Brynlee hates baby food!

So for the past 5 weeks or so we have "attempted" to give Brynlee some veggies and fruits.  We started with the veggies.  The very first time she got a small taste in her mouth and acted like she was gagging.  Very dramatic.  Every time the spoon touched  her lips, same thing.  We still attempted every night.  We did peas for 4 days, then green beans for 4 days, then carrots for 4 days, then sweet potatoes for 4 days.  Finally she would at least tolerate the sweet pototoes.  As in, she would allow the spoon to go in her mouth and not make a complete gagging gesture and face.  Every veggie got about 5 or 6 spoonful tries a night.  She would not allow it. 

We had high hopes when we moved on to the fruits.  Especially since the sweet potoates didn't go AS terribly as the other veggies.  Our high hopes quickly vanished the first attempt at pears when she did the same sour face (no gagging though!) and still refused to open her lips.  We have now tried pears, peaches, and bananas.  Still refuses everything. 

She WILL eat her cereal and LOVES it!  She is sometimes hesitant at first to see if it is a veggie or fruit we are trying to trick her with, but as soon as she realizes it isn't she opens her mouth wide asking for more and gobbles large bowls up fast!  And yes, we have tried tricking her many times with spoonfulls of veggies or fruits in between cereal bites.  She spits it right back out. 

She loves the little baby mum mum rice patty things.  She will gum french fries and chicken nuggets, mostly playing with them, but still opening her mouth and tolerating it. 

We are getting more and more tempted to go right into table foods and skip this baby food stage altogether b/c it is a gigantic waste of time...and energy...and emotions... 

We know she hates her high chair, so we have tried to have her sit on our laps to eat.  Same response. 

We know she is super active/busy/wants to be on the go at all times, so we have tried to limit interaction/distractions when she eats.  Same response. 

We haven't tried to put some of the fruits and veggies INTO the cereal yet, which is our next attempt.  Mostly because we wanted to NOT feed her cereal at night anymore and we just wanted to do the fruits and veggies.  We will try that method tonight to see what happens. 

Other than the refusing to eat ordeal she is still the best baby you could ask for!  Pulling herself up to standing on EVERYTHING!  She is pretty much crusing around furniture now.  We have had debates on if she will be walking by Christmas.  I am moving it up to December 1st....  She will be 8 months on Dec. 1. 
She is sleeping anywhere from 11 to 12 hours a night, so awesome.  She is happy, talky, smiley, lovey, all the time!  She is the love of all of our lives, especially her brother.  :)

Love Love Love

I so love this video of my 2 Lovey's.  I love how B is smiling and laughing with him, and I love how G says "cheese" at the beginning and end.  I took this after he had been singing her songs and playing Patty Cake with her for awhile  He is always at her side talking to her, singing to her, playing with her, wishing she would talk back to him. She is pretty much always asleep by 8:00 every night, which G gets annoyed with b/c he wants to play with her!  If he is downstairs while she goes to bed he comes up and asks me where she is and then says, "No I want to play with Brynlee, I don't want her to go to bed!"  He is seriously such a good big brother.  It is awesome.  And, such a relief since he is so crazy in so many ways!  It will be his dream come true when she can actually run around and play with him someday! 

Awesome story:

At Brynlee's 6 month check up G got his flu shot and B got her 6 month shots and then her flu shot also.  We were a little nervous with G getting a shot b/c he hasn't had one since he is old enough to know what is going on so I knew we were going to have to do some good sweet talking to get him revved up for it.  Well, luckily he saw a bandaid while we were waiting in the doctor's office and wanted the bandaid.  So, I had some quick thinking, and told him that he WILL get a bandaid b/c he is going to get a shot and you get a bandaid after you get shots!  Well, he was SUPER excited then!  He was yelling at the nurse who kept popping in and out, every time she would leave the room he would yell, "Wait!  I need my bandaid!"  So, he was excited to get it.  We had him do his shot first so he wouldn't see B crying and getscared.  He did okay as I put him up on the table, I pretty much just laid his bottom on the table while he clung to my neck b/c he was scared to lay down.  He mostly just said "Ouchy Ouchy!" over and over as the nurse was giving it until it turned into crying/screaming.  He was a little excited about his band aid, but mostly still clinging to me.  As I was comforting him, it was B's turn to get her shots.  As soon as he heard her start crying he sat up (although still crying himself), and wanted to go over to comfort B!  It was SO CUTE!  He was laying over her, through his tears telling her "It's okay Brynlee, I'm right here.  It's ouchy for a little bit then you will get a band aid!"  So.Adorable.
Of course, B cried for like 1/4 of the time G did....  :)  And she got 3 shots....
He was a little jealous that B had 3 bandaids and he only had 1. 

Unfortunately G was sick for a few days last week, which we are wondering is a reaction to his flu shot.  He is finally back to his old self.  Although still demanding medicine.  He only had it like 3 times the whole time he was sick, but now he thinks he loves it.  He was faking sick the other night so he could try to get some.  "Mommy I'm gonna puke."  "(fake coughs) see, I cough."  Didn't work...  :)

Brynlee's 6 Month Check Up

Brynlee had her 6 month check up last week.  She is doing great!  She still has some congestion/coughing which she has had since she was 2 months old.  So far we have all decided it is something she will outgrow or possible a sign that she will have allergies or possibly asthma issues when she is older.  It doesn't bother her at all.  She has always eaten well, slept well, played well, been happy.  Also her lungs, ears, etc. have always been clear at the doctor. 

