Mother's Day

Happy late Mother's Day to all the moms out there!  Sunday was a beautiful day and we spent it with our friend's Kristi and Matt.  We went for a lovely walk and had a nice brunch at RJ Riches which has the largest pancakes I've ever seen in my life.  Even Joe couldn't finish his!

Earlier in the weekend my mom was up for a meeting for work and she got to watch Nate on Friday night while I went to see Joel McHale (a comedian) with Trisha and Andrew....he's hilarious by the way and we had a blast.  It was at Mystic Casino where you are still allowed to smoke indoors and I'm pretty sure I inhaled a pack while we were there.  I also lost $4.50 with one push of a button so that was enough for me!  Saturday, Nate and I went to lunch with mom and Trisha.  It was his first meal out in a restaurant and he did great...not a peep out of him.

We are having to bathe Nate's butt every day and try to dry him out as much as possible because his diaper rash/infection is still pretty bad.  We have a new ointment now and they took a culture to see if it was strep. Apparently you can get that in the hindquarters.?  It's still pretty painful for him and stressful every time we change a diaper but hopefully it will clear up eventually.  Here's some shots of Nate after one of his daily tushy washes....he's thrilled with life :)

He's not a huge fan of constant washing...

When my mom was up she stayed down with my sister and Andrew in Shakopee with Andrew's dog Vince.  Vince is a bit of a worry wart/scaredy cat, so here is a shot of Nate trying to be friends and Vince trying to desperately get away from him.

Even with the tushy problems Nate is still eating wonderfully.  On Friday he weighed in at 8 pounds 10 ounces, 21 inches long so he's not having any problems with growing.  We are quite proud of him as is his doctor.  Although he pooped on her twice and peed on her three separate times when she was checking out his behind.  It was pretty funny and thankfully she has a wonderful sense of humor and laughed right along with us.  The doctor's table looked like a war zone once Nate was done with it, but at least he's showing that his insides are working fine!

Wild Weekend!

Joe, Nate and I had a weekend full of fun and it flew past! Friday night we headed down to our friend's Molly and Ryan's so Nate could see his girlfriend Claire. It was theme dinner and this week's was the Caribbean. Lot's of good food and Joe enjoyed his first Pina Colada. Below is Aunt Trisha with Nate and Uncle Andrew with Claire. She's the cute little girl who is 2 days younger than Nate...he's still working on catching up to her but at the latest doctors appointment he was almost the big 8 pounds!

Now Joe with his drink...

The next morning we took a few shots of Nate airing out his tush so his diaper rash/infection thingy can heal. It's looking better but is still a bit painful for him.

Later we dressed him up and put on those little shoes that didn't fit a while back. They are perfect for holding his socks on! They still are a bit big but they are pretty cute.

Saturday afternoon Nate and I headed to our friend Jamie's baby shower. He was the only testosterone in the room and he was loving it. He was passed from family member to family member of hers so he had a wonderful time!
Saturday night our friend Maria and her mom Jane watched Nate for the evening so we could go out for our friend Mary's 30th birthday. Thanks ladies! We went mini-golfing at quite an interesting course. The owner is an artist so the different holes have crazy pieces of art as the obstacles. Here is a fun picture where everyone looks adorable except for me with my mouth open because I was mid-talking....shocking I know.

Joe's the goofball in the back who apparently thinks he's number 1 :)
After golfing we had dinner at an Irish Pub and it was delicious!
Sunday we headed down to our friend Kiley and Juniors for burgers on the grill.

Needless to say, we were busy and we ate well the entire weekend! Sunday night was pizza at Kristi and Matt's after we picked them up from the airport from their vacation. Monday is a bit of a shocker after the fun weekend.
The last 3 shots are my attempts at getting Nate to smile at me. He's getting closer and closer...and I'm convinced they are no longer gas bubbles. I know this because I am making the most crazy baby cooing noises to get him to laugh at me!


That one above is probably him being a little stunned and embarrassed that his mother is so nuts and that she makes some odd noises :)

I haven't figured out how to rotate photos on here so here is a cute sideways one.
Ok, now below is my attempt at uploading a video. You should be able to click on it and it should play. It is proof that Nate is learning to eat well. It goes from fussy-Nate, to about-to-eat-the-bib Nate, to bottle-fed Nate!



The last one is the burping process....sure his eyes go a little cross eyed, but a good burp will do that to ya! It was too funny not to put up.


