Dear Brennan,

Happy 5 month birthday! I am in complete and utter disbelief that you are already five months! Time is flying by and every single stage seems more exciting than the one before. Here are some of the things you've been doing lately.

I packed away more clothes recently. A ton more clothes! I can't believe how many outfits you've outgrown already. Mommy and Daddy are thankful for all the hand-me-downs you received before you were born. It's like Christmas when I start going through your dresser because I find things I had forgotten about it. You are wearing mostly 3-6 months clothes and even some 6 month things. I have to avoid clothes shopping for you because I think things are so cute and could easily get carried away. Besides, you do not need any new clothes right now. You have so many! You have moved to size 2 diapers now.

After you turned 4 months, we were contemplating giving you rice cereal. We did start that. You LOVE it. I think you are certainly ready for more baby food. You get so excited when the spoon is coming towards your mouth. You are also much more aware of everyone's food now. It's really hard for Mommy to eat if you're in my lap because you are grabbing at everything. I've given you some practice with water in a sippy cup. You love to hold the cup, put it in your mouth, and chew it, but aren't too sure about drinking it yet. We did just start putting a little prune juice in your rice cereal because you don't seem too happy about the new stuff that is filling up your diaper! We also bought you some oatmeal cereal that is higher in fiber to see if that will help. This week we will start feeding you sweet potatoes and see how you like those! You eat all your "solid" food meals in your high chair now. It reclines, so it is perfect for feedings!

Ready to eat!


You still "talk" a lot. When we go to Stroller Strides in the mornings, all the mommies laugh because you talk so much. You are getting so good at using your hands. You can put your binky back in your mouth now, which is good because you also rip it out all the time. You can pull your froggy on your bouncy seat and make it play music now. You can press buttons on your musical toys too. It is so neat watching you grow and develop. You still can't quite roll from your back to your tummy. You can make it onto your side, but that's it. You practice sitting up a lot now. I put the Boppy behind you so you learn to balance and you sit in your Bumbo sometimes. You can sit all by yourself for a few seconds if Mommy helps you get balanced first!

You still don't have any teeth yet, but LOVE chewing on things. You chew on your Binky a lot now. Your hands are always in your mouth.

We are getting ready to go on your first airplane ride later this month! I hope you do really well. I think you'll do great because you are such a super baby. You are doing well at naptime and bedtime. We have a new naptime routine now. Mommy used to rock you to sleep at naptime and have to guess when it was "safe" to get up and lay you down. I got tired of that, so we changed it up. Now we go into your room and you sit in Mommy's lap while I read "First 100 Words". Then I play "2 minutes of bedtime music" on Scout. I rock you during those 2 minutes, then swaddle you, and lay you down. You are always swaddled now with one or both arms out, so I think you might be ready to sleep unswaddled. Bedtime routine is the same; we just added a cereal feeding to it. You eat cereal, get a bath, breastfeed, I read you your Bible story, you get swaddled, I sing "Jesus Loves Me", and lay you down. You are still waking around 5:30am for a feeding right now. I thought you were dropping that feeding when you went three nights in a row without waking then, but now it's back. It works well though because I can do a quick feeding and you go right back to bed. Then you sleep until time to eat before Stroller Strides.

You bring so much joy to my life! It seems hard to believe that you'll be half a year old next month! I love you very very much and feel so blessed to be your Mommy!

Love,
Mommy

Brennan at 4 months


Brennan today at 5 months


And we'll finish with a close-up

Friday's Fab Five

It's easy to pick out fabulous things from this past week because this has been a big week in our household!

1. On Saturday we went to a Fourth of July (on July 3rd) cookout. Friends from church host this cookout every year and it is always fun to visit and fellowship with people. It's also a great outreach because we can invite neighbors to the event too! Amanda and I bought matching outfits for Brennan and Adah.

We tried to get a good picture of them together.

This was the best one.


They also had a little kiddie pool set up in the yard. Brennan loves the water, so we went to check it out. He was so slippery from all the sunscreen that I was having a hard time holding onto him since I wasn't in the pool too. I looked around for something I could rig up to help him sit or float and found a life jacket. It was huge, but it worked. He looked so cute!




