Levi's 1st Christmas part 1

One of the things that I loved about growing up was all of the traditions that I shared with my family. Starting with the annual McCallon family Christmas party on Christmas Eve, with my cousin Lori's famous sweet potato casserole, my aunt Kaye in her festive Christmas outfits, the dreaded speeches, and the hysterical "balloon game" where we tie balloons around our ankles and everyone frantically tries to pop each others balloons with newspapers. Then going back home and putting on a pot of coffee so we could keep ourselves awake to open presents until 3 in the morning. Then getting three hours of sleep, and waking up to "Jingle Bell Rock" blaring through the speakers on Christmas morning beckoning us to get out of bed and open more presents. I'll never forget my sister and I walking into the living room giddy with sleepy excitement only to open more presents from Santa, while my dad was video taping everything (which has since been embarrisingly shown to Johnny).

It is these memories that I would look forward to every year and even to this day, it isn't Christmas without waking up to Jingle Bell Rock on Christmas morning. One of the things that I look forward to is sharing these traditions with Levi as well as, starting new ones. This year made me realize just how important traditions are to me and how amazing it is to be able to share them with Levi for the first time. It was probably a little bit overwhelming to him for the first time, but he will get used to it and grow to love it too. After all, I did.

To me, the cool thing about raising a child is that Johnny and I can each take our favorite family traditions, as well as, create our own, instill them into Levi and in turn, he becomes a blend of the two of us. I love how Johnny's dad reads the Christmas story out of the Bible on Christmas day before we open presents. It's a reminder to me of why we celebrate Christmas, in the midst of all the frenzy and excitement of the holidays. I also love how Johnny's mom makes her famous 3 layer salad every year for Christmas dinner. Who would have thought that pineapples, jello, marshmallows and cheese would all be good together? And then going to see a movie on Christmas night every year.
I hope that Levi learns to love these traditions just like Johnny and I do and that when he thinks of Christmas, this is what comes to mind...

Next up: Levi's 1st Christmas part 2: Christmas with the Wohlgemuths

Another tooth comes in!

Gigi was holding Levi this morning and spotted a surprise...another tooth! His 2 middle bottom teeth have been in for about a month and now his upper left tooth is making an appearance! And Levi has not been too happy about it's entrance. He has been a little fussy the past couple days, but who can blame him? I would be hacked off too if foreign objects were forcing their way through my gums.

He has pretty much mastered the whole sitting up thing and enjoys getting a different view of the world instead of staring at the ceiling all day. He is now holding his own bottle and feeding it to himself and still trying to walk. He loves to walk while we hold onto his hands! He is going to keep us busy for sure when he starts walking:-)

Next up...Christmas pics

Levi's first trip to Bass Pro Shops

On Sunday we went to Bass Pro Shops for John's birthday (Johnny's dad). It was levi's first (of many i'm sure) experience there. Here are some pics. I am so tired, so I will post the rest of them tomorrow.

7 month check-up

Levi went in for his 6 month check-up on Friday(a month late b/c mommy completely missed the first appointment). On a side note, before I had Levi, I was so good at remembering dates in my head. I never would write stuff down b/c I could just remember it. Now I can't even hardly remember my own birthday! What is up with that? Has this happened to anyone else after having a baby or am i the only crazy one?
Anyways, we did finally make it in to see Dr. Adams. Levi weighed a whopping 16.5 lbs. and was 27 inches long! He was in the 20th percentile for weight and 60th percentile for height. (Sorry to bore you with all the percentile stuff...I never understood that until they started measuring Levi) Maybe that means he will be tall!
He also had to get his 3rd round of shots (booo) and his flu shot which they recommended. I am doing much better however with the whole shot thing. The first time I cried, the second time I didn't cry, but I couldn't watch. Now I have become savvy to the whole shot thing and I came prepared with a warm bottle ready for him as soon as he cried. The poked him and he cried for like 2 seconds, and then I gave him his bottle and he was perfectly fine. whew, now we don't have to get anymore until after he's a year old!

On Saturday, Levi was running a little fever from the shots. It was the first time he has been sick :-( He was so cuddly all day and slept a lot. He was good as new by Sunday morning. I'm glad to see him back to his old self now!

Sittin pretty

Levi is doing so good at sitting up all by himself. He can now pretty much sit independently, although he still is a little wobbly at times. It's so cute the way he balances himself by holding his arms out so he won't fall over. He's still perfecting it though because every once in awhile he will fall to the side or facedown on the carpet and he doesn't like that too much.

Levi meets Santa

Santa came to visit MDO on Monday! Levi wasn't scared of him, like some of the other babies but he just wanted to play with his beard :-)

Recent pics

Levi is 7 months old!

Yesterday was Levi's 7 month birthday. It's hard to believe that in 5 months, he will be a year old! He is already trying to walk everywhere (with our help,of course)and just wants to go, go, go all the time! Yes, he is a miniature version of Johnny. When he is sleepy though, i still get my cuddling fix :-) I am by no means an expert on parenting, but I thought after 7 months, I would reflect on what I have learned as a parent...

10) Never wear nice clothes because they will inevitably end up with spit-up, sweet potatoes, formula, or all of the above on them.

9) Necklaces are not jewelry, they are fun toys.

8) 6 hours really IS a full nights sleep.

7) Johnny is a big softie...Levi always ends up in bed with us when he cries in the middle of the night. I DO have to admit that he is usually the one to get up when he cries, however.

6) I am a heavier sleeper than I thought (in reference to #7.

5) I cannot fit into my size 2 jeans, no matter how hard I try! (For some reason I think that if I keep trying them on, one day they will magically fit)

4) Loading up the car for a day at the grandparents is like packing for a 2 week European vacation

3) Date night? What date night?

2) During naptime, I must transform into wonder woman and get 12 hours worth of stuff done in about 2.

1) Poop can defy gravity. It can rise and come out of the armpits.

Haha, despite all that, I have to say that I wouldn't trade being a mom for anything in the world. I'll take the permanant spit-up stain on my shoulder anyday :-)