Back to Blogging

So I've been horrible lately at blogging so I will try my best to quickly hit the highlights without boring you to death.

Brian's leg was fine. There was a small fracture that healed on its own and he quit limping about 3 days after we went to the Pediatric Orthopedist. You would never know anything had ever happened to him.

Halloween was fun. We went to Jason's parents church for a big festival that they put on. Brian was a pilot and loved all the activity going on.


Since I was not going to to get to see my parents for Thanksgiving this year, Brian and I made a trip to Houston in early November and stayed with Mimi and Pops for a few days. We had a ton of fun. We went to a big indoor bounce house play area thing and we had the whole place to ourselves. It was a ton of fun, but Brian was slightly scared of the bounce houses and we mostly just stayed on solid ground. We also went to the zoo while we were there. It was a lot of fun and Brian sure does love his Mimi and Pops.

For Thanksgiving Jason, Brian and I went to Jason's dad's parents house and had a nice meal. I made some green bean casserole (Jason's favorite) and for the first time in history baked a home-made apple pie. It was wonderful and I do have to say that I'm becoming a pretty darn good cook.

Jason and I have been in the process of trying to find some sort of childcare for Brian because his current babysitter quit - talk about MAJOR stress. I found this awesome dayschool (NOT a daycare) that is call Calvary Christian Academy that I am super excited about, but I cannot get Brian in until the start of the new school year (August). Because we couldn't get him in we had to find a person or place to watch him until he could start school. We interviewed tons of people and prayed - A LOT, but we didn't really find anything or anyone we loved. Finally we met this girl who was willing to watch Brian at our apartment and she was WONDERFUL! Even Brian loved her and warmed right up to her. After we offered her the position she found out that because of family problems she was no longer able to do it. BUMMER! We interviewed a few more people and finally settled on a sweet 19 year old girl who is taking online college classes. We really like her and think she will be great. I can't wait until he starts school. I think it is going to be just what he needs and is right up his alley. Structure and routine are what he lives for.

Because we are going to be putting Brian in dayschool we had to switch his daytime schedule to more match the school schedule - AKA we had to get him from two naps a day to one. Now, just so you know - Brian is much much happier and easy going with two naps so this was no easy task for me. I hated doing it, but at one point in all my struggling with him and praying for God's guidance he just stopped sleeping for his morning naps! God is so good. I did figure out that if I put him in his bed in the morning and afternoon during his old nap time for 30 minutes with some toys and leave him alone he is MUCH happier throughout the rest of the day. I love figuring things out and then they work.

Last week Brian discovered the joy of coloring. It has become one of his favorite activities. I actually have to hide his crayons because if he sees them he wants to color and cries until we do.

We have found a new church that we love. It's called Richland Hills Church of Christ. The best part about it is that Brian loves the nursery staff and doesn't even cry when we leave him. I love having a church family again where I feel comfortable. It's an interesting church because although it is a church of Christ, one of their services is an instrumental service (very rare in CoC). We go to the a Capella services, not because we believe one is right or wrong, just out of convienience mostly.

I think that is enough for now. For your dedication and perseverance for reading this far, here are a few pictures for your viewing pleasure!

Blogger Burnout

I am so behind in blogging that I don't even want to attempt to catch up. I have an exam pretty much every day this week, so I won't get a chance to try and catch up until the weekend. Hopefully I will get motivated to blog and get caught up.

Repeat X-rays

I took Brian back to his pediatrician this morning because his limping has not improved. His pediatrician ordered repeat x-rays just to be sure and the x-rays showed a fracture of Brian's distal tibia. We are scheduled to see the pediatric orthopedist on Friday morning. I am not sure what they are going to do for him, but I will find out on Friday. I will update once I know what the Orthopedist decides to do.

Current Events

No change on the limping issue. I called the doctor again today and she wants me to wait through the weekend and call her on Monday if he is still limping. I took matters into my own hands and took Brian to an Osteopathic Manipulation Doctor and had him take a look at him. He couldn't find much wrong, but fixed what was out of place. Hopefully it help with Brian's healing. I wish I knew what was wrong with him.

