SOCIAL MEDIA

Friday 23 June 2017

Her name is Noelle...



A few weeks ago Nick came home from the gym and said
"I just heard a song that started with her name is Noelle.." !!
 
ummm.
Nick meet year 2000...
Teenage Dirtbag was MY JAM in Jr.High school (and beyond)!
It's 2017 and he's just hearing it for the first time..?!?!?!
I mean he's really bad at pop culture and I'm pretty much the pop culture queen..
so I guess I'll give him a pass.
 
as much as I love Wheatus that's not why we picked the name Noelle...
 
 
 
Is it just me or is naming a baby hard?!?
especially girls names!
 
When we were expecting Elliott we knew from the start Elliott was the name.
About 10 years ago we use to watch a lot of Law & Order SVU..
one night we figured out we both loved the name Elliott and that was pretty much that.
(technically I was prepared to name the baby Elliott whether it be a boy or girl)
 
but I'm sort of happy he turned out to be male because Elliott for little girls has caught on recently and I'm stubborn with the uniqueness! (truth be told Elliott for boys is REALLY catching on right now, but 3 years ago there were almost none being born in recent time)
 
2017 rolls around and again we had a boys name picked that was solid, but girl names weren't even a blip on the radar.. we were SO sure we were about to have a second boy we didn't even discuss baby names until after the gender reveal ultrasound.
 
Pretty much the only girl name we ever discussed previous was the name Noelle.
I remember telling Nick when I was expecting Elli... and I was half prepared for him to laugh because I thought he would think of it as too 'Christmasy'.
 
So I kind of casually mentioned it, even though I was pretty sold on it.
I like names that are known but are not 'common' and I wanted a strong female name but also delicate and pretty.. (oxymoron much)
 
anyway, my only fear was that we would have a girl first and become that crazy Christmas family that signs cards:
 
Love,
Nicholas, Holly and Noelle
 
 
even though I don't really think of Noelle in the Christmasy way there's no way she's escaping the
 
"You must've been born at Christmas!!!??!?!?!?"
 
If I had a dollar for every time I've been asked, I would honestly be a hundred thousand-aire. lol
and the jokes on Noelle because my answer has always been a simple "yes".
really it's November.. but lets just answer yes and end that convo. hahaha
but Noelle's going to have to suffer through the "no, my parents were just annoying" answer.
 
long story short..
we just liked the name Noelle and didn't look into other names, it just felt right and of course her middle name is Heather for Nicks mother who has passed.
So we were really done the name hunt before it began!
 

Day of the section! ^
 
We were the flex delivery of the day so I had the feeling we would be waiting quite a while but I wasn't anticipating the wait we had.
 
When you're the flex you call in the morning and check the times, at first she said they were a bit behind so come in at 10:30am. That was fine as I wanted to get in a good shower, even though I was exhausted from not sleeping the night before - nerves!
plus I hadn't eaten.. and don't even ask how many people kept saying "you must be STARVING!"
TOO MANY.
 
Finally at 4:32 that afternoon.. evening.. ?
Noelle Heather came into the world!
I'm going to dedicate a whole post to the C-section and I have some amazing footage that I've been whittling down for a vlog, coming soon!
 
 
My guess was she was going to be near 9 pounds but she was a little less chunky at just over 8 pounds.
 
 
Elliott was so sweet after waiting ALL day to meet his "baby seester", they didn't get to meet until about 8pm!
 

 
that first night she was a little angel, waking up here and there to feed then sleep some more.
night 2 on the other hand was torture (which is apparently common)
she was up ALL night crying and would not settle for anything, add in my not sleeping the last few days (nerves and staying up all the first night watching her lol) AND the pain! ugh the section pain was really bad the first couple days.


but then on day 3 they let us go home!
I know she was born in June and me November, but she had to wear this little sweater that I wore home from the hospital and my grandmother knitted.
 
