Halfway There

Brady turned six months old yesterday which I like to think of as halfway there.  To me, the first year of having a kid is the toughest.  I'm sure I'll revise that idea sometime down the road but for now, that's my humble opinion.  Although...as I think of some of the tantrums Calleigh has thrown recently over what outfit she wants to wear, it may be sooner than down the road.

We went on Wednesday for Brady's sixth month check up.  It was so nice to bring him in and tell the doc that he's all better, at least for now.  In fact, this was the first time that our new doctor, Dr. Emmert, has seen him not being sick.  What a blessing, really and truly.  The big moment for me, now that he's healthy, is to see his weight.  Here's how his stats shook out compared to the girls:

                                   Brady                             Aubree                            Calleigh
Weight                        14 lbs, 0 oz (5th)             14 lbs, 8 oz (25th)            14 lbs, 5 oz
Height                         25 1/2 inches (10th)         25 3/4 inches (50th)         25 1/2 inches
Length                        16 3/4 inches (25th)         17 inches (75th)               17 inches

So yeah, he's a little one.  He dropped from the 10th percentile at four months to now the 5th percentile. But that's okay.  It's hard to believe, looking back at the stats, that Aubree was actually the biggest considering how much smaller she is now compared to Calleigh at age two.  Clearly how big you are at six monthes doesn't mean how big you'll be down the road.  Anyway, Dr. Emmert isn't concerned about the weight.  She said he checks out healthy, he looks healthy, and he's eating, peeing, and pooping so it's all good.

The girls, as usual, were very talkative with Dr. Emmert and as we were leaving the appointment, Dr. Emmert told them to have a good Christmas.  Aubree promptly responded "Well (this is how she starts about 50% of her sentences), it's not Christmas.  It's the Christmas SEASON."

Considering he doesn't crawl or walk, he sure gets around.  He was supposed to be on that mat but rolled over to the tree.

Monday morning found us headed to a musical called "A Nutty Nutcracker Christmas" at the Orlando Repertory Theater.  We tagged along with the Begherms, Hilliards, and another mother and her four children (incidentally, I asked her what transition was the hardest and she said from three to four which I've thought was the easiest.  So maybe adding a fourth wouldn't be too bad!).  The show was an hour long and you always wonder how that will work out with two toddlers and an infant.  The answer is...stunningly!  Calleigh barely said a word the whole time.  Aubree made a few comments my way and then Brady pretty much stared entranced for the duration and only fell asleep in the last ten minutes.  Honestly, can I just say how easy of a baby he is?  Knock on wood.  He doesn't fuss, squirm, cry or anything.  I realize this could all change at any time so I'm enjoying it while it lasts.  After the show, we all went to a nearby park and had a picnic lunch.

Waiting in the lobby to get into the show.

 Tuesday was shopping day with a trip to a consignment store and Publix.  I still had to pick up a few odds and ends of warm clothes for Brady.  I think I'm pretty much set now although the telltale sign will be when I start packing for the trip north.  I hope to not wait until the last minute to do that.

Thursday we hung out at home for a good portion of the day because I had to take my van in to get the brakes checked.  The brakes have been squeaking for about the last 10,000 miles, at least.  The van will be three in March and has 37,000 miles on it and I wasn't thinking it would be time for brakes yet but with a long road trip ahead of us, we thought it would be good to check on it.  I got annoyed at the dealer when I called to make an appointment (long story) so I decided to go with a guy that I had taken my Alero into for brakes back in 2008.  I wrote about that experience here (strangly enough in that same post, I mention my new laptop so I guess I now know definitively that my laptop lasted from June 2008 to December 2011.) Please note that the word "here" is in black which means it's a link that you can click on. Anyway, I haven't had a need, with a new van, for any service so I haven't been back to the Manic Mechanic in Winter Park but this was my opportunity.  Ron and Elaine came over to help me drop it off around 10:00.   The owner, Mark, was very nice and I mentioned to him about how impressed I had been with him the last time when he told me I didn't need new brakes and how I had referred him a bunch of people since that experience.  Along about 1:00 he gave me a call to tell me that once again, the brakes were fine.  I still had about 1/3 of the brakes remaining.  I asked about the squeaking and he said it just meant that the brake pad probably wasn't put on exactly right or something like that and the only way to fix it would be to undo the brakes.  Um, no.  We did have him do an oil change (Duncan usually does it but is just too busy right now) and put in a new air filter so at least we did give him some business.  So there you have it.  It's nice to have a mechanic you can trust.  He was very chatty when I paid telling me how he bought one new car his whole life (I would say he's in his 50's) and it's a Chevy Silverado pick-up and he changes the oil every 2,000 miles if you can believe it. The truck has 102,000 miles on it and he's changed the oil 51 times and never had to do a brake job.  He says changing the oil is one of the most important things you can do to preserve the life of a car so he's very anal about doing it so often (he says it's not necessary for me to do it so often).  The other thing he said to preserve a car is to NEVER drive with it overheated.  If the temp gauge goes up past 75%, stop immediately.  Good to know.

 While our the van was there, obviously we had no way to get out and about so Yolanda and Emma came over for a play date.  We had a nice time playing various games including "War" with the Rook cards.  Everyone plays a card and whoever has the highest, wins the cards.  It was a good way for the girls to learn the higher numbers (like the teens).

