Fill Us Up & Send Us Out: Levi: Weeks 31 & 32 Summary

Holy cow (no pun intended), these last two weeks have been a whirlwind! Honestly, its going to be hard to recap. I've stopped taking note of Levi's schedule each day and what he eats for each meal. It's become so consistent now, there isn't really a need to--which is nice. Here's a brief overview:

FEEDING
Nursing is continuing without issues. Levi still nurses anywhere from 10-20 minutes per session, depending on the time of day. One thing that has changed in this area is his willingness to nurse from my left side (sorry if this is TMI, but I think it's important to note for my future reference). The past two weeks, he has been completely refusing that breast. I've had to completely change the way I hold him in order to eat from that side (went from the "cradle hold" to the "football hold"). He seems to like that positioning a bit better, but he still really struggles with that side if there are other things going on to distract him. I've noticed a decrease in milk supply on that side as well, so I'm wondering if that is just his process of weaning himself. He is still going 4 hours between feedings, so he isn't phased by this change at all.

Solids are going strong too. He consistently has rice cereal mixed with fruit every morning. His afternoon meals have varied these past two weeks (mainly because we had VBS every morning during week 32). We would get home from VBS every day around 1 PM, so I would just nurse him, put him straight to bed, and then offer him solids after his nap in the late afternoon. Because we did this, he wasn't very hungry for a "dinner" meal everyday.

Levi hasn't tried any new purees lately--we are still going through the homemade ones that I had made a few weeks ago (carrots, sweet potatoes, peas, mangoes, peaches, prunes, applesauce, and avocado). The past two weeks, he has tried some new finger foods though! We've offered him waffle fries from Chick-Fil-A, homemade chicken pot pie, sauteed green beans with white rice, and penne pasta with marinara sauce. He loved all of them!

NAPS
This area hasn't changed too much. He is still taking at least one 2-hour nap per day, sometimes two. VBS this past week threw him off quite a bit--he was definitely overtired and overstimulated by the time we got home, so he didn't nap very well all week. On Saturday, the day after our week of VBS, he took two 3-hour long naps! We were amazed. That just goes to show how exhausted he was! I'm hoping to get back on track with his normal naps this next week.

WAKE TIME
Still anywhere from 1.5 hours to 2 hours, depending on the nap he took previously. He now puts his thumb in his mouth as soon as he is ready for bed, which is a great signal.

Levi can officially sit up without leaning forward and without assistance! Yay! I feel like he is suddenly such a big boy. Now that he is able to do that, he doesn't care to lay under his floor gym anymore, except during his first wake time in the morning. And he is still a jumping maniac!

Also, he can officially scoot around our wood floors (when he feels like it!). One morning, he had completely wedged himself between our living room wall and our couch. Time to baby proof!

NIGHTTIME
During week 31, I remember Levi sleeping well through the night. Week 32 was very sporadic due to VBS. His schedule during the day was completely off, so he woke at least once (sometimes twice) per night. It was usually due to him rolling over.

PERSONALITY
I feel like Levi's personality has blossomed even more in these past two weeks, as cheesy as that sounds. He is just a happy and content baby in general, but the past two weeks he has been ridiculously fun! He has become more clingy towards me, which I'm trying to really watch. I think it's just his age. I've been trying to pass him off to other people when possible, so that he is still okay with unfamiliar faces. He did surprisingly well in the church nursery for 4 hours straight all week long, which made me really proud of him!

We've noticed, even more so, how inquisitive Levi is! He loves to be outside or just out-and-about so that he can take in all the new sights. He has started to lean his head forward in his carseat so that he can see out the window better. It must kill his neck! We've started looking into convertible carseats, so that we can transition him to that in the next couple of months. We think he'll be more comfortable and he'll be able to see more!

Something that has really developed is Levi's relationship with Brian. It just gets stronger with each week that passes. The little man just adores his daddy and he'll find him across the room to give him a big smile. I love that!

OUR SCHEDULE
7:00-7:15 AM: nurse, give solids (cereal, fruit and/or yogurt), playtime on floor gym
8:30-8:45 AM: nap
11:00-11:15 AM: nurse, give solids (one fruit, one veggie, and/or BLW), bathtime, work on motor skills
12:30-12:45 PM: nap
3:00-3:15 PM: nurse, run errands if needed, playtime
4:30-5:30 PM: 3rd nap usually falls somewhere in this gap if he needs it, he usually does at this point in time
6:00 PM: sometimes I offer solids (one fruit, one veggie and/or BLW)
7:00-7:30 PM- nurse, bedtime (we had to move this a bit earlier once he dropped his 4th nap--he just can't make it to 8 PM anymore without it)**

**His feeding times were still the same during the week of VBS. I went to the nursery at 11 AM everyday to nurse him at church. His nap times just varied though--usually he only got a 30 minute nap in the morning at church.

OUTINGS/EVENTS

The past two weeks have been pretty packed! Here are some of the highlights:

Playing and reading on the seminary lawn.