Brendan is 18w1d/ 4 months + 5 days old! He had a check-up on the 21st and he is a whopping 16 lbs. 9 oz. and 26 ½ inches tall!! He still wears size 2 diapers and 6-9 month clothing. These few weeks have seen Bren’s introduction to solid foods! His first taste of food was at a barbeque buffet restaurant in Gainesville on June 28 with Gene and Waynell. He tried banana pudding (and mashed potatoes and then vanilla ice cream…). He seemed to enjoy the experience. The next day Waynell made homemade peach ice cream and he went gaga over it!
Grandma’s Peach Ice Cream Recipe (small ice cream maker):
1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 large can peaches
1 T flour
Fill with milk to 2/3 full
His first official baby food meal was on Monday, July 7. I fed him carrots instead of the typical rice cereal first because of his past problems with constipation. He loved them so much he ate the entire 2 ½ oz. jar! So his first foods and initial reactions went like this:
Baby carrots: July 7 (Loved)
Baby peas: July 8 (Liked)
Baby peas mixed with mashed plain potatoes: July 9 (Didn’t care for)
Fresh bananas: July 11 (Liked)
Mashed potatoes: July 12 (Didn’t care for)
Peach flavored applesauce: July 13 (Loved)
Baby sweet potatoes: July 13 (Loved)
Baby peaches: July 16 (Loved)
Yogurt (peach flavor): July 16 (Loved)
Baby squash: July 19 (Liked)
Plain baby rice cereal: July 22 (Didn’t care for)
Baby rice cereal with baby applesauce and cinnamon: July 23 (Liked)
Baby green beans: July 24 (Tolerated)
Baby rice cereal with bananas: July 25 (Liked)
For the first week we mostly stopped him at ½ a jar of food once per day. He quickly moved to a whole 2 ½ oz. jar and then 2 two jars a day. He now gets 2 ½ oz. or so of rice cereal mixed with a fruit for lunch and a jar of veggies for dinner. He also drinks 28 to 32 oz. per day of formula. We mix the Carnation Good Start with a much more inexpensive HEB formula and he does fine with it.
I did a poll on what Brendan can do a week ago and I think it does a fair job of showing his current abilities:
How I Grow:
*I turn my head in all directions YES
*I lift my head forward when I’m on my back and grab my feet with my hands YES (feet on July 10)
*I sit up for about 15 minutes with my head and back straight if you support my body YES
*I prefer sitting, instead of lying down-it’s more interesting YES
*I roll from my back to my side, but sometimes I get my hand caught under my stomach YES (Roll to side on June 30)
*I move a toy from one hand to the other YES (July 5)
*I put things in my mouth YES
*I splash and kick with my hands and feet in the bath YES
How I Talk:
*I babble and imitate sounds like coughing and clicking my tongue for long periods of time (no clicking but you do make a cute cough!) YES
*I coo, grin, or squeal with joy when you talk to me YES- I love his huge squeal!
How I Respond:
*I love to see myself in the mirror YES- He has a mirror toy on his changing table that he loves!
*I’m fascinated by my hands YES- but he has moved onto his feet now!
*I like some people and am shy or scared of others- No shyness yet
*I may have one favorite toy or blanket- your blue bear + blankie “lovey” (Last week it was a blue telephone rattle)
How I Feel:
*I get excited when I’m having fun-everything is a game to me OH YES!
*I cry and get mad when you stop paying me attention to me or take a toy away OH YES!
He also likes to throw himself back when excited or drinking his bottle, loves to go outside & loves to pat our faces when we talk to him up close. He plays with toys very well now! He just hates it when he loses his grasp on them and can’t find them. He can’t stand being on his tummy but he loves being upright and being able to bounce in his new stationary entertainer.
We spent the 4th of July with our friend Dobie. He barbequed. Brendan sucked on a mango slice and had a wee bit of root beer float in celebration. We watched some fireworks from the distance and he loved the pretty colors.
We went to the zoo on July 15th with Nico & family. Brendan loved being outdoors but didn’t pay much attention to the animals. We got rained on and Brendan ended up in my shirt to keep warm. It was a great day!
We read Brendan’s first books to him on July 24th. Darrell read “Spread Your Wings and Fly” (a neat book that tells a story to the folding of an origami crane). He got it at one of his baby showers and Darrell promised that it would be the first book read to him. I read him “I am Winnie the Pooh”- a very basic Pooh book. He LOVED reading the books and seemed to pay good attention to us and looked at the pictures. I hope to make this a daily activity now.
Congratulation to my friend Kim on her IVF pregnancy of TWINS! WooHoo!

15 weeks old today!! Almost 3 ½ months! Brendan has been sleeping a bit more during the day (lots of power naps), eating a bit less (26-28 oz, maybe) & growing LOTS & LOTS! I imagine he is at least 15 pounds now and about 25 inches. He is getting too long for much of his 3-6 month clothes!! He wears mostly 6-9 months now. His most startling achievement is that one day (June 14) he suddenly could play!! He loves rattles- his favorite is his blue simple telephone- and other simple toys. His coordination improves weekly!! Also, Bren decided he *does not* like the breast-like nipples on his bottles. He prefers the plain ole regular bottle nipples and they must be slow! Opinionated already, lol!
