Life as Bridget Knows It...

Monday, March 21, 2016

Maddox - 8 months

March 21, 2016

Baby Stats:

Weight

Not sure...did not weigh him

Length

27.5" @ 6 month check up

Sleep

Still sleeping great. Goes to bed around 7 and wakes in the 6 am hour to eat. Sometime we have to wake him. There was one horrible night a few weeks ago and OMG it was something I have never experienced with Turner. Maddox was teething so bad (and his amber necklace was not on...I swear by that thing). He woke at 11:50 and screamed on and off every 10 minutes until 2:30 where he finally fell asleep on me on the couch. Then woke at 4:30 at which I had to change him because his diaper leaked and then he fell back asleep back in the crib until his normal waking time. This mama was exhausted the next day. It was worse than the newborn stage. I'm so glad it was only one night and now I NEVER forget to put his necklace back on (around his ankle at night).

Daily Routine

Wakes everyday at 6:30/7 ish. I nurse him. Eats breakfast. Goes to daycare and gets 3 bottles while there each containing 5oz of breast milk. Eats lunch @ daycare with food I pack. Gets nursed at 5 and then eats dinner with us. Gets bottle @ bed time at 7 containing 5oz of breast milk.

Feeding

Champ eater! Loves everything we give him. Gets 3 solid meals a day now, morning, lunch and dinner. Mostly veggies for lunch and dinner. a fruit and/or oatmeal for breakfast.

Still doing a mix of purees and baby led weaning.

Diaper Size

Still rocking cloth diapers during the day and he is in size 3 Honest brand diapers at night.

Clothes Size

Still fitting in 6 month onesies. Pants are getting a bit small as they are too short. 6 month sleepers are also getting small. Using a mix of both 6 and 9 month size.

Hair Color

His hair is growing at a rapid pace I feel like. It's very brown and the top is longer than the rest which is fun to play with. He actually has a nice self made mohawk and it's so cute!

Eye Color

Still blue and his lashes are growing so fast. I'm happy to see he is going to have long lashes like my other 2 boys!!!!

Milestones

3 teeth with the 4th coming through.
I'm doing this a month late so I have forgotten everything else

Likes

Still loving his thumb!
Eating...kid loves to eat.
To be tickled.
Smiling - he is seriously the happiest baby and barely ever cries.
Will hang out in his crib after nap time and wait for us...it's seriously so awesome.

Dislikes

Sitting up on his own. He would rather be on his belly or back.

Waiting for food too long while in high chair.

Mama

I have nothing :)

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Maddox - 7 months

February 21, 2015

Baby Stats:

Weight

approx 18 lbs

Length

27.5" @ 6 month check up

Sleep

Maddox is officially a rock star sleeper. He goes to bed around 7 and sleeps through the night no problem. There may be one or two times total in a 4 week period that he wakes and fusses, but nothing that requires us to go in there.

Daily Routine

Wakes everyday at 6:30/7 ish. I nurse him. Eats breakfast. Goes to daycare and gets 3 bottles while there each containing 5.5oz of breast milk. Gets nursed at 5 and then eats dinner with us. Gets bottle @ bed time at 7 containing 5.5oz of breast milk.

Feeding

Diaper Size

Still rocking cloth diapers during the day and he is in size 3 Honest brand diapers at night.

Clothes Size

Still fitting in 6 month onesies. Pants are getting a bit small as they are too short. 6 month sleepers are also getting small. Using a mix of both 6 and 9 month size.

Hair Color

His hair is growing at a rapid pace I feel like. It's very brown and the top is longer than the rest which is fun to play with.

Eye Color

Still blue and his lashes are growing so fast. I'm happy to see he is going to have long lashes like my other 2 boys!!!!

Milestones

Moving like crazy. He isn't crawling but is trying so hard. He army crawls everywhere. You put him in one spot and he's not there for very long.
Starting 3 solid meals/day.
Sleeping 12 hours straight.
Sitting up unassisted but hates it.

Likes

Sitting up on his own. He would rather be on his belly or back.

Waiting for food too long while in high chair.

