A Ton

So much has happened in the past two weeks with our little, and trying to be big, boy.

First, he hit his Month #2 mark.

Happy 2 months little bubbers!

As you can see, he wants to be more and more of a big boy every day.  Within the past two days he has really improved in his ability to hold his head up.  He's one determined little guy and cries when we make him take a break.  Even though his head is completely drooping forward.

He loves to squeal and squeak now and it makes us laugh.

Sleeping is going a lot better.  He does about 6-7 hours when he first goes down and then is up for a feeding for anywhere between 15-45 minutes and then goes back down for about another 2-3 hours.  I've also discovered in the past two days that he naps a lot better on his tummy.  I put him on the floor next to me and he's out for between 1-2 hours.  It makes my day so much nicer.  And he's more pleasant, too.

We finally fixed our shower drain and so Levi could finally take his first real bath.

He wasn't quite sure what was going on at first.

I think he looks a lot different in this picture because you can't see his hair.

A few weekends ago we had a chance to visit with lots of family.
First, the donor couple, Dave & Kari and their two girls, and the other embryo family, Brooke & Tim and their twin girls and little boy, all came to visit.  Well, we soon realized that our little house was not going to fit 9 extra people.  Especially with Levi's bed time being so early, etc.  Thankfully, our church owns a large house which sits on a property next to the church.  It was perfect for our situation.  If for no other reason than it has a pool.

Dave & his daughter, Mackenzie

Mackenzie and her sister, Madison

Kari and Levi

Brooke & Levi

Brooke and one of her twins, Addison

The Fergusons and Browns after a great visit and great breakfast at IHOP.

The following weekend Levi made his first long car ride to see Tim's family in Maryland.  He did ok in the car, but let's just say that he prefers to be moving more than having to stop.  Mommy sat in the back with him for most of the way.  We think he really likes to be around people and it's kinda lonely back there facing backwards.

Tim's sister's family gave Levi a cute blanket and hat set.  With monkeys, of course.

Levi had to wear his crab outfit in Maryland.  Thankfully that was the only crabby thing that day.

Levi with his cousin, Doris.

There are so many more pictures that we've taken in the past couple of weeks, but this post is long enough, so I'll add them in a separate one.

Nap? What's a nap, mom?

Yes, Levi has recently decided that he is going to forgo his daily naps and instead be fussy.  Poor guy has bags under his red eyes but he still refuses to give in.  Forty-five minutes is our average nap length.  Not a lot of time for mommy to get anything done or take a nap of her own.  I'm guessing it's just a stage, but depending on what happens between now and next Wednesday (next dr's appointment) I'll bring it up to him.  And unfortunately that's a big load of shots appointment, too.  Sad for momma.

He's getting to be such a big boy.  Trying to burp him is an adventure any more since he loves to try and hold his head up.  So far I've managed to avoid getting hit by his bobbing head.
I don't have pictures of it, but he is doing the absolute cutest thing any more.  He'll fuss and act like he wants to nurse.  So I pick him up and I'm holding him so that he can eat, but all he wants to do is look at me and smile.  And it's a big smile, too.  Like this- :-D  So, so cute!  Of course I can't be annoyed when that adorable little face is looking up at me.  I end up laughing and it seems like that makes him smile more, too.

He took his first tummy nap the other day.  He always seems so comfortable laying on our chests and since I could be right there next to him I thought I'd see if he liked it.  He slept for, you guessed it, 45 minutes, but it was a pretty peaceful sleep.  I think he'll like being able to have a different sleep position here in a couple of months.
We're headed to Maryland this weekend for Tim's niece's grad party.  I'm sure we'll have a lot of good pictures when we get back.  I also want to post pictures from our special weekend with the Brown and Kidwell families.  I guess it'll be one big family post.

They're ignoring each other, but I know that there's some love there.

Tricky Tummy Time

I'm trying to do 'tummy time' with Levi every day.  Some days he's ok:

And other days, well, are a little more tricky:

Of course, momma's there all the time watching.  How else would I get these cute pictures?

Finally! But maybe not...

Levi might have, just might have emerged from his 'I have to eat all the time' phase.  But each day is a new adventure and we don't take anything for granted.  It would be great if that's the case, since two weeks of that gets old really fast. 

How quickly it goes from this...

to this.

