Levi: 13 Months

This sure has been one long, eventful month! It's strange to me to be writing an update on Levi for a full month. I feel like I have to think back so long ago! He has been such a joy this month. Seriously, he has just been full of life and happiness and fun. Brian and I literally go to bed every night and talk about how we can't believe how we just love him more with each day that passes. What's crazy is that Brian is usually the one to initiate these conversations--Brian, the least sentimental, least mushy, person that I know. He also asks me if he can go wake him up and just wrestle with him one more time for the night; to which my answer is always NO.

Levi has just blossomed this month! I mean, he was always a pretty happy, social little guy, but this month we have really noticed his love for people--especially kids. He is usually the best little sidekick if we are out and about (even during his nap time), because he loves to observe people with that inquisitive little mind of his.

Here's a semi-quick recap on this past month:

FEEDING
We are officially no longer nursing! For a few weeks, we were just down to his 7 AM feeding. A few days ago, however, he actually refused to nurse (I think because my milk supply was nearly dry) and we switched over to full sippy cup feedings that morning. It has been a bit of an adjustment (more so for me), but it is going great. I'm loving the freedom! And Levi...well, he is loving his cow's milk! That little dude gets so excited when I pull his sippy cup from the fridge. He is now drinking about 5 oz of whole milk, 4 times daily (every 3.5-4 hours). And he has certainly put on some weight to prove it!!

Solids are going great as well! Not much of a change here. I still make him oatmeal every morning, but his lunch and dinner are straight up table foods (usually the same as what Brian and I are eating). Levi is an eating machine and he will pretty much eat anything he is given. Oh, we have officially introduced him to his own utensils too! He doesn't quite grasp the concept yet.

His favorites include:
Grilled/breaded chicken
Waffle fries (of course!)
Mandarin oranges
Bananas
Any type of pasta
Beef stew
Taco soup
English muffin pizzas

SLEEP
Nothing new here, which is a good thing! Levi is still sleeping consistently from 7 PM - 7 AM. Some mornings he will even sleep until 7:30 AM since its been dark at that time. I'm so thankful for his good nighttime sleep!

Naps are great as well! Some days can be hit and miss, but normally he will take a 1-1.5 hour nap in the morning and a 1.5-2 hour nap in the afternoon. Most days, he rarely needs his 3rd nap in the late afternoon--especially if we are running errands.

MOTOR SKILLS
Levi has become a super crawler! This past week, he has been a man on a mission to get what he wants and get to it quickly. We think that he'll be lucky to walk by 15 months, because he seems so perfectly content with crawling now. Time will tell!

He is also beginning to pull up on things much more. He hasn't quite mastered pulling up to his feet yet, but he pulls up to his knees all the time! In fact, instead of laying down when I put him in his crib now, he'll pull up on the front of his crib so his little face peeks over the edge. This makes it very hard for me to leave him there to sleep!

TEETHING

Levi gained another 2 teeth this month! Just after his top central incisors cut through, his top right lateral incisor as well as his bottom left lateral incisor joined them. He had two bad napping days in a row--he would fall asleep just fine, but wouldn't sleep more than an hour each time--so I knew something was up. Turns out the next day, he had some new little chompers! Total tooth count as of today: 7. 

VOCABULARY

Little man hasn't learned any new words this month (still just "hey" and "Da-Da"...sigh), but he is most definitely trying! Everything he does or sees, I give him a word for and he does a pretty good job of mimicking me. I've started saying words like c-c-c-cow (making the "c" sound first) and Levi will almost always learn to mimic the first letter sound of any word, whether he can say the entire word or not. It's fun to listen to! I can tell his wheels are turning.

PERSONALITY

I know I've said it before and I'm sure I'll say it again, but Levi is just smitten with his daddy! I'm not offended in any way--I actually think its the sweetest thing. If Levi sees Brian coming from a distance, he'll yell for him: Daaa-daaaa! This happened the other night across the Qdoba we were eating at...and at Brian's Starbucks...and across our backyard...everywhere. They can't get enough of each other! 

The guys have started "wrestling" together after dinner every night--just to expend some energy before bedtime. I'm pretty sure this is Levi's favorite time of day! He'll egg Brian on by hitting him (gently) and laugh hysterically and drop his head into the floor as his way of saying "daddy, flip me!" I just love watching them. And sometimes I join in on the boy madness too ;)

Of course, I know Levi loves me too! But it's different. He knows I'll make him his food and change him and bathe him--you know, the stuff he needs. But he definitely knows his daddy is all about the fun!

SCHEDULE

7:30 am- sippy of milk, oatmeal for breakfast

8:45 am- nap

10:15 am- bath time

11:00 am- sippy of milk, lunchtime

12:30 pm- nap

2:30 pm- wake

3:00 pm- sippy of milk, snack (baby cookies, fruit puffs, etc)

3:30 pm- errands if necessary

5:15 pm- nap if cranky

6:00 pm- sippy of milk, dinner

7:00 pm- family time, PJ's, bedtime

OUTINGS/EVENTS

Levi had his 12 month check up earlier this month. Super healthy guy and he weighed in at 18.5 lbs and 29 inches. He really hadn't gained too much weight since his 6 month appointment, but I just know his 15 month appointment will show a huge change. The dude is chunking up! He got two shots that day and took them like a champ.

His new big boy car seat arrived in the mail! We're keeping him rear-facing for sure, but we're just loving the new style. Especially Levi. He loves that he can see out of the car window now and he has even fallen asleep in it a few times (he hasn't done that in months!)

Oh man, I can't say it enough: Levi is officially getting into everything.

He all of the sudden learned to drink from my Camelback...and he adored ceramic baby Jesus.

We made Christmas cookies this month with Carly and Peter! 

As well as hand print ornaments with Cherish and Seth!

Two of Levi's absolute favorites: visiting daddy at work and bath time!

Obviously, we celebrated Christmas this month! Read more about how we celebrated here. For fun, here are our pictures last year and this year before putting Levi to bed on Christmas Eve.

Obviously, my "semi-quick" recap didn't really turned out as planned. Lots to cover this month! Thanks for reading, friends!