Brandt Grows Up: 8 Months

Our sweet baby is 8 months old, and he is officially on the move!!! He loves his people, and he LOVES to roll and army crawl EVERYWHERE! :) He has this sweet, slow smile. He locks eyes with you, and then his whole face erupts in a smile. This picture below is right before he saw who was behind the camera. That sweet smile melts my heart every time! 
This is one of my favorite shots of Brandt and his Daddy. Do you see the shameless plug for the LABC website? ;)
Size: Brandt weighs 20 lbs, 10 oz., and he's sweet as pie! I'm not sure how long he is, but I know he has grown. He is in size three and four diapers, and he wears a few 9 month, some 9-12 month, and mostly 12 month clothes. He can even wear some 18 month jammies that have been washed a bunch. We have several friends that have let us borrow their hand me downs, and we are so thankful! We also have awesome grandparents that have filled in with clothes that we needed! (Thanks, everyone!) 

 Sleeping: Brandt has started sleeping better. He only wakes up 1 to 3 times per night now, and last night, Daddy turned the monitor off the first time he woke up, and I didn't turn it back on until Felicity woke me up at 2, and then he slept the rest of the night. We had to resort to getting Mrs. Loretta to sew us a really long and thick black curtain, and Daddy hung it on the inside of his bedroom door. It really helps to block some noise from going into the hallway and girls' room. Brandt also takes two naps a day. I feel like I finally got him on a routine last week, but the unfortunate part of that routine is that he was waking for the day at 5:45 am. I don't want to give him a dream feed though, because not only do I think he doesn't need it, but he won't burp after that feeding (he's too sleepy), and he often poops right after--making him really wake up, so I'm working on that too. For now, though, he needs his first nap around 8:30 or 8:45 am, and then that puts his afternoon nap around 1:30, and then I have to wake him at 2:45 to go get Avaree. We're still working on perfecting all of that. At least he is sleeping better though, now if only his sister could get the whole sleeping thing again. ;)



Every Sunday afternoon, Brandt gets to take a nap on Daddy. That's their thing, and Brandt always takes a really LONG nap while Daddy holds him, and "they" watch football. It's precious, and I hope they don't grow out of it for a long, long time. I can only imagine how toddler Brandt will look and act. I sure hope he likes football, though! ;)

New Development: Brandt is army crawling EVERYWHERE. I mean EVERYWHERE, and he is FAST. I texted B the other day that I needed a catheter. He has found me in the bathroom on more than one occasion. Felicity still doesn't totally understand what her Bubbie can and can't put in his mouth, so leaving him for even a second is not the best idea. I usually bring him with me, but he can get into more in the bathroom than the living room. Also, in the last couple of days, he has started getting up on all fours and rocking. Tonight, he crawled on all fours with both knees, so I know it's only a matter of days before he has perfected that. Even without that, though, he crawls into my lap, over my leg, over toys, etc. He bonks his head on the decline, but he rarely cries. :) 

His second tooth also FINALLY came in. It was on the horizon for more than a month, but it just broke through this weekend. Poor buddy was tired of that annoying pain! 

Disposition: He's a REALLY happy guy. He loves to play, and he loves to be talked to. We had all of our grandparents here this weekend, so he may have gotten carried a bit more than usual (as there were more hands available), so the last couple of days he has been whining to be picked up more. He army crawls to my feet, and then he whines and flaps his arms until I pick him up. Today, I was able to district him some when I couldn't pick him up that second. The only time he really cries is if he's tired, hungry, or one of the girls takes a toy from him. :) I think that seems pretty normal. He loves to play with toys. Brandon does not love that Brandt loves to play with the princess castle. In fact, today I heard B say to Brandt, "Oh, I see, you're just making out with Cinderella." Thankfully, the girls were not in the room. ;) He also loves all of his cars and trucks, his Sophie, his piano, and his tool chest. :) 

Eating: Brandt is a hungry little guy! He still gets Mama milk every 3-4 hours during the day, and occasionally one feeding at night, though I'm trying to drop it. He also eats oatmeal for breakfast every day, and for lunch he eats whatever people food I have on hand. For supper, he eats small bites of whatever we are having. His favorites are rice, ground beef, yogurt, tortillas, black beans, spaghetti (see picture below), grilled cheese, chicken, bananas, watermelon, avocado, green beans, and some purees that are thicker. He also still likes puffs and yogurt bites for snack. Brandon also told me that he ate a pringle today. (Third kid and Daddy was in charge!) How do i know that he's hungry? Well, I pick him up when he's fussing, and he starts eating my body (and mama milk has already been given). He generally starts gnawing on my shoulder, face, or neck. He's a hungry boy! I can't imagine what he'll eat as he grows. He already eats way more than the girls did! In fact, he currently eats more than Felicity does. ha!

