Britt’s Summary of Month 6

Fair warning! This post has over 100 pictures 🙂 Brittlynn is just super, duper cute (at least in my opinion) so it’s tough for me to delete any pictures I take of her! Plus after three weeks of Italy posts I figured yall probably were ready for some cute baby pictures right?

Brittlynn’s six month of life was from May 6th – June 5th so she was 5 months old during this time. Here’s what she was up to:

Class: I have a post planned to discuss our current church routine and how we make it work, but Brittlynn attended her first bible class on May 6th! She’s the youngest baby they have in there and all the other babies are like a year old. It was nice with Kye as he has like 5 other kids who were all born within a couple months of him, hopefully some new babies will come to Britt’s class that are closer to her age!

Hair: Her hair made some HUGE changes this month. I think a lot of it had to do with her sitting up (more on that in a second). But you can see the changes:

Beginning of the month

End of the month

First teeth: Kye didn’t have his first tooth until he was 8 months old…but Brittlynn got her first tooth popping in on May 19th (about 5 1/2 months old!). Not only did she get a first tooth…she got two in at one time!!! By the time we left for Italy (May 24th) they were both through the gums but not fully in. When we got back they were fully in! Under 6 months old and two teeth already!!!

You can see the white speck coming in

Attempts at getting a toothy pic were failures but too cute to delete 😉

Right before leaving for Italy

Thanks to the teeth coming in she was a DROOL MACHINE for the month! She was also fussier than usual and got that rash…she never did get a fever (like Kye always would) and I’d say she was an easier teether than he was overall, especially considering she had two come through at once.

Notice the “bib of drool”

Brittlynn does NOT take a paci to sleep and never uses one “properly” however they make great chew toys for her and she does enjoy playing with them. It’s so strange to me to be giving a baby a paci outside of the crib. But why not? It’s not a sleep prop for her the way it was for Kye…it’s like a bonus toy 😉

I also would put an ice cube in one of these mesh things…she liked it but would fuss BIG TIME when she’d drop it so I didn’t do it often. I think the coldness did feel good on those gums though!

Birthmark: I have a “beauty mark” as my mom always called it. It’s on my side and it looks like a round, flat dark mole. It’s something I always have the dr check at my yearly visits and it’s never been an issue. It’s also never bugged me. I totally don’t ever think about it (props to Mom for that b/c she made sure I didn’t worry about it!). Britt, I discovered this month, also has a birthmark! Before her 4 month checkup I actually noticed it while changing her diaper. I forgot to ask about it and Zach and I both thought it was just some discoloration from her legs bending all the time. It’s a dark spot at the back of her ankle. I asked about it when I took her in for her rash and, yup, birthmark! It’ll probably just always be a little darker than the rest of her skin. It’s not the least bit noticeable and I kinda like that she has a little something to make her unique 🙂

Jumperoo: Brittlynn is still loving her jumperoo. I have THREE baby swings. Neither of my children have liked ANY of them but they have both loved their jumperoos. SUCH a worthwhile investment, I’ll say it again and again so get used to it 😉 She can now spin all around to play with the different toys on it. She will only enjoy it for a few minutes alone, she prefers someone right there with her to watch. She can be pretty demanding when she wants attention, typical chick 😉

On May 11th I quit using the cushion under it as she can touch the floor but Kye continues to put it under her anyway!

She can even reach the hanging animals now!

Sleep: Brittlynn may be more difficult than Kye in some ways, but one area we have been SO blessed with is SLEEP. The child sleeps so well, so easily. I really believe it’s because I did the schedule so early on and because I did cry it out. I never used to believe the babywise mom when she said her kids never cried during naps and night time. Now I believe it. Because I worked so hard in the beginning with her and because I let her cry it out when it was the appropriate time (around 12 weeks) she now NEVER cries and ALWAYS sleeps. If she’s not asleep she is happy as can be “talking” and rolling around like a crazy person 🙂 I LOVE IT. MUCH better than going in and out of her room 1,000 times per nap like I had to do with Kye for so long. I think not having a paci makes a HUGE difference as well 🙂 Since she is so crazy we put the side of the crib up now. I also tried a mesh bumper for awhile, hoping to help keep her limbs in the crib since she was always putting them out! I ended up returning it b/c it was a joke and didn’t keep her from getting them through the slats anyway! When I lay her down in her crib I still always lay her on her back (back to sleep!!! ALWAYS!!! EVERY TIME!!!) but she instantly rolls to her stomach so I just pull her to the center of the crib and leave her that way.

