Brantley - 6 months

My sweet sweet boy is half a year old! It's going by so fast and he's getting so big. From 9 lbs 21 inches to 17 lbs and 26.5 inches!

Little Brantley can sit completely unassisted now and is nearly crawling.  He even pulls himself up on the laundry and toy baskets. He loves playing with his colorful cloth diapers and scooting about on the floors.

Now that he's reached 6 months we started baby led weaning for our solids route. He's tried avocado, bananas, green beans, and squash.  Next on the list is brocoli and zucchini.  His spitting up has also greatly decreased!

The last 2 weeks have been rough.  He's hit a growth spurt on top of the 6 month sleep regression.  Not to mention he's extremely clingy.  He wants mommy and only mommy. And he wants me all the time, if I set him down for even a second he goes in to full meltdown mode.  He's also only sleeping in out bed, and he has to be right up against me with his little baby had holding on toy shirt.

Growth Spurt & sleep regression

My little has hit a brick wall with his sleeping. We were well on track to him sleeping through the night. He has technically been sleeping though to night for a few months now as sleeping 5-6 hours straight is what they consider sleeping through the night. I put him to bed anywhere between 8-10:30 depending on him and how he acts and he would usually sleep until 4-5 am, wake to eat then go back to sleep until 7-8. Of course he still refuses to nap during the day.

This last week he has been an absolute terror at bedtime. He only wants to sleep in my arms or my bed. I can get him to sleep in the swing if I'm lucky but he fights that. Not to mention, he's started to wake up 2-3 times a nigh to eat, on top of waking to be held and rocked. I'm completely exhausted. It's awful, I'm hoping that having my husband home will help when he gets here tomorrow. I don't know how much longer I can d this one alone. It's been a rough week to say the least.

Cry it out update

I'm not going to lie, I barely gave this one a try. I just couldn't do it. I hate hearing my little baby cry, especially when simply picking him up will stop it. I like to tell myself that we gave this one a whole hearted try simply to nix it as a cure to the bedtime madness.


We started bedtime a normal, a bath with the fancy Johnson & Johnson night time stuff with lavender, followed by the same fancy lotion then a bottle. His night time bottles used it be 5 ounces with 2 baby spoons of cereal but we've recently upped it to 8 ounces with 2 baby spoons of cereal, more often than not he finishes it all. After his bottle he was still ready to party, at 8:30 pm after being up 12 hours with no naps, He was so exhausted, I as at my its and with what to do with him. I rocked him which did no good, tried the swing which was a failure also. Finally at nearly 9:45 I gave him some more milk and with a full bell and clean diaper I laid him in him crib with the paci & singing seahorse hoping and praying he'd fall asleep That was the night of unanswered prayers in our house.. I gave him 5 minutes before I went in to comfort him. This went on for what felt like forever, but in reality only 20 minutes had passed. I finally gave up and brought him in to my bed, sat down and bounced while simultaneously holding his paci in with my chin and patting his butt until he fell asleep. 10 minutes later he was finally asleep and I was crying out of sheer frustration and exhaustion.


After seeing his poor sad over tired face looking up at me from the crib I couldn't do this again. It broke my heart to see him so sad, all he wants in mommy to hold him. I did order some essential oils that are said to aid with sleep and they should be in in a few weeks. I'll try those and review them for you!

Cry it out

Those are 3 very controversial words. Let's face it though, most anything to do with mothering is a cause for controversy. While I was pregnant I researched any and everything I could get my hands on, including the cry it out method.

Before I had a baby I thought it was cruel and mean no matter what the reason for doing it was. I still do to an extent, but I've realized that sometimes you have no other options. After doing more research and reflecting on my feelings about the subject I have decided, because nothing else works, that a modified version of the cry it out method may be our last resort for bed time with Brantley. My little man hates bedtime, even when he's visibly exhausted he fights bedtime like there's no tomorrow. I've tried everything I can think of, bouncing, rocking, singing, shushing, baths with and with out the fancy night time lotion, the swing, the bouncy seat, all of it. You name it, I've tried it & let me tell you he hates them all. I used to be able to rock and pat his butt and as long as he had the paci he was out in under 5 minutes. Well, the last week or so bedtime has become World War 3. He screams, fights, scratches and hit. How does a barely 6 month old baby know that scratching and hitting hurt?! We recently bumped bedtime back from 6 to 8, but I did it slowly and if he seemed ready for bed earlier than I was planning to put him down I would obviously follow his ques. All to often lately he fights and wants to stay up until nearly 10, on top of still waking at 8 am and refusing to nap during the day. Not to mention, still waking to eat twice in the middle of the night. I am utterly exhausted. I know lack of sleep comes along with parenthood, but dear Jesus! I could handle the lack of naps if he slept good at night, and visa versa.

I'm at a complete lose as to what to do for bedtime. I know he needs more sleep that what he's getting, but he just won't sleep! If bed time starts to go awry tomorrow night I'm going to attempt the specific cry it out plan I've got in my head. I'm hoping that after 5 minutes he'll fall asleep as his biggest problem is fighting sleep. I just plan to check on him every 5 minutes until he's asleep. Though it probably won't work or last long. I hate hearing my baby cry :( He sleeps great in our bed, and naps great in my arms but neither of those are habits I want to feed in to. Don't get me wrong, I love cuddling my little guy while he sleeps, but I also need to be able to get things done, nor do I want to create a crutch.

I suppose I'll update on this as we try it. Wish us luck!

Couponing!

I recently took to couponing as a way to save money, and let me tell you I have saved some money. My stick pile just keeps growing! In just 2 short months I've got a stock like that's slowly outgrowing my small house!

So far my stock pile consists of:
30 sticks of deodorant
10 shampoos/conditioners
10 boxes of pads/tampons
12 bars of soap (makes 6 gallons of body wash, one gallon lasts a year)
10 bottles of body wash
15 boxes of cookies
20 canned soups/dinners
20 boxes or breakfast sausage
19 loaves of bread
20 + lbs of various meats
30 boxes of pasta
15 packages of noodles
10 bottles of various baby shampoos/soaps
10 bottles of bathroom cleaners
20 (4) packs of light bulbs
15 bottles of various hair styling products
10 bottles of kitchen cleaners
10 bottles of various vitamins/headache medicine
20 razors

That's everything I can think of off the top of my head! I'm resting my aching back on the couch while Brantley plays. I wanted to include pictures but I'm to lazy!