Is his Robey showing?

My friend Dana swears that he looks like me... I just don't see it!!!

17 weeks

Dear Levi,
I can't believe that this week you are 17 weeks old.  You weighed 14 lbs. 4.5 ounces today at your appointment.  You were 26 inches long on Thursday.  You gained 4 ounces over the weekend.  Good for you! We decided today to put you on Nutramigen.  It's a new kind of formula for milk allergies.  We will see if it works.  The doctor says that if it doesn't help we are going to go see the GI specialist.  You are such an active little guy.  You love standing up (with my help of course) and jumping up and down.  You love playing with your activity gym.  You are still looking like you want to crawl.  At mom's group this morning you put your legs up under you and tried to push up on your elbows.  You tried avocado and pears this week.  You seem to like them despite the effect they are having on your bowel movements.  You got to go to Waco this week to see Daddy.  One day when it's NOT 108 outside we will have to take you to see the bears and walk on the suspension bridge.  It was toooo hot yesterday though.

I love you so much baby boy.  I'm so happy that you came in to my life a year ago.  And while I miss you being my personal heater and feeling your kicks inside of me.... I love that you are here with me giggling and laughing and kicking and playing and growing and learning.

Love,
Mommy

One Year Ago

One year ago today, William and I found out that we were pregnant.  It was a dream come true and an answer to so many prayers.

 God is good! He can turn this....

 Into this!

(excuse my drugged out state)

 Be still my heart.

Around Here

Well yesterday was somewhat eventful.  You can read Levi's take on it right here.

He woke up at 4:30 screaming the saddest cry you have ever heard. Normally I'm all about letting him cry back to sleep... but this was different.  So I ran in there and tried to rock him for about an hour but he was having none of it.  So I laid him back down and he fussed another hour or so until 7.  He cried after he ate too... something just was off about him.

So we headed to the doctor.  I thought he had an ear infection.  But to be honest we still don't know the answer.  Levi's ears were totally clogged with wax.  So after a fair amount of digging the doctor said... "Just call me tomorrow if he is still off".  While we were there we did his 4 month stuff since we were supposed to go next week anyways.  Turns out Levi isn't gaining weight very quickly anymore.  He has dropped to the 25 percentile in weight.  While this is still a "healthy" weight, I just don't think he is gaining all that he could because of the reflux.  The doctor gave us another medicine to take on top of the prevacid. It's called Bethanechol.  It's basically a muscle relaxer for smooth tissue.  We will see how it goes.  He wants to see Levi more often though... so we are going back on Tuesday for another check.

We also were given the okay to start solid foods.  I'm really hoping it helps.  My doctor said start with fruits and so I chose avocado... I mean it is a fruit! And it has an incredibly high fat content which I'm hoping with help mr. skinny.  Levi liked it... but was too hungry to be patient enough with it.

I made at least a month's worth of baby food last night.  I made bananas, sweet potatoes, pears, peas (which are probably getting chucked because I couldn't get the skin to puree) and prunes.  I also have several avocados to make "on demand" because they can't really be frozen!

The Ginger

"Is it just the light in here, or is your child's hair red?"

"Does your husband have red hair?"

"Where did it come from?"

"Oh, did you adopt him? He's so cute?" ---> personal favorite

"For a second there I thought his hair looked a little red."

"Wow, you are RIGHT. In the sun it IS red."

"Do you think it will go away?"

"Even his eyebrows are red!"

"It's sooooo red."

"Were you a red head as a baby?"

"It skipped two generations? Is that normal?"

"It is STILL red."

"Dang, it's almost orange."

"I'm just going to call him The Ginger."

"Are you sure he is yours?"

"He looks more and more like the mailman every day."

"Do you like it?"

"It's looking a little more brown. {until Levi moves into some natural light} Oh, nope... still red."

"I knew a girl with red hair once... but not THAT red."

"He looks more like my child than yours." ----> I happen to have several red headed friends!

"Who is the father?"

Soooo Lucky!

For the record... Levi was a trooper during this photoshoot.  It was sooooo hot and he was tired. At least we got a few smiles out of him and he didn't scream the whole time!

The Huge Lump in My Throat

I keep trying to swallow... as if it's just some sort of stuffiness that stuck in my throat.  But of course, it won't go away.

I think about what is happening and just wish that it was a bad dream.  Yes, we signed up for this... but it doesn't make it any easier.  Yes, I just have to make it 37 more days this first time... but that doesn't make it any easier.

And of course Levi just has to be his daddy's twin... right about now I wish he looked like me.  So that when I kiss him the lump in my throat doesn't get bigger. I know it will get easier, but right now I can't even squeak out the "d" word in front of Levi... Daddy.

