Graduation and Birthday

Well I did it! I am finally done with college, for now. I can't help but feel that I will end up back in college someday but I really hope this is it. I guess I feel this way because I have basically been a college student since I graduated high school 10 years ago! I originally started out at Jeff State in 2000 with all intentions of transferring to the University of South Alabama and majoring in Biomedical Sciences with hopes of becoming a doctor. Well, I was young and stupid and listened to one of my biology professors and changed my mind. He kept talking about how much school it would be and how much money it would cost and since I was only 18, I couldnt see myself being in college for 10+ years. Well, I shouldn't have listened, because I ended up spending that long in college anyway. So after he talked me out of medicine, I thought I would try nursing since it was still in the medical profession and wasn't as much school. I really wanted to be a NICU nurse, but Jeff State's nursing program is ridiculous to get into. Almost 9 years ago, you had to pass a nursing entrance exam in order to get into their program. My test was on September 11, 2001 and was happening while our country was being attacked. I remember getting out of that test thinking I did great but then was so mad when I got in the car and no music was on so I just drove home in silence. But when I got home and turned the tv on, I saw what happened. In the end, I failed the test and I am a bit supersticious so I figured it was a sign that I didn't need to do nursing. The next semester I transferred to Bessemer State and got my "Associates" in Dental Assisting. (yes that is in quotes for a reason). I had followed the school catalog to a T in order to obtain my associates. My last semester I was informed that I would have to take a math class in order to get my associates. Long story short, I got screwed and just graduated with a diploma. So a few years pass and I decide to give nursing a shot again. For some crazy reason, I decided to try Jeff State again. Their qualifications had changed so I knew I had a better shot this time. But guess what, I didn't get in. That school is crazy! Please tell me how a person with all A's and 1 B is not accepted to that program. Oh well, life goes on. I then decided to try Elementary Early Childhood education. I was really excited to get started because I really love working with kids and wanted to have a flexible schedule where I could be off when my children were off of school. I tried to get information from UAB but they wouldn't even talk to about their program unless I paid them an application fee, which I was not going to do. Luckily my friend Megan was enrolled in the Distance Program at the University of Alabama so I started talking with her about it. I decided to do that and get my Bachelors completely online in Early Childhood Education. Well, things didn't go so well while I was pregnant at my job and I really started to question whether or not I wanted to do that for the rest of my life. I decided to change my major over to Human Development and Family Studies. During the Spring semester, I took 4 classes, gave birth, took care of a newborn and still made A's and B's. My final semester, I found out that my advisor had made a mistake and that I would not be able to get my degree in HDFS completely online. I had worked too hard to prolong graduating so I decided to swap to Human Environmental Science just so I could graduate in August. I quit my job, took 5 classes, took care of a new baby and made A's and B's and 1 C. I am so glad to finally be done with that!
My birthday was a few days after graduation, so we decided to invite the Mooneyhan's over to celebrate both since some of them had not had a chance to see Bryson yet. It was nice getting to see family that we have not seen in a while. I wish that I would have taken pictures of that, but I forgot. But here are pictures from graduation.

5 months!

Better late then never right? I have a busy beginning to August so I am just now getting around to posting about Bryson at 5 months. We didn't go to the doctor this month so I do not know his weight and height stats but here are some things he is doing at 5 months.

