As of late...

Sandi is adjusting well to Liam...
She is asking to get in the chair with Nolan in this picture... ;-)

A family friend of Nolan's sent Liam this WSU hat; almost as cute at the A&M hat he has... ;-)

Me and Liam with my Dad

Nolan and my Dad next to an Osprey...
It was really cold on the flight line!

Liam's 2 week appointment was on Friday, January 7th, although he turned 3 weeks old just 2 days later... :-) Thanks to Nolan, who fed Liam before he headed off to work, I was able to shower before we headed out to the Peds office at the Naval Hospital on Camp Lejeune! :-) I am a big fan of getting a shower once every 24 hours, even if that means I take one at 8 o'clock at night. :-) It is the simple things. At his appointment we learned that he weighed 7 pounds 10 ounces, meaning he had gained 11 ounces in a little over a week! The pediatrician also told us that he was in the 60th percentile for height and of average weight. She said it was fine that he was eating 3-4 ounces every 3-4 hours of either breast milk or formula.

That evening (of the 7th) my dad (Liam's Poppi) visited came into town meet him in person! We had Skyped the week before - LOVE Skype! We had a great weekend showing him around Jacksonville; including where Nolan works/seeing what he flies.
Liam did great at his first out to eat dining experience - we went to Outback, which was insanely busy, and he slept for the majority of the time; just woke up as we were about to leave and of course was ready to eat! On Saturday, we took my dad for some "authentic" NC BBQ, which made for an interesting outing. We all knew it wouldn't be like Texas BBQ, but little did we know it would be absolutely nothing like it either. haha The place we went to was called THIG'S, which I learned while we were there that it stands for That Hog Is Good Son - go figure - random! The baked beans had hamburger meat in them, the hush puppies were nothing like you might expect (although they were good) and the pulled pork that Nolan and my dad got truly looked like throw up and tasted even worse! I don't know how on earth they choked it down, but they did. I kept to my unadventurous ways and got the chicken - it was edible, but we clearly won't be going back. To make up for the poor lunch, we headed to the local bakery, White Oak Bakery, across town and loaded up on sweets! ;-) haha YUM!

On Monday, the 10th, it snowed quite a bit and both bases and everything in Jacksonville closed for the next two days. Nolan still went to work those days and was able to get some things done, so that was good. We had had a doctor's appointment for Liam for Monday, since he went 48 hours without pooping... the dial a nurse recommended BabyLax to help get things moving again and within minutes it did! Since by Wednesday he had gone another 24 hours without a bowel movement I rescheduled Monday's canceled appointment for Thursday...

Wednesday, Liam and I took Sandi to the vet. She had been making these horrible sounds (in her stomach) for about a week, so we figured it was time to get it checked out. It seems all is well... she may be producing too much acid, so the vet recommended Pepcid/chicken and rice while we wait to see if maybe she ate a part of one of her toys and is just working it out - one end or the other.

The 3 of us waiting at the vet - for over an hour!
Liam did awesome though and slept the whole time! :-)

On Thursday, Liam went back to the doctor; of course he had a bowel movement hours after I made the appointment on Wednesday, but we went to the appointment anyway. His pediatrician doesn't seem too concerned that he often goes for 24 - 48 hours (or a little more) without a bowel movement. She is more so pleased that he does have them. that they are the right color (yellow) and they are of the right consistency (not hard). (who knew so much talk about poo would come about! ha)
We also learned that he now weighs 8 lbs 2 oz,. meaning he gained another 8 ounces over a week's period of time. I guess the combination of breast milk and formula is working just fine for him!

I am feeling about 95% back to normal. At 3 weeks postpartum I was back to my pre-pregnancy weight, and now that we are at 4 weeks tomorrow, I am actually 5 pounds less than what I weighed before I became pregnant. I'll take it! Now if I could just get my jelly belly to go back to what it was; even if a tiny bit more - all in time. I did have 3 -4 liters of fluid in my baby belly, so that did an enormous amount of stretching, to say the least. My c-section scar is still quite painful - at some times more than others. I have shooting pains every once in a while; maybe that is just my body telling me to slow down a bit. I decided a few days after Liam's tongue had been clipped, and after we had tried breastfeeding again (with little success - it would just drain out the side of his mouth) that I would continuing pumping and supplementing with Enfamil formula, which we have done since we left the hospital. It works for all of us. Nolan is extremely supportive of my decision. We both want Liam to get breast milk, but not the the detriment of my sanity! ;-) Seriously though, I pump when I am home, however I don't stress about it if I am out and about, and that works.

Nolan has been back to work now for 2 weeks. It was so wonderful to have him all to ourselves for 2 weeks!! He really hates going to bed at night, often times when Liam is still up (sometimes crying), as well as being gone all day. His squadron CHOP'ed and is now gearing up for their deployment in July. They gained about 25 new pilots, as well as the other personnel needed to support those 25 pilots and their aircraft. He works roughly 12 hour days, so with "crew rest," which is incredibly important for pilots, there is limited time for spending with Liam and I, as of right now, but so is life. :-) However, whether it be 30 minutes in the morning while I shower or the 3-4 hours at night, we are glad to have Nolan home, hanging and helping out! :-) Liam and I stay busy, some days we just hang out at home, while other days we go out in town or to hang out with some girl friends of mine.

Liam is such a good baby. I think I have said that before, but really he is. The nights were the roughest there for a while, especially when it was all me, since Nolan had to get sleep to be able to fly the next day, but he seems to have outgrown those days (unless he hasn't pooped for a few days and he is working on that... of course at night time! haha)
Except for a few off days, here and there, Liam eats about every 3, but usually 4 hours and is back asleep after about 1 hour from having woken up. We know he can't be "spoiled," seeing as how he is just now 4 weeks old, but he really loves to be held until he falls back asleep, or he likes to fall asleep in his swing. Other times, if he is fading to sleep, we are able to set him in his bassinet (he likes to be on his side), rub his back for a few minutes and he is out! :-) In the past few days he has taken to a pacifier - at times.
Also, I have read that there are two thoughts out there about whether to wake a sleeping baby to feed it. For the past 4 weeks, we have woken him up after 4 - 5 hours (at most) to feed him, but as of the past day, we have been letting him sleep until he wakes up on his own. He is gaining weight just fine, so I suppose we don't feel like it will hurt him to sleep longer periods of time, thus possibly eat less over a period of 24 hours. :-) We will see how this works for the next few weeks or so. Feel free to share your opinion on this. :-)
Liam's next, scheduled, appointment is for his 6 week check up - can't wait to see if he is up to 9 pounds by then!? ;-)