Plan of the Day

I tend to be a very clean and organized person. I like our house to stay neat and tidy. I feel very blessed to be able to stay at home with Brennan. There are many reasons I like being a SAHM, but one is that I do have time to work on things around the house. However, more time often means more slacking off.

Maybe it is because I would normally be going back for my first day of school tomorrow. Maybe I am going through withdraw since I don't have a schedule for school. Whatever the case may be, I decided to come up with a cleaning routine for the week. I guess I'll try it out and see how it goes. I might have to tweak it after I complete this week.

This is what I came up with yesterday and will try to implement starting this week:

Monday: wash clothes, pick up dog poop

Tuesday: wash sheets and towels, clean bathrooms, clean cat litter

Wednesday: dust upstairs

Thursday: wash clothes (if needed), clean cat litter, pick up dog p0op

Friday: dust and vacuum basement

Saturday: mop kitchen floor, clean cat litter

Obviously there will be plenty of flexibility with my new schedule. I just like the idea of having a plan of the day. Hopefully it will help me feel as though I've accomplished something by the end of each day. Maybe having a plan will inspire my dear husband to help complete some of items. (I can dream, can't I??) I didn't include vacuuming the main level of our house on the list because I do that ALL THE TIME! Almost every day. But I have to with two cats and a dog. I also didn't put anything about the kitchen other than mopping because I clean the kitchen each day too.

Right now the sheets and towels are in the washer. I guess that means I should get off here and go clean the bathrooms!

Do you have a cleaning schedule that works for you?

Friday's Fab Five

Here are five new and fabulous things that Brennan can do.

1. He can hold his old bottle. Well, at least for a little while. I am sure he could do better if he got a bottle more often, but since he only gets one occasionally, I am proud of his accomplishment!

2. He can sit up. Well, for a little while. :) Longer than he used to be able to. He still needs his hand on the floor for balance and when you make a big deal about the fact that he is sitting, he gets all excited, thrashes about, and falls over.

3. He gives lots of kisses! Kisses have been happening for a while now, but they are more frequent and he'll usually give them on demand. They are wet, open-mouthed, and slobbery, but I love them! We tried to get some kisses caught on camera last night. It didn't go extremely well. We got several of his different types of kisses:

The "spit up kiss" (not mommy's favorite!)

The "I want to suck off your face kiss" - This is the most common

The "I've had enough of giving kisses kiss"

4. He is in his big boy car seat now. We went ahead and switched to a convertible car seat, since we were tired of carrying the car seat carrier around. He LOVES his new seat because he can see outside better.

5. He likes to eat his toes while eating his solids. Feeding is a messy time around here. The first battle is keeping his hands out of his mouth. I feel like I have won that one after about 2 months of constant reminders. He is still blowing raspberries like crazy. Sometimes it is to tell me he is done, but other times I think he just does it for fun. It is really annoying and I usually have to eat up changing my clothes after a feeding. I have been showing him sign language, but he is still too young to use it. I hope one day it helps us communicate! The new thing is that he can now put his foot in his mouth and likes to do so between bites of food. I'll feed him a bite of peas, he inserts his foot, removes his foot, and I wipe off the peas from the foot. Pretty gross. I am hoping this messy eating thing is just a stage!

I will try to add more pictures to this post later. I wanted to get the Fab Five up because I know how people get all irritated if it isn't up by a decent time! :) B is napping right now (2.5 hours so far!!!) so I will snap a car seat picture and a sitting picture later this afternoon.

Have a great weekend!

Sunday Mornings

Sunday mornings are LONG mornings for our little guy.

First of all, I have to wake him up early. Yesterday I woke him about 7:35. Today we didn't have any plans, so he got to sleep in and slept until 8:45, so 7:30 is definitely early for him.

He has to hang out while we have praise team practice in the morning. We have to be at church at 8:30 for practice. Brennan spent some time on his activity mat playing, but I held him while singing the majority of practice.

We usually get done practicing around 9:15 and then I have to feed him sometime during the Sunday school hour. Yesterday Kyle and I practiced our song for special music during that time and since the couple who had special music yesterday wasn't there, we ended up doing our song a week early.

After we practiced, I took Brennan down to the nursery to play for a little bit until it was time to eat. I fed him about 10:15 and then once the nursery workers got there, went back upstairs and left him in the nursery.

When I went to pick him up after church, they said he had taken about a 20 minute nap. We talked to some friends for a little bit then we came home and I fed Brennan. He sat in his high chair for a little bit while Kyle and I ate lunch and then started to rub his eyes, so I knew he was ready for a good nap.

He went down at 1:30 and slept until 4:15! He was worn out. I guess a long Sunday morning will do that to you. I might've taken a nap while he napped too!

