2 Months

Our little guy is 2 months old! We had his check up today and he is doing great- hitting all his developmental milestones and definitely growing. He also had his very first shots and he handled it like a pro (so did Mommy). Daddy said we could get ice cream afterwards, but I haven't seen any yet...

Height: 23"

Weight: 12 lbs. 10 oz.

Levi at 2 months: He has begun to reach out and grab things on his playmat, he's found his own hands and likes to stare at them, he has awesome control of his neck and is enjoying his tummy time more and more. He even rolled over for the first time on Sunday! (Daddy says that he sort of fell over but Mommy is counting it because he did it a bunch of times. Hey, it's a start, right?!) He is such a happy baby and will smile and talk to anyone who will listen. He's still sitting through the service with us at church and he's started attending Wednesday morning Bible study with me. He's eating every 2 1/2 to 3 hours during the day and not much longer at night. He is a great sleeper but his Mommy is so very ready for him to give us some longer stretches in between feedings at night. Fingers crossed, hopefully soon! We think he's pretty awesome and every day is getting more and more fun to watch him learn new things.

This isn't the best picture but I had to show Grammy how blue his eyes are getting. :)

And his famous smile. 

As long as his belly is full then this smile is on his face. Kinda like his Daddy!

One more, had to show his going to church clothes!

Dodgers Fans For Life

Yesterday we were able to use Dave's company's tickets to go to Levi's very first Dodger game! The very first thing we purchased when we found out we were having a boy was a Dodger hat. We have been waiting for the day that we could take him to his first game and tried to take a ton of pictures to commemorate it. We realize that he won't actually remember anything that happened last night but it was an awesome night for the Lockridge family. We went a little early, parked in the reserved parking lot, had dinner in the Stadium Club and walked down to our second row seats behind home base... too bad the Dodgers lost!

Levi is "Thinking Blue" in his Dodger's gear!

First time using the front pack with him facing outwards. 

He loved it and made lots of new friends with his smiley face and Dodger hat.

First family picture in the stadium. Apparently when we were taking this picture we were on the big screen! I found out when I took Levi to the bathroom to change him later that evening and two strangers came up to us to tell us how cute he was and how excited they were to meet us after seeing us on the screen. I still think their reaction was weird, but pretty funny that we were on the screen and didn't know.

He really did love all the lights and the commotion and especially all the attention.

I thought he would just crash in the front pack and sleep most of the game, but this was the only moment of sleepiness the entire 9 innings. Most of the time he smiled and laughed and made cute faces at everyone around us.

In the top of the 6th inning while I was holding Levi, a foul ball came over the net straight at my head. For a split second I was a little worried and then knew that Dave would take care of us. And he did! He caught the ball in his bare hand right over our heads! What an awesome memory and it seems like Levi's our little good luck charm. 

Just another cute one of my boys in their Dodger blue. 

(I'm not sure why there are "ears" on his hoodie but how stinkn' cute is that??!)

Sarah and her friend Whitney were able to meet us at the game at the last minute!

Last picture before we left. 

What a GREAT night with the Dodgers! We'll definitely remember this night forever even if Levi doesn't. Good thing we have enough pictures to prove that he was at his first Dodgers game at 7 weeks old! 

New Things

This week has been filled with fun new things for Levi, and for us too! Here's a quick look at what we've been up to.

Levi has been attending church with us since he was 6 days old. I know they tell you to stay at home for longer, but I was already stir crazy and in need of some social interaction. We feed him, wrap him up in his car seat and sit in the back on the aisle in case we need to step outside. So far I've only had to leave the service once to feed him and the other times he's slept right on through. We're enjoying that time out of the house and he's doing great in his car seat. He's probably used to all the music and Pastor Glen's voice anyway from being there every Sunday in my tummy! The past two weeks we've stepped up his wardrobe a little and got some good use out of all the cute clothes he has. He busted out his first pair of jeans, a polo onesie and shoes last week. He's so cute we had to take a picture of our little man!

He went to the doctor with me this week to get the all clear. I think he was a little bored! Dr. Pinkus was excited to see him again and we both were given a clean bill of health. Now it's time to hit the gym! :)

We met up with our good friends Sheri and Stevie this week for a walk on the Strand. These two don't know it yet but they're going to be very good friends! It was a great time to talk with someone who is going through exactly what I'm going through and get a little exercise in the process. Hopefully this was the first of many!

This weekend we had the Holmes' and the Smarts and the Wimers (minus Travis) over for dinner. We had a potluck bbq and enjoyed having all three little ones together for the first time. Here's all the new daddies and kiddos. What a difference a year makes!

Kylie, Levi and Stevie

How hard is it to photograph three kids???

Daddy and Levi in his cute big boy pants!

We've enjoyed Skype-ing with Grammy and Grandpa this week too! Levi is all smiles and coos as he listens to their voices and tries to figure out what's going on. This Saturday we brought out the Bumbo seat for him to sit on while we're talking and he loved it! It's a little early for him to use it but he has pretty good neck control and seemed to enjoy it. Way to go Levi!

That's been our week of firsts! Another first at the moment-- single parenthood! Dave has been in Houston overnight so Levi and I have been home alone for the first time. It went ok. Let's just say I'm exhausted and SOOOO glad I don't have to do this by myself all the time. So glad Daddy is coming home tonight!

