Merry Christmas and happy new year!

Your Christmas present: a blog update!

The boys hanging with their daddy:

Josiah can write his name! Not sure why blogger is turning my pictures - urgh!!!!

Some great friends came to visit! We miss them.
Josiah turned 4!
We splurged and got him a big present for his birthday!
Levi started eating solid food the day after Josiah's b-day! He is now eating baby cereal, bananas, and avocados.
Got some family pictures taken by a local photographer. He got some great ones of the boys, but the ones of all 4 of us are terrible. It is disappointing that Jason's mom got a better picture of our family with her iphone than the professional photographer did! Oh well, that's how it goes sometimes I guess!

Some fun Christmas pics!

Merry Christmas and happy new year!

Buried

I am way behind on everything. Over the past two months we have either had guests at our house, or we've been out of town almost non-stop. We've been able to see a lot of our friends and family, which has been great, but the down side is that nothing else gets done. I am starting to think that I will never catch up on laundry. It may just swallow up our house. So anyway, here is a quick recap of the past 2 months before I go collapse in bed.

KC friends came to visit:

Josiah had Grandparent's day at school:
Levi continued to get cuter by the day. He is laughing now!
We took a family trip to the local farmstead:
Took a trip to visit my side of the family, where Josiah got to hang out with his cousins:

Levi continued to entertain us:
Went to Jason's cousin's wedding. Josiah loved the dancing! But his version of dancing is mostly people holding him while they dance.

Went to St. Louis to visit friends - went to the City Museum which was super fun. Josiah loved having more play time with friends!

Another happy Levi picture:
Went to stay with Jason's parents for a couple of days, ending with Halloween night where I took Luke Skywalker trick or treating. Yoda stayed home and slept.

There are several events I am leaving out, just for the sake of time.

In the midst of all of this fun stuff, our cats got fleas, which they brought into our house. So now they are outside cats. We treated our carpets, and also had an exterminator come and spray everything. I have been washing everything that will fit in the washing machine (adding to my laundry problem). We have been vacuuming every other day for over a month now. I have had a couple of nervous breakdowns over this, but am slowly starting to feel comfortable in our house again.

Praying for peace, rest, and sanity in the coming weeks!

P.S.

In case you are wondering, Jason loves his new job! I am very proud of him!

Our cute boys

The cutest boys!

Levi smiling - he loves his big brother.
Jason and Josiah camped out in the back yard - Josiah loved his 1st camping experience!

More pics, just because they're cute.

Josiah's 1st day of preschool! He is doing a great job and learning how to write his letters. He is a little shy with his classmates, which was quite unexpected. This is the same boy who chats with strangers at the grocery store, in the elevator, etc. I guess it's different when there's not someone there that he knows. I am sure that with time his natural outgoing exuberance will shine through!
Josiah loves Daisy. I am not sure she always reciprocates. But thankfully she has learned to be extremely patient.
A visitor that showed up literally on our front step - ironically on the welcome mat. I thought it was dead, but later when I went out it was gone!
My birthday was Labor Day. Don't worry, it's not too late to send a gift (kidding!). Jason made me waffles for breakfast (and did all the dishes), then we went to Springfield for lunch, and Jason took Josiah to Chuck E. Cheese while I went shoe shopping. Then we all went out for ice cream at a local homemade ice cream place. It was a fun day!
I think Josiah enjoyed the ice cream place more than I did!
Levi is 2 months old! He has been smiling at us a lot, which we love! He enjoys pooping through his diapers, standing up (with assistance), and sleeping in his swing. I have been very lazy and have been letting him sleep in the swing at night. It is a habit I will have to break, but for now we are both sleeping so my motivation is very low. He has slept through the night twice already! At his 2 month doctor appointment Friday he was 13 lbs 10 oz - in the 88th percentile!
We love our boys!!

A note about our sheriff

Josiah starts preschool on Thursday next week. I can't believe he is old enough to go to school! He will go 2 days per week for about 4 hours per day. He is really excited. Last night we went to the school orientation/open house, and he cried when we left. He said he wanted to sleep there. I am not anticipating any separation anxiety from our independent little boy! We are so proud of him!

New sheriff in town

Levi updates:

• He is almost 6 weeks old!
• He is having more and longer alert times during the day which is fun!
• Periodically he has some gas issues...so we have stocked up on Mylicon!
• He has the cutest little fat rolls on his legs and neck. I am excited that he is looking so plump and healthy!
• He went through a couple week spell of peeing and/or pooping every time his diaper was off. Thankfully he has quit that habit!
• Speaking of poop, he has already pooped through his diaper a couple of times. Once was right before my Grandma Lucy's 80th b-day party, onto his white shirt and my shorts! It is amazing how much poop can come out of such a little person. I had forgotten about the radioactive yellow color of newborn poop. We have also stocked up on spray-and-wash. :)
• He is a super cuddly baby, which makes it hard for me to put him down!

