even a little bit of sleep can do for you!

Other milestones/interesting developments:

- Nolan has discovered his toys and loves to play with them! He grabs at everything now!
- He especially loves his stuffed giraffe that Scott named Soggy - I'm sure you can guess why :)
- He drools all over the place! (maybe he is teething?)

Ready to go to a work BBQ!

- He is so interested in everything! It makes it hard to nurse because he gets distracted all the time. I have to nurse him in our room with no distractions - which means I can't do anything and Scott can't be in the room.
- He laughs when Scott or I are playing with him/tickling him
- He loves to look at books but gets frustrated that he isn't coordinated enough to turn the pages himself. His favorite is our Book of Mormon Stories Board Book
- He likes to look at himself in the mirror and sometimes gets upset when we go away from the mirror.
- He doesn't like tummy time very much - but this has helped him learn to roll! I've learned that when he gets upset on his tummy, I can just leave him a little bit longer and he will roll over! He can roll from his tummy to his back from both sides. So far the only time he has rolled from his back to his tummy is on our bed when he is waiting for me to feed him. I'm not sure if he can do it on the ground yet.
- When he is on his tummy, he is constantly trying to go places. He gets his feet and knees up under him and tries to push of the ground - but he hasn't learned how to use his arms yet so he doesn't really go anywhere. He is just barely starting to push up with his arms. Maybe he will be an early crawler! ... I guess its time to start baby proofing!
- He found his feet!

- He always wants to be sitting up straight! He can now sit for a few seconds before falling over. He still needs a lot of practice with this one! :)
- Sometimes I put Nolan in his carseat while I'm showering or eating etc, but lately he has learned how to get out! He wiggles and kicks his legs and slides out the front of his carseat (I hadn't been strapping him in before this!). I looked over at him the other day and his legs were on the ground and his head and back were on the bottom part of the carseat where he usually sits. Thank goodness its so close to the ground! I will now be strapping him in every time!
- Nolan has decided that only Mom can put him to sleep - no Dads (or anyone else) allowed!

Nolan sleeping in the big bed ... his favorite place!

My parents took a short trip to Bear Lake last week and asked us to watch their dog, Pookie, while they were gone. Nolan has finally started to notice her while she's been at our house. Whenever she is nearby he lunges for her. She doesn't like it very much and runs away whenever he is nearby. It will be interesting to see what happens as he gets bigger... :)

I've been looking at some old picture of Nolan lately and I barely recognize him! I can't believe how much he has changed in just 4 short months. It has definitely helped me learn to try to appreciate the moment, even when he wakes up at 4:30am (for good!) or when it takes 2 hours to get him to bed at night. We absolutely love our little guy and wouldn't trade him for anything. I'm also super appreciative of my awesome husband who let me sleep in both mornings this past weekend! It helped prepare me for last night, I guess ...Nolan was up 4 times to eat! My guess is he's going through another growth spurt. I guess we'll see after his next appointment!

Sorry this post was so long! :)

the third month

This month was pretty crazy for us! In May Scott started working for the American Red Cross as an Emergency Services Specialist/Caseworker for the Mountain Valley Chapter located in Provo. He does several different things, but his main responsibility is with emergency response. So the end of June/beginning of July were very busy for him with all of the fires going on in Utah. For two weeks, Scott worked long hours at work every day (including Saturday and Sunday) and would then come home and be on the phone all night long. This also meant all of the parenting/household duties were left to me - I felt like a widow! Needless to say, it was exhausting for both of us.

We "celebrated" our anniversary in the midst of all the fires. Scott was able to turn his phone off for a couple of hours and we left Nolan with my parents while we went out to eat. It wasn't much, but it was nice to have my husband to myself for a couple of hours during that time!

Although there was still one fire, Scott was able to take the 4th and 5th of July off. Katie and Rory and Carter were also in town so we spent a few days up at my parents house. We spent the 4th with my dad's family as per our tradition! We had a waffle, bacon, and egg breakfast; went to the Kaysville/Fruit Heights Parade (Nolan was not a fan of the fire trucks and ambulances!); had a BBQ at my Aunt Deanne's house; and went to some fireworks (my parents were kind enough to watch the babies so that Scott and I and Katie and Rory could go)!

