Thursday, February 28, 2008

Fun with Grandmas

Noah has enjoyed being spoiled by his grandmas for the past several days. JenMommy (Eric's mom) came and stayed a week and Gigi (Tyra's mom) flew in to Knoxville from Florida last night and will stay until next Wednesday. It's been so nice to have them at our house to help with the middle of the night diaper changings, cooking meals, cleaning, you name it! Tyra says it's like having a "personal assistant." It's been really great to know that Tyra's had help around the house with Noah since I started back at work, and I'm sure Noah doesn't mind the frequent rocking and singing from his JenMommy and Gigi!

Monday, February 25, 2008

A Great Weekend

The basketball VOLS beat Memphis on Saturday to become the #1 team in the nation. Noah slept through the entire game, which was a big accomplsihment with all the yelling I was doing. Here are a few pictures we took this weekend:

Playing with Gabi

Getting Sleepy!

Dreaming of Football

Friday, February 22, 2008

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Two-Week Doctor Visit

Noah went in for his two-week old pediatrician visit this morning. They say by two weeks, babies should be back to their birth weight. Noah weighed 9 lbs, 9 oz at birth and 9 lbs, 1 oz when we left the hospital, so we were curious as to what the scales would read today. He's been eating great and pooping and peeing a lot, so we had a pretty good idea that he was getting enough milk. Turns out, we were right, as he weighed in at 10 lbs, 6 oz today. Everything checked out great, which is a great praise and answer to prayers. I'm back at work now, so Tyra and JenMommy (my mom) accompanied Noah on the visit to Dr. Shults' office. After the visit, Noah celebrated his accomplishments with a delicious meal of breastmilk. Yay Noah!

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Noah and his Hiccups

Hope you enjoy this video of Noah trying to get rid of his hiccups. (Video shot on 2/17/08)

Friday, February 15, 2008

Sweeter than Candy!

Our little Valentine...


Thursday, February 14, 2008

One week old

Today (Valentine's Day) is Noah's 1 week old birthday. He's had a great week and Tyra, Gabi, and I have loved bonding with him this week. It's been such a blessing being able to be at home all week, and I don't go back to work until Feb. 20. We learn more about him each day and he's sleeping and eating (and peeing and pooping) very good! We've had some ymmuy meals brought to us by friends and neighbors, and tonight we're going to get take-out from Macaroni Grill (thanks for the gift cards Mom!) for our Valentine's Day dinner at home.
Noah is becoming more alert each day and it is so neat when he looks at us (sometimes with a gassy grin on his face). He loves for us to sing to him and I think I've written about 57 new songs with made up words about him. It seems to calm him down when he gets fussy. Here are some pictures from this week:

Noah watching the Vols beat Arkansas (Feb. 13)

Noah with Connor, Shawn, Melissa, and Houston McKay

Noah napping with Uncle Charles


Napping with Aunt Amy

Cousin Malachi and Gabi

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Hospital Picture


You can see Noah's official hospital picture by going to this site.

Noah's First Day at Home

We came home on Saturday (Feb. 9), and so far it's been great. There's no way to prepare for how much attention that a newborn requires, but I think we're doing pretty good so far. We're getting decent amounts of sleep, but not much, which is to be expected. Noah is eating great and I've (Eric) already changed 3 dirty (poop, not pee!) diapers all by myself...which are the 1st 3 that I've ever changed in my life. Gabi (our dog) was so funny when we brought Noah home. She sniffed him and was so curious about every sound he made. She really enjoys lying with Tyra as she nurses Noah. I think she thinks she's being a good helper!
Also, thanks to EVERYONE who has called, emailed, and posted comments on the blog. I promise we will respond personally soon! We are so blessed to have the best friends and family. Please continue to keep us in your prayers.
Anyway, enjoy the pictures:

Ready to go home:


In my carseat!


Meeting my big sister Gabi:


My first nap in my bouncer seat! I loved it!

Birth Story


I'm finally getting a chance to post again. These past few days have been incredible, and it's amazing how much you learn! Here are a few details about Noah's birth:
- We got to the hospital at 6:00 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 6 for Tyra to be induced. At that point she was 40 weeks and 5 days along.
- After about 10-11 hours on the pitocin drip, Tyra still hadn't dilated, so her doctor's recommendation was to turn off the drip for the night, which allowed her to be able to eat and get a full night's sleep.
- They started the drip again at 5 am on Thursday morning, and by 7 am, she had dilated 1 cm. and the doctor broke her water. From there, things really started to pick up!
- Every few hours, they checked her...4 cm dilated, then 8 cm, then by 2:00 p.m. or so, she was 10 cm dilated and ready to start pushing. The time was finally here.
- Our delivery nurse was great and Tyra did an incredible job. For 1 hour, she pushed through each contraction, and by 3:11 p.m., our son made his first cry!

Several nurses throughout our stay commented that on Wednesday, no one thought that she'd be able to give birth without a c-section, just because she hadn't progressed much at all after a full day's worth of pitocin. When Noah was born, he scored an 8 and 9 on his APGAR and came out healthy (and almost as big!) as a horse. The doctor commented once before he was born, "Noah's got a big head," but both Tyra and I and the doctor and nurses were amazed when it was announced that Noah came out weighing 9 lbs, 9 ozs! Tyra's official weight gain overall was 32 lbs, so we were all surprised that Noah was such a big boy.
He is so strong and loves to move his legs and arms. In the hospital, he was such a great baby, only uttering soft coos and wimpers, but only really crying when he was beign changed or getting cold.
Anyway, that's the Cliff's Notes version of Noah's arrival. So much has happened since then, that I feel like it happened a long time ago.


Thursday, February 7, 2008

Our son is here!

It is with joyful hearts that we welcome Noah Allan Haag into this world. Many more details on the past few days will follow (hopefully tomorrow). Noah was born at Baptist West Hospital in Knoxville at 3:11 p.m. today (Feb.7), weighing 9 lbs., 9 ozs. and measuring 21 3/4 inches long. He is doing outstanding, and he looks just like his Mommy! Tyra was amazing and there are no words that can describe her strength, effort, and perserverance of getting through these past two days. As I type this, my beuatiful wife and handsome son are sleeping peacefully in our hospital room, and all praise and glory is to GOD for this amazing blessing. I hope to post more pictures soon, but here are a few for now. THANK YOU to everyone who have continued to lift us up in thought and prayer over these past 41 weeks. We have the most wonderful family and friends, and we can't wait until Noah gets to meet you ALL!