Brody @ 6 Months: What He's Up To

I'm starting to realize that "kids grow up fast" is the biggest understatement ever. My little boy is 6 months old today! How did he go from this quiet chunky immobile ray of sunshine to this teeny little man overnight?! Mind blowing.

SIZE
This weather better hurry up and remember what month it is because all of Brody's 18-month summer clothes already fit without a whole lot of room to spare. I seriously can't get over how long he is now. It's crazy how when I hold him, I feel like he's already half my size. Jesus.

Lil Man also weighed in today at 20 lbs 9.5 oz. What a tank.

EATING
Kids loves to eat, but definitely has texture issues. What can I say? He takes after his momma. We've pretty much blasted through the veggies list and have covered almost all the fruits. Bananas are definitely his favorite so far. Can't shovel them in fast enough for the little bird.

We've also got him on a pretty consistent eating schedule. Breakfast at 6, lunch around 11:30, dinner at 5:00, then a bottle before bedtime. Like a mentioned in my last post, we've given up on feeding him in his bouncy seat and graduated to a highchair. Such a big boy now.

SLEEPING
High five to Lil Man for still sleeping like a champ. Brody goes to bed between 8 and 9 after his bottle and sleeps until we wake him up at 6. We've been sleeping him on his stomach for the last month or so and he's done really great. Once he's in the helmet at night, we'll put him on his back.

MOBILITY
Brody loooooves to roll over! If we give him enough room, he'll just roll and roll and roll then yell at us  when he's run into something and can't go any further. Originally, he'd only roll when we put him on his belly because he preferred his back. Now he rolls onto belly and stays there.

I have a feeling he'll be crawling soon. He has great leg muscle and loves to stand and bounce in his exersaucer. Pretty much have to have a death grip on him while he's up on the changing table. Such a wiggle worm. Before we know it, he'll be all over the place.

PLAYING/COMMUNICATING
Everything he can get ahold of goes into his mouth. He has a great grip on smaller toys (as well as my face and hair) and loves to use his legs. He damn near catapults himself out of the bouncy seat. His exersaucer is still has favorite toy, but occasionally likes to just lay flat on his playmat inside his crib.

Brody's "vocabulary" continues to grow every day! He makes all kinds of noises and is currently working on his "B" noise... or roughly mmmmmmbababababa. He still is all smiles all the time.

FLAT HEAD
We had his plagiocephaly appointment at Mary Free Bed yesterday afternoon to pick up his helmet. Today is Brody's first "full day" wearing it. Well, hour on, hour off until it's time for bed. He has done tremendous so far. I don't think he even realizes it's on. Miss Pam said he did very well all day at daycare with it as well. Yay Brody!

DAYCARE
Daycare is still going very well. Miss Pam is excellent and Brody is nothing but smiles when I pick him up everyday. He also seems to be quite smitten with Pam's 20-something year old daughter. He's such a flirt. Gotta keep an eye on that boy. ;)

Read up on how things have changed since his 4 month review.

Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day everyone and God bless our veterans and those currently serving!

This long weekend was much needed in terms of catching up on projects and snuggles with Lil Man. On Saturday, Clay cleaned out our garage and got some other outdoor projects done while Brody and I ran into Muskegon to pick up some sod. When we got back, Clay and I tackled the dirt patch at the bottom of our deck steps. Grass is slow-growing there and I am tired of Zora tracking in dirt every time she goes in and out (which is roughly 317 times a day). So yay... there's sod now. I also nicely explained to Zora that if I find one hole dug in the new grass, I will bury her ass in it.

Sunday was spent at my grandma and grandpa's house. I was delusionally hoping for amazing weather so I could finally get Brody in the pool. Yeah right. However, it was a wonderful day spent with family and binge eating.

Brody (and I) are huge fan of these little sack thingys. Although horribly messy, they provide a welcomed distraction for a half hour or so. We've shoved watermelon, strawberries, bananas and pineapple in there and he just loves sucking all the juices out.

Grandma and grandpa recovered their antique highchair with part of the outdoor table cloth. Now that you see it, you can't stop staring. They're so cute.

My big boy is also officially eating out of a highchair now. We've been feeding him in his bouncy seat so far, but now that he insists on bouncing the seat himself, it's a little trickier getting food in his mouth. Now that Brody is rolling around and is super wiggly, changing diapers and spoon feeding him are just about the most difficult things ever. I assume it's right up there with dismantling a bomb in the back of a pick-up truck flying down a gravel road while getting punched in the face repeatedly.

Or something like that.

Brody, you better thank me for taking one for the team during diaper changes. Those pins that hold your diaper together? Yeah, well, they're not poking you while you're busy rolling all over the place because they're embedded safely in my fingers.

