Nolan 8 Months & Rockport Trip!

It is hard to believe that our sweet little boy is 8 months old! The other night Brandon and I were looking at pictures from his birth and were blown away by how fast the time has gone. Nolan is a very chill, but outgoing little one. He loves meeting other babies and will be the first to try and get a little closer. He "talks" and will straighten his arms and legs and grunt when he wants to get even closer to other little ones. He started crawling over the weekend and is so proud of himself. He loves to be able to get to what he wants. Today he crawled to the coffee table, pulled up, sat back down, and clapped and said yay. It was too cute! He pulls up on everything and has been even been trying to climb on some of his toys.
We spent the long weekend in Rockport with my parents, Brandon's brother and wife, and Brandon's mom and grandmother. I was happy that Nolan waited to crawl until they were all around. --We wish Nathan, Hannah, Autumn, Josh, and Ava would have been there! I promise to get a video up soon-- It took about 4 hrs to get there, which was twice as long as any trip we had taken with him. Luckily, I had Baba--my mom-- to help entertain him! We got to Rockport at around 11pm on Thursday and Nolan woke up and checked everything out and then went back to sleep. He did great while we were there. I wasn't sure how he would act or if his "schedule" would be all out of whack, but he did great! He slept until 8:30ish like he always does and napped around 10 and 3 for an hour and a half. Around 8:45 he would start acting sleepy and went down really easily! He didn't cry the whole trip, unless he wanted out of his car seat. B's brother--Z and sister-in-law-- M have a black lab named Shadow. Nolan wanted to play with him so badly, but Shadow wanted nothing to do with him. Shadow pretty much acted like Nolan wasn't there and just ignored him. It was so funny, but sad at the same time. A few times Z would hold Shadow and Nolan would get to touch him, but would scare S because Nolan would scream in excitement. We are trying to talk Baba and Pops into getting a Lab for their house next summer, so Nolan could have a puppy that wasn't scared of him.
We finally bought Nolan a highchair when we got back on Sunday and he loves it. I bought some Happy Baby--gluten and dairy free-- puffs and he does a great job at picking them up and eating them. He only wants a few though. He is still just eating for the taste and hasn't had a real meal. Over the weekend he had pinto beans, green beans, and baked sweet potatoes sticks and loved all of them.
Nolan is also very talkative! He will repeat mama, dada, ball, bath, deer, bear, bye bye, and pretty much anything you say a few times. He will study your mouth and repeat! He jabbers all the time. He is still sleeping in bed with us, which is fine with us! He naps in his co-sleeper instead of our bed now, since he is crawling now. He used to wake up and let out a little fuss just to let us know he was up. Now he just rolls around and I am afraid he will fall out of our bed. It is taking him a little time to get used to napping in the co-sleeper, so his naps aren't always 1.5 hrs long, but they are getting longer and more consistent every day.
Yesterday I started a class called Stroller Strides. Let me say, it isn't exactly a striding and strolling along kind of class. It is pretty intense. I was happy to hear some of the women, that had been doing the class for a few months, that they were in better shape than they were in high school! We did a lot of running, sprints, lunges, squats, and too many other things to list. The class has about 20 moms and they have kids ranging from 8 weeks to 3 years. The class is from 9am-10am and so I thought Nolan would do great since he would be happy and awake. He did okay, but didn't act like he usually does in the stroller. I think it is because he wanted me to keep moving, but we had to stop for different exercises. All the moms said it takes a few weeks and then he will get used to it! I would stop and comfort him and he would let me continue the workout. I will hopefully make a good friend in the class and also get in shape. This momma needs some friends! The weight part of having a baby hasn't really been difficult, feeding a 20 lb baby will take that off. For me it is just being tone again. Before I got pregnant with Nolan, I would go to the gym a lot. I kept working out during my pregnancy, but stopped doing weights and the elliptical around 34 weeks. Now I have lost most of my muscle and my pre-pregnancy clothes fit, but I just want to be a bit more tone! The class is also a great alternative to the childcare at a gym. I am just not comfortable with that at all!

 Chewing on his baseball hat

 Playing with daddy while I cook dinner

 Feeding the Seagulls at Zach and Marla's house

 Playing with Pops

 Playing in his pool! This kid love taking baths and playing in the pool!

 Swinging after pool time!

 Silly boy!

 We found a cabbage head

 Eating sweet potato sticks!

A New Chapter...