2. Monday was my 28th birthday! It was a pretty relaxing day, which was exactly what I needed. I feel like my birthdays haven't been that big of a deal for a while now and now that I'm a mom I feel like they are even less of a big deal. I ended my big day by watching The Bachelorette with Christie. We also watched the Jake and Vienna interview and felt embarrassed for them.

3. Wednesday was Kyle's 29th birthday! Again we just had a pretty relaxing day. He didn't have to work long and then we went to OCF that night.

4. Yesterday was our 4 year anniversary! I told you it was a big week around here! We went to dinner last night at David Burke Prime in Foxwoods Casino. It was really good and when you finish your meal, they bring cotton candy to your table for dessert. It was pretty sweet! We ate a late dinner so Brennan was already asleep when we left. Thanks Val and Amanda for staying at the house!

5. And a huge praise because Brennan's eyes seem all cleared up now! I noticed he had a blocked tear duct last Wednesday and he ended up getting one in both eyes. Now they seem as good as new though!

Have a wonderfully fabulous weekend!

A Quick Hello

Brennan just wanted to say quick hello.

Friday's Fab Five

Here's the list for this week!

1. Oh my goodness the weather! The weather has been incredible the past few days! It has been in the mid-60s during my Stroller Strides workouts with zero humidity. The AC is off and the windows are open. Amazing! New England summers are pretty nice!

2. I went and saw Eclipse on Wednesday! I couldn't bring myself to stay up or fight the crowds to go to a midnight showing on Tuesday. I liked it much more than New Moon and found myself laughing a lot. Kyle actually wants to see it, so I will probably go back with him soon. He watched Brennan on Wednesday so I could go.

3. I mentioned last week that I held an online Thirty-One party. The orders already came in and the stuff looks great! I love my bags. They seem much bigger in person, so that was a pleasant surprise. I am actually considering having another one!

4. I am looking forward to this 4-day weekend! Kyle says that every single day is a Saturday to me now that I'm not working, but he is off today and Monday! Today we are going to IKEA. Tomorrow we have a cookout at some friends and dinner with my cousin. We might try to go to Buttonwood Farm on Monday. Have a wonderful Fourth of July!

5. I have to share this picture of Brennan. I just think his face is priceless. He is so good at holding up his head now. I have been trying to put him in the Bumbo or propped up with the Boppy more often so he gets practice with sitting.


On a sad note Brennan currently has a blocked tear duct! I noticed it after nap on Wednesday and I'm hoping it goes away today. We have been keeping it clean and he doesn't seem bothered by it, but it is breaking my heart because it is puffy and red around the eye.

Have a wonderful weekend!

All Packed Up

So I guess I am officially a SAHM now. Not that wasn't already, but I've packed up my classroom now!


Kyle was gracious enough to come to school with me today to pack up some things from my room. I have been thinking about this day for a while now; trying to decide what to take and what to leave. My school district has given me this upcoming school year off as a year without pay, so I have the option to go back to work in 2011. The current plan, however, is for me to stay home for next several years. After that I am not sure if I will go back to being a full-time classroom teacher, so it was tough trying to decide what to take. We took 4 Rubbermaid containers, so I was limited to that much stuff.


There were some files I brought home. Mainly ones I might be able to use with Brennan at some point. I left a lot there though. A lot of work I have done over the past six years. (It's so hard to believe I have been teaching that long already!)


I had some more giraffes I needed to bring home! That was an easy decision.


I took a couple of my favorite teacher books/manuals and some of my favorites that I make copies from.


I brought home most of the stuff that used to be on top of my desk: pencils holders, little containers, notepads. Mainly things that have been gifts over the years.


Then I came to the books! I knew that was going to be the hardest part. Some of the books are from when I was a kid, so I definitely wanted those. Some are books that I really like. I tried to keep Brennan in mind and took all the Magic Tree House books, Marvin Redpost books, etc. I was thinking more along boy lines, so if we have a girl at some point, we'll have to get some girly books for her. I knew I couldn't bring all my books home because we don't have the storage room to keep that many. I ended up only filing up one Rubbermaid container with student books. Certainly plenty to keep Brennan busy once he starts reading!

