Durham is Six Months Old!

Six months old on August 5th, 2011

Our little man loves to sing as he is falling asleep.  He hums and coos until he finally goes limp and passes out on your shoulder.  It's just the sweetest thing.

He's been drooling, chewing on his fingers, and generally grumpy at night all month.  We're hoping for teeth soon!  

He can really roll and slither in a circle now.  He's becoming more and more interested in reaching and obtaining toys by himself.  He can use the roll and slither technique to move 2-3 feet, but still isn't crawling.  He can pick up his whole chest off the ground, but doesn't get on his knees yet.   

He is still uninterested in holding his bottle.  We have to clamp his hands on it every feeding, but he fights us.  He wants us to hold it so he can lay back in comfort.  

He throws up and spits up quite a bit.  We go through multiple changes of clothes for both him and us throughout the day.  

It was so hot this month, we decided just to keep him in a diaper some days.  This helped with the spit-up-related laundry situation.  

Eats solid food three times a day at normal meal times.  He eats all stage two foods and will have about 28 oz. of formula throughout the day in 4 or 6 oz bottles.  

He goes to sleep around 8:30pm every night.  He needs a bottle and rocking to fall asleep.  Sometimes he has to cry himself to sleep when he wakes up soon after realizing that he isn't being held.  He sleeps mostly on his stomach now.  

He still takes three naps a day, but the evening nap is getting shorter.  

Most of the month he woke up between 4-6 am for a bottle.  

He's started practicing picking up Gerber puffs.  He doesn't yet use the pincer technique, but slaps at them with a drooly hand.  They stick to his wet fingers.  He then looks at them wondering what to do next.  He doesn't quite understand that they are food yet.  

His favorite activities are being held, jumping in his bouncer, going for stroller rides, and being held.  By Mama.  He's quite attached to his Mama.  (And vice-versa!)

He is in size 3 diapers, 9-18 month clothing, and weighs 19 lbs, 12 oz.  He's a big boy!  

July 2011

Look as cute as you can!  What?  That's the look I get?

First taste of ice cream with Aunt Chris.  Superman flavor.
He wasn't thrilled with the coldness of it.  

Finished up dance class.  

First year for letting her eat ice cream in cones.  Only on bath nights.  

It was a blazingly hot July.  We used the sprinkler in the back yard on days
we felt adventurous enough to go outside in the heat.  

"It's COLD!"

Durham loves jumping.  He can really get some air now.  

Ainsley likes to pick on play with her brother!  

Lots of drooling.  Hoping for teeth soon.

She likes to sit in her brother's swing.  

He likes it too!  

Ready to eat supper!  

Our failed attempt at camping in the back yard.  

She loves to dress up.  Every day.  

Another day with the sprinkler.  

We lost her favorite buddy, Nixon, for a few days.
Luckily, Great Grandma bought her a new buddy.  

He loves sleeping on his stomach now.
Lay him on his back and he immediately rolls to his stomach.  

No sign of colic anymore!!  

He loves to stick his tongue out and pull on his ears and feet.  

Out little stinker.  

