14 months

So what is this 14 month old little man up to?

• He is a busy, busy boy!
• He leaves a wake behind him wherever he goes. ha!
• He is a happy boy, unless he's tired, then all he wants is mama and his blankie.
• He sleeps from 7pm-7am and takes a long afternoon nap. Sometimes he takes a morning nap, but not usually.
• He loves playing in the kitchen while Lily and I are cooking. 

• Lately he's started getting picky with his eating. Lily has never been picky, so this is a new experience for me. I think Levi is teething, so I'm hoping that is what's causing the picky-ness!
• Levi is such a mama's boy. I love it, although it gets hard sometimes when he constantly wants to be held or holding on to my leg! I think having a new baby brother is going to be good for him.
• He loves helping empty the silverware from the dishwasher. He hands me each piece with the biggest smile!
• He also likes to throw away his diapers or whatever I tell him to go throw in the trash. He's actually a little over-zealous when it comes to throwing things away. I keep finding toys and his cup in the trash can. Ha!

• Levi likes to try to do everything Lily does. He's so funny!
• He loves to color and actually does great not putting the crayons in his mouth.
• He likes to sing. We can pick out bits and pieces of Away In A Manger, Head & Shoulders, E-I-E-I-O, and Ho, Ho, Ho, Hosanna.
• He is such a fun (although extremely busy) age! 

We are so thankful for our sweet boy!

Happy Wednesday!

We had kind of thought it would be neat to have a baby on February 29th, but unless things change drastically, it looks like baby boy isn't coming today. I never really expected him to since my baby's tend to come after their estimated due date.

Instead of having a baby today, we'll just play with big balls and sunglasses and enjoy our time with just two little ones. 

Y'all have a Happy Leap Day too!

Weekend

We had a very full weekend! On Friday, I saw the midwife and Levi saw the eye doctor. Both appointments went well. The eye doctor was especially pleased with Levi's improvement! We still have to patch his good eye for 3 hours a day, but he is using his weak eye so much more! 

Jacob's mom and youngest sister came over to keep Lily while Levi and I were gone. Lily got to go with them to Aunt Elizabeth's choir practice. Lily had a fun time having Grammie to herself!

On Friday night, a bunch of friends from church came over. The guys watched a documentary and the girls watched all the kids! Ha. My brother-in-law had an out of town friend come with his quadruple 5 year old boys! Let's just say...it was a crazy evening, but so much fun! I was super impressed with the quads behavior! They just colored and played so well with Lily and Levi.

Lily and Levi loved the extra playmates! 

Jacob took Lily out on a date for breakfast on Saturday morning. They always go to Starbucks. Lily's favorite thing about the whole date is that she gets apple juice. Yes, we only do milk and water here at home. 

The orchestra Jacob plays in had a family concert on Saturday. My sweet mom offered to take Lily to it. I was a little worried how Lily would do, but Mom said she did great! Lily has talked about how much fun she had since! Funny thing about the fold-up chairs - Mom said that she had to keep her knee on Lily's chair to keep it from folding up with her in it. :-)

During intermission they got to go backstage with Jacob and see some of his friends. I know the whole thing was such a special experience for Lily!

The weather has been gorgeous so we have been spending a lot of time outside. I gave Lily a cup of water and a paintbrush and she went to town painting the door, the bricks, and the sidewalk. I love how such simple things make little ones happy!

Hope y'all had a great weekend!

Bathtime, Books & Baby Names

We had such a good day today! I am just so thankful. Lily and Levi were happy and sweet all day and I had lots of energy! 

After breakfast I decided to give them a bath. Normally Jacob and I do baths together because it wears me out to get both kids bathed without Levi drowning. He is seriously insane in the bathtub. Anyway, I was gathering up the towels and washcloths and clothes we needed and I walked back in the bathroom and found both kids in the bathtub. I have no idea how exactly Levi got in there! He must have slung himself over the side, but he never cried if he hit his head. 

