Levi, you continue to have a sweet and calm disposition! You typically only cry if you are hungry or cold. But mama and papa have seemed to figure out the right temperature for you and are pretty good about feeding you - so there is not much crying going on. You do have a 7pm-9pm witching hour, but even then you are not exactly fussy. You just do not want to be asleep. You love to smile and you have started "talking" to us more as you coo and babble. Recently you have become such an efficient eater that mama and papa were worried that you weren't eating enough. But at your two month appointment you were 13lbs, 8oz (78th percentile) and 23.8 inches long (83rd percentile) which is right inline with where you should be. Your pediatrician says that your eating is great! You love looking at colors and especially things with high contrast. We often find you smiling at your car seat canopy because of the fun pattern. You track mama's bright pink water bottle, and recently you were enamored with a friend's bright yellow princess dress. Your tracking isn't limited to just following things with color. When you are awake you love watching your big brother. You often smile at him, especially if he dances for you. Levi, your brother loves you so much. He will often wake up in the morning and ask about you immediately when Mama or Papa comes in the room. We hope this is the beginning of a really great bond between you two. Levi, your sleep is getting better. Once you hit 7 weeks, Mama became more diligent about putting you in the crib for naps during the day. You have been doing really well with an eat, play, sleep schedule. You are typically awake for 45-50 minutes and then you start giving cues that you are tired. We have started laying you in your crib wide awake and you have done a great job putting yourself to sleep. Sometimes you fuss, but even then it usually only takes you 10-15 minutes to fall asleep. At night you will typically do a 4 hour stretch, a 3 hour stretch, and then a 1 to 2 hour stretch. However, just as you approached the two month mark you did two nights in a row with a 6 hour stretch of sleep which felt heavenly! You have had a busy second month! You tag along on all of Elijah's adventures, but you have been getting play time with other babies like Beckett and Lucianna. You have also had several big doctor appointments around your vascular birthmark which have all been positive. We went to Leavenworth over the Fourth of July Holiday weekend with our friends the Baughn's and the Helmbrecht's and you loved watching all the kids run around. During your third month of life we think you are looking forward to play dates with your friends and attending the Amazon Family picnic. Here are some photos from you second month of life.
Levi, You are a wonderful addition to the family! It has been very exciting to finally get to meet you and call you by name. Mama and Papa love you dearly, as well as your big brother Elijah! He often wakes up in the morning talking about you and asking if you are downstairs, sleeping, or eating. He loves to talk to you, kiss you, touch you, and lay with you on your blanket. Your big brother also loves to help you whenever he can - from pushing your stroller, to throwing away your diapers, to helping hold your car seat. We hope this is the start of a wonderful, lifelong friendship between you two.
Your first month has sailed along smoothly! Levi you are calm and observant. You let us know if you want to eat, or if you're cold, but otherwise you are a very quiet guy. Even when you sleep, you do not make much noise which makes papa nervous (he checks on you several times a night). Before you were born both Mama and Papa were nervous about whether you would be a good eater and how you would latch. But you've been a wonderful eater and seems to really enjoy the special time with Mama. You have even started to respond to our voices by giving us a sweet smile.
Levi, you have settled into a pretty easy pattern. During the day you like to eat every two hours. You wake, eat for 20-30 minutes, play for 15-20 minutes and then it is back down to sleep. You are often sleeping in your swing or bassinet during the day. At night, you tend to sleep 3-4 hours between feedings. Usually mama and papa are up with you a couple times at night. We even had a couple nights where we were only up once, that was magical! As you have approached your one month growth spurt, you are up every 2-3 hours at night to eat.
During the first few days of life, you lost 10% of your body weight which is typical. However, you were on the slow side of gaining back to your birth weight. We found out (the hard way for mama) that you had a tongue tie which was affecting how hard you had to work to get your food. As soon as we found that out, we had it cut. Your weight gain started to increase from there and by two and a half weeks you were back up to birth weight. Your feeding times also went from 50 minutes to about 25 minutes. Just a few days ago, you clocked in at 9lbs, 13oz which is right on target.
Summer weather has started to show up, so we have been trying to get out and about. You have been on walks around the neighborhood and even an epic walk around Greenlake. You typically like being in the stroller as long as it is moving and on a bumpy path. But like your brother, you definitely will let us know that you do not like it when we stop walking.