On the 5th Nolan turned 3 months and officially grew out of his "newborn" stage. I can't believe he is getting so big so quickly! We also had family pictures with my family that day! I will have to post some of those when we get them! Unfortunately, we were taking them at about 7pm for optimal lighting - but it wasn't really optimal timing for the babies... it was definitely bed time so we did
As always, Nolan is growing so fast! Here is a little bit about him from his third month of life:

- Nolan is happiest at home in his element
- He smiles all the time, especially in the morning, but as soon as I take out the camera, they are all gone!
- He gets a little bit overwhelmed when there are too many people, sounds, or things going on - then he just kind of shuts down and become a little blob.
- Loves to stand up when we're holding him.
- Always tries to sit forward when we prop him up - and promptly falls over to the side because he can't hold himself up yet
- Still likes to be swaddled and rocked to sleep
- He has decided he doesn't like to be in his carseat, but he does like his stroller
- Nolan is now wearing 6-9 mo size clothes
- Loves listening to french nursery rhymes (his favorites are Frere Jacques and Allouette)
- He loves to look at paintings
- He has started swatting at his toys and can grab them once in a while, but not for long
- Learned how to pull out his binky, but can't get it back in - so frustrating for him! :)
AND! he rolled onto side at 11 weeks!

* PS... the photo upload isn't working for me right now, so I'll have to add the pictures later!

the second month

Nolan at two months:

Weight: 15lbs 5oz (above 95th percentile)

Height: 24in (75th percentile)

Head Circumference: 16in (95th percentile) 

- Started smiling all the time after his first smile (5 weeks)

- Was blessed at his Nana and Pap pap's house.

- Took a trip to mama's work to meet all her co-workers before she quit
- Took his first trip to St. George for his Great Grandpa Keyes' funeral
- Met his cousin Serenity (closest cousin to his age on the Keyes side)

- Went "swimming" for the first time (we just stuck his feet in)
- Sleeps best when swaddled in the woombee
- Developed eczema

- Moved up to size three diapers
- Holds his head up really well
- Loves to be held

- "Yells" most of the time instead of crying
- Sleeps anytime we put him in his carseat
- Gives kisses back by making a clicking sound with his tongue

Apparently I have a lot of pictures of him sleeping! :)

the first month

The very first month of Nolan's life was crazy! After he was born, we spent a couple of days in the hospital before heading home. Despite all of the craziness surrounding his birth, he was proclaimed healthy as can be!

...besides the poor little marks on his head from the vacuum suction :(

Here are a few pictures with family that came to visit us in the hospital:

And here we are back at home!

By the time we left the hospital, Nolan was down from 9lbs to about 8lbs 8oz and he had a little bit of jaundice. So, we had to take him back to the hospital a couple days later to get him checked out. Luckily he was eating like a champ by then and getting rid of his jaundice!

Happy Easter! - 3 days old

The first couple of weeks were hard for me. I came out of the birth with third degree tearing and an episiotomy as well as a broken tail bone. This made sitting just about impossible, which made nursing even more difficult. Thank goodness for the side-lying position!

My mom stayed with us for the first week and helped us out a ton! Also, Scott's new job didn't start until about 3 weeks after Nolan was born. Although this was kind of stressful money-wise, it was definitely nice to have him around to help out!

At his two week check up, Nolan weighed in at 10lbs 8oz and was 22in long! Already growing so much!

When Nolan was about three weeks old, Scott's Grandpa Keyes was not doing well, so he went to St. George to visit him before he died. Nolan and I went to stay at my parents house while he was gone. Here is a cute picture of him while we were there!

Overall, the first month is kind of a blur! Nolan slept a lot and ate a lot and pooped a lot! He really is a good baby. He didn't cry that much, but would mostly just call out when he needed something. He either slept in his bassinet in our room or in bed with us (mostly when we both fell asleep while he was nursing...) Even right at the beginning, Nolan would usually sleep for 3-4 hours between feedings - which I hear is pretty lucky for a newborn!

He loves being held and cuddled especially when sleeping! Luckily there was plenty of family around who wanted to hold him! 

He also loves his binky!

Here we are celebrating grandpa's birthday!

Nolan smiled for the first time at 5 weeks! It's crazy how happy one little facial expressing can make you! And it definitely makes all the late nights worth it!

(Here he is actually 6 weeks, but its the first smile we caught on camera!)

Sorry for the picture overload! But I just can't help it! :)

the birth

I decided I should probably take some time to write about Nolan's birth since I'm already beginning to forget the details even though it wasn't even three months ago!

The whole process began about a week before I actually ended up giving birth. I started getting these awful back aches and so I began paying more attention and realized I was actually having contractions. It was hard to notice them without actually feeling my belly. I could feel the tightening with my hands, but they weren't painful yet (other than in my back, of course). So, I started to measure the time between contractions. One night they were about 1-2 minutes apart so I decided to go to the hospital just to get it checked out. But unfortunately I didn't dilate much during my hour under observation so they sent me home.

I decided I needed to do something to take my mind off of everything. I was in pain and frustrated that the baby just wasn't coming! Not to mention how huge and swollen everything was - I couldn't sleep because I was so uncomfortable and I could barely eat anything since there was pretty much no space left for my stomach! So I went up to spend a few days at my parent's house and to see my sister Katie and her baby Carter who were in town for Easter and to bless Carter. We had a fun time playing games and celebrating my mom's birthday!