Expectations

I feel like being a Mom has so far met my expectations. We knew that we'd love him with more love than we've ever felt before, we knew that there would be a sleeplessness like we've never known, and we knew that there would be moments of amazement and moments of frustration. But (and this is a HUGE but) I've recently realized that knowing something is completely different than really experiencing it. I told my friend Becky today that I said some pretty insensitive/ignorant comments to her last year after the birth of her daughter. (Thankfully she says she doesn't even remember the conversation but the longer I'm a parent the more things I've said are coming back to me!) Becky had been telling me how Kylie was sleeping great at night but not taking many (any?) naps during the day. I replied, in all my pre-motherhood wisdom, "Well at least she's sleeping at night! That's obviously the more important thing." Ha! While sleeping through the night (heck, even sleeping for four hours straight!) would be heavenly at this point, it is completely different than sleep during the day. On the days that Levi decides that he isn't going to nap I get nothing done. Nothing. I realize that now and relish the days when he takes good naps and lets me do things like empty the dishwasher and take a shower. It's things like this that are transforming my old expectations into my new reality!

So after all of our crazy driving adventures we realized that if we were ever going to get Levi on a schedule then we needed to stay home once in a while. Since we've been back he has done great! No more fussy periods at night and no more days where he won't let me put him down--it's funny how a few days of actual naps in his crib can change his whole demeanor. We're still new at this whole parenthood thing so this may seem like no brainer information but we're learning! Here are a few pictures from our week at home...

Levi is loving bath time!

Our little ducky

Found this at Target and couldn't resist. Baby clothes are so fun!

Auntie Sarah came to visit again last Saturday. We love that she's so close by!

Disneyland Half Marathon

My family signed up to run in the Disneyland half marathon last weekend. I wasn't released to do major exercise yet (and I had a 5 week old) so Mom, Levi and I stayed behind and cheered for the group. Dave stepped in at the last minute (without any training) and did great!

Here is Grammy and Levi hanging out by the pool at the Candy Cane Inn.

(He loves to cover his face with his hands when he sleeps.)

Some of the highlights of the run included the part through Disneyland and meeting some people from Star Wars. (I know I'm disappointing Bryan terribly but I really have no clue who these guys are!)

And running through Angels Stadium.

Bryan's girlfriend Alison and her parents ran in the marathon too. Here is Dave, Alison, Alison's Mom Claire and my dad.

Uncle Bryan after the race.

Everyone did great and we were so proud of them. Maybe next year we'll all do it!

One Month

Levi Daniel is one month old!

(Ok, so as of today he's actually 5 weeks and two days old but we were out of town so let's pretend.)

Our little guy is growing growing growing and, I'm no expert but, I'm pretty sure it's because he loves to eat eat eat! We took him for a check up and he's officially 10 lbs (75 percentile) and, they didn't measure him this time but, the doctor thinks that he's off the charts in height. She said it's a great thing because he has to grow into those huge hands and feet! It's hard to believe that he's already been with us for an entire month. We love him so much and we're learning more about him every day.

I know one month isn't that long of a time but here are a few of Levi's favorite things so far:

Hanging out with dad. Whenever. Where ever. Especially on his chest. Too. Stinkin'. Cute.

All his awesome clothes!

(Ok, this might be more of a mom thing but how cute is his little baseball booty?!)

His best friend Hannity.

Playing!

He loves making faces, smiling, when we sing silly songs, tummy time and he recently found himself in mirrors and likes to talk back.

Month one was split between his newborn-sleep-all-the-time stage and then a couple of fussy weeks where he didn't want to be put down during the day. We're learning to read his sleepy signs and think we may have been overstimulating him so he couldn't drift off to sleep. We've since changed some of our tactics and think we've turned a corner into official nap times during the day. Hallelujah! We're still eating every 2 1/2 to 3 hours during the day but at night we stretch it out to 3 1/2 to 4 hours. He's definitely growing and we're definitely learning! We love this guy so much and can't believe that we're already on our way to month #2.

First Trip North

Dave and I were invited to a wedding up in Santa Cruz for one of his college roommates. We thought it was the perfect excuse to head up the valley and introduce Levi to all of our wonderful extended family and a few friends. We were a little hesitant to take a four week old on a 6 hour car ride but figured if he was going to fit into this family he needed to be ready to go with us! He was an absolute trooper and we only had to stop twice on the way there and twice on the way back. We have found that he goes from completely quiet and content to screaming his head off in 0.2 seconds which makes for a few harried minutes to find a place to stop, but all in all he did a great job. Here are a few highlights of the week. (Note to self: get better at picking up the camera! And maybe put someone else in the picture besides Levi. Thankfully my Mom was around with her camera so hopefully she got some important pictures that I can borrow later.)

Dave & Levi in Bakersfield at our first pit stop.

There is a hint of a smile even in the 112 degree heat... he must be a valley boy at heart!

Auntie Amy holding a very sleepy Levi.

The first (reactionary) smile caught on camera! Mommy is so funny!

One of the "goodnight" pictures I sent to Dave this week.

He was in Chicago for business so I stayed up in Modesto with my parents. It was one of the best decisions I've made since being a mom! I was definitely not ready to be a single parent for a week and it was nice to spread out the visits from family.

Hanging out with Hannity.

Believe it or not, these two really do love each other already. Whenever we passed Levi on to meet someone, Hannity was at their feet as if to say "That's my baby!" And Levi gives some of his best smiles to her too. I'm so glad this relationship is working out because we were a little nervous how they would respond to each other in the beginning.

More pictures to come... We saw both sets of Grandparents, met two Great-Grandmas, lots of cousins and Aunties and Uncles, friends that prayed for us, and new baby best friends. We had so much fun but are glad to be back home.