When I walk in to get her up this is what I always find, baby on belly with slobber on crib sheet

She gets SO excited to see us and instantly turns over 🙂

She ALWAYS wakes up happy, It’s precious (thank you BABYWISE!!!)

I also often find her like this

While we were in Italy the kids stayed at my mom’s for a few days and Mrs Charlotte’s for a few days. Both Mom and Mrs Charlotte have the same cribs and I guess their slats are different widths than ours or something? Because she would get her legs STUCK in them! When we got home Mrs Charlotte felt SO BAD b/c poor Britt’s leg had a good bit of bruises on it. I kept telling her it’s okay, I mean it couldn’t have hurt too badly because she continued to do it to herself ya know??? These are just from her sleeping with her leg out of her crib!

Sitting up: We have a sitter! I feel guilty b/c she’s probably been able to sit up longer than this. The first time I thought to sit her down she did it haha. Oh well! She can’t put herself to the sitting position yet but once I set her down she can stay sitting unsupported. Although I usually put some type of pillow behind her just in case she falls. Here’s a video of her at the beginning of the month practicing!

She will start off sitting straight up but then start the lean

And end up laying down, but (with the pillow) she is able to pull herself back to the sitting position

She can’t sit unsupported for long but when she is supported she can bend down and pick something up.

How I found her in the bouncer!

I think it’s time to pack this thing up!!!

Toys: Up until 6 months old there aren’t a whole lot of toys that babies can play with. I try SUPER HARD to be mindful of the recommended ages for toys. It’s tough with Kye’s old toys b/c I don’t remember what the age requirement is for many of them, but I do my best. At Christmas Brittlynn got a TON of stuff that she hasn’t been able to use yet because she was too young. So a few days before her 6 month “birthday” I pulled it all down out of the closet and we opened that junk up!

She was happy to help!

We had this ball with Kye but I returned it (I did that pretty often with his stuff…he just got SO many toys and didn’t need them all!) but decided to keep it for her. I feel like so much of what she has was Kye’s that it’s nice for some things just to be HERS. I wish I’d kept Kye’s b/c it’s a super neat toy!!!

Toes: Britt enjoys her toes much more than her brother did. She doesn’t get frustrated with them anymore but when she is on her back she’ll often find them and play with them and chew on them. It’s a sweet baby thing that I’m sure I’ll miss once it passes!

😉

Bath: Britt is still very in love with bath time. Zach always does bath duty and I can hear her cry every night when it’s time to get out. I love that our children love the water!!! She is REALLY into her bath toy, it was such a thoughtful gift from Ashley Troutman! She bought two bath ducks at my baby shower, one girl themed and one boy themed since we didn’t know the sex. Now Kye and Britt each have an adorable bath time friend 🙂

In the Mouth:  Every. Single. Thing. that this child touches goes straight into her mouth. She is a chewing slob fest! Here are some pictures of Britt’s favorite/yummiest toys this month:

She LOVES bath books!

Here’s a video of Britt playing with some toys!

Soft toys are her favorites…

It’s GREAT because both kids can “play together” now…here’s a video

Workin’: Kye has ALWAYS loved to pretend to talk on the phone and “go to work” so we have started Britt off young 😉 She really loved her brother’s computer and I pulled down hers from Christmas for her to start playing with too. I can just see them playing a few years from now…him being the boss (since he is SO bossy already haha) and her being the secretary.