On another note, Brian FINALLY has some more teeth. He got his first two teeth about 3 months ago and then nothing. In the past two days he has busted 2 more through the top of his mouth with 2 more on the way. He has been quite miserable between his leg, his teeth, and the little allergy/sinus attack he's having (runny/snotty nose, throat drainage, and congestion). I think it's allergies because they have showed up two night ago - the same night we started sleeping with the windows open since its cooler outside. I think I have gotten up at least once every night since last Friday to rock him for 5 or 10 minutes to go back to sleep. He's just so miserable. I hate it.

We have an exciting weekend planned and I can't wait. Tomorrow we are going to go hang out with Brian's Nana and Papa and go to Nana's hospital's pediatric fair. Jason and I are hoping to maybe go see a movie sans Brian in the afternoon. Then Sunday we are going to go to Boo at the Zoo which I am totally excited about. Brian has never been to the zoo before and he is learning his animal sounds. He knows: elephant, dog, cow, duck (which he confuses a lot with dog I guess cause they sound a lot alike), lion, chicken, horse, and a few others. If he doesn't know what a particular animal makes he usually just says 'moo'. It's cute. We are working on frog, cat, and buzz for bugs. I'm excited to see how much he loves the animals. It's going to be a great family event. I will try and post pictures asap.


On a side note - to those of you who got Brian something for his birthday - I have ordered the Thank You cards and you should be getting them early next month. Sorry it has taken so long. It is worth the wait (the cards are AWESOME! - I am SO excited).

Gimpy Toddler

So on Friday evening I noticed Brian was walking with a slight limp. He has been walking now for almost 3 months and the limp is a new development. At first I just chalked it up to him being so sleepy. I also didn't think much of it because he hadn't fallen recently and there was no swelling, no redness, and no bruising. Fast forward to Monday - he is still limping. Monday evening he was limping pretty badly. Badly enough for Jason to make a comment about it (which kind of freaked me out). So the doctor in me started moving all his joints and comparing legs and what not (stuff doctors do). Again, there was no bruising, no redness, no swelling. There was no difference between the two legs and all joints seemed to move freely and to the same degree on both sides. There was nothing in his feet, no cuts, no scrapes, no blisters. But he was still limping. Now toddlers don't just limp for no reason. As I started watching him closer it became apparent that he was favoring crawling over walking (something he hasn't done since he learned to walk), and he was asking to be carried a lot more often than usual. He was also fussier than normal and would whine while he was walking. Something was definitely wrong. I started doing some research online and came across something called a "toddler's fracture". Basically, its a low impact fracture that can happen if a toddler falls and twist their leg while falling. (Go here if you want more information on a "toddler's fracture".) Jason and I talked it over. I really wanted to take him to the doctor (mostly for peace of mind). Jason wanted to wait a few more days and said he didn't want me turn into an over-reactive mom. I agreed and told him I would wait. The next morning (Tuesday) I changed my mind and made an appointment at the doctor's office (after asking Jason). The doctor sent us to get x-rays and then we waited. I just heard back from the doctor and all the x-rays are negative. Good thing and bad thing. It's good because he most likely doesn't have a fracture, but it's a bad thing because we still don't know what is wrong with him. Right now we are treating him with ibuprofen. The doctor said that if he hasn't improved at all by tomorrow afternoon I have to take him back in. There is still a small chance of a toddler's fracture (sometime they take up to a week to show up on x-ray), but it's unlikely. I just wish I knew what was wrong so I could try and help him. I have lost a lot of sleep in the past few days worrying about him. I will let you know if anything changes.

Pictures at the Park

Saturday evening we went to the park to let Brian roam around and play. Here are a few pictures.

Static electricity!

"I can do it!"

"A tire swing mom!"

He's just so big!

The best part - the slide!

All the pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Brian's First Haircut

So on Saturday we took Brian to get his first haircut. I didn't want to get it cut and wasn't ready to see all those cute curls go, but I couldn't win the fight with Jason any longer. He didn't want Brian to look girly and thought that he was reaching that point (especially with all the curls).

We took him to the barber that has been cutting Jason's hair since he was a baby. From the very get go Brian was weary of the whole situation. Even while we were in the lobby awaiting our turn Brian was uncharacteristically snuggly and clingy. As soon as we sat him in the chair the tears started and they didn't stop until he was firmly in my arms again. He cried his poor little head off the whole entire time.

