Three Months Old!

Three months is supposedly the magical mark "officially" out of the newborn stage. No longer will we be counting Levi's weeks, but give his age in months. (technically, he is 13 weeks old by the time August 16th rolled around). I feel like he is getting "bigger" and "older" so quickly. He is making new cooing sounds every day. It's so fun to see him discover new things! He's still sleeping 9-10 hours at night (I am soo thankful he's letting me sleep, especially since back to work!) Here's a little photo-shoot one day after his Three Month Birthday. (I just love his smiles!)

These pictures were taken also the same day at a park.

Pure beauty and delight.

First Week Down

Here's Levi on his first day of "school" last week. A little over a week down for Mom and Levi. I think it's been harder on me than for Levi. He is such a sweet boy and loves to interact with whomever would will talk to him and give him smiles. And, who can resist? I tell you, it's addictive!













I was so nervous the night before my first day back and all that day. I was anxious about working pumping into my day, seeing my colleagues again, and would I remember how to "doctor"? I did OK in the morning, mostly because I spent a lot of it talking about Levi and showing off pictures of him I've been carrying in my coat pocket. Once lunch-time hit and I disappeared to pump, I was alone with my thoughts and the tears came. I missed him so much! I was also so worried--was he going to nap OK at daycare? How was he doing??

I stopped myself from calling the daycare multiple times. If they told me he was doing fine, I wouldn't believe them. If they said he'd been having a bad day, there would be nothing I could do about it and just make me feel worse (I already had given them 2 pages of typed instructions on how to best care for him in different scenarios). Come about 2:30pm, I was about to burst (tearing up again), and Dustin called me just in time saying he had just picked up Levi. He apparently had a pretty good day with little to no fussing, just taking in the new environment. He did nap 3 times, but not as long as I would like. He ate and took the bottle well. All in all, as good of a first day as you can expect . . .

As the past week+ has gone on, we've been adjusting OK. It has actually been good to be back at work. I've enjoyed getting back to the intellectual stimulation and learning environment. I've had some positive interactions with patients and with my attendings that have been encouraging. So, I haven't forgotten it all, which is reassuring (yet still realize how much studying I *do* need to do!).

I think Levi has been adjusting to daycare as time has gone on. A couple of his naps have gotten longer, and I am told he enjoys watching the other babies and smiles and kicks around a lot.

It has been sad at times when I have had to come home from work late (6/6:30pm or so) and have just a small window to see Levi who is usually more tired at that point. I am very thankful for weekends where I can really make up my time with him. Also, I think I'm learning to maximize my time with him during the week.

We're in a new season, and I am learning on trusting the Lord and entrusting Levi to Him. I think this will be a continual exercise of parenthood.

Too Cool For School

. . . in honor of Levi starting Day Care (aka "School") tomorrow and Momma Doc heading back to doctoring.

A little humor from Levi's point of view . . .



"Yeah, that's right. I'm too cool for school. Well, at least the coolest in my school."

"I can put my entire fist into my mouth. That's definitely skill."

"I'm the tallest boy in my grade."

"I take a good look in the mirror . . ."

". . . and I like what I see."

"I've got a cute, contagious smile (well, that's what mama says)."

"I'm a savy dresser."

"I'm a jock. Baseball is my sport. The shirt says it all."

". . . as well as the socks."

"I do like to root for the Cincinnati Reds with my dad."

"I even have a cute girlfriend."
[I promise, Levi held her hand again on his own accord.]

"I'm a champion sleeper."
"Did I also mention I am a savy dresser?"

"I've been sleeping seven to nine hours a night for the past two weeks. Here's me waking up happy in my crib."

"Yes, ladies, I am a flirt."

"And, I can soar like Superman. What other three-month-old can do all this?"

"So you got it? That's right. I'm too cool for school."

Dance Moves

This video was also taken two weeks ago. It captures Levi's energy. He kicks and dances around like this frequently, sometimes even more vigorously. I just don't always have the video camera ready. Levi is already quite entertaining! (well, at least his parents think so)

Salmon, Anyone?

My grandparents on Laura, my step-mother's side, have an RV and are currently traveling all through Alaska. A couple of weeks ago, my grandfather called me up and asked me if I liked salmon. My answer, "Why, of course!"

"Good, because I wanted to know if I could ship you some salmon that I caught."