Fingers: While last month we weren’t sure what would happen with the finger situation, we now know. We have a finger baby! She will NOT take a paci, but she always sucks on her fingers in her crib to sleep. We can’t see her (since she sleeps on her tummy, face DOWN…yes, it gives me a heart attack seeing it on the monitor!) but we assume she sucks on them to fall asleep the same way a paci baby would. She doesn’t suck them ALL the time when outside the crib, but she uses them for comfort. Honestly, I’m cool with it. I am not overly worried that it will be an issue to take them away. Babywise says to take them out of her mouth and say “not now.” I plan to do that and teach her that she can only suck them in the bed (treat them like we did the paci), but I don’t feel like we should do that yet. With teething and being so young I feel like if it comforts her, why not let her? Whenever we take pictures people are always saying “oops Britt’s fingers are in her mouth” and I’m always saying “it’s fine! leave them!” I honestly don’t mind it and think it’s something cute we’ll look back on one day with a smile 🙂

Here’s a video of me trying to take her fingers out of her mouth! It’s when we first started realizing that this was a legit thing she was doing 🙂 Here’s another video of them!

Doesn’t this face say “I know I’m not supposed to be doing this…”

High Chair: It took us long enough but we finally went out to eat as a family and got to use Britt’s high chair cover (Kye’s was mega boyish so she got a new one for Christmas). She did awesome in it and it made eating out SO much easier not having to hold her the whole time. It’s amazing how quickly things come back. We remembered that it’s best to hold her the entire time before the food comes so she won’t get bored in the high chair while we’re eating 😉

Independent Playtime: Britt is doing ok with independent playtime. Since she couldn’t sit unsupported for very long at this point I still layed her down for it (I don’t feel comfortable using the Bumbo seat after reading about how many babies have been injured in them). She gets VERY frustrated when she can’t pull down every single toy and I think it’ll make a big difference once I can sit her up during her playtime! Since she’s enjoying textures this month, she enjoyed playing with the tag of the pack and play. Here’s a video of her during independent playtime!

Outside: Brittlynn really enjoys the outdoors and never fusses when I take her outside. It’s like an instant fix if she’s really fussy 😉

Just dipped our toes in the pool 😉

Reading: Kye always enjoyed reading as a baby and would listen pretty intently from a young age. Not Brittlynn! She is much more active and wants to be part of everything going on 🙂 She touches and feels the pages and enjoys textures. She also tries to steal the book out of my hands to eat it!

Brother: NO ONE can make Brittlynn laugh the way her brother can. It’s precious and I hope it lasts a lifetime. Here’s a video of Kye kissing on her

I have SO many pictures of Brittlynn that are just cute ones I want to post that I’ll post her other things going on this month along with them so here’s what else Britt was up to during her 6th month:

  • So this month Brittlynn said her first word. Yes. At barely 5 months old she said…dada. And I tried to ignore it. I don’t know the exact date she said it. I heard her say it once and pretended like I didn’t hear it. Then she said it again and Zach heard so no denying that one. I told him she was too young to talk and that it was just a random sound. But she continued to say it. So it’s her first word! I’m bitter 😉 It was also Kye’s first word and he said it on my 25th birthday. And he was 8 months old (that was a big month in development for him!). She seems waaaay too little to already be talking!!!!
  • Brittlynn is a roller coaster of emotions, yes typical female. She will be CRACKING UP laughing and then, for no reason, it’ll turn into crying. I honestly don’t know why and I think it’s just a personality trait she has. She gets bored quickly and likes to be on the move, outside, or on my hip.

  • One night her Angel Care monitor went off. Zach raced in her room and Zeke (our CAT) jumped out of her crib. It seriously gave me a heart attack. Why do cats LOVE nurseries so much? I swear Zeke will hide in there all the time! We have to do a check now every time we put Brittlynn to sleep
  • EVERYONE comments on her beautiful blue eyes. And CONSTANTLY talk about her happy demeanor. I take pride in both. I have the same color of eyes so it’s kinda a compliment to me right? And she’s a Babywise baby which is why she’s so happy all the time which is also a compliment to me 😉 When you have kids you totally get ignored by everyone so I’ll take my compliments however I can get ’em!

  • She has started to spit up WAY less than she used to. Like I would go through a million burp rags a week (like over 20 probably) and now I can use two or three for a whole week. It’s rare to get spit up on now which is a nice change for sure!
  • FINALLY this child has started eating quicker!!!! It only took 5 months right?!?! Now she eats in about 20 min total 🙂

  • Like her brother she is a DEEP sleeper. Our house alarm went off one night on accident and she didn’t wake up!!! (Neither did he)
  • Now that she is eating so quickly we are able to go back to family story time again!!! She nurses at 7:00 for her last feeding of the day and Kye takes his bath during that feeding. Then we all read a story and say prayers together before the both go to bed for the night! I love it!