Mama

Tax season is in full swing and I am still surviving. My husband is awesome and so hands on, that he makes this whole working 65 hour/weeks easier. I really wonder how next year will go with the office move, but we will cross that bridge when we get there. I'm stressed, overwhelmed and just down right tired...but I keep telling myself I am blessed. Many would want to be where I am and I really do love my life and job so no complaints from me :)

Thursday, January 21, 2016

Maddox - 6 months

December 21, 2015

Baby Stats:

Weight

17 lbs 8 oz

Length

27.5"

Sleep

Maddox is getting better and better at sleeping. We hit a little rough spot over Christmas due to traveling. Each night we were away, he was up every 2 hours and when you are in a home with others, you just feed the baby so they don't wake everyone up. So that's what I did. Luckily, when we got back home he back to his normal sleeping habits. Goes to bed around 7 and wakes in the 5 am hour sometimes the 6 am hour. We stopped doing the 9 pm hour dream feeding in between 5-6 month and he did great. We now feed him a bottle @ bed time and he sleeps right through the dream feed.

Daily Routine

About mid way through the 5-6 month transition, we switched things up. He started getting solids and we eliminated the dream feed. He gets up around 6 and I nurse him. Then goes to daycare all day. Get's fed when we get home at 5, then solids for dinner and then a bottle of breast milk at 7. In bed with lights out at 7:15.

Feeding

We introduced solids a few weeks after he turned 5 months. He was more than ready. We are using a combination of purees and baby led weaning with feeding him solids. He loves to eat the heads off broccoli. It's super cute how excited he gets about it. Still fed breast milk 6 times a day. When he wakes, then around 9, 12 and 3. I nurse him at 5. He has solids at dinner time (and we started right before his 6 month birthday feeding him solids @ breakfast). Then gets a bottle at 7 pm bed time. All bottles have about 5.5 ounces in them.

Has loved everything we have given him. Broccoli, avocado, squash, banana, applesauce, pears, peas and sweet potatoes.

Diaper Size

Still rocking cloth diapers during the day and he is in size 3 Honest brand diapers at night.

Clothes Size

Carter brand 6 month PJ's he has has mostly outgrown. They are not tall enough for him. Still wearing all 6 month size clothing.

Hair Color

His hair is growing at a rapid pace I feel like. It's very brown and the top is longer than the rest which is fun to play with.

Eye Color

Still blue and his lashes are growing so fast. I'm happy to see he is going to have long lashes like my other 2 boys!!!!

Milestones

Celebrated his first Christmas. Traveled to WI for a long holiday weekend.
Played in the snow for the first time.
Got his first bout of pink eye
Started solid food
Started sleeping 12 hour stretches
Got his first tooth...and the second one soon followed!

Likes

HIS THUMB...OMG we have a thumb sucker! It's the cutest thing!!!
Eating...kid loves to eat.
Army crawling. He loves to move around when we leave the room.
Smiling - he is seriously the happiest baby and barely ever cries.
Will hang out in his crib after nap time and wait for us...it's seriously so awesome.

Dislikes

His paci...won't take it anymore. Just plays with it if we give it to him.

Shots...baby boy hated his shots @ 6 months..first time I Heard him cry in a long time...that's how happy is is.

Mama

I survived being a single mom for a whole week when Tate was gone on a business trip. That's when all the sickness started...colds, pink eye, wheezing, coughing, etc. It's one thing after another right now and I can't wait to get it gone. I'm staring tax season this month so that is daunting to think about. I wonder how I am going to do everything and still be a great mom to the boys and a wife to husband. I keep telling myself it's only 12 weeks. I just need to remember to let some things go. I'm still working out 3-4 days a week. Just doing weight training really. Love our garage gym.

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

2016 Goals

Each year Tate and I make goals, not resolutions. We actually have been making goals when we celebrate our Anniversary also for what we want to happen in the next year. I thought that was good enough. But then I saw on FB this post by Rachel Cruze (Dave Ramsey's daughter) about 7 areas you should focus on when making your New Year goals and I loved it. So when Tate and I sat down for our NYE sushi date (at home after boys were in bed), we made goals based on this list of areas for the 2016 year. I can see us doing this ever year now with these areas.

Intellectual:
Tate - his goal is to read 2-3 books this year. Now to some this may seem very small, but Tate and I are not book readers so to read this many will be big. We love reading books about financing, retirement, business, etc. To me they are like 'self help' books but in many different areas of life including career, personal and family.

Bridget - read 4 books this year. That is one a quarter. I already have 3 in mind so I really hope to accomplish this goal. I think by setting aside one night a week to focus on reading will really help this goal.

Physical:
Tate - Bench press 225 lbs and Squat 275 lbs (sets of 6). Tate works out everyday with his job but it's more cardio and endurance and not weight lifting. Now that we have our home gym he would love to build back up his muscles with weight training.

