Quick Post

This post is going to be quick. Why? Well, Bryton is asleep in his swing, and Vivi is content playing by herself at the moment..and that usually doesn't last long.

So, here's a quick update on everybody. Bryton went for his 4 month check up last week. He weighed 17 lbs, 1 oz. I'm not sure how long he was, but his length measured in the 90th percentile (out of 100 boys his age, he's longer than 90 of them) and his weight was in the 95th percentile. The doctor said that he looked good and to just keep it up. He's not rolling all the way over yet, but can get about 3/4 of the way from his back to his belly. He's still eating the same - about every 4 hours during the day (at 9am, 1pm, 5pm, and 9pm), about 30 minutes at a time, and then gets a bath before bedtime. Of course the eating times are flexible...he didn't get up until after 10 today, but we'll still try to get him in bed by 9:30 tonight. We got him a new bathtub. The one that we were using (used it with V too) is made out of hard plastic and has a sling that you attach to the sides when they are little. But, we did away with the sling a long time ago - he was too chunky to be suspended in it. Anyway, a couple of nights ago, when Kyle was getting soap out of the bath wash bottle, the bottle made a burping sound and it scared Bryton (why any body-like noises scare him, I'll never know) and he threw his head back and bonked it on the hard plastic tub. He cried and cried inconsolably for over 30 minutes - really threw us for a loop b/c he never screams to the point that being held or talked to or fed wouldn't settle him down. Kyle and I had never heard him hit those notes before. Anyway, there was no bump on his head, so maybe it just scared him? I don't know. It took him a while, but he calmed down and then I fed him and put him to bed and he was down for the night.

So, this brings us to the new bathtub! We had heard (from friends of ours) that they make a bathtub that is like a bouncy seat that is made to sit in the big bathtub, or kitchen sink in our case. I took Vivi and Bryton to Wal-Mart yesterday to get a couple of things, and while I was there, I saw the bouncy seat tub - so we got it and no head injuries last night. Whew!

Old Bath Tub (which we were very fond of until a couple of nights ago):

New Bath Tub

So, we are glad to avoid that issue in the future. Other Bryton news? Well, over the past few days, we've been trying to get him to take a bottle once a day or so instead of nursing because in a couple of weeks, we are headed to Detroit for my brother's wedding! We are so excited to go, but Kyle, V and me are in the wedding party....so it will probably be more convenient for Bryton to eat from a bottle on the wedding day instead of me stepping out to feed him (again, 30 minutes usually) during pictures or something. But, it's not going so well. He's refused the bottle a couple of times, but taken it a couple of times. I'm putting freshly expressed milk in there, so the milk is the same. Any moms been through that and have any suggestions? I don't want him screaming in starvation because he won't take a bottle...poor baby. I also don't feel good about letting him fuss it out thinking, "He'll eat from a bottle when he gets hungry enough"...Oh well. Maybe he'll get it in the next week or so.

As for Vivi, she's definitely ready for some regular preschool interaction. She doesn't see many other kids to play with that often, so she's ready to have some strictly kid interaction in a kid-friendly environment (not the grocery store). She's getting excited about her birthday party! She'll be 3 on Aug 4 ,and her party is Aug 22. We are going to have it at a gymnastics studio here in town. They set up age appropriate obstacle courses and let them play in their bouncy indoor play area. Should be great! I took her to the party store and let her pick out party stuff - what kind of cake she wanted, invitations, cups, plates, napkins, balloons, etc. She had a great time. She kept telling me that her birthday party was in the car (where we put the party supplies). Anyway, we try to have 'school time' every day - doing connect the dot workbook pages, counting exercises etc. Some days are better than others, as far as length of time she's willing to sit still and work.

Well, that's about it for now. More later this week? You never know!