Lewis Rolls Over!

He figured it out! He rolled over yesterday 3 times, and now today he's doing it like crazy! I put him down this a.m. to go start my coffee--came back, he's on his belly. I put him down to let the dogs in--came back, he's on his belly. Just a little while ago, he rolled over onto his belly, then back to his back, then back to his belly. I think we'll be spending some time in the (carpeted) basement the next few days so he can have PLENTY of room to stretch out and practice.

My sister (mother to 1-year-old, Juniper) says, "And so it begins...next thing you know, he'll be into everything!!!" I am afraid.

If you're in a hurry, go ahead to the :50 mark.

Jorts!!!

We ran out of diapers this weekend b/c Amazon took longer than usual to ship them to us. Thankfully, I'd bought a pack of (fake) denim diapers for Kevin's baby shower at work before Lewis was born. He is into a Size 3 now, so they finally fit him!! They are so much cuter than I could have ever imagined.

Denim diapers.

I think he likes them!

Not quite a Wrangler butt, but close. :)

Chunkely Monkely

Striking a Pose

Mama, you do realize these are ridiculous.

I also took some 'me' time yesterday while Kevin took Lewis over to Grandma and Grandpa Thompson's house. I went for the trifecta of Target, Panera, and a movie (Something Borrowed...it's been a while since I saw a full-fledged chick flick--it was cute). It was nice to have some time to myself for the first time in months, really. :) Looking forward to the next time!

Party Pants and Almost Rolling Over

At the last minute, Lewis and I decided to drive up to Indy/New Castle last Thursday-Friday for a bridal shower and to introduce him to Mom and Dad's coworkers and students. It was our first trip by ourselves, so I was a little apprehensive about the drive (last time we took a road trip he was coming down with a cold and was hungry earlier than expected, so we had some major crying while trying to get to an exit). This time, he was a happy camper throughout--we stopped in Edinburgh coming and going. There are plenty of far-away parking spots for nursing privacy, plus a bathroom, plus a Gap outlet. :)

We stopped first in New Castle to see my parents for a few hours. Then we headed back to Indy for a bridal shower for my friend Lisa--she and James will be married this fall! We had a very nice time at the shower--I forgot to take a picture of his sweet plaid pants until close to the end of the evening, past his bedtime, hence fussytime, so this is the best I got:

Sad in Plaid

We made the rounds in New Castle on Friday morning, visiting cardiac rehab, the hospital, Westwood, and Grandma Dee's house, and then we had to hit the road. We stopped on the way at the Butt's house to meet their beautiful twin boys, Jenson Alex and Edison James, who are almost three weeks old. They are so precious--I can't wait until they (and Lewis) are old enough to play together. We got back pretty late Friday evening, just about at Lewis' bedtime.

At my parents' house, Lewis really started to buck his head in an attempt to roll over. He was really arching up (I think partially to see the TV), so Saturday morning we went down to the basement to see what he could do. He is SO close!!!

Laying on his side

Pushing his head down

(with mama's encouraging hand next to his bum)

And he's over!

(with a shove from mama)

Sweet little monkey

Stupid Flash

I

challenge

you

to

capture

me

smiling!

Three Months

Happy 3 months, little buddy! We are coming to the end of his first cold, I hope...still having to suck snot once or twice a day. Still hacking a little first thing in the morning. Not hacking up milk all over mama so much the past few days, which is nice. I'm learning, though--I burp with a bath towel now instead of a measly burpcloth. :)

Three Months Old

We don't go to the doctor this month, so Kevin and I took unofficial measurements this morning. I've found that different websites give vastly different percentiles, so I just looked these up on BabyCenter since that is where I do most of my baby-related reading and research.

Head: 17 3/8 inches (95th+ percentile)

Length: 25 1/2 inches (75-90th percentile)

Weight: 16.6 pounds (90-95th percentile)

What he's doing this month:

• Holding his head up pretty well on his own. Still head-butts us sometimes, but he's getting a lot better with it.
• Has started laying on his side a lot during his activity mat time. Just laying there. Hasn't rolled over since that one day last month.
• Also during his activity mat time, he has started grabbing at the toys, holding on for dear life, kicking, yelling, and shaking the shit out of it all. He reminds of a wild animal in a cage.
• Has become mesmerized with his feet and hands. Likes to stare at them.
• He smiles back at us most of the time now and chuckles sometimes.
• Has become pretty vocal, usually in the evenings.
• Sleep was SO GOOD there for a few weeks, and then he got a cold. With that, he started waking up once or twice in the night again. I think we're back to once a night now (hopefully), and I am going to try to stick with one wake-up time everyday and see if that helps get him back to his old ways.