And that was about it.

Crazy to think that I was able to leave so much behind. The same teacher that subbed during my maternity leave is going to be in there this next school year too. I left her note today saying she can keep/use what she wants and can toss the rest. Hopefully she'll find the things I left a little more useful/relevant than the stuff that was left behind by the retiring teacher I replaced!

So begins a new chapter in my life. One that involves only having to worry about one kid instead of 23!


I couldn't be more excited!

Cutie Pa-tootie

Have I mentioned lately that I think Brennan is adorable?!?!

On Wednesday I decided Brennan needed to sport a mohawk to Bible Study. He doesn't have much hair, but I made it work!

Friday's Fab Five

Have you had a fabulous week? Even if the whole week hasn't been grand, I hope you are still able to find some fabulous things that did happen throughout the week. Here's my list!

1. Sunday was Father's Day; Kyle's First Father's Day to be exact! He was in Kentucky for a wedding during the weekend, so B and I had to leave church early and go to the airport to get him. B was great in the car and our timing worked out perfectly because I was able to stop at a gas station right outside the airport to feed and change B before picking up Kyle and we were all good to go. On the way home, we stopped for lunch at Chipotle. (I think this at least the 3rd time Chipotle has made the Fab 5 list!) The rest of the day was spent relaxing at home.

2. We decided to start giving Brennan rice cereal this week. At his four-month appointment the doctor said it was up to us. She said he doesn't need it right now, but we can start when we feel he is ready. He hasn't been eating as much (at least not as long) lately (maybe he is just getting super efficient), so we decided to go ahead and try. He is doing really well with it. He has only been getting it once a day so far, but today is supposed to be in the first 2 a day, so we'll see how that goes. He did sleep really well last night. He went down a little later than normal since we were visiting with friends, but slept from 8:30-6:30. And even then he went back to sleep after his 6:30 feeding! Such a good boy! He likes his sleep just like his momma!

And as a side note, I LOVE going into his room in the mornings! When he wakes up the first time, he just makes little noises and always seems so happy to see me. It always makes me laugh because I lay him at one end of the crib and he is always at the opposite end in the morning. I think he would scoot for miles if the crib wasn't there to stop him. After he goes back down, I usually have to go in and wake him for Stroller Strides. I love to look at him while he is sleeping. It is so precious. Just this morning his little lips were moving like he was eating. I can't get enough of that little guy!

3. I hosted an online Thirty-One party. I am excited some people ordered and that I was able to get some good deals on a few things. It was also nice to help my sister, Lauren, get some more orders!

4. I went to Stroller Strides 4 times this week! It has been hot here (although it's nothing compared to back home in KY!). I am proud of myself for sticking with it. A friend I made at Stroller Strides had Brennan and me over yesterday, so that was fun. She is a Mary Kay consultant, so now I am thinking about getting some Mary Kay makeup! Going to Stroller Strides not only gives me time to workout and meet new mommies, it also gives us a chance to see new places around town. Today we went to Esker Point Beach. We will definitely be going back there. It's a free public beach. The website said you have to pay to park, but that wasn't true today.

5. I am so thankful we made it home from Stroller Strides today in one piece! When we left the house this morning, I could tell there was a big mess already on the highway because a cop was directing traffic. Thankfully we didn't need to go that way to get to our destination. On our way to the beach, I noticed traffic was backed up in other places too, but it still didn't affect us. It would affect our trip home, so I was hoping it would get cleared up. Unfortunately, it was still backed up after class, so I decided to take an alternate route. Everything was backed up though! It was crazy. Our 5 mile drive home took a little over an hour! This is the 2nd time in less than two weeks that the highway has been shut down when we need to get home! We made it and Brennan was pretty content the whole time. He started getting fussy right before we got home. That guy is such a good trooper!

And a bonus #6. I am thankful for my fabulous friends Amanda and Val. Amanda, I am so sorry Brennan pooped all over your couch last night. (Although it does still make me laugh a little). Val, thanks for cleaning the couch while I cleaned my son! I'm sorry you had to witness that blow out! :) I am so excited that we will all be able to spend time together this summer! Holla!

Have a great weekend!