Tanner @ 6.5 months

Sorry I never did a 6 month post. Tanner will actually be 7 months next week, but I thought I'd get the post out of the way now while I have the time. Where has my baby boy gone? I want to cry, he is growing up so fast! I was holding him the other night and felt like I was holding a 16-year-old. Thanks goodness I'm not that old yet :) At 6.5 months Tanner:
•loves to jump and swing in his jumper
•can almost sit unsupported
•loves bananas and carrots
•can't crawl, but can turn himself 360°while on his tummy
•no longer sleeps swaddled! (Aka baby straight jacket)
•loves to play peek-a-boo
•loves to listen to mom whistle and sing "You are My Sunshine"
•Still loves Aunt Meaghan and Uncle Dustin (and is SUPER excited they are moving into our Ward!)
•no teeth yet
•loves to snuggle blankets and sleep on his side
•not so much of a drool monster anymore
•eats his toes

We love our Tanner! Sad to see him grow up so fast. Brennen is ready for another newborn...ha! Nope.

April

April was a fun month.  My parents and brother came to visit over conference weekend, and we got to do some fun things.  We went to the Mesa Temple Easter Pageant, an Arizona Diamondbacks game, and to the Arizona Science Center.  Tanner was so excited to see Grandma and Grandpa, he cried when they had to leave. Brennen finished his Women's Health rotation and is now moving on to his 12 weeks of ER. We have started the job search and are hoping to find something reasonable close to Mesa/Gilbert or back home in Idaho.  So far we have had one interview and are awaiting hearing from an ER in Prescott, about 2 hours away. PA jobs are far and few between in Idaho, especially if you're as picky as Brennen.

 This little guy is so so smiley!

 It's a hard life after grandma and grandpa leave.

 I have been trying really hard to get into shape and lose all that "baby weight." If you want you can follow my accountability blog here. It's nothing special, just basically a record of how little I exercise and how much I eat :)

 Love seeing these two together. Best buds.

Alright, here's how I get my 6 month old to sleep through the night.  We call it the "baby straight jacket." Brennen doesn't like it, but he doesn't get up with him in the middle of the night either, so he really has no say. :) Start with 2 swaddle blankets. I used a 1-layer flannel blanket at a muslin swaddle blanket.  Lay one blanket flat like normal.  Fold the other blanket in half or thirds (depending on the width of the blanket) and lay it lengthwise across the top of the other blanket.  Put baby in the middle.

Wrap blanket around arm and under back.

Repeat

Swaddle as normal.  Obviously, you don't want your baby to overheat, so we usually swaddle in a onsie or just a diaper, especially since it's getting warmer here.

 He loves to watch himself in the mirror!

 I went to the Desert Botanical Gardens with some friends for the free day.  I didn't get many pictures.  We weren't there very long because the kiddos started getting cranky.

 We love bathtime!

 We got a jumper, and he LOVES it! Sorry you have to see inside my closet.

 We've watched mom do too many sit-ups!

 I don't know if anyone else's kids did this, but he is obsessed with water bottles! He tries to put the whole thing in his mouth.

 We make cute babies.

 Rice Cereal!

 If you look closely, you can see the tan line from my exercise pants (about 1 inch below my knee)

 He knows where the good stuff is!

 Best Friends!

 One day, I decided to try the "cry-it-out" method...and this is what happened :(

We are excited to see what May will bring us! We are starting our ER rotation next week, but that means we have to move to Safford (3 hours away) for 3 days and then back to Mesa for 4 days.  We get to do that for 6 weeks. Not excited at all.  Grandma and Grandpa Larsen are coming to visit, and I get to celebrate my first official Mother's Day!

