Why dads shouldn't dress their kids

There is a perfectly good reason why Levi has both his legs in the same pant leg: Dad dressed him. So I was changing him a couple of weeks ago, and was putting his pants back on. Levi is a bit chunky, so his pants are usually a tight fit. Not paying much attention, I stood him up and started pulling his pants up. They didn't seem to be going on very well, and I even remarked "Levi you're getting so big!". After I had his pants all the way up, I looked down and saw the real reason why I was having such a hard time pulling up his pants. So the lesson to be learned is: If Dad can't dress himself without supervision, he really shouldn't be allowed to dress his kids.

NCAA Tournament Time

I love sports, but I'm not a huge college basketball fan. Until the NCAA tournament, that is. I love watching the tournament. Every year I watch as many games as I possibly can. I don't think there is a more exciting sporting event. Every year we do a NCAA tournament bracket contest on Yahoo with friends and family, and every year I (the sports "expert") lose to Courtney, my mom, and my sister even though aside from my mom their sports knowledge isn't at the same level as mine. I'm excited to try and beat them this year, but it will probably end up like most other years...them finishing ahead of me and reminding me about it the rest of the year.

The weekend before last we made the trip to Battle Creek to spend the night with my parents. Levi had a little "stranger anxiety" at first, but after a bit he settled down and was fine again. Grandma and Grandpa were happy to see him, and we had a great time visiting my family.

Levi rocking my Tigers hat.

Levi liked Joey. Joey didn't like Levi.

Grandma enjoyed spending some quality time with her grandson.

This past weekend we made a trip up to Sumner with Marnie and Ryan to visit Courtney and Marnie's Grandma Betty. Levi was amazing on the trip. He was happy for the car ride there and back (over an hour one-way), and seemed to really enjoy being around everyone. It was a very nice visit.

Group photo.

Levi enjoyed sitting with Grandma Betty...

...so much that he fell asleep. Grandma still has the touch.

Night time has been a little better. Last week we decided to start "Operation Tough Love", where we would put him in his crib at bedtime and let him cry until he fell asleep. Then, if he woke up at night, we'd let him cry for a while before we went in there to see if he'd learn to soothe himself and fall back asleep on his own. The first couple of nights were absolutely awful...he SCREAMED at the top of his lungs for an hour and a half before finally falling asleep. Before you think we are heartless people please know this was really hard for us....we had to fight every urge to go in there and "rescue" him. But after the first couple of nights he started falling asleep faster, and started falling asleep on his own when he woke up at night. Now he's doing both pretty consistently, and its only been a week since the beginning of "Operation Tough Love". Mom and Dad are a lot happier...somehow getting a more complete night of sleep will do that. Who knew?

We had to take Levi to the doctor last week because he's had a nasty cough for about 3 weeks now. Turns out he could have bronchitis and the doctor heard some wheezing while he was breathing. He's taking some antibiotics now and hopefully that will clear everything up. We also had to take Prince to the vet because he had a real bad ear infection. He'd been shaking his head a lot so I looked in his ear yesterday and it was all black and full of gross junk. It smelled awful. He got some ear drops so hopefully that will get him better soon.

I've already written a million things, so I'll close with a short list of new things Levi likes or is doing.

• Finding his pacifier at night when he wakes himself up and putting it back in his mouth.
• Pulling himself on his side in his crib using the railing, and falling asleep like this.
• Squealing when he sees Prince. Trying to "pet" (aka grab and pull) Prince. Watching with sadness as Prince runs away and hides.
• Playing with his big stuffed Nemo fish.
• Making LOUD noises.
• Going for walks with Mom, Dad, and Prince.
• Trying to crawl, getting ever-so-close, and then falling back into a sitting position.
• Trying to catch falling water drops when getting a bath. The motor skills aren't quite there for this one yet.
• Pulling all of his toys out of his basket, one-by-one, until they are all out. Then trying to get in the basket.
• Eating. Doesn't matter what it is: pears, bananas, peas, green beans, carrots, squash, stuffed animals, books, daddy's hat....you name it, he tries to eat it.

I'll leave you with some more pictures of Levi. I'll try to update more frequently so I don't have to write a novel next time!

In the process of pulling all his toys out of his basket.

Working on his hand-eye coordination.

Each smile brings joy to our hearts.

It's really hard to pick just a few with so many cute pictures.

Our cute little man.

I don't think it'll be too much longer before he's trying to pull himself over the top.

What a cute family I have.

Sleepless Nights

Happy March!! We are very excited for winter to be gone. It was warm enough yesterday that I got to go outside and pick up a bucketful of winter doggie doo. We're looking forward to the warm weather so we can start grilling out, taking family walks, and just enjoying the outdoors. Levi really seems to enjoy looking out the window at the sunlight, so we're hoping he'll be a kid that likes being outdoors.

Speaking of Levi, he's been having a bit of a rough spell at nights. For whatever reason, he's been waking up multiple times during the night. The other night we were excited because he "only" woke up twice. I guess we were spoiled because he had slept through the night pretty good since he was 2 months old. So Mom and Dad are trying to adjust to nights filled with interrupted sleep. On a positive note, other than nighttime Levi has been doing great. He is very happy most of the time and really loves being with his mom, dad, and Prince. He laughs and coos a lot, and he is really enjoying eating food. He's tried all the different cereals (Frosted Flakes, Lucky Charms, Count Chocula...wait...I mean rice, oatmeal, barley, and mixed grain) and now he's also eating strained peas, squash, bananas, and apples. He really loves the squash, for whatever reason. He also is getting much closer to crawling. We've been putting off baby-proofing the house, but it looks like we'll need to get serious about it pretty soon. Looks like March will be a busy month.

Mom and Dad had a pretty good month, not counting the lack of sleep of course. I was blessed to get a couple of bonuses from work, plus our tax returns. So we paid off my student loans making us almost debt-free (not counting the mortgage, of course). We also purchased a new laptop so we don't have to be tied to the house as much when I'm on-call. Courtney has her internship sites almost all lined up for the fall, so that is a relief. Other than that we're just enjoying watching Levi grow and develop, and trying to be the best parents we can.

OK, enough blah blah blah from me, here are some more pictures of our son. Enjoy!

Our young man seems to be enjoying his new haircut.

Someone told Levi Spring Training was starting, and it brought a big smile to his face.

We have to be careful, because one of these times he's going to crawl off the bed.

"No Mom, I want to wear this one."