These are her 6 Month stats:                                    Grady's 6 Month Stats:

Weight:  16 lbs. 7 oz   (60%)                                    Weight:  15 lbs (5%)
Height:  26 in (70%)                                                  Height:  24.5 in (5%)
Head:  16.75 in (51%)                                                25%

She seems so much bigger than G was, but she isn't really THAT much bigger than he was.  He was just so much more petite which made him seem smaller I think.  He is still pretty petite in his hips/waist.  Trying to find pants that fit him this fall has been an issue.  He needs the length of 2T, but they just fall right off of his waist!  I was hoping he would be able to do 2T's finally this fall, but 18 month is still best for him...or 12 month.  But that is another story!

She is a little above average in everything, which I was not surprised by based on the size of clothes she wears and the way they fit.  She is pretty much in all 6 month clothes, but some 12 month stuff fits okay if it is smaller fitting.  She is quickly growing out of the 6 month stuff though, I'm about ready to bring out the 9 month sleepers, which very fittingly are mostly all fleece!  Should be perfect for the colder weather. 

She is still really trying to pull herself up on everything.  Why can't she just be content with crawling for awhile!!  Do we really have to be pulling ourself up already?!?!  :)  She crawls all over the house and follows me everywhere!  She is kind of an unusual crawler and never scooted or army crawled, went straight into crawling on her hands and knees. 

She is doing great at Kellan's for daycare.  Kellan loves her and says it is so much fun to have a little girl, she is used to little boys now!  (Her son is 12 months, and the baby before Brynlee was a boy.)  Grady loves having her there and is always asking where she is if he can't see her or has to go up and say hi to her.  Which is what he does at home too!  He is such a sweet big brother!  Thankfully!

Happy Fall!

These last few months have flown by and we have been super busy!  No time for blogging!  :)

So, here is a quick recap of what we have been up to this fall so far. 

Brynlee:  Turned 6 months old yesterday and is now crawling!  She is super advanced with her movements and activeness.  We weren't quite ready for baby proofing yet, but ready or not here she comes!  She is also pulling herself up onto things, which is NOT a good thing since she is not strong enough or sturdy enough to support herself.  She has taken quite a few tumbles already and I see many more in her future.  She is a mover and a shaker!  Not unlike her brother...hmm...

She doesn't have any teeth yet, but has been drooling and gnawing on things like crazy, so I'm just waiting for one to pop up! 

She is still her laid-back normally happy self.  A great sleeper.  We don't give her a bottle at night anymore at all.  She was always a once a night bottle baby, but these past couple of weeks we cut it out completely.  She sometimes fusses a few times in the early morning hours, but goes right back to sleep with her paci. 

She starts going to Kellan's for daycare tomorrow.  It was so awesome to have my Aunt Lori watch her until now.  We will miss going to pick her up there every day, especially Grady.  He loved to go pick her up with me!  But, we are excited to have a longer night since we will just have 1 stop to make to pick up kids.  And, it will be fun to see how Grady does with having her there with him all day.  :)

Grady:  Still as wild and crazy as ever.  We started a Toddler Team-Up class at the Children's museum this week and he showed me once again that in a room full of kids the same age as him, he is the craziest one.  Seriously getting worried about preschool next year...hmmm.... 

He has also been having lots of bad behaviors when we are around his cousins and friends.  He definately wants to show off that he can be disobedient to his parents and he LOVES to be the clown and thinks he is hysterical.  I DO love his sense of humor though! 

Although he has his craziness, he is also the sweetest, loviest little boy.  He is so sweet to Brynlee.  And, he says the nicest things and thinks of the smartest things to say.  He is also starting to be such a "big brother" to Brynlee and likes to tell her what is going on or what she can or can't do.  She is going to have quite the boss.  :) 

He is seriously such a smart little boy and figures things out so quickly.  He also remembers EVERYTHING.  Scary.  :)  He knows all of his colors and shapes (even the hard ones), and knows most of his numbers 1-10.  He is starting to recognize a few of the letters, and he LOVES to tell us when he sees letters.  He can count to 20 and loves to count for us and sing the alphabet song for us multiple times a day! 

He is loving to play on my iPad and does several games and puzzles on there every night.  I think that is another reason he is learning so much so fast, that iPad has tons of great games and letter/sound things that he loves! He also loves to go to the spelling and reading things that are too hard for him and he refuses to get off of them, but needs help (obvioiusly), but that is another story!  :)

Here are pictures of what we have been up to lately! 

We took Grady to the Air Show!  He loved to watch the planes!

We went to Wichita for my cousin Holly's wedding!

Cutest little dancing couple!  Grady & Madison

Playing at the park!  We have been going on walks to the park every night since the weather has been so nice!

Grandpa Steve, Zoya,  & Great-Grandma Marlene came for dinner last week for Grandpa Steve's Birthday! 

I love this shirt! 

Crazy boy!

Playing at the Children's Museum before our Toddler Team-up Class!

The Deaver's came to visit!!

We went to Roca Berry Farm to the Pumpkin Patch, it was so awesome!  Perfect weather and perfect activities for the kids!  We could have spent all day there! 

Go Huskers!