thaoie

Published October 30, 2013 by thaoie

Nolan: 20 Weeks

What an eventful week! Or at least it seemed like it since I have tons of photos to share. Along with his cousin, Lorelai, Nolan was baptized into the Catholic church. Our immediate families were there to witness and celebrate. Crazy how I had two “free” Saturday’s in a row huh? One for a mega family session and another for his baptism. November is looking to be pretty busy. Still editing up a storm and with my last wedding of 2013 to shoot this coming Sunday up north (yes, Nolan’s flying with us) I’m hoping to make it an awesome wrap up. Still got a few more shoots scattered thru out the month before I can take that much needed break. Can’t wait til December!!

We chose the saint name of Francis of Assisi for Nolan. It’s after the current pope and because we like the story behind the saint himself.

My niece Lorelai getting baptized.

Us with our Noly.

Pictured with our parents.

Everyone in attendance.

Nolan with his Godparents (my cousins) Nancy + Quang.

I am still so amazed at how blessed we are to have such an easy, SUPER happy baby. He doesn’t cry much and the little times that he is fussy is totally bearable and easily solvable. God blessed us with such a beautiful, wonderful gift and we do not take it for granted for a second. Nolan’s brought us so much joy and so much more to live for. We can’t wait to teach him all we know and show him the world. Love my sleeps for 11+ hours a night baby boy.

For Nolan’s final costume of the month we chose to dress him as spam musubi though he could pass for salmon nigiri too. My awesome friend, Anh, took out some time to make him the spam pieces before leaving on her grand trip to NZ and Fiji. Thanks, Co Anh!

Isn’t he super cute in it? So cute that I could just eat him all up!!

We took him to a local pumpkin patch to snap some pix. It was a little difficult since he can’t quite sit on his own yet.

My lovely boys!

Nolan laughing up a storm, again! This happens daily, multiple times a day–so blessed to have him in our lives!!

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Nolan: 19 Weeks

Published October 22, 2013 by thaoie

Nolan: 19 Weeks

Into my 5th week back at work and it’s just getting tougher by the day. Photography work continues to pile as more and more projects get thrown my way while I still crave more time with my husband and kiddo. I’ve been pushing hard to make efficient use of my time so that very little time is wasted doing unproductive things. I’ve already sacrificed my favorite past time of getting lost in a good book when Nolan was first born. Now the very few TV shows I still follow get pushed to the back burner. I play absolutely no games and I find myself complaining to anyone who will lend an ear about how I foresee having a meltdown in the near future. I’ve resolved to not taking on any more shoots between Thanksgiving and New Years so that I can focus on Nolan and Rob during the holidays. Plus, I do need a break–badly!! I keep telling myself there is a light at the end of the darn tunnel that I’m tired of being in. Please pray for me and my sanity.

Nolan’s skin has kept up well with the regimen we have him on that was recommended by the dermatologist. We’ve greatly reduced the amount of ointment used on his head and face. With a follow-up appointment this Friday we hope for good feedback and to have a long term solution to keep his eczema at bay without the help of prescription grade medication.

This past week he slept the longest ever at 11.5 hours!! Geezus kiddo! He’s also starting to eat a little bit more than previous weeks so that’s a sure sign that he should be gaining the weight he needs to keep up with that huge length gain. Both Rob and I have been singing him familiar nursery rhymes and incorporating his name into it such as “the itsy bitsy Noly went up the water spout…” and “old McNoly had a farm, e, i, e, i, o…” He loves hearing us sing to him and normally laughs at certain points in the songs. This week we dressed him up as a chili pepper as a tribute to Rob’s nickname given to him by my cousin, Dominic. Dominic plays the game “Plants vs Zombies” and started naming all of us after characters in the game and since Rob loves to eat spicy food “chili pepper” naturally went to him. So check out our little chili pepper below.

Doesn’t he look so cute with that stem sticking up over his head?

Over the weekend TVP held a mega holiday family session for a dozen families. While we were in between families Nolan and Rob participated for a good 10 minutes. Check out some of the shots Duy and I captured of them.

The father + son connection is so strong. You’d think Rob carried him in his belly for 9 months. Haha.

Nolan has been sticking out his tongue A LOT lately. I swear, we have not let him watch any Miley Cyrus videos.

LOVE my lovely boys. (that tongue again!)

Til next week–adios everyone! (gotta promote mommy’s business every once in a while)

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19 week old baby boy chili pepper baby costume holiday family photoshoot

Nolan: 18 Weeks

Published October 16, 2013 by thaoie

Nolan: 18 Weeks

Happy mommy alert! I am ecstatic to announce that Nolan’s eczema treatment is out of this world, crazy magical awesome (I know, I make no sense b/c I can’t explain the healing powers myself)! They say healing doesn’t happen overnight but in this case, it DID! The prescription grade ointments worked wonders on his skin–even within 6 hours we saw a huge difference. It was like he never had eczema at all. It’s almost scary how perfect his skin is now. One friend dubbed it “vampire” skin b/c he’s so freakishly white now and without all that puffy skin his eyes seem to look bigger! I mean no over-the-counter lotion or ointment worked on him so we are definitely glad he saw the dermatologist when he did. We’re doing the happy dance over here; was feeling so sorry for my little guy. Check out the progression photos below.

Onto other things Nolan. He still isn’t eating as much as he should. It’s hard to predict how much he’ll eat in one sitting. Sometimes 1 oz, other times 3oz or 5oz. Drooling a TON! Sure sign of early teething. Must invest in more bibs. Loves to laugh + scream several times a day. This week he is dressed up as the super hero FLASH. Again, a hand me down costume. We got so many that having fun with it on a weekly basis this month just made more sense. Check out my happy baby below.

