A Golden Month

Brody turned 7 months old on March 7th. What a heck of a month six!? Brody changed a lot!

Schedule:  At the end of the month we were able (after much needed encouragement) to drop the dream feed. You must understand I've been sleeping through the night, along with Brody of course, since he was two months old. I was very nervous to drop this feeding thinking he might wake up in the middle of the night hungry. Or even worse (in my twisted mind) wake up really early in the morning.  My fears were unfounded and little man slept like a champ.  He now sleeps 7ish to 7.  His naps are ok.  Sometimes good.  Sometimes not so good.  He usually sleeps from 8:30 to 10 and then from 12:30 to 2.  I would ideally like him to sleep a little longer at the afternoon nap because we've not been able to totally drop the little cat nap in the very late afternoon (around 4:30).  He'll usually sleep for about 20 minutes.  He needs that extra little bit to help him make it to bedtime.  There have been some times where he didn't take one, but then he's VERY tired when it's time to go to sleep.  And speaking of sleep, I woke up one morning to find Brody sleeping on his tummy when I had put him to sleep on his back.  He's now a total flip flopper in his crib.

Food:  Brody got to have his first real food...food that wasn't cereal.  Oh, and the good news is that he is NOT allergic to oatmeal.  I guess the rash the first time we gave it to him was a very strange coincidence, but we tried oatmeal about a week and a half after the initial trial and NO rash.  Yea!  This mama was VERY happy about that.  BUT the real food he tried first was sweet potatoes.  Brody is pretty stoic, but he downed the sweet potatoes like they were going out of style, so I think it's safe to say he likes them.  I was on the fence (admittedly WAY too long) about whether I was going to make his baby food or buy it.  But then everything just kinda came together.  My friend gave me her never-before-been-used Baby Bullet and another friend blogged about her baby making, so I thought I would give it a try.  Now, I know I've only been doing this for a couple weeks, but honestly it's kinda fun.  Ask me about this in a few years when I'm on kiddo #? and my answer might be a tad different, but we're going with it for now.  Aside from sweet potatoes Brody has also had squash.  I wasn't sure at first if he liked it because he gave me a scrunched up little face, but after a few times of eating it, I like he likes it.  We're following the rules and only doing a new food every several days, so it takes a while to introduce new foods.  I don't feel like taking any chances in this department since Greg has allergies and even went into anaphylactic shock when he was a kid.  So, slowly but surely we'll add more and see how it goes.  I always try the new food at the morning feeding because it doesn't seem very safe to try a new food and then put him to bed (for 12 hours) less than an hour later.  We've also tried the sippy cup.  He's good at holding it but we don't have the whole swallowing thing down yet.  Water makes it into the mouth and all dribbles right back out and down the shirt.  Yes, we're only doing water.  We figure what he doesn't know won't hurt him.

Teeth:  Brody got his first tooth in true Brody fashion without much fanfare.  Well, except for his mama jumping up and down because she was so excited.  I wish I were kidding.  Brody woke up REAL early from a nap one afternoon and was pretty fussy.  I thought it was just because he woke up early and couldn't put himself back to sleep.  I tried my darndest to put that baby back to sleep, but nothing was working so eventually I gave up and he seemed happy enough.  I didn't think much of it until the next day when I put my fingers in his mouth to feel if we had made any progress and low and behold...a tooth!  I feel like poor Brody was like, "duh, mom".  Sorry, Brody.  I'll try and do better next time.

Other Changes:  Brody held his little arms up to be picked up for the first time.  I'd been trying to get him to do it for a couple weeks and go figure the little stinker did it for his papa first.  Right after he did it, Greg put him down and held up his little arms for me.  Melted.my.heart and made me forget he didn't do it for me first.  And as mentioned above, Brody is now flipping and flopping...back to tummy and tummy to back.  Still not a single sign of crawling (insert every mother's advice not to rush crawling here).  But seriously, he's not up on all fours, he's not rocking, he's nothin' but seemingly very far away from crawling.  However, I know Brody will do it when he's good and ready...gosh that sounds like me so I guess I can't blame him.  He is sitting up better all the time.  He is usually still propped up/leans back against me, but he is getting stronger with it everyday.  Greg and I tried to do an unofficial weight & height and it didn't go so well...but we can tell he's growing and getting bigger...we're just not exactly sure by how much.  And I'm pretty sure I say this in every monthly post, but Brody seriously gets more fun every day!  He is a precious, perfect blessing and we are so thankful every.single.day that God gave us our little angel baby boy.

