Pukefest 2010

This past week was truly awful! I have never dealt with so much vomit in my life (and I recently got finished with 6 1/2 months of it while pregnant). On Tuesday morning, Nicholas suddenly started puking and didn't stop until Thursday night. He had a short lapse on Friday were he didn't get sick but instead spent the entire day crying, and then he threw up again on Saturday and a few times last night (Sunday). Meanwhile I came down with the virus at 4 am on Friday while I was up nursing Nolan (yes I was puking and nursing at the same time!). I had extreme body aches and spent all day Friday in the fetal position and could barely move. Mommy was definitely out of commission! Poor Graham then came down with it at 1 am that night. This of course was the worst timing for him as he was set to have his book signing at Borders at 1 pm on Saturday and had to cancel! I was so upset for him! During all of this, Nolan was definitely very fussy and had major troubles sleeping and spit up a whole lot more but I'm not quite sure if he actually got the full virus. Nicholas still has no appetite and I'm not sure if we're fully out of the woods with him but I sure hope so. He lost at least a pound over this week and I hope he starts eating again soon! I am still amidst the endless loads of laundry (I've never done this much laundry before in my life) and can't wait for the house to feel clean again.
While we were struggling just to survive this week, sweet Nolan brightened things up by sharing his smile with us starting on Thursday! He has such a sweet smile, hopefully I'll catch it on camera sometime soon. Then on Sunday, he rolled over from his tummy to his back during tummy time! I couldn't believe it. He actually did this one other time a week or so ago (while I wasn't looking of course) but I just told myself it was a fluke and wasn't possible so early. But today I took him for his one month check up (a week late) and told Dr. B and he said that is normal for smaller babies to roll over a lot earlier because they are more agile. Nolan weighed in at 9 lbs 14 oz (he's gained 2 1/2 lbs in this month) at the 38th percentile. His length is 21.5 at 32nd percentile and his head measures 14.5 at 14th percentile. His small head and lower percentiles concern me but the doctor says that is nothing to be concerned about and described him as "lean". I'm just not used to having such a petite little baby. I guess I've got to learn to not compare him with his big brother though! Other than that, Dr. B said that Nolan is very healthy and doing well. He eats great and sleeps well (although it'd be nice if it was a little longer at night) and is a very happy baby!
During this terrible week, Graham got fabulous news! Kregel publishing company (Hero's Tribute publisher) has offered a contract for the sequel to Hero's Tribute!!!!!! God has just blown us away! Graham is going to have a SECOND published book!! Graham's dreams are truly coming true and the best part is that God is being glorified through it all. I can't wait to see what God has in store for Graham and our family through the writing of this book and all that is to come with it. I am so proud of my incredible husband that I cannot even put it into words. It is such a joy to watch him as he writes with such passion and enjoyment. His talent and drive inspire me everyday--I feel so honored to be his wife!
In other wonderful news--Butch and Kathy are on their way home from Nashville today! We are so thankful that they are finally able to leave the hospital and pray for a speedy recovery and healing time while at home. We can't wait to go visit them soon!

Our new normal

We've now had 2 weeks of Graham being back to work with me flying solo during the day with both boys and the dog. Things have gone really well! Of course there have been some challenging moments but overall it's gone so much better than I expected. I've even managed to get out quite a bit. Nicholas has had 3 days of school and we made it to prayer team and my Journey Bible study. On Thursday I even ran errands with both boys for the first time. We went to the post office, got the car washed and ran to Publix and everyone managed very well!

We've had many days of freezing temperatures and last week we got snow and ice! Nick was very excited to play in the snow and wanted to make snowballs and a snowman but the snow was so dry and there wasn't enough to be successful at that. Plus, I was SOOO cold after just 5 minutes of being outside. I was a pretty ridiculous site that morning. First I had no makeup or shower that morning but I bundled us all up in many layers then I stuck Nolan in the sling on my body and got one of Graham's large coats and zipped that around me with Nolan inside. I couldn't find a warm hat for me so I borrowed a cap from Graham. It was not a pretty site so I was very glad that no one else was outside. I was still freezing so after a few minutes of letting Nick attempt to make snowballs and snow angels, I bribed him with hot chocolate to get him inside. Thankfully this Thursday and Friday temps warmed up and I got out with the boys for a walk in the neighborhood with the new (to us) double jogging stroller that I got for twenty dollars at a yard sale! I'm hoping to make that a daily habit and get back in shape and even participate in the Water for the World race in April.