It's nice to have a few minutes of free time to get things done around the house.
It's far from looking anything like it did BL (before Levi), but I'm coming to realize that it's ok and that people don't expect it to be immaculate. 

Because this is my priority right now.

To tell the truth, not much is new with the little guy.  He's still growing like a weed and finally getting some of that typical baby pudge.  His belly button is all healed up and I think that he'll like a real bath.  Of course, we need to fix the tub leak first...

It might be a little too early for pictures.

I think these legs are still just a little too big.  The little doggies are just flopping around.

Levi's version of a milk mustache.

He is becoming a lot more vocal and loves to coo and even giggle.  I'd love to post pictures of him smiling really big but that normally happens when I'm nursing him and I don't want the blog to get shut down because of an 'R' rating.  It's super cute, though.

He's happiest in just a diaper.  Less laundry for mom!

He has so many new clothes that we're being sure to rotate all of them so he wears them all.  There are still quite a few things he got that are too big for him and it'll be fun to have new things later on.  Well, fun for me at least.

The objects of Levi's affection: ceiling fan and dark beams.

He's getting so big, more so every day.  It's exciting to think that he'll be doing new things soon, but he's such a good baby that we're enjoying this stage, too.  That's the absolute last thing I'm wishing for: my little guy growing up.

One Month

Happy #1 Month Bubbers!

How did that happen??  Our little guy turned one month old last Thursday.  It was pretty amazing seeing the difference in his 'birth' day pictures and the one above.  Amazing, but a little sad.  It's so true what people say about time going fast.  Too fast.

Things have been going as well as can be expected with a one-month old.  Sleeping is still an adventure and mystery.  I'm coherent and dressed and that's kind of my benchmark for if I'm getting enough sleep.  It could be a lot worse, so I should be more positive about it. 

We ventured out to church last week and it went well.  I missed most of Sunday school because of my hungry little hippo and was out of the service quite a bit, too.  Everyone was super excited to see him and that was fun.  Yesterday went ok.  He slept through Sunday school, so no problems there.  I missed pretty much the whole service because for the past, oh, five(!) days now Levi has been eating somewhat non-stop.  And when he wants to eat, he wants to eat right. now.  So I can't really wait around when he starts to fuss.

Nursing is going better.  He's getting enough and there's a surplus.  I also didn't feel bad eating almost all the oatmeal cookies these past couple days since the oatmeal is supposed to help milk production.

I'll finish with pictures that we've taken since my last post.

3 weeks (He's also wearing a new outfit from someone in our church.)

Grandpa comes down to play a lot.  Well, Grandma, too.

This is the 'squished against mommy's head' look that he was sporting the other morning.

Milk Machine and a little Hungry Hippo

Yay! It's official!

I thought this title was very appropriate for this morning since I'm typing this with one hand and pumping with the other.  Levi is sleeping at the moment-although you'd never guess that by the amount of wiggling he's doing-and I'd like to nap, too.  However I am the sole provider for the little guy, so here I sit.  Tim has been giving him a bottle in the evening, which he enjoys (both him and Levi) so I know this is important. 

Our little Republican, complete with elephant pjs.

Nursing has been a struggle lately.  Levi much prefers to drink a little and suckle a lot.  This means more frequent feedings.  Some have been every hour from 12am to 6am.  The hospital's lactation department gave me a lot of good information about trying to wake him up.  Unfortunately he seems to be immune to the majority of them.  So I'm making another call today. 
I try not to get frustrated because I know he can sense that and it really doesn't help the situation anyways.  Thankfully the majority of people say it gets better, so we're just biting the bullet and plowing ahead.

Stre-----tch!

As is evidenced above, he makes the cutest little faces and we try to catch what we can on camera.  He's a little more vocal now and opens his eyes more, too.
My recovery is going well.  I'm able to drive again as well as do stairs.  Both my mom and sister were able to come help with things around the house and I'm very grateful for it.

We see the doctor again tomorrow and hopefully he'll have gained some weight.  He's healthy, just a little more lean than the doctor would like.
There's a lot more than this going on, but the Ferguson house is kinda nuts right now, so I hope you enjoy these little tidbits.
Lastly, I apologize for any spelling or grammatical errors.  You know it's my pet peeve, but typing with one hand kind of precludes that. :-)

Wordless Wednesday-a day late