Big Brother

I dont think i can say enough about what a good big brother Brody is. He is such a big helper! Having him be almost 3 with a newborn around definitely has its perks! He loves to help and I definitely ask for his help alot:) Hes always going and getting things for me and he has the biggest smile on his face like he is so proud of himself when he does it! Yesterday, he tried to help a little too much though.....

Brody likes to help me give Levi his baths and I usually let him help rinse off the soap by pouring water over his belly and legs with a cup. Yesterday when i was bathing Levi, Brody said he was going to get the cup to rinse him off with.....well apparently he filled the cup up in the sink....with COLD water. I had my back to him and as i turned around to get the cup, Brody leaned over me and started to pour the water on Levi....thankfully he didnt pour much, but it was enough to make Levi scream at the top of his lungs. Brody knew he had done something wrong and had the saddest look on his face. He said "Im sorry, i will be a good boy, mommy! What did I do?!" He looked like he was going to cry:( He slowly walked out of the room and i called after him and asked where he was going. He said "I am going downstairs, cause i am sad:(" As much as i hated it for Levi that he got cold water poured on him, i couldnt get mad at Brody. Poor baby was trying to help and he was SOOO sad when he knew he had upset Levi.

Last night we went to homecoming at NRCA. I decided to leave Levi with mom and dad since it was supposed to get down in the 30s. We dropped Levi off with them, and were riding down the road when Brody all of a sudden realized Levi was not with us:) He said "mommy, Where is Levi!!" i reminded him that we left him with Nonna and PopPop and he said, " But i NEED my little brother!!" I love how much he already loves him...and im sure that love will continue to grow and Levi starts to interact more with him:)

Babies Babies Everywhere

This post is long overdue....but some of it was top secret information that i wasn't able to share for awhile. But now i can! My brother and lindsay are expecting a baby!!!! seriously, i could not have been more excited! i thought it would still be a couple of years before they were ready to have kids. i just knew we would be done having kids by the time they got around to having any cousins for my kids:) so when they told me they were expecting, i was SOOOOOOO thrilled! Levi and their baby will only be 6 months apart. Well....if that weren't exciting enough....GET THIS.....with Lindsay and Parkers announcement of their pregnancy, that meant that us and EVERY ONE of our siblings were expecting!! AT THE SAME TIME! How crazy is that?! I was due in september, Brian's sister Krystal due in November, Brian's brother Adam due in January, and Parker and Linds due in April! WHOAA! thats alot of babies in a matter of 6 months. Levi will have 3 cousins all within 6 months of him. How fun is that? can you tell I'm excited?

1 month appointment

Levi went in tuesday for his 1 month doctors appointment. He weighed 9 lbs 6 oz (50th percentile) and was 22 1/4 inches long (70th percentile). Hes growing like crazy and is already changing so much! He is still getting up one time each night around 2:30, Brody is still completely obsessed with him:), And we are adjusting to our new normal around here!

All about Levi

Well our newest little guy has been in our lives for 3 1/2 weeks now. He is such a good baby! When he was born, the nurses were concerned about him because he didn't cry when he came out...thankfully there was no reason for concern and that just showed the laid back baby he was and has still proved to be. He Rarely cries...if he does, it's usually because I am purposefully making him cry to wake him up for a feeding! He will fuss when he needs something but I don't think I've really ever heard him in an all out cry... Probably because he's very easily soothed...all it takes is a paci or a hand on him:)
scheduling has been extremely easy with him too. He has been a good sleeper since day one.... Totally unlike his big brother:) i have only had to get up with him one time at night since he came home from the hospital. He is so predictable....I feed him for the last time at 9:30 then we are in bed and asleep by 10:30. He wakes up at 2 am on the dot:) we go back to sleep at 3 am, and then he will wake up 6:00. I usually put his paci in which holds him off for another hour until his brody wakes up. This had pretty much been his schedule since day 1. I am a schedule freak and love predictability, so this makes me one happy girl:)
now it hasn't been completely smooth sailing....we've had our share of frustrations with nursing. He did great in the hospital but as soon as he got home he didn't want to have anything to do with it! Sometimes it would take 30 minutes to get him to even latch on, and then of course another 45 min to an hour to eat.... Making our feeding sessions last an hour and a half sometimes. Which wouldn't be that big of a deal if I didn't have a 2 year old begging me to play with him:) alot of times I would have to resort to using the pump and giving him a bottle, because we would both get so frustrated! About the time we got all of those issues worked out, I came down with mastitis. I have never felt so sick in all my life... Along with the pain, you get the most horrible flu symptoms and fever! Not fun with an almost 2 week old and a 2 year old!
Now we are past all of that and we are settling into our new normal around here as a family of 4:) Brody is still an AMAZING big brother...he smothers Levi with kisses and says 100 times a day "he's so cute!" and when Levi is fussing he says "what's wrong, my baby?" yes,Brody has claimed him as HIS baby;) I am so thankful for my boys and that the Lord has chosen me to raise them!

