Where no finger has gone before

I'm realizing that as a mother, I stick my fingers into more places than I ever have in my life.  Nostrils, mouths, ears, through hair, between toes, you name it.  Well, today I ventured into Levi's mouth and what did I feel?  Teeth!  Two little ones poking through on the bottom.  He doesn't seem to be bothered by them.  He normally drools, but the faucet has been turned on full blast it seems. 

He ripped a toy off of his play mat last week and he sat and chewed on it today for at least ten minutes, so apparently it feels good on his gums.

Levi is so ready to move!  He stands very well when we are propping him up, so his lower body strength is great.  He's still so frustrated with tummy time and now trying to do a 'tripod' sit, where his legs are bent and he tries to hold himself up by his hands.  He tips forward quite a bit.  He's very content to lean back where I'm holding him so that he can look around. 
He likes his jumper because that's pseudo-standing, but I think he still gets frustrated in there since he can't move.  (We're going to have our hands full with this little guy.)

I tell him, "honey, you have to practice this so that you can crawl and stand up."  I don't think it's sinking in. lol

Naked and unashamed

Since the weather has been warmer around here the past few days Levi has had a chance to 'flap in the breeze,' as Tim calls it.

He looks like such a little boy in these pictures.
A friend of mine had a baby on Tuesday.  I looked at her pictures I wondered if it was too early for me to miss Levi being that age.  I absolutely love him now, discovering more things and being so expressive.  But I remember those early days, too.
I just started reading The Second Nine Months by Vicki Glembocki.  Summary: One woman tells the real truth about becoming a mom.  Finally.  What I've read so far is hilarious.  Her daughter, Blair, was born jaundiced and had extra doctor's visits at first.  In response to her description of how nursing is going, the doctor says, "Hmmmm."  Her response: "I envision what Dr. Weidner is writing in that manila folder of his: Mother inadequate.  Bad boobs."
That made me laugh right out loud.  Quite a bit of what she says is spot on with some humor added in.  Which is necessary for motherhood survival.  I've found that if I don't laugh, I'll cry.  Thankfully Levi's big smiles and funny antics keep me laughing.

12: my new favorite number

Levi has been a great sleeper lately and has gone about 12 hours getting up only once to eat.  A few nights ago he went down at 5:15 for a 'nap.'  But it ended up being his bed time and he slept until almost 7am the next morning.  Wowzers!  That happens, though, when you don't hardly nap during the day.

Quality time with Dad

"I'm king of the world!"

Lovin' the football

I'm so afraid that when he goes to bed at 7:00 he'll be up for the day at 5am.  But it's been longer than that, thankfully.  He's been kind of erratic in eating and of course I get worried and google 'low milk production,' etc.  I'm always fine.  He's having normal diaper changes and acting the same, but of course I still worry.
A new realization that I've had is that reading parenting books can be a very bad thing sometimes.  Right now I'm feeding/sleeping, etc. on demand.  And it's working just fine.  We have a little bit of a routine: bed time/bath, morning nap.  But other than that I just do what Levi wants to do.  Well, within reason.  But then I read a book that says I need to have him on a set schedule because that will help me figure out more easily what he needs or why he's upset.  Also because babies need to have a routine.  Well, I'm sorry, but I'm not going to wake up him at 7am if he's not already up just to start a set schedule.  I mean, what real-life mother purposefully wakes up her sleeping baby unless there's an important reason?  And what if he's not ready to eat when the schedule says he should be?  Anyways, I've decided I'm going to be very picky about what I read from now on.  Not that the book doesn't have some good points, but I didn't want to wade through the bad and guilt-inducing ones just to find them.  I love 'What to Expect: the First Year.'  Mostly because it offers 95% information and 5% opinion, which includes the disclaimer that all babies are different and the book should just be a guideline.
Now eventually I do want to have a routine for him.  But I'd rather let it develop around his needs than my own anality.  Is that a word?  Well, I do have a tendancy to be that way, but Levi is definitely mellowing me out.  I'm so thankful that I can be at home with him and have the opportunity to have this lifestyle.
Kind of along those same lines, I've decided not to push solids right now.  Yes, I've read that it's better to wait and start closer to, if not at 6 months for a variety of legit reasons and they seem logical to me.  In all honesty, though, I love nursing him and don't want to let anything interfere with that yet.  I know that even when he starts, breastmilk will still be his primary source of nutrition, but I'm afraid that my milk supply will go down too quickly.  I really want to nurse him as long as I can and hopefully until he's 12 months old.  I guess part of it is that I don't want to have to supplement with formula.  Why do I have such an aversion to that all of a sudden?  Weird.
Yesterday was our second time in the nursery at church and Sunday school went fine.  He slept for most of the time, so...  I went in to feed him before the service and there were a couple other little kids in there.  He was so distracted while nursing and started to cry when another baby was crying.  He's just not used to that extra activity.  So I stayed with him during the service.  He was very clingy.  And then, stupid mommy, I took him down to the lobby to find Tim and that was WAY too much stimulation for him.  It was a bit of a rough morning.
Well, he's been down for over two hours now, so I better post one last picture.

Mommy and her little man

Bang!

