1st solo trip with 2 boys

A couple of weeks ago I decided to head to Memphis.  Matt was not able to come along, so I made the trip with just the boys.  I was very very nervous about the driving.  If you had asked me before Levi’s was born, I would not have thought this would be an issue.  I made many road trips with just me and Coop, but since Levi is a screamer, I had not tried it yet.  Well it went so much better than I expected.  The trip up took about 8 hours (normally a 5 hour trip).  Levi would only last about an hour and a half.  But I had told myself that if I had to stop a lot, it would be ok.  And it was.  Yes I was super stressed the whole time, but once I got the trip under my belt, I felt much better about the return home trip.

Anyways here is a rundown of our week:  we got to my parent’s house on Thursday.  We met Brandy and the girl’s at Mi Pueblo for dinner and then called it a night.  Friday, we just hung out and did a little shopping.  Saturday was Remle’s birthday party.  She had a cute costume party at their church building.  It was a lot of fun and the kids got to run off some steam.  Sunday was church and more hanging out.  Monday, I took the boys to my sister’s weekly play date.  I invited my high school friend Erin to come along.  It was great to get to see her after such a long time!  Tuesday was Election Day so schools were closed.  Brandy and the girls came over and we made Christmas ornaments.  Wednesday we came back home!

 

Don’t miss the new post below!!

6 months

Levi turned 6 months old November 14th!!  Can’t believe he is already half a year old.  It has gone by so fast!  He weighs 15.10 (25%) and is 26 inches long (50%).  He is keeping a normal curve on the growth chart so that’s great!

Levi has been sitting on his own for almost a month.  He is now so good at it that I will leave him alone (with one pillow behind him in case he does fall) to go to another room.  I still don’t trust Cooper around him when he is sitting, so I will keep a close eye on that!  Levi is also standing really well.  He can even stand holding/leaning on to something.  He has not rolled, and I was concerned, but the dr. said that if he is sitting and standing, then he is fine.  The not rolling is partly because Cooper is always on top of him any time he is on the floor and also he has not interest in trying it.  :)  Definitely my personality!!

Sleep is still very inconsistent.  The most he will do at one time is 6 hours.  But since he goes to sleep anywhere from 6 to 6:30 (sooooo early especially if we have church! still trying to figure that one out!), 6 hours really doesn’t give me much.  If I go to sleep at 10, he is usually awake between 10:30 and 12.  He is trying to cut his first tooth, so he has been getting up more, but honestly as long as we don’t go back to 30 minute stretches like he was doing not too long ago, then I feel well rested.  He usually wakes up at 6:30 am, but most of the time I put him in bed with me and nurse him to sleep for another 45 minutes (don’t know what I’m gonna do in another 6 months!  :) ).  So he typically is up for the day at 7:15. 

He just started eating twice a day.  We are still trying to figure that one out.  He doesn’t seem all that interested in food in the morning, but I’m giving it a go anyway.  He is still having belly issues, but our pediatrician wants us to try giving him juice to see if that will help.  He won’t take it in a bottle, and he still hasn’t gotten the hang of a sippy cup, so I am giving him a little in a syringe.  It’s a pain, but it seems to be helping a little.

He has become MUCH more vocal these last couple of days.  His favorite is his whiny voice.  He discovered it and likes to use it any time he sees me.  Of course it works!  He is also screaming when he gets excited.  And occasionally I’ll hear him laughing at one of his toys.

His favorite toy is MOMMA!!!  *sigh* But I know I will look back on these days and cherish them!  His second favorite toy is his big brother.  Cooper will just lay on top of him and Levi thinks it is so funny!

A big accomplishment we made last month was our first road trip with just Mommy.  Levi did great!  He has gotten so much better in his car seat.  He still doesn’t like it, but he generally fusses when we put him in, but stops when we hit the road. 

Anyways, there is so so so much more I could say about this little boy.  I love him so much!  I don’t know what I did to deserve such 2 beautiful sweet boys, but I am so thankful for them!  Thank you God for sparing Levi’s life!  I can not imagine how my life would have been had things turned out differently.  Enjoy these sweet pictures:

Pumpkin Painting

Cooper picked out a pumpkin at the pumpkin patch a couple of weekends ago. I feel like he is too young to really enjoy carving, and he is too OCD to enjoy touching the insides of the pumpkin. So the next best thing is painting! I set up a tarp out in the backyard and got out the paint! I can't wait to see the finished pumpkin.
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We've got a sitter!

