Raisin' Bran and Amelia

Our baby boy is already half a year old, I can't believe it. Time has really flown by and most days I really wouldn't mind if it would all slow down a little bit. Brannock is such an incredibly happy boy and is full of personality. Six months is such a great age. It is so fun to watch him learn, grow, and discover new things everyday. The world is his playground and he finds entertainment in the simplest of things. Bran tends to keep very busy and he really loves to socialize.

Happy Half Birthday Brannock Alan!

Weight: 19 lbs. 3.5 oz.

Height: 26.5 inches

Sleeping Pattern: Our wonderful sleeper is back! Bran sleeps 11-12 hours at night. He is early to bed and early to rise. Mommy and Daddy are not early birds so I am not sure where he got this trait from! He also takes about 3 naps a day. All this extra movement really wears the little guy out. We normally put Bran to bed awake, and he really likes sleeping in his crib (naps on the go are not very good these days). But Bran has actually been falling asleep on us some nights before we can even get him up to bed because he is so exhausted. He loves his pacifier for sleeping. We have two in his crib and he is able to find them on his own in the middle of the night to self soothe.

What a tiring bottle, you can't really expect me to burp now too?!

Feeding Schedule: Bran takes five 6 oz. bottles every day. He also has two meals consisting of cereal and a fruit or veggie. We added sweet potatoes, peas, squash, pears, and zucchini to the menu this month. Bran LOVES to eat! His favorite foods are sweet potatoes, apples, and avocado.

Bran Likes: Touching and chewing on everything! He is very interested in faces and loves to touch them. He will also spend the entire day playing on his belly if we let him. He has started to play independently, blocks are his favorite! Bran also loves jumping around in the jumperoo, and the exersaucer.

Getting into toys at the babysitter.

Bumbo time while Mom showers.

Bran Dislikes: Having his outfit changed (such a boy, no interest in fashion!). Thankfully summer time allows us to keep him in a onesie most of the time. He also hates sitting still when he thinks it is playtime.

Changes This Month:
Bran is able to sit unassisted for short periods of time, usually like a tripod using his arms for added balance. He is still working on his balance and is very easily distracted. He also has a tendency to fall face first with the intention of trying to get on his belly to play.

By the end of the month Bran could pretty much get anywhere he wanted to by turning on his belly or by rolling. He doesn't get anywhere quickly at this point but can get to an object across the room if he is interested.

Silly Mom, you really thought I was going to be stuck on this blanket and pillow?!

At the end of the month Bran started working very hard on crawling. He gets up all on fours and rocks back and forth. He is still trying to figure out how to actually crawl forward and often ends up doing the "worm" to make forward progress. He also spends a lot of time planking. The pediatrician said she'd expect him to be crawling within a couple weeks, or maybe even a couple days.

Baby Plank.

Bran is also really finding his voice. He makes lots of noises, and loves to make raspberries. One night at dinner Bran kept putting his hand up to his mouth and going "arr arr arr". He has continued to do this with his hand sometimes when he "talks" to us. We aren't sure if maybe he is trying to wave hi and talk? Who knows?!

What We Have Been Up To:
We spent the Fourth of July at Nate and Callie's house. Their annual party has become full of kiddos, which until this year has been all girls. Kelly and I finally added some boys to the mix! I can't wait to see the group pictures grow over the next few years. And maybe one year all of our kids will be on bikes for a photo. Grandma Lude came to town to babysit for a few days so she even got to join us at the party. Bran hadn't gotten a good afternoon nap so we decided to call it an early night and skip the actual fireworks. Maybe we can give it a try next year before the fireworks scare Bran too much.

July 8-10 was a very busy weekend for us. We spent the weekend in Sardis for Art's Memorial. Bran got to meet lots of new family members. We also ran in the Eleonore Rocks 5k that weekend. (Well Mommy and Daddy ran, and Chris Baker pushed Bran in the stroller). Bran rocked the pink and purple in his first "race". We celebrated Daddy's 31st birthday. And Bran got to spend lots of time playing with his big (although not much bigger than Bran) cousin, Greer.

Joe and I are training for the Columbus Half Marathon. We decided to start taking Bran along in the jogging stroller on some of our training runs. He loves it! He is either excited and kicking or taking a nap. Joe does most of the pushing. Running with a 20lb. baby in a stroller is quite a challenge. The first time I did it by myself my arms were really sore!

Grandma and Grandpa Roelle came down for the day to visit. They hadn't seen him in a little while so it was fun they got to see him rolling all over the place. Bran also loves to pull Grandpa's beard.

We bought a baby swing for the swingset and Bran loves it. We usually try to get Bran out right before our bed time routine begins. I love the look of pure joy he has while swinging.

We have been very busy visiting friends and enjoying all of this gorgeous (but hot) summer weather. Bran has been a trooper being out "late" many nights.

Photo Ops:

June has been a busy month full of many firsts and milestones for Bran. He is changing so much and seems to be doing something new everyday.

Really Mom, you had to take my picture in the pink float?!

Weight: About 17 lbs.

Sleeping Pattern: Sleep has been crazy this month! Between traveling, sickness, a growth spurt, and increased movement Bran has spent the vast majority of the month being up 2-3 times (or more!) at night. Thankfully things started settling back down by the end of the month. We had been swaddling Bran arms out but completely ditched the swaddle (at Bran's request) by mid month. As soon as we stopped swaddling in the wrapsack Bran immediately starting rolling over onto his belly in the crib and now that is the only way he will sleep. The first time it happened I was doing the dishes during a nap with the sound turned off on the monitor (Bran sometimes likes to cry for 5 or so minutes when you put him down before he will fall asleep). I glanced over at the monitor to see Bran flipped over. I ran upstairs to check on him (especially since I had the sound off when he did it) only to find him fast asleep. At first he was rolling over and sleeping right in the middle of the crib. Now we really appreciate the rails on the crib because Bran cruises the whole crib at night. You never know where he is going to end up by morning!