We love this little guy. I really can't believe that we are less than four months from him turning one, but the lack of sleep that I have had in the last 8.5 months has me not so sad about him growing up a bit. I suppose that's God's way of helping me enjoy the time I have, but not wish for a bitty, squishy baby again. I'll just let my SIL's have those, and I'll snuggle them. :)
We love you Brandt Ryder! Your sisters adore you, your Daddy is so happy to have you, and your mama gets her love cup filled up from you every day! You're just the sweetest little cuddle bug, and we can't imagine not having you in our family! You have stretched me more than I could have ever imagined, and I love you for it! 
Love you, Bubbie! 

An Update On My Littlest Girl, my Big Girl, and My Baby Boy!

We've been steadily getting into our new school routine. I really didn't anticipate how much Avaree join to Kindergarten would change all of our lives, but it has. :) We have slowly learned what works best and what doesn't for all of us. 

This little girl may have had the hardest adjustment. For the first two weeks, she cried at the door after Avaree left, threw lots of fits, and was overall really difficult to please, but now she's settling in, and she's learning her identity apart from her sister. We have "school time" and she enjoys going to "her class" at church and BSF. She also loves playing with, feeding, taking care of "her bubbly" and every baby that we have in this house. She loves to be the Mommy! :) 

Every afternoon after she gets up from nap, she says, "We go get my sister, Lolly." Of course, it sounds more like, "We go geh my sis-her Wawy!" It's so sweet. She's also gotten better about not giving Avaree the silent treatment when she gets in the car after school! ha! Of course, we're home for five minutes, and they're fighting again, but they really do love each other. 

Felicity just had so much of her identity tied up in Avaree, she has really come out of her shell lately. She sings and dances, laughs, tells "knock knock jokes", and talks all day! It's really been a joy to watch her bloom! The talking started back in July, but everything else has been in the last month! 

In the last month, she has also learned her ABCs (for the most part), her colors, her numbers (and can count from 1-15 in English and 1-10 in Spanish--thanks to Avaree!), and the basic shapes. Her favorite color is purple and her favorite shape is the diamond! :)

This girl has a soft spot for "my bubbie", as she calls him. She loves to hold him, play with him, feed him, and sing to him. She pretends to take pictures of him all day long, and today I caught her giving him a chip from her plate at dinner! ha! These two are going to be a pair!

This big girl is really thriving in Kinder! She came home with a blue this week, and we were so proud! We had set the goal for her to get a blue (the color that reflects "exceeding expectations in the classroom") sometime that week, and she brought it home the next day! We have a very solid routine of everyone sitting at the table together right when we get home from school. Felicity draws on a piece of paper, and Avaree does her homework right away. We talk about her day all the way home, and then after homework, we put all school stuff away and ready for the next day, clean out her lunch box, and then it's usually time for me to play with the big girls for a minute before time to cook dinner. We usually get home around 3:45 every afternoon. 

I'm so thankful that she loves to do her homework, and she never minds doing it first thing. I hope that she will always love her homework, even though I know that's a bit of a pipe dream. ;) One thing that we have learned is that she does need to try to have her eyes closed by 7:45pm. She's just exhausted, and in order for us to have some time together in the mornings and not be rushed, she needs to get up around 6:30-6:45, so that requires her to go to bed earlier. Otherwise, it's meltdown city. We miss her so much during the day, but we are getting a little more accustomed to our new schedule. It's just hard to get Brandt's second nap and Felicity's whole nap in before we have to leave for pick up. We're almost there though. :)

Speaking of little brother, he is EIGHT MONTHS OLD TODAY! I'll write his 8 month post soon, but he is all over the place. There is no doubt that he is officially on the move! He can army crawl across the room in about 30 seconds, and we've had to be soooo careful about what he can get. He has already eaten one black crayon that Felicity left on the floor! ;) He also had his first fever this week. I'm so proud that we made it almost 8 months without a fever. That was not the case for his sisters. Avaree's first fever was her first week at daycare (12 weeks), and Felicity's was 4 months. He had an ear infection, and the antibiotic is really working quickly! He was miserable for a couple of days, but he's generally happy if Mama is around. ;) I left him with Brandon on Thursday night, so that I could take the girls to cheer practice and work on the spirit sticks during practice. I don't think they had the best hour ever. Poor Daddy! Brandt is also finally getting on a schedule, and it was close to the 7 o'clock hour, so he was done and ready for bed! :)

It's so fun to watch him explore his world. 

