10 Months

Check out my mad photoshop skills!  I taught myself how to hide the circle and text
behind his hands and feet by layering images and working with layer masks in Photoshop.
What do you think...is it believable?  I'll admit it's not perfect, but for my first time
doing that, I was pretty happy with it.  :)

Eeks!  I'm verrrrrrrrrry late in posting this monthly update.  Shame on me!  But, summer time is busy...add in a week long vacation, a couple of photo shoots and sprinkle in a thousand-or-so pictures to edit, and that's what you call my excuse, people!  Forgive me?

So....since I never posted Brody's stats from his 9 month doctor visit, I thought I'd add them to this post. 

Height: 28.5" - 50%
Weight: 22.4 lbs. - 71%
Head - 46 cm - 65%

That said, I know that Brody actually weighs just over 24 lbs. now, though.  I know that because while we were on vacation the other week, Brody got another ear infection.  So, I found an in-network doctors office in the area (in Spencer, IA) and took him in to get checked out.  Of course, while there, they weighed him.  What a big boy!

Ok, what are we up to this month?  Hmmm...

• Brody is wearing all 12 month size clothing now.  And we've moved on to size 4 diapers. 
• No more army crawling, this boy can MOVE!  He crawls everywhere.  And he's fast, let me tell you.  People keep asking if he can walk yet, or if he's getting close.  He's not.  He will cruise really well around furniture, and can even stand unassisted for a couple of seconds, but he's very cautious and actually doesn't even seem to want to try to walk.  Even when we hold his hands, he either turns around and wants to be picked up, or he sits down and crawls to what he wants.  And you know what...I'm actually OK with this.  I think most new parents are so anxious for their babes to take those first few steps, and I'm not saying I won't be SO PROUD when he does finally walk for the first time, but he's already such a busy boy crawling all around...  I guess I'm just saying that I'm in no rush to chase after a little toddler...yet!

• Brody can pull himself up with ease now and is (and has been for a while) frequently found in his crib standing up looking over the railing at us.  It is quite possibly the cutest thing to see in the mornings and after naps.  We are ALWAYS greeted with the biggest smile you could ever imagine.  It's the best.
• B still eats like a champ.  Pretty sure there is nothing this boy won't eat.  A couple of times I've had to throw out his baby food dinners though because it made ME want to vomit.  Seriously...some of those things look and smell like the nastiest cat food in the world.  SICK.  I cannot subject my child  to such disgustingness.  I can't and I wont. 

• Brody is still on the same eating schedule as last month...3 bottles a day, 2 meals, and 1 snack.
• He's also still on the same nap schedule.  One around 9:00 AM and the other around 1:30 PM.  The length of his naps seems to vary.  Usually his afternoon nap is the longer of the two though, but he totals about 4 hours of nap sleep a day.
• He's still going to bed around 7:30 and sleeps 11 hours till 6:30 AM on weekdays, and will sleep in a bit on weekends till 7:15 or so.  Thanks, B!

• Still no words yet.  We get Dada, Mama, and Baba sounds a lot, but I don't think he knows what they mean yet, so I don't count them as actual words.  He sometimes says Hi after we say Hi to him, but I'm not sure if he is repeating us or if it's just a coincidence. 
• Brody knows how to wave bye bye and hello now!!  This is so cute to see.  He started doing it early on vacation and we got such a kick out of having him do it all week.  Sometimes he does it more easily than others, but he definitely knows what it means when we say bye bye to him and he waves back at us.  Awwww.

• Brody now has 7 teeth and I think he's working on the 8th.  Four up top, and now 3 on bottom. 
• Brody is getting quite the little personality.  He is still such a good boy.  Always giving smiles to everyone and always very friendly.  He will pretty much go to anyone who holds their arms out for him and generally isn't scare of anyone yet.  The only person we've notice him being slightly scare of is our friend A-Rob.  Twice when he's seen him he clung to me and one time even cried a little.  Otherwise he shows no stranger fear.  Not sure if that's a good or a bad thing....hmmm...
• He has learned to cry and pout when he doesn't get what he wants...which is really only when he doesn't get food when he thinks he should be getting some.  I swear...the kid is a tank and wants to eat all the time.  If we aren't quick when it's bottle or snack time, he cries and pouts and kicks his legs.  We do our best to ignore the behavior, and 9 times out of 10 he will settle down within a couple minutes.  He's learning how to express himself and communicate his needs...I wish he would choose another way to do it, but since he can't talk, I guess it makes sense that he cries to tell us what he wants.  I attempt teaching him sign language, but I don't think it's taught at daycare, and I am not consistent with it at home, so, I'm pretty sure he's not picking it up.  I will try to make myself be better at it.  They (random things I read on the Internet) say that right now is the best time to teach sign language.

• He loves to play, crawl all over the house, play peak-a-boo, pat-a-cake, itsy-bitsy-spider, read books, and roll a ball around.  He's such a trooper and we can easily take him along with us just about anywhere. 

I'll try to do a separate post about our vacation soon, but don't hold me to this.  I've got lots of photo shoots and editing I'm working on in my spare time, and I also need to work on planning Brody's first birthday party in the coming weeks (OMG...how can he already almost be ONE?!?!).  Life is flying by way too fast....does anyone know how to slow down time?  I'm savoring every minute of it, but sometimes it feels like I blink and a whole month has gone by!

Baby Giggles

...Aren't they the best?

There are Vampires at Daycare!

Either it's that, or this is one heckofa hickey!

Actually, it's neither. 

