Happy 4 Months Bella!

Every month that passes I can't believe Bella is another month older. Sounds stupid to say but time is going even faster this time around.  Bella is still the same laid back and calm little girl. The only time she gets fussy is when she wants to eat, be picked up or her stomach is bothering her. So much of her personality is coming out! She is definitively going to be my talker. She will "talk" at length from time to time and will even sing along with you. She has the most infectious smile and laugh and loves to be tickles and play games. She smiles with her eyes and it absolutely melts my heart. I still think she looks just like Brayden when he was little. The resemblance is uncanny.

Bella is getting so big! She is gaining at a crazy pace despite all of her stomach issues. I had her to the pedes a week an a half ago and she was already 15 lbs! She has offically doubled her birth weight. We have her 4 month appointment on December 4 so I will have her exact height and weight stats.  Her stomach problems are an ongoing issue. Ugh I wish there were clear cut answers. I'm still trying to get her gastro appt scheduled, the office is driving me nuts by not calling me back. But she is currently on Prilosec (1.25mL), 2x a day and and Zantac (1.8mL) 2x a day for breakthrough pain. Even on both she is still refluxing and in pain but it's less than it was.  I'm still on the soy and dairy free diet and based on the mucous and color of her diapers I have a good feeling we will be doing more elimination. Thankfully the color and mucous in the diapers doesn't bother her so that's a good thing. At this point I'm willing to take it as far as we need to keep breastfeeding. She is doing so well and really relies on it as her comfort zone so I really don't want to take that away from her. Aside from the stomach issues, shes an amazing nurser and has made it so easy on me, so I'm extra determined to do it for her. 

Big smiles!!

She usually eats every three hours during the day, unless she's not feeling well. Based on what I can pump from one side she's drinking at least 4-6 ounces per feeding. She still hates the bottle. Ugh, she will sometimes take pumped milk from the bottle from Jason but has been refusing to take it from anyone else. That should be interesting since we have a wedding on the 8th. I'm hoping she drinks for my mom and katie!  

Silly faces :) 

She is still a good sleeper. She generally wakes up 1x a night. For a breast fed baby I will take it!! Although the times change she usually goes down to bed at 9 and will sleep till about 5 nurse and go back down. We tend to take her upstairs with us when we go to bed b/c we are co-sleeping so sometimes moving her wakes her up and that adds another feeding. But that's on me not her.  She tends to have a 30-40 minute cat nap in the morning , a long 3 hour nap in the afternoon and a cat nap after dinner.  It's nice at least for now her afternoon nap co-insides with Brayden's. I'll take it for as long as it lasts. 

Bella is doing really well developmentally. She's not nearly as advanced as Brayden was but she's right on track.  She's been trying to roll both ways, but is always getting stuck on her arms. I'm sure being the little chunker she is makes it tougher :)  She loves to sit! Her back is getting stronger but she still sits forward in her "monkey" pose to hold herself up. She does like playing on  her play may but will only lay on her back for short periods of time. I swear she thinks she is missing out on something so she needs to sit up. Plus laying flat doesn't do any favors for her reflux so I don't blame her.  She does like to stand and her legs are pretty strong.  She just tried her play jumper and really seemed to have mixed feeling about it.  I think she just didn't know what to make of it but had fun.  

Teething, boy did I NOT miss teething. So far she is a decent teether but only the future will tell. She has been teething for the last month despite not having any break through. We are using a baltic amber teething necklace and it helps with the pain, but the drool is a flowing! lol Here's hoping she is not a dramatic teether like her brother and they don't take forever to come in!!

Trouble!

Bella tried her first food on Thanksgiving! I don't think she is completely ready for food full time. We plan on doing things like with Brayden by skipping cereal and doing food led weaning with some puree. For her first meal we tried sweet potatoes with apple. Yes I know they're suppose to start with one food type but i was having a hard time finding an organic food that was one flavor. I plan on making all of her food like I did for Bray. Even making organic baby food, it is SO cheap! I really think making the food really helped Brayden find his love for a variety of foods so here is hoping!  In the mean time I will probably give her food sporadically until we get her stomach issues under control. Then I will start  more consistently. 

