Bryson 6 Month Check-up

Height: 28 inches (93%)
Weight: 15lbs 10 oz (17%)
Head Circumference: 43.5 cm (43%)
Bryson had his 6 month check up and he checked out good except we had to get tested for a milk allergy. Plus he has really bad dry skin so we got a topical steroid to help get it under control. The reason we think he has a milk allergy is that he has been taking solids for a some time and we have been mixing the cereal with breast milk. We also have only given him cereal. I was lazy the other day, well I actually forgot to thaw out some breast milk, but let's not mention that I forgot something to Rob. He would be thrilled to know I forgot, but since I forgot to put some out I thought I'll just mix in some formula that we had on hand. He didn't react which is classic for a first time exposure, he reacted the next night. I was out with some friends and once again forgot to thaw out some milk, so I told Rob just use the formula that I used the night before. I had a wonderful night out with some friends, only to return and find out Bryson had some hives. Rob ask me about hives and rashes the first night and I told him I didn't notice any. Yikes! Thank goodness we have benedryl on hand. So we are waiting for the results! Which I can already guess the results, but I can live in denial until I get the actual result!

Oh Nuts

Well, I am sad to report that Mason's peanut allergy number did not stay at a 1, but jumped to a 7. So that means no tolerance testing for us. The question remains that he is still making antibodies and being exposed to nuts. Sooooo we are moving into extreme peanut lock down. I am going to get rid of my peanut butter while Rob is going to give up his Honey Nut cream cheese. Oh and how I love peanut butter. We were originally told that if a label read that it had been processed with nuts that we could keep giving it to him if he had 1. Had it before and 2. not reacted to it. So good by M&M's and other wonderful treats and hello Skittles and Smarties as a special treat! Still have never had to use the epi pen or even give benedryl because of an exposure, but we really really really want to increase his chances of outgrowing it!

Mother Daughter Tea

Ellery and I got dressed up and went to our churches Mother/Daughter Tea. I told her we were going to go do something special just the two of us, and told her we were going to the mother/daughter tea and she kept saying "Mom I don't like tea." Luckily they had cookies and chocolates. We were both enjoying our treats. We sat at the table with the Minnie Mouse tea pot and chatted with friends. They also had some arts and crafts set up for the kids. Ellery really enjoyed making things and we had to make everything. She was coloring her headband hat Forever. I kept asking her if she was done and she kept telling me "one more minute mom" or "I'm not done yet." She loves her arts and crafts like her mama!

The Best $1 I Have Spent Lately

If I would have known laundry baskets would bring so much joy I would have left them under the Christmas tree. I would never have guessed how much joy a laundry basket could bring to toddlers. They were on sale at the store and had three different colors so I decided to splurge and get one for each kid. I hope Bryson likes green because it was the default color. The kids are thrilled to help me with laundry. They put their dirty clothes in their own basket, then carry it to the laundry room, and even happier to help put the folded clothes back into the basket and carry it back upstairs. The process must take too long for them, because they seem to not find it so lustrous to help put it away. They quickly asked for their own trash cans after the laundry baskets. I think I am going to let the Easter Bunny bring them those.

Bryson 6 Months

Oh where did the month go. Bryson has changed and grown up in the past month. He is interacting more and more and putting everything in his mouth. He is grabbing and reaching for things and when he successfully gets something within reach he puts his hands together to increase the chance of getting it to his mouth. I think baby proofing is going to be harder with this one due to the fact that the others have things strung out all over. They aren't going to be big fans of Bryson's when he starts moving and getting into their stuff. As he drools on everything their only response is yuck and get that back from Bryson I don't want his drool on it. He is sitting up by himself for multiple seconds. I am impressed he can recover from the hugs the other give him while he is sitting up. Since he can sit up he enjoys time by himself more. I guess he doesn't consider it by himself because he is playing with his toys. He was a happy baby before, but he is starting to fall into a nap routine and allowing you to put him down and leave the room without screaming his head off every time. He is loving his solids. Even giving me some high pitch squeals and starting to babble at us more. Getting ready to give him some real food with flavor as soon as I find the time to make it.

Bryson and his bumbo

Let us go with a don't ask and don't tell on this one.

The Sister She'll Never Have

Look Who's Sitting Up

Bryson is a really happy baby if :

1. he is being held or

2. he is in an upright position.