    So much has happened since my last post! Brandon had a great 6 months in Clifton as an independent contractor at Bosque Valley Chiropractic with Dr. Bergren and we even had the opportunity to purchase the other chiro office in Clifton, but as the last minute the owner backed out. We were pretty bummed, but at that moment I told Brandon what I had been holding in for the past months...that I really didn't feel like Clifton was going to be our home for forever. Let me back up and say, we moved to Clifton after Brandon was told by the company he was working for in Dallas that they would be transferring him to work with Neuro surgeons, but that he wouldn't be able to adjust. Keep in mind that this was when I was 37 weeks pregnant. Stress is not a good thing when you are trying to make progress and have a baby!         We prayed about it and knew that we were not supposed to stay and work in Clifton. Dr. Bergren was more than generous to let Brandon work out his office on the days/hours he was not there. When the purchase of the other office didn't work out we had a decision to make. We could either use the money that we had to build our Clifton office, or we could use it as a down payment to purchase our dream practice.  We decided that a practice in Clifton, a town that already had 2 established Chiropractors, could most likely only grow so much. We felt like we needed to look at Motion Chiropractic in Austin. So, on January 14, all 3 of us headed down to Austin to take a look at the office.  We had prayed about it and asked the Lord to make it clear if this was what he wanted for us. It was a rainy, cold day but after looking at Motion Chiropractic and meeting the owners, who were just a bright and cheerful as the office, we really felt this was the practice for us. Not only is the practice very successful, the doctors had the same philosophy on health and Chiropractic as we do. To top things off, we would be able to live on the 2nd and 3rd floor above the office! Little did we know that it would take 6 months to secure financing. The last 6 months have been a roller coaster of valleys and peaks, to say the least. Not only were we trying to purchase a new business, but we were also living with family, and raising a sweet baby boy. We were so blessed to have family to live with during our time of transition, it took many burdens away that we would have added to the stress that we were dealing with. It is hard enough to try and purchase a house these days, but to purchase a business, with all the lovely government SBA guidelines ,it is almost impossible. This is especially true when you have the student debt from Chiropractic school and only half a year of experience practicing. In the beginning, our broker said,  if we were able to pull this off, we would be the first in 10 years, that had not been out of school for over 2 years, to get this large of a loan. I guess my wonderfully, stubborn husband took this as a challenge and we went in head first. A lot happened that is just too much to go into, but long story short...we found a bank in California that would work with docs that have been out of school for less than 2 years and have less than the usually recommended $100,000 to put down. How in the world is the average American supposed to be able to open a business, and have the drive to do so, but wait! You must know someone or just happen to have that kind of money lying around. Brandon sent the packet of around 100 pages to Cali and we waited. Unfortunately it seemed like every time we had to wait around on underwriting, it was a 3 day weekend. We were getting pretty discouraged.        A few Sundays ago at church, I was holding Nolan while he slept, so Brandon went down to get some prayed with. He told the guy at the front we were having a hard time knowing if this is what God wanted for us and were not sure what we were supposed to do. The guy prayed for him and also prayed that God would give him a dream to let us know what we were supposed to do. Brandon told me they guy prayed for him, but didn't include the part about the dream. A few days later, I had the dream. I dreamt that Brandon had came home for lunch and as he washed his hands told me that we got the loan.  God didn't want to give Brandon the dream, because that could just be an opportunity for us to think Brandon had thought about it so much and made himself have the dream. The dream gave us comfort over the next few days until we got he call from the banker and they told us the bank would be moving forward on the loan. We were so happy. We thought the hard part was over, but it wasn't. What was supposed to take 30 days has ended up taking 45. Around day 30 we moved to Austin and have been waiting and working out all the last minute details so that the loan would close.               Yesterday we went downtown to our lawyers office and signed the closing papers This afternoon around 3 o'clock the money was drafted and the practice became ours! We are so thankful to everyone who has made this possible for us! Brandon has been working so hard and it is hard to believe it is finally ours! Many times during this journey we have stopped and thought, are we fighting too hard for this? Is this what the Lord wants? For us, the Lord has always been pretty clear with his plans. We always thought it it is something he wants for us, then he will make it easy. Well, with the we were wrong. He has showed us many things and has opened our eyes to all that He can do. We have learned that He is in control and it took us having almost nothing for us to learn that. We would lay in bed at night, cuddling with our little Nolan and remind ourselves that this is all we need and the Lord will always provide.    I promise to start blogging more, but I have had to keep this all to myself because we didn't want everyone to know we were trying to purchase another practice, until it closed. Many posts and pictures about our sweet little one will follow! He is getting so big!!

Hanging out with Daddy!

Being silly with momma!

Playing in my "boat" with Peanut!

Sleeping in until almost 9 with Dada and Momma!

Waking up a happy little boy!!

Nolan's Birth Story

With all the craziness we have been through over the last 3 months, Brandon has finished the birth story! I thought I would share it!