Levi has decided he wants to start off his fifth month with a bang!  That sentence really isn't that extraordinary, but it just feels wrong to put a period next to bang!
He was a big boy last Sunday and spent Sunday school and the church service in the nursery.  He's just a little too active now for me to keep him with me.  They have a bouncer there, so I'm sure he had fun.  I went in to check on him after Sunday school and he was dozing off.  He slept for about an hour, I guess, and they buzzed me near the end of the service because he was hungry.  I told Tim that it was weird not having him in Sunday school and it kinda felt like it 'used to be' with just us.  I was so glad to see him afterwards.
I realized that there will be 6 new babies in the span of a year at our church.  Four boys and two girls.
Grandma and grandpa came for a quick visit Sunday afternoon.

And brought this for Levi.  As I said on Facebook: cuteness of this magnitude can't be put into words.
His four-month check up went super well.  The doctor was happy with everything she saw and that I reported to her.  He weighs 13 lbs. 15 oz. (28%) and is 25.5 inches long (70%).  I think he might be kind of tall.  Levi did ok with his shots.  They were the second round of his two-month appointment.  The second one was the bad one, but as soon as I picked him up he calmed down.  The doctor also asked me if he was still taking just breastmilk.  I said yes and asked if I should be concerned about starting solids if he's content with nursing.  Apparently it's important to start earlier because babies need more iron at this age and breastmilk doesn't provide that much. 
So we're going to break into things gradually. 
Step #1:

Spoon!

I've read (and think it's a good idea) that you introduce things gradually so that there's not a shock all at one time.  I found a really good high chair that can be attached to a regular dining room chair and that can go all the way up to a booster seat.  Once we get that I'll give him some opportunities to sit in it.  I think he'll do fine with everything.  He likes to watch me eat when I'm holding him at dinner and that's a good sign.
Not much more to report since I actually am somewhat up-to-date on this.  I'll end with a cute video that I took the other day. (I'm having problems uploading it, so I apologize if it doesn't work.)

Four months!

Happy Four Months, big boy!

Yesterday marked four months since this cute little guy made us a family.  When I look back at each month's picture it just amazes me how much he has grown and how much more of a little person he is now.  I was just telling Tim last night that as I go back and look at those pictures I see them differently now.  I can put his personality traits into the pictures, which kinda changes them for me.
We head to the doctor on Monday.  More shots. :-(  We had to make a special appointment a couple weeks ago because he was dealing with croup and started wheezing a little bit.  He weighed 13lb. 10 oz. then.  I won't be surprised if he's pretty close to 14 on Monday.
Thankfully, the croup doesn't seem to bother him at all.  The doctor said that the cough would linger and she gave him a short dose of steroids to help open up his windpipes.  I'm not sure if it did anything.  He sounded the same to me afterwards. 

Tired out from WalMart

We've had our first trips to the grocery store and to WalMart.  Both riding in his papoose.  He absolutely loves it.  We think he just likes to be up with the big people and look around.  No laying back in the car seat for this little guy.  And, of course, people always comment on his cuteness.  I just keep checking that his shoes haven't fallen off.  Ah, yes.  And then today we had our first 'this diaper is so bad he needs a bath' experience.  Thankfully Tim was home and could make it a joint effort.

Levi took his first stroller ride as a big boy.  Mommy didn't think ahead and unfortunately the sun was in his eyes for half of our walk.

I think this is such a great picture of him.

He loves the jumper a little bit more now, I think because he's getting bigger.  We put a big blanket underneath since he was knocking over the pile of books.  Daddy just put batteries in it today while mommy was at the store.  I hope we like the songs.

Still loving bath time

We've started a bedtime routine and try to do it every night.  Sometimes Levi will fall asleep drinking his bottle and it kinda goes out the window.  But the majority of the time it works. 
1. Bath and/or put on pjs
2. Bottle from daddy
If he's still awake:
3. Read a story with mommy and daddy
4. Give daddy a kiss goodnight
5. Cozy time with mommy
On the nights when he falls asleep drinking his bottle (which are few) I miss having that cozy time with him.  Good sign.

A lesson we're working on is: If you don't want to be on your tummy, don't roll over.  Levi has yet to make that connection.  I try and get down on the floor to help him keep rolling to his back again-which I know he can do-but we're not quite there yet.

Whew, that's hard work!

Naps are becoming somewhat more regular.  He goes down for about an hour/hour and a half in the morning -the regular part.  The rest of the day is a little unpredictable.  For the past couple days he has been taking shorter naps more frequently.  But sometimes he'll take a two and a half hour one in the afternoon.  I try to make sure he has at least a couple so that he's not a major crankpot when Tim gets home.  He goes to bed anywhere between 7:00 and 8:00.  Nighttime is ok, with just one feeding.  Normally.  It makes me feel a little better having to get up at night when he gives me a huge smile when I go in to get him.  So, so cute.

He is a big Bumbo fan.  We have a wide kitchen counter/table-like thingy, so I have some room to set him up there.  He loves to watch me do whatever, which is great, since I can get a lot more done that way.  Of course, I babble on and talk to him like a crazy person, but he doesn't care and I know that every bit of language and learning helps.

Levi continues to love his feet.  It's amazing how flexible he is.  He pretty much folds himself in half trying to get his feet in his mouth.

Mom, I'm not ready to get up yet.

Tim caught this awesome picture last night.
My hair doesn't look the best but Levi is super cute!

It's so exciting to see him discover new things and become more interactive.  I'm so thankful that I can stay at home with him every day.  That's not to say that I don't look forward to nap time, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Giggles