Nostalgia and making new memories

I recently looked back at some older videos of Levi, circa December 2012 and forward.  He was so little!  A lot of them made me cry because I realized how much I miss that little bean of ours.  I'm upset that we didn't get a camcorder before we did since there's six months of his life that, yes, have tons of pictures, but it would've been nice to have a video.
I've decided to try and take video at least once a week from now on. 
It's funny how I don't remember the difficult things about the second six months of his life, just the fun things in the videos.  Of course, if I sit down and really think about it I could come up with some, but each age has its own issues, so I guess I'll leave it at that.

In May we went on vacation to VA Beach.  I was worried about how he'd do sleep-wise, especially since he wasn't too keen on the pack 'n play.  He was fine!  We stuck pretty close to the hotel so that he could still have naps and our room was laid out so that we could move his 'bed' to another part when it was time for nap or sleep.
I really wanted to stop the mid-night feeding, but decided to wait until he was back home in his own bed and things were back to normal.  Thankfully that process was pretty painless.  He cried for less than ten minutes for a couple of nights and then, voila!  I still wake up if I hear him or if he cries, but we just let him go and he's back to sleep in just a couple of minutes.

Last weekend we visited Tim's family in Maryland.  Levi slept in the pnp in the basement and was fine the first night.  He woke up crying really loudly the second night and wouldn't stop.  So I went out to him (our room was in a separate room in the basement), tried to nurse him, but he wanted just to be held.  I sang and tried to put him back down once he fell asleep.  Well, *that* was not going to work.  So I made a little bed for us on their big couch and ottoman and I held him until he fell asleep.  I slept, too, not the best, but hey, beggars can't be choosers, right?  Around 1:30 he started getting all wiggly so I put him back to bed.  I told Tim that I wouldn't want to do it weekly, for sure, but it was really special to spend that time with him.  I don't know how much longer he'll want to do that.

Levi's still enthusiastic about nursing, even though I think I've pretty much dried up.  He still gets some, but I don't think he realizes that it's not as much as before and he doesn't get full.  I nurse only three to four times: wake-up, 2 naps, and bedtime.  I couple of times I've been away and he's gone down fine without me. 

Levi started whole milk a month ago or so and at first didn't care for it.  I watered it down and then slowly decreased the amount of water.  He's fine with it now.  His dr. said that he should get 8-24 oz. a day.  I know he gets somewhere between those numbers.  We still do a water sippy during the non-meal times.

Two of his favorite foods are pizza and a new dish that I just made, Unstuffed Cabbage.  It's pretty much everything in stuffed cabbage, just all mixed together in a pot.  A ton easier than the fancy roll-up kind.  He loves his yogurt afternoon snack-plain mixed with some baby food fruit.  The Yoplait kind is just too sweet.  We give him baby cereal at each meal, mixed with either fruit or veggie baby food.  He takes it fine and I'll probably give it to him until he refuses it or gets too big.  It's nice because he gets a lot of vitamins in it as well as iron.  He's a good eater at meals, but sometimes he doesn't eat a whole bunch, so that's why I want to give him the cereal.  Although maybe the cereal is why he *doesn't* eat a lot of other things.  Always a puzzle.

No walking yet, but Levi still gets around very well and very fast.  We penned off the living room and he's content in there the majority of the time.  Even more so if mommy's in there with him.  And since I can't do that all day, well, there's a sad little boy here most days.  But as soon as I go out in the kitchen or out of sight he can sit right down and play all by himself.  Silly boy.

I'll finish up with some pictures that will hopefully show some things that I didn't mention.

Our little cowboy.  We had 'old fashioned' pictures taken in VA Beach.

Still lovin' bath time.  Unfortunately he loves to try and stand up in the tub, too.

Helping daddy pack for his road trip.

His birthday present from mommy and daddy. (I'll post about that later.)

Mommy's first flowers.

Fun in the crab pool!

Almost...

Levi will be 11 months old in one week!  Time has just flown.  Each day he does new things and learns more and more.
Since, again, it's been forever since my last post, I decided to jump month-to-month.

February:

This was the napping position of the day.

Grr, I'm a lion!

Happy 7 months!

We learned how to take the shapes out of the musical box.

Fun daddy and Levi time

March 2013:

Aunt Katie came to visit.  She didn't even mind the backwash.