Bathtime thankfully went pretty smooth and didn't wear me out too much. I was completely soaked after the whole ordeal though, thanks to Mr. Levi.

Levi had a short nap and then we went to the library. It's actually a church library that is open to people who don't attend the church. They have the nicest children's room with tons of stuffed animals, puppets, rocking chairs, and awesome books. We stayed for an hour just playing. It was a lot of fun!

Both kids took great naps this afternoon so I was able to get the bathrooms cleaned and some other chores done. 

Oh, several of y'all have asked about the new baby's name. We still haven't decided for sure, but we have some names narrowed down. We will most likely not be carrying on the "L" tradition because 1) we already have a girl's name picked out (if we have any more babies) and it starts with an "A" and 2) the only "L" name we really like is Luke/Lucas and I have a brother named Luke and our cousin is having a little boy a couple weeks after me and they are naming him Luke. I think it would be pretty confusing to have so many Lukes! 

Hope you all have a great Friday!

Midweek Randoms

• We have had our ups and downs this week with two year old and one year old fits. It's been wearing on this mama, but at the end of the day, I am so so thankful for my precious children. They are treasures from God!
• I really, really need to sweep our hardwood floors. There are dust bunnies in every corner. {sigh}

• Fresh, clean, folded baby clothes make me happy!
• I have been thinking a lot about this verse - Isaiah 41:10. "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." I am claiming it as the verse to help me through labor and birth. There are fears I've been facing as our baby's birth gets closer. I think most of them are stemming from Levi's traumatic birth experience - being born "less than perfect" in his outward appearance, when we expected him to be "normal." I am so thankful for the peace God gives when we give Him our burdens.

• My little man loves to make messes. He's such a boy!
• I'm really tired so I'm going to head to bed. Hope you all have a great Thursday!

Brother and Sister

a moment of pure sweetness

Less than 2 minutes.

Levi is an explorer. He is constantly moving. Constantly getting into things. The other day I took pictures of him as he explored the kitchen.

 starting at the sink cabinet which has rubber bands on it to keep it closed.

 "oh how I would love to get my hands on that dish soap!"

 moving on to the cabinet by the stove.

 "nothing interesting in there." *slams door*

 across the room behind the highchair.

 grabbing for something under the refrigerator.

"hmm, this week-old, hardened food looks tasty."

All this was done in less than 2 minutes. Yes, he keeps me busy!

38 weeks

Wowzers! Only a couple weeks left until we meet our little man! Well, he could technically come anytime, but I'm not counting on him to come early. Lily came 4 days past her due date and Levi was 6 days past.

As far as being ready for the new baby goes, in a way I'm ready for him to get here so we can have a sweet newborn in the house again and I can more easily play with (and take care of) Lily and Levi without my belly getting in the way. On the other hand, I still have a lot of things to do...like packing our bags to take to the clinic, writing out the kids normal daily routine, getting a haircut, etc. I'm doing my best to keep the house cleaned and picked up, so I won't come home to a disaster area.

I've gotten 15 meals in the freezer as well as some breakfast foods and sandwich bread. I know family and church family will help with some meals at the beginning, but it's awesome knowing that I won't have to worry about cooking much for nearly a month! I've been slowly stocking up on groceries so that we'll *hopefully* only need to run to the store for fresh produce and eggs the first few weeks. That's the plan anyway. We'll see how it turns out.

Everything is great with me and the baby. He is head down and very low, and has a great heart beat. He's not moving around as much, but that's not saying a whole lot! Ha. 