Tanner @ 5 months

Another month down! Where does the time go? I cant believe I have an almost 6-month-old. What?! This month:
•more mobile. Rolls from back to front, and sometimes from front to back. Tries to crawl.
•has started grabbing things! Has very good hand-eye coordination. Loves to explore any and everything!
•said his first word. I know you might not believe me, but it's true. In a parrot - like repeating kind of way. Brennen has been trying to get him to say "hello" for about 2 months, and on Sunday he really said it!
•has to touch everything that goes in his mouth, mainly his bottle and pacifier. This makes it difficult sometimes to get him to eat or sleep because he is constantly trying to take things out of his mouth!
•he sleeps through the night! Well, he did. Since he was 2 months old I have had to swaddle him because he is too wiggly and wakes himself up by flailing his arms. For 2 months we have had to employ what we lovingly call the "baby straight jacket" because as he got bigger and stronger, he was able to worm his arms out of the swaddle which defeated the purpose. This way his body weight prevents him from getting his arms out and everybody wakes up happy from a good 10 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Daddy hates this, so starting tonight we are doing the "tough-love/put-you-down-and-hope-you-fall-asleep" method. Usually I will rock him to sleep, whether for naps or to put him down for the night, and then swaddle him. Now he just goes down and is responsible for putting himself to sleep. Now, you should know that his crying doesn't usually bother me other than getting annoying, so it's really no problem for me to let him cry for a minute  (also keep in mind that this kid doesn't know how to just cry, but screams. Always.) And I'm the only one getting up with him, of course. So I am currently writing this at 3:30 am, and he has been "putting himself to sleep" for 2 hours. We will be taking lots of naps today.
•loves his rice cereal! And is getting really good at eating it!
•has developed a sense of "stranger danger." We are working on this. neither me nor my siblings ever had the "stranger danger" phase of our infancy, and that made it super easy for our mom to get rid of us, haha. She set us in nursery and we made a beeline for the toys and never looked back.
•still loves bathtime
•loves watching himself in the mirror
•likes to watch basketball with his daddy
•loves to skype his grandmas and grandpas
•wears only 3-6 month clothes (pants are 3 months because he is still skinny)

I have learned a lot about the logistics of being a parent since Tanner has been born. Like, he's really a good baby. Every transition has been pretty smooth, except when I don't pick up on cues like hungry, tired, etc. But I'm still new at the whole thing. :) I love being a mom.

Back

Well, everyone, I did it.  40 Days (not including Sundays) without Facebook or Instagram.  And you know what?  I'M STILL ALIVE.  Yep. It's a small miracle.  But really now.  It was hardest the first week.  I didn't realize how checking social media on my phone had become a habit.  How sad is that?  A HABIT. Dictionary.com defines habit as: to dwell.  Let's just all take a moment to think about that.  To dwell.  I was dwelling in social media.  *shudder* This whole experience has taught me that it's more important to "dwell" in the here and now.

 

I mean, look at these two.  They are my here and now.  Brennen calls Tanner his "best little buddy" and last night said "why didn't I do this sooner?" Life is hard sometimes. And it's easy to get caught up in other people's lives and try to escape your own.  But you can't. It's better to face your trials head on, with those that mean the most to you at your side.  No, that doesn't mean your Facebook app in your pocket.  Time to start living for the here and now, and those that matter most.

Family Pictures

And couple weeks ago, we had Brennen's sister snap and few family pictures for us. Some came out pretty good considering we used my cell phone as s camera!

Tanner @ 4 Months

I can’t believe how fast time is going!  My little man will be 4 months old on Wednesday! Where did my little baby go?  Here are some fun/not so fun facts of our little Tanner boy:

·        Likes to jabber, especially during diaper changes

·         Tries to scoot away during diaper changes

·         Likes to whine…a lot!

·         Isn’t easily entertained

·         Sleeps through the night

·         LOVES bathtime!

·         HATES PHX Suns games

·         Started eating rice cereal

·         LOVES his Daddy!

·         Likes to sit up straight and stand

·         Can sit in a highchair

·         Can roll from back to front

·         Wears size 3 diapers

·         Is starting to grow out of 0-3 mo. Clothes

·         So wiggly and squirmy!

·         Always has to see what’s going on

·         Gets pouty/cries when other babies are crying

·         Loves to watch our fish tank

·         Loves his aunt Meaghan and uncle Dustin

·         Is ticklish on his neck and feet

·         Still spits up, but is better than he used to be

·         SLOBBERS ALL OVER!

·         His favorite food is fingers

Being a mom can be frustrating.  Like when he gets really whiny after 30 minutes of being awake, or when he slobbers all over my hand, or pukes all over his clean outfit (why is it the cute outfits that get puked on immediately, but nothing comes up when he’s wearing just a onsie?!).  But, I just have to remember that he doesn’t know any better, can’t control it, and that I love him more than anything in the world!