Fun with Levi!

Little Levi has been a busy little boy this month and Christmas hasn't even happened yet! We are all very excited for Christmas to come, just watching Levi play with the wrapping paper when I have been wrapping presents is priceless. This weekend should be a good time.

We started out the month with Levi's second cousin Ellie's first birthday party.  There were a lot of people there for him to see and he liked playing with new toys that were not his. :) Ellie may not have been as excited as he was to share these toys!



Not so sure I want to share....




These taste good!




I want one of these for Christmas, but in blue please!


That was on Saturday and then on Sunday we went to help Grandma and Grandpa Schmidt pick out their Christmas tree at Hampton Hills Tree Farm.  Levi did great! It was pretty cold out, but it didn't seem to bother him.  We just put his car seat in a sled and off we went!



Here we go!




Checking in, he was doing great!




What is going on!?




Found one! Too windy over there, had to move to get away from the wind.




Then the next weekend we had the BIG snowstorm! We were pretty much snowed in for the whole weekend.  We did venture out on Saturday for a few hours to go to Logan's (Pat & Kelly's little boy) first birthday party in town. We only stayed a few hours, but it was a fun time!

Levi has been getting very active this month! We cannot just lay him on the floor and expect him to be "right there" when we get back. He tries to either find where you went or move to find a new toy to play with. He is army crawling now or just rolling to his place of interest.  He favors backing up versus going forward, but he is starting to attempt the forward way now.



I am trying to get to you but I can't!

He went to one physical therapy appointment for his "torticollis" with Grant last week. He had a good appointment and we are already seeing improvement.  We have been doing at home exercises with him and he is getting better at tolerating them. He has another appointment on the 3rd of January and that will probably be the last one he needs. This Monday he started getting a bad cough again so Grant took him to the Doctor. We actually had an appointment already scheduled for his ear re-check so it worked out perfect.  His ears were better and she said it was just a cold virus, nothing to treat it. Figured that, so we just are elevating his crib mattress again and he has shown improvement this week thankfully.  His cough was hard to watch and hear!

Other than that, he has been LOVING his Johnny Jumper. That is by far his favorite thing to do these days. He had a sleepover with Carter last weekend, she was loving helping Levi with anything she could think of that he needed. (Often times more than he needed of course :) ) And we went to visit Santa as well.  He didn't cry, he didn't laugh... just typical Levi, stared and was expressionless haha.




Hard to get him to STOP jumping for a picture!



Loves his new toy from Grandma Thurmes



I told Carter to get close to him for a picture but she said he would jump on her :)




I love chewing anything I can find!



Levi's first visit with Santa.. Couldn't get a smile in, too many people behind him to look at!



This month is flying by! We have been busy with everything I mentioned above and then Grant just wrapped up his semester at school this week. He is more than excited for a month off, he had a very busy semester with a full load schedule, working, hockey, and Levi. Daycare was closed today through Friday so Grant spent his first day off home with Levi. Then I am with him tomorrow and then we are off to Willmar on Friday for Christmas. I was brave this week and went to the outdoor Vikings game with Jess and Adam who are home for Christmas from Boston. We had a great time, too bad the score did not reflect this! But it was an experience to say the least, and we are glad we got the chance to go. I am excited for this weekend and I will post pictures of Levi's first Christmas sometime next week!

Half way to being ONE!

Well, Levi is now six months! He is a growing little boy.  Here are his stats from his 6 month well check:

• Weight: 16lbs, 1oz. ....30th percentile
• Length: 27.5 inches ....81st percentile
• Weight for Length: .....13th percentile
• Head circumference: ....75th percentile

November was a pretty tough month for the little guy.  He had a cough, runny nose, etc for a few weeks so I finally brought him in.  To my shock, he had a double ear infection! I never would have guessed that. He wasn't grabbing his ears or being fussy at all.  So we had him on Amoxicillan for ten days. Then at his well check this week, she looked in his ears and he still had it in one ear. So we got a stronger antibiotic now and hopefully that will work. He has to go back in three weeks to get those checked as well as his second dose of the flu shot.

We had his appointment at Children's on the 23rd. We were finally assured that the bump on his head (from the vacuum attempt at birth) will go down completely.  The Dr said he had never not seen one go away and that it just takes time. So that was good news. And then we talked about his flatness of his head and he wouldn't tell us he needed a helmet or didn't need it since it was purely cosmetic at this point. We decided not to go with the helmet. It is a huge commitment and I can already see his head getting better as his bump is going down. They did however find that he has a mild case of torticollis on his right side. We never noticed this until they pointed it out! Basically, Levi will not turn his head completely to the right. So we have some at home exercises to correct this that we do with him everyday and he is supposed to start physical therapy once a week too, but they haven't called me to schedule anything yet.

