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!

A little bit or everything;

We've had SO much going on these past few weeks! I've been meaning to sit down and write a good, long update for a while now. It obviously hasn't happened!

For starters, we got our tax return and paid off our extra bills, the TV and my kitchen aid mixer my husband bought through QVC, our washer and dryer, and last but not least we finally bought furniture! Justin bought himself a PS4, I got a laptop and little Brantley got all kinds of stuff!

I think my favorite of all our expenditures is my cloth diaper stash for Brantley! We've got 27 right now, I'm waiting on 8 more to come in and then I'll be at 35! I ideally want 40 so I've got to find a few more I like and then I'll be completely done! It feels nice to be able to say I won't be buying disposable diapers again for a while. I do plan to use them in the beginning for our future babies until they get big enough to fit the cloths well.

We had an 'opportunity' I suppose you could call it to look in to buying a house. Unfortunately Justin's credit was just a few points to low for us to get the loan we wanted, and I had no credit. This is the first time I've ever been told that no credit is worse than bad credit. We decided to just keep rolling the way we are and look in to it again in a year or so. We've begun saving for a new car finally. By May I should have a new whip ;)

I suppose that's the best I've got for exciting updates... I'm not sure what's been going on with me lately, but I've been so short tempered. Not only with just everyday life, but with my sweet sweet husband. I always feel so awful, but I just get so aggravated with him. He works his ass off while I stay home and tend to Brantley and the house. I feel like asking him to help me with the simplest house chores is to much. We just bicker about everything these past few days! I hate it, no matter how much I try to child my tongue I end up "being a mean ass " as he likes to put it. I'm so over it.

Brantley has begun the horrible teething adventure, and it's been a rough road so far. I've been giving him Hylands teething tablets and I've been meaning to get him an amber teething necklace. I've hears great things and I'm hoping it helps.

Well, that's all I've got for now.... I'm off to shower and wake up my husband that's been 'napping' since 5pm....

My birth experience

I know I posted my birth story, but I never elaborated on the experience I had.

I was hell bent on having a natural unmedicated birth. Meaning no induction, nothing to speed up progress, no pain meds. That plan would obviously have gone out the window if Brantley's health became a concern.

Once I hit 37 weeks my blood pressure became a concern. It wasn't high, but I  was told I had borderline pre eclampsia. I had every sign/symptom except proteins in my urine, that's the only thing that kept my OB from putting me on bed rest. I took the few precautions I could. My blood pressure stayed higher than my OB wanted, and I know exactly why. With Justin working off shore I was stressing big time about what would happen if I went in to labor while he was on the rig. I was having serious anxiety about it. Once I hit my due date my doctor and I discussed induction, not only because of my blood pressure, but to ensure Justin was there for the birth. We scheduled an induction for the next day. As much as I wanted to go in to labor on my own I was way to stressed out and was beginning to worry that if I continued to stress like I was I would end up with and emergency induction/c-section while Justin was gone due to my blood pressure. I knew if we didn't have the Brantley that day that I would go in to labor while Justin was gone, and that wasn't an option.

Induction was fail number one for me. I was progressing very well on my own once they gave me the pill to start labor, but I still had the chance to prove to myself and Justin that I could do it with out pain meds. Once my contractions started to come on, they came strong.  I was in excruciating pain, one contraction wasn't fully released before another started. I couldn't breath, move or think straight. I did what I could to manage my pain, but I was unfortunately confined to the bed for the most part. Justin was a huge help with pretty much everything, but he was at a lose as to how to help me with the pain. I also wasn't the best at communicating with him as to how he could help. I yelled a lot and said a lot of mean things. Cervical checks are painful, with or without having contractions during them. I had to have a nurse practicality hold me down to keep me from moving up in the bed so my OB could accurately check my cervix. The last cervical check I had before the epidural I was at 4 cm, my OB was shocked at how strong my contractions were registering for only being at a 4. It was then that I cried for the epidural. I couldn't do it. I failed to prove to myself, and my husband that I could do it without one. Once I had the epidural I could breath again. I was finally able to rest a little bit. I continued to progress well on my own for a while. They started me on pitocin at some point, I was so out of it I can't even accurately remember. One of the biggest reasons I didn't want drugs in the first place.

I beat myself up for the whole process daily. I have a happy healthy baby and I'm extreamly grateful for that, but I absolutely hate the labor experience I had with him. We're currently trying for a second baby, so I do get another chance to have the birth I want. I found a hospital in then area that allows water births, so I'll be having an unmedicated water birth if things go my way :)