After 7 months at Bass Pro Shop, Jason got a new job! This was very unexpected and not something he was looking for, but we are excited about this new opportunity. The new job is with City Utilities in Springfield. He starts one week from today!
Since Jason will no longer be working at Bass Pro, we spent this past Saturday evening taking advantage of his discount. Josiah got a new pistol and is now a full fledged sheriff!

Movin' on up

I took Levi to his 2 week doctor's appointment yesterday. That little dude is growing like crazy! He is now 8 lbs 4 oz, so he has gained about 1 lb 8 oz since in the 11 days since his first doctor's appointment! He continues to be a good eater and sleeper, and just an all-around happy baby. Here are some more pics - enjoy!

Happy baby

I just had to share another smiley picture! What a happy little dude!

Pics

Josiah looks like a giant next to his baby brother! He is holding up Super Why and on my lap is Alpha Pig - gifts from Levi to his big brother.

Levi

Our little Levi is 5 days old! He is SUCH a good baby. Maybe I have a skewed view of things since it was so rough bringing Josiah home. No fault of Josiah's - it was just hard having a preemie. He had to eat more often (which meant less sleep for us); he was so small and we were more worried about him; and I had to bottle feed him every other feeding, which meant pumping in the middle of the night and cleaning the pump every time. It was exhausting. By the time I would change his diaper, bottle feed him, then mess with the pump, sometimes I would only get 20 minutes of sleep between feedings. Of course part of why it seems easier is probably that we are 2nd time parents and know a little more of what to expect (and are a lot more relaxed). But I still have to give Levi a little credit. He really only cries when he's hungry. He didn't cry when the doctor circumcised him, and he doesn't complain too much when we change his diaper. He figured out how to breastfeed the first time he tried it, and has been a great eater. He has been giving me one 4-hour stretch of sleep between feedings at night, which means I get over 3 hours of sleep at once. That is amazing! I am not sure when Josiah started letting me sleep that long, but I am positive it was not the first week (probably not even the first month). Sorry Josiah - not trying to say anything bad about you - but it is much easier to have a full-term baby!

We went to the doctor today for his weight check. He was 21" long when they measured him at birth, but today at the doctor's office he measured 19 1/4". So either he's shrinking or the measurements are off. I'm guessing his real length is somewhere in the middle. He was 7 lbs at birth, and when we left the hospital he weighed 6 lbs 11 oz. Today he was at 6 lbs 12 oz. The doctor thinks that he probably lost a little weight the first day home and has started to gain it back, so he is not concerned. Other than that they said everything looks great. They even gave him the "cutest baby we've ever seen" award. This is not an actual award they hand out, but I can tell they are wishing it was.

Every time I look at Levi it's like I'm looking at Josiah when he was a baby. Two of the cutest boys in the world! Speaking of Josiah, he does great with his new brother. He likes to touch him and talk to him, but has not been brave enough to hold him yet.

I caught this little grin after I fed him one night. I love his dimples! More pics to come soon!

He Has A Name

The name selection process has ended. The official name is Levi David. Levi and Mom are still doing well. He was a good baby last night and slept a little between feedings. He has been sleeping most of the morning.

Here is another pic from last night after the goo was put on his eyes.

Chewbacca Alien

Baby R 2 arrived today at 7:48. We don't have a name yet but he will soon.

Mommy and baby are doing well after another rush delivery. Today when Danita woke up she (assuming she slept at all last night) was having contractions every 30 minutes. They had progressed for a while to every 6-8 minutes but had slowed again by noon. Around 5:22 I received the “we need to go to the hospital call”. We arrived around 6:15 and I dropped her off at the ER while Josiah and I parked.

By the time we got up to Labor and Delivery she was getting ready and had dilated to a 4-5. They moved us to the spacious delivery room around 6:45. By now she was already at a 7 and the intensity had picked up and the time between was shorter. She had asked for an epidural after having contractions since yesterday morning but due a low blood count she was rejected! She had then asked for stadoal (sp?) another pain medication and by the time the Dr approved and nurse made it back, she was at a nine. We were having a hard time with the baby monitor and the nurse had to reposition and hold during contractions…which didn’t go over well with Danita. This also keep the nurse from having a free hand to inject the pain medication. At this point Danita was in so much pain that she couldn’t really ask for anything. By 7:48, he was here. However the cord was wrapped around his neck twice and he was a very pale blue. The nurses grabbed him and did their magic and we heard him cry and knew all was well.

Josiah was able to come and see him around 8:20 and was excited. He made the comment that he likes him. Thankfully my Aunt Dana was on her way to Springfield for other reasons while we were on the way and she offered to watch Josiah. That was huge since it allowed me to be in the room with Danita before our Mom’s and Aunt April arrived. Thank you very much Dana!

Again I just have to say how amazing Danita is to do this without meds, she rocks! We now have him and will attempt to get some rest. Thank you all for the prayers and support.