thaoie

Published October 2, 2013 by thaoie

Nolan: 16 Weeks

How am I feeling a week deep into juggling all this madness? Hanging in there and focusing as much as possible. Choosing which fun activities I must forgo and re-prioritizing a ton of things. As many of you mommies can relate to, we ladies believe we can do it all AND MORE! Little do we know pushing it to that limit will make us go insane. One of the only joys I still allow myself to indulge in is this very blog you’re reading now. I get to do it once a week as a way to reflect and keep perspective. Plus there’s that fun photoshoot I get to do for Nolan to document his growth.

For this week’s shoot we chose to dress Nolan in a USC football jersey. I am a USC alum and so is my cousin, Kimmy. She was so thoughtful to get him the jersey to sport in time for college football season. When we first received it I thought, “man it’ll be a while before he can fit into this,” but voila, he’s already snug in it! My baby boy has grown so much faster than we anticipated. We even busted out the 6-12 month old clothing and he’s not even 4 months yet.

Nolan’s skin actually got worse over the last week. We believe he has something called “cradle cap” and picked up Mustela Stelaker Cradle Cap ointment. We started the application on Sunday night and the skin on his head and face is starting to peel like crazy. We’re hoping all will turn out well in about a week or two. Again, despite all that he’s still a super happy baby. Sleeping 9+ hours a night, enjoying his nightly baths and laughing up a storm with his best friend, Daddy, each day. Love them both so much!

Nolan was born in the year of the snake so this short video clip is all too fitting for my little snake as he uses his tongue to get at his pacifier.

Oh, special bonus! Cousin Quinn visited last week and kiddos got to hang out at “Nolan’s crib”. Check out the cool animated gif.

Events

16 week old baby boy cradle cap usc trojans baby jersey

Nolan: 15 Weeks

Published September 24, 2013 by thaoie

Nolan: 15 Weeks

I went back to “corporate” work this week…wahh! I didn’t take it as bad as I thought. It’s gotta be due to photography work that already takes me away from him for 10-14 hours on any given weekend. At 4 weeks old I already left him to shoot my first wedding post delivery and that wedding I was gone for 16 hours–yikes!! The longest I’ve ever been away from him was this past weekend when I was away for 43 hours shooting a wedding in Denver. Plus, he’s not old enough to know that I’ve left him for what may have been an hour or 2 days. Once he starts to recognize it though is when it may be rougher on me.

Truthfully, his absence from time to time isn’t much of an issue as the stress level will be. I really don’t know how I’ll be able to do it all. This coming month will be the true test. Corporate work + photography work + mommy duties + personal events = possibly a crazy stressed out momma. My mind is busy getting caught up with my day job while my nights are a juggle with spending QT with Nolan, eating dinner, responding to clients, editing photos, designing albums all in the very few hours I have at night before hitting the sack for my day job again. I go back to work in the midst of shooting 5 weddings 5 weekends in a row. I was able to edit every night for hours on end before Nolan came into the picture but it will be so difficult cramming in time for all that and him. Hoping I don’t fall off the wagon because delivering images to my clients in the timeframe I say is super important to me and my business. I kindly ask for prayers in the next month as I try to survive this testing time in my life. =/

On to my Noly Poly! He has discovered not only can his hands grab things but that he also has legs + feet that are GREAT for grabbing. He’s always been keen visually but now he’s even better–watching me from across the room, turning his head to follow me as I walk across the room and back. This past week he’s been waking up earlier in the night to eat and not sleeping as long as his usual 8-9 hours. He’s getting far too strong and breaks out of his swaddle–that could be the reason for his waking up so soon. His skin condition hasn’t gotten any better. Huge thanks to all you mommies out there for your advice on handling his skin. It’s been a trying time and it just seems to be getting worse. I am slowly working down the list of recommendations I’ve received to test and see what will work for him. As you know these ointments and lotions can add up very quickly so we didn’t want to just go out and buy everything out there at once. Despite all that he’s still a happy baby–doesn’t know any better about his skin condition to be upset about it.

