Levi Turned 2!

This past week was a big one for us!  Friday, the 11th, was Levi's 2nd birthday.  The 12th was our 5 YEAR ANNIVERSARY :), and we had Levi's party on that day.  And then Sunday the 13th was Mother's Day!  WOW!  If that is not a lot of celebrating people then I don't know what is.  But this post is to give some cute pics and video of my cute two year-old.  :)  

Levi rocking in the AMAZING, antique rocking chair my parents brought from the family farm :)

Brandon and I were talking just the other day how amazed we are at who Levi has become.  He is such a social and lovable little boy.  He loves trucks, cars, planes, anything that resembles a vehicle of some kind.  He is VERY verbal and communicates pretty well in my opinion.  It does take him repeating himself a few times sometimes before I can tell what he is saying, but sometimes not.  The clearest phrase is probably "No. I don't want to." Not said in an annoying or complaining tone, just matter-of-factly. :)  He has finally learned to say "I love you" which just melts my heart.  He even says it sometimes without you saying it first.  Last night when Brandon was taking him to bed he even said "Lu you Connor" all on his own accord! :)  He does love dogs as well.  

"I'm TWO!!"

Levi's actual birthday started with a special Baked Pancake with strawberries, and eggs.  Then we had fun going to get party favors for his party and riding in the car/basket at the grocery store.  Not too exciting but it was still special.  We had his party on Saturday morning and we are thankful for all of the family and friends who came!  It was nothing super amazing, just playing and eating.  I made Curious George cupcakes because George is his absolute favorite!  Thanks again for your presence and gifts!  Levi was truly blessed on Saturday!  The video is some highlights of the party!  

Daddy is excited to get him some practice camping for when Mommy says he is old enough to actual go! :)

20 weeks update! (well, almost :))

I am found out that I turn over to my new week of pregnancy on Fridays instead of Saturdays, thanks to my recent ultrasound. So I am 20 weeks tomorrow, half way!! Woohoo! But this big news is that I was actually able to get an earlier appointment with the high risk Dr. I got to go yesterday and we found out that our baby boy's heart is perfectly fine! :) PRAISE THE LORD!!! I can't explain how relieved and happy I felt after leaving the office. I am so thankful for the amazing family and friends that the Lord has blessed us with. Thank you for all of you who prayed for me and the baby. I felt so loved and supported through the whole week. The Dr. also went ahead and looked at every single area of possible abnormalities and he found NONE! Needless to say, we were just so happy to hear the news.

Until being told that there was a possibility of some sort of problem with your baby, you don't know how you will react or respond. I hope and pray that I handled it in the way that the Lord wanted me to :) Even today as I think about the whole experience, I cry because I am so thankful for God's faithfulness to me and the ways that he provided peace, hope, and love through something that felt so uncertain. It reminds me yet again that our children are not our own, even the ones that are not born yet (or even conceived). The Lord has each one of them in his hands and heart all along. In reality, there are only a few things that we can actually control (if that even). Obviously we have a lot more opportunity to "control" situations when our children are young, but as they grow older, those slowly begin to dwindle. I hope and pray that I will get better at trying not to "control" everything and trusting the Lord, but I am sure that I will never be done learning how to do that. :) I am thankful that the Lord has a plan and already knows each step my children will make, hopefully I won't hinder them too much :). Anyways, I am so glad to have good news to report!

I do have a belly pic, I think it is from 19 weeks.

STATS:

How far along: 19 weeks, 6 days
How big is baby: About the length of a banana;6 1/2 inches long (head to rump) 10 inches head to heel; and 10 1/2 ounces.
Total Weight gain: about 10 pounds
Maternity Clothes: Fully in my maternity jeans and skirts and dresses

Sleep: Finally starting to sleep all the way through the night.

Best moment of the week: Finding out everything is OK!
Food cravings : Not really any to note at this time.

Food aversions: non really but I don't really like Green beans anymore, but that has been around since Levi was in-utero.

Symptoms: none!

Movement: Definitely a mover and a shaker! :)

Gender: BOY!
What I’m looking forward to: Being able to enjoy being pregnant for a bit and decorating his room!
What I miss: Nothing.
Next appt: May 1st.
What is baby doing this week? He's swallowing more this week, which is good practice for his digestive system.

18 Weeks Update

Well, I knew that I probably wouldn't be good at keeping up EVERY week, but I feel like updating again so soon isn't bad??? :) Things are still going pretty good here! Definitely completely over the sicky's. We were actually able to have a sonogram this week and found out that we are having a..... BOY!!! We are very excited that Levi is going to have a brother. I get to watch my nephews be so close and play so well together so I am excited to have that with my kiddos! :) We do have to get something rechecked in a few weeks that they weren't able to tell on the sonogram. They weren't able to get a good enough view of all the chambers of the heart. The Dr. said that it could be nothing, but it could be something, so I'm not sure how to react to the information. If you could just pray that everything is developing perfectly with this sweet baby boy's heart and for me to be able to remain at peace until we know a definitive answer. It is a little nerve racking to say the least! But our God is a BIG god and he loves to do miracles (not that it is needed here, I'm just saying! :)) Anyways, we are excited to be able to announce to you our news!