He also took his first trip to Bloomington yesterday. Campus looked so different--so many (too many, to me) new buildings. We were going to spend more time walking around but ran short on time. We met Kevin's friend Ahren (and wife, daughter, and daughter's friend) for lunch at Scotty's and then headed out to Ben and Adie's house for a graduation party. It was great for their families/Waycross friends to meet Lewis. We got lots of offers for babysitters! Some had seen him when he was around a month old, and they couldn't believe how big he has gotten since then! So, first college party--check. He found a nice place to rest his head on Adie's lap, so he took a nap there.

Class of 2033

Party all night, Sleep all day

First Mother's Day

At the last minute, my mom and I decided to plan a trip to Waycross for their Mother's Day banquet, and I'm so glad we did! Kevin, Lewis, and I met Mom, Dad, and Grandma Dee there. It was such a nice afternoon (despite Lewis coming down with his first cold). When we arrived, we drove up to the Hill to see if our little Christmas tree that we'd planted for Baby Thompson survived the winter...it does not appear to have made it. Maybe it is still hanging on, but I kind of doubt it.

Uh-Ohhhhhh, Christmas Tree, O, Christmas Tree

Lunch was amazing as Waycross meals always are. They had a buffet with oven fried chicken, baked chicken (with basil pesto), baked ham (with a yummy mustard sauce), corn, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, rolls, fruit salad, Waycross chocolate chip cookies and sugar cookies, 'The Good Cake' which was some sort of pineapple/nut/spice cake with cream cheese icing (a Baughman recipe), and a lemon bar trifle. Everything was perfect (and I would know because I tasted everything except for the fried chicken). :) They had beautiful flower centerpieces everywhere and corsages for the moms. Barb and her staff did such a great job.

Lewis starting to look a little sickly

After lunch, we headed down to the creek. Luckily we packed the all-terrain stroller, so we were able to navigate the trail/embankment with Lewis fast asleep.

First Creek Hike

Mom thought that some of our other relatives might be there, but we weren't sure which mealtime they had signed up for (and it was last minute so we didn't call and ask). Luckily, my aunt Rose, uncle Mal, cousin Julie, and her sons Gideon and Ezra were all there, too! It was such a nice surprise to see them again (and so soon--we just saw them at Easter, too, minus Mal). The boys came prepared for the creek with shorts and the cutest kid-sized Chacos. :) They had fun splashing in the water and looking for cool rocks (as did the adults).

Brothers Ezra and Gideon

One day you'll get to get down and dirty in the creek, buddy.

Dad asked if we remembered when/where we first met (of course!), so we revisited the spot where a) we had our first conversation and b) where Kevin proposed. Nerd alert! :) It was kind of cool to be back there with Lewis, especially being Mother's Day and all. It will be 10 years ago this summer that we first met! Hard to believe.

Where Papa asked Mama to marry him

Also after lunch, they took pictures out on the new porch of the Assembly Building, so we decided to get ours taken. I'm really glad we did so that we have a little keepsake to remember my first Mother's Day! It was a great one!

The Thompson Family

Now I need to start thinking towards Father's Day to make it just as special for Kevin! This weekend we are heading to Bloomington on Saturday and having a 'yardwork day' on Sunday (if the weather cooperates).

Whoa, There!!!

Spring has finally come to Kentuckiana, only with a bit more vengeance than I would prefer. This week the temperatures are supposed to soar well into the upper 80s, even 90 on Wednesday. Gag. For the weekend, it will be back in the low 70s. I have a long 'to do' list for the yard/garden as things are filling in--it is looking pretty wild and overgrown out there. We already have mutant dandelions and other weeds taking over a few beds. I need to get out there and take care of it--it is stressing me out.

Towards the end of last week it finally stopped raining, so Lewis and I did get outside a few times to work on things. I laid him on a blanket in the yard while I worked...he eventually kicked the blanket out from under him so that his socks hit the grass as he kicked, and he got his first grass stain! :) First of many, I'm sure.