Check out my little 15 week-old man below. Of course I had gone back to work so weekly photoshoots ongoing must be done efficiently in the mornings (for great lighting). This one was done in 5-10 minutes before I left to the office.

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15 week old baby boy

Nolan: 14 Weeks

Published September 17, 2013 by thaoie

Nolan: 14 Weeks

Keeping this week’s update short and simple with a list of milestones from 13-14 weeks:

*attended a Gymboree Play + Learn Class
*rolled from belly to back
*traveled in a carseat for 4 hours (not too happily though)
*stayed in a 5 star hotel
*watched mommy + daddy eat at a buffet (Bacchanal)
*partied in Vegas
*dipped in a swimming pool
*mind blown from a bright water fountain show
*took a super cheesin’ out photo with mommy

First time in a bikini since giving birth…eeks! I’ve lost about 30 of the 40 lbs that I gained. Still got that dark linea nigra line down the middle and my belly button has forever changed into a very odd shape. You can’t see very clearly but there are a ton of stretch marks surrounding my belly that I don’t think will ever go away. And I’m not sure why the lower part of my abdomen is super dark while the top half is white. =/

Nolan didn’t like the pool much, probably too cold for his warm blood.

Nolan gets mommy milk and Anh gets lamb chops for lunch at Estiatorio Milos in the Cosmopolitan.

We chose from a prix fixe menu. Below you will see scallops, crab cake, sea bass and Greek yogurt.

Yes, Nolan was impressed. He was staring out at the crazy bright water shooting high in the sky. It was a short show and mommy was a bit upset at the Asian tourists that kept getting in between the camera and Nolan but she got in some great shots afterall.

You can see Anh and Ken laughing at the whole “aggressive tourist trying to get in a shot of the show that happens every 10 minutes for the next 2 hours while getting in the way of a mommy trying to get in photos of her first born” ordeal. Grrrhhh! Don’t mess with a first time mom, yo!!

I got a photo with him cheesin’ it real big!! Super happy to have gotten this photo taken. Thanks, daddy!

Nolan rolls from belly to back!

More battle wounds for my baby. He can’t seem to stop scratching himself and his rashes or eczema on his face/head just won’t go away. I can barely remember when he had perfect baby skin and I miss it so much! I feel like I have to explain his skin or call it out to every person that sees him as if its the big elephant in the room that no one’s willing to address. Am I doing something wrong or did he just inherit bad genes? We’ve been using Mustela shampoo for 2 weeks now and wash his face with water and apply Aquaphor to his face at night without much results.

Events

14 week old baby boy bellagio fountain show Estiatorio Milos las vegas family trip lspace swimwear trump las vegas

Nolan: 3 Months

Published September 11, 2013 by thaoie

Nolan: 3 Months

When the weekly milestone coincides with the monthly milestone that makes for a busy mommy–having 2 photoshoots of the kiddo in the same week! At times, like this month, it’s on back to back days. I decided to show some of Nolan’s funky facial expressions. Of course he decides to scratch up his face the morning of…wrangled out of his swaddle in the middle of the night and did a number on his forehead. I didn’t bother editing ’em out–he’ll just have to live with those battle wounds. Happy 3 months my crazy “not so little anymore” Noly Poly (who happens to weigh in at a whopping 15lbs 10 oz)!!

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3 month old baby boy baby photoshoot

Nolan: 13 Weeks

Published September 11, 2013 by thaoie

Nolan: 13 Weeks

Nolan continues to sleep for at least 8 hours each night. He still talks up a storm and LOVES anything bright and colorful like television, phones, my red nails and street lights. He graduated to size 2 diapers late last week. We hope he starts to roll over soon since we only have a month left to show the doctor that he can do so. Anxious that his big head is preventing him from doing the big roll. We’re going to amp up the tummy time to increase his neck strength.

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13 weeks old baby boy

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Nolan: 13 Weeks