In his turtle tunnel.

We're obviously still working on those molars.  His teeth are a favorite chew toy right now.  It feels like I'm drugging him, but Advil helps make night time a lot better for everybody.

Yeah, I made this mess.  Whatcha gonna do about it?

A week before St. Patty's, but the weather was warm and
he wanted to wear his cute onesie from Aunt Katie.

Happy 9 months!

Yay for nice weather so we can chillax in our stroller.

Levi and Grandpa.

Goobs is not too sure about this whole 'crawling' thing.

He finally graduated from his little blue tub.  In April he started going solo and absolutely loves it!

Bath with Daddy!

April:

First time in the Pack 'n Play.  Mommy waited too long to introduce it,
so he doesn't like it very much.  We need it for vacation, so...

First time outside.  He's not too keen on the grass yet.

Visit to Grandma and Grandpa's.  Levi got a ride on the rocking footstool.

Ah, Daddy's computer!

We're standing (with help) now and nothing is safe.

Out to lunch with Mommy & Daddy.
Of course, he's looking at the waitress.

May has just started and now that the weather is nice we like to take walks in the morning.  We've taken him to the park a couple of times, but I think he gets overwhelmed with all the new things, so we don't stay very long. 
We have two gates that block off the living room-the safest room in the house.  I'm sure we won't be able to do that forever, but right now it's just easier.  If things get really busy, we'll put him in the pack 'n play.  At first he cries a lot, but we have toys in there and once he realizes it's ok he quiets down.  We're going on vacation next week and are staying in a hotel, so he doesn't really have a choice about it, does he?
(Trying to remember other things...)
We went to the allergist in March because we had concerns about possible asthma.  He went to the ped with a bad cough and we got a nebulizer.  We did a few treatments and it seemed to help.  Because one of his sisters has issues with this and it's caused by allergens, we decided to see a specialist.  To make a long story short, it's not asthma, he doesn't have allergies to any of the 9 things they tested him for (little skin pricks) and the cough is either viral or due to secretions from teething.  Alrighty then.
I'm still nursing him and am so thankful that it has gone well.  It's pretty much 'mandatory' until age 1, either that or formula, but I'm pretty sure he'll keep going after that.  Which is fine, except I'd really like to cut out the night time feeding.  He's done it before, sleeping 7pm to 5am, but those times are few and far between. 
He loves to go to the store, which makes my life a lot easier.  Of course, I make sure he's rested, changed and fed before we go.  I think he wishes the cart was turned the other way so he could see where we're going.  So nebby. (a term we learned at Max and Erma's.  Pittsburghese for 'overly curious.')
Levi is understanding 'no' more now and doesn't like it.  Shocker, I know.  Sometimes 'no' includes a little smack on the hand.  Obviously we don't plan to use that form of discipline forever, but at this age there's not much else they understand.  I'm thankful that Tim and I are on the same page with that.
He does fine in the church nursery.  I used to keep him home during that hour so that he could get a nap in before the worship service.  His schedule is changing, going about 2.5 to 3 hours between naps, so we can make it through the entire morning without a nap.  He's pretty much a bear when we get home, but for one day a week I think he'll/we'll live.
Levi gets more 'big people' food now.  We did some of those Stage 3 meals for a while, but he got tired of them, wanting what mommy and daddy were eating.  They were pretty nasty anyways.  We added some salt-free Mrs. Dash and hopefully that made it better.
Now he has fruit cereal for breakfast, veggie cereal for lunch and dinner, plus whatever other table food we're eating.  He eats pretty much whatever we're having.  I can't think of anything he's tossed off his tray.  He does great with the sippy cup.  I put water in it and he's taking it just fine.  We'll start whole milk (which will be quite a change from the skim we have now) at 1 year so that will be yet another adventure.
He's such a happy baby and his giggles brighten our day.  It's crazy to think about what our life was like one year ago.  Not knowing who he was (or even that he was a he) or when he would come.  Being able to sleep and just do whatever, whenever.  Which I fondly recall every now and again.  But I wouldn't go back for anything in the world.  I can't imagine our life without him.

Making up for lost time

I think I've found a way to upload more pictures.  It's an additional step, but hopefully it'll work.

Our six month-old big boy!

First taste of cereal.  Not good.  Now he takes it like a champ.