In conclusion, these two melt me. They can play together SO SWEETLY (and then fight like crazy people the next minute), but they do love each other so. :) 

Much more to come. I need to write Brandt's 8 month update, and my big girl turns SIX in two days. I can't even wrap my brain around that. 

Brandt Grows Up: 7 months!!!

I'm a little late on this one, since he is technically already 7.5 months, but I'm still going to write it! :) 
Stats:  Weight: 20 lbs, 6 oz.
Sizes: Brandt is still in size three diapers! (Side Note: He is a Target brand or huggies baby! His sisters were pampers or Aldi babies. It's so funny how they are each so different!) He is wearing 9 month, 12 month, and even some 12-18 month clothes, though those still have plenty of room. It really depends on the brand, and how many times it has been washed. :) He is also wearing a size 3 shoe! I put shoes on him today, and he was enamored with them! It was so cute!


Sleeping: Well, even though he is sleeping so sweetly in the picture below (he loves his weekly Sunday afternoon naps with his Daddy), he is still not a good sleeper. We've done "sleep training" for three days in a row four times now, and it has just not worked with this one. He still typically wakes three to six times per night. Sometimes he goes right back down, and sometimes he doesn't. I can't just let him scream (though I did some during our sleep training, but I had moved the girls to our bed, and we were in the living room, so that they could sleep without him waking them), because he wakes the girls up--namely Felicity, who then wakes Avaree up. :) We are in a season where it is a good night for me to get five hours of sleep. That's been pretty hard, but I do know that one day he will sleep. He does take two good naps per day. His morning nap is normally around 8:30 or 9 am, and his afternoon nap is around 2 pm or so, depending on how long he slept in the morning. The tricky part is that we need to leave by 2:45 pm to go get in the pick up line for our Avaree, so that makes his afternoon nap hard! :) He sure is sweet though! He usually wakes between 6 and 7 am, and he goes to sleep by 7:30 every night. He is usually ready by 7 though, and he lets us all know!

Eating: This baby boy LOVES to eat. He still eats from Mama every 3-4 hours during the day, and at least once at night, but he rarely drains me. He loves, loves, loves table food. In the mornings, he gets mama milk, and then about 30 minutes later, he eats his oatmeal (which he loves). At lunch time, he eats mum mums and puffs, and maybe a bite or two of whatever we are having. In the afternoon, he may have a few puffs when I give the girls their after-school snack, too. At supper time, he eats a full squeeze of baby food as well as bites of whatever real food we are having. He loves all kinds of food. We haven't found any squeezes that he doesn't like so far. He loves quinoa, pumpkin, parsnips, apples, coconut rice, broccoli. He's such a healthy eater! His favorite small bites foods are bananas, watermelon  (he gets sooooo messy, but he loves it), avocado, steamed carrots, tortillas, grilled cheese, and others that I can't think of right now! ;) He still loves mum mums, and he is really easy to please food-wise! I hope it stays that way!

Playing: Brandt could be a professional "roller." He rolls from one side of the room to the other. He goes back and forth so fast! He has also recently started scooting! His arms are so strong, and he pulls his body up to his arms, and then he pulls again! He also will put his head down and scoot his whole body up. He can get anything he wants--really quickly. He will be crawling within the month, I'm sure. We certainly have to be really careful about what is on the floor now, as he still puts everything in his mouth! He has a basket of toys, and he is quite capable of getting into it! He, of course, still adores his sisters. He loves everything they do, and he is always smiling and laughing at them! He still loves peek-a-boo, and pat-a-cake, but he also loves to read, sing songs, and talk to us! He's a pretty happy kid, and as long as there is something for him to gnaw on, he's good! 

Development: Brandt got his first tooth this month! He also has three more trying to break the skin! Come on, teeth! Please come in, soon. Our guy has been suffering a lot with these teeth. Teething has affected him much more than it ever did the girls. He always has to have something to bite on! The teething has also caused a crazy amount of bowel moments! Regardless, this boy LOVES his mama! He lights up when he sees me, and he makes me so happy. I so badly want him to sleep at night because I know he would feel EVEN BETTER during the day (and so would mama)!! :) He also loves his sisters and his Daddy soooo much! Having three kids has stretched me, but I can't imagine life without my little man and a lllllll of his open-mouth kisses all day long!

