All dressed up

This week I bought Moose some 18 month size clothes and that seems ridiculous for 6 months but he's already filling out his 12 months clothes.  I bought an entire 12 month wardrobe before he was born at Target and I imagined him walking in those clothes, however he's wearing them now and he's just barely crawling, it seems really strange to me.  I guess I will have to totally rethink his wardrobe from here on out.  Anyway I got him these cute little plaid shirts like the one he's wearing here and I assumed he'd be a cute little toddler, not still rolling on the floor with them. Oh well.

Brennan's eye lid has been a little bit swollen and I accidentally missed his appointment this week.  He has another appointment scheduled for this Friday.  Maybe it will clear up by then.  I think he's been spending a lot of time rubbing his face on the carpet.  He spends a lot of time on the floor now trying to crawl.

He has graduated to eating off of our dinner plates now too.  This weekend he ate salmon, couscous with mustard seed and onion, dates, rice, raspberry yogurt and frozen peaches.  We are having fun feeding him and he thinks it's fun too.  I wonder what he will try next. 

Also, I can't remember if I blogged about this already or not but Moosey has graduated from sleeping in his swing to sleeping in his bed.  Naps during the day are still a little tough, he cries and wakes up a lot.  However at night he sleeps soooo good!  I wish we'd stopped swaddling him earlier because he sleeps much more soundly now.  I haven't gotten up with him at night at all in two weeks now and he sleeps 10 hours!!

Also, when you put him down for bed at night he already knows the routine.  We put on his sleep sack, a heavy blanket with armholes and a neck hole, then we go into Sara's room and tell her good night.  Sara loves to give Brennan lots of hugs and kisses before bed.  Then I give him kisses and lay him down in his bed and turn on his humidifier.  He never makes a sound and I go an check on him a minute or  two later and he's on his side, fast asleep already.  It's wonderful.  No more rocking endlessly, stuffing him into his swaddle wrap, and then rocking some more.  I hope his day time naps get easier and I think they will as he gets bigger and more used to sleeping in his crib and playing in it or not seeing it as something he has to get out of immediately but actually enjoying it. 

Teething bag

Today while I was at the store getting Brennan a sleep sack (which is basically like a blanket with armholes and a neck hole that they can wear to bed and stay warm in) I decided to also try a mesh teether (a video of Brennan and his new teether).  It has a lid you can put in the freezer with water in it to keep it cool, a top, and replaceable mesh bags.  You can put all kinds of foods in it for them to teeth on, frozen grapes, peaches, bananas, various veggies, ice, etc.

We tried it out this afternoon and it was a big hit.  I used frozen peas and bananas.  I think tomorrow we'll either try ice or apples.  It kept him occupied for a good 20 minutes.  I hope he and his teether will become good friends. The teething mesh bags are a total pain to clean out but it's worth it.

Brennan is trying to sleep like the big boys sleep now.  We've been putting him in in his bed at night, with his blanket sleeper on while he's still awake instead of rocking him or swaddling him.  He has put himself to bed every night without so much as a peep.  Now we need to get working on naps and get him out of his swing.  He's not going to fit in it forever, it already labors to swing him.

Tonight I got pics of him in his bed, I love sleeping baby pics.

Still Trying

Just this week Brennan figured out how to sit back on his knees in a crawling position.  He will sit there and bounce back and forth.  So far he hasn't figured out how to move his arms and legs in concert.  Sara and Dan have been crawling around the room trying to "show" him what to do and we've tried holding out his favorite toys in hops of coaxing him into that first crawling step.  Here's a video I took of him this morning while Sara was trying to tempt him with her light toy (it's different than the one on FB).

We have to get our child gate up this weekend to make sure he doesn't go down the stairs once he gets going.  Also in the works, we are going to put his crib bumper on and maybe take out his foam wedge and get him more used to sleeping in his crib during the day.  I'm hoping that this will only take about 10 days and he'll get the hang of it. 

Brennan has been eating so many new foods.  Just this week he had cherry puree,  potato and cottage cheese puree, and egg yolks.  Also I've been mixing Quinoa in with just about everything.  He has his 6 month check up next Friday.  I'm excited for his measurements.  He's starting to get big for some of his 12 months clothes now and he's totally outgrown the 9 months sizes.  In no way was I prepared for that.  Hopefully some of his clothes that I planned on him wearing this summer will still fit. 

It's been so mild this week even though they predicted several inches of snow.  Today we sat out in the back yard in the swing with t-shirts and shorts on.  Brennan played in the grass.  I'm excited for summer when he can get in a baby pool and really have fun out there with Sara.  It also boggles my mind to think that he might be walking by the end of the summer.  The time is going by fast.  