I think we seriously took 50+ pictures. Half of them she was trying to sit forward and falling or just wasn't looking. Gotta love bloopers lol 

One Year Old!

Okay he is like 12 months and 3 weeks and I am finally posting about his 1yr appt, stats and all. See I told you I am WAY behind. I promise I won't slack off, all the IVF stuff and everything else going on has definitely had me preoccupied!

Side note, to get ANY photos of brayden with his 12 month sticker is was damn near impossible! Of course it took two of us, and we pretty much have to toss him on the couch and keep putting him back on his butt, acting silly, tickling just to "attempt" to get a good photo. I got lots of funny and cute ones but I don't think I have one solid one of him sitting, facing forward and smiling! I'll add a bunch in the mix so you can laugh with me :)

Brayden continually blows my mind. He is so smart and is really picking things up. Warning, proud mom bragging lol.   Of course he has to do everything on HIS terms but we are working on his "listening" skills now, aka "come to mommy", "put that down" ext ext. But Brayden being Brayden he knows exactly what you are telling him and does the exact opposite. Apparently my son is EXACTLY like me as a child (in many ways) so if that is any indication I am really in for it. lol  Other than wanting to do things his way he is doing wonderful with commands and how things "work". He's command he is great at opening and closing, putting things in and out of containers, finding and grabbing specific items and toys when requested, the list goes on.  He knows at least 10 words and the phrases "all done" and "i did it" which comes out like "did it". Of course when he talks its baby talk so if you don't spend a lot of time with him sometimes you'll have no idea what he is saying. lol  He does have his "alien speak" as we affectionately call it. It's this crazy fast gibberish when he talks to you like he's in a conversation, it's awesome and hilarious. Of course he tried to regress using words. for example he can say and use the word cup appropriately but decided in the last week or two it's more fun to grunt and point at it. lol  Again, always on his terms.  :)   He is really learning places for things, he knows where the tub is and when it's bath time, if he goes in the kitchen he will reach up to the counter if he wants a snack and so on.  It really is amazing watching him grow up and develop, you never know what they are going to know how to do/say next!

His 1 yr pedes appt went great! He is weighing in at 20lb 130z (25%) and 32" tall (97%).  The dr said his speech and ability to do commands puts him at a 15 to 18 month level, so i'm really proud of him.  He got his 1 yr shots and we opted to get the flu shot, he did well but as usual he ran a fever the next few days. He is my fever kid. Whether it's teething, sickness, shots he ALWAYS runs the min of a low grade fever and is good for the 103+ ones too.  He also decided to RE-start clapping his hands. lol He was able to around 7 months and decided that he didn't want to anymore.









Sleep is still an issue we fight with. He is a good napper. He dropped to one nap b/w 10 and 11 months on his own.  He usually sleeps 2 to 2 1/2 hours for nap and if it's a really good day I'll get 3 hrs. But that almost never happens.  But he continues to wake atleast 1x a night. If he is sick, forget it, we are up min 3x a night. I'm not going to lie after 1 year not NOT sleeping through the night completely it has been tough. He has NEVER been a good sleeper and we continue to try and fix things. Hopefully we will get there at some point.


Brayden loves food!  Although he has been on a breakfast hating/picky binge for a while. At this point I give him whatever kind of food he will actually eat for breakfast.  He LOVES breakfast sausage. I get him the Jones natural patties, so i know he will atleast get some protein in. He will eat eggs, depending on the day. It's funny b/c the "fanicer" the food the more likely he is to eat it. I don't give him plain eggs, he gets "baby omlette" with black olives or even cheesy eggs. He loves oatmeal, apple strudel and blueberry muffins, fruit, fruit and fruit. lol  He is not at all big on pancakes, french toast and waffles, yogurrt, cereal ext. but he will pick at them if he's in the mood so we try all kinds of things. Otherwise he loves to eat anything we eat, black olives and tomatoes are his current obsession along with any kind of veggies.  I have also been pushing a lot of snacks, cheese sticks and  fruit in between meals to try and make sure he is nice and full through the night.  Right now he is loving the yogurt covered raisins and any kind of crunchy snacks like the earths best elmo crackers and teddy grahams.

