13 months

I'm still trying to comprehend that Levi is a 1 year old! I have people ask me how old he is, and I have to think about it before I answer. In a way it seems like just yesterday that he was my newborn, and now he's about it be a big brother! In a different way, it seems like he's been part of our family forever. Crazy how that works.

• This boy is busy, busy, busy.
• He started walking on 1/16/2012.

• He is an explorer. 
• He will sit and play by himself for up to 45 minutes at a time.

• He is usually a very happy boy!
• He's a mama's boy all the way.

• He weighs about 20 pounds, wears size 9-12 month clothes, and size 2 shoes. Yes, his feet are short and chunky!
• He loves to eat! He still takes a bottle in the morning and one at bedtime. He eats 3 good meals each day and has 1-2 snacks. He's not too picky so far. The only thing he doesn't really like is cold cheese, but if it's melted on toast or a quesadilla, he loves it.

• We are continuing to see improvement in his eyes. He usually only pulls his glasses off when he's tired or frustrated.
• He is beginning to show a little temper. If he doesn't get his own way, he'll arch his back and pitch a fit. If we sit him on the floor and he wants to be held, he'll throw himself back and hit his head on the floor. Definitely showing his depravity! ha.

• He and Lily play well most of the time, although Levi knows how to annoy Lily and he also tries to take whatever she is playing with. Little Stinker!
• He loves playing outside and going to the park.

• Playing with Lily's dress-up stuff is one of his favorite things! So funny!
• He can clearly say mama, dada (not on command), sissy, hannah (our babysitter), uh-huh, and lots of animal sounds. 

• If we call him, he will come to us. If we tell him to pick something up and give it to us, he will do that - for example, he always likes to throw his bib on the floor when he's done eating. After we wipe him up and get him down, we'll say, "bring mama your bib" and he'll go over, pick it up, and bring it to us.
• He loves sitting on the potty chair in the bathroom. NO, we are not potty training! Yes, that is a baby doll potty in the picture beside Lily's potty. Ha!

We are so thankful for this precious boy. It's amazing to look back over the last year and see how much he's been through and how much he's grown. We thank the Lord for preserving his life when he was so sick with RSV and Pneumonia last year, and we praise God that he is growing and developing properly even though we were told to expect issues with him. The Lord is faithful!

Our Weekend in Phone Pictures

On Friday Levi and I woke up with the crud Lily had earlier in the week. I really haven't felt too bad, but poor Levi just wanted to lay around with his blanket. He stayed in his jammies all day and napped more than usual.

Sweet boy was just supposed to be having "quiet time" while I took a shower and he fell asleep. He always sleeps in the funniest positions!

Fresh homemade bread. One loaf went in the freezer and the other we've been gobbling up. It's sooo good! I used this recipe.

Lily loves watching Christy Jordan from SouthernPlate.com do her storytime videos. You should definitely check them out!

14 cups of chicken stock for the freezer!

On Friday afternoon and Saturday Jacob was gone to Franklin, TN with a group from church for a conference about the lives and ministry of Francis and Edith Schaeffer. He forgot to take a Redbox movie back before he left town, so the kids and I hopped in the car to return it. Lily insisted on wearing her sunglasses (like mama) and her mittens (even though it was 60 degrees outside!). Funny girl!

We went grocery shopping on Saturday morning and then played outside waiting for Jacob to get home. Lily had fun picking up a bunch of sticks.

Random belly picture. I posted a pregnancy update here if you missed it. I can't believe how soon we're going to be meeting our little guy!

Happy Monday!

35 weeks

35 weeks with Baby #3

Ack! Only 5 weeks left (give or take a few days)! I can't believe how fast the days are flying by! I'm so thankful for the energy I'm continuing to have - although Levi and I started coming down on Friday with the crud that Lily had earlier in the week, so I haven't felt like doing much since then.

It's fun to see the long to-do list being whittled down slowly but surely! This past week I got the car cleaned out (that was a huge job! I can't believe how much stuff we accumulate in there!), the big freezer cleaned out, the lower kitchen cabinets, dishwasher, and oven wiped down, some mending done, several meals and miscellaneous stuff into the freezer, and the top of Lily's closet cleaned out. 