I felt bad for the haircutter cause he seemed a little stressed and I know he was rushing to try and get done. Brian did sit still the whole time, he just also cried the whole time. The haircutter (Sabino) was very patient and did as good as could be expected for the situation.

I wasn't so sad to see the curls gone because he is still cute as a button, but the finished product turned out pretty awful in my opinion. The front is totally uneven and there are some chucks out of the top and back. Its look terrible, but it will grow out and it doesn't bother me enough to make Brian go through the stress/trauma again so soon. Here are some finished pictures (it's hard to see ho uneven it is because it is styled).

Here is the slideshow of all the pictures in case you would like to look at them

Fort Worth Alliance Air Show

So Jason, Brian, and I went to the Fort Worth Alliance Air Show last weekend on Saturday. This is the 3rd year in a row that Jason and I have gone and it has become somewhat of a family tradition. Last year when we went Brian was only about 2 weeks old. Time really does fly.

We always make it a full day event and left the house at about 8:30am. The weather was absolutely gorgeous all day long and we had front row seats that were a perfect view of everything. Brian had a blast and loved getting to walk all around outside.

Brian did really well with all the noise and excitement. He never cried once - even when the F-18s flew by at just under sonic speed. As the day went on and the jets got louder he got better and better at leaving his ear-protection on.

For the less noisy airplanes, we didn't make him wear the ear-phones. At first he would flinch a little and snuggle up against me or Jason, but by the end of the day he would point and get excited and say 'airplane' (which sound nothing like the word we know as airplane). He would clap and laugh and get all excited when one flew by. It was so fun.

Halfway through the day the poor guy was so exhausted that he fell asleep in Jason's lap while watching the planes. We were able to transfer him to his stroller and he actually slept for almost 2 hours. (He fell asleep with his headphones on).

By the end of the day we were all sweaty and grimey - especially Brian. (Notice the hair).
Overall, it was a really fun day. Long and exhausting, but fun. Brian thoroughly enjoyed it and I am looking forward to making it a yearly trip for our family.


PS - thanks to Hillary, Jay, and little Jackson for the awesome onesie top that was perfect for the festivities of the day!

Sleepy Head

So last night was a highly unusual night.

Brian usually goes to bed every night around 8pm and gets up between 7am and 8am (if I don't have early class). Last night he went to bed at 7pm and didn't wake up until 10am! I wish I could say I had a very productive morning, but I can't. I did enjoy the alone time though. It was wonderful and he has been in a great mood all day. Maybe this will become a regular occurrence - I doubt it, but I can wish right?

Birthday Party Pictures

One Year Doctor's Visit

So we went to see the doctor on Wednesday for Brian's One Year Old visit. The doctor said that everything looked great and that Brian seemed to be ahead of the curve developmentally.

Brian weighed in at just under 21 pounds (20 lbs and 14 ounces). That put him in the 20% for his weight. His height was measured at 30.5 inches which puts him between 50% and 75%. Who would have thought he was tall and skinny?

The doctor reported that Brian's heart murmur was still present and she even felt that it had gotten louder. Most likely this means that the hole has gotten smaller. (A smaller hole creates more turbulent blood flow which presents as a louder murmur.) We never got around to going back to the cardiologist because of insurance problems, but we should be able to go before Brian turns 2 (we have to be on this insurance a year before we are covered). Anyway, it's nothing to be concerned about at the moment.

Brian got three immunizations and they had to draw his blood too to check for anemia and lead levels. He was a trooper. Cried his little heart out during the shots, but was fine as soon as everything was finished and I picked him up. We have to go back in a few weeks to get three more immunizations and we also need to get his flu shot done too. I hate doing all this to him, but I would much rather put him through this now than have him get really sick later.

Wednesday evening (after his horrible day of torture), Jason and I took Brian to a new park I found by my school. He had a blast and we got a few cute pictures I will try and post later.

I am also working on getting pictures posted from Brian's birthday party. I am also trying to get out Thank-You cards. It has been a long week with an exam and quite a few quizzes.