Big Brother

Brody is SO excited and proud of his new little brother. I love the fact that he is old enough to really interact and give his opinion on what he thinks about Levi. When he first came to the hospital to visit, his little face absolutely lit up when he saw Levi and realized he had FINALLY arrived. He seemed to completely understand that he had come out of my belly and that this little baby we had been talking about for months was finally here! He immediately hopped up on the bed with me and wanted to hold him. His little face was PRICELESS. He was completely in AWE of his little brother. He sat there and held him for the longest time and just stared at him with the sweetest expression on his face. He said things like "can we take him home with us?" and "do you like him Mommy? me too!" and "I love him". I know jealousy is always a worry of parents once they introduce another little one into the family...Brody has been jealous, but not of our time with Levi...with HIS time with Levi. When people came to visit in the hospital, he didnt want any one else to hold Levi, but HIMSELF:) We had to ask his permission for other people to hold Levi! Since we have been home he has been the biggest helper. He wants to help with every diaper change, he helps rub alcohol on his belly button, and hands me the wipes. He is constantly loving on Levi and rubbing his face and just is so sweet to him. He thinks its his job to tickle Levi's feet while im nursing to help keep him awake:) The transition so far has been great..i know Brody will probably have his moments where he gets jealous and wants all of mommy's attention, especially once Brian goes back to work, but for now we are so thankful at how easy Brody has transitioned into being a big brother!

Levi Brian Kohout

We are so excited to announce that Levi has arrived! He was born at 6:24 am on Sunday, September 12, 2010. Levi weighed 7 lbs 15 oz and was 20 3/4 inches long. Here is the lengthy version of how he came into this world....



Early Saturday morning Brian met his mom in virginia to drop Brody off for the weekend so he could go to his cousin Harrison's 2nd birthday party. Then Brian and I had the rest of the day to ourselves to get some things done and spend some time together. We ran a few errands, totally detailed my car (since we would be having a new baby riding in it soon:), went for a long walk, i took a long relaxing bath, went to olive garden for lunch/dinner at 3:00 in the afternoon, watched a movie (sherlock holmes). Brian even made a comment during the day about how great it would be if i went into labor that night because we wouldnt have to get anyone to come stay with Brody in the middle of the night since he was already away in virginia. We went to bed around 10:30, Brian had just fallen asleep and i was being kept awake by a very wiggly baby in my tummy. During the third trimester he has been so active between 10 and 11 at night, making it SO hard for me to go to sleep. I was laying there awake, slightly annoyed at how much he was moving, when i felt a "pop". It was a very odd feeling and i thought maybe my water had broken but i didnt feel that "gush" of liquid that everyone talks about. i decided to get up out of bed and see if anything happened....and yes, my water had broken. i woke up brian and he jumped out of bed and was already dressed and standing by the door ready to go, by the time i had cleaned myself up. I called the doctor and she said that there was really no rush to get to the hospital until i started having contractions. She told me i was welcome to go back to sleep and wait until contractions started or i could come in now...whatever i wanted. who in the world can go back to sleep after their water breaks?! We pretty much got straight in the car and headed to the hospital! I started having contractions on the way to the hospital (5 min apart).
One last belly shot before we head to the hospital....


We got to the hospital a little after midnight and i was 4 cm dilated. They told me i could get my epidural whenever i was ready.....i waited for awhile because i didnt want it to slow my labor down at all. At 3 a.m. i decided that it was silly to wait, because MAYBE i could get some sleep if i wasnt feeling my contractions. I was able to rest some, but i dont think i slept more than 30 min. At 5 a.m. i was 8 cm dilated, and at 6 a.m. i was ready to push! Levi was born at 6:24. Let me just say that having a baby the second time around is SO MUCH EASIER! Now, granted, Levi weighed a whole pound less than Brody did. But the whole process was way better! i was much more aware of everything going on, was having a conversation with my doctor about her kids soccer league while she was stitching me up (lol), and just felt much more laid back about the whole process. Levi had to go to the nursery for a couple of hours right after he was born just for them to monitor his breathing a little bit. He didnt cry a whole lot when he came out and was grunting alot, so they wanted to make sure his oxygen levels were ok. They let us hold him and spend some time with him though before he went. His oxygen levels were great and he never had any trouble breathing...praise the Lord! He just didnt feel like crying when he came out:) So far hes been really laid back...lets hope that continues! Brody is such a proud big brother...a post will come shortly about that!

Still pregnant....

Well I'm 38 weeks and 4 days pregnant:) this is exactly when Brody was born so I'm crossing my fingers for today! I went for my 38 week appoitment on tuesday and not much had changed since 37 weeks. Still 2 cm dilated and the doctor said his head is really low. Because brody was such a big baby, my fear (and the doctors) is that if I go up to my due date or later with Levi then he will be HUGE. I had a hard enough time getting Brody out without a c-section! So the doctor scheduled a ultrasound for Monday to try to determine how big this baby is. If he's big like Brody then we will talk about inducinge sometime next week. I really don't want to be induced, but I also don't want to wait so long that I have to have a csection because of how big this baby is! So I'm praying for labor this weekend!