Bridget - Lose body fat %. I don't want to lose weight...I actually want to gain by converting fat to muscle. I would love to grow my booty, arms and legs. I would love a washboard stomach (wouldn't we all). More importantly, I want to feel good about myself, fuel my body with healthy foods and set a good example for my boys on balancing it all.

Spiritual:
Tate and I would love to focus this year on praying together. We learned how important this was during our wedding prep classes through our religion. We both feel weird and out of place when we pray together, but we shouldn't. I want to get to a place where we pray together regularly and have it not feel weird.

Family:
We would love to plan some sort of family even once a week. It could be sledding, go to the park, game night, movie night, etc. Time set aside for just family time.

Social:
Once a month getting together with friends. Game nights, dinner dates, kid play dates, etc. It could be anything but setting dates and getting together is a must.

Career:
Tate - open club 2. Tate and his boss are in the works of getting things in order for this to happen and Tate's goal is to make it happen this year.

Bridget - Focus more at work, meet billable hours goal each month and continue to bring in business. I love my job and enjoy going to work every day. I want my time there to be work so I can continue to improve and when home, focus on home. I feel like I am constantly combining the 2 which is not fair to my family when home and not fair to my work when at work.

Financially:
Pay our mortgage down to $145k. This is HUGE you guys but Tate and I believe this can be done. We made a goal on our Anniversary to have it paid down to $150k by October 2016 so if that goal is met, I don't doubt we can make it to $145k by the end of the year.

Great goals that Tate and I are prepared to dominate!!! Bring it 2016...we are ready for you :)

Thursday, December 31, 2015

Maddox - 5 months

December 21, 2015

Baby Stats:

Weight

17.4 lbs on home scale

Length

??? will get @ 6 month check up.

Sleep

Right after he turned 4 months old, we were gifted the 4 month sleep regression. It only lasted couple days so that was nice. He now goes to bed at 7:15 every night. I still do a dream feed around 9 which I would love to eliminate but he usually wakes up for it so I know I probably can't until we start him on solids. The week leading up to his 5 month mark he didn't wake once during the night. Wakes to have his morning feeding around 6-6:30.

Daily Routine

First feeding is between 6-6:30 am. Goes to daycare around 8. He takes a nap there before his 9:30 feeding. Naps before he eats again at 12:30 and then naps a good chunk of the afternoon and eats again around 3:30. Boys are picked up from daycare at 4:30. We then go home and hang out until I feed Turner dinner at 5:30. I nurse Maddox between 6-6:30. He then gets a bath and is in bed around 7-7:15.

Feeding

Like above, eats every 3 hours and gets bottles during the week while at daycare. Gets 5.5 oz in each bottle. Taking down all his ounces no problem this month. We feel is so ready for solids. We are thinking of doing baby led weaning. Will probably start that in a few days.

Diaper Size

Still rocking cloth diapers during the day and he is in size 3 Honest brand diapers at night.

Clothes Size

He is in 6 month PJ's and mostly 6 month clothes. There are a few 3-6 month size onesies that he fits into but very limited.

Hair Color

His hair is growing at a rapid pace I feel like. It's very brown and the top is longer than the rest which is fun to play with.

Eye Color

Still blue and his lashes are growing so fast. I'm happy to see he is going to have long lashes like my other 2 boys!!!!

Milestones

He has started sitting on his own. Can go for a good amount of time before tumbling over.
Shakes rattles, holds teethers and chews on them like crazy, plays in the jumper like a big boy.
Celebrated his first Thanksgiving.

Likes

Still obsessed with baths. Smiles, kicks and giggles the whole time.
Turner..he stares at him and watches his every move.
His play mat is a huge hit right now.
Loving his jumper.

Dislikes

Still hates getting stuck in his crib...in the corner because he has scooted all the way over there.

Starting to dislike his swing it seems.

Starting to dislike his paci...only takes it about 50% of the time now.

Mama

Since last month...Tate and I bought some items to make our own gym @ home. Man is this thing the best thing ever. Not only is Tate bringing in extra income from training people @ the house, but it allows me to work out after the kids go to bed and if Tate and I workout together, it's great time together. I wish we would have done this earlier. I'm starting to feel like I am getting my body back. Took longer this time around than with Turner which was expected. I feel like I am ALWAYS hungry...thanks to breastfeeding. Trying to hard to make healthy decisions when I am hungry but something I do grab the bad stuff and then hate myself after. One day at a time is what I keep telling myself. Keep working towards your goal and you will get there.

4 month check up

Thanksgiving 2015

Left him alone for 30 seconds...he rolled over, spit up and rubbed his face in it.

