Music To My Ears

Levi said "MAMA" for the first time tonight! I'm sure he had NO idea what he was saying, but he said it noneoftheless. P.S. Aaron is sad. He was hoping his first word would be Papa.

5 months

Happy 5 months Little Man!

Don't Kick the Turkeys

Last night Aaron & I attended the Characters for Christ dinner theatre performance of Don't Kick the Turkeys. Beth & Amy were both in the play, and did an awesome job. Amy I must add was pretty funny for an "old" lady. The food was delicious, and we had a great time seeing all of our friends. They will be performing it again tonight, so break a leg you guys. Here are some pictures from last night's performance.

Hypnotic

Let me first start by saying that I LOVE Baby Einstein! As you all know, lately Levi has been quite challenging. I promise all of you that he is getting better, and actually has been great the last few days. Due to that, I am just now getting around to posting this. Two Sundays ago was right in the middle of my crisis, and I saw my cousin Kimberly. In our conversation she mentioned that her son Logan loved Baby Einstein when he was Levi's age. She said he would watch it and gave her 30 minutes or so to take care of a few things. Well I had wanted to try the videos, but just haven't gotten around to it. Besides, I wondered how a video could hold my son's attention the complete time. I figured he would pay attention to it for a few minutes, but definitely not the whole time. Even though I was skeptical, I was at my wits end and thought I'd give it a whirl. I bought the one pictured above, and figured I'd try in the next chance I got. Well, I got my chance on Friday night. Aaron had school, so I was having a girls' night with my mom and sisters. We had gone to dinner and decided to play a game of cards once we got home. The only thing was getting Levi to cooperate. I thought now is as good a time as any, and popped the video in. We were all AMAZED! The video was completely hypnotic. It was crazy. Levi sat there the entire 30 minutes mesmorized by the music and pictures. To be honest with you, we were all a little mesmorized at first. It was the craziest thing. So, now I have a friend in Einstein.

Ever-present

God is awesome. To be honest I am quite ashamed and embarrassed to admit that I too often forget how perfect and wonderful He is. I have been feeling a pressing hunger recently to cling to Him more than ever. Just yesterday I was reminded at how the Lord is in everything. He is aware of all, in all, and knows all. Lately I have felt a little that God has been too preoccupied with other things to worry about me, but that is just not true. Knowing who God is, I know he never forgets about me. Aaron & I have been making an effort to trust the Lord in every aspect of our lives. Well, I can tell you that it is easier said then done. However, it has been extremely rewarding to put trust in Him. I thought knowing my nature, that I would worry twice as much with the things that I supposedly gave to God. It turns out that it just wasn't true. The Lord provided so much peace throughout each area of our life. It has been a huge blessing leaning on Christ for everything and trusting in Him completely. Saying that, this past week or so has been quite a test. One at which I feel I failed quite miserably. However, the Lord had patience with me and brought me back to Him. I guess I'll start at the beginning. Having Levi has been a huge adjustment for me. Don't get me wrong, it has been the most rewarding thing in my life, but that doesn't mean it has been easy the whole time. The first few weeks I was extremely anxious constantly. I somehow got into "mommy mode" and that passed, but recently I have felt the anxiousness begin to creep back in. I'm not sure why it has returned all of the sudden. I'm guessing it's due to my earlier "Frustration" post. Either way, it was returning, and it was making my life miserable. Some of you may know that when I was younger I dealt with fear of...well, everything. I'll spare all the details, but my fear controlled my life from the time I was probably 8 until I was 13. The nights were the worse; I was afraid to be alone, sleep, or leave my parents. To make a long story short, God delivered me from that bondage of fear. It has been utterly amazing the things I have done and the places I have gone simply because I wasn't afraid. I say all that to say this. The anxiousness I have begun to feel as a new mom reminds me of the same way I would feel each day when I was dealing with that fear years ago. As night approaches, my anxiousness begins to grow. I may not be so bothered by this if I hadn't dealt with controlling fear for so long in my life. I was sharing all this with Aaron last night, when I realized that I hadn't read my scriptures for the day. I took out my Bible and read Psalm 4,5, & 6. I encourage you all to read it, but it simply reminded my that God is with me in troubled times. He watches over me and protects me. He is a shield about me, a protector, and safe place to REST. How encouraging to know that when I feel like my little troubles are petty to God, He reminds me that nothing about ME is petty to HIM.

Magic Milk

So last night I caved in a gave Levi a tiny dose of Children's Benadryl. Think what you will, but we were all sleep deprived, and it was making our home quite an unpleasant place to be. Well, our "magic milk" worked wonderfully, and we all slept beautifully last night. Some may call me a bad mom or even selfish, but with the lack of sleep we were getting Levi and I were both losing patience with each other. I really felt that my frustration was rubbing off on him making us all miserable. At least now we can approach today with new energy and a little more patience. So thank you Rachel for letting me know that sometimes life calls for "magic milk" and that I'm not a bad mom for using it. And to Rebecca, thanks for the encouraging call last night. Hope your night went better too.