What an amazing, fast paced, mind blowing, beautiful day! Little Nolan decided that his Mommy’s womb was no longer comfortable at around 3:30 am, and he was going to pack up his things and get out of there. Sarah woke up off and on from about 3:30am until 7:00am; she then just got out of bed and made breakfast. I rolled out of bed around 8:30am. We had previously made an appointment at Allen Birth Center with one of our midwives, Kathleen Mayorga. The other two midwives there were Amy Giles and Becky Burpo. The plan was that if Sarah had not gone into labor by Monday November 1 (41 weeks) we were going to schedule a non-stress test for Nolan on Tuesday. We were happy to report to the birth center that the NST was not going to be necessary! After a quick lunch pickup from Jason’s Deli, Sarah and I began timing her contractions. Initially they were a good 7 to 7.5 minutes apart lasting 1 to 1.5 minutes. They were slowly, but surely, coming more frequently so we called to move up our appointment at 3:30 to 3:00pm. After calling ABC, Sarah’s contractions slowed down to about 10 minutes apart; so we took our time getting ready to leave for the birth center – still knowing that we were not returning without baby in arms.



The typical trip to Allen Birth Center would take us about 40 minutes, but when we were about half way to the birth center Sarah’s contractions were coming every 2 – 3 minutes. So we made it to the birth center in about 25 or 30 minutes, and would have been faster has there not been traffic on highway 75. When we finally arrived to the birth center, Kathleen said Sarah was dilated to about a 4 and a half. The birth center doesn’t admit you until you’re to a 5, so she recommended that we go ahead and put our stuff up in a room and start walking around the block. I’m not sure exactly what the temperature was, but there was just a slight chill in the air – perfect for Sarah. After inserting some acupuncture press needles, we walked outside off and on from 4:00pm to 6:00pm. After the walk Kathleen checked Sarah’s cervix again and said it was now 5cm, but she felt like Nolan’s head was stuck on her pubic bone. She advised Sarah to have about 5 contractions on her left side, then 5 – 10 on her hands and knees, then a few on her right side. This all took about 2 hours to complete. During this time I could tell that Sarah was really starting to work with her contractions, even more so than when we were walking. This is about the time Sarah’s parents arrived with sandwiches from Schlotzkies. So we both began eating. Sarah then felt nauseated and blamed it on the sandwich. She then began having to fall to the floor on the exercise ball to have contractions. Sarah then felt like she had to use the bathroom. All I remember here is that Sarah called me and Kathleen into the bathroom because she “felt like she had no control over her body”, and she was frantically taking the press needles out of the acupuncture points! Sarah was now entering transition! We got her back into the room, only in time for her to throw herself down on the floor on the exercise ball to have another contraction. Little did we know, Kathleen was about to leave for a few hours to grab some dinner! She and Becky were expecting Sarah to deliver Nolan around 3 or 4 that morning. Thankfully, Sarah began transition before Kathleen left! So Kathleen checked Sarah once on the floor, and proclaimed that she was about an 8, but she wanted to get a better feel with Sarah on her back on the bed. After Kathleen checked Sarah this time she stated, “she’s complete and ready to push!” While this was going on I was trying to get a hold of our doula, Stacy Hutchins – who was also our Bradley method instructor. Stacy was surprised to hear the news and headed over after putting her 4 kids to bed. Stacy was going to take pictures for us during the birth, so we frantically asked “Baba” (Sarah’s mom) to take the pictures until Stacy arrived. Baba agreed, but did not know what she was about to witness!


Sarah started pushing with all her might. While she was pushing she wanted me to hold her, so she would pull me down on top of her and hold on tight. Sometimes Sarah would slip in a few bites on my neck and scratches on my arms as well – not that I minded of course. Stacy arrived about 20 minutes into the pushing and jumped right into the action. She was great at giving Sarah positive affirmations and helping to calm her down in between contractions. However, Sarah was slightly annoyed at the stories that were being told in between her contractions by the midwife about her other birth stories. At this point the midwife advised Sarah that she needed to stop holding on to me and try to pull her legs up to push. So, Stacy grabbed her left leg and I her right, then Sarah leaned forward and started pushing so hard I thought her eyes were going to pop out! Let me just take time here to say that my wife is amazing! I don’t know that I could have done what she did, and she is already talking about having another baby!! After about 40 minutes of pushing little Nolan started to poke his head out. He crowned for about another 20 minutes or so. Kathleen then told us that his heart rate had dropped to 80 beats per minute, and she put the oxygen on Sarah. This of course scared Sarah and I both, but I tried to keep my calm and get in my “doctor” mind so I could let Sarah know that everything was alright. After a few minutes of oxygen Nolan’s heart rate returned to the 120’s. However, Kathleen decided to go ahead with an episiotomy after letting Sarah give it a few more pushes because she didn’t want his heart rate to drop again, and Sarah wasn't stretching enough for Nolan's head. ---I was told I could have pushed Nolan out without one, but it would have taken a few more hours of pushing. Kathleen also told us that if I was given that much time, Nolan may have needed to be resuscitated and we did not want that to happen.--- So after about one hour and 10 minutes at exactly 10:00pm, we finally met our NoLee and immediately fell in love. He came out screaming his head off with the umbilical cord loosely wrapped around his neck. Kathleen placed him on Sarah’s chest and we both just stared at the amazing work God had done inside Sarah. Nolan’s left lung was a little wet, so we held him on his right side to help it drain. After an hour or so it was normal. Everything about him is perfect.


