Tales of Baby McCabe: April 2012

In my last post I explained that Nolan's reflux has gotten progressively worse. Like to the point where I was worried he was going to lose weight. Well, he has been on Zantac for a week now and rice cereal for almost a week, and things are SO MUCH BETTER! Makes me feel bad, that I should have started him on those things awhile ago. Anyway, Nolan still opens his mouth like a little bird for the cereal. It's so cute! He gets cereal every morning and every night now. Some nights he is too tired for it. He'll put his hands in his mouth, get cereal on them, and then tiredly rub his eyes. He ends up with cereal all over! Those nights I just throw the cereal out and get him ready for bed.

Tomorrow we're going to start him on veggies. Probably something super delicious (yeah, right!) like peas or green beans. We'll work our way through the veggies, introducing a new one every few days - peas, green beans, carrots, squash and sweet potatoes. Then we'll introduce yummy fruit. I'm excited to see which foods he likes the best!

Along with the cereal, we've started signing with Nolan. Laurie bought me a great baby sign language book for Christmas. We're starting with about 5-8 signs and then we'll add more. Right now we're signing for hungry, eat, more, all done, mama, and dada. We don't expect Nolan to start signing back for a few months, of course, but it's exciting to think that we'll be able to start understanding his wants and needs more when he starts signing.

Well it has been awhile again since I last posted! March flew by and before I knew it, Nolan turned 5 months! I can't believe how big and mobile he is getting. His personality is really starting to show, which is so much fun!

To start off, Nolan's sleep regression has gotten better. He's not sleeping through the night yet. We'll probably cut off his middle of the night feed when he gets to be 6 months old. We might have to do some sleep training then. Right now Nolan is totally dependent on us to put the pacifier back in. It's a total sleep crutch for him. Jason and I are trying to wait to sleep train until he is able to find it and put it back in himself (which hopefully happens soon!). But for now we're still pretty tired since we have to put the pacifier back in a lot and since I still nurse once a night. But, it is better than his multiple feedings per night that he regressed back to in Feb/March.

Speaking of sleeping habits, Nolan is a tummy sleeper! We put Nolan down on his back, but since he learned how to roll from back to tummy (the day before he turned 4 months), he flips over immediately. I, of course, worry about SIDS, but our pedi and many reputable websites say that when a baby is strong enough to roll over onto their tummy, you don't have to worry and can let them sleep on their tummy. We still always put him down on his back though and let him decide how to sleep.

Now that Nolan is rolling both ways, he can make his way across a room pretty fast! We're definitely going to have to baby-proof our house soon. He will just keep rolling and rolling until he gets to the other side of the room. We're also going to have to vacuum more. Boo.

Something new for Nolan in the last month is breathing fresh air! With this amazing spring we've been having, we were able to get Nolan outside for a walk in early March. He LOVES walks! He coos and squeals while we're out on walks and looks all around. I've figured out how to bring Keegan on our walks with us. Keegan is not the best walker, so I can't hold the leash and walk Nolan. Instead I loop the leash around my waist so I can be hands free with Keegan. Keegan learned pretty quickly to walk next to the stroller. Nolan loves to just stare at Keegan while we walk. Keegan's learned that he gets to go on walks when I get the stroller out!

Nolan has been experimenting with his voice and has learned to squeal/scream! He'll do a cute high pitched mini-scream, kind of like he is talking to you. He'll do this little squeal and grin at you. It's the cutest little noise. However, he definitely has learned to use his lungs and will scream the high pitched scream at the top of his lungs when he wants to. He sometimes does this when he is happy, and he definitely does it when he is mad! His voice has gotten hoarse over this past week because of it.

On April 1 we had Nolan baptized! We chose to baptize Nolan in a Lutheran church. In fact, he was baptized in the church Jason and I were married at, Bethlehem Lutheran Church. My grandma and mom were baptized there as well, so it was really special. The font that they used for Nolan is the same font they used for my grandma and mom, and it was the last time they were going to use it! The church bought a new font and they are going to start using it for all baptisms held after Easter. It was so special that Nolan got to use the same one as my mom and grandma. I am so glad we had him baptized when we did!
Alissa (Jason's sister) and Tommy (my brother) are Nolan's Godparents. They mean a lot to us and we know that they will be good role models for Nolan. Nolan will definitely look up to both of them!

One not so happy thing that is new is Nolan's reflux! The first few months of his life he barely ever spit up. But in the last month or so he has started to spit up a lot. These last few days it has been SO bad! I took him to the doctor yesterday and she said to start cereal immediately (it will help keep the milk down) and she put him on Zantac so the heartburn gets better. I am hoping that both of these will help! I feel so bad for the poor little guy. It seems like he's barely kept anything down these last few days. We started cereal this morning and he seemed to like it! He opened his mouth like a little bird for the spoon and we heard him swallowing. Of course, some (ok a lot) got on his face and bib, but that is to be expected! :)

Nolan's 4 month well visit went well. He was 25.5" long (58%) and 15 lbs, 10 oz (51%). He handled his shots like a pro and just fussed for a minute, but didn't cry. Other than the reflux, he is a healthy little guy!

Here a bunch of pictures since I last posted. We videotaped him eating cereal this morning. I'll take some pictures of him eating soon and post those next time.

Sophie the Giraffe - Best. Teether. Ever. Nolan's (and Mommy's) best friend!