Freedom

This weekend, I found some freedom and Levi began the road to independence! Friday was the last time I nursed him so Saturday was his first full day without nursing!! I have been working towards this earnestly for the last two weeks, but it has been somewhat of a battle. He went through his extreme illness which made everything hard. He had a few days where he just about refused to drink at all. I really felt pressure to work quickly to get him drinking from a bottle, because he is so so low on the weight chart that his pediatrician wanted me to begin giving him formula which has more fat in it. So after two weeks of a lot of bottle battles, on Wednesday of last week, out of nowhere he took 6 ounces from a bottle at bedtime! After that, he has progressed every day. He is now taking four bottle a day and drinking around 6 ounces each time! This is exactly where I wanted him to be! Hopefully when he goes for a weight check next week, our hard work will show up on the scales. We'll see...he has a lot of catch-up to do from being so sick for a while. Anyway, here's a picture of him tonite drinking his bottle and as Shawn says, he's our little monkey boy.

Rainy Day Craft

I'm always on the hunt for a new interesting crafty thing that both Ava and I can do together...sometimes those are hard to come by. But, the other day I had a $5 off a $5 purchase coupon at JoAnn's(SCORE!) so I went hunting for a "luxury" item--yes, some craft items are necessities and some are luxuries. I found a package of Shrink Film, the stuff they use to make Shrinky Dinks. (I put the link because if you are like my husband, you have no earthly idea what those are) I was working on another project and thought this might just be what I could use so I got it. Well, it worked for my other project and I had a lot of sheets left over so Ava and I got down to business today making some owls. That is what she said she wanted to make and I was giddy because I love owls. I really really got courageous and let her use permanent markers, without making her strip to her skivvies. After we colored them, we watched them shrink up in the oven and when they came out they were SO STINKIN CUTE! We put them on the window sill in the kitchen so they could watch over us and now I've got the itch to draw more things! Ava was quite impressed too :)

Sweeties

My girls wearing new shirts from Nana. (I went and got them the matching leggings and they wore them to church Sunday :)

Who's entertaining who?

My new haircut. It may not look too different from previously, but a lot was cut off. Also I am not flipping the back anymore so it doesn't look quite like the picture but some have asked to see it. I am thinking I am going to grow it out some now. I am just not totally happy with the short cuts I keep getting.

20 Teeth

Ava went to her first dentist appointment this week. I had no idea how she'd do at all. She did marvelously!!! The dr. and dental hygienist both said she did great. When I asked her how many teeth she thought she had, she said 10. Dr said she had 20 and that they all looked great. No cavities which I was surprised and excited about. Brushing teeth has been much harder to keep up with now that we have a baby too. She loved going to the dentist and said it was "fun and interesting." She did not like having to wait in the waiting room, but neither did I! The dr. did notice that her front top two teeth are wiggly and told her not to wiggle them anymore because it was too early for them to come out. I'm hoping they fall out right around Christmas :)

I had to take this picture...this sums up Ava's daily life. Just about every single day, she puts on some article of clothing backwards, without meaning too. It's funny every single time. Today she was walking around in a t-shirt and panties and not only were her panties backwards, but they were inside out too. Some things just aren't worth being concerned about obviously.

Perky Baby

On Saturday, we started to notice that our sweet baby, that had been buried under fever and all kinds of feeling sickly, was beginning to reemerge! We all felt so relieved to see him babbling agian and smiling and wanting to be on the ground crawling around. Here are a few pictures with that sweet face that we missed so much.

He is all over the place as of last week! He has got the crawling thing down and now his new favorite trick is pulling up to his knees and then onto his feet. He always puffs out his chest and waves one arm in the air and smiles really big when he does it.

Much happier baby that he was last Sunday in his swing.

He has learned how to play peek-a-boo.

I just can't get enough of this sweet face!

Sick Baby

Levi is pretty sick. To make a long story short and if you read my previous post, we took him back to the dr. this morning and she's pretty positive he has Bronchiolitis most likely caused by RSV. He has fever that won't go away, extreme coughing and runny nose, listlessness, no appetite, an ear infection, and then the breathing issues. This is the sickest any of my children have ever been and the ear infection issue has been going on for a little over two weeks now. He is so so sad to see. I never see a smile or any energy right now and it's breaking my heart. I just hope that he turns the corner very soon and begins recovering. Here are few pictures so that you can have a broken heart with me! oh a quick update...Elle just got home a little while ago from school and feels bad, has a headache, and is beginning to have fever. YIPPIE!

This was him on Sunday before I realized just how sick he was. I knew he wasn't feeling well but I thought being outside might perk him up. He just laid his head on the swing and looked off into space. It was so sad.
Too hot to wear clothes and giving mommy a quick break to eat lunch while Daddy gets a little love.

He's not as upset as he looks. He actually did very good with the treatment.