I'm sure you are shocked. 

Truth is...Brody got bit by a little 2 year old called Kaylee.  Apparently he is her fifth victim.  I asked if Brody did anything to provoke this little vampire-in-training.  Pam said nope.  Brody was actually playing in the exersaucer.  Kaylee came right up and bit him on his tasty-looking cheek.  Bit him hard!  Brody cried.  Kaylee cried.  Kaylee got in trouble.  She knows it's wrong.  Hopefully she will stop biting the other kids soon.  They might all form an alliance against her to get her kicked out of daycare.  You never know what these kids are up to these days.  I'm told Vampire Kaylee has gotten in trouble for biting 5 times now.  Each time a new vicitim with new blood to suck.  Luckily she did not break Brody's skin...so you can stop worrying he will turn into a vampire now.  He was lucky this time.  She did leave a nice bruise/bite mark on the side of his face, however.  Maybe I'll send him to daycare with some garlic and a crusifix tomorrow...just in case...

On another (totally completely unrelated) note...Brody L-O-V-E LOVES macaroni and cheese now.  I think it's probably his most favorite food (and the boy will eat anything, so it's hard to tell what's favorite around here)...

Seeing as how Brody's 10 month birthday was 2 weeks (TWO WEEKS) ago...I'm hoping to get his 10 month update on here soon.  I've been a busy little shutterbug (and photo editor) lately, which occupies all of my free time since getting home from vacation last weekend...so please forgive me?

Dipey Wipey

*warning...I'm in a really weird mood tonight, hence the corny jokes you are about to embark on.

I did a funny little DIY project over the weekend.  I made my own baby wipes.  Weird, I know.  I learned about it while trolling internet land one night.  Thought it sounded kind of neat.  It's definitely a money saver...I didn't do any exact figuring on this myself, but I read somewhere it can save about $12 a month.  Multiply that by 12 months and you've saved yourself $144 a year, my friend.  It's not gonna make you rich, but every little bit helps, right?  I created a little tutorial for you, if you are interested in trying these yourself. 

My favorite part about these wipes is you can use different baby soaps to get different scents.  I love baby scents.  They are so clean and refreshing.  Makes me want to make ten thousand babies.  HA!  Not really.  But I do really love baby smells.

Anyway...on to the tutorial...

Start with your ingredients:

• A Roll of strong paper towels (don't skimp here, my friends)  I opted for Viva as they are quite simply the BEST paper towels ever made.
• A Tupperware-type container (the ones I picked up from Wally world worked, but they were a little short, so you might want to find something larger).
• A bottle of drinking water (you could also use tap water, but boil it first...you would need about 2 cups)
• Some baby wash
• Baby oil
• A sharp knife and a cutting board
• Measuring cup and spoons

First step, slice that roll in half!  Find a strong burly man to cut your bum-wipes for you....or just use some elbow grease, ladies.

I used a serrated knife.  It made a mess.  But I tried a non-serrated knife and it didn't do the job.  Don't even get me started on crappy non-sharp knives.  I won't go there, but you can ask my husband about my true feelings on knives.  Oy! 

Pull the cardboard innards outta the roll.  Make a couple kazoos and start a band.  (kidding, but seriously, anyone remember doing that with TP rolls and wax paper and rubber bands?  good times).

*some rolls have extra glue holding the paper to the roll.  Viva did not, so it was easy to slip the cardboard out.

Next mix together one bottle of water, 2 tablespoons of baby wash, and 2 tablespoons of baby oil.  I don't have a PhD in bum-wipe making, but my research told me that you don't want to use tap water (unless you boil it first) because something in it can speed up the growth of mold.  And no one wants to smear mold on their babies butts now, do they? 

I used the deliciously scented Johnson's Bedtime bath.  And just regular old baby oil.  The oil helps aid in getting all the doo off the bum.  Got it?  And the wash...well it washes.  Duh.

Stir it up, son!

As I mentioned above, the containers I bought were too short.  So I shmooshed my roll down in there.  I shmooshed it good.  But ideally you want to have the roll sit upright.

Then pour some of your concoction onto the roll.  At this point, since I had a shmooshed roll, I took it out and flipped it over to pour the rest of the stuff on there. 

Put a lid on it, lady.  Let it sit for a bit.

Flip it over and let it sit s'more.

There you have it!  You've got your own wipes!  You should be able to start pulling the towels from the middle of the roll.  You should if you were smart and bought a proper size container for your project.  I wasn't smart.  But I wasn't gonna let that stop me.  So I molded my wet wipes and shmooshed some more till I was able to fit them upright in the container.  This caused some issues for pulling the first few wipes from the middle of the roll, though.  Your husband may tell you that your homemade wipes are crap.  Because your husband may have had trouble grabbing proper sheets of wipes from your little $144-a-year savings project.  And your husband may have not un-wadded the wipe ball enough before using it to wipe the fresh and ripe bum staring at his face.  Your husband may have gotten some poo on his hands.  And he may have not liked that very much.  Oopsie.  :)

Couple other things to mention...  You obviously have a second roll on hand since you cut the paper towel roll in half.  And the concoction should actually make enough to use on both rolls.  Just get another container for the second roll and you're all set.  I opted to not make my second roll at this time.  I've heard if these home made wipes sit too long, mold can develop...so I didn't want to have a second roll made yet, not knowing how long it would take me to go through one container.  Also, since my roll was all shmooshed, I think it needed more liquid than it should have, so I used more than half of the concoction on one roll.  Lessons learned for next time.  Questions?