  • Her stools were strange this month. Very green and seedy and runny. It concerned me at times but I figured it was just from the teething…and I was right 😉 
  • Now that she eats faster and is awake so much longer, Kye and I started doing our bible story reading together with Brittlynn before her morning nap. We read two short stories from their new Bible they got at Easter. We also sing a song together about Jesus 🙂

  • She’s VERY into texture this month (Kye was also like this at this age). She wants to feel and touch everything
  • She is also starting to want whatever Kye has. How do you all handle babies wanting toys that are too old for them? I want Kye to learn to share but at the same time I worry about her choking! 

  • Britt is very heavy handed. She hits the toys on her jumperoo VERY hard and also has started to randomly hit me while she’s nursing. She’ll like slap my chest and it totally throws me off every time!
  • She is now able to lift herself completely off the ground (She is only 5 months old…I mean DANG CHILD SLOW DOWN WILL YA?!?!?!). She is already rocking on all fours and seems like she’ll be crawling any day now. I’m totally not ready for this!!!!

  • I used to always keep a burp rag hanging on the side of her crib. I try to have one at all times so I’d lay her down to sleep then drape the rag over the crib to dry out while she slept. That ended on June 3rd when she somehow pulled it off the side of the crib!
  • She is so happy and loves to laugh and it’s fun to catch it on video! Here’s a video of me making her laugh. Here’s one of Zach getting her to laugh (I love this one…she laughs so hard she loses her breath!) In this video I’m playing with her and I love how adorable and sweet she looks and her little happy squeals! And another video of us just playing…I can’t get enough of her can you tell??
  • Don’t you notice as a parent you have certain pet peeves that people say and drive you nuts?!?! One of mine is when people call Brittlynn NOSY. Nosy is not a positive trait. My child is 5 months old. She can’t have negative personality traits yet and the last thing I want is for people to start giving her some type of label. I prefer the words “social” and “curious.” She’s not nosy. Grrrr. Yes, she always wants to know what’s going on and she likes to be “in the mix.” That’s a good thing! I’d much rather have a child that wants to be involved with everything and everyone than a child who just wants to sit and do nothing 🙂

Pebbles!

  • My absolute favorite spot to kiss on her is the area between her nose and upper lip. It’s just this sweet little spot that is made for kisses…plus her mouth is HUGE and slobbery…better to avoid it 😉

Brittlynn’s Schedule at 5 Months Old:

6:45-7:15: Wake up, change diaper, nurse (no solids yet…still just nursing her!)

After nursing: Independent Playtime

8:35ish: Bible Story time

8:45-9:00: Down for nap (Kye has room time during her nap)

10:45-11:15: Up from nap, change diaper, nurse (Kye usually watches movie while I nurse her for this feeding)

After nursing: Independent Playtime

12:30ish: Start getting ready for nap, read story and say prayers with Kye 

12:45-12:55: Down for nap

2:45-3:15: Up from nap, diaper change, nurse

After nursing: Independent Playtime

4:00: wake up Kye with Mommy

4:45: Down for nap

6:40 Up from nap, bath, massage, ready for bed

7:00: Nurse

7:20: Family story time, family prayers

7:35: Brittlynn down for night

7:45: Kye down for night

Here are some MORE adorable pictures to end this post on…my longtime friend, Ashley Hiott (now Hiers) bought this outfit when I was pregnant with Kye. She was SO SURE that Kye was a girl that she bought me this adorable little Polo outfit. I held onto it and now Britt can wear it. I love stuff like that because it brings back such wonderful memories 🙂

Enjoy that gummy grin while I can!!!