And now for what everyone (or at least Nana and Granna) have been waiting for...the pics

Said sippy cup.

Relaxing at home after going out to eat with
Granna & Grandad.

Had fun at church today!  What can I say? 
The nursery workers love me.

 

 

Love the little baby back.

 

In my big boy chair about to eat.

 

I think I'll do a little reading before bed...
it really is a page turner.

 

And now the rest of the pics are from a little six month "photo shoot" with mommy.  I love to dress him up!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Out With The Old, In With The New

I know January is the start of the new year, but I like to just "get through" January & February (my least favorite months of the year) all the while looking forward to Spring.  For us Texans, that happens very early and there is something special that happens in March...Spring has Sprung.  Yes, we might have an occasional cold snap, but for the most part it is glorious weather.  Not too hot & not too cold.  Beautiful blue skies with no clouds.  Perfect outdoor weather.  March madness (ok, well this would be one of Greg's reasons).  Spring Break.  Rodeo.  What more could you ask for out of a month?!  Well, on this beautiful March 1st, I must first say goodbye to February.  Even though I'm a little tough on the month of February, it is the month of love & I was going to try to get a post out about something sweet my hubby did for me but it didn't happen.  So, I say now and for the record, I've got a very sweet hubby.  Back towards the beginning of the year, Greg randomly brought home my favorite flower (Gerber Daisies) and one of my favorite candies.  What a guy?!  It was so thoughtful and made one of the dark days in the dark months a little brighter. 

 

And from the month of love, I wanted to post this picture because I LOVE the look on Brody's face as he looks at his Daddy...melts me every time I look at it!  In a word...precious!

 

 

 

 

But now February is over and we say, "hello sweet March, we're glad you're here"!  Thanks for coming and we hope you stay awhile.

 

The Three Ps

Brody & I have a lot of good days. In fact, I would say almost everyday is a good day, but some of our good days have bad moments. Proof is yesterday afternoon. Brody woke up from his afternoon nap and ate. I waited a little bit and then put him in his bouncer. I wanted to make dressing for salad that was going to be part of our dinner. I was in the kitchen and was able to do that while watching Brody. He was bouncing, playing and seemed pretty happy. I finished making the salad dressing and cleaning up when he started to get a little fussy. I was literally washing the last dish and really wanted to finish, but he was not happy. I figured he was just tired, so I was talking sweet to him, telling him I would come get him in just a minute. When I get over to him, I realize he had Puked and then I realize he has Pooped. Now, I could tell his shirt was wet from the kitchen, but I assumed it was drool because 1) his shirt is usually wet from drool and 2) he usually doesn't spit up. As for the poop...it is unfortunate but VERY common for Brody to have blow outs. It's a total bummer, but we've tried different types of diapers and that didn't help. We use Pampers which are supposedly the best, especially for boys. Not so much for our little man. Any and all suggestions welcomed but yes, we do a size bigger. Anyway, so looking at Brody, I feel terrible that he is cover in Puke AND Poop. It's bad. Very. Very. Bad. I take him upstairs and don't really know where to begin, but being the germ-a-phobe that I am know one thing is for sure...this little baby is getting a bath. As carefully as possible I get the soiled clothes off and go to start the bath. When I return, he has Peed everywhere. I mean evverrywhere. I stick him in the bath and at this point he is happy as a little clam and totally unaware of the wake of devastation he had left in his path. I'm not even sure if I cleaned everything that the pee touched, but I did the best I could. We play for a little bit longer and then I lay him down for his late afternoon cat nap. I could tell he was pretty tired, but fighting it. He cried for several minutes. However, the minute he fell asleep was the exact minute Greg walked through the door wondering how our day had been. And that is how the cookie crumbles! I was ridiculously close to taking pictures of the disgusting mess for proof as to how bad it was, but decided to spare you. You'll just have to trust me. Instead I'll give you a picture of the calm before the storm. Little man taking his afternoon nap in his FSU shirt. I LOVE how it looks like he's saying the field goal or extra point is good!