Mama and Papa are trying to figure out special nicknames just for you. Typically we call you Tiny Man or Levi-Bear. It is hard for us to not call you the same nicknames that we have for Elijah. Sometimes Papa even slips and calls you Elijah or calls Elijah - Levi. Mama and Papa have especially loved being able to say "our boys" when talking about you and your brother.
It has been a busy first month for you Levi! Mama's dear friend Raena came to visit and take photos of you and Elijah, there was a shower to celebrate your arrival, and your Auntie Destiny, Cousin Eleanor, and Grandma Robin came to visit!
During the next month we think you are looking forward to celebrating your first 4th of July with friends in Leavenworth!
Here are some photos from your first month of life!
In just three months you have gone from about 15-20 words to having a vocab that we cannot begin to count. You are constantly parroting what you hear around you, whether it is from mama, papa or what you hear at school. You even put together your first three word sentence when mama had gone out one evening. You stood at the baby gate and said "Mama Bye-Bye Park". In this new season of life you are typically at school for 2-3 days a week and at home with mama the other days. On Thursday mornings, mama has a Bible Study she attends and you enjoy being in a class with your friends Dominic and Evalina. At school you enjoy playing with anything that you can stack and build with, the play kitchen, and the climber. You also enjoy making art, doing crafts and playing at the sensory table. And of course whenever you can get outside you are a happy camper. A silly new development is that you know that we ask Alexa (our Amazon Echo) to play music. You often stand at Alexa and call up to her "Alexa, Alexa". Your favorite songs you like to hear are: The Wheels on the Bus, Baby Bumblebee, Downtown by Macklemore and Happy by Pharrell. Sometimes Alexa lights up when she hears you calling, but you are not quite able to give her a command. You now have your own playlist! A few weeks after you turned 18 months, mama went to Austin for a long weekend with a friend. You had some extra time with papa while I was gone. One scary moment that we can laugh about now is that when papa was letting Charlie outside to potty - you locked papa out of the house. You flipped that screen door lock and papa had no way back into the house. Mama was on a plane so papa couldn't reach her to get access to the spare key. So, papa called the fire department and they climbed through our second floor window and saved the day! Elijah you are making the connection with on and off, especially when it comes to light switches. You love to flip them up and down at watch the light come on and off. You will say "light on" or "light off". On the days we are home, you definitely miss your papa. You have started pulling photos down and will sit and look at papa and point him out to me. It is so sweet! You have started enjoying being read to. Your favorite books right now are Brown Bear Brown Bear, Polar Bear Polar Bear, From Head to Toe, Bedtime for Tad and Peekaboo Baby. This has been a fun development and we think that story time at school has helped you find your love of books. Elijah, you are now very aware of what toys are "yours". You are able to verbalize "mine" and this is very evident if we have a friend over to play. It is very hard for you to not try and take every toy that your friend is playing with. Sharing is definitely a hard concept for you. You seem to do better if it is a neutral space or at a friend's house, because you know those toys are not yours. You are still our good eater, though not always adventurous. However, once papa is home from work you always asks for bites from his plate or sips of soda water. It makes me laugh that you would not eat certain foods for your own dinner, but now that they are on papa's plate you will try them. You also are feeling very independent because you can climb in and out of your high chair all by yourself. You are even working on buckling yourself in. We recently introduced you to your first TV Show - Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. Papa and I laughed because you sat still for 8 whole minutes before you were up and on the move! However, you really seem to enjoy the show and ask for it a lot. We do not watch it often, but it is nice to have as a back up activity. You especially love when any songs are being sung on the show. You are not a fan of when it switches from the cartoon portion to the kids in real life portion. You seem to think the show is over and keep asking for more Daniel.
Elijah, your days have been busy these last three months. You have gone to the park, the zoo, the children's museum, the pumpkin patch, celebrated Halloween as a dragon, enjoyed a harvest meal with your classmates, celebrated Thanksgiving with Friends, and started preparing for Christmas! In the next few months, we think you are looking forward to spending more time in the Toddler 2 classroom, celebrating Christmas, our annual New Years trip with the Kaetzel's, potty training and celebrating your 2nd birthday! Here are some photos from your last few months:
Looking at Papa's Photo!
Checking out the River Otter at the Zoo
Kissing the goat at the zoo!
Sharing a bite of your doughnut with your buddy Dominic
Fun at the Pumpkin Patch
Halloween as a dragon
Somehow you got the chopsticks to work for you!
Exploring the Christmas decorations at Swanson's
Helping decorate the tree by stacking the ornaments