Thanksgiving week brought the flu to our family... Well to Grant and Levi.  I am still crossing my fingers I do not get it.  I had flu symptoms for a few hours, but nothing like those two.  We were getting ready to leave for Willmar on Wednesday and Levi started throwing up. We contemplated even going, but we decided to give it a try.  The ride out was pretty bad because of the snow, so it took us a long time to get there. Levi got sick a few times, but he was a trooper, smiling in between. It was hard to see him puke the first time since he doesn't know what is going on and it takes his breath away. So we stopped to clean him up and get him some Pedialyte. He pretty much just drank that all of Thanksgiving Day and started coming around that night. He didn't sleep very much so we were all exhausted on Friday. It was a fun, fast trip. Grant got to get some hunting in with his dad and uncle and it was nice to see everyone, hopefully the next time we are there, everyone is healthy!! We came home Friday night and then on Sunday Grant woke up with the flu pretty bad.  He was out of commission until Tuesday. Since then, we are all good to go, my fingers are crossed it stays this way!!

Levi continues to be a very good eater. We got the okay to start giving him the meats and dinners baby foods now so it is funny to see his reaction when he tries those for the first time. He still LOVES his fruits more than anything though. I started giving him some fresh fruit in those mesh holders, that is his favorite thing to do after daycare.  Well that, or sip on a sippy cup and make a mess :) He is starting to roll over non-stop, this makes diaper changes quite a pain sometimes! But he makes us laugh. He is starting to scoot or roll towards you when you pull a toy away from him too. That is our new fun little game we play with him. So we are not far away from fully baby-proofing our house. Gates will be up soon!

He still just has his two teeth, although, I think another one is on it's way. He is starting to be a drooly mess again. We will see if he will let me look in his mouth this weekend to investigate. Bath time is still his favorite thing ever. He splashes almost all of his water out of his tub by the time we are done. It is a very nice way for him to wind down and get all of his energy out before his bed time bottle.

We didn't take too many pictures this month, but i have a few to share. We also went and got some family pictures taken, although we were NOT impressed. We are not going back to that place!! There were a few good ones though as you will see.

We will see what this month brings us! Levi loves looking at all the Christmas lights and feeling our Christmas tree. It should be a fun month!

October Madness/ 5 Months!

October once again was a busy month for us.  We started out the beginning of the month with my sister Melissa’s wedding.  It was fun for Levi to finally meet a lot of family that doesn’t live around here.  He was a trooper for the most part, but teething had begun so he was starting to have his random fussy moments.  Grandpa and Grandma Schmidt came to the rescue and picked him up and Grant and I enjoyed ourselves the rest of the night at the wedding with no worries.

After we recovered from the wedding, it was back to school, work, and daycare for us.  Grant has been working every weekend he can so he is starting to get pretty exhausted. Our days and weeks go by quick since we are so busy.  That is good AND bad! Levi is growing so fast.  This month he is becoming much more independent.  He rolls over every time we lay him down, his new favorite is back to tummy which he used to hate. We are finding him on his tummy pretty much every morning now, he must have realized it is much more comfortable. (At least his mom thinks so!)  Some nights he gets stuck in certain positions that he cannot get out of since he sleeps in flannel sleep sacks! But he will cry and let us know to come in and help him and will usually fall right back asleep.


His two bottom teeth have finally popped through! It has been a long month or so of random fussiness, but I can see and feel both the tops of them now. Next blog post I am sure I will be able to get a good picture of them. He has also been fighting a runny nose off and on for the last couple weeks as well, so the poor guy just can't win right now. 


Carter got her sleep over in a few weeks ago and we went to the pumpkin patch.  She helped Levi pick out his small, baby pumpkin and her big, big girl pumpkin.  Then they looked at all the animals that they have out there. It was a bit windy so we didn't last too long.

Then we were off to the park for a little bit.  Carter had to show Levi how much fun the park was, he enjoyed every minute of it! I am glad he got out to enjoy it before it snows. She sure knows how to wear a little boy out.

We had a follow up appointment with Dr Reinhardt last Friday for his bump on his head. She seems to think it is getting a little better but she is concerned the bones are closing too fast so she wants us to keep our two appointments with the pediatric neurosurgeon's at Children's on November 23rd. We will see what they have to say and go from there.  I am hoping the Dr's see progress now that he is not really on the back of his head as much as he used to be. He was 14lbs even at that appointment.  I will keep you posted!


