Happy Half Birthday!

Somehow our little man is 6 months old today.  I can't believe how fast time has gone!

Here is what sweet Brodie Jon is up to these days....

He is pretty good at sitting up on his own - he still gets a little tippy and will topple over reaching for toys...
 

 
Brodie LOVES to be outside.  He is happy as can be sitting in his jogging stroller just watching and observing.  We usually eat dinner on the deck and then Eric and Alex swim while Brodie and I hang out on the edge of the pool and Brodie just loves to watch them.  
 
Brodie is still Mr. Laid Back.  He rarely fusses and is pretty content to just hang out. 
 
He is still a big grabber - faces, ears, hair, clothes, etc.  Alex is ALWAYS in Brodie's personal space and has the consequence of getting a good hair pulling from his little brother. 








 
Brodie is rolling everywhere now - we often find him exploring off of his play mat...

 
Of course his favorite time to practice his mobility is nap/bedtime.  He is moving all over his crib now and often gets himself stuck.  His sleep has improved a lot over the past couple of weeks.  I put him down awake and he usually plays/rolls around for 10-15 minutes then starts fussing and I got in and flip him over and give him his snuggie and paci and he goes to sleep on his own.  He does often falls asleep nursing at night.  He is sleeping through the night most nights, but still has one or two nights a week where he will roll over and get stuck and be restless for a bit.  He was waking up between 4-5 to eat, but the past two mornings I was able to put a paci in and he went back to sleep until between 6-7, so hopefully we are close to making it 11-12 hours at night!  His naps are anywhere from 1-3 hours and he is taking two naps a day.

Brodie has been eating rice cereal for about a week now and is doing very well with it. He gets impatient if it is too long between bites.  Big brother always assists with the cereal feeding so it is quite the messy experience ;).

Brodie is very tolerant of all the love he gets from Alex.  Alex always wants to be playing with Brodie and is always in his space - but for the most part Brodie is full of smiles for Alex.  And Alex can always get belly laughs out of Brodie.

Brodie is still a baldie.

Loves to splash at bath time.

Loves remote controls.

We love you sweet baby boy!

Pool Party

We had our annual Memorial Day pool party on Monday.  Alex was so excited for the party, he talked for two days about his friends coming over.  He went to the store with me to buy food for the party and he would tell everyone, "these strawberries are for my friends", "these chips are for my friends", etc.   He helped me make a lot of the food too.

The weather turned out great and we had a lot of fun. 

Once they got there he loved playing with all the kids - but had a special little love for Lucy!

 

Our little fish - with no fear and an absolute love of the water.  We had to drag him out at dinner time.



After lots of swimming the sandbox became a big hit and it was quickly turned into a mud pit - fun for all!

 Kelly - a little multitasking - US Weekly and cuddling with sweet Connor...

 Brodie hung with me in the shade and liked watching all the kids in action...

 

Eric put his back out on Sunday morning, but thankfully the pool and the party provided some distraction and relief for him.  

A good day of fun with good friends!

Driving Range

We have been in potty training mode in the Postma household.  Overall it has gone quite well, but the first few days were not fun...picture me nursing Brodie in the bathroom while reading book after book to Alex waiting for him to pee.  The hardest part of potty training was getting Alex to "pee on command" and getting him to empty his bladder when he went.  After a few days things started to click. (A special thanks to my sister-in-law -Julie- for making me stick to it!) We started on Monday and by Thursday he was only having one accident a day.  He has now stayed dry for 2 days, is initiating going on his own most of the time, and has pooped in the potty for three days in a row.  Alex's reward for pooping in the potty was a trip to the driving range.  He was so thrilled!

Carrying his bag to the range....

 Mommy making him pose...

 

 

 Just like Daddy....

Alex in action....

 

 After the range we headed to the practice putting green...this was about equally as exciting to Alex as the range....

 

Alex did not want to leave and was a little disappointed that he didn't get to go golf on the real golf course attached to the range.  He also wondered where Tiger Woods was :). 