Even though they make for long mornings, Brennan does great. Here are some pictures of him from yesterday morning.

He's getting so big!

He was VERY excited!

Brennan loves his da-da.

3 of my boys!

Giraffe Tushy

Check out my cute lil guy. This onesie is special because my friends Amanda and Christie bought it for me a LONG time ago; way before I was ever pregnant. They saw the giraffe on the butt and just had to buy it. They knew Kyle would be mad because he was not ready to have kids yet and I had been ready for a quite some time! :)

I think these next two are a little blurry, but I was trying to catch the face he makes when he gets frustrated that he can't crawl yet.



I gave him his binky hoping to keep him from crying, so I could continue my photo shoot!

Took the binky away and got another good one.

Friday's Fab Five

Here's a quick peek at the fabulous things that have been happening around here during the last week.

1. I am LOVING this song by Francesca Battistelli. Kyle and I are going to do this song at church for special music on the last Sunday of the month. I'll sing and he'll play guitar. Hopefully it goes over well. It's a little different for our church I think. But different can be good!

2. I have lived in CT for four years now and finally went this week and got a library card! I checked out four books for Brennan this week and can't wait to go back and get more next week. The library also has free passes for some of the local museums, including the Niantic Children's Museum. I have been there once and when Brennan starts walking he will LOVE it. And now we can go for FREE!

3. Brennan and I are enrolled in a Baby and Me swim class through Groton Parks and Rec! I am so excited. Brennan really seems to like the water, so hopefully these classes will go well. Class will meet every Tuesday for 10 weeks starting mid-September! The pool is about a 1 minute drive from our house, so it's really convenient.

4. We had a great dinner tonight with some friends. They have a four-year-old son, Caleb, and he loved holding Brennan. They also have a 7-month-old son, Isaiah, and it's so neat to see how similar he and Brennan are. They were both "talking" a lot tonight. We had a nice dinner and a wonderful time of fellowship with them tonight. Thanks Steve and Jules!

5. I am half-way shredded! Well by counting the number of days that is. Today was Day 15 of Jillian Michaels' 30-Day Shred. I can pretty much do all of Level 2 now, so in a few days I might brave Level 3.

Sorry the Fab Five was late. But better late than never.

Have a fabulous weekend!

Jump Jump Jump

Brennan's new favorite thing is jumping up and down when you try to get him to stand on your lap. He was being a little fussy today while we were playing on the floor of the nursery, so I decided to try him in his Johnny Jumper.

He seemed to like it. For a short time at least. But he barely jumped at all. Just dangled there and looked around. I was able to use it as a swing and he really liked that. It's always nice to find a new thing that can help entertain him, even if for just a few minutes.

"You still there, Momma?"

This is serious business!

Future Builder

Brennan has been making his Daddy proud! He loves his workbench toy. I know Kyle can't wait for the day he can teach Brennan to work with tools!

He uses the Boppy to help him sit and will play with it for a little while...

...but he really prefers chewing like this...

...and this (hehe)...

...and this.

So handsome!

Friday's Fab Five

I apologize for my hiatus from the Fab Five. I didn't have internet access some of the time we were on vacation and last Friday I just completely forgot about it. Then when I was reminded (thanks, Val) I just didn't feel like doing a post. But never fear, it is back!

I have been pretty motivated since coming home from vacation. Here are five things I am super glad I have been doing.

1. I am not drinking soda anymore! I stopped about a week before vacation, but then gave up while we were gone because I knew soda would be surrounding me everywhere. It has been over a week now since I've had one though. A week might not sound like much, but that is a big deal for me. I am now trying to convince Kyle to join me!

2. I started Jillian Michael's 30-Day Shred workout series. I borrowed the DVD from Amanda and today will be day 8. I thought I was going to die at first, even on Level 1, but now I can make it through that whole level. I think I'm going to spend a few more days there and then try to move to Level 2.

3. I am back at Stroller Strides. I missed a little more than 3-weeks of classes. Two week we were away and the week before we left, I was sick and didn't make class a single day. Brennan had a doctor's appointment on Wednesday this week, so I only made it to two classes, but I am glad to be getting back into that routine.

4. I am still reading my Bible each day. During vacation I would read it in some large chunks because I got a little behind, but now I am all caught up and back to doing it daily. It's actually really fun right now because I am reading Psalms and I am really enjoying it.

I think those are the main areas where I feel highly motivated. I would also like to start reading more. So,

5. Hopefully I can become more motivated to read. I tend to read a lot more when Kyle is out to sea. However, that won't be happening for a long time, so I think I need to make some time to do it now. Do you have any suggestions for books to read? I'd like to start reading more fiction, because I tend to read mainly parenting books and books on marriage and I'm ready for a change.

