Levi {Seven Months}

Levi Hudson - you are 7 months old! What have you been up to??

You are our little featherweight! You are so tiny...a couple pounds smaller than your brothers were at this age. I am loving that you are so little. It makes you seem like you are staying a baby longer...just what I wanted!! You weigh about 17 lbs, and are wearing 6-9 month clothes. You are in a size 3 diaper, and I don't see you moving up anytime soon.

You still nurse just before bedtime and occasionally before a nap. Other than that, you take 6 oz bottles of formula, every 3-4 hours. You still aren't crazy about baby food, but eat bites of mashed table food just fine. You love carrots, green beans, peas, potatoes, bananas, and sometimes avacado.

You are still a rockstar sleeper. You sleep all night most every night, take 2 good long naps a day, and have even started putting yourself to sleep in your crib. I turn your soother on, give you a paci and a light blankie, and you are usually asleep withing a couple minutes. Sometimes at night you will fight us little, but you are getting better.

You had your first ear infection last week, along with a yucky cold, and had to be put on antibiotics, but you got better really quickly. You still have a runny nose, but seem to be feeling much better.

You sit up like a pro now, and your balance has gotten much better. You are so happy to sit in the floor and play with your (and your brothers') toys! You are also getting up on all fours and rocking! I bet you'll be crawling by 8 months. If you can ever get the coordination part down, I think you'll have it made, because you won't have a very big load to carry!
I should have mentioned this in your 6 month post, but you are reaching for us when you want someone to pick you up. I love to see those little arm reach up for me!

You still jabber all the time, and you say MaMa very plainly, especially when you want to be held! We have heard you say Dada some, and we are working on byebye. I am going to start working on a few signs with you soon, but I don't want to start too early. Beckett started learning them at 10 months, and he caught on super quickly, so I think I will start in a few months.

You are still just the happiest, most easy going, laid back little guy I have ever seen. We love your little scrunched up smile and the way you bury your head into our shoulder when you get teased. You bring so much JOY into our lives, and we are so very thankful for every little thing about you.
Happy 7 months, my sweet baby! I can't believe we are on the downhill slide to one!!

{Today}

Today, I was tired. It was a good kind of tired . . . I've been keeping a friend's sweet baby boy all week. But still, I was tired. When evening came, my new little buddy had gone home, it was just me and my boys, and they were begging me to do something really fun. I just wanted to prop my feet up and be lazy for a bit. You know how it is. Sometimes I just don't feel like being creative enough to build a fort out of Lincoln Logs or energetic enough to play cops and robbers.

It was 75 degrees outside . . . in the middle of January . . . so I knew we couldn't pass up the opportunity to get out of the house. So, we slipped on our shoes, left Brent to stay with Levi, and went for a walk in the woods behind our house. These boys love an adventure in the woods.

We walked on logs.

And Brody had fun playing photographer for a while.

(That's Brody's duck call in my hand. He thought just maybe we'd see a duck he'd need to work in a little closer...)

I bet they played on this branch for ten minutes. Who knew what fun awaited us in those woods behind our house.

We were only out there for about twenty minutes, but to these guys, it was fascinating. And it took no excessive thinking or energy on my part. Success.

Today, I also did a lot of thinking about how this is the last few weeks I'll spend with this little boy as a four year old.

The little tiny boy with the head full of dark hair that they handed to me on that Sunday afternoon in February. "Here's your son," they told me.

The baby boy in the snuggly pajamas who taught me how to be a mama. Who taught me what selfless love is really all about.

When they handed him to me, the world became a much more beautiful, much scarier, much more wonderful place. Because I had a son to share it all with. To protect and keep safe. To love.

That contagious little smile had me from the very beginning. This boy lights up the world everywhere he goes. He is stubborn and independent, but I pray that God uses those attributes to do something big one day. I pray that he has an incredible passion for Christ, above everything else.

I'm not normally one to get sad or emotional over birthdays. Afterall, they are celebrations! But, going from four to five seems like a big milestone. It's a step from toddlerhood to boyhood. My firstborn will go to school this year. He will start to need me less and less.
But we will celebrate him big in a few weeks. Celebrate the one who first made me a mom.
And he has two little brothers who think he hung the moon. One of which is just like having him as an infant all over again. I think Levi is Brody's twin, just four years later.
In the meantime, I'm going to take in everything I can of him being four.

This and That

This sweet baby is sitting up so well now, so I have started letting him take a bath sitting on a towel in the big bath tub! He enjoys bath time so much more now! And I just have to say. I absolutely cannot get enough of that precious little smile!


This boy totally melts my heart. Well, they all do. I guess I should say that I can't believe I am blessed enough to have another little boy who melts my heart just as completely as the other two do. So blessed.

These are the shirts I am working on for the boys (and for a few friends) for Valentine's Day! I really have so much fun doing them. And aren't they cute??!!

