brette: 6 months

growth:

our doctor's visit is next week

but i put brette on the scale and she was

about 15.5 pounds.

not sure on her length, but i'll update you after our well baby visit.

she's definitely outgrown her 0-3 month clothing

and some of her 3-6 month clothing as well.

most everything she wears now is 6 months

minus a few exceptions.

she's in size two diapers and

probably will be for awhile.

the main thing brette "grew" this month was

her first tooth!

she literally just got it last week,

right at 6 months old.

it's her bottom right centered tooth.

and no, i'm not a fan of teething.

between her 6 month growth spurt and that,

we've had a few rough days.
i never know if she's hungry or if her tooth hurts.

there's a lot of trial and error right now.

 

one big change we saw this month is her connection with me.

she's becoming quite the mamma's girl.

sometimes i'm the only one that can hold her.

its expected since we spend all day, everyday together,

but i'm hoping this phase is short lived.

not that i don't love the love,

but it makes things a lot easier if i can pass her off to

her grandma for a bit if i need to do something.

 

another darling little change in brette is her reaction to ronnie.

she can definitely recognize people now and she has

a soft spot for her daddy.

when he walks in the door at night she is all smiles and laughs.

its so cute to watch.

  

 

sleeps:

b is still doing great at night.

goes down about 7:30-8:00

and gets up at 6:00-6:30.

i still put her down every 2 hours for a nap in her swing

and that has been working great.

it's like i found brette's napping secret recipe.

my only "complaint" would be that we don't have a definite schedule.

everything depends on how long she sleeps and her wake up time.

so it can very day to day.

we've reverted back to swaddling too.

i tried the whole not swaddled thing

and brette wasn't having it.

i figure i can battle that another day.

  

eats:

we're still on the exact same nursing schedule as last month.
6:30
10:30
(cereal)
 2:30
5:00
7:00

(unless she's going through a growth spurt or teething,

which means this last week has been waaaay off.)
 she drinks water everyday.

not a ton, but i always try to offer it to her.

we still practice drinking out of a cup a couple times a week

and she's getting better.

but we also bought her a new cup with a straw

(thanks for the suggestion!)

and she is a pro at that.

she can suck down the water really well through a straw.

now every time ronnie and i have a drink,

we are sharing. (as long as its water)

the biggest news with brette is that we started her on food.

so in between her 10:30 and 2:30 feeding

i give her a little bit of cereal.

(watch our video)

i found out that she eats it a lot better

if i mix it with breastmilk instead of formula.

go figure.

in fact, yesterday she ate her first serving

and then a little bit more.

i'm really excited to get her started on veggies

and put "people" food in her mesh feeders.

but i'm going to give her a full week of just cereal to make sure

she has no bad reaction to it

and then move on.
  

 

plays:

we play around here a lot.

brette's new favorite game is to drop

whatever i give her on the floor,

then i pick it up and

she drops it again.

believe me, this is only fun for her.

we're still reading a lot and

spending time in both her excersaucer and her bumbo.
this month i plan on busting out her bouncer
and see if she's ready to do some jumping.

all toys still go in her mouth

so we have to keep things clean.

she also loves to watch people dance.

i'm going to have to catch ronnie on camera

because he's been sharing his smooth moves and she dies laughing.

  

firsts:

she got her first tooth.

she had her first solid food.

she can semi-sit up under supervision.
she had her first meeting with her great grandma

and made her first trip back to illinois,

where we also celebrated her first thanksgiving.

 i'm so excited to get her eating all kinds of things

and have her sit up consistently on her own.

i expect we'll see both things in the next month.

things are moving fast.

happy 1/2 birthday, baby girl!

 

i tried to get a good tummy time shot,

but then this happened.

screw you mom, i'm just going to put my head down.
e v e r y t i m e.
 

 

 

feed me

brette started cereal

and she doesn't like it.

she gives awful faces.

i'm gonna give her a week or two

to see if its just the consistency she doesn't like.

but i might start

to mix veggies in just so

maybe it tastes a bit better.

we'll see how it goes.

after all, today is just day three.

here is brette's first try:

 

 

 

 don't mind my outfit or the fact that i'm chewing gum like a cow.

 

brooke: six months

i post updates for brette every month

but haven't really said much about my progress.

i'm 6 months post partum on thursday

and there have definitely been some changes.

 

let's get truthful.

i gained 30lbs during my pregnancy,

tipping the scales at 185.

you can do the math.

that means i started at 155,

which is 10-15lbs heavier than i normally am.

note to self - do not get pregnant when you are already fatter than normal.

and seriously, when does this weight thing get easier?

the first two weeks after having b were the worst.

my stomach was (is?) jiggly,

i had to fill up a water bottle every time i peed,

my arm was killing me from the whooping cough shot,

ronnie made me cry once, which had never happened,
because normally i would just tell him to f off

and we had guests here every other minute.

yet, it still wasn't that bad.

brette was sleeping and eating just fine,
and i had already lost 20 lbs in the first couple weeks,

so i wasn't that stressed.