1st Grass Stain: 5/5/11

We also made it to Babies R Us one day, and I was able to find the grippable (I made up that word) balls I was looking for that Emily and Maria had. There was a 3-pack with a small, medium, and large one, so I went with that. I think they are a hit--he really seems interested in grabbing onto them and putting them in his mouth. He has also started grabbing the legs of his dangly toys and putting the feet in his mouth. And he's trying to eat his hands a lot more recently. And he's drooling.

Getting a Grip

And then Saturday was the Kentucky Derby. Not being from around here, I don't really get into horse racing, but we are always up for a reason to party! We went to Kevin's friend Joe's brother's house...Joe, Polly, and their little one, Joey (almost 7 months), were in town from Michigan! We'd seen Joey at Christmas, but this was their first time meeting Lewis. We had a very fun afternoon--they had a lot of pools for the winning horse as well as the last place horse--we won the $1 last place pool ($19 pot), so we broke even on the day. I also took my first Jell-O shot in about 10 years. Oh, the memories. :)

Me, Lewis, Polly (in her Derby hat), and Joey

That brings us to my first Mother's Day! Little Lewis got sick sometime between the Derby Party and Mother's Day morning, so we've been dealing with that. He did luckily sleep last night, but he is a snotty, fussy, sneezy, and coughing mess. I feel so helpless. He doesn't have a temperature, so I'm just trying to keep the snot sucked, his face clean, elevated one end of his mattress, and I tried out some Vick's Baby VapoRub during naptime. Hopefully he gets better soon. He hacked up some major phlegm/milk pukies/loogies on me early this morning that made me very sad. Sounds like he is waking from his nap, so I'd better go clean him up and feed him. Poor buddy. We did have a lovely Mother's Day, though, which I'll post about next!

Poo(h) with the Thompsons

Kevin's parents hosted a (delicious) dinner this weekend for their side of the family to meet Lewis. We dressed him in a sweet little Winnie the Pooh outfit that Jim and Sharon bought for him, but it didn't survive very long. We luckily photographed him wearing it before we left the house.

Sweet while it lasted.

Could someone please pass me a Twinkie?

Within 10 minutes of arriving at their house, he had a poo incident and had to change him (and Gma Sharon had to change, too). Then within 10 minutes of that, we had to change him again, twice. Made me nervous that we would run out of clean clothes and/or diapers, but he finally stopped. His naps were cut shorter than normal, so he got fussy towards evening time, but he was pretty happy to be passed around during the afternoon.

Lewis with his Grandpa Jim

Approximately 20 minutes later...

Lewis with his Great Aunt Lynnette

Lynnette reading to Lewis and 3rd cousin Ava

(Ava turned one on Feb. 20, so they're almost exactly a year apart.)

Taking it all in on Great Aunt Linda's lap

Reacting to Papa's silly faces, in the arms of Grandma Sharon

I'm glad everyone was able to meet him--we had a nice time!

Next up will be his first Derby party, followed by his first trip to Bloomington. Looking forward to it.

Rainy Days

The other day during one of our MANY recent rainy days, Lewis decided to roll over from back-to-front for the first time! I looked over and saw that he was up on his side like this--next thing I knew, he was on his belly with an arm pinned beneath him. I let him wriggle for a few seconds, and he figured out how to get his arm out. He's only done it one other time since then, but it is still pretty exciting!

If I could just...reach...a...little...farther...(plop)

Lewis and his chins wanted to wish his cousin Juniper a happy 1st birthday last week!

Speaking of being 'all growns up,' when did Lewis start looking so grown up?

(Thanks for the Batman and Spiderman shirts from Reed, Maria, and Clara.)

And this is how Peter and Hattie spend the rainy days...they make me want to take a nap!

We had briefly talked about signing up for a 5k in a few weeks, but the rain has made walking (me & Lewis) and running (Kevin) not happen. The entry fee is also a bit high to not put forth a solid effort, so we're going to pass on this one. If it would stop raining ever, we'll get back out walking with the dogs in the evenings at least. Hopefully Lewis and I can also start a regular walking routine out in 'nature' (as nature-y as the suburbs can be)...maybe we can find a few stroller-friendly trails in nearby parks. And before the nasty summer heat/humidity sets in. We need to move.