5 Months

 

The girls are 5 months old! Where has the time gone?!


The babies are still very different in both temperament and personality, but some of their traits have switched.


Brynlee is no longer the high maintenance "diva" I thought she was. She is very social.  Brynlee is my chatty girl. She loves people, loves to smile, and loves the camera. And the camera loves her.  The camera always seems to catch her with a smile on her face.


Berlyn has become my high maintenance babe. She loves to be held and prefers that to being on a blanket on the floor, in the swing, in the Mamaroo, in the Bumbo, you name it. She wants to be snuggled for most of the day. Makes things a little difficult when there is another infant and a pretty demanding 3-year old.  And she growls. It is the funniest thing ever!


Berlyn has figured out how to roll from her back to her tummy. She loves sleeping on her tummy and will no longer stay on her back to sleep.

Both girls are still nursing but are beginning to wean. Tandem nursing has become too difficult because the girls now prefer to nurse alone. There is a lot of hair pulling and eye poking going on when I try to tandem, and sometimes they refuse to latch on at all. Nursing them separately is a problem because it never fails that the baby that is not nursing suddenly needs something and will start crying, then the baby that is supposed to be nursing won't eat because she can hear her sister crying. Drama already! ;)

They are currently taking 2 formula bottles each day and are nursing for the rest of their feedings. They are still not sleeping through the night. They both wake up 2-3 times separately, which means (as long as Braysen doesn't wake up as well) that I am up 4-6 times a night. I'm ready for some sleep!!

They have started solids and are doing fabulously with rice cereal. Braysen never cared for it and I almost just skipped it with the girls. They both love it! Berlyn eats like a champ. Brynlee still has a little trouble keeping the cereal in her mouth, of course, that could be because she talks or is smiling and laughing through the entire meal. 

Neither baby is all that crazy about their paci.  They use them to sleep sometimes, but more often than not they will spit out the paci and stick their fingers in their mouths instead.

They are both sleeping unswaddled.

The girls have just started to notice eachother and it is so sweet to watch them interact (when their interaction does not include hair-pulling)


Brynlee

Likes:
Braysen's old baby swing
using her feet to grab toys and kick things out of the way
bath time
sleeping on her side
pulling hair
Sophie the Giraffe

Dislikes:
getting dressed
being put in her car seat

 

Berlyn

Likes:
playing with her feet
blowing raspberries
being worn in the wrap
being held
sleeping on her tummy
bath time
pulling hair

Dislikes:
getting dressed
being put in her car seat
being set down 

Kiwi Crate

Click here to receive $10 off your order at Kiwi Crate!

Braysen is really difficult to buy for. He was the first grand-baby on both sides of our family and the first great-grand baby on my side. My parents and Tony's parents look for any excuse to buy toys for him, as do my aunts and my grandma. When it comes to birthdays and Christmas, it is hard to think of what to buy for him because he has so much. Our toy room is out of control. I feel like we need several play rooms just to store all of it.

For his birthday this past March, the last thing I wanted to do was to buy him another toy. I pinned the idea of Kiwi Crate on Pinterest a while back, but decided that this year would be the perfect timing to buy a subscription for him for his birthday. I usually do a lot of crafts/experiments/learning activities with him, but I knew with these babies on the way I would have a lot less time to prep materials. Kiwi Crates are perfect, because they come once a month and have all the supplies needed for two crafts/experiments/learning activities. They also give you other activity ideas that many times the materials are already included in the crate or are materials you have at home. All the activities are science-based and educational, so you know the elementary teacher in me approves!

The Kiwi Crate comes with Braysen's name on it, so he's thrilled to open the door and find a package for himself!

 

Each month is a different theme. This past month was Wonders of Water. It's so nice that all the materials needed for the activities are included in the box, there's even a "Mess Mat" for him to work on! Each activity has a small booklet of instructions that include pictures so kiddos can learn to read directions, even when they can't technically read yet. Each activity book includes guided questions that you can ask them to promote critical thinking and also includes extension activities.
 

 

 

I didn't get pictures of all the activities from his crates, but here is the one from the previous month:

 

4 Month Update

 I started this update after I took their 4 month pictures but with our trip to Havasu and the beach camping trip, I never got around to finishing it. :( Here is what I had.

4 months
The girls are sleeping in their separate cribs now. They love sleeping together and fall asleep so much faster when they're snuggled up next to each other, but Brynlee is such a wiggle worm in her sleep that she always manages to wake Berlyn up, and then poor Berlyn cries because she has a hard time going back to sleep. They are still swaddled. I tried unswaddling and it was a complete disaster. I started off leaving one arm out of the swaddle during naptime and both girls did fantastic so I started leaving both arms out. It was So much easier for them to fall asleep because they could hold their lovies up to their faces and (sometimes) hold their pacifiers in. But we tried it for two nights and I was up every hour and a half because neither baby could stay asleep. Fail. They are swaddled again for now.

They are only a quarter inch different in length and about two ounces in weight.

Brynlee:

Length: 23.5 inches
Weight: 11 lbs 5.6 oz

Likes: bath time
taking pictures

Berlyn:

Length: 23.75 inches
Weight: 11 lbs 3.2 oz
Likes:
Sleeping
Cuddling
Bath time

I started taking pictures and then realized she didn't have her sticker on.  Once I got her sticker on her, she decided she was done smiling.

4 Months!

Happy 4 months sweet baby girls!

4th of July

We had a very eventful day. Tony worked really late the night before and didn't arrive home until 4:30am, so while he slept, Braysen and I had all kinds of fun!

 Red velvet pancakes! I just made the pancakes using this recipe and then used a star cutter to cut them out. They were just ok. I will probably make them again next year, but will use this recipe instead. Braysen is obsessed blueberries, so he loved them.

The night before we baked some sugar cookies. I was lazy short on time, so I bought a roll of premade dough from the store, which is something I never do. When it comes to sugar cookies, I usually always make them from scratch.

And this is why. I'm not thrilled with the way the cut outs distort when baked.

I used pre-packaged dough, but I did not use store-bought frosting. You will never see that happen in this house! We whipped up a yummy batch and Braysen got started with the decorating.

We also made some red, white, and blue marshmallow sticks. These were super easy and he loved them. You just dip a marshmallow in water (a quick dip so they don't become soggy) and stick it in a bag of jello powder and shake. We set them out and let them dry before sticking them on some stripey straws I had left over from Christmas time.

These were fun too! We used watermelon, apple, and blueberries. He ate all these within 5 or 6 minutes.

More fruit. We like fruit in this house.

 

And some yummy jello treats.

Fire-free fire works. We also made fireworks out of coffee filters, but I forgot to take pictures.

And this what the girls did while we were busy in the kitchen. Thank goodness they were pretty good for most of the morning, because we had a full schedule that day! Next year I will have three little ones to plan activities for!

 Watching fireworks.