8 Whole Months

8 months since the painful and wonderful day that I brought my little angel into the world. Once more, I cannot believe how the time has flown. Cory and I were always happy. We have been blessed with a wonderful life. And yet, at the moment I wonder at a life without Levi. He makes me smile every day. The kind of smile that I can feel coming straight from my hear and shining out of my own eyes as I watch him. He is learning and progressing every day.  What a busy little boy he has become. All of his little accomplishments make him so proud. He has been reaching for people for awhile now. But in the last week he has really grown attached to his dad and reaches for him all the time. Cory loves it. He has been crawling like a champ for almost a month now. If I put him in the living room and go into the kitchen it is usually a matter of a few moments that I can hear his little grunts coming down the hall. When I peak my head around so he can see me, he stops wherever he is and puts up one hand, signifying that he wants me to picks him up. I tell him to, "come get mama" and he keeps trudging along for a few more feet before he puts his hand up again. So precious. He has been pulling himself up on everything for the last two weeks. Today when he was standing against a box in his room he moved his hands to rest against his dresser and one little foot followed before he balanced and then collapsed on the floor. I just love to sit and watch him. It is as if I can see the wheels spinning in his mind as he tries to figure out how to accomplish his goal.

And so we are tackling yet another year. The best year of my life so far, I really have no doubt. As I was writing my long list of goals and pages of things I am going to accomplish this year and on a daily basis I stopped a second and looked at my little baby. There are about twenty things on my list that I want to make sure I get in every day. But when I looked at my list it said nothing about enjoying the precious moments I have with my boy. Which Is ridiculous because every moment is different from the last. Every day we can create a new memory based on the new things he is doing. And so I have another goal for each day. I am going to get down on the floor and enjoy my baby. He loves it when I get on the floor. Wherever he is he starts crawling to me as fast as he can with the biggest smile. Today we are playing peek a boo. He thought it was so funny. Oh man, to be as cool in real life as Levi thinks I am.

Motherhood has turned me into such a strange person. I understand now how, after six children, my dad will cry at the drop of a hat. I am sure I am on track to be exactly the same way. I want to cry every time I think of the early days when Levi would just lay in my arms. The first moment he looked at me as he was laying on my chest. The first time he smiled at me. The way he looked when he used to suck his thumb. How easy it was to have sleepy cuddle days in bed because he was not quite so motivated to touch everything... Even the best things in life unfold with a little bit of pain.

I better stop my ramblings before I break down and end up spending the rest of my night watching videos of when Levi was first born. Really.... a bit ridiculous.

Seven Months

My sweet boy is seven months. I cannot even believe it. He is becoming such a wonderful little friend for me. We laugh together and play together all day long. He is really working on crawling now. It is just so cute to watch him try to figure out all of his new tricks.

I had a really hard time narrowing down the pictures to post for his seven month mark.... as you can see. He was just in such a cute picture worthy mood. All of the expressions on his little face are just so ridiculously adorable. It is very difficult to keep his blocks in place now that he is so busy.

Levi is Teaching Me

I will preface this post with the statement that I realize the only thing I blog about is Levi. Life is just so busy these days, I only take the time to write about what truly inspires me. And Levi is my inspiration. 

I have written and re-written some brilliant blog posts in my head over the last few months. They were created at various times in the night, in the darkness, when my wonderful sleep was so interrupted by a gambit of baby noises and movements. I told myself I would take the next opportunity of jotting down the quick succession of profound thoughts. So I here I sit, after just one of those early evening sessions where I found myself wishing away the time. And not just the time, the most precious moments of my life. I don’t mean to say that I am wishing for time to move forward. This is exactly what I always fight against. And yet, this is where my inconsistency comes in. Life is so busy. There is always something to be done. There are always a million things going through my mind. I have found myself neglecting to enjoy the sweet moments with my baby because I feel the need to get to my ‘to do list’, which really is nothing more than meaningless busyness in the grand scheme of life. Levi is teaching me so many things about what is really of import in this life.

We had a long day of shopping today, and Levi was a champ as I dragged him from store to store for nearly 12 hours. Our schedule was thrown off and I didn’t want to make him suffer through a tiring and lengthy bedtime scene. So I decided to nurse him and pat him to sleep as quickly as possible. It took longer than I anticipated and I found myself having moments of impatience and feeling the urge to run out and text somebody something or check something online. How ridiculous is that. And then I realized what I was doing. All of the stupid little things in life could wait. I lay down in my bed and pulled that little miracle close to me and just cuddled with him. If he had been laying in his bed on his own he would have been wiggling all over the place, flipping from his back to his tummy, and going into his “downward dog” position of feet and head with his butt in the air. But since I was laying there next to him he snuggled up next to me and just lay there peacefully. His eyes got heavy and he would just shake his head a little or cuddle his face into my chest. I let everything else fade away, as I should have in the beginning, and enjoyed the moment.

My mom always tells me a story about when she spent hours in the night rocking Danielle when she was a baby. She says that it is one of her favorite memories with her babies. I realize now what she meant. But you have to make the decision to enjoy those times. You can get so caught up in your frustration and fatigue and lose sight of the beautiful opportunity to make the most special memories.

 

Half a Year

Six months old already. Levi weighs almost 17 pounds. He is 25.5 inches long. He is cute a pro at sitting up these days. And he loves to roll all over the place. He has the most wonderful, sweet, little nature.

The Silly Little Things

It is funny and a little ridiculous, all the silly things one ponders when on the brink of an unknown and life changing adventure. In the few weeks before I had Levi I remember thinking how weird it was going to be that I was going to be “one of those people” who has toys all over their living room and tiny little clothes scattered around. I remember wondering how I could get away with having the necessary toys when needed, and yet keeping them out of site at other times.

The changes that have taken place in me are clearly demonstrated in these little things. Not only do I not care about the fact that I have toys strewn about, I love the way my house looks with them. All the stuffed animals, the singing toys, the tiny mismatched socks, all of these things are evidence of something so wonderful to me – the presence of that little boy in my home.

I have become such a weird person. I literally feel joy well up inside me when I look at his little clothes in the laundry basket and envision how cute he looks in every little thing.

That being said. We went out the other day to catch a few pictures with the fall colors. He was not in a smiling mood, mostly because he was so focused on his new trick – sitting up. I know I am partial, but his serious expression is every bit as cute as his smile.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Five Month Old

My little prince is five months old. Such a sweet, smiley little guy. I just adore him.

A Bedtime Story

I rocked my baby to sleep tonight. Because of my determination to have a baby who goes to sleep on his own, I have not often does so; which is probably why this evening made such an impact on me. There is nothing like being a mom when your baby is crying hysterically and the minute you pull him up into your arms he quiets down and snuggles into your neck. I could hear his quick breathes as he was trying to calm himself down. I just held that precious little being in my arms in the darkness and started singing “how he loves us” and rocked him back and forth. His little hand found my face and neck in sweet baby caresses. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness I could just barely make out his heavy little eyes looking up to where he could hear his mommy’s voice. It wasn’t long before I was crying in the darkness…silly girl. It was a great combination of things… a heavy heart at how quickly the time is passing, pain at the thought of my sweet baby being too big to rock to sleep, gratefulness that I am the one who is able to comfort him above all else, pride in being the mom of precious Levi. I rocked him and held him close to my heart long after he fell asleep.

I had to take a moment tonight to jot down this memory because I know all too well how quickly it will fade. It hurts me to think of how many special moments I have already had with Levi that will fall by the wayside on this road called life.