July 3rd - Went to the fireworks in Bay Harbor with Mom's friend Stefanie and her family.  Durham was very grumpy, but fell asleep and slept through the booms.  
July 4th - We drove back from Petoskey.  Mama, Ainsley, Grammy and Papa go to the Saginaw Fireworks. Durham and Daddy go home to watch baseball.
July 5th - Durham is 5 months old.
July 7th - Durham rolls from his tummy to his back.  
July 8th-9th - We go to Midland to watch Daddy play softball.  
July 10th - Durham's first taste of ice cream at Pompeii's in Reese.  Superman, yum!
July 11th - Durham stayed with Grammy and Papa while Ainsley and Mama went to swim class.  They were both great!  
July 13th - Kennedy and Jordynn come over.  We all went to swim class.  We also had an evening playdate with Jamie and Connor and Erin and Eli (kinda!)
July 14th - First taste of bananas.  
July 15th - Family party at the Storm's house.  Mama and Ryan plan the games.  
July 16-17 - Mama, Ainsley, and Durham hide inside because it is just plain TOO HOT to go anywhere.
July 18th - Daddy, Durham, and Ainsley go to swim class.  Family grocery shopping wasn't too fun.
July 19th - We go swimming at Faythe's house.  Durham loves to splash.  Ainsley loves playing with Faythe and Delaney.  
July 20th - Sprinkler play in the backyard.
July 21st - Ainsley goes to see her first movie - Winnie the Pooh - with Mama and Daddy.  She does well.  Durham stays home with Grammy, Drew, and Bryce.
July 24th - We all go to a concert in the park.
July 25th - Ainsley, Mama, and Durham go to watch Daddy's game.  We spend most of the time walking by the river and playing on the swings.  
July 26th - Durham's first trip to the zoo.  We go to the Saginaw Children's Zoo with Grammy.  Ainsley loved it!  
July 29th - We finish the library's reading program.  Ainsley wins a putt-putt certificate.  
July 30th - Went to visit with Stefanie and her daughters again.  Ainsley loves to swim with them.  
July 31st - We go to the Roberts Family Reunion in Caseville.  Ainsley and Durham play with cousins in the water.  Durham wins the youngest award.  Afterward, we go to Reese for dinner with Grammy and Papa.  

Reading Rainbow Summer

I have such lofty goals the first week of summer.  There's a long list of updates to the inside and outside of the house.  There's the yard work we put off all spring waiting for our vacation.  There's the cleaning we do only once a year.  Then there's the plans I make for entertaining my children and sculpting them into academic, polite, contributing members of society.  

All of this was put on hold for the first week of vacation.  We decided just to get into our pajamas and veg all week.  Who wants to work on the first week of vacation?  Not us.

By the time we got to week two, we were all set to begin bettering our house, lives, and children.  I decided we'd go to the library once a week with the kids.  And we wouldn't just drive to the library...no, we were going to walk to the library.  Exercise for our bodies and mind.  

Ready to rock this town like it's never been rocked before.

So we began our ritual of walking (sometimes driving when we were just too busy vacationing to have time to walk) to the library once a week.  The first week we went, we discovered the summer reading program.  They already had a milk crate out in the children's wing with names of local children who were about to embark on this reading adventure.  

Wait.  It was sitting out for everyone to see and look through?  I'll just take a little peek-see into the crate to see who is already signed up.  Whoa?!  Little Suzy from down the street is doing this?  Little Davy, too?  They're Ainsley's age!  I better sign this girl up quick so A) other spying parents see her name and B) she doesn't get left in the dust by these other over-achieving two-year-olds.

What?  There are books here?

She was signed up immediately.  We had one month to read 50 books.  This wasn't going to be difficult.  We read a good five books a day in our house, so 50 in a month?  Seriously.  Challenge us, Wiskson.  Puh-lease.  

We checked out six books that very day, went home, and read them all before nightfall.  Watch out, Suzy and Davy.  We got you! 

Let me back up a smidge.  "We checked out six books that very day" makes it seem like the process went smoothly with Ainsley on board for this venture.  It wasn't that easy at the library.  She was entirely disinterested in any books in the place.  The children's wing is filled with toys.  She thinks that libraries are like toy stores.  They happen to contain books that she completely ignores.  She refused to participate in the choosing of any of these books.  She threw a tantrum every time we left the library all summer.  There wasn't a time we left without tears.  Tears for the hours of fun she lost because of her evil Mom and Dad taking her away from the library toys.  Oy.  Promises of McDonald's Playplace and chicken nuggets in exchange for proper behavior when leaving didn't work.  Ever.  Oy.  Oy.  

She had no idea what this was about, but insisted upon playing with it.

We kept up with the program and visited the library every week.  I didn't want to brag about my child's reading, so I would only count the books she read that were checked out from the library, instead of any books we read that we owned.  Because of this, it did take us all month to finish the 50 book minimum.  

Her favorite three books all summer were :

Princess Baby by Karen Katz

I Will Never Ever Eat a Tomato by Lauren Child

This book was especially popular because of the skunk lurking in our neighbor's yard for nearly a week.

