5 months!

This was a crazy month...work is finally winding down and I can NOT WAIT to be done.  This month, Brooks got to hang out with his Aunt Janis, his Granddad, and his Gram again.  As much as I hate going back to work and leaving him, it is really such a blessing that everyone is getting to spend so much time with him and get to know him while he is young.  This age is so much fun!

Health stats:

Sleep:  We have really been rocking sleep this month!  We started "nap training" ish towards the end of the month and it is really working.  We cut out the naps in the stroller and really started working on trying to get a good nap in the crib.  We were having a really hard time--enter Baby Merlin's Magic Sleepsuit.  It costs like 40$ but it is totally worth it!  Since we got it he has been napping for 2+ hours in the crib.  We don't use it at night because he was already doing such a good job.  At the beginning of the month he would go down around 7 or 730 and usually wake up once around 3:30 to eat and go back to sleep.  After we started napping in the crib with the suit, he started sleeping all the way through the night....usually from about 7-7!  Occasionally he still wakes up around 3 or 4 and rolls around for a little bit but he will usually put himself back to sleep without me having to go in.  (PS I say "we" alot in this section because Gram is the one with him during the day and she has done alot of the work as far as nap training goes...thank you thank you!!)

Clothes:  The 3-6 month onesies are starting to stretch a little too much lengthwise so we are moving up to the 6-9 in those.

Milestones:  Brooks had his first boat ride and his first beach day this month.  He did great with both!

Likes:  Playing on his tummy, blowing bubbles, reading books (Pat the Zoo), Sophie, playing in his new exersaucer

Dislikes: Loud music--we have to go to the senior section of our church where they play the acoustic guitar instead of the contemporary room with the loud rock band.  B is not a fan!

hanging with Granddad on the boat

life jacket is cute but not his favorite part.  

I def see a resemblance!

This was Brooks before church on my first Mother's day!  It was a great day, Todd and B made me a really cute card with his handprints in it and we went out for a nice dinner while Aunt Janis babysat.  I also got some new bracelets that I <3.

4 months! (13-16)

Brooks is 4 months old!

I started back to work this month which was kind of a bummer.  I was worried about how it would all go with trying to breastfeed and pump at work but so far it has been ok.  My job changed while I was out on maternity leave and my afternoon group of kids all moved away.  Now I have a class at Belle Hall in the mornings and then I drive over to James Island in the afternoons to see itinerant kids.  I usually pump once in the morning at work and then run home in between to feed him and that tides him over until I get home in the afternoons.  It is alot of running around for me but it's worth it!  Brooks was very lucky and he got to hang out with his Gram and his Nana for 2 whole weeks each this month!  They were great babysitters and it was great for me as well because I have complete peace of mind while I am at work knowing that he is well taken care of.  (and also they do laundry and cook!  win win!)

Health stats: He has been doing great!  There were no doctor visits this month so I don't have anything official to report but he hasn't gotten sick or anything yet so that is nice.

Sleep: He had his first "sleeping through the night" experience this month!  It was kind of a big deal!  On 4.16 he slept from 7:30 at night until 5:45am.  Of course I woke up and just watched the monitor waiting for him to wake up, and there was only one or two repeat performances but I think we are getting there!

Clothes/diapers: same.  3-6month clothes and size 2 diapers.

Milestones:  Main milestone is rolling easily from front to back and back to front.  He usually rolls over at some point during the night and seems to prefer to sleep on his tummy.  We also put the bumper back in the crib because he was rolling over and banging into the sides and sticking his arms through the slats and getting them stuck :(

Likes: Chewing on his hands constantly, Sophie the giraffe toy, these little rolling caterpillar balls, his bouncy seat, taking long walks in the stroller, standing up

Dislikes: napping, pacifiers

We also got to go to Granny's house for Easter this month and B got to hang out with his cousins and meet his great grandparents!

We also did a little photo shoot when Gram was here and tried to recreate this photo from Todd's childhood…I think its a pretty good replica!  We couldn't get any snow for the background but other than that I think we nailed it.

3 Months!

Brooks is now 3 months old!  One side effect of this is that he now looks at the phone when you try to take a picture.  As soon as he sees the phone he stops smiling and stares at it so it is really hard to get a smiling picture unless you have two people.  Here are some monthly stats:

Health stats: 

This is from our doctor visit.  He was 13 pounds there but he has definitely put on some weight since then.  He got his first round of shots and it was very unpleasant for everyone, but mostly for me.  I had a ton of anxiety about it and he ended up having alot of pain afterwards and screaming for a couple of hours...I finally called the doc though and thankfully it was nothing a little baby tylenol couldn't fix!

