Family Outing

We spent most of our Saturday running errands and cleaning up. (Gabe is working on getting the garage unpacked and organized...finally...we just haven't had the time.) I also started a new project in our upstairs bathroom, but I'll share more on that later.
We decided today we needed to get out and enjoy the first weekend of fall. It was a wonderfully beautiful weekend that should not be spent indoors working on projects anyway.
So, we went on a family outing to the Columbia River Gorge. The destination we had in mind was Multnomah Falls. Disappointment hit us when we entered the parking area only to discover not a single available space. I'm not kidding! We took one loop around the parking area hoping (along with the other 10 cars ahead of us and the 20 behind us) someone would soon be leaving and we could have their vacated spot. A second loop around the parking lot never happened because you-know-who woke up from his nap and was literally screaming in the back seat. We jumped on the freeway heading back toward town, and an exit for the old highway. There are so many waterfalls to see, and hike to, that we decided the big falls could be saved for another time. We made a quick stop at Vista House. The wind was blowing fiercely up there. I know the Gorge is windy, but I've never been so afraid I was going to be blown off into the river. Thankfully, Levi was protected from the wind by his daddy. Other than forcing him to be wide awake, and blowing what little hair he has around, I don't think the wind had much impact on the little guy. We ended up exploring Latourell Falls this time. Maybe we'll head out that way again this fall and can stop by Multnomah Falls. Maybe it won't be so busy! I can hope right?

Smiles & Six Weeks

This post is a little late. That's because I was working on it most of last week. I never realized how difficult it is to capture a smile on camera when you can't tell the subject to "smile". I've been working desperately for weeks to capture Levi's first smiles. At first it was so unpredictable I didn't even try (that was about 2 weeks ago now). Just this week he's started to sit, smile and coo with me every time he's done eating. (Which is about every 2 hours during the day...you'd think that would give me lots of chances to catch a smile.) The problem is that I never remember to have the camera handy since he's usually screaming when I start to feed him. At that point, grabbing the camera isn't really a top priority. I did manage to get this picture on Tuesday. It's the best of the bunch I took that day.I know it looks like more of smirk than a smile but I swear it gets bigger.
Here's proof. Gabe finally got this good one this morning.I just love this little face. It melts my heart.
Like I said, with the smiles also come "talking". I wish we had a video camera because his cooing is just so sweet. He's still working on ma-ma and da-da but he'll get there soon! Since he's only six weeks we'll give him some more time on those, a-goo will have to do for now.

Beach Weekend

We left town "early" on Friday. Gabe got home about 1pm and I had every thing almost packed up so we could leave. I had Levi fed and changed...we were good to go!
Levi slept through the entire drive to Pacific City, except for when we hit construction on hwy 6. I was afraid the rest of the trip was going to be miserable but once we got moving again he settled down quickly. He really likes riding in the car. As long as it's moving! Sometimes he'll even start screaming when we stop at traffic lights but will stop as soon as we're moving again. Silly guy.
Anyway, we rented a house in Pacific City that was a few blocks from the beach. The weather was amazing and Levi slept through most of his first time on the beach. We took him on lots of walks anyway. Grandma and Grandpa G even flew kites for him. Sadly, he slept through that too. It was a great weekend. Here's a few pictures of Levi's first time on the Oregon Coast!
Trips to the beach will definitely be more fun next year. He'll be walking around and putting sand in his mouth. He'll find gross dead things to pick up and show us. It will be great.

I am also proud to announce (and somewhat nervous) that Levi is almost sleeping through the night. It started at the beach Friday night. We put him down about 8pm and he didn't wake up until 4am! Then he did nearly the same on Saturday night and last night. That's three nights in a row! That does mean he's eating a lot more during the day to stock up for those long nights. I had to feed him twice in less than 2 hours this morning. But it's totally worth it. Unfortunatlely, each night he's soaked through his cloth diaper. I think it just gets so saturated it starts leaking because the diaper isn't sticking out of the cover at all. (That's what usually causes his leaky diapers.) Does anyone know what I should do? I could just put him in a disposable over night but I'd rather not. How do I prevent the leaking overnight cloth diaper?

First day at school

I took Levi into school today. Everyone's been bugging me to bring him in so they can meet him. I wanted to do it the first week everyone came back without kids but that obviously didn't happen. So, he had his first day at school today. Although...it was really just a few hours. He got to meet lots of new people including a bunch of 8th graders. In my friend Linda's math class, he just looked around at all the faces in amazement. It was pretty cute. My students, for the most part, were pretty excited to see him. He was awake when we first got to school but about half way through was out like a light. Those that saw him sleeping didn't believe me when I told them his cry sounds like a pterodactyl scream.
It was nice to see my kids. I have the same ones from last year so I know most of them. (There's always a few new ones...I met a few today). And as difficult as they are at times (some of them that would be most of the time), I realized today that I really do miss them. And I miss being there laughing with them and teaching them. I'm sure the next few months will go by quickly and then I'll be thinking back to these days I'm spending with Levi in the same way. So, I have to enjoy all the time I have with him now because I'll be back to school before I know it.
I've got a list of things to do a mile long this afternoon. We're going to take off tomorrow afternoon and head to the beach for the weekend. Lots of packing to do. Gone are the days of packing a change of clothes and a cooler of food. I can't believe the amount of stuff we have to take with us! I better get to it or we won't get out of here until midnight tomorrow.