"Yes, that would be great, Grandpa. Thank you!"

Come to find out later, "some" salmon is actually 37-pounds-worth. That's 37 one+ pound fillets, all individually wrapped.

So last week, I received an over-night package at my door with these huge, beautiful salmon fillets, fresh from Alaska. As you can see, I barely fit them all in my freezer. My dad and brother-in-laws are very upset that their respective wives don't like fish. Lucky for Dustin and I. :-)

I have a close-up picture of one of the amazing fillets, as well as some pliers that I use to pull out the pin bones before cooking.

So, needless to say, I have been compiling salmon recipes. I'll have ample opportunity to try them out and discover favorites! If you have a good salmon recipe, please send it my way!

And if we happen to have you over for dinner, there is a good chance we'll be having salmon.

Rolling Over

On July 20th, yes--two weeks ago--Levi rolled over for the first time from his belly to his back! Strong little fella, getting this down just over 2 months. We grabbed the video right away to capture the moment. Hope you enjoy! (Please feel free to ignore my commentary . . .)

Vacation Part II

The second part of the vacation was driving from Sevierville, TN to Atlanta for my 10-year High School Reunion (*gasp*). Thankfully, this car ride went relatively uneventfully. My reunion was good, overall, but I cared the most about seeing my two dear friends, Ashley and Alicia (below, right & left). The evening was definitely awkward getting started. I didn't have as many "So, what have you been up to the last 10 years?"-conversations like I thought I would. I guess if you hadn't really been involved in someone else's life in the previous 10 years, it seemed weird to have much more than a 1-minute conversation. Plus, everyone could reference the "memory book" listing exactly what one had been up to. Most people, like 95-98% of the class lived still in the area and never really left Georgia. Despite some of the awkwardness, and the bad DJ it was still good to *see* my old classmates and dance anyways with Ashley and Alicia. :-)

I'm not sure why we're doing Charlie's Angels. Was it Dustin's idea or Alicia's?

We stayed at my mom's house in Atlanta for the short stay (arrived Saturday afternoon, left Monday morning). MaLu and MaGe took care of Levi while we went to the reunion. It was the longest I had left him with anyone. We left two bottles, and my mom even put him down for the night (the first time anyone had ever done that)! She did a god job because he ended up sleeping the whole night (8 hours)! We had to wake him to go to our next thing in the morning.
MaLu, getting some love.

His great-grandmother, MaGe, loving on him.

I was so thankful that during our very short stay on in Atlanta to have so many wonderful people to come to us in Alpharetta at my mom's house to visit. Below, is one of my best friends from college, Priscilla Sanders, meeting Levi. I wish I had also taken pictures of/with another close friend from High School times, Ed Kenney, and his awesome wife, Kate, and their 2 year old, Will, who I got to meet for the first time. They actually live in Chatanooga (but moving to B'ham, small world!) and just happened to be in Atlanta for a family reunion. They so graciously drove and met us for breakfast Sunday morning--it was so great to see them! Also not pictured is a sweet friend from medical school, Ellen Chiu, who amazingly drove up from downtown with her boyfriend of almost one-year to hang out at my mom's on Sunday. She's doing her Internal Medicine residency there at Emory, and it was so great to see her, for her to meet Levi, and us finally meet David. Last, but definitely not least, even my mother-in-law drove all the way to B'ham to hang out with Levi on this Sunday at my mom's! (closer drive than Cincinnati!). We are so blessed. I felt like Sunday was a wonderful day-long party, seeing so many wonderful people!

Nana, MaLu, Priscilla, Dustin, Pawpaw, and MaGe enjoying the afternoon in my mom's pool.

Levi got to go in the pool again, and I think really enjoyed it this time!

Post-pool sweetness. Those blue eyes just get you!

MaLu and MaGe planted a fig tree at their house in honor of Levi's birth. It'll be sweet for Levi to see "his tree" when he visits and be told it's as old as he is! I think it's also pretty neat given the symbolism of the fig tree in the Bible. Israel, God's people, were often represented by the fig tree, and it also symbolized the Messiah's coming [when the fig tree puts forth leaves, one knows that summer has arrived, a parallel to the signs we will see when the Messiah returns, (Mark 13:28-29, Mat 24:32-33, Luke 21:29-31)]. Jesus also referenced the fig tree often by stressing the importance in bearing fruit, as a parable to God's people. We pray that Levi, too, will one day know God himself and bear Him fruit to His glory!

