Monday, March 11, 2013

Happy Half Birthday!

Today my baby boy is 6 months old! It is definitely a bittersweet feeling watching your last baby grow. Time seems to go by so much faster and it seems so odd sometimes that I will never have a newborn again! Though it's also nice to know that I might actually get some sleep soon. :)

Here's a look back at Phoenix's first 6 months!



After being a stubborn boy, you decided to make your appearance 3 days after your due date! But Mr. Nix, when you decided it was time, you REALLY decided it was TIME! You arrived on 9/11/13 at 10:00am only 10 short minutes after Mommy got to the hospital. It happened so fast that Daddy missed your birth and Mommy didn't even know if you were a boy or a girl until a few minutes after you were born. You were born in the caul with the amniotic sac completely intact. The nurses said that makes you a lucky baby! You were much smaller than we expected at exactly 8oz and 20.5 inches. Newborn clothes fit you perfectly!



At 1 month old you were sleeping about 3-4 hours at a time before waking up to nurse. You were such a good baby and rarely cried. You didn't react much to noise most likely because your siblings were always so loud! You loved to sleep in your swing. Your big sisters and brother adored you! All they wanted to do was hold you. Noah would get so upset if we took you from him. You had already moved on to 0-3 month clothes! You grew very quickly! You smiled for the first time this month!



At 2 months you were still waking Mommy up at night. :) You started being awake more and watching everything going on around you. You were exclusively breast fed and kept on growing! You moved on to 3-6 months clothes by 2.5 months. At your 2 month well child visit, Mommy pointed out the flat spot on the back left of your head to your doctor. He diagnosed you with Plagiocephaly and order Physical Therapy for neck exercises and positioning. We went for about 4 visits before you got sick. It worked to loosen your muscles.


At 3 months you developed quite the personality. This was a rare smile. You are always so serious! Right before Christmas you got sick. On Christmas Day, Mommy and Daddy were really worried about your breathing and Nana and Mommy took you to the hospital. You ended up having RSV and staying in the hospital for 4 days. Mommy never left your side. Afterwards you were so much better. It was very scary to see the difference and realize how sick you had been. 3 months later and you still have a cough. It looks like you will be following in your big sister's footsteps with asthma.


At your 4 months well child visit, the doctor decided that the PT had resolved the neck tightness but the plagio hadn't resolved itself. So we went to Cranial Tech to be evaluated for a Doc-band. They determined that you had moderate Plagiocephaly (flattening) and moderate-severe Brachiocephaly (widening). You were fitted for a your band at 4.5 months. At this point you could roll over to your side. Your sister, Avery, swears she saw you roll all the way over but Mommy thinks she helped you a bit. You were almost 19lbs at 4 months and had moved on to 6-9 month clothes!



At 5 month you had a lot of changes! You started really teething and didn't sleep as well. You woke up 2-3 times a night to eat (which was hard on Momma!!). You could roll over at this point but even at 6 months you still rarely do. Sometime Momma thinks your band gets in the way. You started wearing your Doc-band just after you turned 5 months old. You wear it 23 hours a day and it's already showing a lot of improvement. You don't seem to mind it too much except when you're really tired. Momma started giving you some first foods (both homemade and store bought) and you do ok. You liked everything except carrots. You got the flu and didn't want to eat anything so you haven't had many kinds yet. Not that you need it! You're a big boy at over 20lbs already! You're wearing a mix of 6-9 month and 12 month clothes.



Happy 6 Month Birthday, Nix! We are so thankful and blessed to have you in our lives. Momma and Daddy love you, Always and Forever. :)

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Menu Plan Monday-ish~ 3/5/13


Ok so it's Menu Plan Tuesday...My days kind of run together around here. :) But technically the menu was done on Friday so I'm ahead of the game right?

I decided to revamp our eating this week. I've fallen off the WW wagon, the kids are eating the same things (crappy junk too!) over and over when I'm working and our 2 year old eats nothing but carbs. So I made a list of breakfast, lunches and snacks to go with the dinner plan and am really focusing on getting everyone eating healthier. I also picked some new things for Crockpot meals on the nights our babysitter is here. Go figure the boys are sick today so I'm not working but the Crockpot meal will really help make it easier with sickos!

Most of our grocery trips lately have consisted of a TON of processed, prepackaged junk lately. This week I spent a huge portion on produce. I'm eating salads again, Noah's actually eating some fruit and veggies for once (Not letting him snack on carbs all day makes him hungrier at meals and more willing to try. Who would've thought? Duh.) and I've even been making green smoothies for the kids with spinach in them! Those were a HUGE hit with all 3 big kids. They want them every morning for breakfast with different fruits each time.

Breakfasts: Smoothies, cereal (I'm making this less frequent...), whole wheat bagels with cream cheese, scrambled eggs with turkey sausage, oatmeal, egg white burritos (for me)

Lunches: "Lunchables" (Turkey, Crackers and String Cheese), PB & J, Leftovers, Mini burgers (Smart Ones...I'm ok will Noah having half of once since it's the only meat I've gotten him to eat this week!), Turkey or Tuna Sandwiches, English Muffin Pizzas (All with fruit and veggies.)

Snacks: Crackers/Cheese, Fruit, Carrots/Dip, Raisins, "Squeezie" baby food pouches for Noah (These are so expensive but at least I know he is getting some fruit/veg every day!), rice cakes

Dinners:

Sunday 3/3: Salmon, Mashed Potatoes, Broccoli (First time making salmon at home. I was at work but Jason made it and the girls LOVED it! I'm going to start picking different kinds of fish for the weekends instead of Tilapia all the time.)

Monday 3/4- Turkey Tacos, Salad

Tuesday 3/5: Sitter Night (Until kids got sick!): Homemade Spaghetti and Turkey Meatballs, Salad (This is one of my favorite changes we've made over the past year or so. It is SO easy to use crushed tomatoes/tomato sauce and add all the spices instead of buying Prego. It tastes way better too. I'm hoping to buy a tomato plant and can my own. Scratch made meatballs taste so much better too!)

Wednesday 3/5: Laughing Cow Chicken Cordon Bleu, Rice, Green Beans

Thursday 3/6: Sitter Night: Breakfast for Dinner: Egg, Waffles, Turkey Sausage

Friday 3/7: Sitter Night: Crockpot BBQ Chicken, Rice, Corn

I'm looking for more kid-friendly, healthy, Crockpot meals for the nights I work. Feel free to post your faves in the comments!

Head over to OrgJunkie for more menu plans!