Have a wonderful week everyone. We have our doctor appointment on Friday for Nate. It's his 3 month check up. I also have another appointment with the heart/blood pressure doctor this week as well as a knee appointment. My bad knee has been feeling bad for some time now...possibly 2 years or so :) So since we hit our deductible this year I decided to get it checked out. I had an MRI a few weeks back and get the full results on Tuesday- woo hoo. We'll let ya know how it all goes!

Home, hernia, & diaper rash...

ahh, the struggles of being a baby..

Nate got to head home to Monroe this past weekend to meet his extended Ruf/Dahmen family members who have been anxiously awaiting his presence. Of course my camera was dead by the time I got there and can only be charged by being plugged in, not by battery. However, I did get a good shot of Nate meeting Great Grandpa John and Great Grandma Rose with my moms camera. Great Grandpa John sat with Nate on Friday and Sunday for a long time and comforted him every time he squirmed, which is quite often!

Nate traveled like a champ by the way. Joe was up north for the weekend so Nate and I decided to make the trek down on our own. We had to tack on 2 extra hours for feedings so 5 hours is now 7 but I was very impressed with him. I didn't hear a peep out of him except for one cry on the way down when he spit out his Nuk and one cry on the way back when he happened to poo himself awake...I mean, who hasn't? :)

Here's Nate meeting my friend Kelly in Madison on the way down. We also stopped at my friend Kristi's mom house (Marilyn) who got to meet him although he was a bit squirmy and angry when he met her...mostly gas induced I believe.
We got to Monroe and spent the next couple of days with visitors. Thanks to all the aunts and uncles for stopping by to say hello...you too Christopher :) Auntie Katie and Auntie Leanne came by with presents as well. These explanations would all be better with photos...i know.
Nate also got to meet my parents three cats and had no problems with coughing/allergy signs around them. They weren't too thrilled with his presence in the home but eventually they warmed up to sniff out his toys.

On the way back up to Minnesota I decided to call the doctor to check on a few issues. I thought Nate had diaper rash but turns out he has an infection on his little tush. Basically it equates to a bad butt burn..not enjoyable when he toots or poops which is quite often. We stopped in and our wonderful doctor prescribed a little diaper cream specifically for his tushy problem. Hopefully it clears up in the next few days so he can toot with ease :)

I had also noticed that his outtie bellybutton had began to really really stick out. Joe refuses to let me show a photo of it, but I think it's interesting...maybe someday I'll post it! Anyways, it turns out he has a hernia which is fairly common in babies, especially preemies. If it doesn't take care of itself in a year they will have to do a routine procedure on it to fix it. Basically the doctor just watches it over the next few months to make sure it doesn't get bigger or seem to cause him pain.

This one's of Nate just getting home from the doctors office...he needed a little tv fix after the poking and prodding. Oh, and weight check update...since we stopped in unexpected they still wanted to see his weight. He came in at 7 pounds 13 ounces, what a little tanker! About a week before he had been 7 pounds 2 ounces so needless to say he's eating just fine. He's even made it on to the "normal" baby weight chart and is now in the 10th percentile for weight. Next appointment is for May 7th and hopefully by then the diaper rash issue is healed and he's weighing in over 8 pounds...till then!

Chubby cheeks and a puppy!

Nate and I went to the doctor's on Tuesday and he weighed in at
7 pounds 2 ounces. We had to go to a different doctor because his was on vacation and she was very impressed with his weight gain and how strong he is.

She gave us some formula to give him to help with his gassiness and fussiness. Hopefully it will start working here soon because he still has some issues with not burping. It's funny to see his little legs and cheeks getting chubbier. His double chin is quite cute, I wish mine was :)


I took Nate to my friend's Matt and Kristi's house to introduce them to their dog Bella. We were worried she might be a bit hyper but if you can tell by the picture she was quite the protector "mama" for him. Any time he would make the slightest noise she would come sit on point or want to lick his head to calm him down. It was pretty funny.



Below, Nate started to cry so mama Bella came in to inspect to make sure we were caring for him properly.



Bella got a sniff in to see if we needed to do any diaper changing.



Nate's doing wonderful and the next doctor appointment is in another two weeks to check his weight again.

Uncle Jonny visits

Nate had a few more visitors this weekend. Uncle Jonny and his girlfriend Kayla came up to visit for a few days. We took Nate outside to go to the zoo for about an hour. He wasn't really able to see or appreciate the animals but we got a kick out of em. He's definitely growing and fitting better in to his car seat and still likes riding in the car- we're hoping this will last for when we come home to Monroe.



