10 months is here already. It totally hit me this past weekend that I need to start planning Bradley’s 1st birthday party. To be honest, I don’t want to think about it or plan it. How can we already be close to his 1st birthday? I swear the second time around things go 10x faster. I barely have time to do laundry and pick up toys and now I have to plan his birthday party. Anybody out there want to plan this for me??

It’s so funny how much easier it was to get things done with just one kid. I had way more time. When it’s just me at home with the kids, I’m outnumbered and I feel like I’m playing defense alllll the time.

Back to the party.. I’m pretty sure I will throw together a good birthday party but it’s not going to Pinterest worthy or anything of that sort. As long as friends and family are there we can make it a good time, right?

Well anyways, this past month was a blur. It went by so fast and I think it’s because Bradley is moving quickly these days. He’s not walking but he’s crawling so fast he might as well be walking. He has the best army crawl I’ve ever seen and he alternates between the knee crawl and army crawl.  I think he’s actually faster with the army crawl. I might need to incorporate that exercise move into boot camp this week

BRADLEY’S 10 MONTH UDPATE

Weighs 25.5 pounds

Length He was 31.5 inches at 9 months I won’t find out his length until his next appointment!

Bradley is currently in 18 month clothing and we dress him in some 24 month stuff although it’s a little loose it seems more comfortable then some of the tighter clothes he has. His wrists and ankles are pretty thick right now!!! haha

I know I have mentioned a million times that we have a happy baby on our hands, but it’s true. Through tough teething days/nights and ear infections, Bradley is a trooper. This past month brought another ear infection That meant lack of sleep for this lady and a couple rough nights. I hope these end soon. He can’t afford another ear infection, and I really don’t want him to get tubes in his ears!!!!

Besides that rough patch we had loads of fun watching Bradley strut his stuff as he climbs the stairs and pulls himself up on tables, chairs, couches, people, basically anything he can grab he will climb. This phase went by a lot faster with Ava because she was already walking at this age so I’m trying to enjoy it. I really can’t imagine chasing after 2 walking/running kids. HELP!

Part of the reason I work out is to keep up with these 2 kids but I swear they tire me out more then any class I teach!

EAT

Bradley’s a machine when it comes to eating. Any time of day you can hand him something and he will eat it. There’s no food he won’t devour right now and I love it because Ava is so not into food right now. At least I have one kid that will sit and eat.

Bradley loves cheese, avocado, eggs, turkey, meat, meatloaf, dad’s grilled chicken, bread, potatoes, bananas, all the fruit, all the veggies, pasta, mac and cheese, oatmeal, cheerios, yogurt, oh and did I mention cheese ALL the cheese please! We also tried peanut butter this last month and it was a success. He’s definitely mama’s boy, I never go a day without peanut butter!

SLEEP

We go through phases with sleep. We will get a couple weeks of good sleep and then there will be teething or he’s sick and it will be rough. I mean it’s still ok, but it could be better and then again it could be worse. We had a little sleep regression after our trip to Rhode Island. He started taking 3 naps again. We would put him down for what we thought was bed for the night and he would wake up after 30-40 minutes ready to party again. Every once and a while that’s cool but not every night, I need a little break here and there!

In all seriousness though sleep has been fine. Bradley is usually asleep between around 6:30-7pm and sleeps until 6am. We did have some 4am and 5am wake ups this past week but I think he had a growth spurt because he was eating non stop.

Bradley naps twice a day. The morning nap is around 9:30 and is sometimes 45 minutes and sometimes an hour and a half. His second nap is about the same length but usually on the shorter side. As long as he sleeps good at night I don’t really care about the naps.

PLAY

Playtime these days involves a lot of me pulling Bradley off of things, like hanging from cabinets and stairs. I’m all for teaching him how to do things and I encourage climbing and exploring as long as I’m there to help.

This picture makes me so happy because Bradley LOVES Cooper and was snuggling him in this picture. Cooper is also the best for letting Bradley pull his fur out!

Ava has been the BEST helper this past month. She has learned to stand behind him if he pulls himself up on something or if he knocks over the gate at the bottom stair she calls for me to let me know.  I have tried giving her more responsibility so that she feels extra important and let her know she’s the best helper.

Bradley loves playing with Ava and basically wants to touch and take everything she’s playing with. This has tested my patience and Ava’s as well. She’s learned to give him a different toy when he reaches for hers or sometimes I ask her to give it to him and find something else to play with. She’s pretty good at sharing and I’m thankful for that. I think she learned from Cooper always taking her stuff when she was little

BRADLEY LOVES

• saying hi and waving like a mad man. It doesn’t exactly look pretty yet but he’s getting it
• Clapping his hands
• Patty cake
• being sung to or listening to music
• playing with Ava and being near her at all times
• food
• being outside
• walking his dog
• PEEK-A-BOO it’s his favorite and he does it by himself now
• Climbing anything

BRADLEY DISLIKES

• being put down when he has to burp
• when you leave the room
• the vacuum and blender. I use the blender every single day so he’s getting used to it! The vacuum on the other hand… I can stop using that right?
• being held unless he’s tired or not feeling well. He wants to be on the go.
• when someone doesn’t share their food

 

I’m so curious to see when Bradley will take his first steps, I know it will be soon but his personality is a little different then Ava’s. She was a go-getter and still is. She always strives to do more, jump higher, and be the best. She doesn’t like when she fails at something and we are trying to teach her that it’s ok to fail because you learn to do it right the next time. Bradley on the other hand is more laid back. He still wants to learn and do things but he’s not in a rush. I love seeing their differences and sitting back to watch them play is the best. I caught myself telling Ava not to do something to Bradley this past week but it was making Bradley laugh so I backed off. The 2 of them giggled back and forth for about 5 minutes and I couldn’t help but laugh myself.  It reminded me that I need to leave the room more because they can play together without me breathing down their backs.

I think in today’s world we are so fearful of letting our kids do anything alone. Even leaving the room to pee or shower feels like you are doing something wrong. When I grew up we played outside until our Mom called us in. I got dirty, I got bumps and bruises but I got fresh air and played with friends. Today if you let your kids play outside alone you will get in trouble or something bad could happen. That doesn’t seem right?? Any other moms out there feel the same way?

I know there are a lot of rambles in this post, it’s a sign that I need to blog more. I SOO miss it but I SOO don’t have a second to breathe these days. Thank you all for reading… if you are still out there