We are all going to go to the Fort Worth Air Show this weekend and also try to go to the Texas State Fair. I will try and get pictures posted from that too as soon as I can.

Love and Kisses

Just quick little story...

This morning after letting Brian play in his crib for about 15 minutes (his normal routine when waking up) I went and got him out. I changed his diaper and headed toward the kitchen (with Brian in my arms). On the way to the kitchen we ran into daddy and so I stopped to let Brian say good morning to Jason. While we were all three standing in the middle of the hallway Brian forcefully spit out his pacifier, made a kissey sound with his mouth, and leaned in and gave me a huge kiss! I melted! It was wonderful that he voluntarily showed his affection to me. Usually I have to ask for kisses. I ate it up. What a wonderful way to start my day!

Walking, Talking, and Signing

So it's been quite a while since the last time I updated, but that seems to be the trend with my busy schedule. I will do my best to quickly get everything up to speed.

Brian took his first independent step on August 2. He was just over 10 months old. Within 2 short weeks he was independently taking 5 to 10 steps here and there, but still preferred crawling to walking. By the end of August Brian was walking all over the place and preferred to walk much more than crawl.

With the walking came LOTS of climbing. Brian will climb anything and everything. At about the same time, he also figured out how to open all the cabinets in the kitchen. He also loves to open and close doors around the apartment. He is too short still to reach the door-knob which is good and bad. It's good in that he cannot "escape", but it's bad because he very often closes himself into rooms and then cried until someone comes and lets him out.

Also around the beginning of August, Brian started using sign language pretty regularly. His most prominent sign is 'please'. He will sign it when he wants something, most of the time food. There was a night when it was about 15 minutes past his normal dinner time and he was whining and I asked him what he wanted and he signed 'eat' then 'please'. I was so excited!!!! He know (and uses) 'please', 'eat', 'all done', 'milk', and 'more'. He can also claps to say 'yay' and waves for both 'hello/hi' and 'bye-bye'. We are working on adding to those. Right now it is a slow process - he wants to use the same sign for everything. It won't be long.

It is amazing to me how everything seems to happen all at once. Practically overnight, Brian started communicating on a regular basis. He can already speak probably 15 to 20 words. He will bring toys to me if he wants me to help him and he will wait for me to follow him so he can show me what he wants (if he wants something). He can say (and knows what it means): mama, dada, nana, papa, bye-bye, baby, bear, duck, dog, car, moo, whoa, uh-oh, night-night, book, and several others that I can't think of right now. He also now understands and follows simple commands. I can ask him for a kiss now and he will give me a kiss - I LOVE IT! I can tell him to go get something and he will look for it and if he finds it he will get it and bring it to me. It is so fun watching him learn and communicate.

Brian is also starting to imitate behaviors. He 'talks' on his toy phone all the time and loves to give me or Jason the phone and have us talk on it too. He also knows what a brush and comb are for and tries to brush his hair and my hair. He sees Jason and I put things in the kitchen trash can, so he tries to put things in the kitchen trash can. We really have to watch him on that one. I am sure we have lost at least one pacifier that way. He also recently figured out how to work all the light switches and always wants us to pick him up so he can the lights on and off. I never know what new thing he is going to learn today.

His development is just starting to take off and I love it. I love being able to communicate with him and I love that he is learning to communicate with me instead of just crying or whining. It is so fun watching him learn new things and to see his little mind put all the pieces together. His world is just growing and growing and I am loving every second of it.



I will post details, pics, and maybe video from his first birthday party later. He also has his 1 year doctor check-up next week and I will do my best to let everyone know how that all goes.

Finally...

... a new post and an update...

Well the last time I updated Brian had just started crawling. I will do my best to hit the highlights of his growth and development. He is changing so much and so fast.

He now crawls like a pro and is pulling up on everything. He will stand for a few seconds on his own, but still likes the security of something to hold onto. He will walk holding on to someone (or something), but still has not taken any independent steps.