Oh no, Flash’s identity is revealed as my happy baby doing his happy baby pose.

Beautiful baby skin is back! Whoopee!!

Another short clip of my baby laughing his little bootie off. We can’t get enough of his contagious laughter.

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Nolan: 4 Months

Published October 11, 2013 by thaoie

Nolan: 4 Months

We make a point to schedule his pediatrician visits on the 11th of the month so we can track his development and stats right on the dot. Nolan received the same set of 3 shots as his last visit. He screamed for a good 20 seconds and whined for another 30 seconds before calming down. Unfortunately he did not roll over in time for this visit but hopefully he will do the big roll in the next couple weeks. He’s super duper close though–that darn head of his! Anyhoots, his 4 month stats are staggering. Check it out below.

Height: 27.25 inches (99 percentile)
Weight: 16lbs 4oz (73 percentile)
Head: 17 inches (93 percentile)

*Used Child Growth Calculator website.

He’s grown so tall so fast that he’s literally off the charts! Yikes!! We believe it’s just an anomaly and that he’ll level out somewhere more normal. Rob and I aren’t that tall–he’s 5’11” and I’m 5’4″. Not anywhere close to basketball star status. Nolan is a bit under weight than what’s expected, probably b/c he grew in height so rapidly that his weight didn’t keep up. What we’ve noticed though is he’s eaten a lot less in the last 3 weeks. From his usual 30oz a day down to 20-25oz. The doctor even suggested we feed him more.

Will he start eating solids now? Not just yet. The pediatrician told us to wait til 5 months. We would start off for a week with a few spoons of baby cereal each day then introduce in order: rice, vegetables then fruits. Why veggies before fruits? Cuz once they taste sweet stuff, they’ll never go back to bland. A new item is introduced 1 at a time for a 5 day period each so we can easily spot any allergies. Can’t wait for all the solid food fun to begin!! Too bad he can’t have any turkey by Thanksgiving but very likely by Christmas!

My mini yogi doing his happy baby pose. The nurse in the dermo office is super cute for welcoming Nolan like that!

Now onto his skin condition. Nolan was diagnosed with eczema–a severe case for that matter. My poor baby!! We were super lucky to have seen the pediatrics dermatologist immediately after his 4 month visit. There weren’t any openings to see the dermo for 3 weeks but given his severe case his nurse called across the way to see if the dermo would see him immediately before leaving for the day. We caught the dermo just in the knick of time and are so thankful that we did. Super appreciative for his nurse’s due diligence in getting the dermo’s attention. I’m going to have to send her a gift and call her boss with a rave compliment! Given his severe case we even have a follow-up appt to see the dermo 2 weeks from now, even sooner than what his initial appointment was made for. Again, SUPER thankful for his nurse.

This is all the medication he was prescribed. $70 worth. Two are taken orally, two are topical ointments (one for the scalp/body and the other safe for his face) and a body oil to lather on him immediately after a bath. We even have to switch our own detergents to “All Free & Clear” and cut out fabric softener and dryer sheets altogether. Lots of work for us to keep track of but more than happy to do anything we can to help our little man get better.

Photo of his scalp and forehead before we applied ointment. Pretty bad, huh?

My happy nappy (from the ointment) headed baby boy. Loves his jungle gym.

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Nolan: 17 Weeks

Published October 9, 2013 by thaoie

Nolan: 17 Weeks

Last week Nolan was a football player, this week he’s a race car driver. Can you try guessing what next week and the rest of October will look like as far as “costumes” will go? I have to note that 95% of Nolan’s wardrobe was handed down to him–including this Ferrari jumpsuit he’s sporting. We haven’t had to buy much clothing for him other than socks, bibs and gloves. So blessed to have so many sources for hand me downs. It truly helps on cost savings since he grows so fast and only wears items less than a handful of times before we size up again.

Two things to note in his development this week:
1 – He’s found that his hands are great tools and tries to grab anything that he thinks is within reach. It’s just so awesome to see the progression in his learning of the human body and mind. I didn’t think I could be so excited over a child grabbing a toy for the first time. First time mommy, eh?
2 – Discovered a whole new octave in his voice: screaming just because I can and not because I’m hungry or sleepy. Whenever that happens Rob and I just stare at him in amazement and laugh.

What’s up with his skin condition? Still the same if not a little worse. We’re going in for his 4 month shots this Friday so he’ll have a thorough check-up with the pediatrician to see if there is anything else we can do to help it get better. What does that mean? Another blog post of course!! One of those weeks where its a weekly and monthly milestone. Stay tuned then for another fun-filled blog in a few days!!

His crazy hair with this outfit reminds me of a daredevil.

I love it when he smiles and ends up inadvertently winking at me.

Couple of photos from my phone. He enjoys playtime in his jungle gym and grabs everything in site. He also loves to match with Daddy.

Sharing a video of Nolan laughing for over 30 seconds straight. It was more like a minute but I didn’t capture the entire thing on camera. His laughter truly makes all my worries and sorrows disappear. I wish I could bottle it up and blast it wherever I go; spreading the joy that I know of as my greatest achievement, Nolan.

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thaoie Posts

Nolan: 20 Weeks

Nolan: 19 Weeks

Nolan: 18 Weeks

Nolan: 4 Months

Nolan: 17 Weeks