So sorry!!!

(A rare moment with eyes open for the camera!!!)


I know, it's been about two and a half weeks since I last posted!!!! A lot of people are asking for more pictures! I can't beLIEVE how much time one little person can take up in my day. Even now I'm sitting here blogging and know I'm taking a huge risk...when I really should be taking advantage of some downtime to take a shower! BUT - we got a jump start this morning at 4:30, so I figured, why not just start my day? I mean, who doesn't love starting their day at 0430??? So we've already done one cycle of feeding/playtime/work out/fold laundry/eat breakfast/etc. Yes, I said "work out." I did pull out a Biggest Loser video. I had energy, I went with it.

Levi is NOT a fussy baby, thank the Lord!!! He "chirps" and yips at times, and when he gets really mad it only lasts a few minutes. He's pretty obvious about what he wants (duh, like any newborn I guess!) but he doesn't just fuss for the sake of fussing like many babies do. He goes down in his crib when he's ready to sleep. He's just a good kid. :) We're figuring each other out, for sure.

I'm taking dinner to a friend today who just had her little boy this past weekend. Just a year ago we were both sobbing in each other's arms at church, mourning our own losses. Little did we know that in God's timing we'd each rejoice in the birth of our sons!!! He is so good! He's good when we mourn and He's good when we celebrate.

Okay, so I stink at taking pictures. My darn camera (well, it's actually the darn user, not the camera's fault) has this red-eye reduction feature on it, so even when I've turned the flash OFF, this little light STILL comes on and flashes in Levi's face and makes him close his eyes and scowl. So I have THE HARDEST time getting pictures with his eyes open. And then I just give up. So I took a video of him one day last week, and it's SO cute because he's cooing and making these little kissing sounds with his lips like he does when he's hungry, but Blogger won't let me load it. Argh. Anyway, here are some more recent pics....

Modeling his new hat aunt Elizabeth made...


Tummy time with Daddy...he really looks like he's interested in his toys here...but he's not...


He LOVES when Matt reads to him. There's a pattern emerging here...Daddy is WAY more fun than Mommy! Levi acts totally enamored with Matt and he scowls at me.


Starting to hold his head up!


This pic is a bit blurry, but it's the best display of his Thanksgiving outfit! The hat says "Baby's 1st Thanksgiving" and I LOVE the turkey feathers on top!!! (He yakked on the onesie pretty early in the day...isn't that just the way it goes?)


Still pretty displeased with the bath routine in the morning...but we're getting better...note the scowl...


Hanging out with Grandpa on Thanksgiving!

Hopefully my next post won't be so far off!!! And I'd really like to post actual thoughts, really I would. I have a couple of posts rattling around in my head, but, shoot, look at how long it took me just to load pictures on!!! So we'll see when that happens!!!

Already growing so fast!

Here are a few snaps from the past week or so...he's already growing so fast! I feel like every morning his face looks a little different. He's growing fabulously - 9lbs even at his checkup this past Friday! Clearly he's gobbling his food pretty well!

Gramma Sue came last week to help out....he LOVED the snuggle-time!



Token shot of me...I'm like, okay, there are a lot of pictures of Levi, Levi and Daddy...but where's Mommy???? So here I am.




He LOVES playtime with Daddy! Matt always manages to captivate him!




That's about all for now. I will write more profound thoughts at a later time! Too pooped right now!!!

Tummy Time

Tell me you don't want to suck the cheeks straight off this baby!


Delicious.

Good Food and Gratitude

Just look at this sweet baby!! We have so much to be grateful for. Yes, we are experiencing life with a newborn and everything that comes with it. Like, the sleepless nights. As you can see, this is what Levi thinks of sleeping at night:


The first few nights, he morphed from a sweet, docile baby to a head bobbing-and-weaving, screaming, baby-bird-mouth-open-wide, falling apart mess. Matt and I have been doing "shifts" where one will stay up from 8pm till 2am, and then we switch. But man, one of those nights we were both up wondering WHAT the heck was going on with this...this...child.

But I have to count it all joy. Matt had to remind me of that as I started to join Levi in meltdown mode around 4am the other morning. And I do count it all joy. Nearly a year ago we had our own loss. There are countless families who are grieving out there right now and their arms are empty...whether due to infertility, miscarriage, stillbirth, or the fact that their baby is in the ICU on a vent, with a birth defect, a horrible infection, or born too early for words to describe. And they would give ANYthing to be up at all hours listening to their baby cry, frustrated with feedings, feeling hung over from lack of sleep.

Alas, the morning comes, and THEN what does he think of sleep???...


Of course!!

I'm so grateful that we live in the community that we do...our church community, my work friends, our neighbors...God is so kind to us. Our fridge is STUFFED full of food (I had to clean, rearrange, and shuttle stuff to the freezer this morning to make space!) from our Sunday School class and community group. We have at least two weeks' worth of meals coming, and that's just from church alone!! That doesn't even count friends from work who are asking when they can drop something off!! It's unbelievably humbling. We're so well cared for. Twice this week friends from work came to rock and love on Levi while Matt and I crawled upstairs for a two-hour nap. I mean, who does that? Carolyn and Michele, thank you SOOO much!


I'm grateful for how good I feel, barely a week after delivering this little moose! (I know there are far bigger babies, but we simply were not expecting to have a baby who was 8 1/2 lbs to come out of me!) My ankles and legs up to my knees were so puffy it looked like I had been inflated with a bicycle pump. Parts of me were beyond painful and sore (won't expound, but ladies, you know what I'm talking about). But I've been able to get out for a walk (that's why Levi is so super-bundled up there). Heading out to the pediatrician felt divine! Today I woke up and had my feet back. And I could put my wedding rings on again. I could even put my regular jeans on thanks to the help of a Bella Band (I know, it's the same as wearing maternity jeans, but it just felt nice to wear something different). Ahhhhhh.


I'm SO grateful for my dear husband, who is an AMAZING daddy!!! Matt has stepped up more than I could ever have asked...learning how to diaper Levi (with cloth prefolds, no less!), dress him, and feed him...comforting him, staying up with him, snuggling him, singing to him, reading to him, doing laundry, washing bottles, cheering me on when I get frustrated...I mean, he's just been unbelievable. Way more than I could EVER ask. Thank you so much, my Matt.

And just look at this sweet baby!!! When I look at this face, I just think, he can cry until kingdom come and it would still be the sweetest sound in the universe. It's not lost on me how many hearts are broken because their own dear babies' cries won't be heard in this life.

But I do appreciate the times when he's sleeping peacefully....



And laugh at the times when he just utterly melts down...like today during his bath -

(meltdown following bath...)


(still melting down...)


(Getting better...)

(Ahhhhh!!! Daddy saves the day every time!)

First day home

On our way home Sunday!!! Me and one of my work besties, Michele...




Hanging out with Daddy...


Asleep in his little crib...


On our way out on the town!!! (Well, to Carter's to exchange all the girl clothes he doesn't need and the newborn clothes he doesn't fit!)