We love that Mom and Brooke have been coming over in the afternoons some days to play. And we have had some warmer days lately, so Brooke and the big boys jump on the trampoline or play on the swingset while Noni and I play with Levi on the back porch. I look forward to summer when they are out of school and can play with us more often!

I got this new little outfit for Levi at Target last weekend. I just love the bright colors on him!

Brody keeps telling us that he is ready for t-ball to start again! He asks everyday to go out and play. So, when I can, I try to go out with him and throw to him some. He gets so excited about it. And for four years old, he is really good! I definitely think he got his athletic ability from his Daddy!

I also had to take Mr. Levi to get his shots this week :( This is one of my least favorite things to have to do. I know it's good for them, but it's so hard to have to hold them down! He did really good though. Only cried for a second. He ran a little fever the next day, but a little dose of Tyenol took care of it, and he was good as new :) In the picture below, we were in the waiting room...poor little guy didn't know what was coming!

This is our play room. Lately, I have been feeling as though we are just drowning in toys. I am sure every parent does. But good grief! They are everywhere! And Brody's birthday is in a month. This was right after I had cleaned the playroom one day. It rarely looks like this! But I am trying really hard to keep it more organized. And I am racking my brain trying to think of ways to store them all better. These bins on the floor just get dumped out daily. Toy organization makes my head spin. Or maybe that's just organization in general. Ha!

I love pulling out old toys that were Brody's, and then Beckett's, and now Levi gets to enjoy them. I am flooded with memories every time. Of all of the other times the boys played with them. This drum was a favorite of Brody's. I can just see his little hands beating it now. I pulled it out of the closet a few days ago, replaced the batteries, and I think it is safe to say that baby brother likes it too!

But then again, there isn't much that baby brother doesn't like!

Bath time with the older two has become quite an ordeal. Beckett likes to jump up and down and splash and make a mess, while Brody enjoys a quieter, calmer bath to sit and play with his toys. It just got to where they were fussing at each other within minutes of being in the tub, so I have started letting them take seperate baths. It takes a little longer, but everyone is happy.

And at the end of the day, as long as we have three happy, squeaky clean little guys, that's all that matters!

My 2012 "Focus Word"

Contentment. That's my focus word for 2012. Something I desperately need to work on. Just being content with where I am in this very moment. With what I have or don't have. With what we are doing or not doing. With where we are going or not going.

I am really bad about looking forward too much. Wondering what's going to happen this year. And sometimes it causes me worry. I think about how blessed we have been so far with our health our three healthy children. And I worry. I guess every parent probably does.

But you know what? Right now, on January 13, 2012, we are all whole and happy and healthy, and I want to make the very most of today. I want to be content with today.

I also tend to constantly think about things that I could do differently around the house. Ways to change our decor, new furniture I want, updates I wish we could afford. I also think about trips I wish we could take, places I wish we could move to, things I wish I could do with my boys. And all of this causes discontent.

It's great to dream and plan and imagine, but it's so much more important to focus on what you do have right now. God has blessed me with three beautiful little boys who call me mommy and a comfortable safe home in which to raise them. I have a hard-working and helpful husband who loves us with everything he has. I have the best family and friends. We are planning a trip to the beach this summer. I have so much to be content with.

And speaking of "contentment" and "summer". . . It's getting harder and harder to be content with this cold weather. I am ready for the warmer months!! I had a newborn last summer, so I feel like I didn't get to get out and enjoy the sunshine as much as usual.

We are looking forward to picniks outside under the shade trees and evenings at the pool and sno cones and sunscreen.

But right now we will be content with watching movies snuggled under warm blankets. Footed jammies and hot chocolate. Thick coats and pink, wind-kissed cheeks.

* * *

Sometimes I get to a point in my day where I feel like I am just running around in circles getting nothing accomplished. I have a to-do list a mile long, that's getting longer instead of shorter. Yesterday was one of those day. Everything was unorganized, laundry was piling up, I couldn't get a spare minute to sit down and do some planning on Brody's birthday party coming up soon. So, I just stopped and sat down for a while and played with my children.

We played Flying Fish with Brody's prize from his dental visit yesterday morning. He is obsessed with this thing. He wanted to take it for his show-n-tell at school today, but they are on letter Z, so he named it Zoe so he could still take it. Love that kid's imagination.

We just sat in the floor and tickled each other and made silly faces for the camera and laughed. It was just what they needed.

It was just what I needed.

Oh, these boys make me so happy.

Today we are going to brave the cold and try to go outside and get some pictures of Brody for his birthday invitation. Can't believe that boy will be 5.

And we've got a party to plan! If we can get Levi and Beckett to nap together this afternoon, I want to sit down with him and get some ideas together.

So, here's to being content in 2012!!