Anywho, today was spent doing the usual (cleaning/laundry/groceries) and a little bit of laziness and TV time. Hope everyone else had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!!

Week(end) With Grandma Z

What a crazy week it was last week. My daycare lady took Tuesday thru Friday off to visit her daughter so Grandma Z had Brody duty. She came to our house on Tuesday and Wednesday and then Brody went home with her Wednesday night so he could spend the other two days at Grandma's house. As much as I missed the little man, I so desperately needed a few "catch up on life" days.

Before Brody headed back to Muskegon with Grandma Z on Wednesday, we had another appointment with Mary Free Bed to get a rescan done. The helmet is currently on order and he'll officially have it on Tuesday, May 28th.

Thursday, Clay and I went car shopping. I'd like to drive a vehicle where Zora and Brody don't have to co-exist on the same seat. Transporting the two of them gets tricky. I'm afraid Zora's going to get over excited about something and trample over Brody in his car seat and I definitely don't like making Zora sit in the front seat. Too dangerous.

I was looking for a smaller SUV, but it just so happens that my top 3 are a bit on the larger side. Having only focused on the layout and space, my faves are the Ford Explorer, Jeep Grand Cherokee and the Dodge Durango. Any thoughts folks?

Anyways, back to Brody. He had a lot of little firsts this week as well.... started holding his bottle on his own, ate his first fruits, consistently rolls from his back to his belly and rolled to his right side finally. We also got him hooked on making noises while we tap on his mouth... what funny noises!

Boo loves her Brody. Sometimes I think she gets confused and really believes Brody is her puppy. She's also another huge reason Brody is (or will be) immune from all potential germs. Dogs are super awesome, but dear Lord... sometimes they need to keep their tongues out of Brody's mouth.

(Relax all you germaphobe mamas out there...)

Soooo... my parents are super awesome. Besides the fact that my mom watched Brody (and Zora) for 4 days last week and cleaned my whole house, they also created this super cool ramp for Miss Nutters. Her one and only eye has seen better days, so now she has a lit runway/ramp to help her up the stairs at night. How adorable are my parents?

Friday night was girls night with Mama Z and Ash. Drinks and binge eating at Logans, followed by hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa Neiser, then cards back at the house.

Such a busy week, but I got a lot accomplished and don't feel quite so overwhelmed. Big thanks to Mama Z for taking such good care of Lil Man. xoxo

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Banana Chocolate Chip Doughnut Recipe

INGREDIENTS

• 1 C. mashed ripe banana (roughly 2 small bananas)
• 1/2 C. raw cane sugar
• 1/2 C. fat free greek yogurt
• 1/4 C. unsalted butter (melted)
• 2 eggs (room temperature)
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 2 C. spelt white flour (you can also use AP flour)
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 C. chocolate chips 

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Using your electric mixer with the whisk attachment, add the mashed banana, sugar and greek yogurt. Mix until incorporated.

Add melted butter, eggs and vanilla extra and mix. Then add flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt to the batter and mix until just incorporated. Do not over mix!

Using a spatula, fold in the chocolate chips.

If you don't have a piping bag, scoop the batter into a ziplock bag and seal shut. Using scissors, snip the bottom corner of one side of the bag to create your homemade piping bag.

Grease your doughnut baking pan and pipe 3/4 full the batter into each doughnut mold.

Optional: Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar mixture on top of each doughnut batter before baking or you can dip the doughnuts once baked in the cinnamon sugar mixture. You may need to paint melted butter on top of each doughnut before dipping the doughnuts in the sugar mixture to allow them to stick. Both options work perfectly.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from the pan and allow to cool before eating.

I'm no whiz in the kitchen... so I don't know a lot about any of this witchcraft. All I know is I used regular sugar, flour and salted butter and it tastes just fine. Probably not as healthy as they could be, but squishy mama doesn't care.

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Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all you momma's out there! Last year at this time, I was a mere 7 weeks pregnant with Lil Man. We had just told our families that we were expecting, but were still keeping it a secret from the rest of the world. I definitely enjoyed spending my day with my happy little ball of sunshine rather than heartburn and a full bladder.

I heart my kids. My messy, slobbery little poop machines. xoxo

Saturday night, we attended church with my parents and then went to Grandma's house to celebrate with the rest of the family. It was a nice evening of conversation and binge eating.

This morning started out beautifully. Lil Man woke up at his usual time of 5 AM, jabbered for a bit and decided he was going to let mommy sleep in until 7. Glorious. After breakfast, Clay took Brody and Zora downstairs for cartoons or hunting shows or whatever they do down there and I had the morning to myself. Drank some coffee, caught up on life and had the bathroom all alone. Honestly, it felt a little lonely not having two sets of needy eyes staring me down when I stepped out of the shower.