Skunkdog by Emily Jenkins.

By the end of the month, we had read 50 books.  Ainsley won little prizes like bubbles and finger puppets.  In the end, she won a gift certificate to play putt-putt golf at the Bavarian Inn Lodge.  (A WHOLE nother story about trying to teach a two-year old to play putt-putt.  Note to Wickson:  the two year old age group should have a much different final prize.)  

Her name on the wall when she finished. 

There were other events all summer, including magicians, movies, and crafts, but Ainsley ONLY wanted to play with the library's toys.  Maybe next summer!  

Bay County Fair

We went to the Bay County Fair on August 13th, 2011.  My mother-in-law works for Bay Medical Center and gets discounts for the rides on that day.  She graciously gave the discounted tickets to Caitlyn, Kyle, and Ainsley.  


Chris and I packed up the kids and headed out just before noon.  We got our ride bracelets and set out choosing the rides.  Caitlyn and Kyle were so nice about letting Ainsley lead the way.  They went on all the rides with her and helped her the whole afternoon. 


Here are a few pics from our afternoon together.   

Just before heading out.  

Riding the slide with Caitlyn.

First time in a large bouncy house.

"Um, the bouncy house is closing now.  You HAVE to come out."

Feeding the goats with Aunt Chris.

Two-day old goat.  

Petting the bunnies with Caitlyn and Kyle.  

"I do it by MYSELF."  

Riding Jake the pony.

This was the look for most of the rides.
Not happy.  Not excited.  Just tolerating the fun.  

Helicopters with Kyle.  

Peek!  

Milkshakes are cleaner than ice cream cones.  

Checking out all the horses with Caitlyn.  

The funny thing was:  Ainsley kept calling Caitlyn and Kyle "that girl" and "that boy".  She prays for them nearly every night.  She's in love with playing with Caitlyn every time we see her at Grandma's house.  But she was so shy today, she just couldn't bring herself to say their names.  My odd little duck.  

Durham's Name

Once we knew we were expecting another baby, I made it clear to Tim that I would be choosing the name this go-round.  He had won out on Ainsley's name.  It was my turn to win.

As my pregnancy progressed closer and closer to the 20 week ultrasound that would identify the sex, I became more and more convinced that we were having another girl.  I thought about using the name I had liked for Ainsley, but it just didn't spark my interest much anymore.  (That name was Emerson.)  Instead, I had my heart set on Audrey.  As in classic beauty.  As in "Ainsley and Audrey, sisters and best friends".

I was utterly convinced that we would be having another girl.  Tim wasn't a fan of the name Audrey, but it didn't matter.  I would be winning.  I started to feel a little sorry for the guy.  This was his kid too.  So I struck a deal.  (Me and my deals!)  If it was a boy (which I was certain it wouldn't be) I would still be choosing the name, but I would chose from a baseball-themed list.  This seemed to pacify Tim.

We went to the ultrasound in early October.  Our ultrasound technician was a student who was just learning how to use the machinery under the tutelage of the regular lady.  This was a slight concern for me, not so much because of determining the sex, but because she would be checking all my child's major organs for possible problems.  Should we give this job to someone new?  I agreed to let her do my ultrasound anyway.  Everyone's got to start somewhere.  The other ultrasound lady would be standing right over her shoulder helping, right?

We got started, and they decided to find the sex of the baby first.  After just about a minute, she timidly declared that we would be having a boy.  I looked at the face of the experienced ultrasound technician who nodded at us and smiled.

A boy?  Huh.  Tim was smiling.

I went home to begin Internet research.  Baseball names?  I didn't want something that would be too obvious.  Ty for Ty Cobb was out.  I began to read the history of the Detroit Tigers franchise.

Some words that popped up as possible names:  Navin Field.  Bennett  Field, Briggs Stadium.

They all went on my list.  Then I went to a site listing the names of other Major and Minor League ball teams.

After reading through this site, I added names like Brooks, Cooper, Durham, Davis, and Stanky.  The final name was thrown on the list just to see if Tim was really reading it.