 

then around 3 months my hair started falling out.

i remember it was the week after my 30th birthday.

everyone sheds,

but i'm talking clumps and clumps of hair.

hello, hair grosses me out.

i hate it and its e v e r y w h e r e.

i vacuum all the time,

but its on me, brette, ronnie, our clothes, our floors.

and it has yet to stop. 

i'm don't know how i'm not bald by now.

not sure when the hair loss will subside,

but i hope its soon.

 

around 4 months i decided that i should maybe

look into losing the rest of the baby weight.

the first 20 lbs came off almost instantly

and then i lost another 3 over the next couple months,

but i was stuck at whopping 162.

(please note, that ronnie has always weighed 174,

until now and he weighs 168. i want to kill him.

it is against my law to weigh more than my husband.

i think he's doing it on purpose.)

one hundred and sixty two

pounds is too much for a girl of only 5'4 to carry.

its not healthy or flattering.

so at four months, i decided to work out.

i tried running,

but it didn't last long.

so in november, i switched to walking on the treadmill

every morning during brette's morning nap.

i lost 2 lbs in 3 weeks.

and then we had thanksgiving and i gained it back.

son of a bitch.

 

two things happened.

one - i met up with kassie and dana and we

decided enough was enough.

we're all headed to mexico in may for kass's wedding

and i'll be damned if we're wearing t-shirts in the pool.

we all measured/weighed each other (mortifying)

and said we were going to meet every friday

to check in with each other and make sure that we were staying healthy.

oh, and to remeasure and weigh-in. blah.

 

two - my mom and i joined a 21 day weight loss challenge.

it had the diet and exercise all laid out for me.

today is the start to my second week of "getting fit" and

it's going really well.

i've been working out and eating crazy healthy

and guess what?!

i've lost SEVEN pounds.

i barely slid in my goal of being back to

pre-baby weight by brette's six month birthday.

unfortunately, since i started fatter than normal,

i need to keep going.

i'd love to end up somewhere around 135,

but honestly, at this point, just get me back to normal

and i won't complain.

 

i'll update you when my 21 days are up.

wish me luck - - - or just wish my fat away.

 

friday funnies

i went to see catching fire with my friend angie

and a group of people. (so good, go see it!)

we got there super early to get seats all together

so we had some time to kill before the show started.

 

angie pulled up one of her recent pinterest finds

and said that she was dying when she saw this.

 

i literally lost it in the theater.

crying laughing.

and for quite some time.

 

 

hope you love it too.

happy friday!

sit up, buttercup

brette is working on sitting up on her own.

i only have her practice on me or on a bed.

i don't want her hitting her head on our wood floors,

but i do think sitting on something more solid would be helpful.

 

she's not quite there,

but getting close.

 

here's a play-by-play of one of our practice sessions.

 

 



wreath wednesday: birthday style

i know everyone is getting into

the christmas spirit,

but i wanted to start my wreath-making month

on a birthday note.

(but not in a jesus's birthday kind of way.)

 

once upon a time i was in a craft club

and one of the girls made this adorable wreath

that she planned to hang on her daughters' doors on their birthday.

i thought that was such a cute idea and i wanted to do it for brette.

i'm only six months ahead of schedule.

self high five.

 

i bought a ton of multi-colored ribbon bows (from the dollar store)

and a foam wreath. (from hobby lobby)

and i already had a glue gun.

 

i started placing the ribbons around to see where i wanted them

and started gluing.

that's really all there is to it.

glue the ribbons to the wreath and make it festive.
it only took me about 20 minutes.

 

 

 

 i'm all set for june door decorations.

 

 

thank (god we're home) sgiving

i'm sitting in bed surrounded by luggage

that has yet to be unpacked.

i haven't set out the first christmas decoration

or bought one gift.

its cyber monday and i don't even feel like

taking advantage of the deals.

i'm just so happy to finally be home and

back in my own bed that all i want to do

is lay here.

 

we traveled to illinois to visit ronnie's

family for thanksgiving.

it was a seven hour drive,

but we left in the evening so

baby boops slept through the whole thing.

unfortunately, that's where the easy part stopped.

we couldn't find a good way for her to nap

so after four days of lacking sleep,

she was one fussy baby.

we missed her swing and our quiet house.

instead she spent lots of time in my arms.

 

but it was nice to get back to the farm

and see all the family.

plus it was the first time ronnie's grandma got to see brette

and ronnie's mom hadn't seen her since she was born.

ronnie's sister and her family made their first trip to illinois too.

they soaked up four full days with brette

and we logged a lot of family time.

(a painting of the farm)

 

 

there is so much to be thankful for,

but right now

i'm just really thankful to be home and

in my own bed.

 

now someone come unpack my clothes and decorate my house.

thanks.


(this picture is a perfect representation of brette's mood.)