Here's a short video of what we'll be dealing with for the next week every 4 to 6 hours. :(

Under-Achiever

Valentine's Day has such potential...but this year, it definitely was an under-achiever. It all started Saturday, when our MASH group was headed to Pappasito's for a romantic dinner and good time with good friends. Levi had to go with us, but we were totally ready to have a good time anyway. Well, he started out fussy before we even left, but we didn't think too much of it. But, after getting our dinner, about 4 bites in, he threw up all over himself and the floor. That was the end of our Valentine's date. It's been downhill from then on. I suggested to Shawn that maybe we at least try to go bowling as a family on Monday, for the girls, because I still wanted it to be special for them....Levi spoiled that too. When he got up Monday morning he was running a high fever and really not doing well. Took him to the dr and his ear infection that he just took antibiotics for 10 days for, was still there. So more antibiotics and back home to care for a VERY fussy baby all afternoon. Dinner was eaten in shifts :( But, at least on the morning of Valentines, both girls got a big homemade card from us and a yummy marshmallow candy thing. Shawn also made them pink heart pancakes and even made me one! So, not the most romantic or exciting Valentine's every, but such is life with kids!

Shawn said he made a chicken-claw arrow...or at least that what it looked like!

Happy Love Day

Tomorrow's looking kind of busy and I wanted to make sure you enjoyed this picture all day long so I'm posting it on V Day eve. Hope you make someone feel lots of love on Valentines.....and every day!

Sucker

Sometimes, it's just a thumb-sucking kind of day. Levi has just recently started sucking his thumb and he mainly only does it when it is getting close to a naptime. I think it is THE.CUTEST.THING in the whole wide world. He is so content when he's doing it and I just love it! Enjoy pictures of my 44 week old. (I laugh writing that, but I got an email today that I've gotten every week since his birth, and this one was titled "Your baby is 44 weeks." Hoping they stop at 52!

I told him to lay his head down, to see if he understood my words...looks like it!

Little Rascal

Melts my heart every.single.day.

Bonus photo: He has started smiling so big that you can't see his eyes. And I love that he has his foot propped up on the table with his toe grabbing hold!

10 months

Really? Did I just type 10 months? Really? How in the world did we get here this fast? Our baby is just 2 measly months away from celebrating his FIRST birthday! Here's the stats on Levi. He weighs about 16 lbs 8 ounces and is 26.5 inches long. So if you've been counting, he's grown a whopping 1/2 inch in 4 months and gained about 7 ounces this month. So, he's little...and I'm thinking about changing his name to Biggie Smalls instead of Biggie Boy. I'm supplementing him with formula to try to fatten him up a little, but after looking at the girls baby books, I know that my babies are just skinny! Anyway, he is doing wonderfully! He is still army crawling and does something that looks like "the worm" dance move, but still hasn't quite figured out full out crawling. He eats just about anything we do at this point and it's not possible to eat food without him going nuts until you feed him some of what you have. He loves to wave bye bye and has really started babbling loudly lately. He loves to hear himself and so do we. I am down to nursing him twice a day and hope to have him fully weaned by 11 months. Life is wonderful and I am really looking forward to him being able to walk! (yes, I really said that)

Only one kind of football I like...

...and that's the chocolate kind. I truly couldn't care less about football, unless I'm playing and I've been known to throw a pretty decent spiral. Anyway, we had another wonderful time at the Jackson's house watching kids, talking, eating yummy fingerfoods, and occasionally glancing at the TV.

Levi's first Superbowl and if I brainwash him correctly, he will care as much about this as we do.

Proof that Elle's fear of dogs is all a show. This dog is pretty much a small horse.

The Superbowlers!!

Cold and Wet

Levi got to experience another first yesterday. We had snow! This is two years in a row that we've had enough snow to actually get excited about. Last year I was extremely pregnant with him. I was really excited to get to experience snow through his eyes, this time. That is one of the things I absolutely love about babies and children. As adults, something that may have lost some of it's magic is renewed through the eyes of our children. It was absolutely precious to get to watch his expression as he discovered this newest thing. Enjoy the pictures!

What is this on my fingers?

I better get a closer look.

I wonder if it will get on my fingers again.

Better taste it to see if it's edible.

Ummm, fingers starting to get too cold....panicking a little bit....

FREAK OUT!!!! My fingers are freezing off my little tiny body!!!!

A fountain in a neighborhood near our house, taken after the almost frostbite 2011 incident with Levi.

Daddy's face is prickly, but it's all I've got for warmth!

SNOWCONES!!!!!

A Winning Combination

I just had to blog this because the picture was worth it, plus I want you all to be grossed out, and I like when people think I'm weird. It's a winner all the way around! Okay, last night was really cold and so everyone wanted oatmeal for dinner. Sounded great to me. But I was also craving some HEB Sushi--I have no idea why. This isn't something we ever buy, but I just couldn't stop thinking about it. Before you go down that typical path that everyone takes when a female in her baby-making years says she has a craving, no, I'm not pregnant. I just like weird combinations of things. Anyway, I had oatmeal and sushi for dinner last night. And for the record, I ate one of the rolls and decided it wasn't too good. It was okay, but it just seemed too cold and not only that, the seaweed in the roll just bothered me. So, I pulled out all the crab meat and ate the meat dipped in soy sauce with my oatmeal. Delish! Elle's reaction is hilarious and was not posed.