Jonny enjoyed holding Nate but was not quick to jump up to change any dirty diapers... that's ok because neither is Joe :) Nate showed Jon and Kayla his two favorite things - his grunting abilities and tooting powers.






Here are some more photos from last weekend when Grandma and Grandpa Olson and Great Grandma Komprood were up.













Olson Boys.











Family Photo- one of these days I'll get out of my pajamas long enough to actually have a nice picture of the three of us...one currently does not exist :)









Nate busting out of one of his preemie outfits. He has graduated from preemie diapers to newborn diapers- woo hoo! Last week an at-home nurse came to give Nate an RSV shot- basically a shot that lasts for 30 days to help preemies if they were to get a cold - like a preemie flu shot. She also weighed him - 6 pounds 12 ounces- yikes! He gained a pound in about a week and 2 days. Needless to say, he's eating well. We go to the doctor on Tuesday for more check ups and another weight check so we'll see if he's passed the 7 pound marker!

Happy "Birth Day" Nate!

Well, today the 14th is Nate's due date, so he's officially here! I've gotta admit, I'm kinda glad at this point I don't have to go through labor :) I would NEVER want to deliver the way I did the first time, but I'm just sayin...trying to find the positive in it all.



It's crazy that he's already been here for 9 weeks and he wasn't even supposed to be here until today. I wish we knew his weight for today but he doesn't go back in for a weight check until the 20th. He's doing great, Joe and I have figured out the exact bottle that he prefers so that he is now actually getting the food in his stomach rather than over his entire bib.




Grandpa and Grandma Olson were up this past weekend along with Joe's Uncle Al, Aunt Sandy, and Great Grandma Komprood. Nate got plenty of snuggle time with everybody and very much prefers being held by them all rather than laying down on his own to entertain himself.




Nate is doing much better on sleeping solid during his down time. We still have to feed him every 3 hours which gets quite tiring but he's learning to burp and toot a little easier which makes putting him down less of a battle. He's on a medication to help that happen because he tends to hold on to gas, VERY unlike his father :) Other than that he's doing wonderfully, much more awake and aware during the day so it's fun to actually see his little eyes and expressions - more so when he's not screaming.

The outside world!

Nate, Aunt Trisha, and I ventured out of the house last week for Nate's first real outing besides going to the hospital for doctors appointments. It was only about a 20 minute walk but it was nice, especially in that 70 degree weather! Nate was calm and quiet the whole time. He is definitely a big fan of movement and does not mind the potholes littering the sidewalks, unlike my car which now requires new tires due to the Minnesota potholes...grrr.




Joe got home from work right as we got back from our walk so he got to see Nate in his stroller for the first time....and then we started to do that annoying parent thing where we bug the baby as you will see demonstrated below :)







Now that's just plain fun. Nate had a doc appointment last week where he weighed 5 pounds 8 ounces. We took him yesterday and he weighed 5 pounds 12 ounces and got his 2 month shots - I think he hated the band aid removal more than the shots. They had to find smaller needles for his little legs because he doesn't have enough fat on them...I have the same problem :)









I'm lovin the look. We continued to bug Nate a little bit more inside, as you'll see down below again. My friend Mary got Nate the smallest, cutest pair of shoes I've seen so I had to put them on him quick to show how big they still are for his little feet.









Sure, he doesn't look thrilled but I got a kick out of it! Then, I promise we left him alone.










Here is a shot of Nate grabbing Mary's finger- his hands have grown quite a bit. Mary brought her daughter Anya up to visit Nate and she did a great job of playing nice with him especially for being only a year and a half. Having her run around the house showed us how unprepared we are for Nate to start walking and crawling around!



Nate back to sleep in his play pen after a full day. He did great at his eye exam a few weeks back as well. Grandma Jeanne was still in town so she accompanied he and I for that appointment. We didn't stay in the room for the actual exam and "pushing" on the eyeballs- both of us are known for our fainting abilities so we figured it best we get out. Nate's eyes look good and we don't go back for a full year.

We hope everyone had a great Easter. We weren't able to make it down to Monroe since Nate isn't supposed to be in his car seat for more than a few hours so we missed hanging out with our families. We did get to spend Easter however, with our friend Nik and his family who were kind enough to invite us over. In fact, they didn't really want to let us out of the house they were having such a great time loving on Nate! We look forward to being able to make the drive home in a few months when Nate is a bit bigger and able to tolerate the drive. Happy Spring all!