Milk...we successfully transitioned to whole milk at 11 months. Successful meaning he was no longer on formula but still taking it out of the bottle. By his birthday we were FINALLY down to 3 bottles per day. For him and his glutenous appetite for milk this was no simple feat! We have in the mean time been able to drop the afternoon bottle with no problems.  The problem we were having was he REFUSED to drink milk cold, and out of a sippy cup. We had introduced milk months ago, so i was kinda suprised when he would spit it out the second he realized his cup wasn't water.  We tried everything to get him to drink it out of the cup and in the last week he FINALLY came around. Actually he drank cold milk out of his sippy for his Grammy but ever since then he's been interested in it in a cup so i can't complain. That'll make dropping the other two bottles a little easier. Honestly I think the early morning one is going to be harder to stop than the night time one.  But we will figure it out and get there.

Bray is in to EVERYTHING!  Literally if it is not strapped down or locked up he thinks it's all game!  lol Since he started walking so early he is really good at running away from you really fast!  He knows exactly when he is NOT suppose to be doing something and either backs up from you really slowly or turns and runs, all the mean while having a giant smile on his face. LITTLE STINKER!  He is a daredevil and climbing machine!  Its amazing to watch him stare at things and think of crazy things to do. Like his mini Power Wheel car we got him for his bday, that thing is a heart attack toy. he loves to crawl on the tiny, slippery hood and stand up on it.  Yup this is my life.  lol He is obsessed with steps and anything that looks "climbable". Anything that is wide enough to fit two feet on is apparently fun to climb on and do a "stomp dance". He loves to try and scare mommy!


He has daddy's temper... oh yes he does! lol (Sorry Jason!) Since bray was about 9 months and walking he has MASTERED the ability to throw a tantrum in the most violent and loudest way possible. Seriously this kid thinks he can have what he wants whenever he wants no matter what it is. lol God forbid you look out for his well being  and he literally throws himself on the ground kicks and screams. Its ridiculous and honestly embarrassing in public. But I don't give in b/c I am not going to be THAT parent who's kid is a total jerk and expects what they want all the time. Guess we just started the terrible 2's a little earlier. Although all of my friends tell me 2's are rough and 3's are way worse.  lol

Ok, I think i wrote enough... whew! I seriously can't believe my baby is ONE!  It has been the most amazing year of my life and I feel so grateful everyday to be able to be Brayden's Mommy :)

10 months old!

Okay again I am seriously behind on my blogging!  Uggh I need to be more diligent on doing them as things come up!  lol

Happy 10 Months Brayden Thomas!! 

(i'm sorry but isn't this the cutest face EVER! lol maybe i'm impartial!!) 

Two weeks ago Brayden Turned 10 months old! I seriously don't know how this is possible! In turning ten months I am jumping full force in to birthday planning! Despite having a ton of fun doing DIY projects I am in some serious denial!  The transition from 9 to 10 months has been very exciting for Brayden! Just after turning 9 months he took his first steps in his adventure in walking! Or drunk walking as we call it! Seriously walking?!!! This boy is such an overachiever! lol  At 10 months he is doing much better with walking, turning with no problem popping up and down with out assistance and almost has his balance down so he doesn't look like he's "tipsy"all the time.  With walking had come another world of TRYING to babyproof and make things safe for him.  We do our best but he still manages to bruise, bump and even scratch himself falling on his toys and on the floor.  I find it amazing and almost baffling to watch such a little guy walking around like he's a big kid, he almost looks out of place running around chasing other kids and the pets.

This boy is a TALKER!  We are going to be in for it when he is older.  Whether playing by himself, chasing after pets or playing with someone he loves to talk, screech, scream, babble, you name it.  :)  I think he is doing really well with vocabulary for a 10 month old. He already new mama, dada and baba, but now he's working on dog, diaper, cup, nap and "attempt's" a few more sounds to mimic what you are saying.  Guess that means we are on the right track!