Favorite 🙂

A little ME update: If you’ve lasted this long in this post 😉 I am pretty confident to say that I’m fully adjusted to having two children. It’s now at the point where I don’t really remember my life without Brittlynn in it and I have our daily schedule down. It’s just my life now. I also am totally 100% missing being pregnant. Any picture of me pregnant that I see makes me want to be pregnant again! Isn’t that strange? I HATED looking back at my pregnancy pictures with Kye but honestly…I think I looked cute pregnant with Brittlynn and I miss feeling cute like that. It was much better than feeling yucky with baby weight left to lose right?!?! I really, really want to have more than four children now too. I always wanted four then wanted to adopt but now I just want to have as many babies as my body will possibly allow me to. Most days I’d be willing to get knocked up NOW. I pulled Zach aside one night and sweetly said “Baby, I have to ask you a question..it’s not a big deal but I just need to ask.” I tried to be super chill about it and said “can we have more than four kids?” WITHOUT HESITATING he said “Yes! We can have as many as you want, I don’t care!” SCORE 🙂 I love that he’s so on board with babies!!!! Then I asked the second question on my mind “sooo can we have them closer together than we planned?” Again, he didn’t hesitate but this time the answer was no. And rational Emily agrees…it’s the emotional, sentimental Emily that wants another one pronto. He said he doesn’t want two in diapers and I have always agreed with that. I just have to remind myself of that over, and over, and over.

I am SO blessed to have this sweet girl as a part of my life now 🙂 She couldn’t be more of a perfect addition to our family!

I know people say you shouldn’t compare your children but how in the WORLD is that possible?!?! I don’t compare them in the sense of liking one more or anything like that but it’s impossible not to say when they developed in comparison to each other and I think that’s fine. My children know I adore them BOTH so I’m not worried about my small comparisons mattering long term. You can look back and see what Kye was up to during this month in his life (with a LOT less pictures…) here!

8 Comments

  1. Chelley
    July 10, 2012 / 8:50 pm

    I always see SO many similarities between Brenson and Britt when I read these posts. The one that jumped out to me this time was about taking her outside to calm her down. Sometimes, that is the ONLY thing that works with Bren . . . we use it often! Brianna was NEVER like that, so it's interesting to read that it works with Britt, too!

  2. Juli Skelton
    July 11, 2012 / 12:42 pm

    Had I known about Babywise I would have at least tried it.  My kids are 5 1/2 years apart.  So my older son was playing ball and going to Pre K then Kindergarten the whole 1st year of the babys life.  It was harder to be on a schedule with the younger one, but had I known about babywise I could have incorporated some of it in our lives!  I have now keeping my 4 month old niece while her mom works.  Its nice to read you monthly updates and see what is going on with Brittlyn.  It helps me to know what to do with my niece while I have her!  So thank you!!  

  3. Juli Skelton
    July 11, 2012 / 12:43 pm

    Had I known about Babywise I would have at least tried it.  My kids are 5 1/2 years apart.  So my older son was playing ball and going to Pre K then Kindergarten the whole 1st year of the babys life.  It was harder to be on a schedule with the younger one, but had I known about babywise I could have incorporated some of it in our lives!  I have now keeping my 4 month old niece while her mom works.  Its nice to read you monthly updates and see what is going on with Brittlyn.  It helps me to know what to do with my niece while I have her!  So thank you!!  skeltonfam4.blogspot.com

  4. Rdbixby
    July 11, 2012 / 1:14 pm

    You have the most beautiful daughter!!! You guys must be SO PROUD! Both of your kids are adorable. 

  5. Rachael_Copponex
    July 11, 2012 / 3:43 pm

    I loved the pictures- she REALLY is getting so so pretty.  I think she looks like a Parker though….?  hahaha  I think Kye looks exactly like you.  

  6. Ashley Troutman
    July 11, 2012 / 8:13 pm

    Thanks for the shout-out:)  Britt has always been so pretty.  I mean, she was from day 1!  I dread having to wean the paci from Preston, so it's nice you don't have to worry about that with her.  I did have a student in Pre-K last year sucked on her two fingers like that though.  She had buck teeth, but that might have been her genetics…who knows! 

  7. P. and R. Aaron
    July 13, 2012 / 3:29 am

    She is so adorable!

  8. Tania D
    July 10, 2013 / 9:12 pm

    I know this post is old but your little girl is so cute! I too have a girl (21m) and boy (6.5 m) and it's tough having them both in diapers, our toddler is somewhat potty trained but that's more work than just having her in diapers! I love how you want to have lots of babies, we feel the same way. I actually want to have more even more now that I have two :o) I always have baby fever but we are hoping to space them out a little more next time around!!!

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