Sleep:  We are all over the place with sleep right now.  He still is not a fan of the crib so he is mostly napping in his little bouncy seat or in the MamaRoo during the day.  I have been trying to put the bouncy seat in his room next to the crib so he at least gets used to falling asleep/waking up in there.  He is still sleeping in the pack and play beside our bed at night.  I am just not ready to move him into his room yet.  He was doing really good for a few weeks, going to bed around 8 and sleeping until 3 or 4!  However, right on the 25th he started what I'm assuming is the 3 month growth spurt and went back to waking up every 2 or 3 hours :(  Hopefully he will be through that soon (preferably before I go back to work on Monday!)

Clothes/Diapers: He is in 3-6 months or 6 months stuff now and size 2 diapers.  

Milestones:  He really started smiling/laughing this month.  He smiles alot, pretty much anytime someone talks to him which is fun.  He is still rolling from front to back everytime we try to do tummy time and he has almost discovered his feet.  He is really into staring at them when he is wearing the footed sleepers with little characters at the bottom.

Likes: his playmat, music, the swing, car rides(unless it is 8.5 hours long to Pigeon Forge), baths

Dislikes: being held over the shoulder, the crib :(, mom going back to work (he told me this), pacifiers

We did alot of fun things this month so here is a quick recap:

Week 9: 

We went out for brunch with friends and he got his first sunburn on his little arms, but it was fun to wear short sleeves!

Week 10: 

We went over to Addison's house for a playdate.  She is 5 weeks younger than Brooks and her parents were in our baby class.  Along with T-Rav and Kathryn Dennis from Southern Charm...spoiler alert, she's definitely pregnant and he is the daddy.

Week 11: 

We went on our first trip!  More about this later...

Week 12: 

Happy St. Patty's day!  We didn't do much to celebrate this year other than put on this stylin shirt. (which he spit up all over .2 seconds before I took this picture)

We also went to visit Dad at work...

and had a playdate with Addie, Mary, and Catherine over at my friend Jill's house.

Getting so big!  Mom is heading back to work on Monday so there may be a bit of a time delay on the rest of these posts but I will get to it eventually!

Newborn Photos

When Brooks was about two weeks old we had our wedding photographer come over to the house and take some newborn photos.  She was wonderful and actually did the shoot for free since we used her for our wedding.  Here are some of my favorites...

<3 him!! Thanks Jennifer!

Two months!

I can't believe Brooks is already two months old.  Month 2 has been really fun...he is becoming much more interactive with us and even started smiling and "talking" this month.  We are sort of getting into a routine...we are attempting the 3 hour schedule but I just really started it this week.  He is still waking up 2 or 3 times a night but I am hopeful we can get it down to one by the time I go back to work.

Here are the monthly photos.  I tried really hard to get a smile but I could only capture one and the lighting is terrible for all of these.  I need to take a class or something!

 Todd thought it would be funny to have him "riding" charley.  Poor charles...he was a good sport though!

Week 5: Week 5 was a busy week for us.  First "snowpocalypse" hit SC and we got a few inches of snow and ice.  Todd got to work from home because they closed all the bridges and it just so happened to be on Wed when I take his weekly photos.

My sister had given me this snowsuit that was her boys and when I pulled it out of the box I remember saying that he would never get to wear it but I'm glad I kept it!

This was our attempt at getting a family snow photo.  

Uncle Chad also came to visit us this week and brought B some "babiators".

Week 6: Aunt Janis came to visit this week but I didn't get a picture :(.  This was our first week where we really started going on alot of outings.  He is great while we are out and about...he naps better on the go than he does when we stay at home.

Week 7:  This was a big week because this is when we really started to get those social smiles.  He also started "talking" to us so I took a couple of videos because I just think it is the cutest thing ever!

Please ignore my voice in the video.  And also his poor left eye :(  He has had clogged tear ducts since he was born and the left one is way worse than the right.  I can't wait til we go to the doctor to ask them about it!

Talking to Dad...

We also had Valentine's Day this week so we attempted a little photo shoot in the Valentine's jammies that Nana sent.  I couldn't get a smile but this is the "card" we sent to everyone.

Week 8: 

I took this on one of our daily walks with Charley.  I have been trying to do 3 miles on the days that it is nice out.  He is usually sleeping but this time he was wide awake!

B has been getting better at holding his head up during tummy time.  

We also took our first trip to the beach with my friend Katherine and her little boy Carter.  Unfortunately it looked alot nicer than it was but when we actually got out there it was very cold and windy so we didn't end up staying long.

We did get to stick our toes in the sand though!  <3