Levi's dedication.  We squeezed it in before our Pastor retired.

Big boy in his boppy



These are in random order, I think, so just look at the date on the picture.

This was when he started to roll around a little bit more.  He got the blanket from the rocker.

First time using grandma and grandpa's high chair!

Cuddly with grandpa.

Sweet potatoes!

Our first family Christmas

Christmas at home

Leaps and Bounds

It's been for-ev-er since I've posted about our little man.  I think I got discouraged that Google wasn't letting me post any more pictures.  I'm still working on that little problem, by the way.
It's 2013 now, so here are 13 new facts about our big boy:
1. He's 7 months old now and time isn't slowing down.  He's become very active and loves to roll all over.
2. He sits up better in the cart now, so we've ventured out to Walmart and the grocery store.  He is such a good boy, always looking around and watching everybody.
3. Levi still wakes up at night to eat.  He goes to bed around 7:00 and then is up anywhere between 5:30 and 7:00am.  I really like it if it's closer to 7.
4. He's on a more regulated nap schedule now, taking one every two hours.  Most of the time, whether he wants to or not.  Mommy and daddy always win the nap war.  (Ok, 99% of the time.)
5. He absolutely LOVES his new big boy food.  Beans, peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, you name it.  He actually prefers them to the fruit.  That is fine with me. :-)  Cereal did not go well at first but now it's one of his favorites.
6. The little bed is no more.  I put him down for a nap one day and then heard him crying.  It wasn't his normal 'I don't want to go to bed' cry, so I went back to check on him.  He had completely turned himself around and was stuck-and scared.  So that night he went in the big boy crib.  And has been fine ever since.  Much to my relief.  He does still roll all over and ends up tangled in his blankets.  It's always a guessing game as to where he'll be in the morning.
7. His new favorite toy is a singing ice cream cone from Aunt Katie.  The songs get stuck in my head.
8. Speaking of gifts, Christmas was a lot of fun.  Levi didn't really grasp what was going on, but everyone had a lot of fun helping him open gifts.  I got some cute videos of him that still make me laugh.
9. He still loves his jumper.  If he's jumping around by himself he gets upset if no one is there watching him.  He loves an audience.
10. Levi is doing a lot better in the car which makes my life a lot easier.  Aunt Katie got him a rear view mirror that also makes my life a lot easier.  We had to get him a new car seat but will have to study a book to install it.
11. We're still trying to determine the issues for his allergy symptoms.  I've cut out 'major' dairy from my diet: cheese, milk, yogurt.  That seems to help, but there might still be some environmental issues, too.
12. We hope to get some new pictures of him before the end of the month.  Now that he can sit up on his own we have more options.
13. He is such a good baby and every day is a joy with him.  He's so happy and filled with smiles.  Even at 2am.  We love him so much and he makes every day joyful.

Chatty little boy

I'm sitting here listening to Levi 'talk' to himself in his bed.  He woke up about fifteen minutes ago, but is perfectly content back there, so, guess what?  Mommy's perfectly content to leave him there.  Very important lesson #1, or at least tied for #1.
Maybe I should've included 'screaming' in my post title.  That's what he loves to do any more.  Scream, squeal, squeak and everything in between.  Especially when he's in his jumper.  That poor toy is getting a work out.  He loves it and it's so funny to watch him.
He is not getting very much closer to crawling.  He can scoot backwards again (he stopped doing it for a while) but still gets pretty frustrated on his tummy.  He is doing better sitting up.  I'll put him in the V of my legs and he needs the side support just a little bit.  Still falls backwards, unfortunately.  You can tell that he's frustrated not being able to do what he wants, but yet again he would rather have mommy and daddy hold him up standing and carry him around.
We went to the mall again today.  He really enjoys looking around at everything.  At this time of year we go only on a weekday morning.  It would be too much stimulation for him if there were a lot of people.  Well, that and mommy doesn't want Levi to see her freak out at all the people who don't know how to walk down the mall hallway.
We scheduled his dedication for the 16th.  Our pastor is retiring at the end of the year and I asked if he could squeeze one in before then.  Levi might be the only one.  Now to find something for him to wear.  Definitely not one of those crazy white dress things.  Gah.
I should probably add the pictures to this and then post it.  He's talking louder back there.
And I was just informed by Google that I'm out of picture storage space.  Don't they know this is really important?