Levi has been sitting for a while, but only a couple of seconds at a time. Just recently he has gotten much more sturdy. He can tripod really well! His downfall is when he gets really excited about his toys!! :) So we are far from leaving him alone, but it is fun to see him sitting up like a big boy! If only we could get him to roll over...
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4 and 5 months

I am just now getting around to posting about Levi at 4 months, so I thought I would do a 4 and 5 month post together – because I know y’all are soooo interested!  :)

At 4 months Levi weighed 13.10 pounds.  I can’t remember how long he was (I know, I’m a bad mom!).  He was in to chewing on his fingers.  He started eating solids: rice cereal, oatmeal, applesauce, prunes, sweet potatoes, and squash.  His favorite was oatmeal and applesauce mixed.  He still was not sleeping through the night.  His longest stretch was 5 hours.  He takes a lot of little naps throughout the day.  He was falling asleep on his own in his crib.  One arm unswaddled, but the rest swaddled.  He only takes his paci when he is going to sleep and then sometimes not even then.  Still a great nurser (is that a word?).  If he’s grouchy, I just nurse him and it makes the world a better place!  :)  He has definitely gotten to be a happier baby.  Smiling more and enjoying life.  I started venturing out with both boys this month.  I know, it has taken me 4 months to get there, but Levi really made it stressful there for a while.

At 5 months:  I had to take Levi to the doctor on Sunday, his actual 5 month day, so I got a weight update.  14.1 pounds!  Yay!  He’s starting to chunk up.  I moved his clothes up to 6 – 9 months.  He is still so long and skinny that I kept out his 3-6 month pants.  Most pants fall right off of him!  :)  He found his feet recently.  Not pulling them to his mouth, but he loves to grab them.  He has become quite the talker!  Saying a lot of consonants.  Matt likes to think he is saying “dada” but I know he will say “momma” first!  :)  He has gotten used to Coop “wrestling” with him and I can let Coop be a little more rowdy.  I know Levi can’t wait to get bigger and really get in to it with his brother.  I recently changed his bedtime routine to see if he would sleep any longer.  I now nurse him before bath time and then make him fall asleep on his own.  If he wakes up during the night (which he always does), I try to get him back to sleep without nursing.  But if it has been around 5 hours, then I will nurse him.  He was doing great eating food, but we have hit a standstill.  I won’t go in to the details for Levi’s sake 20 years from now, but let’s just say that it wasn’t agreeing with him.  The last 2 nights have been some of the worst nights yet.  He never slept longer than 30 minutes at a time.  His belly was hurting him!  I have been praying that tonight will be somewhat better.  I will even be happy with every 3 hours.  Anyways, so I can’t really comment on his sleeping skills right now since he hasn’t been feeling well.  He is such a sweet baby.  He has started giving kisses and pretty soon he is going to hold out his arms.  He is very very close to sitting on his own.  He can do it right now, but only for a couple of seconds.  He still is not a roller.  He has rolled a couple of times from belly to back, but that was more than a month ago.  If I remember correctly, Cooper wasn’t a roller either.  I am so ready for him to roll so he can sleep on his stomach.  I think that will make him sleep better.  I still have him swaddled with one arm out.  I just can’t figure out how to get him to sleep unswaddled.  When he starts rolling, I won’t have a choice, but right now, that’s how he’s staying. 

We LOVE this little boy so much!

Enjoying the beautiful day

We went outside this afternoon to get a little fresh air. It was still hot so we picked a nice spot in the shade. Of course Cooper had to lay down and get in the picture with Levi! I am thankful that it is not blazing outside any more!!
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This one’s for you, Katie!

Here are a couple of pictures from my phone.  Just a little bit of what has gone on here the past couple of weeks!

 

I got new glasses!

Levi was a smiley baby.  I think this was taken a couple months ago.

Drove by Toomer’s trees on the way to work one morning.  They had to cut back the branches because they were afraid the branches would fall on people.

I have no idea when this was, but I do remember that Cooper wouldn’t take a nap and fell asleep in the car later that day.  So Matt got him out thinking he would wake up, but Coop slept like that for a while on Matt.

Cooper is so in love with his brother!

This was a first!  Cooper fell asleep on the way to Papa Tom and Nana’s church.  We got him out of the car and laid him on the pew.  He stayed that way almost the entire service!

We were in a major car accident on Labor Day.  I was driving and got the majority of injuries.  I still have bruises and scrapes and it is almost a month later.  Just last week I had to go get a piece of glass removed from my face!

This bruise under my knee was SOOOO painful!  This kept me up at night more than anything.  It was quite hard for a while.  It has gone down considerably.

Cooper’s first time with watercolors.  He did this for about 30 minutes. 

Here are some pretty old pictures that I am just now getting around to putting on the computer -

I hope this holds you for a while Katie!!  :)