I started my second post-birth period yesterday. I knew it was coming because I had GOBS of EWCM about 2 weeks ago and horrible, horrible ovulation pains about 3 days later (I either Oed on my own or tried real hard to!). So I am guessing my LP was 10-11 days. I can’t wait to go back to Dr. G for my annual exam. I have *GOT* to get back on that Gluchophage because I am really starting to gain back that weight I lost!
Father’s Day was rewarding. These new holidays are great! :o) I got Darrell a Big Dog “Muttrix Releashed” shirt (plus several others) and Brendan got him some Swiss chocolate and a twirly metallic-colored spinning thing to hang up outside.
One night right before Father’s Day, we were all tucked in bed for the night but Brendan just would not settle down for anything! After awhile, Darrell realized he was hot and had forgotten to turn on the fan. So he got up and turned it on and we immediately hear a squeal of delight from Bren in his bassinet. He was trying to tell us we had forgotten it!! We laughed so hard! And then he dropped right off to sleep! He still loves fans and lights and looks so funny in a room with several fans or lights because his head jumps around as he tries to look at them all!!
On June 18th, Brendan laughed out loud for the first time! Yay!
The middle of June was spent dealing with constipation issues. I described him in a post as “fussy, drooling, more demanding all of a sudden” so I think he started teething then also. He continues to drool and chews on bottles and his fingers a lot too. On Saturday the 21st, Brendan went beyond just thick constipation and had hard pellets. I called up the Ask-a-Nurse hotline since it was the weekend. She told me to give him 3 oz of any combo of apple, cherry, prune or pear juice 2x a day. Use baby juices and I don’t have to dilute them. Do this every day that he hasn’t had a BM in 3 days or works at pooping for more than 10 minutes with no results or cries out in pain or has hard pellets. We gave him just one 4 oz juice bottle and the pellets were gone but he continues to have diapers on the thickish side. He’s had three 4 oz bottles of juice total so far- apple-prune & apple-cherry. We also decided to go back to Carnation formula for awhile; we had been using Wal-Mart brand for the past 10 days or so.
We just returned last night from 10 days up at Gene & Waynell’s house. We had a great time! He has picked up his pacifier and put it into his mouth several times now like he’s been doing it all of his life. It just amazes me!!! He laughs deep belly laughs with a wide open mouth now- if you can get him that excited. It’s difficult since nothing works twice- but it is rewarding!!! He so enjoys being outside and loves to rock on their patio. I introduced him to Max, one of their cats and he didn’t know what to think! Waynell bought him a small blankie “lovey” that has a little blue bear attached to the middle. He loves it and cuddles with it. It plays “Rock-a-by Baby” too. He is so sweet! He also loves any light blanket or wash cloth or even paper towels (but I can only give him those when he has his pacifier in his mouth or it is shredded & slobbered to death!!).
Oh, and we had our first accident too. :o( We were still up at MIL’s house and the baby was laying on the full size bed I sleep in. He had just had a bottle and was happily playing with one of his bright receiving blankets. His head was at the edge of the bed, so if he rolled over, he’d still be on the bed (he hasn’t yet rolled belly to back or back to belly). I got him situated and even pulled him closer to the middle of the bed and then laid down next to him to read some of my book. Not 2 minutes later, he must have kicked off of the covers or something cuz he shot butt over head and slid off of the bed. He must have landed on his head on the carpet and his knees knocked into the wall beside the bed and slid down to the floor. Of course, he screamed and I was *so* upset. And then I was mad at myself for letting him get hurt. I figured out later that the bed had shifted off of the springs a bit so that side had a slant to it. Also, he was wearing a Gerber sleeper, and those are a bit slippery. He got the wind knocked out of him and was scared about that but was perfectly fine. Not even a red mark or bump on his head or knees. I wanted to give him some baby Tylenol in case he got a headache but it was then that I realized that I hadn’t packed it. I felt like such a LOSER, let me tell you!
For the first time, I was also scared because I realized that I was 35 minutes from the nearest town, no ambulance would ever have found us smack in the middle of the country, and the nearest adult was 1/2 hour away too. I had no car myself… ugh! Thank god he didn’t bust his head open. I would have *died*.
June 28th marked “100 days old” for Brendan. I remember my “100 days countdown” to his due date like it was yesterday!!! I am still overly-sentimental about the whole pregnancy-birth thing. I’d love to do it again!!! July 8th is the anniversary of my positive blood test!
This period of time with Brendan is wonderful! He is cuddly and playful and so much more expressive!! And he is such a momma’s boy!!! I love it!!
Congrats to Lizzy on the birth of her son Luke this morning and to Cassie on getting pg with #2!!! Still waiting news on Kim’s IVF #1….