My doctor had me come in for an appointment on April 1st. Everything looked okay to him, but because I was overdue, he set up an appointment for me to get a non-stress test at the hospital. So on April 4th I went in for the test. They basically just strapped me up to a monitor where they could monitor my contractions and the baby's heartbeat for an hour. After my hour was up, they had the on-call doctor and my doctor review the results. It turns out the baby's heartbeat was dropping slightly below normal when some of the contractions peaked (probably worn out from a week's worth of them! - I know I was!). So they opted to keep me at the hospital and induce me. 

I was admitted around 12:30pm and my doctor came in at about 1:30 to break my water. I was already about 3cm dilated so they went ahead and started me on pitocin at about 2pm. After a couple of hours my contractions were coming pretty strong and I was already worn out from the past week, so I opted to get my epidural. They kept checking me every hour, but there was very little progress so they slowly kept increasing the amount of pitocin.

I don't remember all of the details and what time everything happened, but at one point in the early evening, the baby's heartbeat began dropping. The nurses came in and had me roll over onto my side. They turned off the pitocin and put me on oxygen. They also decided to put an internal monitor on the baby as opposed to the belt I had been wearing all day (so that they could keep a closer eye on his heartbeat). When the heartbeat was back to normal, they eased me back onto the pitocin, but pretty soon the same thing happened again. They nurses put me back on oxygen and came in to talk to us. They basically said that the pitocin was stressing out the baby and they most likely wouldn't be able to turn it back on. If his heartbeat didn't steady out the way they would like it to, I would need to have an emergency c-section. But they were very calm about the whole thing and I really wasn't that worried.

When they came in to check me the next hour, I was at a 3+ (a tiny bit of progress!), but since I wasn't on pitocin anymore, we decided it was going to be a long night! I sent Scott home to get  couple of things for me. While he was gone, I started feeling the contractions in my back and my side (the side that was up). The anesthesiologist came in to change out my epidural drugs and I told me him I could feel the contractions and it had only been about 30 minutes since I'd been turned over. He told me just to wait a little bit longer and then have the nurses turn me over. About that time, Scott came back and I had him page the nurses to turn me over because I was in a lot of pain. It took a while for them to come in (actually they didn't come in till the hour mark when they had to turn me over and check me anyway.

I was in so much pain at that point. I remember one of the nurses said something to me but I didn't even register it because I was working on getting through the contraction. When I finally realized she had been talking to me I apologized and told her I was in a lot of pain and I could feel my contractions. I felt like all the nurses, like the anesthesiologist just kind of blew me off when I told them this. So the nurse checked me and was shocked that I was complete and ready to push! So in the past (very painful) hour, I had gone from 3+cm to 10. No wonder I was in so much pain!

They called my doctor and I began pushing at around 10pm. At this point they had increased my epidural so that I wasn't in so much pain and the whole experience seemed very surreal. I was kind of in this weird drug/adrenalin induced state and I was pushing every so often while the nurses talked to each other and my husband. I was kind of being ignored but to be honest I was glad - I was able to have the experience in my own little world. 

After an hour and a half of pushing, my doctor said he thought the baby might be too big to come out on his own, but he wanted to try a vacuum before opting for a c-section. The first two times he used the vaccum, the suction broke - if it happened again, I was going to have a c-section. Fortunately the third time he used the vacuum, it worked! He came right out and yelled out to let us know he was here!

Nolan Scott Keyes was born at 12:23am on 5 April 2012. He was 9lbs and 21in long. 

the pregnancy

I've heard so many stories of women who love being pregnant! They talk about how awesome it is to feel a little person growing inside you and how all of the extra hormones actually made them feel great! I was SO hoping that would be me! Unfortunately it wasn't. My pregnancy was definitely hard, but there were a few things I didn't mind so much:

1. Better skin! 

I've always had a combination of skin types on my face - parts are always oily while other parts a really dry - it makes taking care of it pretty difficult. All of this seemed to even out as soon as I got pregnant. - And I haven't broken out since!

2. No sickness! 

Being pregnant somehow made me immune to all sicknesses! I usually have one or two colds every year. I was pregnant this entire past winter and I didn't get sick a single time! 

3. Warmth! 

I can't even imagine what it would like to be pregnant during the heat of the summer. I pretty much died of heat at work everyday and inside any building with the heat on. The best part of my day was always when I'd get to leave work to go stand outside in the cold/wind/snow to wait for my bus - I could finally cool off! But I did get plenty of stares since I didn't have a coat on!

4. Seats! 

My morning sickness made it hard to get up in the mornings - which meant catching my bus at a later stop. Usually I'd be concerned that there wouldn't be any seats left for me - and no one wants to stand for the full 80 minute drive to Salt Lake! But the nice thing about being pregnant (and being surrounded by nice people!) is that I never had to worry about seats. Without fail, someone would offer me theirs if all other seats were taken.