Have you been highly motivated to get things done this week? If not, I hope you're able to start next week.

Have a fabulous weekend!

Dear Brennan,

Today you are six months old! That's half of a year! Where in the world has time gone? Being your Mommy is the greatest (and sometimes most stressful) job I could ask for. We just got home a few minutes ago from your check-up at the doctor's and she said you seem perfect. You are in the 50th percentile in every category: weight: 17lbs. 2oz., length: 26in (I think you may actually be longer though), head: 17 1/4. You have had a very busy month, so here is a recap of what's been going on.

You have continued to outgrow more clothes. I always think I have them so organized in your dresser and then one day I'll find something and hold it up and say, "I think this is too little." You tend to outgrown things length-wise first. You can still wear a few 3-6 month things, but are mostly in 6 months and a few 9 months outfits. You are currently on your last pack of size 2 diapers. We just bought size 3 last night because you're getting so big. So big, in fact, that Mommy and Daddy don't like carrying you in your car seat carrier anymore. It's getting too heavy!

Eating is going really well. You eat cereal three times/day and have baby food with it twice/day. You have tried almost all of the Stage 1 baby foods and like anything that isn't green. Mommy has to mix the peas and green beans in with your cereal to get you to eat those. You seems to especially love carrots and all fruits. You still aren't sure about a sippy cup. We just bought new ones with straws last night, so we'll try those out. I don't think you like water, so I'll have to start putting some milk I have pumped in there for you. You definitely don't like cold water. You can use a straw and sometimes we'll let you take a drink when we are at a restaurant and you make a funny face.

Still no teeth. I am shocked because you are such a drooler and always chewing on everything. Surely some are going to come in soon! You still can't quite sit up on your own either. If you put your hands on the floor in front of you, you can do this bent over sit. You also still haven't rolled over from your back to your tummy yet. You get so close when you're reaching for things, but just haven't gotten the hang of it yet.

There are a lot of new things you are doing though. Right after your 5 month birthday, you discovered your feet. Now you play with them all the time! Sometimes you'll even grab them when asked. You don't put them in your mouth yet like most babies, though. You also blow raspberries constantly. It was super cute at first, but you also like to do it when you're eating and that is no fun. Mommy is always saying, "No spitting your food!" during feeding time. You also use your hands to grab everything. That also makes feeding time hard. I have to repeatedly ask you to keep your hands down so you don't get food all over the place. You have finally started to straighten your legs when we stand you up. However, you usually just jump like crazy when we try to do that. Just recently you starting sucking in your bottom lip. It's super cute! When I tried to feed you green beans for the first time, you just sucked in that bottom lip and wouldn't open your mouth at all! Probably my favorite new thing you're doing is reaching for people. You'll reach out to Mommy and Daddy and it's super sweet!

Mommy wanted to get some pictures of your new funny faces, so I got the camera out the other day while you were eating. You were the perfect model! You did exactly what I wanted you to!

Here you are sucking in your bottom lip.

And then you blew raspberries for me!

This month you also had your first big vacation. It included your first airplane ride! You did great on the plane! Mommy was so proud. You got to visit Mommy and Daddy's hometown in Kentucky and meet all sorts of new family members. We were away from home for two whole weeks! It was nice when we got back. You seemed to be happy too because you are back to sleeping really well, which wasn't the case while we were gone.

You are still an awesome sleeper. You take good naps during the day. Now you don't seem interested in Mommy reading and rocking you before naps. You just want to be swaddled and put down. You are doing well at night too, but still waking up for an early morning feeding. Mommy is ready for you to drop that feeding, but then I remember there are plenty of babies out there your age or older that don't sleep through the night yet and I should be grateful. When you wake up between 5:30-6:00 I have just been feeding you on one side. You'll go right back to sleep after that and still be hungry when you wake up at 7:30ish. Mommy learned that trick from reading Chronicles of a Babywise Mom. Our bedtime routine is still exactly the same, but now you get cereal and baby food before your bath. Mommy is also considering nursing you before your cereal so that you'll learn to go to sleep without breastfeeding right before. Speaking of that, Mommy is so glad that you're still doing well eating and that I've been able to breastfeed for 6 months. Here's to making it a full year!

I'm sure there is more stuff you've been up to, but that hits most of it I think. Right now you're napping in your crib after getting crummy shots at the doctor. I love you so very much. Even when I'm having a bad day, you can always make me smile. I look at how much you've changed already and it blows my mind to think about what the next six months are going to bring! Thanks for being such an awesome baby!

Love,

Mommy

Brennan back at 5 months!

Here is his today at 6 months. Check out his cute submarine onesie!

Funny face!

Ringo wants to join in the photo op!