So he is really happy that he can sit up on his own for a few seconds before folding himself like a taco and falling onto his belly. With him sitting up makes for happy siblings as well. They feel the need to help steady him. They also love that he is sitting close to their level of play, so they can stick their faces up to his.

Shoveling

With snow comes shoveling. Last year it always seemed that Rob was working an overnight shift when the snow hit. We haven't been hit that much this year and Rob was around for the big snow so he was able to perform his manly duties and shovel. The kids tried to shake some lose for him, but I think they were having more fun trying. Nothing like jumping on a trampoline in January!

Snow

We got a few inches of snow last night and it blew so we had some drifts! The beauty was the storm hit the night before and the next day was 0 deg with no wind. It was cold out, but the sun was out so Rob took the kids out while Bryson and I stayed warm inside. They had a great time playing in the snow and sledding. This was the first year that they stayed outside longer than it took to get them ready to get outside. In the past we swear we spent more time getting ready inside than what we actually played outside. They all toughed the cold a lot longer than I expected!

KU Watch Party

We have been hitting the KU watch parties here and taking the kids with us. We are not above taking our kids out to the bar! The last watch party they had a raffle, since we brought 5 members of our family we got 5 tickets! I was excited because I am usually very lucky and I knew we were going to win. They called out the numbers and we were off by 1 number. We congratulated the winner of the signed KU football by Turner Gill. The winner had been an assistant football coach at KU back in the 70's and his wife was laughing because she told him not to get a ticket because he wasn't bringing home another signed football. She said the had a whole wall of them and she didn't want anymore. I thought it was funny and then he motioned to Mason and said I think I am going to give it to that little guy. We were very grateful and Mason thanked him for the football and then wanted to play with it. He couldn't understand why we wouldn't let him play with it!

Decorating

We have slowly been decorating Ellery's room. I decided to splurge and put a drape around her bed. One might think it could be used for mosquito's and other bugs, but I think it puts a nice flare on her room.

Ellery was really enjoying it when we first hung it up and she wanted Mason out of her room. He was equally excited about the princess net and he called it a prince net. He had a great idea that next time we have company they sleep in his room and he could sleep with Ellery in her room. Ellery was screaming and crying for Mason to get out and my draw dropped at her statement. As she was crying for him to get out she pointed to her name spelled out on the wall and stated. "Your name isn't on the wall in this room, it's MINE!"

Bath Time

Why I love bath time hooded towel pictures is beyond me?

E-L-L-E-R-Y

Well, here is the original "E" from the bow holder. Since we had so many bows, I had to dedicate a whole wall in her closet to hold them, which left me with an adorable E to hang in Ellery's room. I then bought all the matching letters to spell out her name and had them hanging in her room with no color. I wanted to paint them, but just never made the time nor did I know what decor I wanted to do. Since we have been decorating Ellery's room I was inspired and motivated to paint the letters and hang them above her window. I think they turned out super cute!

How to Train Your Dragon

Papaw gave the kids the movie, How To Train Your Dragon for Christmas. We watched it while we were at his house and the kids were running into different rooms because they were scared of the dragons and closing their eyes. I thought ohh great, we are going to have dragon nightmares. Boy was I wrong, they Love the movie. It might also be due to the fact that while Rob was gone when I wanted a break, I would put a movie in for the kids and of course they requested How To Train Your Dragon. I think we watched it every other day for 5 days. Yikes, but a mom has to do what a mom has to do to keep her sanity. It did spur us to do a craft project. We made shields so we could hide under them from the dragons. I wanted to put aluminum foil over the cardboard and I was over ruled so they could color on them. Mason was excited when he discovered that the white crayon shows up on cardboard. I was then informed that coloring wasn't enough and that they needed to add stickers, so we stickered the shields. We stickered them so much I keep finding stickers through out the house. I personally like how Ellery has to carry her magic wands with her shields. As if she didn't have enough to carry.

Wrapping Paper

I couldn't resist showing off this master piece wrapping job. While I was back for Papaws retirement I helped him wrap all of his Christmas presents. One included this big box for Rob. Papaw wanted me to take it back to Omaha, since I would have the extra space this trip. We then decided rather than wasting our left over paper we would wrap Rob's with "left overs". I think it turned out nice and could be considered art?