Getting Older

Here I am...having another birthday.
I remember how excited I use to get about my birthday. Not the case any more. I get excited about other people's birthdays but it's hard to get excited about my own.
My family came over last night and we had a little party. It wasn't much of a party between feeding Levi and trying to get him to sleep. My mom did make me a carrot cake. It wouldn't be my birthday without it since it's my FAVORITE!
Gabe bought me this for my birthday. He's going to put together my work out/craft room at some point. Just not sure when we'll have a weekend for him to do it. The room needs to be painted and obviously the elliptical needs to be put together. When it finally gets done I'll post some pictures. I'm more excited for the machine to be put together so I can start using it. I don't see myself ever being able to get to the gym again...so a home gym it is!
Tonight Gabe and I are going to get away for the first time...together. My mom is going to come over and watch Levi so we can go out to dinner. I'm really looking forward to it. We haven't been able to spend time with just each other. It should be really nice. On Thursday, I'm thrilled to be going out with the girls for dinner. I haven't been able to get out on my own yet (Gabe's been out several times with the guys) and it's about time! What better time then in celebration of growing another year older. Not that it's really something to celebrate but I'll take any reason I can get to have some time to myself.
What I really want for my birthday is a nap so I better go take one before the little guy decides his nap time is over!

Time Flies

How can it possibly be Monday already?
It seems like Gabe gets home on Friday evening, we blink and he's getting up on Monday to go to work.
We had a busy weekend. Lots of fun things happening!
Saturday we invited friends and family over to see Levi (and for some...our new house). Lots of people came even though the weather was nice and warm. I wanted the party to spill out onto the deck and yard but it was just too hot. So, the house seemed pretty full most of the day. I enjoyed talking to everyone and I hardly got out the camera. The one time I did it was literally for 30 seconds so I have maybe 5 pictures and none of them are really that good. I'm really disappointed that I missed the photo op of Levi's first party in our new house. Oh, well. I enjoyed the time with friends and family. And Levi was on his best behavior! Other than needing a break from the party to eat twice...he was asleep pretty much the whole time!

Yesterday we attempted an at home newborn photo shoot. Since he's growing so fast and is now one month old, I wanted to get some shots before we lost the chance. Plus, he's already loosing his nice head of hair and the baby acne is starting to pop up. We set up a "studio" in the dinning room because it has the best natural light, and overhead lighting, in the house. We got some pretty cute shots before Levi peed all over. That ended the photo shoot.

In the afternoon we took a trip over to Josh and Danelle's new place to see new baby Weston. I felt stressed out right before Levi came (with the house situation) but I can't imagine what they've been going through. They've been waiting for their house to be built this summer. Weston was born last Saturday and they got the keys to their finished house this week and started moving in this weekend with a baby one week old. They seem to be handling it much better than I would. Weston and Levi took a little time to check each other out. It was really funny. They just sorta stared at each other. Levi was thinking... "Who is this person who's actually smaller than me?" He hasn't had that experience yet! It looks like Levi has just decked Weston in this picture but it isn't really the case. I promise our son isn't a bully. Levi did reach out and touch Weston's arm a few times. I think he was really curious about him. Hopefully it was the start of a long friendship. They are two really cute boys!

Hijacked

Help! Our blog has been hijacked.
Eventually not all of our posts will be about Levi. Right?

3 Weeks!

It's hard to believe that Levi is three weeks today. Time is going by so fast. But it's also been the longest, most exhausting, three weeks of my entire life. Early this week Levi decided that he no longer wanted to sleep. The nice "long" 3-4 hour stretches of sleep suddenly disappeared. And it would take us literally hours to get him to sleep. Now he's sleeping again, but in shorter bursts. He wakes up and wants to eat every 2 hours. I guess he's going through a growth spurt! I know this is all normal but it's exhausting.
My mom has been my savior this week. After a really hard day Monday she came over early Tuesday to take care of Levi (and do some cleaning up) so that I could get some sleep. It was wonderful. The rest of the week has been much better. It's amazing what a little sleep (and an extra hand) can do for a person. I've had several showers cut short by Levi, so it was nice having her here just so I could get some uninterrupted time to bathe.
It was really weird not going back to work this week. I can't believe summer is over so soon. I'm really looking forward to the long weekend. Having Gabe home Monday is going to be great. We don't have any huge plans but I'd like to get out and do something fun. Diapers, feedings, dishes, and laundry aren't fun!
And here's a picture of Levi today. Enjoying some swinging time and celebrating being 3 weeks! I can't wait until he starts to smile. This grumpy face is getting old.