Love sleeping babies

Those cheeks

Sitting up like a big boy

A very special bond

Meeting Santa...and didn't really care ;)

Hanging out with Grandpa

Grandpa and his boys

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Maddox - 4 months

November 21, 2015

Baby Stats:

Weight

15lb 1 oz (39% ile)

Length

26.75" (97% ile)

Sleep

Little man is a great sleeper. He goes to bed around 7 pm every night. I do a 'dream feed' at 9:30 before I go to bed. We stopped swaddling right after he turned 3 months because he was rolling over. He did great with no swaddle and I think being a tummy sleeper is attributable to that. The minute you put him on his back to go to sleep, 90% of the time he rolls to his tummy. Just like his brother did. He more times than not wakes in the 4 or 5 am hour and we just go sooth him and he goes back to sleep.

Daily Routine

Feeding

Like above, eats every 3 hours and gets bottles during the week while at daycare. Gets 5 oz in each bottle. Taking down all his ounces no problem this month.

Diaper Size

Still rocking cloth diapers during the day and he is in size 2 Honest brand diapers at night. Once I get through this stash of size 2 we will be busting in the size 3 for night time. He seems to be leaking out of the size 2.

Clothes Size

He's pretty much outgrown all 0-3 month clothes and is in 3 month clothes and even 6 month clothes. His cloth diapers are so bulky that the 6 month pants fit perfect.

Hair Color

Still brown and finally growing back in. Still has the bald spot in the back of his head. The doctor also mentioned that one side is flatter than the other so we need to do some things at home to make sure it evens out.

Eye Color

Still blue and his lashes are growing so fast. I'm happy to see he is going to have long lashes like my other 2 boys!!!!

Milestones

10/28/15 - officially no swaddle because he's rolling from back to tummy.
11/11/15 - I witnessed rolling form tummy to back.
Tummy sleeper
Started hanging out in his jumper and loves it!
Started sitting up a bit on his own...I think we have about 5 seconds down before falling over.
Tries to climb out of bumbo to get something next to him.
Celebrated his first holiday...Halloween! He was Mickey Mouse, just like his brother!

Likes

Still obsessed with baths. Smiles, kicks and giggles the whole time.
Turner...he just loves watching him and of course just stares when Turner is having a tantrum moment.
His play mat is a huge hit right now.
Loving his jumper.

Dislikes

Still hates getting stuck in his crib...in the corner because he has scooted all the way over there.

Starting to dislike his swing it seems.

Starting to dislike his paci...only takes it about 50% of the time now.

Mama

Doing great but having a hard time finding the time to work out. We are in the process of making a 'home gym' and I plan to take advantage of that once it's complete. PIYO in the morning wasn't working because I kept having to pause if Maddox woke up and I'm still so out of it my balance it horrible that early. I feel like I am just making excuses. At least I'm still eating healthy 80% of the time. Now I just need to lift the weights to tone up.

Work is going great. I'm one of those people that is meant to be a working mom. If someone asks, I'm honest and say that. I am a better mom if I work. I firmly believe that. My life is in order, we have our routine and schedule. It keeps me sane. Some mothers are meant to be working moms, some are meant to stay home with the kids and others are meant to do a little of both. I give kuddos to all stay at home moms...hardest job ever in my opinion!

Loving life

First family selfie

So happy

Those eyes, checks, lips...

Love his many faces

Lifting weights!

Lunch with some of my best ladies...and our boys

Telling Turner whose boss ;)

That smile...melts my heart

Maddox's scary face

Halloween 2015

Turner teaching Maddox how to count

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Maddox's nursery

I was so excited to put together another nursery after we found out we were pregnant with baby #2. Since we didn't know the gender, it was tricky to make it very gender neutral but still want to add a personal touch after the baby was born. I didn't finish the nursery until after Maddox was born and now I finally got around to cleaning it up again to take some pictures.

I decided to go with an animal theme with yellow, aqua and gray colors.

From the door into the nursery

I'm still on the hunt for different window shades. Or I may ask my mom to sew in a piece so they darken the room.

I love this little gallery wall I made.

You can also see the fabulous humidifier we got for Maddox's Nursery. It's a Crane-USA Pure Style humidifier and WE LOVE IT. We didn't start using it until he turned about 2 months old. I love the sleek style and it even has a little light the illuminates when it's on. When it runs out of water, the light turns red. My only wish is that it was louder. Weird...I know but I love a little white noise in the room and this does not provide it as loud as I would like :)