He is into everything. He is so curious and I love watching him study things. He notices every little detail it seems like. His favorite games right now are 'hide-and-seek' and 'spin around'. In 'hide-and-seek' I will go into the next room and call his name. He will start to laugh and crawl toward me. When he gets into the room where I am I say 'boo' and he just laughs and laughs. He thinks it is great fun. For 'spin around' he sits in our small desk chair and I spin him. After I stop spinning him you can see his eyes moving back and forth from being so dizzy, but he just laughs and starts trying to spin the chair more. It's pretty funny. He is going to be a thrill seeker like his dad and me.

Brian has FINALLY started sprouting his teeth. About a week ago I was feeding him with a 'real' spoon and I heard it click in his mouth. At first I thought I was just imagining it, but then next time he took a bite I deliberately tried to click the spoon and whad-a-ya-know it clicked! I couldn't believe it. (He was almost ten months old at this point, a little later than most babies). I could feel the tooth in there, but couldn't see it. The next day, Jason felt another tooth right next to that one. They are both on the bottom in the middle. We still can't really see them unless he is screaming, but they are there. He is noticing them too and has been playing with his tongue a lot on his new teeth.

He eats anything and everything. We are slowly moving away from jar baby food into more table like foods. I haven't really found anything that he refuses to eat. He loves food. He drinks well from a sippy cup and we are also going to be going to milk soon instead of formula.

He is starting to sign. He waves 'bye-bye' and signs the sign for milk if he wants something. He also just recently began signing the sign for more. He uses it if he wants more food or if he wants me to do something more/again that I have been doing. He recognizes probably 20 signs or so and I bet it won't be long until he is using a lot more of them.

Just last week he began shaking his head 'no'. At first I was pretty sure he didn't know what it meant, but he proved me wrong. I had a bottle, a sippy cup, and a snack on the table and Brian was signing for something that was on the table. I didn't know what he wanted so I handed him the bottle - he shook his head no! I thought it was a fluke until I handed him his sippy cup and he did it again. When I handed him his snack he began signing again and got all happy. It is more of a game to him than something he uses to communicate, but he does shake his head no if we tell him 'no' about something. It is kind of cute. I am just glad he hasn't figured out that he can tell us no yet!

Brian is trying to talk. He can say ma-ma and da-da and we are pretty sure he knows what they mean. He is also saying 'dog', 'frog', duck' and 'uh-oh'. We don't know for sure if he knows what these mean, and they don't sound exactly like they are supposed to, but they are the same word every time so he is saying them.

It is really interesting to me to watch him grow. He has reached a point where he listens to everything. He listens when he hears the fire trucks outside or the big trucks. He listens to music (and dances too - he LOVES to dance). He mostly listens to words. He wants to know what every thing's name is and wants you to say it several times. I just know he is storing all this information for later when he starts talking. He is figuring out too how to problem solve. If he can't around an object or can't get to something he wants he goes at it from a different way. He is starting to interact more. He will give us a toy or put something in our lap if he wants us to do something with it. He loves to read and have favorite books (and toys too). He has his own little ideas and knows what he wants and is starting to express it. I love watching him learn and grow.

Cape Cod Trip

I finally completed another year of medical school (way back at the end of June) and very quickly left for Cape Cod. Jason's whole family was there and it was nice to escape for a while. It was a lot of fun to see all three of the little boys playing together and to see how they are alike and also so different.

(Brian (~9 mo), Jackson (~10 mo), Lennon (~11 mo))

Brian had a blast. He LOVED the water. He would head straight for it every time we went down to the beach. Even though the water was freezing cold, that didn't stop Brian from "diving" right in. There was one occasion where we had to pull hi out of the water because his lips were actually turning blue!

My little fishy!

The fireworks on the 3rd of July (Plymouth's 4th) were amazing. We were right on the beach for the show and there fireworks everywhere. It was on of the most amazing fireworks displays I have ever seen. Brian didn't know what to think about the sound of them at first, but he really liked them. He caught on quick that there was a whistle type sound before the big sound and then being able to see them. He would look in the direction of the whistle and get excited when they went off. It was fun to watch him watch the fireworks.

While we were in Plymouth Jason's parents took Brian for a day and I took Jason to Martha's Vineyard for an areal tour of the island. Our tour was an hour long in a classic bi-plane with an open cockpit and everything. We had the leather helmet and goggles to go with it! I paid a little extra so we could also do aerobatics in the air - AMAZING! It was pretty scary. Way better then any roller coaster! We even had to have parachutes on! It was one of the coolest things I have ever done and Jason loved it too.