Date Night and the Best Chocolate

I had a good midwife appointment this morning - everything is great with me and the baby! Half way home (it's about an hour drive altogether) we stopped at Target to pick up a few things for Jacob's orchestra party this afternoon. It was close to lunch time, so the kids snacked on cheese sticks and organic fruit snacks throughout the store. In the checkout I saw the container of Ritz cheese crackers and I did something I'd never done before - I bought them and let my kids eat them. We usually eat pretty healthy, but today, they needed something easy and fast. During the last 30 minutes of our drive home, they downed the entire container! Levi tends to stuff his mouth when he eats, which makes me nervous when we're driving, but Lily was so sweet and gave him one cracker at a time.

Can I just say, I love our van! The two captain chairs in the middle scoot together (like you can see in the picture) so Lily and Levi can be right next to each other. When the new baby comes, Lily will move to the back, but for now, they love sharing toys and holding hands during our drives.

Tonight my parents came over and took care of the kids so Jacob and I could go out! We went to Ruby Tuesday (thanks to a gift card from Christmas) and then headed to Target for newborn diapers, a couple little things to give Lily and Levi when we bring home our new baby, and dog food. So romantic, I know! LOL My friend Jessica mentioned how much she loves this chocolate, tonight we splurged and tried it. Be still my heart! It is the best chocolate ever!! You need to try it!

We also got the boys their first matching outfits! Ahh, so cute!

Hope y'all have a great weekend!

Midweek Randoms

• Today was a good day. We stayed home and played most of the day.
• I haven't had any coffee for almost 3 weeks! Jacob started having some mitral valve issues and caffeine was one of the triggers, so we just quit making it. I haven't really missed it much. Jacob still gets a decaf once a week or so from Starbucks, but they don't have non-dairy creamer, so I don't get any. 

• When I organized all the baby/kids clothes into tubs several weeks ago, Lily and Levi just loved playing in the tubs!
• Tomorrow night my parents are coming to babysit while Jacob and I go out on a date! I'm so excited!
• I went walking at the mall today and was able to get a V-day card for my man at Hallmark. Yay! Better late than never.

• I was 37 weeks preggo last Sunday! I see the midwife tomorrow, so I'll post an update this weekend.
• Random question for y'all - would it be weird for me to dress Levi and the new baby in matching clothes? I saw some cute rompers the other day and almost bought a newborn size and a 12-18 month size, but I couldn't decided if it would be cute or not. What do you think?

Our Valentine's Day

I honestly kind of feel like a great big valentine's day failure. I made homemade cinnamon roll biscuits last night and kept them in the refrigerator overnight so I could pull them out and bake them this morning for a special breakfast. I don't know what I did wrong, or if they shouldn't have sat in the fridge overnight, but seriously, we couldn't even eat them! The biscuit part tasted like there was waaayyy too much baking soda in it. I think it was the first time I'd ever made something sooo bad it had to be thrown out. We just had cheese eggs, toast, and fruit for breakfast.

Besides a special breakfast (and the homemade cards the kids made Jacob), I didn't have anything else special planned all day. I didn't even get Jacob a card! Ahh, I feel so bad! He taught all day and then conducted two orchestra rehearsals tonight, so we are going out on Thursday night for a date. I'm hoping I can still snag a card tomorrow.

Every year I make yummy treats for our family. This year, I guess I just lacked motivation or something because I didn't plan to make anything. We have these silicone heart molds that Lily has been wanting to make something in, so this morning I wracked my brain, pulled ingredients out of the cabinets and whipped up some little candies. They were simple, but obviously they made a certain little girl super happy!

I have the best little laundry helpers ever! They will push the baskets from the bedrooms to the washer for me and then Lily will get the chair and help me load the washer. Levi likes to put the wet clothes into the dryer and then slam the door.

Today he just sat on the nearly empty bag of dog food and watched Lily do all the work. ha.

Lily picked out her clothes today. Of course she had to wear pink and hearts!

"Mom, can't I have a bite of that chocolate?"

Oh, just a little memory from the past - Jacob and I went on our first "official" date 4 years ago today! We had a quick supper at Atlanta Bread Co. and then went to a 3 hour long rehearsal. It's crazy all that has happened since that first date!