We love our Brandt--also known as Brandt Ryder, Bubbie (as he is called by the girls), munchkin, monster (only his Daddy calls him this), and Captain Squishy Pants (also a Daddy name)!!!! He's on the move, and life is changing fast!!!!!!

Kindergarten: Sneek-a-Peek and Day One!

I asked our families to send me letters/prayers of encouragement for Avaree, and I made her this little book! It's full of pictures, scriptures, letters from her grandparents, and a letter from her Daddy and her Mommy! I hope it is something that she will treasure as she gets older, and I also hope that I can add to it every year--or every few years. I also want to do this for my other babies, so we'll see how that goes!  

We gave it to her on a special hamburger date that we went on after her sneak-a-peek at school! 

She was so proud of it!

Let's recap that evening! Mom Mom came in for a couple of days, and she took care of little brother and sister at home, so that we could just take Avaree to her school! That giant bag that Daddy is carrying full of (labeled) school supplies!

We found out that evening that Avaree's homeroom teacher is Mrs. Sanchez (pictured below). She can only speak Spanish in front of the students (even to us), so when we walked in the door, she greeted us with only Spanish. It was a little overwhelming (and funny) for all of us. At one point, Mrs. Sanchez was even drawing us pictures to explain about parking on Monday! Avaree is in Mrs. Sanchez's room for homeroom, Math and Science for the first half of the day every day. Everything is in Spanish!!! Then, she goes to lunch, fine arts activities, recess, and then spends the last couple hours of her day in the English speaking room with Mrs. Anthony! She has a busy, busy day for a Kindergartener!

Mommy and Daddy signed up for PTA and snagged this cutie a t-shirt! She was pumped!

Avaree was so very, very excited for her special date with Mommy and Daddy!

She wanted to read all of her letters! 

…and take pictures with Mommy!

She told us thank you and that she felt special! Mission accomplished!

The next few days were a busy blur, but on Sunday afternoon, we had some time to snuggle together while the babies were sleeping. We talked about her big day on Monday! 

…and we were silly!

That night, we read "The Night Before Kindergarten!" 

She was nervous and excited!

Apparently, as we discovered the next day, Felicity thought she was going to "class" too. (oops!)

I set everything out the night before!

The next morning!

We took the whole family for the first day of Kindergarten!

Felicity wanted to be in all of Lolly's pictures!

Standing outside the building before we went in! Otherwise known as stalling for Mommy to get it together!

Family selfie! All smiles!!!

Sunflare!

The school had a photo booth set up outside the entrance!

At her desk!

With Mama!

Her first Spanish worksheet!

Sister thought these were her crayons, too!

It was hard to leave, but because I had such an emotional night the night before, I held it together until we left her Monday morning. It was so strange to just wonder what she was doing, and if she was okay. She's so much braver than me. She did great! AISD posted this picture on their website that afternoon. The superintendent visited Avaree's classroom. :) We have been very proud of how she has handled everything. 

The infamous piano room! (Avaree is not in this picture--just in case you're searching for her!)

The pick up line is C-R-A-Z-Y! We ended up waiting for Ave for over an hour on the first day! These two were not the happiest campers! (We were parked in a line when i took this picture!)

A friend a few cars ahead of me sent me this! We couldn't WAIT to get our girl back!

I'm so thankful to have the opportunity to pick her up! I only get her four hours per day now, and it is so very, very different. What a gift these past two years with her have been. 

We GOT HER!!!!!!!! (still parked--don't worry!)

(By the way, Felicity gives Ave the silent treatment for the first few minutes every day when she gets in the car. I think she's mad at her. Ha! I've tried to explain, but hopefully she will get over it soon. She has gotten better about not screaming for so long at the door after Avaree leaves in the mornings. Daddy takes her most days, though we have taken her a couple of times too. It works out much better if Daddy takes her on his way to work, though! :))

We celebrated the first day of school with a stop at YoBerry for some dairy-free yogurt!!! 

We really have been proud of Avaree. She has been exhausted every day, and the meltdowns have increased exponentially, but she walked in a classroom that had no names on the desks, no one welcoming her with sweet words that she understood, and she walked in confident and ready. Of course, I did have to give her a slight little push inside the room on the first day, and we have had some tears, but all of that is expected. Kinder has changed our lives in a lot of ways. I am trying to give it time for us to all figure out our new routine--or to even get one! ha! :) 

We love our Kinder girl! More to come!