5 months and counting!

Big boy! Levi is now 17+ pounds and 24 inches long. And as cute as ever, I might add :-) Phew, a moment of calm has finally appeared. And the house is clean! Clean clean clean clean! And that makes me so happy. I have to say, I have never ever worked as hard in my life as I have the past 5 months. Ha! Most, if not all days, both Marcelo and I just don't stop moving. On Saturday we took turns sleeping cuz we we're both so drained. But I am so glad, cuz we are doing it. We're already 5 months in and Levi is thriving and happy! I feel like we are really getting into a groove with life as a family. It is getting a bit easier too! The big challenge these days is teething, and lots of teething pain and "scream-crying" which visits on most nights. It's hard to see him in so much pain. Some frozen teethers seem to help, but the pain seems very consistent. I wish there was more we could do but it often boils down to just holding and soothing him while he cries. He is also much more mobile! He rolls a lot! If I put him on the floor in one place, he can end up on the other side of the blanket in no time! And he loves it, he loves hanging out on his tummy and putting anything and everything into his mouth. Hehe. He also loves to grab anything he can. We always wear him facing out in the baby carrier (wearing baby on our chest) and he will grab with and play with anything. He's also vocal often squealing with joy and saying "meh meh meh meh." Its pretty darn cute. He plays upright in his bouncer and can almost sit without assistance. Also, it is so exciting that he has started his "Shrimp" category swimming lessons. He has already had two of them and has a 30 minute lesson on Sunday mornings at the YMCA with like 8 other babies. We are in the water with him and we practice kicking and paddling, jumping, blowing bubbles, water-snake, and use kick boards and noodles as well. And we sing. It is pretty darn cute! The YMCA is awesome, I got him a very inexpensive membership and so it includes 90 minutes of child care so I can work out too! I took advantage this morning, for the first time, and got to lift some weights and go for a swim and a dip in the hot tub. It was heavenly! He cried a bit when I left but I think he was OK. It is hard to leave him, but I have good faith in the staff there, they are great. And besides, he's only a room or two away from me. I hope to do yoga on Thursday. I have been walking a lot with him in the park at night, but I really need and want to get back to more intense working out in addition to the walking. I also took him to the car wash today (and wore him in the carrier as I washed and vacuumed), and to a couple of grocery stores. It's good to be able to be more mobile with him. But wow it's a lot of work, lol. Part of my mission with weight training, besides balanced fitness, is because I NEED muscle strength to carry him around as well as the million bags I always seem to have with me. But I also look at every day life as weight lifting, so I like how it keeps me in shape. Exercise is so important to me. Swimming has been wonderful, I seriously feel like a million bucks after and it totally boosts my energy! Work has been good, I am seriously blessed to have a job I love that constantly challenges me, a great part time schedule that totally allows for a work-life-parenting balance and great pay and benefits to boot! I will try to post more pics. wish I could insert them into the body of the blog, but I've been having trouble uploading pics from my phone. I'll keep trying. SO glad to have had this moment to write and keep in touch. :-)