Rolling

For documentation sake - Brodie rolled from back to front for the first time today.  He was reaching for a toy and over he went and he wasn't very impressed to find himself on his stomach :)

5 Months

Brodie Jon turned 5 months old this week - not sure how that is possible.  It goes twice as fast with the second one I think.

Here is what our sweet boy is up to these days:

*Brodie is still a very happy and content baby.  We are on the go a lot - playing outside, going to playgrounds, the gardens, etc.  Brodie just hangs out in his stroller and takes it all in and rarely makes  a peep.

*He loves to bite/suck on blankets, clothes, bibs,  burp clothes, etc.


*Brodie likes to make himself heard and is often squealing and vocalizing.  Alex can always get him giggling!

*He still LOVES his bath time and kicks like crazy.  He totally floods the kitchen floor and we need to move him to another bath option as he has definitely out grown the infant tub.   Alex loves to help with bath time...

 

*He has been going 3 1/2 - 4 hours between feedings during they day and this is really nice and allows us to get out and about easier.  He eats around 6:45 give or take for his last feeding of the night and then makes it until anywhere between 4:30-6:00 in the morning.  

* I was thinking I would have to buy summer clothes for him since he was born opposite seasons from Alex, but I didn't need to worry as Alex's 12 month summer clothes fit him perfectly.  Now I am just a little worried he may outgrow them by the end of summer :).

 *Brodie is curious and a lot more interested in his toys lately...

*I fed him some oatmeal this past week and he did really well eating it, but that afternoon and night he was so gassy and I was up all night with a gassy/unsettled baby who would only sleep on me, so we are holding off another month before any more cereal I think. Of course Alex had to help.....






*Sleep is improving but still inconsistent.  We bit the bullet and did they cry it out for going down at night and the first night it took 25 minutes and now he goes down much better - just needs a paci after a few minutes of fussing and then he usually goes right down.  He is still  up sometimes at night and needs a paci or a pat -  as I am not as good at the cry it out thing in the middle of the night.  Naps have been much better too - the morning nap ends up being on the go a lot, but he has been taking 2 - 2 1/2 hour afternoon naps.  He still sometimes needs a little cat nap around 5:00 to tide him over until bedtime. 

He is seriously just the sweetest little guy - just a snuggly, happy little boy. 

One More

I have to document one more quote from Alex...

I got a card in the mail from Eric yesterday.  Alex wanted to open it for me and I said he could but the card was for Momma.  He said, "it your birthday?'  I told him it was not my birthday but Daddy sent me a card that says "I love you".  Alex says, "Awww that is SO sweet".  :)

Happy 5 months to Brodie on Tuesday - I am working on his post....

Out of the Mouth of Alex...

Alex pretty much cracks me up on a daily basis and I am trying to get better at recording some of our entertaining conversations.  Here are a few recent ones...

1.  We are going to bite the potty training bullet in the next couple of weeks, so we have been talking a lot about going potty and wearing underwear.  Eric told Alex that when he wears big boy underwear and goes pee in the potty he can go to a real driving range with him.  On Saturday I got a package from Victoria's Secret and Alex wanted to open it while we were playing outside.  I told him it was just some new underwear for me.  He said, "Oh Momma, I so happy for you, you can go to the real driving range now!" : ).

2.  Alex is definitely in the "Why?" phase and he asks me why? about a hundred times a day.

Alex:  Momma where is Daddy?
Me:  He is at work today.
Alex:  Why Daddy at work?
Me:  He has to make money.
Alex:  Why Daddy have to make money?
Me:  So we have money to buy food and clothes
Alex:  Why we want money to buy food?
Me:  We get hungry and need food to eat?
Alex:  Why we get hungry?
Me:  Alex, do you want a sucker?  : )  (Just Kidding).

3.  Today we were at the checkout at Publix and a lady behind us had black hair and was wearing a black dress.  Alex looks at her and says, "Momma, look, is that a witch?"  I try the ignore method but of course he just repeats himself louder.  So I pick him up and tell him that it is just a lady and he says, "Why that lady not a witch Momma?".  Of course with the why? :). 

4.  "Remember Yesterday.....".  When Alex talks about anything that happened in the past, whether it was yesterday, a month ago, or a year ago, he will start by saying "remember yesterday.....".