5. Baby feet! 

Without fail, the best part of pregnancy was knowing there was a baby at the end of the road! And mine happened to be VERY active! I never had to worry if anything was wrong because from about week 20 or so, I could feel him moving around - ALL THE TIME!

Now for the not so great parts:

1. Morning sickness

Although I didn't have any illnesses, I definitely didn't feel great all the time. My morning sickness kicked in around 6 weeks and got progressively worse until about the end of my second trimester when it slowly eased up in time for the third trimester aches and pains! Luckily I never threw up anywhere besides my own home and I didn't really suffer from exhaustion like so many others do during the first trimester.

2. Migraines

I get migraines whether or not I'm pregnant, but lets just say that they are even less fun when you can't take any medication!

3. Sciatic nerve pain

This started out as just  pain in my hips - and it got worse as I got bigger - especially as I started having to sleep exclusively on my sides. Then it spread and started affecting my tailbone. From about week 20 or so, I suffered from pain in my hips and tailbone that made it all but impossible to endure my 80 minute commute and 8 hour work days every day!

4. Swollen everything

During my last trimester, I began retaining SO MUCH water. I had to stop wearing my wedding rings and most of my shoes. When I came home from the hospital after having the baby, I had lost 20 lbs! I did have a 9 lb baby, but the rest of that was placenta and water weight!

5. Reflux

As soon as I stopped having morning sickness, I started getting reflux. with my growing belly, my stomach had no room to expand! I soon learned that I couldn't lay down after eating - for at least 2 hours, I couldn't eat anything acidic for dinner, and forget about drinking anything after dinner either! No one wants to feel that glass of water come right back up as soon as you lay down!

6. Back pain (contractions!)

Turns out, this was mostly due to contractions! My doctor had been telling me since about week 30 that I had been having contractions, but I had never felt them! I realized as the contractions got worse and I was able to feel them, that I had felt them all along! I had just attributed them to back pain.

7. Being overdue

That last week of being pregnant (between my due date and the birth date) was so horrible! I was so tired, achy, and sore; and I was having constant contractions (2-3 minutes apart for a week!), but things just weren't going anywhere! I couldn't eat or sleep or focus on just about anything. And my doctor wouldn't induce without a good reason. I was so frustrated that the baby just wasn't coming and I was getting worn out waiting for it!

...to be continued in the birth story...

an update since my last post...

I can't believe its been over a year since I've blogged! It definitely doesn't seem like that long, but 2011 was definitely a crazy year for me. So, before I get into the past few months, I thought I'd take a minute to review what has happened since my last post!

In April, I was super blessed to get to go on a trip to Greece/Turkey with my family! Unfortunately Scott was still in school and wasn't able to come. Rory had just started a new job and couldn't take the time off either. So it ended up just being my immediate family! We all met up in Athens (I came from Utah, Katie from Indiana, and the rest of the family from Moscow, Russia) and spent a few days there looking at the ruins, shopping, etc. Then we left on a week long cruise to several of the Greek Islands, and a stop in Turkey. The Greek Islands are some of the most beautiful and scenic islands I've ever seen! I would love to live there some day!

In May, I was finally hired on as a full time, benefited employee at my job for the Church. It was a great reward after having spent a year working there as an intern/temp employee.

In June, my family moved back to Utah from Russia, Scott and I celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary and 3 years of since our first date. I also found out I was pregnant (due March 29th)! :)

In August, my morning sickness kicked in just in time for us to take a trip to Carson City, Nevada to visit Scott's brother Jeff, his wife Islena, and my three adorable nephews! Despite being sick, we enjoyed a weekend of site seeing and a trip to Lake Tahoe (so beautiful!).

In October we found out we were having A BOY! We were so excited - especially since Katie and Rory were having one too!

Thanksgiving is definitely one of my favorite holidays! This past Thanksgiving was a lot of fun! One of the great things about getting married is you often get to celebrate holidays more than once! What could be better than two Thanksgivings and two Christmases?? My sister Katie and her husband Rory came out and spent the holiday with us. We also had a baby shower for her while she was here!

Scott graduated from BYU in December - he majored in Sociology and minored in Business Management. It is so nice for both of us to be done with school (at least for a couple of years!). We celebrated a great Christmas Eve and Morning with my family and Christmas Day with Scott's family.


January was a great month! Katie had her baby Carter on the 16th! I wish we could have been there to see him right after he was born! Look how cute he is!

 Carter Alpine Housley

In February, Scott and I celebrated Valentine's Day and my birthday - and I had two baby showers - one was thrown by my friend Polly from work and the other by my family!

We spent March waiting around for baby boy to show up...Unfortunately he didn't show up until April 5th!

He's here!! :)

Nolan Scott Keyes