To Crawl or not to

I took some pics of Brennan today trying to figure out how to crawl.  I give him about 5-10 days before he figures it out.

The swim and smile: 

He does a really good plank, he can do it over and over.  Now he just needs to put his knees down.

The face plant, learning how to crawl is hard: 

Random other cute pics :

New foods

My back has been out the last two weeks so I haven't been updating the kids blogs as much, or taking any pics of them.  Hopefully we'll be back on track soon. 

Brennan has been trying out some new foods lately.  His newest delectables are plain yogurt, carrots, blueberries, cottage cheese, and quinoa.  He loves yogurt with blueberry puree on it.  Also I've been mixing the cottage cheese in with various foods.  I made him a cottage cheese, pea, and quinoa blend today and he ate it up.  It's fun to feed him new foods and see what kind of faces he makes.  I've discovered that just because he makes a face does not mean that he doesn't like it.  He made a horrible face at the yogurt and looked really unsure of it but he opens his mouth still and begs for more.  Also he likes to smack it on his lips. He really didn't like the texture of cottage cheese but blended up it adds flavor to his veggies.

He has his 6 month appointment on the 26th and I'm excited for him to see the doctor.  When I weighed him at home last he was almost 17 pounds.  It's crazy considering Sara was well into her 1st year before she weighed that much. 

Brennan is still happiest when you are feeding him but just within the last 10 days he's been much happier rolling around on the floor.  He can roll about 10 feet away now and can totally get his belly off the ground by pushing up, he does plank really well.  Now it's just a matter of him coordinating his arms and legs and he'll be off.  I've been really thankful that he's spending more time on the floor since my back is out.  I can lay on the couch near him and watch him roll around.  It's been really rough on our carpet though.  He's been throwing up all kinds of green and purple things on our rug and I'm worried it might stain.   Hopefully if we get a new house this year, he'll be out of that phase by then.

Start the growing pains

Moose is starting to grow really quickly now.  Every day he does something different.  Recently he's really been working on crawling.  He can inch himself forward and is just weeks away from figuring it all out.  Also, he makes lot of sounds, his new favorite sound to make is "Mmmmm!" I think he is copying us saying that when we feed him his food.  When he says it he raises his eyebrows really cute.

Last time he had his check-up at 4 months, his doctor suggested we work on his sleeping to save us discomfort in the future.  His doctor's opinion is that kids should learn to go to sleep unassisted, no rocking or swaddling, or swinging.  We do need to start weening Brennan off of his sleep aids, but it'll be a painful process and a long one most likely.

For the past two nights we've been letting him cry longer in his bed instead of getting him when he wakes up in the middle of the night.  The first night, he put himself back to sleep in 5 minutes.  Last night it was a total nightmare.  He cried until 2 a.m.  We let him cry for a  half hour and then we would get him, feed him and put him back in bed and he'd keep crying.  Finally at 3 a.m. I decided I wasn't going back in there and I fell asleep.  He went to sleep at some point after than and didn't wake up until 6 a.m.  I was really thankful that Sara never woke up and that Dan was able to get up with him at 6.

Hopefully he'll get used to the idea of going to sleep in his bed.  Taking naps without his swing is the next big challenge and I'm not sure I'm quite read for it yet.  I'm dreading it, kind of.

At least he's a happy little boy when he's awake.  He loves to smile and look at people.  He seems to always have a smile for everyone. Mom was really struck by how happy he was and how much eh liked to interact and how hungry he is!  Dan comments on that all the time too, Brennan can really put away the food.   He also LOVES going on walks or being outside.  He rides facing out in his carrier and he looks at everything.  He never even protests a little.  He's going to be an outdoor lover for sure.

He likes to watch his sister and will crane his neck around to look for her if she's not in the room.  Sara also loves entertaining him and seems to know just when to fill the void when Dan and I need to do something else, she steps in.  I actually think they will end up being great friends.
 

Here are some pics that we all took recently.  I think they turned out great!

Pics in the park

We have been enjoying this great weather too.  The kids have been going on walks with us in their new double jogging/biking/ski trailer and we've been walking to the park.

 Moose takes a ride on the swings, he actually really likes it!

 Moose loved picking through the grass, looking for leaves to eat.

Passed out after eating and a long day of fun.

Nanna Arrives

The Moose and Munkey Nanna arrived late Wednesday night after her flight was canceled.  It was about 10:30 p.m. and we thought Moose would be asleep and she wouldn't get to see him until the next day but he magically woke up and had a fun time with Nanna.

Nanna and Moose got along instantly well and he's been happy with her taking care of him ever since.  I'm glad she finally got to meet him and see what a nice boy he is.