My Crazy Valentine's Day

I promised to update Brody's stats from his six month well visit which occurred on Valentine's Day. Little did I know I would have a whole lot more to report than weight and height. The day started out early for me since I like to actually get dressed and ready on the days I do make it out of the casa.  Little Bear's appointment was at 8:30, so I got going early. In my mind, I had the day planned out. We would go to his appointment, surprise Greg at school with breakfast to give him the update and then Brody and I would hang the rest of the day. Greg has already entered the "Spring Fever" days at school. Currently the kiddos are hyped up for spring break (still 3 weeks away) and he had a lot going. He was going to be working late to cover an end of season basketball tournament, so Little Bear and I were going to have his favorite dessert from Oh La La waiting for him (with a card I bought earlier in the week) when he got home. No need to applaud, I know, I know, I'm such a good wife.  Anyway, so we get out the door running a couple minutes behind and make it to the doctor's office. I must say, I love Dr. B and am SO, SO glad she is back from maternity leave. She is a good doctor and TOTALLY gets that I'm a mom who tries really hard not to freak out about every little thing.  But who am I kidding that a "trying not to freak out" mom in actuality is really no different than an actual freaking out mom.  She's sweet to reassure me and I feel no judgement when I ask her really silly/ridiculous/awkward questions.  Anyway, at the end of the appointment before the nurse came in to give Brody his shots, Dr. B says that Brody's head had dropped to the 7th percentile and hasn't grown and we need to take further action (no longer just monitoring it despite the success of the last appointment). She says we'll need to go for x-rays. Again, she says developmentally everything is normal, but she needs to see the bone & plates to make sure everything is not closing too quickly because his soft spot is very small. I hear her and know she is reassuring me, but it's really not making it any better this time because I am going to have to take my precious, little 6 month old baby to get x-rays... X-RAYS! I was expecting this at some point in his life, but not when he was a baby!  Maybe more along the lines of 16 or sometime around then, but at least double digits.  The nurse comes in to give Brody his shots (which is always sad) and then we head out. I figure I might as well still take Greg breakfast because I don't really want to tell him over the phone that Brody has to have x-rays. While stopping to pick up a Chick-fil-a biscuit, Brody fell asleep in the car, so when we get to Greg's school, I call him and tell him to meet us at the car.  He is very calm while I tell him the news.  He later told me he went back inside and was praying like a crazy man...reason I love him #276.  I head to Texas Children's Hospital.  I hope I'm never in a hospital for one of my children again, but if I do have to be I'd like it to be at Texas Children's Hospital.  It was fabulous!  I mean, I seriously can't say enough good things.  It was like the Disney World of hospitals.  Every single person was so sweet...I mean seriously every.single.person.  I had to wait all of .5 seconds to get in (without an appointment) and then the x-rays themselves took about another .2 seconds.  OK, maybe this is a slight exaggeration, but it was seriously fast. Poor Little Bear didn't like having his head held down (obviously, who would?) so he did cry a bit, but overall it was a good experience.  Even when we were leaving, the sweet volunteers at the front desk said Brody looked sad because he had been crying and gave him a stuffed animal...so.sweet.  We head home and I can honestly say because of the positive experience I was feeling a little bit better.  I was also feeling a little bit better because I received a text from my good friend who is adopting twins that the birth mother was in labor.  We were home about five minutes (this time, no hyperbole) and I got a call from Dr. B that everything was normal.  What?  Seriously?  You've already (1)gotten the x-rays from the hospital, (2)looked at them, (3)assessed that my son was normal and (4)picked up the phone to tell me yourself?  Hallelujah!  OK.  The million dollar question...Why does my son have such a small head?  Answer:  genetics.  Apparently there is nothing wrong with Brody's head aside from the genetics he's been given.  Poor little baby is a little disproportionate, but otherwise he's "normal".  I hardly had time to be upset and I got the news that he was ok.  What an amazing Valentine's Day gift...quite possibly the best I could have received.  And the cherry on top was that Greg was able to come home earlier than expected and spend the rest of the afternoon with me and Brody.  We were able to take a family walk since it was seriously nice weather and then ate dinner outside at one of our local Mexican restaurants.  Score on all accounts!  God is so faithful and good to our family.  Now, the promised weight & height.  I also included the head measurement, so you can see that our Little has numbers across the board.   

