Blake's 7 Months Old

7 Months Old!!

I can't believe this little boy turned 7 months old last week!! We don't visit the doctor this month but he's around 21 lbs right now! He really is such a happy baby now and it makes my heart so full!! Blake is full on crawling!!! Its like one morning he did it just a little bit and by the end of the day he was crawling across the room. Blake is really good a transitioning from sitting to crawling and back to sitting. He loves to try and pull up on things now too. We had to lower the bed the other day. The time he tried to pull up on his knees and then he immediately went to standing!! He learns fast!! He's also has no fear!! Which of course makes me nervous!!

Blake can sleep from 7:30 or 8pm to about 6:30am. But lately he's waking up either once during the night or deciding that 5:30am is a great time to wake up! ugh!! So trying to get him to sleep at least until 6-6:30am.

He loves sitting up in the bath now like a big boy and play with his brother! Blake absolutely adores Carter and all he does!! He wants to be a big boy just like his brother! Carter like Blake, unless he's playing with his toys!! Lots of lessons going on right now!

Blake is a great eater too!! He nurses first thing in the morning and then he drinks pumped milk every 3 hours. He is also eating solids twice a day!! He LOVES food. Here is what all he's had:

Rice Cereal

Oatmeal Cereal

Bananas

Peas

Apples

Sweet Potatoes

Pears

Peaches

Avocado

Carrots

Zucchini

Mango

I'm making his food (besides the cereals) like I did with Carter and its so easy!!

Blake has gotten better about dad feeding him at night or putting him to bed, so thats great progress!!

He loves music! Loves playing with toys! Can't wait to see how much more he'll be growing in the next month!

Reflecting on 10 years ago and God's Plan vs My Plan

Today I was driving into the office and realized that it's been about 10 years since I first starting working in real estate.  CRAZY! I just started reflecting on how God had such a different plan for me back then than I was wanting and it is amazing to see how that all turned out.

You see 10 years ago I was finishing up my junior year at Texas. I needed to find an internship that summer but I also needed to make a little money. After searching around I found this amazing opportunity to intern at a Law Firm here in Austin with their events coordinator and it PAID! I was so excited and wanted it really bad. I went through several interview rounds, even planning a mock event. In the end, it came down to me and one other person and I didn't get the job. I was so bumbed. I was convinced this would be something I would love to do when I graduated. I was majoring in Corporate Communications and was really looking at doing event planning. I had fallen in love with the idea of this job. To say I was crushed would be an understatement.

I had applied for two other internships, one with the Austin Film Festival and one with the Make a Wish Foundation. I was offered a job at both places, but in the end decided on Make a Wish. Only bad part was it was non paid, which meant I needed to find another job to make some money that summer. Since I had started college I had worked in retail off and on in the mall, but I was so over doing that.

Then an opportunity opened up. You see 2 of my really good friends had worked the year before at a real estate office doing front desk work. One of my friends was graduating and the other got an internship for the fall out of state. So this office had 2 openings coming up. I interviewed and I got the job!

I worked for 2 developers that had their real estate license but did several different kinds of real estate. They developed commercial and residential properties, owned and managed commercial and residential as well. So I started to learn such a large scope of real estate that year. Then there was Samantha and she managed their office for them, but also had her real estate license and did a lot of residential work with sellers and buyers. Throughout that year they all urged me to get my real estate license. If anything, just to help friends find lease properties in college or when they graduated and stayed in Austin.

So over my senior year I slowly took all my real estate classes and tests and eventually got my license right after I graduated college. Around that time, Samantha had decided to get her broker's license and start her own real estate company and so I decided to work under her and the rest they say is history.

It is just amazing to look back over the last 10 years (9 years having my license). God had a different plan for me than what I had envisioned and look how that worked out! I met some amazing people along the way that became great friends. I have enjoyed helping people find places to live and help people sell their homes. I truly enjoy getting to help people in this career. And now having kids, this is the best job I could have because of the flexibility. I can be present for my kids much more than a normal 9-5 job, but still help contribute to our household income. God couldn't have planned anything more perfect for me. Even when we might be upset when God shuts one door, know that He does have a plan and look, it will probably end up being better than the plan you had for yourself!

Blake's 6 Months Old

On Monday, this precious boy had his half birthday! 6 MONTHS OLD!!

6 Month Stats:

Weight: 19lbs 7 oz (80%)

Height: 28 3/4 in (> 95%)

Head Circum.: 45cm (90%)

He's larger than Carter was at 6 months, so looks like little brother might be bigger!! :)

Blake is continuing to make great strides. We are loving that he is a much happier baby these days! We even dropped the acid reflux medicine he was taking! I don't wish colic/acid reflux on any baby or parent! So glad we are past that!!

He is nursing first thing in the morning and then drinking a pumped bottle the rest of the day. Up to 6-7 ounces per bottle. Last week we started some rice cereal and he really like it! Yesterday we tried bananas and he seemed to like it as well, but later in the day he got the hiccups twice and then threw up everywhere. Hoping it was just the hiccups and not that he had a reaction to bananas. We shall see.

Blake is rolling all over the place, getting where he wants to be. He can even crawl/scoot backwards! It won't be long before we have a crawler!! He loves playing with toys or trying to reach and get whatever is in his site! He puts everything in his mouth!! He can even sit up by himself some, but then will eventually topple over.

He still loves bath time and kicks like crazy in his seat. He seriously soaks the entire bathroom because of his kicking!!