And the only other EXCITING news is.... We got engaged! Grant surprised me last Monday night with a ring that he went and picked out all by himself.  Of course I gave him ideas over the last few years, but I couldn't have been more surprised! I love it and I stare at it everyday. Knowing me, we have already got a wedding date set of August 27th! Joline and I were quick to get to work the Tuesday after. Here is a picture of the ring!

I think that is all that we were up to for the month.  I will do another update for surely after the Dr appts on the 23rd, but hopefully before.  I also want to wish a HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY to my goddaughter Charli Lynn today!

That's all!

4 Months!

Levi's Growth Percentiles:

Weight: 14 lbs 0 oz, 40th percentile

Length: 27 inches, 80th percentile

Weight for length: 10th percentile

Head: 90th percentile

His Dr. Appt went very well, he only cried for ten seconds after his shots, until I picked him up.  Everything is looking good except his head came up yet again. I am really wishing we could go back to delivery day and I could say NO to the vacuum! Oh well.  His head is getting too big, too fast and the bump decreasing isn't catching up yet. So she wants us to go to another specialist at Children's.  Of course we couldn't get in until November 23rd, but the appt is scheduled. She also wants us to come back at the end of October to see if it has made any progress.  So this month, we will be doing LOTS of tummy time so his bump can have a break. She also gave us the go ahead to try some cereal with him, I have to say, it is pretty funny! He likes to blow bubbles more than eat :) 


Here he is all tuckered out after the dr appt....

Then when he woke up, we tried some food.....

 

He likes putting it in his mouth and then sucking his thumb ha.  He will get the hang of it soon I am sure!
Then after eating, we had some tummy time.  He is really starting to lift his head now.

 

Nothing else really exciting going on around here.  We have my sister's wedding this weekend so we will all be busy with that.  Levi will be having a sleep over at Grandma and Grandpa's on Saturday. After this weekend, things should start to slow down for us! Thankfully :-) So next Dr Appt with our regular Dr is on October 28th and then with the specialist on Nov 23rd. 


Here is the little man at four months today.....

Adventures with Levi

Well, once again, we have had a very busy month! I sure hope time slows down soon, Levi is getting so big. He is developing his little personality and I love seeing what new things he does everyday. He loves tummy time and he is starting to lift his head to look around now when he is on his tummy. He will follow you all around the room, so he will let you know if he would rather be doing something with you than laying there! It is quite funny. He is starting to like his excosaucer now that he can almost reach the bottom, he likes to be in this for about twenty minutes tops ha.



This past weekend we left for Breezy Point for Grant's cousin Mandy and Tony's wedding. The weather was awesome, a little cold, but nice for sure. Everything up there was beautiful, the scenery, the wedding, everything! Grant got to get out and golf a few times, so he was definitely happy about that. This will be the first summer since I was probably in high school that I did not golf ONCE all summer! Next summer I will have nothing to recover from, so I will get back at it. The ride up was a little long for Levi, so he was pretty tired when we finally got there.



However, it didn't take him long to hear a bunch of new voices so he woke right up!


All the excitement with the new people caused him to wet through his diaper, thankfully we had a new outfit for him. :)


While the guys went golfing, Levi and I went shopping with Grandma, Great Grandma, and Uncle Wade. You can see what Levi thought of shopping, about the same as his dad thinks of it!



And the best part of the weekend, Levi got to go swimming for his first time! I was so excited to bring him to the pool since he loves his baths so much, however, the pool was not nearly as warm as his bath. But, he didn't hate it, didn't love it... Just liked chilling! Hopefully the next pool is a little warmer so he plays and splashes more.

Before

Hmm... what is going on?






Then Saturday night was the wedding. I didn't take my camera out much at all, it is easy to forget with a baby! This was Levi at the end of the night, he did SO good until he was tired. I hope this isn't what he thinks of weddings, you have one left buddy then you are done until next summer!



Our week has been pretty busy, we got back from Breezy Sunday night and Levi suddenly started teething about an hour before we got home. We finally had to pull over just to hold him for awhile. It was a rough beginning to the week, but he seems to be better now. He is drooling a ton, so I am sure it isn't far from coming through. Thankfully, Tylenol seems to help him when nothing will console him. But just look at his face, how can you not just want to cuddle!




I forgot to mention his baptism was a few weekends ago, and I took NO pictures! So I will have to get them from other people so I can share. Levi has his well check and shots next week and I will update with his stats after that. Then we have my sister's wedding and things should finally start to slow down for us! Levi and I were all ready for the first Vikings game... now if they could just WIN a game!!