Three weeks old

We are so enjoying having Levi finally here with us. He's a great eater, a pretty good sleeper and Dave and I thought we had this whole parent thing figured out... until this weekend when Levi decided that he wanted to be awake and eating every hour and half... then we realized that our success has little to do with us and everything to do with him! We're learning!

Here's our cool guy getting some sun before his drs appt. They were checking for jaundice, but his levels turned out to be perfectly fine.

He LOVES to be swaddled and Daddy is the best swaddler around. (It must be because he practiced on Hannity all those months ago!) We think he's already changed so much in his 3 short weeks.

Here's my boys watching the Dodger game.

(Don't mind the mess, it's a controlled chaos at this point still!)

Levi also loves his swing! Really, he does!

He was swinging so calmly and peacefully that I grabbed my phone to capture the moment-- and this is what I got! He must've been done with it at this point, but normally it's his favorite.

Here's Daddy trying on Levi's first Dodger hat-- it's a little big!

I'm having a hard time getting out my big camera so all of these are just from my phone but we are trying to capture some of these moments as they happen. It's pretty incredible to think that he's only been here a few short weeks because it seems as though we've loved him forever. Next up, a trip up North to visit family! We'll keep you posted how the big road trip goes...

Friendly Visitors

One of my biggest fears of being in the hospital for four days is that I was going to be bored. I know, it's a silly fear and obviously when the time came Levi didn't let us get bored! But we were still so grateful that so many friends came to help us welcome him into the world. They kept us busy and occupied and well fed! Here is a few pictures of some (but not all) of the people that came and held our little guy in the hospital...

Lauren and Levi

Tara and Levi

David and Levi

Janice and Levi (Janice also works at the hospital and brought us extra desserts from the cafeteria. They were so good!)

Jim, Levi & Dave

Jim was in town for a conference (he's from Fresno) and was able to drive out to see us!

Krista, Me, Dave, Levi & David

(And little Abigail in Krista's belly! We can't wait to meet her too!)

Sheri & Levi

Sheri had her little girl this past Saturday! We can't wait to introduce Levi and Stevie... I know they'll be great friends!

Crista & Levi

Crista, Mike and her little Jackson drove all the way from Modesto on Monday morning. We were so surprised they made the trip on such short notice with a 9 month old! What great friends they are. :) And we can't wait for Levi and Jackson to grow up together just like Crista and I did!

Jonathan & Lacey & Levi

Angela & Levi

Angela lives in Colorado now but she helped throw us a baby shower in the South Bay and happened to be in town on work travel. What great timing that she was able to be here to visit!

Again, that's not all of our friends that came but those are the ones we have pictures of. I know I say this a lot, and it probably sounds cliche at some point, but we LOVE our friends here and feel so blessed by their outpouring of love and support and encouragement as we start the journey into parenthood. We have been totally humbled by this experience and appreciate everything they have done from visiting to bringing dinners to calling to check up on us. We love you guys!!!

We Are Family

We'll have to do this in two posts because so many people came to visit us at the hospital! Here is Levi meeting his immediate family. We were so glad they were able to come down and visit us in the hospital and meet him the day he was born. What a special treat!

Grandma and Grandpa Lockridge

Grandpa and Grandma Harden

Uncle Bryan

Auntie Sarah

Auntie Alison (Bryan's GF)

Uncle Charlie and Auntie Christina

Grammy H enjoying Levi the day we came home from the hospital.

Cuddles with Grandma L.

Three of my favorite Lockridge guys.

This time with Uncle Charlie. (We need to get all four together in one picture soon!)

Napping with Auntie Christina!

Thumbs up from Grandpa Steve! :)

I know I say this a lot but, we really are so blessed by our amazing families and we're so excited that Levi has so many wonderful, loving people to help us encourage him and grow him into a man of God. We cant wait to come visit soon to meet the rest of our Northern California family!

Introducing Baby L

Levi Daniel

August 2, 2010

7:28 pm

7 lbs. 13 oz.

21 inches

We were scheduled to be induced on Monday morning at 6 am but Levi had his own plans. My water broke Monday morning at 1 am and contractions started soon after. We went to the hospital already 5 cm dilated and hoping for a lunchtime baby. Progress was slow, after 17 hours in labor and 3 hours of pushing the doctor decided that it was time to get him out. We did a c-section at 7 pm and had a healthy, beautiful baby boy at 7:28 pm. It wasn't our plan, or how we thought the day would go, but he's here and we're all healthy and grateful for a successful day!

New Dad Dave got to watch all the proceedings after birth while our friends and family watched from outside the nursery window. It was so special to have so many people stick around for such a marathon day. Levi is a lucky and very loved little boy already!

The hospital photographer was AMAZING! These are from her. You can check out the whole slide show at her website: bellababyphotography.com and our password is: 0802levilockridge. The slide show will be up for another week or two.

Dad, Mom and Baby Levi

It has been an incredible week of getting to know our little guy, spending time with family and friends and recuperating from a rather long birth. We feel so loved and blessed by all the outpouring of support and encouragement we've received in the past week and we are so excited to introduce you to Levi in the coming weeks.