In addition to my uninterrupted morning, Brody and Zora bought me a new coffee thermos covered in pictures of Brody's adorable face. Makes coffee taste even better.

We wrapped up Mother's Day weekend with another trip into Muskegon to spend time with Clay's family. More binge eating and napping in the middle of the living room floor.

Hope everyone else had a wonderful Mother's Day... especially to my mommy and all my fellow first time mamas.

Brachycephaly + Helmet Consultation

We finally had Brody's appointment with Mary Free Bed to discuss the back of his head. Being trapped in the birth canal and the use of forceps initially created the flat spot, but when he started out sleeping 10-12 hours straight on his back every night and didn't move... at all... he was destined to have a flat head.

Note to self... baby #2 is going to start out sleeping on alternating sides.

Anyways, he did super well and had a successful scan on the first try. Thankfully the blinky toy they used to distract him worked like a cat following a laser pointer. Brody is also now officially a blood... or a crip... whatever. They had to put this little nylon doo rag on him and now he's super awesome like his momma.

Yes, now that I can't rock a pony, I throw a bandana on my head the second I come home from work. I'm cool like that.

We're so street. Yeah, I kept the little hat. I think it's hilarious.

Anyways, I thought Plagiocephaly covered any cranial flat spots, but apparently Brody has Brachycephaly which is a flat spot on the back of the head. Plagiocephaly is flat spots on the sides. A normal cephalic ratio is less than 0.91 and Brody measured at 0.966.

The red line is the shape of Brody's head (viewed from the top of his head, facing upward.) The sketch is where his head should be. Without the helmet, Brody's head will continue to expand widthwise instead of filling out the flat spot in the back.

The orthotist said we could wait a little longer and continue to sleep him on his side and stomach (keeping him off his back), but chances of things rounding out on their own are slim. Plus the younger the child is, the faster the healing time and the less fazed they are by having to wear it all the time.

So our next step is to get an unnecessary head xray (thanks Priority Health) and get rescanned and fitted for a helmet. I so wish he didn't have to wear one... especially in the summer... but I don't want to regret not getting this taken care of.

So yeah. Here we go.

Roly Poly, Bean-Spitting, Happy Lil Man

I should get Brody certified as a therapy dog child so I can cart him around with me all day to improve my mental health. I mean, how does your mood not instantly improve when a baby laughs? Or makes sour faces from eating green beans?


Yeah, he should definitely come to work with me.

Apparently I didn't make Brody's green beans mushy enough. He has texture issues like his momma... wonderful. Guess it's store boughten baby food beans from now on. We had bean particles in his hair, all over his seat, embedded in the blanket, stuck in his chubby neck rolls, inside his pant... he was a hot mess.

We also had a wonderful Skype date with Moose and Emmalyn. She needs to move back to Michigan... badly. :(

We celebrated Clay's cousin's wedding over the weekend. Brody was a champ and got to meet a lot of new relatives. However, we discovered he's NOT a fan of loud speaker systems. The reception was cut really short for him and I after he started crying whenever the DJ would talk into the mic. 

Grandma Z and all her grandkids... Tank, Terror and Boo. What a trio.

So little man started rolling over the weekend. On the first day, it was only rolling belly to back... but just yesterday, he rolled from back to belly. Where the hell did my little boy go? He's just shy of 20 lbs, wearing 18-month clothing, eating solids, grabbing things, rolling over, very close to sitting steady on his own... my god. 

I've discovered that sometimes clothing choices for Brody make me super sad. Going from sleepers to pants to collared shirts just makes him look so much older! Now he's wearing shorts and tshirts with his little buddha belly hanging out... it's just too much. I'm gonna shove all of his squishiness back into a sleeper and pretend he's a tiny baby again.

Sleepy kids. xoxo

Daily Dose of Vitamin D

Thank God for the nice weather we had most of this week! West Michigan took forever to be done with winter, leaped right into flood season and then summer just randomly appeared. Anyways, Clay, Brody, Zora and I immediately ran outside after work to soak up as much Vitamin D as possible. It was super glorious. Lil Man is fascinated with the grass between his toes and loves any opportunity to sit around in his undies.

Kid's still obsessed with his piggies. The fewer the layers of clothing, the closer he can get them to his mouth.

"I will eat yo arm! ... and then look pissy!"

So we have had this woodpile behind our shed for a future fire pit. Over the course of winter, Zora has taken almost every single log out of the pile... drug it into the middle of the yard... and chewed all the bark off of it. Now we have this stick boneyard going on. What a crazy girl.

As you can tell by the last two photos, my kids are scavengers. Anything within reach will go into their mouths. Oh boy.