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Saturday, March 24, 2012

What do you think?

I meant to include this with Brooks' six month update and forgot? People always comment on how Brooks looks nothing like the other 2 boys. And for the most part, its true..he has blue eyes, fair skin, and light hair. The other two look a lot more similar, although, as their mother, I don't see it the way everyone else does. I guess their baby pictures look somewhat close. So I thought we'd do a "lineup" to help decide who Brooks looks like. These are all photos from about the same age for each boy..between six and seven months. 

 Brody 

 Carson

Brooks

My opinion? None of my kids look alike haha. 

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Brooksy Boy: 6 Months

**I started this post last week when Brooks actually turned six months old. However, life gets in the way and I'm just now able to finish it.**

By your third child, you look up and time has flown. There are less photos, videos, blog posts, etc because you think you have all the time in the world to get photos of the current stage. And then, that stage is over and you missed the chance to capture it on film/digitally because you were too busy potty training, washing mounds of dishes, doing piles and piles of laundry, and changing diapers. No? Just me? I didn't think so :)

The little big guy is already half a year old. And as the previous paragraph alluded to, there are not many photos in this post. Partly because I don't have the luxury of standing over him with a camera all day, but MAINLY because Brooksy Boy or one of his brothers have been sick for 6+ weeks. Snot, coughing, fever, ear infection after ear infection..you name it..we had it. Even Matt had an ear infection. Soo..we laid low around the house in our pj's A LOT! Besides getting out for church (when they were well enough to go in the preschool) we have been pretty homebound and not "prettied up" for photos. 

I thought since Spring Break is here, we'd be over it all. Yesterday, Brooks was officially 6 months old. And he spent the evening in urgent care. He'd been fussy for a few days and not sleeping well at all. By yesterday, he freaked out if I laid him down and refused to eat. I was concerned, but kept thinking it was just stubbornness because he wasn't running fever. By 6pm he was screaming uncontrollably, even with me loving on him, and running fever. Matt was gone to Spring Break Bible Camp with the big boys so I found the only open Express Care because I knew we couldn't make it through the night like this. Of course, both of his ears were extremely infected. So, here we are, beginning of spring, and still not well. But its got to be coming soon....

*Update: He's feeling much better! We are still taking the antibiotics but doesn't seem to be in pain anymore!*

But, besides being sick right now, the sweet boy is so much fun. He's big...bigger than either of the other boys were at this age. At his 6 month checkup, he weighed 18 lbs 10 oz and was 26 1/2 inches long. So that's 75th percentile in weight and 50th in height. He is wearing 6-9 month clothes so he's not ginormous. We've decided its the cheeks that make him appear so big...but honestly, I guess he really is kinda big. I don't want to be that mom who is in denial and when I walk away my friends say "Does she really not know her child is a chunk?"




Food
Brooks still LOVES to nurse. In fact, so much that he refuses to take a bottle. I've tried breastmilk and formula in a bottle and he won't take it. We've tried just about every bottle out there, as well as different nipple flows, and nothing works. So it makes it very hard to leave him for too long. No overnight trips for me. 
He started baby food about 3 weeks ago. Its been an interesting journey, to say the least. The first few cereal feedings..he hated it. Once I added in vegetables he did better, but not great. Some days he eats it up and others he's completely uninterested. One day I decided to just try to give him some little bites of banana and cooked carrots..not pureed or mashed...and he loved them. Then the next day he didn't love it so much. So we're still working on this area. 

Sleep
I honestly don't have a grasp on his sleeping right now. For the past week he hasn't slept well at all. And in the weeks before that, he was sick off and on, so the sleep schedule was up and down. When he was well, he'd sleep pretty much through the night, or wake just once, as well as take great naps during the day. But when he's sick, he wakes up a lot due to congestion, coughing, and pain in his ears. So hopefully when he's well we can get him back on a good schedule...and maybe I'll get more sleep.

Milestones
-Rolling in all directions
-When on his back, he pushes off with his feet and scoots backwards
-He is a supported sitter. He can sit for quite a while on his own but eventually his big head gets the best of him and he topples over, usually backwards. But he's very close to sitting independently.


Personality
Everyone talks about how laid back Brooks is. In the preschool, he's one of the babies that you can put with some toys and he's content almost the entire service. At home, he's pretty much the same way. But, he does love to have others to play with. He is thrilled when his big brothers get on the floor with him and try to make him laugh. He also LOVES his friends in preschool. I love getting to work in his room. There are quite a few babies all born within a couple of months of each other. I arrange them on the floor in a circle where they can see each other and they have a ball. They smile, pull at each others hands, face, etc and seem to really know that they are the same age. How cool will it be if they get to grow up with each other! I should take a pic tonight so I can show them when they are older :) Hopefully their parents won't get any wild ideas to move away.

He's such a talker..he squeals to get your attention and then gives you a big smile when you look at him. His favorite time to talk is when we are trying to watch tv. We tell him to keep it down but he doesn't obey very well :)
 First Aggie Baseball game. He was decked out in his Aggie Onzie, Beanie, and Carson's Aggie Windsuit jacket. 

We loved Blue Bell park! We hope to make many more games this season. How thoughtful of them to put a playground in the park..and the parents can watch the entire game while the kids are playing just a few feet away! 

Besides being ready to get a full nights' sleep, I can't imagine life without this guy. And to think that I wasn't sure about adding a third child there for a while. The next 6 months will fly by..and he's going to change so much. Crawling and walking will be here before we know it. I hope to slow down and enjoy these special times with all my boys while I have the chance!