People say,  "so you are used to this" when I explain how much time we have spent apart... but trust me... it NEVER gets any easier. They say, "at least you have Levi"... but he will NEVER replace my husband. And my favorite two things people say, "the time will fly by" and "you will be so busy with Levi you won't notice William's not there".... Really? Thanks, I'm aware of how fast the time will go by.  When William gets home Levi will be 18 months old.  I wish I could pause life so that William won't miss it all.  And do you really think I won't notice that William isn't here? I'm not THAT busy.  I have one child... not four... Levi isn't that time consuming. And seriously for the one millionth time... YES! I'm going back to work.  I cannot sit at home all day... I understand that taking care of a child is not "sitting at home". But being at home is hard enough when I need/have to be here.

So, if you think about asking me "How do you do it?" Think again... Do I have a choice? Can I run away right now and not "do it"? How do you "do" hard things? There's your answer... that's how I do it.

And no, he won't be home for Christmas.

16 weeks old

Dear Levi,
You are 16 weeks old.  You found your feet this week.  You've been hanging on to them and pulling them into your mouth.  You are still my happy boy.  You love to talk.  You are making lots of vowel sounds and some "g" sounds.  You are also gurgling and blowing bubbles.  You have lots of fun playing with all of your toys.  You like to be read to and also think your own voice is hilarious.  You are wearing 6-9 month clothes... this outfit is a 9 month outfit.  I can't believe how big you are getting! You are eating close to 32 oz. of formula a day.

We love you baby boy!
Love Mommy

New blog

Check out Levi's new blog....

Dear Daddy, Love Levi

Deployment Bucket List

Everyone should have goals... even an army wife in a deployment. So here is the list of things I want to do while William is gone...

For me:

• Lose the baby weight
• Run a half marathon (or two or three)
• During the summer meet up with other people at least twice a week (failure), during the school year at least once a week
• Read a book each month (June: Divergent, July: Insurgent, Matched, August and Septmeber: none)
• Blog here twice a week 
• Become active at church

For William:

• Blog on Levi's blog everyday... including a picture
• Send him a care package every other week once he is in country
• Get my school involved in sending mail to his team

For Levi:

• Schedule a play date with a friend at least once a month
• Get the playroom in order for him
• Plan an awesome first birthday party
• Make Daddy a part of every single day
• Be a good boy mom
• Make Levi's baby food

Getting Creative:

• Get better at sewing (maybe take another class)
• Make a pinterest project once a month
• Make a yellow ribbon wreath for the door
• Start a meal exchange with Jonna
• Learn to cook 20 good meals

For the House:

• Hire electrician to fix plugs and light fixtures
• Hire contractor to put in french doors in the living room and kitchen and close in door in bathroom.  
• Get the play room in order for Levi
• Get a slipcover for the couch in Master bedroom
• Get flower beds in better order (and get a load of dirt to put on them)
• Get the trees trimmed
• Decorate rooms and fill up picture frames

For our Future:

• Pay off college loans by September 2012 (our little stint with FMLA pushed this back from May)
• Reorganize filing cabinet
• Establish the "new car" fund
• Pay an extra payment toward our mortgage principle

Catch Up: Photo Bomb

On Thursday, William and I when with two of my SLP friends, and their husbands, to the Arboretum for a concert and to see the Chihuly exhibit.  It was such a fun night.  We had a picnic on a the big hill overlooking the lake and then when the sun went down we toured the exhibit again.  I'm so thankful for my amazing friends... Sarah and Erica, I'm so glad yall are in my life and have such fun husbands! 

 Levi looked up the hill at Erica and Craig all night! 

These are various pictures taken over the last week or so.  Levi has started trying to sit up, so we helped him a lot with that this week!

Look Mom... I'm sitting!

Sad face... 

Finally!!! A Baylor outfit fits me!

On Father's Day, we went to First Baptist Richardson Church for the second week in a row.  William had already decided that he liked the pastor but I was still trying to feel comfortable in one of the Sunday school classes. This week we found the prefect class for us (mostly me though) and so we joined the church on Sunday morning.  It was pretty emotional for us both.  They announced in front of the entire church that William was deploying.  I cried.  William cringed... he hates the "sympathy".  But we are very happy with our decision to join.  As I told Williams "I don't want to be a visitor for 15 months".  We found out as we were joining that Ellis Orozco (the FBCR pastor) is good friends with our old Tallowood pastor, Duane Brooks.  Williams said "See I knew I liked him for a reason".

 After church we went to brunch and Levi was making some silly faces at me while playing with his favorite toy, "the loosely defined ball" as William calls it.

Levi got himself and his daddy fishing poles.  This was they can fish together when William gets home. 

We rounded out our last weekend together with a nice grilled chicken dinner at home.  Levi even sat in his high chair and ate with us... plastic.... yum!