At 10 months Brayden finally hit 20lbs(23%) and is 31 inches(95%) tall! Again off the charts for height!  When I took him to the pedes yesterday she was commenting how is the tallest 10 month old she's seen in a LONG time lol!  Looks like someone may be even taller than daddy!! He is still taking 4 (8oz) bottles a day and eats 3 full meals and snacks in between. So the boy is definitely eating. We are working on dropping that last bottle off in hopes that we can get him down to 3 bottles a day at 11 months. But the way it looks I don't know if that is going to happen. He is suppose to be on 24 oz of milk but at this point he's taking in 32.  By 12 month that pedes wants him on 12-16 but that may be a stretch. Guess we will see.  We are STILL fighting with him waking up at night. The dr did put me at ease b/c she said based on his behaviors when waking it IS that he is definitely hungry and not necessarily a habit. Brayden has never been the best sleeper by any means.  So getting up 1x isn't the worst of situations.  He still goes to bed around 8pm and had been waking up around 5-ish (give or take) for a bottle then goes back to sleep till about 8 or so.  So a solid 9-10 hour stretch from his last bottles isn't that bad. I guess I'm lucky he goes back to sleep and isn't up for the day that early.  :)

He hates milk! I have been giving him whole milk in a sippy cup for 2 months and he HATES the taste of it. When he turns 11 months I am going to switch his bottles to 50/50 formula and milk and reduce the amount of formula from there. Hopefully that'll help ease the transition. If i can just get him drinking milk from a bottle that would be great. Then we can work on knocking back the amount of milk he is taking in.  I'm not really "stressed" about all of this but I'm just hoping the transition goes better than i anticipate.

He is a pro at the sippy cup! lol We've been usingTommee Tippee Cups since he was 4 months and he hasn't had any issues with them. We started out with the one with handles but honestly I find he does SO much better with the bigger cup with out them. With the handles it seemed like he was having a harder time tipping the cup up.  Brayden wants to be REALLY independent! lol  He always wants to do everything himself, which is great and a pain at the same time. I have a feeling that I only going to get worse as he gets older. He's really good at feeding himself with a fork. He will eat with a fork in one hand and use the other hand to feed himself at the same time. We usually have to help/encourage him to keep eating or he gets distracted and wants to feed the dog, swipe at his food or throw it on the floor.

My son is a "drama king"! This kid throws that nastiest temper tantrums!  He can be so sweet and the next minute he is screeching, throwing himself on the ground and screaming and crying. I can't imagine if it's like this now how much worse it's going to get.  But we don't feed in to his "games"  I'm trying to teach him nicely that we don't have tantrums and you're not getting things b/c you throw a fit. So i guess we will see if it helps his manners. I know I hate seeing older kids that have NO manners, that is prob one of my biggest pet peeves, so i'm trying to start early.

I could prob go on and on about all the little changes that go on every day! I seriously find it amazing to watch him grow up and turn in to the little boy he is becoming, my little man isn't a baby anymore :(  

Happy 10 months mommy's little man! I love you! XOXO  Brayden seriously has like 1000 faces and it's hilarious! So I'm HAVE to attach a variety of funny pics, It took Aunt Katies and I a TON of shots just to get a few good ones! Ahhh I love life with this little guy!

Sitting Still?!! How did she catch this!? 

His "DEVILISH" smile!! Watch out ladies! 

SO playful!

Haha he was yelling at us! 

He's obsessed with walking around with his Labor Day Balloon! 

Whats up with the sad face?!! Somebody's tired!

His "you caught me" face! lol

XO

WHAT do you want mom!?

Yelling for the fun of it! lol 

Booty Popping!?

I LOVE the way babies sleep! Poor Brayden is like his mom and is a HUGE figet when he sleeps! He is always tossing and turning and trying to get comfortable.  I love watching him move and roll all over his crib to find his "comfy spot".  Sometimes I just don't know HOW he manages to be comfortable in the positions he pics! I would definitely have to say that the "butt in the air" is my favorite and the cutest thing! I even tried to lay like this myself and i have no idea why he likes it!  But apparently Jason use to love sleeping this way as a child... like father like son! Gotta love the small things in life.. i love being a mom!

SERIOUSLY! how is that comfy!?

Haha I love it!