The cool plane we rode in.

While we were there we got to explore old town Plymouth. We went and saw the Mayflower (not the actual one, but a real replica). We saw one of the original water mills and even went to a mock plantation that was set up like it would have been after the settlers arrived on the Mayflower. It was very neat. Jason and I are history junkies like that.

Overall, the trip to Plymouth was amazing and we are beyond grateful to Jeff and Laura for making it possible. Here are just a few more of my favorite pictures.

Getting ready to go to the beach

The whole gang (minus papa/Jeff)

Our cute little family.

Another cute family photo.

Smilin' Brian!

Crawling

So it's 8:30 on Sunday night and I have been at the library since 11:00 this morning studying. I just received an e-mail saying that Brian started crawling today and I wasn't there to see it. I am so totally bummed. Jason said he got it on video (I will try and post it later), but it's just not the same. I knew I would miss out on some things with Brian from being in school, but I guess I wasn't really ready to handle it. I know Brian will never remember, but I will. Maybe I am just being too emotional about it. Hopefully I will at least get to see him walk for the first time.

On another note, it's been a while since I updated and Brian had his 6 month check-up not too long ago. He weighed in at 17.2 pounds (6mo. and 2wk.) which puts him in the 35% for weight. He was right around 26 inches long which puts him at 25% for his height. He is a little shorty!

We asked about the spot on his cheek and my doctor said it is eczema (which is what I originally thought it was). She gave us some lotion to use and a steroid cream to put on it and it is looking much much better. Hopefully soon it will be all the way gone.

Brian is getting much better at eating. He can handle solid foods pretty well as long as I make sure the pieces are small enough. He has tried scrambled eggs, french fries, and bread. We only really feed him solids when we go out to eat (which isn't too often). He gets quite angry now if anyone around him eats and he is not eating too - so we end up having to give him something to keep him from getting out of hand. I need to go buy some baby type finger foods instead of the unhealthy stuff I have been giving him. I am working on that.

We are practicing drinking from a sippy cup and he has gotten a lot better at that. He still doesn't hold it on his own (even though he holds his own bottle), but he has gotten the concept down that if he bites down on the "nipple" stuff comes out and when he isn't biting down nothing comes out. It won't be long until he do it himself.

Brian has discovered the joy of splashing in the bath tub which is fun. He is also doing much better in that if he sticks his face in the water (forgetfully) he doesn't automatically freak out and take a breath in. If he does, however, forget and breaths in a little water he just coughs it up and goes on about playing. No crying and no getting upset. He is just growing up so fast!

Lately, Brian has become obsessed with books and reading. He will sit in my lap and let me read to him (usually a Dr. Seuss) and on every page he tries to grab the picture. He still hasn't gotten the concept that it is a 2-D picture and not 3 dimensional. Toward the end of the book he tends to get angry that he cannot touch the object on the page and begins to bang his hands onto the book. Usually at this point I give him a cardboard book he can chew on which makes it better. He will also get mad if I try and take his books away from him.

I think that is all the new news for now. I hope I didn't leave anything major out. I will try and get the video posted of him crawling as soon as I can.

Here is a picture of what happened when we gave Brian a spoon to play with while we tried to feed him (the spoon didn't have anything in it - it was just for him to play with):

ba ba ba

Well I don't know what nana did to him, but Brian stayed with her for a day and came back a changed boy! Yesterday Jason and I went to go look at Pilot schools and left Brian with Jason's mom (nana). When we picked him up later that day he was blabbering on and on saying his 'b's. (bababa). Before we took him to see nana he only said 'g's (gagaga and googoogoo). Not only that, but every time he has gone to sleep since we left nana's all we have to do is lay him down in his bed and off he goes (unwrapped and everything)! Before nana's miracle touch we had to pat him and sing to him until he fell asleep. It was a lot of work. Now we just lay him down and walk out of the room - WONDERFUL! We may need to visit nana more often.

