Kicky Squirt

So Levi's new favorite thing is getting his diaper changed on his changing table. We didn't frequent the spot before, because I would usually stake out a spot in our house during the day to work on projects - either our room or the dining room table, and just change him nearby because it was easier. But now I mostly keep the changing items in his own room, and he seems to greatly enjoy it. He's always smiley when he's there. Even when he's puking.

 Which is a great transition into: we had our first projectile vomiting. Even though it was 4 minutes before I had to leave for work, as my mom taught me: everything is washable (and if its not, it doesn’t belong in your house). We stripped his outfit, the changing table pad, threw his diapie dog (teddy special for diaper changes) and burp cloth in the laundry. I left the sitter (also named Holly) to re-dress baby boy and headed off to work, logging onto my laptop at 8:07 a.m. Boo ya.

We’ve also graduated to a real, live, full-sized bath. The sponge bath in our Kitchen sink was great until Levi’s legs got strong enough so that he could start stretching and launching his head towards the solidstone surface…So we graduated to a real-boy tub. The one we had turned out to be leaky and not reliable, so we logged on with my Amazon Mom free shipping discount (seriously, I would buy everything from lime juice to a lawn mower online if I could get free shipping. Best thing ever) and bought him one solid plastic baby bath (the original was two pieces, hence the leaking) upon Auntie Krista’s advice. Bad thing about buying things online – photos are rarely shown next to other objects to gauge the size. The new baby bath is just shy of being the size of our own actual bathtub. It came with each side designed slightly differently to put Levi in – one where he leans back while he’s too young to sit up, and another to sit him up when he can do that on his own. All the reviews I read said that it was great even through early toddler years, the perfect amount to splash around and good for moms and dads instead of bending down over the tub at floor level.They did not mention that it was giant.

The four generations of Whites (left to right) W. John, Tim, Levi, and Bill

Levi’s legs are getting stronger and stronger. And by that, I mean that he’s kicking me/other objects, etc.He can hold his head up all the way when he's up on my shoulder, and also hold it up pretty far during tummy time. If I hold him up, he'll straighten his legs and put his weight on his little thighs to stand up. I realize I'll regret encouraging this pretend walking and crawling when it actually starts to happen and I have to baby proof the house, but for now, its fun to see how strong he's getting!

Aunti Kara meets Levi for the first time!

We’re convinced that Levi cries mainly because he’s bored. He’s been much better in the evenings than previously, though still fusses sometimes. Often though, if he starts to yell, we take him for a walk, either around the house, the yard, or actually out in the stroller/bjorn/moby, so that he can have a change of scenery, and then he’s quite happy. Sometimes he even makes us take him out of the stroller so he can see better. He's also happiest either up on our shoulders or facing out in what Tim calls the "superman" pose (thanks Cousin Heather for teaching us that this weekend). As long as he can see, we're good.

(note that the video above is the longest, most boring video ever, unless you're related to us and want to hear Levi talking) We went on our first real road trip this weekend. Friday afternoon we left about 3:45 to make the trek to my parents house in Rhode Island (technically a stopover/sleeping time before heading another almost three hours to Tim’s parents house). We made it by 11:15 or so, which is great time for a holiday weekend. Levi alternated between sleeping, playing the kicking his blanket off game, and smiling and grinning into his mirror at Daddy. With a couple of stops for eating (timed nicely with a gas fill up and dinner), he survived quite well.

With Nanan for the blowing out of her birthday candles!

We spent Saturday – Monday with Tim’s immediate and extended family, and Levi was very gracious about being passed from one pair of arms to another. He seemed confused at first, I think mainly because we were outside and even though in the shade, the day was still quite bright and there was a light breeze, neither of which Levi appreciated. Inside later with the air conditioning and lack of direct sunlight, he was much more content.

The four boy cousins: Will, Josiah, Levi and Micah. Josiah's face explains the success rate of the photo :)

While up north for the weekend, mostly to celebrate Tim’s mom’s 60^th birthday, we also had Levi dedicated. Though we love our home church, because of it’s size, many things like dedications are often impersonal and end up being a short trotting out of several families on stage, a 30-second speech by the pastor, and then the families trot back to their seats again. We were looking for something a little more meaningful and specific for ourselves, so we asked Tim’s dad, a pastor of a church in New Hampshire, if he could dedicate Levi at his own church, which would be great for the whole family to be there and more personal and small. Levi wore a little navy blue plaid shirt and snazzy white baby shorts, courtesy of our friends the Franz's, and was completely happy in the church service until we walked up front. But he was good while his Papa was holding him for the dedication. We had our whole extended family up front with us - Tim's two sisters and their families, my parents, Tim's grandparents, my sister and Tim's parents.

On Sunday night Levi trekked with us to view his first ever fireworks over Lake Winnipesaukee Sadly, the night was ridiculously muggy and after waiting for 40 minutes the fireworks finally started. We had discovered friends of Tim's parents in a house on the shore of the lake, and they let us sit in their air conditioned porch for part of the waiting time. During the fireworks, Levi fell sound asleep and didn't even wake up for the muted booms of the fireworks going off right in front of the house on the lake.

He also slept the next morning throughout his first trip ever out on a boat. Trussed up to the gills in a life vest about as big as he is, we pulled his baby hat low over his face and he was zonked for the two hours or so from when we started driving to the lake to when we got off the boat....