Nolan has been doing very well! He is one month old today! I was able to borrow a friend's scale and Nolan now weighs 9 pounds! That's still less than Nick ever weighed but I'm happy with the weight he's gained. Of course I'm still up with him about every 3 hours at night. Sometimes he can go longer and there's an occasional rough night where he needs to eat every 2 hours. So while I am definitely very tired, I am also treasuring this alone time with Nolan. There's something so peaceful about that time alone with him in the nursery. It also gives me great quiet time, prayer time, and time to read. But that being said, I am hoping that he'll be sleeping through the night in about another month.

One new thing that I've been enjoying with Nolan is that I decided to do cloth diapers! Cloth diapers are a great way to save money and I am also happy to not have the trash that disposable diapers produces. Plus the diapers are just so cute! I bought one size diapers that adjust in size and grow with your child. Therefore, I'm able to use them on Nicholas too! I hope that these diapers will last for all of Nolan's diapering.

This weekend, Graham headed up to Nashville to be with his dad who is recovering from his surgery to remove his esophagus. The surgery was a success and we are so thankful that the cancer is gone! God has been so faithful and we pray that his recovery will go well and all of this will be behind him soon. Please continue to lift Butch up in prayer during this time!

I'm including pics of Nolan at 3 weeks and 4 weeks old and in his cute cloth diapers as well as Nick playing in the snow (even though he did not want his picture taken).

Christmas

Well, as you can imagine, I've been a bit busy and haven't had much time for my blog. So this is very late but I better post a little about Christmas, for posterity's sake.
It truly was a wonderful Christmas. We were all so thankful to have Nolan here for Christmas and to just be together as a family. It made it so special. It was so nice to be focused on these important things and to feel God's love for us so deeply rather than be caught up in the stresses and presents like can often happen. It was also such a joy to experience Christmas through Nick's eyes this year. He loves everything about Christmas (what kid doesn't?) and was so excited about all decorations and the tree and reading all of his Christmas books. One of my favorite things was how excited he was about Jesus. A few days before Christmas Baxter started barking at something outside and Nicholas looked at me and exclaimed "It's Jesus! Mommy, Jesus is coming, Jesus is coming!" (thinking that Baxter was barking at Jesus coming to the door). He did this all week long in anticipation of Christmas and Jesus' birthday. On Christmas Eve we went to church with Mimi and PopPop and Nicholas joined us for "Big church" for the first time. It was a family service that was tailored for kids so he loved it. The children's choirs sang and Nicholas was adorable as he sang all of the songs right along with them! I was amazed at how well and attently he sat through the service (and Nolan did wonderful and slept peacefully through the entire thing). At the end, everyone got glow sticks and held them up and sang Silent Night. Of course he loved the glow stick part. Now I had told Nicholas beforehand that we were going to church to sing songs and celebrate Jesus' birth. So as we were leaving church, he looked at me with very sad and confused eyes and said "But Mommy, where's Jesus? Where's my Jesus?" He did not understand why he didn't get to see Jesus. That's a difficult one to explain to a 2 year old! After church Mimi and PopPop joined us at our house for a delicious dinner of chicken enchiladas (made by Mimi) and then we enjoyed Happy Birthday Jesus cupcakes!
Christmas day was wonderfully busy. We had a full house from 8:30 am until 7:00 pm! Nicholas loved opening presents and helping everyone else open their presents too. Santa brought him a bean bag chair, a drum filled with musical instruments, and a monster truck. He got lots of fun different cars, two favorite movies, books, a leapster computer game system and lots of great things.
We all enjoyed just being together and enjoying the delicious food. Aunt Sue, Uncle Dick and Grandma even made it up in the afternoon and it was so nice to share Christmas with them and introduce them to Nolan. Of course, even amidst the joy and excitement of Christmas and Nolan's arrival, I know that all of us experienced the void that Gami has left in her absence. I can't begin to express how much I have missed her, especially during the holidays and with Nolan's birth. The void that she has left is so great because she was larger than life herself. I know she is watching over all of this though and is so happy to see all of the exciting things going on in our lives.
On the Sunday following Christmas, we managed to pack our family of four into the car and headed down to Peachtree City for Christmas with the Garrison side of the family. It was wonderful watching the kids play and open presents and dinner was delicious! And then Lauren and TJ amazingly offered to keep Nicholas for 2 nights giving me time to spend with Nolan alone while Graham starts back to work! Nick had so much fun and Lauren said he even behaved himself and they had a great time! I really appreciated being able to focus on Nolan and ease my way into being home alone with Nolan without having Nick there too.
It truly was a fabulous Christmas season! Thank you all for all of your love and support!