Something that Brian has started doing recently is giving kisses. I love it. He does it mostly right when he wakes up. He will grab my face with both of his hands and pull my face to his face. He will open his mouth and put it right on my mouth and wait for me to make the kissey sound (mwah). A lot of times he will try and kiss back but it mostly is just a wet slobbery chomp, but hey its the thought the counts and I love it!

Brian is getting closer and closer to crawling everyday. He now will get on all fours and rock back and forth trying to figure out how to move. It's funny to see him concentrate so hard. I know he is trying to just figure it out, but hasn't quite got it yet. It won't be long and he will be into everything!

We are hopefully going to get in to see the pediatrician soon - we are waiting for them to call us. He has an appointment with the cardiologist at the end of this month - hopefully we he will get a clean bill of heath. We think he will.

6 Months Old!

I can't believe Brian is already 6 months old! He is growing and changing so fast I can't even believe it.

Brian loves to eat. He moved pretty quickly through all the cereals and onto the veggies. He loves peas. We just recently started with the fruits and they are his favorite - of course. He likes it all. We haven't found anything he doesn't like. Sometimes we will give him tastes of our food (as long as it is soft enough) and he likes all of it too. I even let him suck on a lemon and he liked it. Not even a sour face! Crazy boy :-) He knows the sign for milk and for eat. He doesn't use them yet, but we can sign them to him and he knows what we are saying and what will come next. It's quite cute. If it's time to eat and we sign 'eat' he will get all excited, drop whatever he is playing with, and try to grab our hands and eat them. It's funny.

Brian sits up like a pro. He started sitting up by himself for more than a minute or so at about 4 or 4 and a half months. He can now also pivot very well when sitting. He just recently starting lunging forward from the sitting position to grab at toys. He will also get into the crawling position (hands and knees) from the sitting position, but he usually just plops down onto his stomach from there. He can scoot pretty well on his bottom when he is sitting. He actually gets pretty far. He can also "inch-worm" around on his stomach. He uses his feet to push himself forward. Unfortunately, he doesn't use his arms when he does this - he pushes himself forward on his face. I keep waiting for him to get carpet burn.

Just in the past few days he started rolling over from his stomach to his back. When he flops over forward onto his stomach from sitting he can now roll over. He prefers to be sitting, but if he is laying he would much rather be on his back - so rolling over is a good thing. He still doesn't go from his back to his stomach (that we know of), but he is making progress so it's no big deal.

The day after he turned six months we decided it was time to start weaning him from being wrapped/swaddled when he sleeps so Monday night we put him to bed without wrapping him up. We were preparing ourselves for a long night of him waking up and not wanting to go back to sleep, but we were pleasantly surprised. I think that first night he woke up 3 times, but went back to sleep as soon as we gave him his pacifier. Tuesday night he woke up once and last night he didn't wake up at all. So he id now able to sleep without being wrapped at night. The next step is getting him to sleep without being wrapped during the day. That is a little harder because he see and he is very distracted by things around him. It is too stimulating for him. We make his room as dark as we can, but it is still really bright. I think that by the end of this month he will be free from being wrapped.

I finally had to stop breastfeeding. I wasn't necessarily ready to quit, but I didn't really have much of a choice. He started teething in the beginning of March and when that happened he didn't want to breast feed - only bottle feed. I think it is because the bottle nipple was hard and felt better on his sore gums. He would only agree to breastfeed in the morning (once a day). As a result, my supply went down to once a day. Around the middle/end of March I went to Houston on Spring Break and left Brian with my mom and dad for 3 days. During that time my body pretty much stopped making milk even though I was trying to use my breast-pump. So, no more breast-feeding. I really enjoyed it. It was a lot of work and a HUGE time commitment, but I miss it. I will definitely do it with all of my children.

Brian is scheduled to see the cardiologist April 29th. We think his murmurs are all gone so we are going to get an echocardiogram done to double check. I will update after that happens.

