Brannock is such a happy, sweet, ornery, and fun little boy. His personality keeps growing and he has a smile that will forever melt his mama's heart. There are no words to describe how much I love my baby boy, who sadly isn't much of a "baby" anymore.
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| 40 Weeks In vs. 40 Weeks Out |
Weight: About 23.5 lbs. Still only two teeth!
Sleeping Pattern: Bran is an AMAZING sleeper, and an early bird. It will be interesting to see if Bran is always a morning person.
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| Mom is it 7 yet? I want to go to bed! So sleepy. |
Feeding Schedule: Bran is a great eater. His meals are getting larger. He really is starting to dislike being fed from a spoon and likes to feed himself most of the time. Spaghetti and meatballs, green beans, pancakes, and oranges (really any kind of fruit) are his favorites right now. Bran has also gotten really good at drinking from a sippy cup, and even stole milk from his cousin Greer when they came to visit. We have tried to teach him baby sign language but he doesn't use it regularly. We definitely need to work on "drink" because he usually just yells when he is thirsty while eating.
Changes This Month:
Brannock is really loving to babble these days. It makes absolutely no sense but he always seem to have a lot to say. He repeats lots of sounds now. He learned the word "baby" when we hung out with "baby" Cohen, but I think he mixes up that and Buddy.
Bran is very playful. He is starting to learn to wave "bye bye", although he won't do it regularly. He also loves to play "peek-a-boo" and "where's Bran?!". Daddy also taught Bran how to play catch. I am not sure which of them loves it more. Dad was so proud and has visions of throwing a football in the backyard. Bran now sometimes thinks he is supposed to throw any ball or block. But it is so cute because he stays sitting in one place so you can toss it back and he can throw it again. It has actually been a great trick to get him to sit still for a picture.
Brannock can now stand very very briefly on his own. He usually falls as soon as he comes to the realization that he is doing it. We have tempted him to take a couple steps but so far he doesn't have any interest. He spends a lot of time standing up on us and hanging onto our legs. He even likes to walk around this way. But his absolute favorite thing to do right now is walk around the house pushing his walker toy. (Really he will walk and push anything. Boxes, rocking chairs, high chairs, you name it!). If it will move he is more than happy to push it around the house. He is working on his coordination/balance and loves cruising.
Bran climbs on anything and everything. We are working on crown molding in the kitchen and Bran loves to "help" Daddy. We try to keep him occupied with his own baby safe cabinet in the kitchen. He also is getting very good at making a mess. He loves to empty bins and boxes. I clean up after tornado Bran multiple times throughout the day.
I came to the realization I am no longer burping Bran after bottles. He is immediately on the go and quickly burps on his own. We also usually don't put a bib on him when he eats bottles because he is actually very neat (and fast) about it now. He is definitely ready to move onto more sippy cups. He tries to drink out of cups all of the time.
Bran also got upgraded to the big tub. We probably waited a little longer than was necessary. I think Joe and I had a harder time with it than Bran because he was making us so nervous. Bran rarely sits still in the bath. He is constantly standing up. But somehow he is actually quite graceful in the water so now we don't have to worry too much.
Bran is starting to get more emotional about good byes. He has briefly cried when I dropped him off at the babysitter a couple times. He also has gotten very upset when the babysitter's husband has left for work. I guess they are buddies all morning and he gets really sad when his friend leaves him. Luckily at this point he doesn't seem to have any true separation anxiety. I think the social butterfly just wants everyone to stay and play!
Bran continues to bond with Buddy and Izzy. He spends a lot of time trying to climb on them and just hanging out. We are trying to teach all of them good manners.
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| Lots of Izzy kisses. |
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| He decided to help Mom brush Buddy, it was so cute! |
What We Have Been Up To:
We spent a long weekend in Hocking Hills with the Indorfs, the Siefkers, and their kids. We had great weather the first day! Bran loved riding on Daddy's back in the hiking backpack. He was very interested in everything going on around him. Dad really enjoyed it too! The second full day Mommy was sick and stayed home to nap while Bran went hiking with all of the boys. Bran loved playing with all of the kids while at the cabin, and thankfully slept great! One of the funnier stories from the weekend was when all the kids were sleeping and we thought there was a bat in the cabin.
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| Bat hunters. |
Joe was on call for Thanksgiving. Thankfully he was able to get out of the hospital for a few hours so we could spend Bran's first Thanksgiving together as a family. We stayed in Columbus and joined the Mayhills for dinner. Bran loved sitting at the big table with everyone and especially loved trying all of the food. Bran spent most of the night playing with a basket of old blocks that used to be Nate's when he was a kid. He also got to steal a few extra bites of dessert from everyone, he thought that was pretty funny!
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| Happy Thanksgiving! |
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| Bran and Lily |
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| First time meeting Santa. |
Joe and I went to the Ohio State vs. Michigan game. It was one of the best games we have ever been to and OSU squeaked by with a win in double overtime. And now OSU is in the playoff! Grandma Lude watched Bran and Greer while we all went to the big game.
Bran helped us decorate for Christmas the weekend after Thanksgiving. So far Bran has done really well with all of the decorations. I didn't account for him standing by the tree with his walker so I had to rearrange a few ornaments to make sure the tree was safe. We are so excited to celebrate Christmas with Bran this year.
Photo Ops:
