My Life List.

I was recently inspired to create a list of things I want to accomplish before I die--a "bucket list" if you will. So they are listed below, in no particular order. I plan to cross items off periodically as I complete them.

1. Marry a godly man.
2. Graduate with my bachelor's degree.
3. Buy a DSLR camera and take a photography class to learn the basics.
4. Become a mother.
5. Take 5-6 classes (or more) as a part of a Master's program, simply for the sake of learning.
6. Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.
7. Learn another language (at least to a level of functioning in another culture).
8. Run a 5K without stopping.
9. Travel to my grandfather's childhood home in Italy.
10. Learn to make French macaroons.
11. Bake a red velvet cake completely from scratch.
12. Take a trip to Seattle.
13. Adopt a child.
14. Get SCUBA certified.
15. Make sushi at home.
16. Grow a vegetable garden.
17. Go ice skating in Central Park. 
18. Learn how to play the acoustic guitar.
19. Make at least one birthday cake from scratch for each of my children.
20. Sit down and organize all of my recipes.
21. Pick apples and pumpkins in the Fall. 
22. Cut down our own Christmas tree one year.
23. Memorize one chapter in the Bible (or more).
24. Plan a family fishing trip in Pensacola.
25. Visit Mount Rushmore.
26. Take my kid(dos) to Disney World.
27. Read the Harry Potter series + re-watch the movies.
28. Watch and read The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
29. Go back to Kansas City and eat some BBQ.
30. Sit on the back of a Texas longhorn.
31. Frame photos for a gallery wall in our home.
32. Take a family picnic in the park.
33. Learn how to properly sew on a button.
34. Go zip-lining.
35. Go whitewater rafting.
36. Read (or re-read) 20 classic novels from this list.
37. Paint a canvas to showcase in our living room.
38. Hike through the mountains with my family.
39. Consolidate a photo book for Levi's first birthday (and each child thereafter).
40. Take a trip to both London and Paris.
41. Get a pedicure with a good friend.
42. Drive across the country with my husband.
43. Go on a ski trip.
44. Write and illustrate a children's story.
45. Learn the basics of doing henna.
46. See my family name, in person, on the wall at Ellis Island.
47. Live indefinitely in another country.
48. Take a family camping trip--in a tent.
49. Watch the entire series of Lost (because supposedly it's pretty good).
50. Dip my feet in the Mediterranean Sea.
51. Open up a coffee shop.
52. Continue to write regularly on this blog for at least 1 year.
53. Give cloth diapers a try.
54. Walk through and memorize the New City Catechism.
55. Travel to every continent at least once (okay, not Antarctica).
56. Go snorkeling in a crystal clear body of water.
57. Canoe with friends.
58. Try Ethiopian food.
59. Eat a beignet at Cafe du Monde in New Orleans.
60. Ride in a hot air balloon.


While all of these things are fun and worthwhile (and would certainly make for a life full of experiences), my ultimate goal is to grow closer to Christ, preach his words to my children, and share him with a lost world. This goal, I am not listing, as I hope to continue in this endeavor and privilege until the end of my days.

Levi: Week 36 Summary

This week was very different and very fun because we were in Florida for the majority of the time! We traveled home to Pensacola for the first time since we moved to Louisville two years ago. It was also Levi's first "road trip" and first time to meet his cousins. Needless to say, his routine and schedule were completely thrown off. Not only were we on the go for most of the time that we were there, we were also an hour behind our normal time in Louisville. So it made for a pretty interesting week!

FEEDING
Levi ate tons and tons of food. Did I mention tons? We had fun buying all kinds of jarred and "pouched" food for him--something we don't normally do because I make homemade purees for him. But for the sake of convenience, we definitely knew that buying food was the way to go for our trip! It was fun to buy him things he had tried before that were mixed together for new flavor combos, as well as foods that he had yet to try. He ate so so much (which reminded us why we try to make a lot of his food at home)! The kid probably went through $25 worth of baby food during our 5 day trip!

Because he ate so many solids, it seemed he had less and less interest in nursing. I nursed him for every feeding because I didn't want to worry about pumping during our trip, but he would only eat from about 10 minutes (if that!) from his "favorite" side. I definitely noticed a decrease in milk supply in his least favorite side. I'm trying to decide what to do from here--either keep him nursing from only one side, pump extra so that the other side produces more (and have him nurse from both again), exclusively pump and bottle feed him for the next 3 months, or just completely wean him and start him on formula. So many decisions!! Now that we are back from vacation, I'm going to see how this week goes and hopefully make a decision by the end of it.

Some new foods that Levi tried this week:
Pureed meats and veggies
Pureed pears mixed with raspberries
Pureed apricots
Whole lima beans (LOVED!)
Macaroni and cheese
Mashed potatoes
Grouper (not so much!)
Hush puppies (he loved these too!)

NAPS
Sporadic, for sure! They were finally getting regular again at the beginning of this past week, but they were short and sporadic once we got to Florida. Most of his naps were in an unfamiliar crib/bed or in the car, so it was just an off week.

NIGHTTIME
Surprisingly, this entire past week, Levi slept super well through the night! Even while we were on vacation. Usually, he wakes a ton while we are on vacation because he is in his playpen and because his daytime schedule is so thrown off. Not this time! It was so nice. He slept from his bedtime until at least 6 AM every morning (7 AM EST). Granted, his bedtimes were a bit later than usual, but he still got around 9 hours uninterrupted every night.

BATH TIME
Levi now sits directly in the bathtub without his bath seat and without assistance! I was a bit nervous about it at first, because he seemed to have trouble sitting in the water without slipping, but he has learned to keep his balance really well. He loves to play with the bubbles and splash water all over. I'm excited for some more bath time fun ahead!

OUTINGS/EVENTS
Below are some pictures from our vacation to Pensacola. It rained the entire time that we were there, which was a bit of a bummer. But we still had a nice time with family!

Levi did pretty well in the car, considering it was a 9-10 hour trip. He actually did not sleep well at all once it got dark. He would wake every 30 minutes or so and start crying, so I'm really glad we decided not to drive through the night. Brian and I think he just normally wakes up periodically in the night like that (and he'll normally get himself back to sleep), but the fact that he was stuck in his car seat and unable to move around freely upset him. On the way back to Louisville, we made it a 12 hour trip and stopped for a while in Birmingham and Nashville so that we could all stretch, eat, and have some time out of the car. That seemed to really help Levi.

Levi: Weeks 34 & 35 Summary

Life has been a bit hectic these past two weeks, hence the "two weeks in one" post! It's is flying by. My baby boy turned 8 months old during what is almost 2 weeks ago, now. How crazy is that!? Here's a recap:

FEEDING
Levi has been eating like crazy these days! I'm not sure if you could call it a growth spurt, but he definitely is beginning to need more food. Up until this point, I had still only been offering him breakfast and lunch everyday--every few days I would manage to feed him solids for dinner. It's just really difficult to figure out how to manage cooking Brian and I dinner & also feeding and getting Levi ready for bed. So I've been putting off the whole "dinner" thing. But one day last week, little man downed an ounce of a veggie, an ounce of a fruit, plus two bowls of rice cereal AND some more applesauce for dinner--so I knew I needed to make it a priority to start feeding him dinner instead of just nursing him. Obviously, he needs it! I felt extremely bad once I came to that realization. I really hoped he hadn't gone to bed hungry every night!

Nursing is still continuing on. Some days I feel that my milk supply is getting lower, so I've been trying to maintain it by drinking lots of fluids and pumping every night before bed. Levi clearly still wants to nurse--he completely refuses to eat any solids until he gets his milk. Plus, I can tell he feels comforted by nursing. But some days I feel like it is a struggle to keep him focused. He is so easily distracted--loving everything going on around him! I think we'll be taking this on a week by week basis from now on. It saddens me to think about weaning him now (something I'd NEVER thought I'd say), but it is what it is! A couple of months of formula won't kill him if that's what it comes down to.

Levi did try asparagus for the first time during week 34! He really wanted more finger foods that week (probably because of his incoming teeth) and we found that he LOVED asparagus. Maybe because it was effortless for him to pick up?

Now that Levi HAS to have three square meals a day, I've been trying to be more consistent with what I give him. Here is his "menu" each day:

Breakfast- 3 ounces (6 Tbsp) rice cereal mixed with 2 tsp applesauce
Lunch- 1 ounce (2 Tbsp) orange veggie + 1 ounce fruit + 1 ounce plain yogurt mixed with a pinch of cinnamon + finger foods (if I have something on hand)
Dinner- 1 ounce green veggie + 1 ounce fruit + 1 ounce rice cereal mixed with applesauce + finger foods (usually something from our dinner, if he is able to eat it)

NAPS
Luckily, Levi's napping has greatly improved during the past two weeks. He is now back to napping for 1-2 hours every morning, usually about 2 hours in the mid-afternoon and 45-60 minutes in the early evening.

WAKE TIME
Still basically the same as previous weeks! If he takes a shorter nap preceding his wake time, his limit is usually 1 hr and 30 minutes. If he takes a 2+ hour nap, he can stay up for 2 hours following with no problem. His favorite activity is still jumping in his Jumperoo! Boy, he loves that thing! He is also very content sitting on his quilt next to his floor gym or sitting on the rug in his room. It's been super fun to introduce him to a new toy every couple of days that he has never seen before! He loves to snuggle with and pet his Billy the Buffalo pillow pet as well.

NIGHTTIME
We had a few good nights this week where Levi slept from 7 PM - 7:30 AM without a peep! And then there was one night that he woke 7 times--literally, I counted. Early in week 34, his second tooth was cutting through, so he was in a ton of pain. I don't blame him for waking up several times in the night. Nothing I could do would console him :( This past week, however, his sleep has still been pretty sporadic and I'm not exactly sure why. I feel he has chunked up a bit in the past few days, so maybe it's been a growth spurt. We are taking things one night at a time these days!

TEETHING
Speaking of teething, Levi definitely has two teeth! They are about halfway through his gum now and they are so stinkin' cute! It's weird--it seems that his second one hurt much worse than the first. He cried in serious pain for a few days and kept holding his mouth with his hand. I felt so bad for him, but I could only give him Tylenol to help. He started making the funniest teething face and he started putting only one finger in his mouth at a time to feel his new chompers.

OUTINGS/EVENTS
Like I mentioned above, 8 months old. 8 months ago our life changed forever, mostly for the better. Sometimes for the difficult ;) It's really a joy to be this little guy's mom, even on the hard days. Brian and I always talk about how we couldn't imagine life without him now! I mean, what did we do with all that free time and all that sleep at night?!

Levi is truly getting more and more expressive and inquisitive and loving as the days go on. His favorite "toys" are plastic straws and paper tags on anything. He will literally examine any object and find a tag to chew somewhere on it! Oh, and he'll spot a plastic straw from across the room--this often happens when Brian brings home drinks after work. Levi will stare at it on the table until we finish the drink and give it to him! At least he is easily entertained, I suppose. Here are some [way too many] photos from his 8 month "photoshoot":

Another highlight of these past two weeks was our friend Kelly coming to visit us! Kelly has been living in Russia for the past two years. The last time we saw her was right before we moved to Louisville (and she moved to Russia)! She was so excited to meet Levi and we enjoyed a nice summer day with her. We went to Taco Punk for lunch (one of our favorites), Please & Thank You for coffee, and then walked to Indiana on the pedestrian bridge downtown! It was a really nice day and we enjoyed our time with her.

Last, but not least, Levi's 35th week was mostly spent hanging out with our best friends, The Crowders, as they packed up their apartment and prepared to move back to our home state of Florida. Ethan got a job as a youth pastor in Lake City and found out just a few weeks ago that they would be moving. It was a bittersweet week as we reflected on our last two years together at SBTS and made sure to get in all those last minute "to-do's" while the five [six, including Norah] of us were still together in Louisville. We ate a lot of meals together since the Crowder's didn't have much food in their apartment, we gave them some gifts, we sat around and did nothing, and we packed up their belongings. Levi will certainly miss his Aunt Anna and Uncle Ethan very much--as will Brian and I. We are so thankful that God has blessed us with their friendship!

Until next week [or two weeks from now, since we'll be in FLORIDA next week]! Levi's first road trip...stay tuned!

Levi: Week 33 Summary

Oh man, what a week! Between teething, a cold, his insatiable hunger, and recovering from VBS last week, it has been a rough week for both Levi and this mama. I am worn out. Seriously, I felt like we were back to Levi being 5 weeks old and me not knowing what was wrong with him or how to fix it. Here's a summary:

FEEDING
Nursing is the same as last week--we are pressing on. I discovered Levi's first tooth had cut through his gum last weekend! Which was exciting! But a bit nerve-wracking. We'll see how it affects the area of nursing...I have a feeling that he might be a biter.

We're still doing rice cereal mixed with a few teaspoons of fruit in the morning, without fail. I may switch him over to oatmeal this coming week, since we are just about out of rice cereal now--but it will still be the same idea. Since his tooth has started poking through, Levi seems to really enjoy more finger foods for lunch and dinner. Several days this week, he refused his normal purees for lunch (usually one fruit and one veggie), so towards the end of the week I started giving him some sweet potato "fries", chicken breast strips and asparagus spears. He really loved that! The only problem is he still does not eat a ton when we do finger foods--and I could tell in the middle of the night. He started waking almost three times nightly! Not sure if this is definitely due to him not eating as much during the day (because he never really seemed hungry when he woke), or if its due to his teething and cold. Either way, I am going to be much more diligent this next week in making sure he gets some purees down before we do finger foods, in order to rule that option out!

NAPS
Like I said, this was just a bad week! Only one day this week did Levi nap for longer than 1 hour--and even that nap was only 1.5 hours long. Not sure what happened to the 2-3 hour naps he was taking two weeks ago! It was very frustrating. I tried not to feed him when he woke early, so that at least his feeding times were consistent. And he didn't really seem like he was hungry when he woke either. I'm still baffled by what happened. I'm just hoping it was due to his teeth or his cold and that we'll be past it come next week.

WAKE TIME
Nothing new here! Still the same length of time and the same activities. For the most part, Levi was pretty happy during his wake times this week, despite his crazy sleeping patterns.

NIGHTTIME
Levi didn't sleep very well through the night all week. He did have one night where he slept from 7 PM to 7 AM, which was awesome. But I think that one was to prepare me for the rest of the week! He woke up at least two times every other night--sometimes three. Most of the time it took him 20-30 minutes to get back to sleep too. I guess we can just attribute this to his teething or to his cold as well. Hoping he gets back to his normal self soon!

OUTINGS/EVENTS
Not too many this week, though we were pretty busy! Nothing out of the ordinary or noteworthy though :)

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.

Dressing up as cows to get free Chick-Fil-A!

A long, but rewarding week of VBS.

Finding out our best friends are having a girl. Norah Rose Crowder is due on November 29th!

Well, that's all for week 31 and 32. I guess I remembered more than I originally thought I would! Until next week!

Levi: Week 30 Summary

I can't believe my big guy is 30 weeks old! It went by way too fast. This past week was an interesting week for Levi. I'll explain:

FEEDING
Feedings were pretty much the same as last week, our "new normal". He nursed for about 10-20 minutes per session and then ate his solids. Some days this week, he inhaled his solids! When he would finish a bowl of whatever he was eating and I would leave to go put the bowl in the kitchen, Levi would sometimes act like he was still hungry--he would sit there with his mouth open, kick his legs, and flail his arms! He has quite the demanding side. He is officially eating pretty much every four hours, so his feeding times line up more with the standard times to eat each meal. I like that! More about his schedule later!

Here is what he ate (breakfast / lunch / dinner):
06/29- 2 oz rice cereal mixed with 2 tsp applesauce / tried homemade pureed peas and pureed carrots / none
06/30- 2 oz rice cereal mixed with 2 tsp applesauce / tried homemade pureed peas and pureed carrots / none
07/01- 2 oz rice cereal mixed with 2 tsp applesauce / 1 oz pureed peas / 1.5 oz pureed prunes, 1.5 oz applesauce and BLW with 1 French toast stick
07/02- 2 oz rice cereal mixed with 2 tsp applesauce and 1 oz blueberry yogurt / 1 oz pureed spinach and 1 oz pureed mango
07/03- 2 oz rice cereal mixed with 2 tsp applesauce and 1.5 oz blueberry yogurt / 1 oz pureed sweet potatoes, 1 oz pureed peaches and BLW with 1/2 banana
07/04- 2 oz rice cereal mixed with 2 tsp applesauce / 0.5 oz sweet potatoes and 0.5 oz pureed peaches / 0.5 oz pureed sweet potatoes, 0.5 oz pureed peaches and BLW with 5 strawberries (yes, 5!)
07/05- 1 oz blueberry yogurt / 1 oz prunes / 1 oz pureed mango and a few spoonfuls of peas

The first two days of the week, Levi tried my homemade baby food for the first time. He wouldn't eat that much of it--I think because it wasn't pureed as thin as he is used to. Jarred baby food (stage 1) are very, very thin purees. Mine were a bit more "textured", so they took more getting used to! By the end of the week, he had no problem with the thicker purees though! He continues to love prunes, peaches, and sweet potatoes!

This week Levi tried mango and spinach for the first time. He inhaled the mango (I'm pretty sure he just loves all fruit in general!) and was very leery of the spinach at first. Like I said, it had a weird texture to it. Plus, it's spinach. I found that when I alternated spoonfuls of mango and spoonfuls of spinach, he had no problem with the spinach anymore. The few days after eating spinach, he had some constipation issues though. He was still pooping just fine, but he would strain so long to get a tiny bit out. Spinach is FULL of iron, so I think that might have been the culprit. I'm going to hold off on having him try that again for another month or so!

NAPS
Levi did fairly well with napping this past week! 4 of the 7 days, he took two 2-hour-long naps and then just a short catnap (30-45 min) in the early evening. He still has trouble transitioning sometimes--very seldom does he not wake for at least a minute or two during a nap. Sometimes, he will even stay awake for 30 minutes in his crib. But I've learned his whine/cry when this happens, so most of the time I can figure out if he'll go back to sleep or not (yea, its taken 7 months to figure this out!). This week, I didn't really have to go in during his naps to nurse him for a minute or two if he woke, which is pretty good progress! Since two of his naps have lengthened during the day, he has completely eliminated his 4th nap altogether. Even a few days this week, he didn't really seem to need his 3rd--I've kind of just started playing that one by ear.

WAKE TIME
Levi's wake time has lengthened a bit this past week as well. Things are changing all over the place! He now stays awake for about 1 hr 30 min to 1 hr 45 min for his first wake time of the day and anywhere from 1 hr 45 min to 2 hours for each wake time thereafter.

He still loves his floor gym (usually only in the morning) and his Jumperoo (he is such a crazy jumper now!). He hasn't really had too much "Bumbo time" the past week (only when I'm working and he is awake), because I'm trying to get him to practice sitting up and scooting around on his belly.

NIGHTTIME
The first half of last week, Levi woke once per night and I nursed him for 2-5 minutes to get him back into "sleep mode". The last half, he did super well. This may be due to the fact that we were really busy the last half of the week and he didn't get to bed until after his normal time. Regardless, I would nurse him whenever we arrived home (usually between 9 and 11) and those nights he slept until at least 7 AM.

The majority of the mornings this week were really overcast and rainy, so Levi slept until 7:30ish most mornings. Score! I wouldn't let him sleep past 7:30 because I wanted his schedule for the day to stay somewhat consistent.

OUR SCHEDULE
Since moving to a 4-hour schedule, everyday was fairly consistent this week, which has been really nice! Here is a rough outline of our day.

7:00-7:15 AM: nurse, give solids (cereal, fruit and/or yogurt), playtime on floor gym
8:45-9:00 AM: nap
11:00-11:15 AM: nurse, give solids (one fruit, one veggie, and/or BLW), bathtime, work on motor skills
12:45-1:00 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)

OUTINGS/EVENTS
Levi celebrated his first 4th of July last Thursday! We spent the evening with our community group--grilled hamburgers and hotdogs, watched a few neighborhood fireworks, and tried to keep all the kiddos entertained. Levi was kind of a grump the entire time. We brought along his playpen to try to get him in bed at his regular time, but he just screamed and screamed, refusing to sleep. Usually he is pretty good at sleeping in random places as we are on the go, but for some reason he was having trouble that day/week. So, I just gave in and let him hang out with us. One time, when he started getting whiny, I gave him a strawberry to suck on. He ended up eating 5 of them. And he wasn't just sucking on them--he literally ate them down to the stem. It was hilarious! Here are some photos from the big day:

That's all for this week!