This morning we were off to our yard sales.  I thought it might be a slow day so close to Christmas but it was not.  We found a bunch more bargains on toys and then the very last place of the day, a neat oy for right now...a rocking angel fish.  The girls both made a mad dash for it.  I was thinking it was going to be like $15 or $20 bucks but he said $5 so I was like "We'll take it!"  Not sure where we would put it, but we'll take it.  So the girls are, for once, sharing the rocker and I'm holding Brady who is just chilling and the couple running the sale are like "Wow, we're really impressed that you go to yard sales with three little kids like this."  And I'm like acting all cool and I'm like "Oh yeah, it's really pretty easy.  No big deal."  I'm feeling pretty good how about I have this all mastered.  Then, in a flash, it all fell apart. Aubree stood too closely behind the fish rocker and gets hit in the mouth as Calleigh rocked back.  Her lip starts bleeding and she's crying hysterically which naturally sets off Brady.  All the while, Calleigh is rocking furiously seemingly oblivious to the drama she has inadvertently caused.  I say a few comforting words to Aubree and then realize she's bleeding all over my brand new white Old Navy shirt.  Aggghhh!  I mention this fact out loud and then quickly try to cover it up thinking how horrid a mother probably sounds to strangers when she's groaning over her shirt while her daughter is bleeding from the mouth.  In my defense, white is my favorite color of shirt and also, I could tell it was a fairly superficial wound.  I finally get them all loaded into the van, two out of three still crying, throw the fish into the back, and off we go, much louder in departure than in arrival.  I wasn't quite so cool any more.  Now that we're home, there have been about six fights over who gets to be on the fish rocker and I'm thinking yup, that's why it was only $5.

The new fish rocker during happier times.

Tonight would be the night that we do our annual drive through the neighborhoods to admire Christmas lights.  We decided to forego it this year do to Brady and his car seat aversion although truthfully, he's gotten much better with it.  Instead, we went to the neighborhood just down the road that has the house with the ginormous display of lights. The big difference this year was that we were in short sleeve shirts compared to cold and windy conditions last year.  Ron and Elaine joined us and we were able to just stroll leisurely around taking it all in.  The girls loved it, of course, and kept trying to run ahead of our little group to see what was next.  There were several other houses that had their own displays.  Two of them had giant villages set up in there garages.  And I mean giant.  One was in the garage of an older couple.  Ron asked the husband how long it took to set it all up and he said "Oh, it took me no time at all.  My wife did the whole thing."  When we asked her, she said it took three months.  I could believe it.  The level of detail was unbelievable.  As you look at it all, you can't help but imagine yourself living there.  It seems like just the perfect place.  We even picked out which house we would want to live in.

Seriously, there were like hundreds of houses in this village.

At one point, Aubree asked someone to pick her up so she could see better and Calleigh volunteered.  So yeah, she was like a whole six inches higher up than she was before!

The lady on the left is the one who set it all up.

When it was time to go, Aubree threw a fit.  I guess that meant she had a good time (even pointed out some of the "instruments" that she particularly liked).  I had to force her into the car seat and put the buckles on and she just wasn't a happy camper.  Meanwhile, in the backseat, Calleigh had found a fruit snack and I said she would have to share it with Aubree.  I ask Aubree if she would like a fruit snack and in a crying/whiny voice she says "No, I don't want a fruit snack."  Half second pause and switch to a completely normal voice "What kind is it?"  It was so funny how she changed on a dime.  Elaine and I got a good laugh out of that one.

Other things that have been going on this week is that Aubree took a sudden interest in dressing herself.  Oh sure, she's been able to dress herself, for the most part, for quite some time now.  But usually it's been to put on whatever I give her or occasionally grab something out of the drawer when it's time to get dressed.  Well, the last few days she's been going upstairs to get herself changed, for no apparent reason, and naturally, the outfits she comes up with aren't ones you would really want to be seen in public with her wearing.  I'm guessing that I'm heading for some tantrums in the near future with her.  I can already feel it starting.  Calleigh can be horrible sometimes.  She just got her dress up clothes back after a week's punishment after she went completely bonkers before the Christmas party last Saturday night.  She wanted to wear a particular shirt, that was too small and had her belly half sticking out, and she lost it when I said no.  I do hope this is just a girl thing and I'll get a reprieve with Brady.

Wednesday's outfit.

Thursday's outfit.

Realizing it doesn't match.  That's Christmas music playing on the TV, by the way.

Calleigh getting in on the action.

Brady's solid food eating has been going great.  He ate the rice cereal, happily, for three days and then yesterday I started him on peas.  I'm sure he was expecting rice cereal again so you can imagine his shock to find peas on the spoon.  But the shock quickly wore off and he ate almost a whole container of it and then the whole one today.  He's certainly having no probably with it.  I, on the other hand, am mentally calculating how long it will be until he can eat finger foods because it's so much easier for me.  I quickly remembered why I don't start my kids until six months on the solids.  It takes up a lot of time to sit there feeding them!  Add that on to the approximate two hours and twenty minutes a day you spend nursing, you take up nearly three hours of your day, or 1/6th of your awake time, feeding just one of your three children.  Like I said, halfway there.

One anecdote before I close.  A few nights ago after the girls were already in bed, I went into their room to put something away.  It had been so quiet in there that I thought both of them were asleep.  But as I stood there for a moment, I could hear Aubree talking to herself.  She didn't see me but I could hear her and this is what I heard "to the republix for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Amen."  I don't know if this was her version of counting sheep or what but I had to chuckle with the amen at the end.  Apparently she was getting the Pledge of Allegiance and Lord's Prayer slightly confused.

Well, I think that's about it on this end.  Have a Happy Sabbath everyone!

Calleigh hasn't slept in her actual bed in weeks. This week the theme was "forts" and Duncan had to build her some kind of fort every night for her to sleep in.

Last night she came downstairs at like 10:30 and said she couldn't sleep so I let her sack out on the couch and this is what happened after about five minutes.