The Kraus Family: 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