Hey Baby Hey Baby Hey

The kids are mini addicts when it comes to baby items and toys. I don't get the fascination they have with it. I have spent the week putting batteries in Bryson's baby toys, and not by his request. I am sure I am going to have to put "new" batteries in them when he finally gets to play with them. We usually put his car seat up on the table, but for some reason I left in on the floor and the kids took it into the living room for some fun. I came into the living room to find the baby carried filled with the blanket over the top. I assumed they had filled it with toys......

I found this baby when I peeled the blanket back.

The kids were pretending that Ellery was the baby and Mason informed me he was the daddy. The baby only sucked her fingers and grunted. She would grunt for toys and point and cover herself back up, while Mason shhhhhh me because I needed to be quiet so his baby could sleep.

Triathlon Champion

Rob headed down to Florida to have some fun in the sun. I think he had the fun, but the fun in the sun wasn't all it was cracked up to be. They get more serious every year, they even held a draft for picking the teams for golf. Rob states he was drafted pretty high, but refuses to tell me how high. They had to delay tee times some mornings due to frost. It warmed up eventually for him but, I sent him a text one morning telling him my car thermometer read 0 deg and he told me it was only 45 deg for him. I am sure people in Florida were all bundled up while Rob was in shorts on the golf course. I think fun was had by all. This year the men decided to have a triathlon the last day of operation fun in the sun. The triathlon consisted of golf, tennis, and bowling. They split in teams of two and took on the sports. I married a stud! He was crowned triathlon champion with his partner Tony. We are ohhhh so proud of him!

Here's Your Christmas Card

Opps, not sure who this was supposed to go to, but I do have proof I tried to send it!

I really shouldn't admit to doing such mindless things, but it did make me laugh when I got it back in the mail. Actually, Rob got it back in the mail and brought it to me as he was laughing at me.

You Know

You know you have been hanging around your kids too long when answer questions or refer to things like this when talking to an adult rather than a child:

Scenario 1: Packing for our trip to Papaws and I am talking to Rob and referring to how many "big sleeps" (the way we explain to kids on how long until the day comes that we are waiting for) we are going to be there when Rob tells me I can actually use days rather than refer to it as big sleeps.

Scenario 2: Rob comes back into the room after using the restroom and I tell him he forgot to zip himself up and he says, I know I just went "potty".

I think Rob's is way more funny. I don't know how many times in a day we encourage Ellery to go potty, but enough to where Rob is saying it!

Do I Look Pretty

Ellery has informed me that she has to "get ready" in the morning too. She states she wants to "look pretty". I gave her an old make up bag with a tube of lotion, chap stick, and a make up brush. She was very excited to have her own stuff so she can look pretty. We now sit together in the bathroom and get ready together. Sometimes when I am done and ready to go she informs me that she isn't finished. "Not ready mom" One day I left her by herself to finish getting ready and this is what was ready for the day. She loves her lotions, but doesn't want to rub them in. She asked me if she looked pretty and with a big smile and a good chuckle I told her she was not only pretty, but beautiful!

Bryson Eating

Do you think this child looks ready to eat?

We think so. We gave Bryson his first solids and he surprisingly did very well with them. Ellery was super excited to help feed him and her baby doll at the same time. Mason came in for a look and off he went on his merry way. I think he wanted to see what all the excitement was about and when he saw it was feeding Bryson he left. He didn't understand why we were all hyped up and excited about the big event. I think Bryson was excited to finally be apart of the dinner table rather than a spectator/center piece.

Buck Naked

I decided to choose this picture rather than the one of her bent over pushing her Barbie car. We had a tough time keeping Ellery in clothes at Papaw's? Not sure why she felt the need to be "free", but every time we turned around she would be naked. Papaw kept telling her that she was buck naked, next think we knew Ellery was walking around telling everyone "I'm Buck Naked". We have even returned from our trip and as we are getting undressed for bath time Ellery started running around screaming "look at me, I'm buck naked."

Ooops She did it again

Well it wasn't a repeat with Thomas the Train, but we found ourselves in a similar situation with Neo Tracks from Papaw. I am seeing a pattern in motorized grandparent gifts finding their way tangled in Ellery's hair.