After the birth, Sarah nursed Nolan, whose suck was so loud that we were told you could hear him in the next room. We spent about four hours at the birth center while Nolan and Sarah were monitored and we were allowed to spend some alone time as a family. At 2:00 am we packed up our things and took our little baby home. Nolan slept like a champ; however, Sarah and I woke up with every little whimper and finally just laid awake with NoLee between us. It was a wonderful night.

It was the most wonderful day and night! After Nolan was born, I did have to have a shot of pitocin because of some excessive bleeding, but besides that is was a 100% unmedicated birth. We loved the care we received at Allen Birth Center. We were very informed about everything and a decision was not made without our consent. Nolan didn't leave my chest until they started doing the stitches. Brandon then sat beside me and had some bonding time with Nolan. They would have let me hold him, but I felt like I was tensing up too much and I didn't want to squeeze him too tight. They waited until we asked how much he weighed to weigh him--which was about an hour. I could not have imagined having him rushed away to a bed beside me to be weighed, washed, and observed. They would check on him every few minutes while he was in my arms. His lung was closely monitored as well. We want to wait a few years for another one, but natural labor is a high that is so addicting! We have already decided that our next child will be born in our home! I have to say, I loved being pregnant and I loved experiencing every bit of birthing our sweet little Nolan.

Right after Nolan was born

This is the room where Nolan was born.

Sweet Nolan

First adjustment

Nolan {3} Months!

It is hard to believe that Nolan will be {3} months on Tuesday. It has been a busy and exciting 3 months. Three weeks after Nolan was born we moved and two weeks after that Brandon opened his practice! I love being a stay at home mom and am so thankful for my hard working Husband!

Here are some things that fill up our days!!

* He loves bath time! Especially with mommy.

*In the morning when he wakes up he will grunt, stretch, and sometimes toot for at least 20 minutes before he opens his eyes. At times I think he is going to cry because he acts so mad! As soon as he opens his eyes and looks at Brandon and I he smiles so big! We love our mornings!!

 *He loves tummy time! We have been doing it since he was 2 days old. He will do it for 10+ minutes and can get his legs under him really well. He wants to scoot, but can't get the hang of it. He talks the most when he is on his tummy. I think he likes that his spit goes out of his mouth, instead of down his throat. ***The picture is from tummy time a month ago. He has gotten much better at it!***

* He is still such a quick nurser! 5-10 minutes max.

* He is sleeping like a champ! It isn't important to us to try to get Nolan on a strict schedule. I don't work, so we feel that we can let him work out his own schedule and it seems to be working great. He will go to sleep around 10 or 11 and sleep until 9 or 10. He nurses a couple of times a night, but since he sleeps in bed with us, I just get him latched on and I fall back asleep. He hasn't "woke-up" at night since he was 2 weeks old.

*He was rolling over a lot around 2 months, but he stopped for a few weeks and is now starting to do it more again.

*He smiles and talks all the time. He has started to try and actually talk, so it isn't just coos. It is so cute. He does it a lot when he is getting tired.

* He has the sweetest laugh. He laughed for the first time at 2 1/2 months. We came home from Waco and he laughed for 10 minutes! It was the best 10 minutes of my life! He isn't laughing all the time, but at least once a day.

* I think he is going to love outside time because he loves to look out the window. A few times when it has been warm I have taken him outside and he is so happy!

* Nolan is such a happy baby! We have days where he doesn't cry and only gets fussy when he is fighting sleep.

*Poor Nolan HATES his car seat! I have figured out that if I make myself sit in the front, he only cries for a few minutes and then falls asleep.

* He is not a paci baby and I am so thankful for that! He hasn't had a bottle, so I am thinking that is why the rubber isn't soothing to him. He chews on his fingers all the time!

* He loves looking at his toes and feet. He has started to hold his hands together!

* Nolan has started grasping for toys and will take them to his mouth and chew on them.

* He loves to stand--with our help--and has such an accomplished look on his face when he does.

* He is starting to sit up with a pillow behind him!

Brandon and I are so in love with Nolan. We are so busy, but can't imagine if we didn't have him to sleep and cuddle with every night. We can't wait for all the exciting changes that he will go through over the next few months!!