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.

What's in my diaper bag?

This post is inspired by an instagram 'game' I was tagged in a few days ago and sheer boredom. I've spent many time packing, re packing, and re organizing our diaper bag and I'm finally content with its contents. So to answer the question, here it is:

 

 

diapers - depending on how long our outing will be I pack extras but I usually keep 2 at all times.

 

wipes - of course only sensitive for my Littles picky skin.

 

butt paste - all natural and cloth diaper safe. One of the only things we've found to work so far.

 

bottles - these are my specific diaper bag bottles. They stay in there at all times so I can never be out and about with no milk for the little.

 

formula -  obviously we need this. And the little dispenser is awesome!

 

burp cloths/bibs - with Brantley eating solids now these are a must.

 

wet bag - for the dirty diapers/clothes.

 

paci bag - always need extra clean pacis.

face wipes - the messy kid always needs something wiped off.

 

changing pad - for all those bathrooms that don't have changing pads obviously also for public changing tables.

 

fist aid kit - also has the travel size bath stuff since you never know what will happen. 

 

mom stuff - wallet, umbrella, lady stuff and a pen.

 

 

Before we go out I always throw in 2 extra outfits, gas drops and teething tablets. I need to grab extras of these to keep in there next time I'm out. The little will be getting some cute snack cups so I can take food out with us now.

 

Baby Led Weaning

From the very beginning I had every intention to make my own baby food. I had my really cool Ninja blender and I was only going to make 100% organic purees for my little. Well the closer we got to the 4-6 month where solids are generally started, the less I wanted to go with purees. I did try purees a hand full of times and he just had no interest.  He wanted to play with he spoon, not eat from it. That just reassured me that baby led weaning was the way to go.

I started doing more research, wanting to make sure I did it all the 'right' way. So far the little porker had had squash, green beans, avocado, broccoli, honey dew, cantelope, and bananas. Next on the list is zuchinni! I did, and still do, get nervous that he could choke on something but he seems to be doing well do far. My husband and I are both CPR certified which eases my anxiety, but still, no parent ever want to have to do CPR on their child. I've been extra careful with the foods he gets, I steam what I can and just keep a close watch on him while he eats. I'm probably overly cautious,  but better safe than sorry.

Once Brantley gets a little better with the chewing and swallowing in introduce things like scrambled eggs and types of melon that are still a bit hard for him now.

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.