Jumping Into Homemade Baby Food (Again!)

My growing boy has just taken off with his rice cereal, so after giving him a little every day for a couple of weeks we are moving on to REAL food! I started with carrots and they were a big hit!

 

I am going to introduce him to one new food a week and this week it was peas! He loved those too.

 

His first tooth has come up enough for me to get a picture of it, and the tooth next to it is *just* about to pop up too!

My 1st Grader

My big guy is now in 1st grade!! He was so very excited to start school again and be in first grade. His teacher is Mrs. Usry and seems very nice. He has two kids from his Kindergarten class with him. His first day went great and he did not get in trouble (yet).

 

Since the mornings are cool I walk him to school for now. The first couple of weeks are always pretty chaotic with all of the other parents driving crazy and parking wherever they want to so I prefer to walk. Lord knows I'm up already bright and early with his little brother!!

4 Months Old

My bouncing baby boy is already 4 months old! I'm not going to lie and say it has flown by because it feels like it has been a long summer. But things are on the upswing now and we have a happy growing baby!

Weight: 16lb 6oz

Length: 25 3/4"

At 4 months old you:

• are rocking the cloth diapers still!
• take 2-3 one-two hour naps
• go to bed at 8pm and wake up every 2-4hrs
• nurse every 2-3hr
• only have 1 bottle you like when mommy is gone
• started rice cereal and LOVE it
• just cut one of your bottom teeth!
• finally have some very light brown hair growing back
• still have a little cradle cap
• love to stand up and look around
• like to sit and play in your new exersaucer
• are outgrowing a lot of your 3-6mo clothes already

 

We started him on cereal a few days ago to see if that would help him sleep longer at night (it didn't). He loves it! He took right to the spoon and doesn't even push the food out of his mouth. In a couple of weeks we are going to start him on some homemade baby food!

 

He is generally a happy baby and only gets cranky when tired or hungry. He has definitely been teething and today at his doctor appt. I noticed one of his bottom teeth is just cutting thru the gums! He got two shots and only cried for a few minutes. He got some Tylenol when we got home and is napping now.

He is still sleeping in our room because of his frequent night feedings that he insists on. When he is down to about 1 feeding per night then we will transition him to his crib. Hopefully that is soon!! His sleep habits are so much different than Brad's were.

Surgery Day!

Today my big guy had his very first surgery--bilateral myringotomy with tubes and adenoidectomy. Or in English--ear tubes and adenoids (behind the tonsils) removed. This was done to help relieve his symptoms from severe seasonal allergies, asthma, and constant ear infections with hearing loss. He has been battling all of this for almost 2 years now so we are all praying that this is our answer!

The surgery was at an outpatient surgery center and we arrived at 7:15am to check in. I had both boys with me because daddy  is working out of town and won't be home until tonight. I am quickly becoming a master of multitasking--I had to learn discharge instructions while Brad was sobbing and I was nursing a crying baby!

Brad was a little anxious at first but he was happy to have some pictures to color! He talked to every nurse that crossed his path, then gifted one of them with a finished portrait of "Captain Hulk" (Captain America colored green like Hulk). Thankfully they waited to start his IV until he was asleep so we didn't have to deal with that. They whisked him back and me and Jacob went to the waiting room to......wait.

After what felt like forever, they called me back to a room so see the surgeon who said everything went great. His adenoids were very large and were blocking 70% of his tubes so this should really help his ears clear up. Then we waited some more until we could see him in recovery room. He was very emotional in there and did not believe that the surgery was over. He kept yelling "I want more surgery! I don't want it to be over!" I told him we could have more surgery later--one time today was enough. The nurses thought that was a hoot. Then Jacob started hollering so I began nursing him so I could try to calm Brad down. Eventually I coaxed a smile out of him only if I took his picture:

 

They gave him some Motrin before we left then wheeled him out to the car. He started doing better as the anesthesia wore off some more.

Here we are hanging out waiting for big brother to get done...

He has been great at home so far with little pain. I had already loaded up on "special" foods for him--yogurt, popsicles, jello, canned fruit, applesauce, spaghettios--so he would have plenty of soft yummy things to snack on while he hangs out on the couch. We will leave soon to pick daddy up and he is very excited about that!

Welcome to the 21st Century

I have an announcement to make: I no longer have a TracFone! I have had one for almost 10 years because I refuse to pay the outrageous amounts that cell phone carriers charge. I have mainly used it for some texting or a quick check-in to home when I'm out and about. When I'm on call for work of course I also need a way for them to get in touch with me. Nick has never had a cell phone so there was no reason for us to constantly be in contact. So what changed?

I have always said that when Nick starts working out of the house that we would both have phones to keep in contact. Well he starts tomorrow! Coincidentally I came across a super cheap frugal provider that I had some how never heard of named Republic Wireless. I started looking into them and was very impressed with their plans and cost. I jumped head first into it this week and ordered my phone! (Nick will inherit my Tracfone for now)

Naturally I did not want to pay full price ($149) for a new one so I got one in excellent used condition on Ebay for $85. I chose the Moto G. It did not come with a manual however so I've been learning as I go with my first smart phone!

I have quickly discovered the usefulness of apps! There is literally an app for everything (even a "Disease Dictionary" that I downloaded for work). I have a small collection of educational games for Bradley. I can even get my Netflix and Hulu on it! I learned how to put them into folders because I am all about the organization.

Yes I put a wallpaper of fall leaves because I am more than ready for fall....

In a nutshell, Republic has super cheap rates because they mainly use VoIP (voice over internet protocol) for talk and text. The only caveat is that you do have to get a phone that specifically says it can be used with them. The phones are all Motorola (E, G, and X) with Android and are otherwise a regular smart phone. The plans are no-contract and you can actually upgrade/downgrade your plan up to 2x per month. After I've used them for a couple more weeks I am going to post a review of their service! Check back for that!