See me left ^ Noelle right ^
 
 
being at home has been so much better!
Noelle's eating and sleeping has still been all over the place but its nice to be in my own comfortable space.
 
the only thing I wish is that all homes had those bars on the walls to hold onto.. when say, in the bathroom or climbing in and out of bed...
 
seriously.
 
I could barely move!
bending to pee and standing back up again was a 45 minute event!
 
luckily Nick is off for quite a while and our routine is he gets Noelle out of her bassinet changes and hands her to me.. I feed, then he wraps her back up and puts her down again.
 
just going from a slight laying down position to a sitting position takes all the pain killers I can get!
 
flash forward another 2 days and I was feeling much better, flash to today, day 7 and I feel much much better. Still very slow moving and only able to lay on my back but yesterday I half laid on my side and it didn't feel like my entire insides would fall out so hopefully this is the beginning of healed!
 
I'm a stomach sleeper and having been pregnant and now wounded... I feel like I haven't slept a deep sleep in ages!
 
 
I have to say Elliott has been SO good, it almost feels like Noelle has always been here!
he has barely shown a sign of jealousy and he wants to show her affection 24-7.

 
one of his only 'jealous' acts is that he wants to climb in her basinet and crib!
this is him this morning.. which cant happen again because hes so heavy! lol but was cute at the time.
and the other day he climbed into her crib in her room when we weren't looking.
which was a total surprise because he never once crawled in or out of his own crib (which is the same crib). He said he wanted to see her mobile, we were just in the other bedroom and all of a sudden heard music. lol








this is her face when Dad puts her dress on backwards! ^
*she was actually pleasant, just the second I snapped a pic she wailed!
 
 
so far I think she's going to be our cuddly baby!
Elliott is a hug and kisser but not a cuddle person and never was.
She loves being snuggled into me and is a total mamas girl right now.. it may be because of the boobs! haha








so speaking of that, we are breastfeeding right now..
I know, I know.
I said I would never.

I breastfed Elliott for about 5 days and threw in the towel.
He would. not. latch.
It was a horrible experience and I'm a supporter of FED IS BEST so I felt no guilt either way.

I was not going to force myself to do something I never wanted to do in the first place.
I know, controversial... but I feel like I did enough growing and birthing the little guy, the last thing I wanted was him glued to my boob 24 hours a day, starting in July none the less... my body alone runs 10 degrees hotter than everyone else. I am also a big fan of having a solo body and being able to hand him over to feed, or cuddle or sleep over other family members houses.

But this time around I honestly felt the motivation to stick it out for two reasons..

1. weightloss
           &
2. money


I really want to ditch a portion of this baby weight, so hopefully breastfeeding can give a little jump start to it AND  having 2 kids now, I just feel like it would be nice to save a little money if we can.
We want to take a summer vacay in August so even if I stick it out for a few months that's a few months of not buying formula at $50 a box.

Oh also! we now live in a multi level house and I didn't want to have to deal with the prep and location of bottles being this far from the kitchen lol
all selfish reasons, I know.. but #momlife.. just do you.

with that being said LUCKILY Noelle is so much better than Elliott ever was! right from the start her latch has been good and there's none of the panicked non latching, smothering me, hysteric crying going on... minus me hysterically crying here and there over the nipple pain! but that's another post!

On the weight front I am down 15 pounds.. which isn't great because girlfriend weighs over half of that! but it is a good start and once this healing portion is over I cannot wait to get back to the gym!
I can hear the treadmill calling my name, I find it so relaxing to listen to some music and have some me time. weight loss or not that will be in my mental health future!

okie doke..
wrapping it up!
I hope this post is not complete nonsense.. I am really tired so the mild grammar and punctuation I have goes out the window.. but I wanted to connect before I start to forget those little details!
more to come :)
leave me some stories if you have any to share!













2 comments :

  1. What a pretty little gal. Congrats momma! Just catching up from being unplugged for a week. I just adore her name. <3

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  2. I hope breastfeeding continues to go well for you guys. It's also good to hear that Elliot was taken with Noelle from the beginning. That's how my daughter was with her brother and they are best of friends!

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