The list grew and grew.  Finally, I presented it to Tim.  I told him that I was going to start eliminating names from that list until I had chosen a name.  I just wanted to see if any popped out at him.

He looked at the list for a long time before he said, "Durham?  I like that."

I was excited as this was my favorite name from the list.  And I knew they had made a movie about this particular team, so it is multi-connected to baseball!

As the months went on, Tim changed his mind and began negotiating and rallying for Navin.  It was connected to the Tigers more than Durham was.  I wasn't going to budge though.  Navin had fallen far from the top of my list.  To me, Navin is a girl's name.  I absolutely wouldn't budge.

We mostly didn't talk about the first name for the rest of the pregnancy.

However, we knew right away that his middle name would be Glen.  This is Tim's grandfather's name.  Glen Roberts was the father of Bruce Glenn Roberts, the father of Timothy Glen Roberts.  Don't ask about the different spellings.  The story changes every time I hear it.

We ignored the fact that we didn't really agree on the name right until we were in the prep room waiting to go into the operating room for the c-section.  The doctor asked what the baby's name would be.  I looked at Tim.  Tim looked at me.  I said, "Durham."  And that was that.

Timothy Glen, Durham Glen, and Bruce Glenn Roberts

Ainsley's Name

Many people have asked how we came up with Ainsley's name...so here's the story!

I found a site that contained over 10,000 baby names. Tim and I both went through and made lists of our favorites. Then we shared our lists with each other and slowly went about crossing off names on the other person's list and our own.

We eventually got down to just a few names left on each list. I had a favorite name...he had a favorite name. He was adamant that his favorite should win out.  I was equally determined.

So we made a deal. If she had dark hair, we'd pick my name. If she had light hair or no hair, we'd pick his name.

The first thing the doctor said (before she's even pulled her out!) was "She's got light hair!" I looked at Tim and he smiled.

So, he won. And we have an Ainsley.


As for her middle name, Gail, this is my mother's middle name.  We were already planning on using a Roberts family name for any future children (Glen for a boy, Glenn for a girl, story to follow.)  This would be my chance for putting in a Brechtelsbauer family name.  After thinking about grandparents, great-grandparents and ancestors, I just decided that the best thing to do would be to honor my mother.  It turns out that Ainsley is her only granddaughter [at the time], so it fits that they both have the same middle name.  

Dad and his Ainsley.

Cheryl Gail and Ainsley Gail.

Parties, Parties, Parties...

The month of July was filled with lots of get-togethers.  One of which was the annual Roberts Family Reunion.  For the past few years, the event has taken place in Caseville at the park along the beach.  When we got there, a few former students/Tim's relatives graciously offered to help take care of the kids, even going so far as to take them swimming for us.  

Ainsley was enamored by these college girls.  She couldn't wait for everyone to finish eating so she could go swimming with them.  The girls took both Ainsley and Durham into the water for a good 45 minutes to an hour.  Durham floated with them as Ainsley cavorted, splashed, and instructed everyone in the proper way to water a flower.  

It was such a hot day, the cool water felt great.  

Durham was hanging out with the college girls all afternoon.  

She loves the beach!

Later, the raffle for prizes commenced.  There was a bench full of kid's toys and another bench filled with adult gifts.  Once Ainsley's name was drawn, she marched proudly to the bench to scrutinize the offerings.  I suggested a notebook and pen.  Maybe some crayons?  What about a bouncy ball?  No.  She chose the glasses you see below.   

Really?    

 Later, Durham won the "Youngest Attendee" award.  We've pulled in this particular award for three years running!  

Sleepy, but willing herself to stay awake for the ride home.

Another get-together from July was one with my friend Stefanie and her daughters.  Stef lives pretty far away, so we aren't able to get together too often.  It's so fun when we do, as our daughters enjoy playing with one another.  

Peeking through their amazing doll house.  

They loved the hot tub!  

Playing around with her friends.  

Stef's daughters also loved to give Durham some attention.  

If you pull me...

...I'll pull you.

It's been quite a busy summer.  So thankful for our great friends and family!