Brody is 10 weeks old

Brody is 10 weeks old! In the last week he's become a bit of a daddy's boy and smiles constantly at Jason. Unfortunately since Jason's been sick the last few days, he spending more time looking at his daddy instead of cuddling with him. We're trying to best to avoid having a sick baby on our hands.

Brody is still sleeping great, though we haven't really found a predictable routine. He sleeps through the night, but his naps are all across the board. He's still very happy and loves playing. His neck strength is looking great, but he hasn't been able to really push himself up during tummy time. This doesn't surprise me since he hates it.

This week we visited Brody's daycare room. We met his teachers and got to see the room that he'll be in. There are 7 other babies under the age of 1 that are in his room. It was funny to see babies crawling around the room knowing that someday Brody will be down there as well. It also made me realize that returning to work is coming up quick. Brody also met a bunch of my co-workers that he didn't meet the last time we went to the office.

In the upcoming week Brody will have another night without mommy & daddy while we go out with some friends. He'll also attend his very first Brewers game! We're very excited to be taking him to opening day at Miller Park.

Brody is 9 weeks

Brody turned 9 weeks old yesterday! He's almost 12 lbs and is two feet tall. He becoming more independent and will let you know if you're not holding him just the way he likes. He's still a very calm baby though and rarely does any real crying, except the night of his 2 month shots.

He's still sleeping great! We actually have had a couple 11 hour nights. There are still some nights where he'll wake up after 5-6 hours but usually he just needs comfort to go back to sleep. He rarely needs to eat in the middle of the night anymore. This will be great if he keeps it up when I return to work.

We love playtime and Brody is constantly smiling. He hasn't rolled over yet and doesn't really like tummy-time, but we just do it for short periods of time. He's already very self sufficient and will play by himself. In the instances where I need to clean up the house or take a shower, even if he's not napping, I can put him in his pack n play or on his playmat. He'll play by himself, kicking his legs and arms and staring at the ceiling or his toys. Of course he doesn't get much self-play time since I know my time with him is limited. So I'm taking every chance I get to play with him and hold him.

Oh how fast they change

I realize every day that my little guy is getting big. I do also realize that relatively speaking, he's still pretty small.


It's when I look through pictures that I really realize how much he has changed. I put on this cute outfit the other day and the legs make it look more like capris than pants. So I looked for the last picture I had of him in this outfit:




3 weeks
8.5 Weeks:

Brody's 2 month check-up

Yesterday Brody had his two month check-up. I was both looking forward to it and dreading it at the same time. I was really excited to see how much he had grown and I also wanted to talk to the doctor about his formula switch. I was dreading the appointment because I knew Brody would be getting a few shots.

Brody weighed in at 11lbs 15oz. (I had estimated he was between 11.5-12lbs, not bad!) He is 2 feet long. His height is in the 75th percentile and his weight is still right around 50th percentile. They also measured his head which was in between the 25th & 50th percentile. Bottom line: he's tall, average build with a small head.

Then we talked about his eating habits and how he's handling the hypoallergenic formula. We are all definitely pleased that he seems to be handling the formula well and obviously it was the right choice. However, Jason and I are anxious to switch him back to soy as soon as he's ready. Soy is half the cost and we can buy store-brand instead of name-brand. The doctor said he'd like to try to switch Brody back to soy as early as 3 months. We're to call him in a month to discuss. He also understands the significant cost difference and I think he complains about it more than us! So he gave us about $25 worth of samples! Definitely offsets our $15 co-pay.

Then came the hard part: vaccinations. One vaccine is given orally, so that was easy. Then the nurses came in for the shots. He got two shots, so they did them at the same time, one in each leg. At his one month appointment, he barely flinched at his one shot, however, this time was much different.

He screamed loudly. And he kept screaming. It was awful, though probably worse for me than him. I almost cried. But I held him, gave him a bottle and tried to comfort him. He calmed down in minutes. By the time we were home, he was smiling and wanted to play.

Then it got worse. He woke up from his nap at 6:30 and started screaming bloody murder. Now, Brody barely cries as it is, so screaming is way out of the norm for him. We tried everything, feeding him, cuddling him, swaying him, rocking him. He was inconsolable. I probably waited a little too long to give him Tylenol (about 15 minutes into the screaming). Finally, after Jason spent an hour working to calm him down, he was ready to pass out.

