Gerdes Party of Six: A change in routine.

Right after I felt like I had just mastered the routine of having a newborn baby at home, the schedule has changed again! School is in session and Boston has started playing flag football. He has practice on Thursday nights and games on Saturday mornings. This will be our routine for the next month, and then it will change again when I start taking daycare kids on Sept. 30. It's a crazy life in the Gerdes house but we still find plenty of time for family, fun, and just chilling!

Bronx is almost 2 months old now! He is getting more smiley, and has started to make some coo noises. He is starting to go longer stretches between bottles during the night, so we are making progress! He is still drinking about 3-4 oz. every 3-4 hours during the day, and still sleeps quite a bit. I would say he takes a solid morning, afternoon and early evening nap, but also dozes off at other times. Bed time is still consistently around 9PM, so that works great with the other boys' bed time routine. I give him a bath about every other night, and he loves it!

Derek says we are absolutely done having kids, but I feel differently. I can't bring myself to sell any of the stuff Bronx has grown out of, so I have packed it up for awhile just in case. I've heard from other mom's that when you are done having kids you feel 'done'... i'm just not feeling it yet. Maybe when Bronx is between the ages of 1 and 2, and is more mobile and busy I will feel it? It's a really sad feeling though to think about never having a baby again..

Boston seems to be enjoying school. He isn't complaining about it every day, so that's good news! Derek has been bringing him to school in the mornings so that I don't have to wake up the other kids to rush out the door. It's nice that the two of them have that time together in the mornings, since some nights they only get to see each other a few minutes before Boston has to go to bed. His bedtime is 9 o'clock, and it's a struggle getting him there some nights. The kid is a night owl!
He had a few pages of homework to do this past week, but not too much. Boston was Author Of The Day already and came home with quite the story that he had told his class! I won't share the whole story with you, but it starts out: 'Once upon a time there was a little boy named Brigham. He grew up to be a little bugger. Then he turned two and became a pesky man!' Ha! I had to laugh. I enjoy looking over the papers he brings home each day. It's so fun to see what they are all learning! On Friday this past week, all of the first graders took a field trip to Lake Vermillion to go caterpillar hunting! It was a really warm day, but we packed lots of drinks in his lunch bag! He was smelly and tired when I picked him up from school!

Brigham is a hoot! He will be getting a post of his own in a few weeks when it's his 'half birthday' so I won't say too much now. He sure keeps me on my toes, and has us all cracking up several times a day. He is definitely getting his dads personality!

August 20: 6 Weeks Old

Bronx had some white in his mouth for a week or so, which we initially thought was just formula. It slowly got worse, so on Wed. the 21st, we called Dr. McKercher's office and got him some medicine for thrush. Thankfully it never seemed to bother him, because he ate, slept and acted just like normal!

As long as he is sleepy enough and swaddled tight enough, he will nap anywhere!

He looks so much like Boston in this picture!

Brigs playing iPad and Bronx sleeping on the couch.

So sweet! He takes his paci during the day if I am trying to hold him off from a bottle, or if he is sleepy and having trouble falling asleep. He doesn't have it at all during the night.

Saturday, August 24th, we celebrated Paisley's 7th Birthday!

She was full of smiles opening up her gifts!

Brigs was tuckered out after the party!

This was the first time I let Brigs take a bath with Bronx!

Sunday, August 22: The boys having some daddy time before he heads off to work.

August 27: 7 Weeks!

My view when I get out of the shower every day! I rarely get a shower alone these days, and if I do, it's a 3 minute shower!

Saturday, 8-31: The boys and I rode with the Elgersma girls to Boyden, IA to meet up with some friends! They have a really nice spray park & playground so the kids had a lot of fun! Other than Brigham unbuckling himself from the car seat several times, the road trip went well with 5 kids!

Bronx chilling in the shade with mom! He is such a chill baby!

All of our kids playing! They had the entire water park to themselves for awhile!

He found his finger!

Yesterday, Brigs took a stumble at the neighbors house. There was quite a bit of blood and I thought maybe he had knocked a few teeth out. His blankie saved the day...he only cried for 30 seconds!

And just some random cell phone pictures from the last few weeks that are too cute not to share!

Bronx usually does very well napping in his crib, but this particular day he just wanted me to hold him, so we snuggled together because I was needing a nap too!