Levi: Week 29 Summary

This is a summary for Levi's 29th week, beginning on 06/22 and ending on 06/28. I'm a few days late with this, apparently :)

FEEDING
Levi is still nursing about 15-20 minutes per feeding and is continuing to extend his schedule to 4 hour intervals. We are really a mixture of 3-4 hours right now. He has consistently been waking around 6:45 or 7 AM every morning, so his feedings and nap times are becoming fairly regular. I am loving the quick nursing sessions these days! But, the fact that feeding him solids and cleaning up afterwards takes about 15-20 minutes, he really is eating for about the same amount of time as previously.

Solids this week (breakfast / lunch / dinner):
06/22- 2 oz rice cereal mixed with 2 tsp applesauce /1.25 oz pureed peas and 1 oz pureed peaches / none
06/23- Bottle at church / 1.25 oz pureed peas / none
06/24- 2 oz rice cereal mixed with 2 tsp pureed peaches / 2 oz pureed carrots and a few spoonfuls of pureed peaches / none
06/25- 2 oz rice cereal mixed with 1 Tbsp pureed peaches / 0.5 oz pureed carrots, 1 oz pureed sweet potatoes, 1 oz pureed peaches / none
06/26- 2 oz rice cereal mixed with 2 tsp pureed bananas, additional 1 oz pureed bananas and BLW with 1 French toast stick / none / none
06/27- 2 oz blueberry yogurt and BLW with 1 French toast stick / 1/4 avocado pureed / 1.5 oz homemade tomato soup and BLW with 1 slice white bread
06/28- 2 oz blueberry yogurt / none / none

I made some homemade baby food last week! Of what I made, Levi tried pureed peaches and pureed avocado first. He loved the peaches! He really doesn't care for avocado pureed--so I think I'll just continue to allow him to eat that whole, as a finger food. I also bought some blueberry yogurt (YoBaby) for him and he devoured it! It was the first time he had that much dairy though and I think it upset his stomach a bit, so I'll  only give that to him every few days for a while.

NAPS
He was still a bit sporadic in this area last week. Usually, he would take at least 1 two hour nap a day (most often his noon-ish nap), but all the rest varied. I'm hoping it will become more consistent soon!

WAKE TIME
Same as last week! No changes here.

NIGHTTIME
Levi slept from his bedtime to around 6:45 or 7 AM four nights this week--so he is getting back on track for sure! The other times that he woke once in the night were because of really loud thunderstorms (we had several last week) or because he rolled over onto his belly. I would nurse him for 2-3 minutes and put him right back in his crib.

MOTOR SKILLS
Little man is still working on rolling from back to tummy, sitting up, and standing with his feet flat on the floor (with support, of course). His fine motor skills are really improving as well--he has no problem picking toys/food up and bringing it to his mouth.

DIAPERING
Yea, I didn't get to that post about diapering that I wanted to. But it's still going really great! I wash his diapers every other day and its not nearly as gross as I had envisioned. I guess as a mom, you get used to bodily fluids really quickly. So it's not that bad! We are currently using: 4 Flip diapers covers + 12 inserts, 3 BumGenius 4.0 diapers, and 2 gDiapers (on occasion). The gDiapers aren't my favorite--I much prefer the others. All of those combined are plenty to last us two days worth of diapering before I have to do a load of laundry. Last week, we did use disposables during the night and at church (he can't wear cloth in the nursery due to the church policy, which is understandable). I'm really happy with cloth diapering thus far--it has so many benefits!

OUTINGS/EVENTS
Levi went in the church nursery for the first time this past week (06/22)! I was a bit nervous about it. We honestly wanted to put him in there around his 3 month birthday, but with it being flu season, we held off a bit. Then I just got in the groove of nursing him during the service, so I delayed it even more. He is getting to be a bit clingy with me, though, so I knew it was time to stretch him socially! Our service time is during his morning nap, so the workers said he was fussy the entire time, but that he did okay. I could tell he was happy to see me when I picked him up, but we'll still keep putting him in there! I think he'll get used to it eventually.

On Friday of this past week, Brian got off work in the early afternoon, so we made it a family day! We went to downtown Louisville and got coffee at a shop we've been wanting to try called "Please and Thank You." Then we walked across a new pedestrian bridge that goes over the Ohio River, all the way to the Indiana border. We technically walked to Indiana! It was a lot of fun and a beautiful day! Levi fell asleep when we were on the bridge, so we continued to walk for another mile or so along the riverside once we came back over the bridge. We actually got some nice flip flop tans! Yay!