He napped until almost bed-time and then went to sleep easily. He's still asleep after 9 hours. Poor guy!

Just like his mommy

Looking at Brody we aren't quite sure who he looks like. He has resemblances of both of us, but is definitely cuter than either of us! Now personality-wise...he's definitely starting to take after his Mom.

Even in utero we saw signs Brody of acting like me. Now, whether it is because he spends all day with me or his DNA, Brody has a lot of characteristics that I can relate to.

-He's already sleeping 8-9 hours many nights. Then he proceeds to take many naps during the day. Just like mommy, he loves his sleep.

-Once, we tried to wake him from a nap at 7:30pm so he wouldn't have trouble going to bed. BIG mistake. He loves his sleep and is cranky if he doesn't get enough. That was one of the crankiest evenings with him. Just ask my parents, or Jason for that matter, I'm very cranky when I don't get enough sleep.

-He loves to cuddle, but he loves his space. As he gets stronger, he's becoming more independent. When he wants to stretch his legs he will make it known. He'll fuss and fuss until you let him sit or stretch the way he wants.

I'm still hoping there are other traits he doesn't inherit. If his hand-eye coordination ends up as bad as mine, J will lose his hope of a baseball player!

Another month flies by (2 months!)

Brody is two months old today. His 2 month appointment is on Tuesday, so I am not sure exactly how long he is or how much he weighs. However, we can tell he's growing well. He's outgrown many more outfits and will be shifting to 1-2 sized diapers which are slightly bigger than 1. His height continues to be our problem instead of weight. Many onsies fit his belly great, but aren't long enough.

He's eating about 5 times a day for a total of 25-30 ounces of formula. He started settling into a good eating/sleeping schedule and then switched it up on me, showing us that he's still a baby and naturally unpredictable. Some nights we get 8-10 hours of sleep before waking, other nights, he'll wake up after 4-5 hours. Instead of being up most of the morning and napping most of the afternoon, he's now sleeping a lot in the morning and taking a nap much later in the afternoon.

Brody still loves observing people and the environment around him. Walking around the house is a very easy way to keep him entertained. He's also very active and will often fuss if you just try to snuggle. He wants to be free to move around and "stand" on his feet. He's always smiling and starting to giggle a little.

I have less than 4 weeks left home with him, so we're starting to do little things to prepare him for daycare. For starters, I've begun moving his nap location from the swing to his crib. He naps GREAT in his swing, so the switch has been a little difficult. The swing makes him feel warm and secure and will rock him back to sleep when he wakes up. His crib is big and empty and there isn't anyone or anything to put him back to sleep when he stirs. So, we're working on it!

The next month will be very eventful as he starts daycare just before his 3 month mark. Since he's proven to be very adaptable and seems to have an easy-going personality, I am not too worried about him doing well there.

Brody is 8 weeks old

Brody is 8 weeks old today! He's celebrating his very first St. Patrick's Day today, decked out in a festive onsie. This is a very fitting holiday for our little leprechaun, since not only does his name come from irish origin but he comes from a strong irish background with a grandfather who is 100% irish.

This week Brody started sleeping through the night, we believe due to keeping him swaddled at night. I'm hoping it will stick and he'll keep sleeping 8-9 hours each night. On top of his long night of sleep, he's been going back to sleep until late morning. Just as I thought I had his scheduled figured out, he switched it up on me. So we spend the afternoons playing now instead of the mornings.

Brody had his first outside adventures this week due to the beautiful weather we've been seeing. First we bundled him up and took him out in the backyard. It was only in the 50s, so we had lots of layers on him, including his new Brewers sweatshirt that is a little big but perfect to keep him warm.

Then, since the weather continued to be warm, we went on a couple of walks this week. He still loves the stroller, but doesn't love the sun in his eyes. Unfortunately the sunglasses we got him don't fit his head very well, so we keep the visor over his eyes to block the sun -- adjusting it every few blocks when we switch direction.

There were no major developmental milestones this week, but he continues to get stronger each day and smiles a lot. He holds his head up better and better each day. He's very active and doesn't like to sit still much. He'd rather look around at new things and use his legs to push upwards, in his "standing" pose. So I am cherishing the cuddle time as much as I can get it!