Levi's tree, bearing fruit! :-)

Four generations together!

On our way out of town, we had a brief visit with Grandma and Grandpa (my parents).

Levi is the first to sit in this rocking chair which will be "the chair" for all the grandchildren. Grandma Laura will be shellacking all the grandchildren's names on the chair, Levi to start it off!

Grandma and Levi, bonding before having to say bye.

Our drive from Atlanta to Cincinnati was thankfully without a mess, but the usual 7-hour trip turned into a 11-hour drive!! Yikes! We have entered a whole new world.

Levi's First Vacation - Part I

Over 1 week ago, Dustin, Levi, and I made our trek to Sevierville, TN (just outside Gatlinburg) to have a family vacation with my side if the
family (how do people keep these blogs so current?). It'll probably be a long time before we will be able to all get together like this again given that all three of us girls are married and living in three different locations (and, mostly, my awful work schedule come November).

This was a great trip! It was the first time Levi was able to meet his Aunt Heather and Uncle Greg as well as Aunt Megan and Uncle Ben, Regrettably, I didn't take a picture of Levi with each of them (missed Heather and Ben). The condo was close-quarters, but great to all be together! The short week went by too quickly.


I really wish I had taken a picture of our car and how much junk we had in there! Traveling with a little one was NOT easy! For being so little, he needed so much stuff! Dustin and I tried to be as efficient as possible in trying to keep the "4 hour road trip" as close to that as possible (I think it took us 6 hours). I was pumping milk in the car (covered up, sorry truck drivers!) so that we could give Levi a bottle when we stopped for gas, food, and a diaper change. Levi cooperated for the most part well with this plan, sleeping most of the time in the car without a complaint. Ten minutes away from the place, Levi started crying, likely because it was time to eat again. We were hoping to do a full-feeding once we got there, but we decided to stop to change his diaper, and I could sit in the back with him, holding a bottle for him in the car seat just to pacify him a little bit until we could stop and do the full-feeding. Well, when we stopped, we were in for a treat! I say "we", but it was more Dustin. He put his hand underneath Levi to pull him out from his carseat and found it to be wet . . . Levi had leaked poop ALL over the place! No, not just a little stain on his outfit. It had leaked down into the seat. I want to emphasize into, because it had soaked the infant cushion, into the cracks of the belt, and even down to the carseat base! Just when Dustin thought he had cleaned everything, he would move the belt, and discover more in the crevices! Needless to say, we conveniently decided Levi was just now big enough that we could retire the infant cushion insert!

What's funny, is that as soon as we laid Levi down on seat of the car to change his diaper, he gave me a big stretch and flashed me the biggest smile!

Lucky for you, I took no pictures of this event, but it did necessitate a bath for Levi that night! Here he is in the kitchen sink of the condo:

We thought we'd see what Levi thought about swimming.
Levi's first-ever dip in the pool on his Two Month birthday!

Woaa! It's too cold!

"Get me outta here!"

Cuddly, traumatized, Levi, post-pool.

Us enjoying yummy ice cream in downtown Sevierville.

Levi, meet Aunt Megan!

Grandpa just chatting away with Levi, and Levi loving it.

Levi meeting Uncle Greg!

Swimming, Take Two:
We decided to try the kiddie pool in the evening (versus the morning, what we tried earlier), finding the water to be warmer. A little hesitant, Levi seemed to tolerate this dip more.

"What are you doing, Dad??"

Finally giving in to the pool, I think he started to enjoy it a little!

On my brother-in-law, Ben's, side of the family, his sister and sister-in-law also recently had little boys. All of Ben's family came over for dinner one of the nights to celebrate his birthday, including his nephews. Since they were also so close in age, we had a little photo-shoot with all the babies. Left to right: Wyatt (4.5 months), Harper (5.5 months), and Levi (then, 2 months).

What's cute is that Levi was a little fussy when placed down, and Haper quickly patted him on the head to comfort him. It worked! :-) Levi is nearly just as long as these babies, just lacking in the chub.

Tired Levi trying to lift his head with the big-boys. (He can usually get it higher, but was worn out at this point).

The men enjoyed their Rock Band time on the Nintendo Wii.