#1 Wone Mandi

We have been on a huge Chinese kick lately. My friend Kim turned me onto a wonderful fried rice recipe and then we boil pot stickers and bake us some egg rolls and eat it all up! We have been loving it so much, it is what I served as our Christmas dinner. When we first starting preparing and eating it the kids weren't very interested. They still don't like the pot stickers and will eat a bit of egg roll, but they do eat all of the fried rice up! I really didn't think about it until my brother pointed out The Christmas Story where the dog eats their turkey and they go out for Chinese, I wouldn't put it past our dog to eat our turkey, but we choose to eat it on Christmas Day, but it wouldn't be complete without a Fra ra ra ra ra ra la ra. Rob also reminded me that our favorite Chinese place in WI was #1 Chinese so he has declared me #1 Wone Mandi.

Then and Now

Oh to actually see much changes in a year! None us of remember putting the kids in the same chairs as last year. Did they remember or did we do it? It is just fun to see how much they have grown. I guess next year we will have to pull the kiddie table off the wall so Bryson will have a spot!

The Birds

The men went out hunting again this year. Rob's back wasn't hurt this year so he was able to participate. We are lucky they weren't hunting to feed the family. They didn't get a lot of birds, so the joke was to say this is a $x amount per bird and if they went out to feed the family they would have failed miserably. I never actually got the specific figures. All that matters is that they all had a good time. The time is fast approaching where I am going to have to get Mason into a hunters safety course so he will be able to join them. I was shocked how the kids scooped up the dead birds to look at them and hold them. Ellery liked how soft the feathers were.

Kinect Fun

Since my brother never checks the blog I can get away with posting this video and Rob rarely looks at it so I should be safe. They (being my brother) brought back the Kinect gaming system and I have to say, we may have to break down and buy ourselves some sort of gaming toy. Wii or Kinect, oh the decisions we will have to make. We did play a lot of games on the Kinect and I think everyone got an ab work out just watching others play. We really found some joy in track and field. I am an excellent Javelin thrower-Not, yet Grandma Debbie is a spectacular Javelin thrower. We each had our own niches, especially Rob in the long jump. Table tennis was fun to watch as well, it is a bit unsettling watching the person next to you swat the air and you can fill the whiff from it. One word sums this up F-U-N!

Siblings

My Current Favorite Photo

Siblings are __________. This is my favorite photo out of all the photos we took this holiday break. I have a posed one of us that we took shortly after this one, but it doesn't compare to this. We of course were teasing and picking on each other. My brother hates taking pictures so he says. Here is what happens when we take pictures, he acts all disgusted as if it just ruined his day to be asked to take a photo or be in the photo, yet if you are taking it on your camera, he quickly pulls out his camera so he can get the shot on his camera as well. I think it is a macho front and he secretly likes pictures like I do, he just doesn't want to admit it to me and give me that glory and satisfaction. So when I pulled out my camera to take a picture of us together he gave me the geesh act, and then for some reason we both without being prompted decided to ruin the picture for the other. He went with the squeeze your eyes and face tight approach while I went with the classic Ellery smile (smile til your face hurts). I think this might get framed, I know Papaw has currently replaced my kids as his desktop photo with his own kids. I seriously can't look at it without laughing. I personally think it looks like Todd is trying to pass some uncomfortable gas and I just got a nasty whiff of it!

4 Legs Up BBQ

We hit 4 Legs Up BBQ again this year! YUMMY!! If you are ever in the Great Bend, KS area you must go eat some of the greatest BBQ. I can honestly say it is grand because they have a Grand Champion trophy to prove it. I am looking at taking a BBQ class to be a taste tester for BBQ cook offs, Roni and Kelly were giving me some information on it. I also would love to make it back sometime so Rob could take a BBQ grilling class from Kelly. Rob was busy taking the picture of all of us that he didn't get to be in it. He did devour the BBQ. I was happy that the Deming's came down from Pratt to see us and meet Bryson. They represent a true blessing in my life and helped me out in my younger years and I will always be grateful for that. I have lots of fond memories from them and can't thank them enough for those!

We also decided to try to get a picture of Ellery next to her BBQ picture. My mom printed it, framed it, and sent it to Roni. Roni was sweet enough to display it. She wouldn't cooperate like we wanted, but I caught this precious one of her looking at Kelsi. It tugs at my heart it is so cute! Roni says she gets lots of compliments on the photo and it is right next to the grand championship decor and everyone comments on how cute the kid is, and doesn't always give them a congrats on the big win!