The secret to my success

Swaddling!

Well, it really is no secret. Many mom's today swaddle their babies, there are books about it and nurses show you how to do it in the hospital. However, we were slow learners. (For those who don't know, swaddling is just a way to wrap babies in a blanket so they are snug - making them feel safe and secure)

When we first brought Brody home, we swaddled him properly with his arms wrapped up. He began to fight us on this and really liked to have his arms free. He looked adorable sleeping with his arms above his head, so we swaddled him leaving his arms out instead. He was sleeping great in his newborn napper since it was small and kept him snug. Then, he outgrew the napper. So we moved him to the bigger part of his pack n play. We went back to waking up every 3 hours.

Then I decided to begin swaddling his arms down again. His sleep stretches increased. All of a sudden, one night I woke up after 8 hours, shocked. He was still sleeping! He was still wrapped up tightly sleeping away. (Picture quality isn't great, it was my dark & on my camera phone)

The next night, he woke up after only 4 hours. I checked in on him and found him like this:

My little houdini escaped his swaddle. After about a week of long sleep stretches when he was swaddled, and shorter sleep stretches when his hands escaped, we looked for another solution. We went shopping and bought a swaddle blanket that velcros closed so our little escape artist would stay snug all night long.

So far...it appears to be helping. He even slept for 9 hours two nights in a row!

Now, I will add that all babies are different and we're lucky to have a good sleeper. We're just finding the combination that works well for him. Aside from the swaddle, the temperature and humidity also seem to affect his sleeping.

For moms everywhere

31 reasons you shouldn't feel mom guilt -cnn.com

This article is great! I have been a mom for less than 8 weeks and I can already relate to some of these. Plus they made me laugh.

"#30 Still being really PO'd about the stretch marks"

How could you not love this face?

Brody is 7 weeks old!

Brody is 7 weeks old today. According to our scale at home, he's already over 11 lbs and already starting to wear some 3-6 month clothes (mostly Gerber clothes - they tend to run small). He's sleeping great, including a couple nights for 7+ hours. He's more and more alert everyday and seems to be an overall happy baby. He's smiling a lot and getting stronger every day. He likes to "practice standing" as seen in the picture below.

This past week Brody switched formula again, had professional photos taken, and was left without his parents for the first time since birth while we had a date night!

I love spending the days at home with Brody and it's only during his long naps that I sit around wondering what people in the adult-world are doing.

As for what Brody & I do all day?
We have play-time...

But we also get the chores done...


And then it's time for a nap...

Formula-Feeding Woes

Another post about baby poop -- maybe too much information for some...

After the difficulties I had breastfeeding we began introducing more and more formula into his diet. At 5 weeks we were down to about 1 breast milk bottle a day and at 6 weeks, I put away the pump. We thought he had been doing fine on the formula and hadn't seen any blood in the diaper since switching to soy formula. However, it can take a couple of weeks to show a reaction to formula. It appears that Brody didn't only get my nose, he also got my sensitive stomach (I had milk and soy allergies as an infant).

Shortly after 6 weeks Brody started showing digestion issues and became very constipated. Since it's not unusual for babies to have this type of reaction to feeding changes, the doctor just gave us some tips to "get things going." We expected to see a change within a few days. However, 5 days later, he was showing no signs of improvement. He was pooping every day, but the consistency was much harder than it should be. We called the pedi again...

Luckily we have a really good pediatrician and after I talked to a nurse he called me back personally to discuss Brody's problems. He said based on Brody's reaction to the soy formula, his reaction when we tried milk-based formula and his fussiness/gassiness problems, that it is likely he has both a milk-allergy and soy protein allergy. We don't know for a fact that it's allergies, but for some reason he's not tolerating the other formulas.

So the next step...hypoallergenic formula. Our doctor said he doesn't make the switch lightly but it looks like the right option at this point. Unfortunately, it's almost twice the cost of regular formula. He did give us a couple of samples to get started, so that saves us a few dollars.

Our next appointment is in two weeks, so hopefully we'll be seeing some improvement by then and will reassess. Many babies outgrow allergies by 6 months (or so I've read), so hopefully he won't be on this expensive formula for the next year!