-Still sleeps through the night (most nights). We do have a rare occasion where he will wake up but its usually before midnight and he will then sleep until 8am or later.
-He is eating cereal like a champ. He gets 1 bowl of rice cereal 1 time a day and is doing great. If he eats his cereal, he usually doesn't take a bottle so I have decided to make his cereal using at least 3 ounces of formula or breastmilk instead of 1. He will then usually finish off the remaining 3 ounces before bed. We have not started baby food yet because the AAP does not recommend starting baby food until 6 months due to the risk of digestive issues, allergies, and the risk of obesity. Babies tummies are not quite mature enough to handle babyfood yet; and when we do start, we will be making our own!
-He still only takes 6 ounces of breastmilk or formula from a bottle, but its beginning to be more formula.
-He never stays on his back. If you put him on the floor on his back, he immediately flips over.
-He sleeps on his belly. I always put him on his back to sleep (which is recommended) but not long after he is asleep, he flips either to his belly or side.
-He still sleeps in our room in his pack n play. We didn't get monitors at our baby showers (even though they were taken off of our registry) so I had originally decided to keep him in our room until we got them. I have now decided to keep him in our room until he is 6 months when the risk of SIDS goes down. He will also sleep in our bed every now and then if he's not sleeping well.
-He is trying to crawl! and has been for over a month. He will get up on all fours and has even taken a few crawling steps but falls right down. He gets so mad and frustrated that he can't do it yet.
-He is now blowing "raspberries" and trying to copy everything we do.
-He loves playing in his exersaucer and napping in his swing.
-His favorite shows are still Baby Einstein and The Backyardigans.
-He is now in cloth diapers full time! and I love it! No more throwing money away on diapers...literally!
-He is in 3 months clothes and 3-6 months, but they are starting to get a little snug. He can wear 6 months clothes but they are a tad bit big, but not big enough to not let him wear them.
-He is starting to recognize familiar faces that he doesn't get to see everyday and he is beginning to interact more with his cousin Will.
-He is constantly chewing on everything. I would think teething but Will did this same thing at this same age and he is just now cutting teeth at 13 months old.

I'm sure that I left something out, but that's all I can think of right now. Hopefully since school is finished, forever!, I can post his monthly updates on his month birthday! Now here are his monthly pictures. Enjoy!

Rice Cereal

At Bryson's 4 month appointment, we got the ok to start rice cereal and baby food. Our pediatrician said that until about 6 months, both the cereal and baby food would just be for practice since babies don't need them for nutritional value until they are 6 months. After doing a lot of research, we decided to go ahead with the cereal but hold off on the baby food until 6 months since that is what is recommended by the AAP. I wanted to go ahead with the cereal so Bryson would know how to eat from a spoon when the time came to give him baby food. Our first few times were a big failure. He kept pushing it out with his tongue and would not swallow it. Some people say that means they are not ready but I don't think it does. I just think it takes some time for them to learn how to eat from a spoon. I was about ready to give up and take a break from it when all of a sudden Bryson decided he liked it! I think it just took some time for him to get used to it and for me to find a consistency that he liked. He now has the cereal once a day, usually at the next to the last bottle of the night. He is a messy eater too! He does good for the first few bites but he'll start sticking his hands in his mouth to suck on and will end up getting the cereal everywhere! It's actually pretty funny! Of course I took pictures since I take pictures of everything! It is so hard to believe that my little man is already eating cereal! Time is going by way to fast. I may just cry when it's time to start baby food.

And here are some messy one's just for fun.

Bryson's 1st 4th!

Better late then never right? I had this typed up a few weeks ago and never got around to adding the pictures until today. Hopefully since I'm finally done with school,  I will be able to keep up with this blog more.
We had a busy 4th of July weekend. On Friday night, we went to the Baron's game for Will's birthday and had a blast! On Sunday, we went over to one of our friend's house to go swimming. Of course we took Bryson and we had a lot of fun. After swimming, we packed up and took Bryson downtown to see the fireworks show. Poor baby was so tired but he really seemed to enjoy the fireworks. On Monday, we went swimming again with our friends Carl and Joanna. Bryson is really becoming a little water baby. He loves the water and has a blast everytime he goes swimming. On Monday night, we had planned to go see a movie and took Bryson over to Lola's house for the night. We had a Rave giftcard so we were excited to get to use it. Of course we got there and didn't see anything we liked so we ended up just going to dinner and going home. We still enjoyed ourselves but it was of course very hard to leave Bryson. I'm hoping that it will eventually get easier to drop him off for the night. Then on Tuesday, we got to go babysit Will for a few hours and went swimming afterwards. Here are some pictures from our fun-filled weekend!