Head:  16 1/2 in. (7th %)
Weight:  17 lbs. 3 oz. (40th %)
Height:  27 3/4 in. (85%)

Last, for your viewing pleasure I snapped a couple pics of my little Valentine at the end of our CRAZY day.  And yes, I know they are all basically the same, but his little face is just too cute and I couldn't pick just one.   

Little Bear's First Half Birthday

Well, my precious little tiny was told by a neighbor that he looks like a one year old. This was said the day before his first half birthday. While I don't necessarily agree with this assessment, I do think he looks more grown up everyday. Month five was a relatively calm month all things considered. Brody continued to grow and become more and more aware. He changed from a size 2 to 3 diaper. And even though he still wears 6 month size clothes, some things are getting a little small. This is especially true of his pjs, but the next size up seem SO big and there is always a warning label that they should fit snug. So, we're kinda in a pickle on this one. It seems Brody does not like to roll over during tummy time, but towards the very end of the month he liked to roll over in his crib when I put him down for naps in the afternoon. Honestly, his schedule of eating and sleeping has stayed pretty consistent. The rice cereal has been making him a little backed so we tried prunes, but he didn't really like them and they might have been a little hard on his tummy, so I think we'll try oatmeal and some other foods soon. *Since starting this post, Brody has tried oatmeal and had a possible allergic reaction to it! The day of his six month birthday Brody broke out into a rash ALL over his body...we're talking chests, arms, legs and face. Yikes! Brody's well visit is actually not until next week, so we made an extra appointment to see Dr. B to get it checked out just to make sure nothing serious was going on. She said it could be a reaction to the oatmeal or could be a viral rash due to his cold (that he's had for a couple weeks now). We're laying off the oatmeal until we get everything cleared up and then we'll give it another try. She wants us to have Benadryl on hand in case he does in fact have an allergic reaction because she said it could be worse the second time around. So, we'll see how it goes. Again, because we had an extra appointment, we found out that Brody weighs 16 lbs. 14 oz. This boy is getting heavy! We'll have more stats at his appointment next week and I'll update more then. For now, here are some pics from month five.

Giving mommy a hug.  I'm such a sweet boy.

First Saturday morning family breakfast to Shipley Donuts.

 

I'm a wild man!

Still love my bath!

First outing with just dad!  Sorry mom, us men
folk are going to Academy without you.  Daddy
got me dressed for the occasion.  Like my kicks?

Yes, he is wearing clothes.  : ) 

 

 

Are you looking at me?

Our little boy is so happy outdoors.

 

Aunt Sarah is so pretty...I just love my birthday buddy!

 

I'm a total wiggle worm!

 

Thanks for my taggy, Nana. I love to shove it in
my mouth!

I feel asleep on my side for the first time.

 

 

 

On The Road Again

Well, we hit the road last Friday to spend the weekend with the Wilson clan for Maren's big birthday. I call it her big birthday because she turned six on the sixth. Nana was also able to make it for the festivities and we felt so glad to get to see her again so soon! Poor Poppy had to work, but was with us in spirit.

Maren had her birthday party at in indoor trampoline park called Jump Street. It was so cute to see her in all her "big girlness" as she played with all her friends. Little Bear was not subjected to the germ infestation since it was his nap time and gratefully daddy stayed with him so I could go to the party. We had a great time up until we were about to leave on Sunday morning. Poor Brody was not himself at all and after adding up several disconcerting things, we honestly thought we might have to take him to the ER to get checked out. Thankfully after talking to the on call doctor at our pediatrician's office we decided it was ok to head home. After some Tylenol and a good nap, Little seemed to be doing much better and was back to his old self. It can be a super scary thing to be a parent. I never realized quite home much trust, hope and faith go into this whole parenting thing. And I agree with a friend of mine...birthdays are as much for the parents as the kids because it's another year you've helped to kept them alive.  If they're healthy and happy that's an added bonus.  So, Happy Birthday miss Maren Elizabeth!  We love you!