My goal is to have all the to-do list completed in the next three weeks so in the last two weeks before baby I can do "fun stuff." Like getting a haircut, buying some comfy after-baby clothes (I've done this with each pregnancy and it's nice to just have something new that's comfy and cute since we'll have a lot of visitors at the house), and maybe getting a pedicure.

I've been having lots of contractions the last few days as well as a lot of pressure. The baby is still moving all the time too. I love feeling him moving everywhere!

It is definitely getting harder for the kids to sit in my lap comfortably. When we read and rock, they prefer to sit beside me instead of in my lap. It is kind of nice though to have a little shelf to hold them on when I carry them. Ha!

Cup Towers

Who knew plastic cups could keep a little girl occupied for quite awhile?

Seriously, who needs toys when you have odds and ends to play with?

I love seeing little ones being creative and learning how things work.

Daddy even joined in and had fun building towers!

Midweek Randoms

• Sweet Lily has not been feeling well since Sunday - yucky cough and runny nose. Her favorite thing to do is have "quiet time" on our bed with her baby doll, dress up stuff, and books. She seemed some better today, so I'm hoping she's on the mend.
• It has been so warm the last couple days! We went to the park today and played outside in the yard this afternoon. So fun!

• I splurged tonight and had my favorite snack! Oh how good it was! I haven't been eating a lot of chocolate lately because it seems to give me indigestion when I'm pregnant. Thankfully it didn't cause a big flare up.
• I made these Mini Meatloaves for supper last night. They are delicious! Even my hubby who isn't a meatloaf lover thought they were amazing! I doubled the recipe to freeze and we enjoyed the leftovers tonight. 

• Levi is at the age where he loves pulling everything out - all the books off the shelves, all containers dumped out, etc. Although it makes a huge mess, there is an upside. He will sit on the "toy rug" for up to 45 minutes playing by himself. It is amazing! Mid-morning I will sit him on the rug and tell him that it's time for him to play. He will just sit there and look at books and dump out all the toys. Lily sometimes plays with him and other times she'll play with her babies in her room. I'm thankful for that time to get breakfast cleaned up, laundry started, etc. 

• My kids seem to play better when the area is cleaned up, so every night I try to clean/straighten it up so they wake up to a neat play area. Lily picks up her play kitchen stuff before she goes to bed each night, but it's nearly impossible to pick up when Levi's awake. He likes picking stuff up, but he thinks we're only picking up so he can immediately dump out again. Ha!
• Hope you all are having a wonderful week!

Lily and Levi's Party

This is a very picture-heavy post, so get ready! :-)

We decided to have a small combined birthday party for Lily and Levi this year. I would've loved to do a big party and invite tons of people, but we just felt it would be better this year to only have an immediate family party (our babysitter came too, which was super special!).

Can't believe this girl is 2!

And he is 1! Where has the time gone?

It's hard to get a good picture of them together - this is the best we managed. I got their shirts and the iron on thingys at Hobby Lobby. 

We sang to Lily first and she enjoyed her cupcake while we all had snacks and talked. She asked specifically for chocolate cupcakes...definitely takes after her chocolate-loving mama!

Then it was Levi's turn. Of course he wanted to grab the candle. ha!

He wasted no time digging in.

"what is this stuff?"

"mmm, tasty!"

After that first taste, he started shoving it in as fast as he could! His cupcakes were banana with cream cheese frosting.

"ok, i'm done. enough sweet stuff for me!"

"good ol' water to wash it down!"

Daddy helping Lily open presents. 

She got a Memory game, a baby doll, clothes, and some dress up stuff.

We got her a baby doll stroller, which she loves!

Mama and Levi opening gifts. He got books, clothes, and toys.

Yay for some boy toys! We really don't have a lot of boy toys, so he plays baby dolls and cooks in the play kitchen most of the time. Ha!

Happy Girl!

Precious little man!

Happy Birthday my sweet babies!