Say Cheese!

Over the weekend we had our first professional photos taken as a family of three. Anyone who knows my husband knows he's a huge Milwaukee Brewers fan, so it was only fitting to dress up in our Brewers gear for our picture. We're not a very formal family, so the casual look of our Brewers T-shirts and a cute outfit for Brody was perfect.
Then we went on to take a bunch of pictures of Brody by himself. We had no idea how he would act during his modeling session, but he was perfect! I think we have a ham on our hands, he was not camera shy at all. The photographer was great and got the most smiles out of him in a 10 minute period than we ever have. He also showed great neck strength and held his head up well for many of the pictures. He still isn't holding is head up completely on his own, but he's getting better!

Of course with any photo session, there those pictures that didn't quite turn out, but are hilarious!

Friday Night Fun

Friday night with a 6 week old and it's only 8:00. Clearly Jason had a rough week. Nothing like Daddy-son bonding time!

Brody is 6 weeks old!

Brody is 6 weeks old today! Every week I am more and more amazed at how fast he's growing. Though I don't know how much he weighs exactly, I'm sure he's close to 11 lbs if not over that. In the last week he was baptized and met many family members at his party. His Aunt Kalli (my oldest step-sister) was able to hold him for the first time this weekend, which was exciting.

As of today Brody is officially being formula-fed. Over the last week we transitioned him to soy formula with less and less breastmilk. Yesterday, I stopped pumping. I believe he also went through a growth spurt towards the end of last week. He had a couple of days of eating a lot and not sleeping much (which resulted in a very overtired baby). But then he followed it up with a couple of days of sleeping more than normal.

When Brody is awake he's constantly looking around to take in his surroundings. He loves walking around the house and looking at new things. He likes taking in different faces and is doing a great job of tracking objects with his eyes. He still loves his swing and naps in it daily. I find that some days he'll nap better and longer in his swing than he sleeps in his bassinet at night.

He's still sleeping in his pack n play bassinet at night and usually for only 3 hour stretches. Some nights he'll sleep 4-5 hours and we haven't seen a 6 hour stretch in awhile. Hopefully we'll get back to some longer stretches, but in the meantime, we work around his schedule.

I also captured a smile on camera! He's been gassy smiling for awhile, and now he's starting to smile for other reasons. I still can't get him to smile on cue, despite the many funny faces I make at him or attempts at tickling him. But this picture was just him being happy in his swing.

Brody's Baptism

Jason and I come from different religious backgrounds (him Lutheran, me Catholic), so we put a lot of thought into which church we're going to have our son grow up in. A few months before he was born we decided on a Lutheran Church that we were both happy with. This past Sunday we had him baptized there.


The entire event, at the church and the celebration afterwards, caused me a bit of stress for weeks ahead of time. We are very lucky to have large families that are involved in our lives. Therefore the guest list ended up at almost 50 people. This is more people than we have ever had inside our house at one time. Plus, I worried that everyone wouldn't get a spot in the church. My sister and husband reassured me that it would all work itself out.

I'm happy to report that the entire day seemed to go great. By the time we got to the church I had relaxed, since there was nothing more I could do to prepare at this point. I was able to enjoy the baptism and what it meant for Brody to join the Church. We asked my older sister and Jason's older brother to be godparents and it was nice to have them standing by our side.


Then afterwards it was time to celebrate! We all headed to our house for some lunch and cake. There were several family members that hadn't met Brody yet, so it was a great time for them to hold him. He was definitely the man of the hour and a crowd-pleaser. Brody handled being passed around like an angel. He loved being able to take in all the new faces and was very happy all day. Here is a picture of him with my aunt, which is pretty much how pleasant he was all day.



The other great part of the day was getting together the 5 generations in Jason's family. He is lucky enough to still have living great-grandmothers. So on Sunday, Brody was able to meet his great-great grandmother and his great-grandmother on Jason's mother's side of the family. (Notice all the men in the family? We were destined to have a son!)


I also want to mention that we couldn't have had such a great day without our wonderful family! We had so much help, from getting the house ready, to bringing food, to helping host. Thanks to everyone's help we were able to enjoy the day.