Sleep

If you knew me before I had a baby, you know that I LOVE to sleep. I used to be able to take naps, sleep in and I enjoyed every minute of it! That all changed with some pregnancy insomnia, then, of course, when Levi was born. Levi has not been the best sleeper. He is still waking up once in the middle of the night to eat. I have gotten used to this and can honestly say that I love the time I have with him, even if it's at 1am. The past 2 weeks I have not been able to sleep well at all, and it has nothing to do with my precious almost 7 month old.

I am hyperthyroid.

I lost 4 pounds in a week. (Not complaining there!) But the worst symptom is that my heart is racing. Fast. The doctor saw my blood results and said it was like I had 10 cups of coffee in my system. It is so uncomfortable. It's not so bad during the day as long as I don't do anything too strenuous. But having said that, my heart was pounding after sorting laundry and transferring clothes from the washer to the dryer. The worst part comes when I lay down at night to sleep. I can REALLY feel my heart pounding then and it keeps me up. It takes me hours to fall asleep. I e-mailed my wonderful doctor and she told me I need to double to dose of my medicine. I am so thankful that there is medicine I can take to fix the problem and that it is safe for me to keep nursing. It was a possibility I would have to stop. I am also thankful that God has put people on my heart to pray for as I am awake in the night. I don't always have the best attitude about the months I have not slept more than a few hours at a time, but God is working on refining me and softening my heart. I might add He has given me so much more patience during the day after nights of hardly any sleep. I am grateful for that. I'm also grateful that my accelerated heart rate is a result of a thyroid problem and not a heart issue. I can't wait for the medicine to kick in which should take about a week.

How Great thou Art!

Vince Gill and Carrie Underwood sang this amazingly beautiful version of "How Great Thou Art." When I watched this, I got goosebumps and teared up a bit! How GREAT is our God!

Happy Easter! I am so thankful for the cross.

Family Time

Family time has been hard to come by lately. We have loved spending time with our parents and friends and church family, but have found that a lot of time has gone by without the 3 of us just spending the day together. So this afternoon we headed to the beach (it was a gorgeous day!) and spent a few hours having a picnic and watching the waves. Levi loved it! He is so observant these days. It felt so wonderful to just enjoy a few hours alone together, away from the business of our lives. Ahh...

And Randy is taking Tuesday off, the whole day, just to be with us! Wahoo! I can't wait! :) I love these guys.

6 Months

Oh my goodness gracious, Levi, you are 6 months old! Time flies so quickly! We have had so much fun together these last 6 months. Here's what you are up to now that you are half a year old!

You are so handsome and are looking much more like a little boy than a baby. You weigh 17lb 4oz and are 27 1/4 in. tall. You are in the 45% for weight and 80% for height. Your doctor said that was like an adult at 6'1" tall who weighs 175 lb. When I told your daddy, he said, "He can lift weights like his daddy and be 6'1" and 200lb!" Ha! You are so sweet! You smile at us all the time. Your favorite part of the day is when your daddy comes home. He greets you with a loud, "Mr. Cheeks!" and you light up, get super excited and reach for him. You are so expressive and "talk" all the time. You HAVE to have something in your hands, and therefore your mouth, at all times. Nothing in your reach is off limits from making it into your mouth! At dinner time, you sit in your high chair next to us with a tray full of toys and are occupied for as long as the toys stay off of the ground. We have started to feed you cereal again now that you are 6 months. It's only been 2 days but I can tell you love the stuff! I am noticing how much you love to take in your surroundings. We go on walks most days and you are big enough now to sit in the stroller facing out look out so you get to see the birds, trees, houses, dogs, cars, and more, and you love it. You love anything new. You stare at us when we vacuum. You are so observant and you have even started looking all around outside while we are driving. You still love your bath time. I sing and talk to you the whole time and you smile up at me, then continue playing with your toys. You are starting to sit up on your own! You are growing up so fast! You are wearing 9-12 month clothes and are in a size 3 diaper or a medium or large g diaper. You are getting to be a much better sleeper. You sleep for one longer stretch for about 6 hours. You have learned to soothe yourself to sleep and don't cry at all when I put you down awake in your crib at night. For your naps, you cry or fuss for a few minutes then are fast to sleep. When I go pick you up after you wake up from your nap, sometimes you are 2 feet from where I put you down and flipped all over the place. You are scooting and turning all around, but not crawling yet. You love your dog Marley. Whenever she comes by, you smile really big and stare at her wherever she goes. Your daddy still takes you on Saturday mornings so I can sleep in. This past Saturday he took you to a garage sale and found a bunch of great 12 month and larger clothes! You have a super dad! He loves you so much and can't wait to get home from work to see his "Cheeks!" We love you and are praying each day for wisdom in parenting you. We know God loves you so much and has a wonderful plan for your life. We can't wait to see it unfold!