We are still working on nap times. He takes 3-4 half hour naps a day!! Hoping those naps increase in time and decrease in frequency!! He's sleeping 10-11 hours at night. Sometimes he'll wake maybe once a night and we just rock him back to sleep.

He loves his big brother. Always smiles and laughs at him!! Only big issue we are having with him now and is he only wants mommy to feed him his bedtime bottle. If i'm not home and Kevin puts him down, he screams and cries and refuses to eat. And basically just passes out asleep finally. Not good. So working on that!!

It is so great to see Blake's sweet personality starting to shine through. We love this little man!

Mother's Day 2015

So blessed that God gave me the opportunity to be a mommy to these two boys!!! 

Yesterday was extra special because we dedicated Mr. Blake at church!

Blake's 5 Months Old

Blake is 5 Months Old Today!!

He weighs around 18lbs right now!!!

This has been such a great month. We have really turned a corner over the last 3-4 weeks. Blake is a much happier baby. The crying has decreased significantly. Its been a good month.

Blake started going to school this past month and he's really improved since that started. So I feel like its really helped him being around other people more than just me. He is sleeping around 10-11 hours at night. Sometimes he'll have a night where he wakes up a time or two, but we make sure to wait and feed him until its after 5 or 6, so he learns to sleep. And its been working great.

During the day we are still working on naps. He sleeps every hour and a half to two hours. For usually only like 20-30 mins. So thats a bit exhausting, but hopefully he'll start sleeping longer soon. We are putting him in his crib for naps too. He's drinking 6-7 ounces of pumped milk every 2.5-3 hours.

We pulled out the exersaucer a couple of weeks ago and he loves it! He loves putting weight on his feet, so its been great for him.  He is rolling over both ways now and doesn't need a swaddle anymore at night.  He rolls and rolls and rolls. He doesn't yet enjoy just hanging out on his tummy to play, but we'll get there. He loves bath time and kicks and kicks while in there.

Blake is such a loud talker when he wants to babble, its super cute. He loves his brother and smiles at him all the time. His little personality is really starting to shine through. Blake LOVES putting things in his mouth. Whether it be a toy, his shirt, whatever. He is also slobbering up a storm right now.

He is still quite the mommas boy. Always wants momma. But he is definitely doing much better Kevin and other people. We've even finally left him at the church nursery a couple of times and they said he never cried. HUGE improvement. You have NO IDEA!

At school they said he cries some, but is really getting better and better every time. He's going 3 days a week like Carter, so I can work and show houses those days.

Blake loves being outside too. Loves the breeze and watching his brother play. He is enjoying going on walks now too in the stroller with his brother. Just checking everything out. He's usually fine in the car too, unless he's getting tired, he'll get upset if we stop at a light or something, but if we start moving again, he's fine.

After having such a rough first four months and having RSV and pneumonia, it is such a blessing to see such a sweet personality coming out of this boy. It really makes me so happy.

We still have our moments, but really unless he's bored, hungry or tired, he's alot happier these days.

Here is a comparison of Carter and Blake both at 5 months.

Easter 2015

We had a great Easter weekend this year! My parents came down for  a couple of nights and Kevin's sister Holly and her husband came down as well. We went to a Saturday night Service and then East morning went to breakfast with Holly and Zack before they left town. That afternoon we had our annual Easter cook out at Sarah and Chads!!

Blake's 4 Months Old

This cutie is 4 months old now!! Yesterday we went to the doctor for his 4 month appointment and he weighed 16lbs and 9oz and was 26 3/4 inches long. Blake lost some weight after being sick last week and was weighed in this past Monday at 16lbs even. Well since Monday he has gotten his appetite back in full swing and gained 9oz in 5 days! Crazy kid! He is 92nd percentile in weight and great than 95th percentile in height and head circumference.

Blake is still a pretty fussy baby. But I feel like he has changed his manner of being fussy. Prior I felt like had colic and stomach issues. But in the last 3 weeks or so I feel like its becoming more of a behavioral thing. He just isn't content very long. He really has about a 20 min window where is content and then he's over it. Whether its on the floor, in the swing, etc. And obviously thats very frustrating for us. 

He's also decided that he likes mommy the most. If Kevin holds him or tries to feed him a bottle or anything, he'll scream bloody murder. If I'm gone for 45 mins from the house and Kevin watches him, he'll cry the entire time I'm gone and then the minute I get home and take him, he's fine. Ugh! After talking to the doctor yesterday, she says thats a personality and temperament issue. Great.

Blake was suppose to start school last week, but he was in the hospital, so he's been once this week, but I'm hoping that will help him start to get better. Although I feel so bad leaving him with the sitter afraid he's going to cry the entire time.

This has definitely been the hardest 4 months of my life. Its exhausting. But seeing his sweet personality starting to come out some makes it all worth it. 

**He's starting to take bottles now that he's in school of pumped breast milk. 4-6oz a bottle.

**He's lasting longer with tummy time and can roll over front to back. But not consistently.

**He loves bath time, until he gets out. Then he screams bloody murder.

**He loves watching his brother.

**Laughs when we play peek-a-boo.

**Loves sitting in moms lap while watching dad and brother play.

**Kicking up a storm lately.

**Likes pulling things up to his mouth

**sucking on fists some

**Has slept up to 9 hours before, but usually wakes up a time or two in between :(

**Loving Sophia the giraffe the last two weeks.