Frustration

How can this cute little guy make me so frustrated?

Last Friday Levi had a bad day. He didn't take a nap and was just hard to please around. At first I just thought "It's one of those days," and tomorrow would be better. Then tomorrow came. The whole weekend he was quite a pill. Sure he had his sweet moments, but he was not our easy-going little guy. Something was definitely up. Sunday night he was up every three hours! Something he hasn't done in practically 2 months. Monday rolled around, and I decided to take him to the doctor to see if perhaps he had an ear infection or a perhaps tranquilizer gun I could use. Neither. He was in perfect health, which was a great thing, but I was looking for an answer to all this fussiness and something to sedate him wouldn't have been bad either. The doctor told me he was probably cutting another tooth, so baby orajel and teething tablets it was. Fast forward to yesterday. No tooth and no better. I sort of figured by now the tooth that is supposedly coming would have reared it's ugly head by now. The days are usually better than the nights, but he still isn't back to normal yet. To get him to sleep I have had to swaddle him the last two nights. I have tried gripe water, mylicon drops, tylenol, teething tablets, baby orajel, teething rings, and bathing him; none of which have had lasting relief. All work for a little while, but none work every time. So, all you parents out there I need some words of encouragement. Any suggestions you have or similar stories you want to share comment away. Perhaps I just need to know that "this too shall pass," and hopefully SOON!

I have a minute...

Here are the rules: I have to answer the following questions with one word answers and one word only! Then I must pass it on to seven others. Here are the questions: 1. Where is your cell phone? Nightstand 2. Where is your significant other? work 3. Your hair color? natural 4. Your mother? Lifesaver 5. Your father? Dawg 6. Your favorite thing? Friends 7. Your dream last night? fulfilled 8. Your dream/goal? righteousness 9. The room you're in? red 10. Your hobby? games 11. Your fear? fire 12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? closer 13. Where were you last night? home 14. What you're not? normal 15. One of your wish-list items? shoes 16. Where you grew up?C-Town 17. The last thing you did? strolled 18. What are you wearing? flip-flops 19. Your TV? on 20. Your pet? resting .21. Your computer? old 22. Your mood? hopeful 23. Missing someone? Always 24. Your car? small 25. Something you're not wearing? make-up 26. Favorite store? Target 27. Your summer? birth 28. Love someone? Jesus 29. Your favorite color? green 30. When is the last time you laughed? yesterday 31. Last time you cried? Levi I tag: Jennifer, Khrystle, Gincy, Beth (you need an update), Amy,Shannon, Kimberly, and all others that want to play along.

Just to Brag

Today I got gas for $2.79 a gallon!!! WAHOO!!!!

Toe Jam

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about Levi sucking his thumb. Well, he has upgraded or downgraded depending on how you look at it. Enjoy!

I'm Rolling!

Levi rolled over for the first time yesterday. It took lots of coaxing, but he finally did it. Amy & I were so excited that our rejoicing scared him pretty bad. Today I thought I would see if he would do it again or if yesterday was just a fluke. Well, the kid is rolling all over the place. I did get his first attempt this morning on video for you all to enjoy. It's a good thing because every time I've put him down today he has kicked his feet up and roll himself right over. I can barely keep up with him. I never thought that something as small as rolling over would make me so proud of my little boy, but I smile bigger every time he does it. I love this little guy so much. Way to roll Shoogie Boogie!

Georgia Aquarium

Alison was in town this past week, and we decided to go to the Georgia Aquarium for the day. We had a great time hanging out and seeing all the fish and animals. After our trip we went to the Varsity for lunch...yummy! Alison - it was so good seeing you. I hope you had a great trip!

Faux Hawk

As Levi grows I try to post all the things that I love about him. Cleverly, I label them as part of my "favorite things." Right now one of my favorite things about him is his faux hawk. He is slowly growing hair, but right now he is only growing hair right on top of his head! It sticks up all the time on it's own just like a little mohawk. Somedays it's easier to manage than others, so I just started letting it do as it will. I think it is so cute. I hope you can see it a little in the pictures. They don't do it justice. Here's to you my little rockstar!!

Sorry he's crying in this one, but it shows it so well.

4 Month Check-Up

This past Sunday Levi turned 4 months old, and he had is 4 month check-up yesterday. He weighed 17 pounds 11 ounces, and was 26 and three quarters inches long. He is in the 90th percentile in weight and 95th percentile in height. The doctor says he is doing fantastic and growing great. He hasn't quite rolled over all the way just yet, but the doctor says that bigger babies usually take more time to roll over since they are bigger, so we are just waiting. He has already cut his first tooth, and I believe he is already working on a second. He has started laughing all the time and just this week has started talking (babbling) up a storm. We are so blessed to have him in our lives. I've included some of my favorite pictures from the past few weeks for you to enjoy.