Brantley- 10 months.

I know I always start out each update with something to the effect of "my baby's getting so big!", but it's true. My baby is 10 moths old! In less than 2 months I'll be celebrating his 1st birthday! It's hitting me extremely hard that he's so grown and I've been incredibly sad about it.

It blows me away to think about how far he's come in just 10 short months. There are now 4 teeth in his little mouth, FOUR TEETH! Can you believe it?! Sometimes I forget about them until he smiles that sweet little smile at me. The first 3 came in almost effortlessly but this 4th one gave him hell. A rash, fever, the whole nine yards. His physical milestones haven't changed much, aside from his attempt to stand unassisted these past 2 days. It's a pretty comical thing to see, him flailing his little arms bouncing off the floor. He can walk like a pro if I hold his hands and runs all over the house with the little push toy I bought a few months ago.

It's not really new, but we discovered that he LOVES water. Showers, baths, puddles, pools, rivers, oceans. All of it, right down to the melted ice cubes on the kitchen floor. He tries so hard to drink out of our adult cups. It usually ends in a wet sticky mess bur it's always a cute sight.

These past few weeks more than ever he's been a mommas boy. I can't walk out of his sight without a full blown melt down. It breaks my heart but sometimes I need to pee alone!  I saved two of the biggest updates for last, it's been nearly a month now and Brantley is 100% off the bottle!  & the biggest update,  he took 3 STEPS ALL BY HIMSELF.  Completely on his own.

Watching this little boy grown and learn is the biggest blessing I could've ever been given. I thank God every day for giving me a happy, healthy, thriving little boy.  A stubborn, ornery, nosy boy, but I love him none the less. Watching him grow and learn each day is the most hitter sweet feeling. If motherhood has taught me one thing it's that I'm not just Brantley's teacher, he's mine as well. In just 10 short months I've been taught to look at things a whole new way. I've learned more looking at the world through his eyes than I ever could have on my own.

Brantley's first fever

My poor boy woke up at 3 am with his first ever fever. I've been thankful that we made it this far with no sickness,  but he was so miserable last night.

I could tell something was up by the way he was sleeping. Usually a hard still sleeper, I could hear him thrashing and whimpering for hours. He woke up for a bottle and I noticed his head was burning up so I stripped his footie jammies off,  put just a onsie on him and brought him to our bed. Daddy helped me give him some pain reliever & fever reducer medicine. I tried to rock and cuddle him back to sleep with me but he just wanted to climb around. I let him be hoping he'd wear himself out, about 45 minutes later I laid him in his crib with a sippy cup of formula and about 5 minutes later he was out.

Thankfully, he woke up feeling much better today! Still a bit warm, but he's been acting like himself which is great!

A slap in the face

Last week my husband got a phone call that no oilfield man ever wants to get. He was released from his contract... He's still a Woodgroup employee but he has no contract right now, meaning he's not working, meaning he's not getting a paycheck. So after this month I have no clue how we'll pay our bills unless he gets another job, STAT! We took out a loan on his 401K (if you don't have one, GET ONE!) and this paycheck we just got was a good one.

I swallowed my pride and applied for food stamps and Medicaid for Brantley. I'm praying we get at least something.  I've been so stressed and worried about this... I try so hard to stay positive for my husband, because I can only imagine what's going on in his mind, but it's getting difficult. My anxiety is through the roof, my Prozac has been doing nothing for me lately. I feel worse than I did before I started taking it.


This post is going to be short because I just don't have the energy to talk about this one....

Teething!

Brantley has his first 2 teeth! They broke the gum at exactly the same time, and it was surprisingly not as bad as I had anticipated. Our Baltic amber necklace was a life, and sanity saver. Aside from a runny nose and obvious teeth buds I wouldn't have even known.

We recently hit a major growth spurt, he started waking up to eat 3-5 times a night instead of just once and sleeping 14 hours! Thankfully he's back to his normal self!

Brantley- 8 months

My little munchkin is 8 months old! It hit me hard this past week that my tiny little once 9lb chunk is growing up SO fast. In just a few short months I'll be planning his first birthday! It brings tears to my eyes to think about that. Watching him grow and learn every day is a blessing and I couldn't be more proud of how smart he is.

These past weeks have been filled with all kinds of new discoveries and interesting things. Brantley can now crawl, pull up, and walk along the furniture like a pro. He says momma, and baba, he's v close to saying dada too. He holds his own battle too. & his 2 bottle teeth have broke the skin! He's not a fan of the waves at the beach but loves the sand. The river was a huge hit and he loves other babies.

My absolute favorite update is tale fact that we've tackled our bedtime hell! I can now lay him down with. A bottle and he goes to sleep alone.  Still not sleeping through the night but when he does wake up I can lay him down with a bottle and he'll go back to sleep alone! I'm hoping sleeping through the night will come soon though!

It takes all kinds

Yesterday evening a friend and I decided to go to Village Inn for dinner, and it was the worst experience I've had yet as a new mom. When Brantley sees people eating and he doesn't have food he does the awful high pitched schreecing scream like noise that hurts my ears so bad... Even though we both shared our food with him, once he gets started doing it there really is no stopping it. I think I tend to aggravate who ever I'm dining with and I'm sure others there because I'm so used to it just can just tune it out and go on about my meal. At this particular dinner, I not only had to listen to Brantley but I also had to listen to the cook mock my child and make an ass of himself back in the kitchen. We were only a few tables away from the doorway and I was so close to getting up and marching back there and causing a huge seen. I was absolutely livid. So, here's what I have to say to him;

Dear Village Inn cook,

I don't know who you think you are, mocking my child but I really don't appreciate it. It's rude, immature,  and disrespectful. At 8 months old, he doesn't exactly listen to the word "NO". I realize no one wants to listen to him make those noises but I can't exactly do a whole lot about it.  Thank you for making the whole experience more embarrassing than it already was.  Thank you for being an asshole. That's just what all new mom's want.

A whole 'lotta stuff!

I haven't posted in forever! We've had SO much going on, every time I want to sit down and update something comes up! So, what's been going on in the Polk household lately you ask?

Well, as of May the 1st we are now the owners of a new 2013 Nissan Altima :) it was my mother's day present and I couldn't be happier with it! Brantley is also quite fond of it, he gets so happy when I roll down his back windows.

Last week we took a 4 day trip to the mountains of Tennessee and Gatlinburg.  We had such a good time and Brantley did awesome on the 10 hour drive. He loved the aquarium and was pretty fond of being worn in the Ergo while Justin and I hiked all over! We would love to live in the Knoxville/ Cleveland area one day and plan to seriously house hunt up there this time next year (hopefully) once our car is paid off :)

Brantley is growing like a weed and will be 8 months old in a few days! That will be a BIG update of it's own this weekend! He's learning and growing each day and it's an amazing thing to experience as his mother.

I have a pretty big personal update I'm going to post after I go to the doctor in a little bit!

I have to say, we've had a pretty slam packed few week! Justin left last night and I miss him like crazy as usual but it's nice to have time to get my house back in order after vacation.