Babies everywhere!

It is so much fun being at the time in our lives when many of our friends are having children of their own. So many babies to enjoy all at the same time! Some friends of ours are in the process of having their baby right at this very moment. She went in at 9pm (TX time) to be induced. Baby boy will be here in no time and I am so excited for them! Another friend just found out she is having a little boy, a third friend is having a little girl, and even another friend is going to have her baby girl in just a couple of weeks. And yet another will find out tomorrow if she is going to have a son or a daughter. It's crazy to think that we are at this stage in our lives. I still don't feel old enough to have a job and be out of college, much less be a married home-owner with a 5 month old son, a grown-up job, and friends with all those things, too! It's so fun.

On more of a reality note, Levi is starting to sleep better. Last night he only got up twice, which is about half the amount of times he has been getting up recently. It is a nice change. I'm trying not to get my hopes up for a sleeping turnaround, but it is nice getting more sleep.

Here is the latest picture of him in his jumperoo that his Grammie got him. It was taken on my phone so the quality isn't great, but he is precious nonetheless.

8 hours

Yes my friends, Levi slept 8 straight hours last night. It is a miracle! There wasn't a storm or anything, he just slept! I think he may have woken up once but promptly put himself back to sleep. He hasn't felt well this morning so I didn't get to sleep in, but he is back asleep now and has been sleeping off and on for 12 hours! I don't know if this is going to be his new norm, but I certainly hope so. I am still going to take a nap today, but I hope my little man has started to figure himself out so we all get some more sleep. Maybe he will take another good nap this morning so I can sleep some more too. Thanks for the prayers, they work!

So Tired... again

I know I sound like a broken record, but I'm so tired!! Levi has been sleeping terribly recently and I am just not able to catch up when the weekends roll around. I guess that is the problem with doing the bathroom remodel right now because our house is nice and noisy on the weekends. It is so hard to find the solution to get him to sleep. Yes, we have tried everything. And I mean EVERYTHING. You name it- We have tried it. I'm not sure how Jason is functioning as well as he is. Oh wait, he doesn't have to entertain 22 2nd graders all day long on 4-5 hours of sleep. Ugh. I told him I am going to NEED a nap today, so hopefully he gets enough done in the bathroom to give me some time to sleep and not worry about the baby.

Other than that we are all doing really well. Work is going just fine for both of us. Jason has been doing a lot of trainings recently so he is learning a whole bunch of new stuff, so he is really enjoying that. He is ready to have his security clearance so he can work on real projects, but for right now he is enjoying learning. My kids are getting better with each day and we are all making progress towards being a well-functioning classroom. I am thrilled at how well they are learning Spanish, considering many of them have never heard a word of Spanish in their lives. It is going to be so interesting to see how much they know by the end of the year.

I also need to ask for some prayers for a family friend. They adopted a boy at the same time my parents did and he is threatening to leave to go back to Ukraine. Long story short, his dad is fed up and bought him a plane ticket, but cancelled it when the boy decided to stay for "a little longer." They are living moment by moment through this emotional roller coaster and it is stressful for everyone involved. Thankfully, though all this, my family realized how my brothers feel about going back to Ukraine and they both think it is a completely idiotic idea, which we are really glad to hear. Both of them have talked about going back before, but they both understand how much better their life is going to be here. But this other boy does not have the maturity to see that. Please pray for this family.

Sleep situation and remodel

Our little Levi decided he does not like sleep. At least, he doesn't like it as much as his dad and I do... So, unfortunately for all of us, we have started having he just cry himself to sleep when he wakes up in the middle of the night. We always go in to check on him when he wakes up, and then periodically while he is awake to make sure he isn't stuck up against the side of the crib or anything like that, but we are not picking him up (or feeding him) anymore. His doctor said that after they reach 9 lbs they have enough sugar reserves to be able to last the night and they just get up out of habit. Last night was the 4th night we have done it and so far we are seeing few results. Although, he doesn't just cry uncontrollably. He will cry for a little bit (3 minutes maybe), then whimper for a bit, then is usually back asleep well within 20 minutes of when he woke up. If it was longer than that then we would know something else was going on and we would pick him up and feed him. It is so hard on a mama to hear her baby crying when she knows she can fix it, but at what cost? It isn't good for any of us for him to eat several times at night when we know he doesn't need to. So hopefully we will get into a good routine soon and he will start sleeping longer than 4 hour stretches. It is so hard to be working and not getting much sleep. I know people do it all the time, and I am one of them currently, but I would love to get just a little more sleep at night! We have also started giving him a tiny bit of rice cereal to see if that helps him sleep longer at night. So far no luck, but hopefully soon.

We have started the last remodel project in our house. We are completely redoing our master bathroom now. It is gutted, down to the studs and the concrete, and the rebuilding will start this weekend. I'm so excited to FINALLY have a nice, clean bathroom. The people before us didn't really take care of the bathroom so it was disgusting when we moved in. The drywall was falling apart, there were holes from where mice (?) once lived, the floor was peeling up, there was mildew and possibly mold in the shower, and not to mention it was horribly outdated. It's going to be so much different and I can't wait! We even got a fancy bathtub that has little air bubble holes. They aren't strong like jets, but there is like 100 little holes where heated air can come out and it just stirs the water a little. I think Levi will love it when he gets a little bigger, too.

So there is the most recent update. Thank you, Lord, for the amazing family I have and that, even though I am exhausted, I have such a fantastic blessing that is making me feel that way. Please help me through the day with my second graders!

Must... sleep...

We are severely lacking in the sleep department these days. Levi got sick while Jason was out of town and was up three times a night during that period. Well, he hasn't slept well since then. It is SUPER frustrating to know he isn't hungry but to have to feed him anyway to get him to go back to sleep. We are probably going to just let him cry (with us rubbing his back and trying to soothe him in his bed) and see if we can get it down to just once, or no times, a night. I'm so exhausted, I hope something works quickly because I can't keep this up! It's even more frustrating because he was down to just once a night before he got sick, then I don't know if he got in the habit of waking up or what, but now he is up at least twice, but usually more like 3-4 times each night. Not easy on this working mama! Speaking of, I should head to bed. Here are some recent pictures of our little guy.


"I'm 4 months old today!"

Playing with mommy


Going to work in the garden with dad. (He promptly fell asleep as Jason was watering the garden)