The last time we went to the pediatrician Brian had a rash on his left cheek. It had shown up early February and continued to get a little bigger until the doctor's appointment. It is a red, raised, scaly, round rash that varies in its appearance from day to day. We asked the doctor about it and she very quickly remarked - it's ringworm put anti-fungal cream on it. (This wasn't my usual doctor). I didn't think it was ringworm and also didn't know where he could have gotten it from. It also didn't seem to itch and never spread. So we began putting anti-fungal cream on it twice a day like you are supposed to. We did this for 2 weeks and there was no improvement. We decided to try a baby eczema lotion (baby eczema is quite common). We did that for about a week and there was no improvement. We then bought a different anti-fungal cream (different chemical/medicine) and have been putting that on him twice a day diligently for about 5 weeks. There has been NO improvement. We are going to the doctor soon for his 6 months shots and will get it checked out then. I have a feeling they might send us to a dermatologist. I am ready to get rid of it. It doesn't seem to hurt or itch, but I am just tired of looking at it and feeling like an inadequate mom for not being able to take care of it.

We took Brian to the park yesterday for the first time. That was fun. He liked the swings.
He also was obsessed with the grass. What a new feeling!
He is such a good baby!

We have also been letting Brian play with new things and learn about his world. Here is a picture of him playing with the pots and pans in the kitchen.

We have also discovered that Brian LOVES to read. He likes to listen to you read, he likes to look at the pictures, and lately he has been wanting to turn the pages. The other day we gave him a 'book' of his own to play with and discover. Here are a few of my favorite pictures...
Turning the page...
My favorite...


What a blessing!

Wow life gets busy...

So it's been quite a while since I have updated, where do I begin?

My little brother graduated High School (YAY!) and Brian and I went to Houston for the ceremony. That was nice because he has never met Brian and he got to spend some time with him. Also my grandparents were in Houston and got to meet Brian as well. We were only there for 1 day, but I enjoyed the short amount of time with my family.

After I got back from Houston on Saturday, we all spent the weekend hanging out with Jason's dad's family who all came to Fort Worth to celebrate Christmas with us.

Monday, Jason, Brian and I flew to Cincinnati for Christmas. We stayed three days. We really enjoyed everything and I was glad to get to go. I haven't been in probably 4 or 5 years. Brian had a hard time with all the traveling and being in different places and all the people. He had a couple of fussy days and it took him a day or two to get back to normal when we got back to Fort Worth. Overall, he handled everything really well though. He is such a good baby....

The weekend after Christmas we went to Jason's mom's house for Christmas. It was a lot of fun seeing all the babies together. (Both of Jason's sisters had little boys right before Brian was born. Lennon is 5 months old, Jackson is 4 months old, and Brian is 3 months old). Lennon had Bronchiolitis and we didn't know it until we got to their house. He had gone to the ER the day before we came over. Jason's mom and sister both said that the doctor told them he wasn't contagious.

About 3 days after we went to Jason's mom's house Jason and Brian started getting sick. I them got sick and Brian didn't seem to be getting better although Jason did. I then got a call from my babysitter saying that her daughter was running a 102 fever (after being around Brian). Although Brian had not been running a fever at all, I got worried and took him to the doctor. Turns out it was just a cold. He is finally starting to get better though.

When we went to the doctor he weighed 13 pounds and 14 ounces! He jumped almost 3 pounds in a month! He is getting SO big! I couldn't believe it. Also, this is the second doctor's visit in a row that the doctor has been unable to hear a murmur. That means that his holes may have closed by now. I think I am going to wait until his 4 month check-up and if they don't hear anything again we will schedule an appointment with the cardiologist to get his opinion and do another echo to make sure. That would be awesome!

Brian is trying really hard to st up now on his own. He sits well in his Bumbo or with help and can every now and then manage to keep himself up for short periods of time. He is very interested in the world around him and always want to be looking around. He tries to watch TV all the time and that is a battle sometimes cause his daddy loves to watch TV. He is smiling all the time which is SO fun and giggles pretty often. We still haven't heard any real hearty full laughs yet, but I know they are coming. He sleeps 10 hours at night and is eating about 9 ounces at every meal. He eats about 6 times a day. I am a little bummed cause I am not producing enough breast milk to feed him solely with breast milk at every meal. We usually have to give him a 3 ounce bottle after every meal. I think it is because I am not with him all the time since I am at school and so I am not making as much as he is needing (and it is hard to pump after every meal cause I am often with him alone if I am even with him). At least he is still getting breast milk at all.

I think that's all for now. I will update again when something exciting happens or we go to the doctor again.