Feeding Schedule: We started adding solids into the mix this month. We tried cereal for the first time while we were on vacation and he didn't really like it very much. But a couple weeks later Bran took to eating from the spoon. The first food we tried after cereal was avocado, which he liked but was very messy at first. We also tried banana this month which Bran LOVES and can't get enough of. Apple was our last addition and he liked that as well. He's enjoying a couple small servings of solids everyday now.

Still not sure about cereal at this point.

Total mess but he loved it! Messy pictures are the best.

Enjoying dinner outside with Mom and Dad. Yummy avocado.

Bran Likes: Playing in the exersaucer. Being upright. Being tickled. Splashing in the bath tub. Watching the dogs play and getting kisses from them.

Bran thinks it is so funny when Dad makes him go "bouncy, bouncy, bouncy".

Bran Dislikes: Getting stuck on his belly. Being in one place for too long because he is an extremely active baby.

Changes This Month:
Since Bran started solid foods we decided to get Bran's high chair out. He was so incredibly excited the first time we put him in it. He loved being up high and enjoying a different view while sitting up like a big boy. He couldn't stop laughing and smiling. He was so excited that by the time we got to actually trying a couple bites of cereal he started nodding off and eventually passed out in his high chair. It was hilarious!

All smiles the first time in the high chair.

Bran is a rolling machine now. Bran has been rolling over (only to the left at first) all month. The first time it happened was when we were on our beach vacation. Aunt Renee, Aunt Nicole, and the singing cow were just enough excitement to get him over. He is extra active when we let him play in just his diaper. By the end of the month Bran added rolling to the right to his bag of tricks. He can also get over from belly to back when he is in his crib and has other things to push off of. He hasn't been able to do it while laying on the floor yet.

Bran has been obsessed with his feet. He loves sucking on his toes and swinging his legs around to get turned around.

What We Have Been Up To:
Bran went on his first beach vacation to the Outer Banks. He loved the beach and the pool. It looks like we are going to have a water baby. It was a much different vacation with a baby but we really enjoyed experiencing all of the new firsts with Bran. We took a walk with Bran in the ergobaby carrier almost every morning. He loved it and would take a nice nap while Joe and I enjoyed the cool ocean breeze.

Bran really enjoyed swimming in the pool. He would nap or hang out in the carrier when he wasn't swimming.

Mommy was a little nervous about this pool float but Bran really enjoyed being able to kick and play.

Just hanging out at the house. Learning to roll and enjoying all of the extra attention.

Bran's first time at the beach. Grandma joined in on the fun!

Bran really enjoyed putting his feet in the sand. The water was a little cold and would surprise him when he got splashed.

Bran just wasn't acting quite himself as the vacation went on. We kept thinking maybe he was teething. But on the last night of vacation while we were enjoying a low country boil at the house, Bran got massive diarrhea. Unfortunately that and some projectile vomiting continued through the evening and our entire 11 hour drive back to Columbus the next day. We stopped 4 times and were 4 for 4 on blowouts, 3 of which got all over the car seat. It was a nightmare! I rode the whole way in the back with Bran because I was paranoid (even though he wasn't acting bad). I was worried, especially with it being so hot out, that he would get dehydrated. Fortunately we made it home okay. The diarrhea continued all week and I had to call off of work twice (that was a first). Luckily we had Bran's 4 month check up during all of this. The pediatrician assured me it was just something viral and unfortunately would just have to run its course. I have never done so much laundry in my life! Joe almost barfed a few times. So we survived our first big sickness for Bran, and surely not the last. Nothing can prepare you for this part of being parents!

We celebrated Joe's first Father's Day just hanging out in Dublin. We went on a small hike at Indian Run Falls Park and enjoyed some ice cream. We even got to cheer the Cavs on to a championship that night! (Well Bran may have been sleeping, but he did sleep in his Cavs clothes of course. And now he can say he was born the year the Cavs won a championship, the first for Cleveland in 52 years).

Sleepy Bran and Daddy.

Just hangin' with Dad on Father's Day.

GO CAVS!!

Peg was in town for her retirement party. We had a fun time catching up with friends (Peg's Asheville crew who have all moved back to Columbus). It was hard to believe Bran weighs more than Grace now, and she is 10 weeks older! It is fun to be surrounded by some many friends with growing families. Bran will have lots of great friends to grow up with. Now if only we could get Aunt Peg to move back to Columbus!

I celebrated my 30th birthday this month. Joe was on call and I was just thankful he did not spend the entire weekend at the hospital. We spent the day hanging out at home, going to a kid's birthday party, and pigging out on sushi. Our friends Laura and Andy came to hang out at our house that night to help celebrate (which is great so we could have adult time after we put Bran to bed). I think thirty is going to be a great year, especially now that we have Bran in our lives.

Mommy and Bran on her 30th birthday.

We went on a road trip to Cleveland to visit Jason, Lauren, and their new son, Cohen. Cohen was only two weeks old and this was the first time Bran was around a baby younger than him. We had a great time visiting and look forward to many adventures with them in the future. Bran looked HUGE next to Cohen.

Bran also had his first visit to the Columbus Zoo with our friends Laura and Andy. He napped the first half of the day, and spent the second half just kicking and giggling while riding around in his stroller. We had a great day! I look forward to when Bran will enjoy all of the animals.