The ABC's

I recently got a chance to overhear Levi singing along with one of his toys while he was in his room playing. I was so shocked because I didn't even know that he paid any attention when his toys were singing to him. Anyways, once I heard him I was so excited. I wanted to see if he would sing it for me (because I wasn't there in the room so I didn't know that he would do it if I was there). He had never sung anything for me before. Well, he did sing it for me and it was really fun! (and cute :))

16 weeks Pregnancy update (baby #2!)

Hello! I know that I am terrible about writing on here. I just don't know what I do all day! Haha! Just kidding. I know what I do. :) Chase Levi around and play with him. Run errands. Think about what I feel like eating for dinner because it never seems to be what I had planned for the night (thanks baby :)). Then I have to cook dinner. And OH much more things that I can't list here; rather I don't want to! But I thought that I would give an update on pregnancy #2 and how it is going so far! I did it far more with Levi so why shouldn't this baby get it too! :)

Today I am 16 weeks! Yay! I have a new found appreciation for making it to another week this time around. I am finally feeling good, most all of the time. I was definitely sicker longer and worse with this baby. I didn't really expect that, but that is what happened. I was able to stay on top of it a little better than I was the first time, but luckily the bad parts came in the evening when Brandon was home. But all in all I would say that I still wasn't even THAT sick, compared to some. I didn't even throw up, except for when I got the flu. :( So for that I am thankful!

I feel like I have started to feel some kicks or flutters, but I'm not sure. I can't remember when I started feeling Levi. But I do know that when I am lying down in the mornings before getting out of bed, when my bladder is full and all my food is finally digested, I can at least feel where the actual baby is. There is a little bump low down that is hard. That's my baby! different from the not-hard bump of my organs that protrudes out the rest of the day! :) I started showing sooo much earlier this time. I was nervous at first that I was having twins. Everyone with two or more babies kept saying, no you just show sooner each time around because your uterus is already stretched out. They were right! I don't have a pic of 16 weeks yet but here is one of me at 15, I think!

So far so good! We are finding out the gender this time and I am so excited! I will let you all know when I know! Have a great Saturday! Thanks to my friend Ashley Hankins for this next idea. I stole it from her blog! :)

STATS:

How far along: 16 weeks, 0 days
How big is baby: About the size of an avocado; 4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces.
Total Weight gain: not exactly sure since I don't own a scale, but probably about five pounds
Maternity Clothes: I pretty much have to wear maternity jeans and leggings all the time. Sometimes I try to rubber-band my old jeans but those get uncomfortable really fast! :)

Sleep: Finally starting to sleep all the way through the night.

Best moment of the week: Realizing that I no longer feel sick! and feeling the little baby bump!
Food cravings : Well I was talking to my friend Claire about this yesterday. I feel like I started having cravings once Levi was born and they have never stopped. HA! I usually always want something sweet though, a little more than normal I guess. But I ALWAYS love having sweets. And then sometimes I want french fries. I just think when I'm hungry I want to eat something unhealthy! :)

Food aversions: non really but I don't really like Green beans anymore, but that has been around since Levi was in-utero.

Symptoms: none!

Movement: I think so. It's hard to tell if it's baby or just gas or digestion. After feeling Levi kick and kick, it's hard to remember what the beginning feelings of baby moving feels like.

Gender: Finding out soon! :)
What I’m looking forward to: Finding out what the gender is
What I miss: Nothing.
Next appt: In a few weeks! (blame it on the pregnancy brain! :))

What is baby doing this week? His legs are much more developed, his head is more erect than it has been, and his eyes have moved closer to the front of his head. His ears are close to their final position, too. The patterning of his scalp has begun, though his locks aren't recognizable yet. He's even started growing toenails. And there's a lot happening inside as well. For example, his heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, and this amount will continue to increase as your baby continues to develop.

A Zoo Visit!

Over Thanksgiving we went to Tyler to visit my side of the family. We had a great time! While we were there we went to the Tyler zoo. Levi loves animals and well, it is fun to watch him because he loves them so much. I got some great shots of him feeding the birds and petting the goats. All the animals that were behind the glass or cage were a little bit harder for Levi to really connect with. You know, he is definitely a feeler so the fact that he couldn't touch them (and rightfully so!) he didn't show as much interest. He like the birds and goats the best. But we thought all the animals were cool! Especially the giraffes!

It's Christmas Time!

I have always liked Christmas, but this year I fell IN LOVE with this time of year! :) All because of our sweet little Levi! Doing all the Christmas festivities is so much more fun once you have a baby! Seeing his face light up and hearing his expressions when we pull out the different decorations and such was soooo much fun! We started the night with going to get our tree. We just went to Lowe's this year, instead of going to a tree lot like Brandon did growing up, because we wanted to get a nice, cheap tree. We found a great one! :) Then once the tree was up and placed and we had reconfigured our den, Brandon started to put the lights on while I made some hot chocolate from scratch! It was very yummy!

I was able to get some great video of him during our decorating time. They are kinda on the longer side, but I just loved watching him. I can see now why Brandon's family had lots of traditions around Christmas decorating because it is really fun. I know that I will always want to do these things every year now too!

Here is a pic of the final product. Not great quality because it is with my phone and during the day, but you can get the idea! :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!